La Voiture

Let me update you on what has been happening lately. It is now Sunday, and it has been a bit since my last post, I apologize. Last week was mostly a work week after returning from the retreat. To give you an idea of a normal day, I get up at 7:30 usually and get some breakfast (cereal or eggs). I get to work at 8. My work now consist of outdoor work around the base. I recently finished an irrigation system for a row of 12 apple trees and also re-roofed the well. Also, Andy and I just finished putting in some electrical cable to light the driveway and put in the lights. Now, I am learning to make a classic drystone wall. At noon, we stop for lunch. Around two o'clock we usually have a French lesson at the base with Sandra, the wife of the co-leader of the base. That lasts about an hour. In the afternoon we are given time to simply study, depending on the day. Tuesdays and Fridays we have meetings in the afternoons, and other days we will do things with the base.

On Wednesday, we were given the job of repairing the base van. Earlier in the year someone was driving during one of the famed "Mistral Winds". The wind was around 100km an hour and someone got out just as a gust came. They lost their grip and the driver door flew all the way around and slammed into the side of the van, breaking the safety stop as well. After this, every time you opened the door, it would hit the side panel and not allow the door to open properly. Andy worked as a Peugeot mechanic in London before mission work, and seeing as this was a Peugeot van, he was right at home. We set to work taking the door and side panel off and then resetting the hinges and hammering the large dents out of the panel and door. The most in depth work I had done on a car before involved replacing an oil filter, so this was an interesting experience for me. Surprisingly, there wasn't that much to it. The door came off easily, and the side panel, although secured in more than a dozen places, took time but was not at all difficult. Andy set to work on the door while I worked on the side panel. Using tons of scotch tape (as not to damage the paint), small hammers, and some welding, we actually got the parts looking fairly nice. Now the paint was still missing in some areas, especially where the door continuously rubbed against the panel, so we searched the shop. The closest paint was very much lighter than the cars paint, but it would have to door. We are planning on stopping by Peugeot and ordering a small can to match.

Our nicely opening door...

On Saturday I met a friend in Avignon who just happened to be traveling Europe. I was in Costa Rica about a year ago and met her there. She is from Norway, and her and a friend are traveling southern Europe by rail. So I got to go back to Avignon (which is awesome) and show her around town. Trying to get back is where this gets really interesting. When I got the the train station in Avignon at 8 to catch my 8:15 train, I found out that the tracks were being worked on and there was no train that night. I quickly looked around for someone to talk to and asked a man who works there how and when I could get back to Pierrelatte. He told me that a bus was leaving now and that my ticket would cover the bus ride. As I walked out the door it was pulling out, so I quickly jumped on. On this 14 meter bus (impossible to drive on these roads), it was me and two other passengers. They got off at the first stop (Pierrelatte is 1.5 hours by bus, 30 mins by train), leaving just me and the driver. The driver just happened to be from Central America and we quickly began talking in a French / Spanish mix. It was a really interesting ride back, and I must admit, driving a bus in Europe is a very demanding job.

Today we had a church service here on the base grounds. All five non-catholic churches in the area got together, making for well over a hundred people. It was a good time, and a lot of the people from the retreat were there. The Mistral winds were still blowing, making it a bit chilly, but just more interesting overall.


On another note, the lavender here in France is in full bloom. It is everywhere.

A plus...