Much to Say, But..

As you probably were not aware, I have recently completed a week and a half of vacation. France has long school breaks. I spent most of this vacation sorting through information, especially pictures, that has buried itself in the memory of computer for the past 4 years. I also sorted through actual papers and "junk" that has been not-so-subtly accumulating in my little room for the past year and a half. In the end I have a mild sense of having escaped from unwanted baggage- and in the process also "escaped from" week and a half of my life.

I did almost nothing memorable that whole time, except for one good adventure where I got myself lost in the neighboring town. That was a good afternoon of biking. The sun was setting so I headed back home- or so I thought. Then I arrived at a train station that was a long distance in the opposite direction from my school. How did that get there? I still got home before dark, though, so it wasn't too exciting.

Last night as I was walking out of our local mega grocery store I saw a poster for a 7K happening in our very own park on the 14th. That reminded me of how I haven't even run in the past week, so hermit-like have I been in my room. It ticked me off. So, in spite of the dark, I went for a run. I don't know if I will run that 7K or not. I still need to buy new running shoes (now more than ever!) but I just can't make myself spend that kind of money.

Okay... I wasn't planning to write anything that I just wrote. In the middle of this muddled week I have nevertheless been doing some really good reading. First in the Bible, where I have been working through Hosea. I have seen some really interesting things there but I am a little hesitant to post them here because, well, I am fallible and I might be wrong.

Second, I have been reading "Pilote de guerre" (War Pilot) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It is well written and I therefore do not mind having to look up an average of 4 words per page. I would highly recommend reading it (in English if you can't do the French). It is not the typical "Yay, isn't it heroic being a pilote?" story. Rather, it is all of the internal thoughts and feelings of an eloquent French pilot as he embarks on a seemingly useless mission in the already-lost war against the technologically and strategically superior Nazis. Yet it isn't as depressing as that summary makes it sound. It is just realistic and very human. Most of his thoughts are not related to the war, but rather what it means to be human.