Catching Up #4

I am not sure if I will be able to post on this blog while I'm in Paris; all I will have is my iPhone.

During the days when I am not in the silent retreat ( March 7-15), I will be touring.

I have been pouring over Rick Steve's Paris:

and among other places, these are some I am aiming to visit:

Musee d'Orsay, the Impressionists museum

L'Orangerie,  home of Monet's waterlilies

The Pompidou Center, the contemporary art museum

La Sainte-Chapelle, for the stained glass

the church of Saint Sulpice, hopefully, for an organ concert

and then, just for fun,

the flower and bird market. Maybe I'll be able to bring home a birdhouse.

Catching up #3

Here is where I will be in Paris, this time tomorrow!   It's the street entrance to the Motherhouse of the Daughters of Charity, at 140 rue du bac.

The chapel is open to the public: it's the place where the Virgin Mary appeared to Saint Catherine Laboure in 1830, and where Catherine received the design for the Miraculous Medal:

I'll be praying here .

Here's a view of the Motherhouse, behind the chapel - not open to the public:

Catching Up #2

I am using this neat "app" called Duo Lingo to brush up on my French!   I studied French for five years, but that was fifty years ago!   This very interactive app is game-like and fun, and I am stumbling and occasionally sailing through it. Why am I doing this?

I am not teaching this semester; my one class was cancelled due to no enrollment! It was a section of Modernity, and it was scheduled from 2-3:15 T-Th. Other years I have taught it from 11-12:15, and it was always full to overflowing. The other afternoon session was cancelled too. Apparently the seniors who needed to take it got there first to register, and the juniors decided to wait until the fall. Athletes can’t do those afternoon sections… who knows? ( I will be back in the Fall, teaching two courses) Adjuncts don’t get sabbaticals, even though I’ve been teaching at the Mount for 18 years.

 But I am glad for this one. The cancelled class has turned out to be providential for me. For several years the community has invited me to make the annual International Retreat, but they ask so late that I had always already committed myself to teaching. Not so this time around! I’m taking extra time there, too, before and after the eight day silent retreat, which runs from March 7-15. The Motherhouse in Paris is at 140 Rue du Bac, around the corner from le Bonne Marche. It’s a huge old complex; once the chateau sized mansion of some aristocrat, after the Revolution, the Daughters moved in in 1810. So I plan to see the museums and neighborhoods of Paris, and do some writing as well. I hope to post some notes about this trip on either my blog or here.

So I have been working on DuoLingo pretty religiously.  I'll be staying at our Motherhouse.  People have told me "Don't worry: everybody over there speaks English!"  I reply:  "Not the French Daughters of Charity who live at our Motherhouse!"

Catching Up #1

On January 6 and January 13, I spent 8 hours each time in training to be a tutor with the Literacy Council of Frederick County, Maryland. Here is the photo of all the new tutors.  Now I am certified to teach someone how to read, and also to work with someone who is learning English as a second language.  The training and trainers were excellent; however, I know I need a good deal more practice before I am any good at it.  

I won't be able to start tutoring until April, though.  Other things have happened!