L'avenir

I love having theological and philosophical discussions, and this morning, we had a great one.  We talked about "l'avenir", the future.  We read some quotes by philosophers and writers such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and Albert Einstein.  We talked about having control over somethings in our lives, but not others.  We talked about the will of God and choice.  We talked about who knows the future and about not worrying about the future.  We talked about the certainty of some things, such as the return of Christ, and the uncertainty of others, such as what will I be doing in 5 years?  

I love having these discussions but they do give my brain a workout.  And this morning not only was it a topic that involved some thinking, it was all in French!  My brain feels like it ran a half marathon.  

I think I need a nap.

What language learning feels like on a daily basis

So, with my limited vocabulary I've had numerous 30 second - 2 minute conversations in the past few weeks and thus creating numerous "big gulp" moments. I guess the fact that I was a nerdy engineer in the U.S. has somewhat helped me prepare.

Picture of the week - Joy

I decided to start a new category, Picture of the week blogs.  Time will tell if  it actually comes every week or not, but we'll try.

After eating all of her dinner, Addie got some bread with "that stuff" on it!

We live in Paris!...

...and we have pictures to prove it!  Wednesday we hopped on the train and headed into Paris with some new friends of ours from school.  We live in a southern suburb, so it was about a 15 minute walk and a 20 minute train ride to the city.  We went to a bookstore where are I bought a real French dictionary (meaning the definitions are in French too!) I was a little disappointed when I asked the lady where to find the specific dictionary in my best French and her answer was "Downstairs."  Guess I'll have to keep working on the accent.  The rest of the day we spent walking around the city and seeing the sights.

We didn't go in the Louvre this time (we'll save that for a date without Addie:)) but here we are at the really cool entrance.

We of course had to go to McDonalds while we were there.  And wouldn't you know that the "Big" sandwich was described as the "taste of America returns." (at least I think that's what it says, it's only week 2)

And who can be in Paris without seeing the Eiffel Tower.

The first train stop for us in the city is right here in front of Notre Dame (well, it stops it seems like 3 stories and a maze of stairs below, but we finally found our way up to the surface).

And here are Addie and her new friend Elias (she has discovered that she knows 2 Elias' now!) on the metro.

And if you are wondering why we went into Paris on a Wednesday, it is because they have this wonderful schedule here of 2 days on, one day off, 2 days on, 2 days off!  Even the kids have Wednesdays off school.  We really like it and hope to be able to use those days to keep doing cultural things and using our French.

I have plenty of experience in guessing at the answers, this is my first experience of having to guess at the questions also

I can now preach in French. . . . sort of

A very nice aspect of the school here is that they teach us biblical vocabulary (slightly important for me as a future Bible college professor). One way in which they do this is by having students lead in chapel. I am in the second level of the beginners and my class meets with the first level of beginners for chapel on Monday. Well, someone in the second level had to give the first "sermon" and with only 4 students in the class, I got it.

You might be wondering, exactly what can a student preach on who has a very limited vocabulary and only knows the present and past tense. Answer, possibly your dream sermon. One point and about one minute long.

I had no idea how to do the altar call at the end.

Silence...????

We have been told that sometimes, when young kids enter a new culture where a new language is spoken, that they will stop talking altogether for awhile.  It seems like they just need to figure out what is going on, and then they will get back to normal.  So we came to France prepared...but didn't have to worry :)  The only time there is silence around here is when Addie is sleeping.  Just tonight, she had to go to the bathroom and was chatting a little too much to concentrate on what she was doing, so I left her alone.  As soon as I walked out the door, I hear her yell, "Mommy, I need some privacy!" over and over again, followed by "Are you giving me some?"  Hmmm, I'm not sure she quite gets the concept of privacy yet :)

Thanks for praying for her.  Her transition has been going really well.  It has actually helped me in knowing that she likes it here.  She loves our new apartment, her new toys that she received from a little girl who just left here, and is getting to love the nursery that she is in 4 days a week.  God really knew what he was doing when he gave her to us.  She brings so much joy to us every day.  I'm not sure we would survive this without her!

Our apartment

Happy Birthday to our favorite person in the whole world!

Addie and I just wanted to wish Daddy a Happy Birthday!  We love you!

Are you as smart as a 5th grader?

After today, I sure don't feel like it.

Part of our required reading before we came here mentioned that what often causes culture shock is not necessarily any one overwhelming aspect about the new culture, but that so many little things are now different. It seems like that right now as nothing has been incredibly difficult, but nothing is easy. 

I especially feel this in class right now and today was only the first day. Typically, in every class I've been in or sermon I've listened to, I can take a 1 minute (sometimes longer) mental break and pick back up without missing much. Today, I had a few times where I took a 10 second mental break and then have the teacher ask, "Do you comprehend?" To which, I must honestly say, "I have no idea." We also did an exercise where we had to spell and pronounce the names of other countries in French and I realized, I only know the correct french spellings of a few countries in the whole world. That left me wondering if I could even compete on a French version of "are you smarter than 1st grader?"

Needless to say, my brain hurt at the end of class today worse than it ever has.

The adventure of grocery shopping

I thought since I had taken French before and can sort of get by in simple conversations that the grocery store would be no problem here!  Well, it has been a little overwhelming to say the least, but we haven't starved yet (thanks to hot dogs and "Tennessee" hot dog buns).

A few things that have made us smile though...

Apple juice that actually tastes like apples!  I never noticed that apple juice just tastes like sugar until I had it here,  where there is actually an apple flavor!

Baguettes and Nutella...need I say more?

And in the "Ethnic Food" Aisle?  Tex-Mex and Pepperidge Farm Chocolate Chunk Cookies!

I'm still trying to figure out the cheese section though...can't seem to find the American or cheddar.  Oh well, I'm sure someone will culture me soon enough.

And just an extra to make you smile!

We're here!

We're here, we're tired, we still haven't finished unpacking, but yes, we will get pictures up soon, just give us a few days :)

A funny story...we thought we were doing pretty good last night, got Addie to bed about 8, we went to bed then too, thought we might sleep through the night and get over jet lag soon.  Well, Addie decided it was just a nap and was up in our room at 11:30 which led to some late night playing with toys and then Shrek at 2:30!  Thankfully she only made it about 1/2 an hour.  Hopefully tonight goes a little more smoothly.

"Leeeeaaavin' on a jet plane...."

In 12 hours we will be on a plane headed to France! (via Chicago).  We are so excited to finally be on our way to prepare ourselves for ministry in Senegal.  Please pray for the next few days as we travel and settle in to our new apartment in France and then begin school on Monday.  Hopefully our next post will be from Paris!!!!