These past few days have been pretty wonderful. I've been staying in communion with God, keeping busy, meeting people from all over the world. Including England, Canada, and I even met a man who spends half the year in Saint Etienne, and half the year on the Ivory Coast.

I took Cam's advice to go places I normally wouldn't go and do things I normally wouldn't do. On thursday I met up with my friend Rosina at a Café in the southern part of the City (I spend most of my time in the northern end). I walked right past it the first time so It took a little longer than expected, but I finally made it there. When I got there, I got to speak english which was nice. Rosina asked me what I wanted to drink, and I said "suprise me" (I've been saying that a lot lately) She came back with a Juice Cocktail based around the Hubiscus flower. It was strange and tasty. yep.

Then I started talking to the guy I was sitting next to, Sadly, I don't remmember his name, but he was a wicked cool dude. He studies languages, and is currently studying the local dialect of Saint Etienne. He's from a small town that's about a 10 minute drive from Saint Etienne, Rochetaillée. He inivted us to go down and visit the town. Rosina and I looked at each other with the "Oh man, I really want to, but it's 10:45" look, but we decided to go.

another good decision. On the way we listened to Irish music, including an Irish Pub Cover of Ring of Fire, by Johnny Cash. We also listened to a gaelic lesson on CD. I forgot to write the name of it down, Sorry Josh.
Rochetaillée is a tiny little village with streets that are too narrow for Cars to drive. There is a huge Castle there where Catholics and protestants warred against each other. Rosina Commented on How awesome God is that there has been a weekly Ecumenical prayer service going on for over 20 years just north of that palce in Saint Etienne (I got to go on wednesday, and will continue to as often as I am able). We walked around for about 20 minutes and the three of us just talked about travel, languages, and the crazy stereotypes that people have about people in different countries.

When we were getting ready to leave. One of the guy's friend's was standing in his doorway and said hello. Our new friend told him that we weren't from france so the guy invited us in for a few minutes. When he heard I was american, he got really excited. So we stood there and everyone else talked for a while. Rosina Translated some. It was kind of cool. a story about customs issues and other such adventures. They were part of a traveling theater group. so they had mock weapons. I guess that gets hairy when you travel over country borders..

Then we left and headed back to Saint Etienne. It was definitely a good night. I have all my clocks set to 24 hour time. It was weird getting in at 0:46 haha.