C'est les petites choses....It's the little things

I'm finding this statement to be the very reflection of my life in Ecully. I have found that almost every moment has some new twist and turn and my best chance navigating them is to find joy and peace in those SMALL THINGS. Every day, every hour is filled with examples. I will share a few.

The appliances arrived on Friday. Of the dishwasher, washing machine, and refrigerator only one appliance was installed with zero problems. The refrigerator. The following is a little scene from the delivery:

Scene One:
(Enter French only speaking delivery men)

After spending only two minutes in the kitchen

"Madam!!" (Jennifer enters kitchen and she begins the charades with French delivery men who are trying to tell her of the first problem - there are two caps that are sealing off the pipes. One is able to be removed, but the other cap is to tightly screwed and they fear breaking the pipe: Temporary Solution: We hook up the washing machine. I can live without a dishwasher, I can't live as well without clean clothes. Unresolved issue: Have dishwasher - is inoperable until I find a plumber to remove cap and hopefully not flood the apartment.)

Jennifer exits Kitchen

Two more minutes pass... "Madam!" (Jennifer enters kitchen and resumes charades with French delivery men. Problem two: There is no electrical outlet under the counter where the appliances are being installed. It will require an electrician to cut off the prong and then hardwire to the outlet. Temporary Solution: Run the electrical chord on top of washing machine and on top of the counter - chord draping all the way to the nearest electrical outlet. Unresolved issue: same problem for the inoperable dishwasher which is no problem NOW because it lacks any water source.)

Jennifer exits Kitchen

Two more minutes pass...."Madam!" (Seriously!!! I gather my wits and prepare to enter kitchen for round three of charades BUT....I am getting REALLY good at charades....Problem three. This charades required the delivery men to get a notepad and begin to draw pictures....NOPE not kidding. ISSUE: something about it was 8 o'clock and wait until 10 o'clock....I nodded and then signed the delivery slip, and they were gone.)

So...after they left, I go to look for the manuals. Yes, only in French, German, Italian, maybe even the Clicking language, or Swahili but FOR SURE no English instruction. Google is awesome....I looked up the manuals online. While I was looking through them trying to understand how to start the washer/dryer combo (still not entirely sure how to operate after three days because even the English is freaking confusing) Mike comes in (around 9 p.m.) and says lets plug in the refrigerator. OK. Plugged it in, and it is running. Great. Upon reading the instruction manual (again only found online) for the refrigerator I come upon a box with those REALLY IMPORTANT signs all over it. I read the warning. "Before plugging your refrigerator in, wait two hours to allow the coolant to properly adjust" (or something like that!) CRAP!! We waited only one hour!! Well, Mike and I go to bed and the refrigerator is still not cooling, and we just pray that it works. VOILA...in the morning it worked!! (SMALL THINGS #1)

The remainder of the night I spent putting together an IKEA table for the kitchen. It is a fancy table that has expansion leaves in them (not that we will be able to or have the need to EXPAND the table but because the table I had planned for all this time is apparently not stocked at MY IKEA, and it being my at least second choice it was the most aesthetically pleasing) and I put it together right the first time and didn't have to unscrew anything and all the bolts and pieces were there!!!! SMALL THINGS #2

Saturday: So busy, but again very productive. We continue to unpack blah blah blah, I take two trips to the Botanics (an upscale nursery, getting my balcony looking pretty with all my flowers was TOP priority to me as it gives me the ability to look at them and take a sign of happiness when I look at them) I plant my flowers and then begin to clean off the balcony from the months and months of neglect. So the only way to really clean the balcony (I would LOVE my power washer but alas it is in St. Louis) is to get buckets of water from the bathroom (2 buckets really) and pour them over the tiles and then use this squeegee mop thingy to push the water to one of like 6 holes in the balcony wall and then the water goes through those holes, out a PVC pipe that is about 6 inches long, and then it drops down the eight stories to the ground. Why is this important???? So after I am just finishing up, the door bell rings. I answer...."Bonjour"....(Enter Angry Apartment Owner from Down Wind apartment coming to let me have it for the water getting on his balcony...."It's a lot of water" says Angry Apartment Owner from Down Wind) Sometimes being le stupid Americain can be somewhat helpful. This was one of those times. He clearly speaks pigeon English, enough to ask me, very irritatedly, to stop with the water. I apologize, even though I know I have every right to clean my balcony, and he is just gonna have to suck it because that is one of the disadvantages of living down wind, I say in pigeon English that I'm sorry and that I'm done, bon soir, etc etc, and he leaves. But my balcony looks great, so after exchange with Angry Apartment Owner from Down Wind, I go out, look at my flowers and *Sigh*....beautiful planters girlfriend. SMALL THINGS #3

Other small things that I won't give a huge explanation:

SMALL THINGS #4 - Mike and I finding our way to Carrefour with our French Navigation (High Fives were given in the car several times)
SMALL THINGS #5 - Finding a pigeon English speaking attendant at the Carrefour who showed us how to apply for a Carrefour card....you know like you ALL have on your keyring to your favorite stores, your facilities card
SMALL THINGS #6 - Finding a non-English speaking guy in the produce isle that is good at charades who helped us scan our produce (you scan your produce and then you get a bar code showing the totals. This scanning is done only at the produce section NOT at the register)
SMALL THINGS #7 - Mike and I finding our way back to the apartment (more high fives)
SMALL THINGS #8 - some chocolate pastry thing that I got at the Patisserie where Mike and I bought our dinner sandwiches and I bought sweets to help take the edge off the crazy day.

So I know that you will want to know about church. Many small things there. They hold their services like Relief Society/Elders and then Sunday School, and then Sacrament. We found our way (SMALL THINGS #9 - add high fives), and believe it or not, they knew who we were. Well really not a surprise, that was sarcasm. When I sat down, the RS president found an English speaking sister who translated the lesson for me. One thing that I realized yesterday was that while I was sitting in RS, I had these tears that came (just to the eyes, they didn't spill over) and I realized that you really can feel the spirit even though you have no idea what is being said. After an hour or two of these tearful moments I began to realize that it is because you are completely humbled and vulnerable and the spirit is just stronger. This whole experience so far has been a humbling one and every single second I feel vulnerable. We have the Stake President in our ward and he sat behind Mike and I and translated EVERY SINGLE WORD of Sunday School (he is VERY YOUNG and his wife is Natashia very kind, also English speaking, she served a mission in Washington DC.) For Sacrament meeting, we had headsets where the meeting is translated by young adults. SMALL THINGS #10-12.

Today was another day of some frustrations. But I'm trying not looking at those but trying to focus on SMALL THINGS. BUT I must add that I went to the Darty (France's Best Buy Electronics store) I cannot find an oven to fit the SMALL space in my kitchen. I had Isabelle on the phone while I was looking through the store. When I found a sales associate, I just handed him the phone and Isabelle did my talking!! Apparently the opening doesn't even meet the STANDARD size so we have calls into the relocation person. Isabelle (Mike's amazing assistant) is like a bulldog. She is mad that we are having all these issues and she is about to light someone up!!!! SMALL THINGS #12-13 (Having someone to fight your battles for you!!)

When I arrived back to the apartment this afternoon (no need to add but I will, that getting to the Darty and the Carrefour are almost old hat for me and I no longer have them in my SMALL THINGS category, but my I'VE ALMOST MASTERED category) I just was looking out the windows of my cute little apartment at the amazing views and it just almost takes your breath away. I hope never to put the beautiful views and scenery in my I DON'T EVEN NOTICE ANYMORE category but always hold in my SMALL THINGS.

May we all find those SMALL THINGS.....