Jenn in France

It's that time of the week - injecting a little geographic exploration into an otherwise sedentary life.

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My sister Jenn made it to France! She just moved from Indonesia - quite the series of flights. With a cat, no less. She'll be staying with Mom and stepdad for awhile until she figures out her next move - in France somewhere doing something.

I have fond memories of hanging out in France and Europe with Jenn. Way back when, oh about 15 years ago, we went on a trip there - just before I went to grad school.

On our flight over there we were crammed into our seats waiting for dinner. The steward comes by and says "chicken or beef". Jenn's reply "the chicken, how is that prepared?". His response "it's airline food, it's microwaved". Gotta love her gift for conversation.

During the flight over I come to find out that shen had not really ever traveled alone in Europe, without our parents. By this time I had backpacked around Europe with little money and had done quite well (I survived!). I would show her how to read the Eurail schedule and she would duly chase after departing trains - demonstrated by the time when such a thing occurred as we ran around the Bern bahnhof and leapt onto a moving train. Like something out of a movie. Only nothing romantic about it.

We learned that we could both communicate in French. Both. As in together. She would ask the questions and I would listen for the answers. This worked quite well, except one short bus trip where the driver didn't cooperate with our little 2-person act. So we ended up seeing the town twice. No big loss, it was very pretty.

Her gift for languages was also evident on a trip to Italy. Her love of food, sense of style, and appreciation of art were in abundance. As well as her ability to mix up words. While she had nailed down "please!" she couldn't quite recall the difference between "door" and "check". My follow up was "we'd like the check first please. And then we'll go out your door."

And since our first travels together she has been to more places, and lived in more countries than I ever will. I like to think I was her teacher. And now I'm her student.