07 February, 2011

67 Rue de Belleville; Beaucoup de Langues

(That's ^ my address for now. If you would write me, which I would love, be sure to send to "JEM Paris (attn: Hannah Birkeland)" as my name is not on the post box. Also the zip is 75019. So here's the spot, in its entirety:

JEM Paris (Attn: Hannah Birkeland)
67 Rue de Belleville
Paris, France
75019

Right now as I write this, my roommate Marthe is running around our room on the phone with her mother, laughing and shouting in Dutch, her native tongue. In the hallway, Kindra (another flatmate) and Richard (our visitor of the week) are joking in Spanish, as the former is from Spain and the latter is from Venezuela. Ida is in the kitchen, and though she is quiet tonight, she is often heard speaking her native tongue of Norwegian, as she hails from Norway.
(my room)
Can you believe how rich this environment is? I am surrounded so intimately by such different cultures...we all have so much to learn from each other. Around Belleville (my "village" so-to-speak here in Paris) I have been doing my best to keep up with the French. Due to the beautiful and illuminating diversity I am surrounded by in my flat, I don't hear a lot of French when I'm sitting at home (which does not happen frequently). This has definitely saved me from that immediate head-ache that I find always accompanies one's first bit of time in a foreign country, where the native tongue is not one's own. But that being said, improving my French is a significant intention of mine whilst here, so I sort of wish for the head-ache. Lucky for me, Claire (I'll introduce her in the following paragraph) is from Paris, so she speaks perfectly clear and articulate French, and I have asked her to speak to me in French as much as she can remember when we are together. Already in our two days of time together she has taught me more than she knows.(the view from my bedroom window)

I am here for loads of reasons, all of which are derived from the fact that I simply am (there's that abstract brain-vomit...*refer to post #1). My primary duty right now is to take care of Lilia, the 19-month-old daughter of Jono and Claire Bevan, the couple that are in charge of Kiwizine (the community-operated restaurant/art-gallery that brought me here). This will be my main responsibility for the next three months, at which point the Bevans will be moving to Vietnam and my duties will clearly change. Thus, my secondary duty for the time being is to be trained by Claire, to replace Claire for the period in which she is not here. I am excited about this, as Kiwizine is just fabulous and I absolutely feel at home being a part of it. But there are definitely nerves associated with this as well, considering I will be the main person serving and dealing with our customer's questions (about the food, the cafe, our group, etc.)...all of whom only speak French. Oh la la!
Jono is Claire's husband, and he has already become a dear friend to me. From New Zealand, he has come from a whole other culture, but gets on here in Paris quite naturally. Jono is an excellent chef, and is the leader of all the goings-on of JEM Paris. At this point I am not quite sure who will step up for his role when they depart...

I do not have much else to report about the experience so far. I have been here only three and a half days, so there is a whole lot more to come.

As far as my psycho-spiritual analysis of the situation and my new life here, well of course there has been a lot of that ;)
Immediately upon my arrival I was struck by a feeling of lonesomeness that definitely surprised me. Not because I think I'm above feeling lonely, for I have definitely spent my fair share of time in solitude, but simply because I have never experienced the emotions that would naturally accompany a move such as I just made. It was a pretty intense consciousness to be made aware of that huge 4,000 mile gap, which separates me from everyone who knows me. A couple nights ago I couldnot sleep, and after the standard methods of attempting it (counting sheep/counting blessings, reading a book, writing a journal entry, mindlessly surfing Facebook, chatting with loved ones), I found myself still wide awake at 4:30am. My last resort (I don't know why I always wait last minute to do what I know will work) was to do my dance practice. I did an hour-long dance, in the dark, in my apartment, with the windows open, watching people walk through the street (NO idea what they were all doing out at 4:30...maybe same as me?) and started to feel better. Grounding myself is near impossible (in my life, so of course in my dance), but as there are four other people living in this apartment, and these floor boards creak like they're doing a dance on their own, I was literally FORCED to keep my feet in one spot, whilst my upper body did its natural chaos dance. If anyone could have seen it, it must have been entertaining to say the least, but therapeutic for me.

Through the embodiment and sequencing that occurs whenever I enter into the dance, I was able to come back to myself, and remember that really, I am home.

This temple is my home, and that memory is the greatest comfort my Creator has given me.

Things are always a stitch difficult for a while, in every new place I find myself.

Before long, I adjust.
I fall in love easily.
Then the time comes to return "home", and though I'm usually ready, I always know I'll miss this most recent place and way of life intensely.

It has become clear that no matter what I do or where I go, I will be more than taken care of; more than satisfied.
(view from the park across my street)

(l'entree of my first night at the restaurant)
(I got to snip and gut all these little guys)
(and the finished product !)

(this is the kitchen of Kiwizine)
(this is Kiwizine)


5 comments:

  1. ok first of all ...why am I the only one leaving comments....don't people know that bloggers thrive on comment love???
    2nd. I would PAY to have seen you doing your chaos dance without your feet moving...I really hope one of your roommates later confesses to have seen some if not all of it!
    3rd I miss ya, but I'm so happy you're there.
    ♥-b

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  2. A chaos dance while gutting fish would be awesome, and quite a draw throughout Europe I would think.
    Thanks for posting Sweet Lee

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  3. Finally got a chance to check out your blog since Bekah and the babies just left this morning. Now I can devote a bit more time to keeping up with you, emails, work, bible study, etc. etc. etc. So happy to hear that things are going better since our early morning chat during you brief period of homesickness. I love you my dear one.

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  4. Hi dear! I so enjoyed reading your entry from Paris. I am amazed at how well you write. Your cousin will be jealous when she reads this. We were talking today about how she is struggling in her college writing class with thinking what to write about. It just seems to flow so smoothly from you. I would have loved to see your dance too. Lol How wonderful that you can find peace that way. It will be wonderful all that you can experience while you're there. I am amzed at your courage. We miss you sweetie. Love and hugs, Auntie Lisa

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