Fair Paris

Mandy,

you've landed. I'll bet you are scared. i sure as heck was. picture
how i must have looked lugging around my camping backpack, my carry on
and this giant shrink wrapped box that would resemble a bike only to
those who were around to see it wrapped - to everyone else it looks
like I Saran wrapped the front door of my house.

picture that, have a chuckle, and enjoy the wonderful sites around you.

i don't know if you did this in D.R when you were there, but that
fat guy did it with us; I've proceeded to do the same exercise every
time i go to a new environment.

listen. just sit and listen. absorb the sounds around you.

everything will seem alien. everything will seem odd. everything will
sound out of context. this is your new home. remember, write down if
possible, how you feel right now, what you think of this new place,
what you expect will happen to you over the next seven months. write
down the different sounds you hear: the cabs, the dog barking, the
gentle hum of conversation of the people passing by, the birds, the
buses, the sounds that i can't label because i don't hear them.

when you go to leave this country in seven months revisit this
exercise. you will be surprised what you think, fell and hear the
second time around. you will hear everything with a new set of ears,
everything you heard on your first day off the plane will have a new
context and you will be able to go back to the time you spent in
France via a sound or smell.

i miss you. i am excited for you. i am nervous for you.

i am praying for you.

make good choices.

--bbb