"Run in such a way..."

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever." 1 Corinthians 9:24

So, life has changed a bit since I last posted. I have wedding news. No, I'm not getting married (Dad, you can breathe easily again). One of my best friends, Lydia, is getting married! She has asked me to be a bridesmaid. This August I get to witness her promise to love her man, Nick, for the rest of their lives, God helping them. What a blessing! I look forward to being able to share in her joy in person and to meeting this man that I have heard so much about!

Cassie, Lydia, Abbey & I. 

This is the last time that I saw them before I left for Paris. 

They are all now done their undergrad, and Lydia's getting married. 

Life changes quickly!

We recently had 2 weeks of vacation. In total this month, I have spent more time on vacation than in school. Awesome. Below you'll find a bit about my travels.


Scotland. It's a beautiful country, at least the bit that we saw. We, Rachel & I, had a really great week. 
     We got a full-day walking tour of Glasgow from a friend-of-a-friend, learning about the city, its inhabitants, the passion that the Scottish have for football, getting completely confused because of accents, and enjoying some local cuisine. The weather there was actually bi-polar. Apparently because of its proximity to the ocean, it can be raining, and then just a few minutes later become sunny, turning into rain again just a bit later, and back and forth again and again. From Glasgow we took a 3-day tour of the Isle of Skye and the Highlands, finishing in Edinburgh. 
     The "mountains" on Skye are very unique, being formed from a long-ago erupted volcano. They are black with lines running down them. There is only one mountain in Scotland that is actually high enough to count as a mountain, according to world standards, and that is Ben Nevis. We saw it. What else was there....small lakes (lochs, like Loch Lomond), cliffs, a water fall, a beach, cemeteries, castles, tiny villages, Loch Ness (we took a cruise on it), and wind on one particular cliff on day that was so strong it could nearly knock you over (or make running MUCH easier, in one direction!). It's hard to describe everything, so I'll leave it mostly at that. We made a traveling buddy right before the tour started when, as Rachel was trying to take a picture of the two of us together, Emily kindly suggested that she could take it for us: the beginning of a beautiful friendship. ;) We spent the next few days of touring together, as well as some time in Edinburgh as we were all staying there for a few days. 

 Loch Lomond.

 English/Scottish Gaelic

In a super old, small cemetery. 

 This castle has been in the same family for some 800+ years.

The capital of Skye, Portree: "The King's Port."

Eilean Donan Castle, the most photographed castle in Scotland, 

also ironically the newest, rebuilt in the early 1900s. 

Loch Ness.

     Edinburgh, at least the "old city" part, is beautiful. The buildings are interesting, the accent is much easier to understand than that of Glasgow, and we once again had beautiful weather. We took a free walking tour on the Friday morning and wandered on our own a bit in the afternoon. I climbed the big hill and enjoyed some alone-time, the view of the city and the "Firth of Forth", and some wind. 

This is where John Knox is buried. The cemetery has become a parking lot.

Edinburgh Castle (side view).

St. Giles' Cathedral: The High Kirk of Edinburgh.

Holyrood Palace: Where the Queen stays when she visits Edinburgh.

One of the views from Albert's Seat, Edinburgh.

     On Sunday we headed back to Paris via Ryanair and I thought about the fact that it's very possible that the next time that I'm on a plane, it'll be on the way back home. That's crazy.


Holland. Just as beautiful in the spring as in the winter. I was very lucky to experience incredible weather during both of my visits!
     On Monday morning I left for Amsterdam. I spent the afternoon there, enjoying incredibly beautiful weather, the canals and bridges, standing in line for 1 hour at the Anne Frank House and then walking through it, discovering a part of history. On my way back to the train station, I saw so many people heading home on their bikes; I've never seen anything like it! It's like the end of the day rush at home, but on bikes! 
     The main goal of the trip was to visit Dad's cousins that I met at Christmas one more time before I go home. So that evening, I took the train to Assen and met Gera there. She drove me to Veendam where I stayed with Rita and her family. I had a good week of doing mostly nothing, enjoying the 30C temperatures and the sun, and enjoying time with Rita and my "Holland brothers," Niels & Stefan. On Saturday, Rita brought me to Barneveld where we spent the afternoon with Janneke, Martina and Joke. That night we had a delicious bbq at Martina's house. Sunday morning (Easter) I went to church with Janneke's family, my second large celebration service of the Christian calendar (the other being Christmas) at her church. That afternoon I began my trip back to Paris. Monday was another day off yet, and I spent my day sleeping, cleaning up, and catching up on emails. 

Amsterdam

Barneveld Castle

Barneveld chickens - "The Barnevelder".

Bikes at the train station. 

Now I'm back at school. My friends and family and finished school back home. I can't really complain much because I started a month later than them, but I'd really like being on summer vacation like they are right now! Such is life, and it's not so bad. We have come to the "last leg of the race" here in Paris. As of today we have about 32 days left here; we've come a long way since we began with 258 days left, or something like that. What a change! I am so very much looking forward to being back home, able to spend time face-to-face with my family and with my friends. In the meantime, though, the verse from 1 Corinthians comes to mind, as well as that of Hebrews 12. The first I have quoted at the beginning of this post, the "Run in such a way as to get the prize." The second is this:


"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith."  Hebrews 12:1-2


Right now this verse, for me, is a reminder to finish this year off well, to make the most of the last weeks that I have here in Paris. It's a reminder to "run with perseverance" at a point in time when I have little drive to work hard. Run with a purpose. Live with a purpose. That's kind of what it comes down to, doesn't it? I do have a purpose here, and I should live like that. I don't think that I always do that. It's never too late to begin, though.


I wish all my fellow university students back home a wonderful summer break. I hope the weather starts to brighten up for you all soon. 


Blessings and strength for your race,


~Lynette

"It's opener, out there, in the wide, open air."

Title credit: Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!


I spent a little bit of time this evening being "inspired" by Dr. Seuss and because of this, you can probably expect him to pop up a few times in this blog post. March, as a month, is finished. However, I have not recounted much of it to you, so I will procede with that now, finishing up with today, April 9.


On the 17th of March, I woke up early in the  morning in order to join a couple of the other Redeemer girls as well as a few other young adults from the church for the "lever du soleil." It was beautiful, as you can see in the picture below. We: drank hot chocolate and tea; ate croissants, viennoises, yogurt and fruit; had a couple of random running or skipping races across the bridge; said good morning to runners, bikers and garbage collectors; played the ukelele; shivered; and we laughed. We walked through the "inner courtyard" of the Louvre and took a couple pictures in front of it and the pyramids. It was (surprisingly) void of tourists at 8:00 on a cloudy morning. We had a good time even though the weather wasn't what we had hoped it would be.

This past month I officially registered online as a Canadian living abroad. Now the government finally "knows" that I am living in France and if there is a catastrophe here in the next month & a half, they will know that they should look for me. Oh good.


On March 25, Jessica (my younger sister, for those of you who don't know) turned 20. This ends the teenager chapter of the life of my family. This also begins the year+ when all of the (original) van de Hoef siblings (of my family, at least) will be in their twenties. We are now a family of "adults."


In school news, I am enjoying my social geography of France course more and more. We've been talking about more interesting subjects as of late, such as the creation of national and regional parks in France, their purpose, the reasons behind their creation, etc. Pretty interesting stuff. One of my favourite films from my film course has been "Entre les murs." We don't get to watch the whole film in class, so I don't have a complete idea of the story, but it's about a teacher and his class in the French system. From what we saw, it seems to be one of the most realistic films that I have ever seen on teaching and what it's like. It was pretty interesting. So for those of my friends who know French, if you can find it, it's probably worth checking out.


March was a month of longing for home, for time when I could actually sit in the same room with my friends and/or family and spend real time with them, sharing in their lives face-to-face. The weather is becoming increasingly beautiful and it makes a return to home seem so fantastic. The catch is that the beautiful weather here seems to come about a month or so sooner than back at home, so in reality, I'd like to spend the the next month or so here and return home when it's actually nice there, too. It has indeed been beautiful weather here. 

"This is not good. This is not right. My feet stick out of bed all night. And when I pull them in, oh dear! My head sticks out of bed out here!" ~ Dr. Seuss

I found this quote today and it made me smile. Sometimes I feel this way. My bed here has a headboard and a footboard and I am not used to that. If my toes need to hang over the end of the bed (as they sometimes do), it is not quite as possible because of the footboard.

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, 

Nothing is going to get better. It's not." ~ Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

To start off my thoughts on this quote is a shout-out to Angela, whose favourite book (at least favourite Dr. Seuss book) happens to be The Lorax. From there, I move on to more serious thoughts. Election thoughts, specifically, because those are what popped into my head as I read this today. I won't say much about it. I'm disappointed that the election is taking place while I'm away. I'm going to try to vote from afar, so we'll see how that goes; I know it's possible. I think the best way for me to explain what I'm thinking is to refer to a brief blog post that my brother Steve wrote. Steve and I have been talking quite a bit recently about all of this as he knows much more about politics than I do. I've been working on being a more informed voter for this election so that I will not be voting blindly. It's what I encourage you to do, as well (if you're Canadian, that is).  


April 2, 2011. Vimy Ridge. Rachel, April and Lynette. It was a good day. The sun was shining, the breeze was blowing, the sky was blue, and we headed out of Paris to visit this National Historic Site of Canada out in "the boonies" of northern France. I've included some photos below; it was indeed "opener, out there, in the wide, open air." We took the train to Arras, the city nearest to the site with a railway station. From there we took a bus to the small town nearby the site and we walked the rest of the way. It felt a little long (it was only 3 km) but that was mainly because we had no real idea of where we were going or how far 3 km actually was. It was so beautiful out, though, that the walk was just amazing. For the majority of it, we were walking along a forested area and so it was pleasant. I loved the day, so much. We were welcomed by smiling staff members who happen to be Canadian university students employed through Veterans Affairs Canada. We took a tour with one of the guides through the trenches and the "subway." We walked to the enormous memorial with the names of the lost soldiers of the First World War. We wandered through the Canadian cemetery, trying to wrap our minds around the sacrifices made, the lives lost, the horrors lived, and all that juxtaposed against a beautiful spring day. For someone who has never lived through a war and felt its immediate consequences, it's impossible for me to comprehend all that I saw. I remain thankful to those who have fought for the freedoms that I have, who are and were willing to sacrifice their lives in order that others may live, and convicted that I take so much in my life for granted.

 Self-explanatory?

Vimy Ridge, A National Historic Site of Canada (near Arras, France).

The monument is big. 

For more info about the actual monument, check out Veterans Affairs Canada.

"To the valour of their country-men in the Great War and in memory of their sixty thousand dead this monument is raised by the people of Canada."

"À la vaillance de ses fils pendant la Grande Guerre et en mémoire de ses soixante mille morts le peuple canadien a élevé ce monument."

"This sorrowing figure of a woman represents Canada -- a young nation 

mourning her dead." (quote taken from the Vimy Ridge pamphlet)

I found this ironic: daffodils blooming where war once defaced the ground.

"A soldier of the Great War...Known Unto God."

And it's only one of the cemeteries...

After Vimy I was able to go to Rachel's house (she's an au pair with a family, living in a banlieue) for a sleepover. It was good to spend a little time together as we don't see each other as often now that we are no longer roommates. On the Sunday, we found ourselves a little lost as to what to do with ourselves. The solution: card games. We played Crazy Eights (for the first time in how long?) and War (which brought to mind memories of playing it with Jessica). I haven't played card games like that in quite some time; we had fun. 


I am currently reading Love in the time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez. It is an excellently written book and continues to surprise me, especially since it is a translation, with the original text being written in Spanish. The vocabulary, the storyline and the formation of sentences has me intrigued and thoroughly enjoying myself.


And the final quote of the day from Seuss is one that has me thinking of the vacation time ahead of me. 

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go..." ~ Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!

We now have our spring break/Easter holidays/reading break which extends over the next two weeks, during which I will be spending time in both Scotland and Holland. Scotland will be a dream fulfilled and Holland will be a further adventure into the country of my origins and a furthering of my relationships with the family that I met over the Christmas holidays. 


I got a card in the mail this week from my parents with a nice note inside and (equally exciting?) was the piece of a Tim Horton's Roll Up The Rim To Win cup! Exciting stuff, I tell you. And that's that. We're down to a mere 51 days until my flight home and that thought runs through my head often; I find it both incredibly exciting and somewhat terrifying. I can't believe that we're here already yet I feel like it's taken so long to get this far. I feel like my life is so different and yet so much the same as when I left. It's a bizarre feeling. 


To my friends and family writing exams over the next few weeks, a couple words:
1) Please don't hate me. I know I'll be having a great time traveling while you're agonizing over your studies. Remember: I will have a month of school and exams still once you're finished, if that is any consolation.
2) Bon courage!


To everyone, blessings in this month of April, in the finishing of university or simply another semester, in the coming of spring, in the continued time of Lent, and in the remembrance and joyous celebration of Good Friday and Easter Sunday!


~Lynette