Hey guys, I am sitting here in the lycée's computer/language room as always, listening to my favorite radio station from home (US99, of course)! I always feel so great when I listen to this station. It's a way to make myself feel better when I am homesick, which has been happening way too often recently. It is so nice to hear a Midwestern accent, they aren't really common here.
Yesterday night, my good friend Sarah invited me to go to a bible study with her, because it was in a synagogue!!!! Unbelievable, huh? For those who do not know, I am not a very religious Jew, but I am very culturally Jewish because I am from a very Jewish Chicagoan neighboorhood. The idea of going to a synagogue really excited me, so I agreed. We had trouble finding it at first (why is it that French people always make directions sound easy but they are always oh-so complicated?), but after about 15 mins of walking around the area where it was supposed to be, we asked a guy and he was able to tell us where it was. We finally found it a few minutes later.
I don't know why, but I can always tell when a person is Jewish. At first, I didn't sense any Jews there, so I was kinda disappointed. They opened up the synagogue, and we were sitting in one of the rooms in the synagogue. It was so cool, it had lots of pictures of Israel up and lots of other Jewish type things. So neat to see after 7 months of no Jewishness whatsoever. Then a rabbi came in the room, and one of the people we had been talking to outside told him that I was "de sa confession" (of his faith), and he came towards me and introduced himself. Then, I told him that I was indeed Jewish and very happy to be in a temple, since I hadn't seen one in 7 months. He told me to follow him, because he had something to show me.
He led me to a room next to the one we were previously in, and it was the "worshipping area" of the synagogue. It's from 1882, and so beautiful. I may go back there to take photos. He told me about the history of the synagogue and about when there are services (every Sat. night and Sunday morning), and invited me to join them. He then showed me a wall where there were different plaques, one for each Chalonnais (person from Chalon) who was a Jew and who was killed during the Holocaust. There were about 20 plaques. I told him about my grandparents and he was very interested in my story. He once again said that I should join them for services, and I think I may give it a try this weekend. It would be a good way to meet French Jews, and it may be a way to finally feel like I am a part of this town.
After we were done there, we went out for a drink and Kristen joined us. We went to a bar/café which is across from their place, and we ended up getting quite happy and speaking lots of French to everyone who was there. There was a girl there, who is about my age, and she began speaking English to us. Her English was so good, so I asked her how she learned. She said that she lived in the States for 3 years. I asked her where and turns out she lived literally 10 minutes from me, and that she is also Jewish. I just couldn't believe it, and still don't. Anyway I spent most of the night talking to this girl, both in English and French, and she's invited us to go out with her on St. Pattys day next Monday. Pretty exciting that we have plans with French people for a bar night!!
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