Nancy, Francy

Two weekends ago I visited Lorraine, France for the first time, where I tried gray wine, attended a 15-hour wedding, and stayed in a village smaller than my high school graduating class (or my middle school one, for that matter). My good friend Anne is from there, and I was excited to finally visit where she's from (we all kinda wondered what kind of place produced her... ;) ) It was an experience! Anne and I met when we were both volunteering in Belgium in 2009/2010 and she is one of my favorite people. She is always positive, smiling, and just herself, regardless of what anyone might think. I need that in my life, so I am thrilled when I have the chance to spend time with her. We always have fun together and each time I hope that her spirit will rub off on me.

Belgium 2010. EVS: become an angel in just 6 months...or just become nuts!

The first place Anne showed me was Nancy, France. Nancy is the head of its department, Meurthe-et-Moselle and one of the two most important cities of the Lorraine region. It was the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine, which coincidentally used to include parts of Luxembourg, making it easy and quick to get there from where I live. In 1766, France annexed Lorraine and they've been enjoying baguettes ever since. Having belonged to a variety of empires and rulers, Nancy has a distinct and sophisticated flavor. I enjoyed seeing this city very much!

 National Opera of Lorraine

 

Poseidon. And Anne.

 

It's France. Arc de Triomphs are a 10 Euro cent a dozen.

Anne and I enjoyed dinner, drinks, and carnival! Coincidentally the spring fair was going on, so I got to witness Nancy from the top of a Grande Roue (Ferris wheel). I genuinely had a fantastic time hanging out in this city; that girl always makes me laugh!

 


The next day we drove to where Anne's actually from: a cluster of tiny villages which make up the 'Toulois' community. Her village, Manoncourt-en-Woëvre, has a population of 211. Since Anne, her two brothers, and I were in town for the wedding, the population soared to 215. The area is so beautiful! Anne knows the different villages very well because she went to schools in many of them, as there aren't enough children in each village to make up an entire school, and she was happy to give me a tour of the area. 

Seeing the region and tasting their unique 'gray wine' wasn't the main focus of my weekend in Lorraine. That was the wedding! I had only ever been to a Jewish (and American) wedding, so I was really looking forward to this event. It was SUCH a lovely affair. It was laid back, celebratory, and full of life.

Before...

after!!

It started at 3:30pm at the town hall, where as many people as possible crammed into the tiny upstairs and witnessed the couple saying their "oui's." Then we all drove to the venue where we munched on hors d'oevres, drank wine, and chatted (en français) for a few hours. The caterer was late, so dinner wasn't until around 9 or 9:30. And by dinner, I mean for all the meat eaters (everyone but me). I waited until the cheese platter afterward and paired that up with the dinner rolls. At least it was good cheese!!

Where I'm from, people usually start leaving weddings any time after dinner is over. Most stay for dancing, but it's socially acceptable to bow out at any point after dessert (who would leave before dessert? Nobody at a Jewish wedding).  1am rolled around and everyone was still there, even the grandparents. I was falling asleep at the table (I was having a great time, but my back meds make me sleepy), but kept saying to myself 'ok, if the 80-year-olds can do this I can do this...' Some older people started leaving after 1:30 and I myself made it to 3 before one of Anne's brothers offered to drive me home. The party was still hopping at that point, nearly 12 hours later!

There is a special wedding tradition in this area, and while I was not able to stay up to witness it, I enjoyed Anne's recounting and photos (which I have stolen for my blog. Merci, ma cherie). Around 4am, the bride and groom leave the wedding to hide in the village. Then about an hour later, the wedding guests all go around the village to essentially play hide-and-seek. They knock on people's doors to wake them up and ask if the couple is there. Then, once the couple is found, they all eat. First they eat out of a chamber pot containing melted chocolate and bananas (yes, it's meant to look gross!) and then everyone has breakfast or a snack together. On this occasion, someone had eaten all the bananas, so carrots had to suffice, and then the party ate (French) onion soup. Even though I missed being there, I felt honored to learn about this unique tradition.   
 

I always enjoy seeing where my friends are from- meeting their family, seeing their routes to school(s), and chatting with their old friends. I learn more about each of them in 2 days in their hometown than I feel like I do in 2 years of knowing them. I not only had a fantastic time in Lorraine, but I got to know Anne better, and that is priceless to me. As I'm getting ready to go home in a couple weeks, I'm quite reflective of my home and hometown. In the past year, I've been from Long Island to Germany to tour my friends' backgrounds. I would love the chance to show my friends where I'm from, but it's a bit of a trek for most of them. Maybe I'll end up blogging about the place I never thought was terribly exciting just to share that part of me. Now that would be a tricky post to write! Either way, I had a wonderful time with my dear Anne and I can't thank her enough for being a great friend, hostess, and crazy woman. 

Until next time,

VB

p.s. On a totally unrelated note, I wrote my first press release at work this week! Click here :)

Count Your Blessings

As always, I feel I have too much going on and too little time to write about it. This week has been particularly notable, so I'm glad I have the chance to sit down, reflect, and share. I'm still figuring out the balance of work, productive time, me time, and social life, but hopefully that shall improve as my time here progresses.


Work is going well. A couple weeks ago I was able to meet with the Red Cross' International Department and I find the work they do really interesting. The Benelux Red Crosses (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg...aka all the random countries in which I have chosen to live) have a Shelter Research Unit that researches the way shelters are/should be built in the most disadvantaged and vulnerable countries in order to compile information that assists NGOs, governments, and other organizations who want to construct shelters after disasters. They do awesome work that should be helpful all over the world to many people, however they have no native English speakers to look over their all-English work. They are very happy to have my help! It's an awesome feeling that I can, in some small way, help those who need it most. Additionally, in reading over these reports and translating presentations into English, I'm learning a lot about what they do and what is required in humanitarian aid. Not bad for volunteering.


Working for the Red Cross reminds me of people in need all around me (yes, even in Luxembourg), and it's a wonderful feeling/blessing to know that my work assists them, even if my part is ever so slight. In helping the International Department, I've found that my appreciation for my blessings has increased, or at least been on the forefront of my mind more. I spend all week reading about the very basic structures that people are happy to call home in poor, disaster-prone parts of the world, and see pictures of what people use as houses before they are given a proper shelter. It not only breaks my heart, but it makes me so much more appreciative for what I have. My landlord might be a few weeks behind in fixing the drain in my shower, but I have plumbing (and electricity) so I really can't complain. I may have gotten a roommate this week (to my chagrin, but he's quiet and clean so far), but we aren't living in a one- or two-room home. 


Furthermore, I was reminded this week how precious life is. I learned that my best friend from 8-11 grade (13-17 years old) passed away over the weekend from oral cancer. I didn't even know she was sick. One year ago life was fine and normal by her, and then last June she learned she had stage 4 cancer. How cruel. I hadn't really talked with her for about ten years, but she was a big part of my life; we became teenagers together. We went to the mall to try on dresses, did each others makeup for homecoming, wrote letters all summer long while we were at different camps, and argued over who got to be which Backstreet Boy when we sang their latest hit. We gushed about our first boyfriends, shared Seventeen magazines, and obsessed over Dawson's Creek. She was the first best friend I ever had. She didn't make it to 27.


It's easy to forget how much different people shape your life and to take them and their role for granted. I don't think she knew what she meant to me because our friendship disappeared, and we probably hadn't thought about each other much over the past decade. It's not like we as humans sit down and think of who was a part of our lives and what that has meant to us. But now I'm in a very reflective place where I'm thinking to all the good friends I had, all the people who I grew up with and had some sort of influence in my life. I count them as blessings because for better or worse they're a part of who I am today. I'm going to visit the States in a few weeks, and I think instead of trying to actively avoid most people I know there (which is my mission when in Detroit), I might take the time to see and talk to some people. Even if we're not friends now, we've made a difference in each others lives.


People are blessings, life is precious, and I just pray for her family. May she always be in peace.

xoxo
VB