We are currently enjoying a little repose from school. The schedule from school can be pretty hectic with our school homework and projects, in addition to the children and their homework. Our language school takes these breaks whenever the public schools let the children off, which involves a 2 week break about every 6-8 weeks. We enjoy this time to rest and catch up on some of our administrative work. We also try to take the time to explore a little bit, which also gives us opportunities to use our French. This break, we have enjoyed having a few visitors, which included Natasha's sister Tiffany and her husband Brian. Also, we are excited to welcome some dear friends (The Viger's) this week. One of our little adventures took us to Beaufort, a little town up in the mountains that makes some wonderful cheese. The French take their cheese very seriously, and Beaufort cheese is a very good one. I wish we could add the smell to this picture for you all to experience. It's part of the reason Ahni doesn't look to thrilled in this picture. She doesn't like "stinky cheese." This particular tour was very interesting, but of course completely in French. It gave us a good exercise and challenge trying to translate it into french for our visitors.
This region is also known for it's natural beauty, and people love to come here from all over for hiking. The cows graze up in these mountain and that leads to different flavors for the cheese at different times of the year (the type of grass and flowers consumed makes all the difference). Currently it's Fall here, but there will soon be snow at this altitude, and the cows will be moved inside barns for the winter. You can see Mount Blanc, one of the highest point in Europe, in the distance which has snow on it year round.
We want to try and update you on what language school looks like for us at this point. We are in our third trimester, so we are among the upperclassmen (a somewhat scary thought). In fact, this fall a whole new group of students arrived. One of the families who arrived is also headed to northern Togo, the Wreesman's. It has been very enjoyable getting to know them better, and we look forward to doing this for many more years to come. Stephen is a family practice doctor, so they will be living on the hospital compound a couple of houses down from ours.
Our coursework involves a lot more practice and use of what we have already learned in the form of discussions, writing, watching films, and reading. It's great to be entering the application phase, but it might not be quite as you'd imagine. For example, before the movies we go over the some of the vocabulary for the film. Then while watching the movie we are trying to pick out these phrases, and put them into context. Next, we follow it all up with a discussion about various topics from the film. While it's great to be at the point we can watch movies and understand a little, it's not the same as watching a movie in our mother tongue. It seems to take a lot of brain power and effort to listen carefully and decode what's being said within the context of what we are seeing in the movie.
Our current reading assignment over break is to read a classic french novel, written by Marcel Pagnol a famous french author. Natasha and I have also started meeting with language partners to focus specifically on speaking. This seems to be one of the biggest challenges for us, putting all the grammar and rules we have learned in the classroom into the various topics of conversation that arise. We make a lot of mistakes, but we are learning from them. It's one of the things the Lord continues to use to teach us about humility.
Clubs are very important and common here in France. There seems to be a club for everything, from scrapbooking and movie club to curling, archery and every other sport imaginable. We are strongly encouraged to join at least one club as an avenue to building relationships and using our French. Bryce has had a chance to play basketball as part of a club here in Albertville. Last year he just practiced with the guys one night per week, but this year he decided to play with them competitively. It's been a lot of fun for him, and he has been learning some different vocabulary as well. When they are giving strategy or ideas, it's quite challenging. He is thankful for their graciousness to repeat it, or some times explain differently, or slower whatever was said. They can probably tell from the look on his face that he didn't understand. Natasha has also joined a club that offers various workout/aerobic classes. She has enjoyed the challenge of step aerobics with at least 40 other french women each week.
We are often asked about our kids. They are doing well. Just like us, they have their good days and bad days with school and with the language. They haven't picked up the language quite as fast as we had imagined or been told. However, they have really made strides as of late. Just the other day, Sofia relayed a brief message that our neighbors had asked her in French. We were impressed that she had mostly understood and responded appropriately, in order to relay a message to us.
Prayer requests:
Our family
We are making steady progress in learning French, but learning is sometimes slower and more challenging than we would like. Please pray for our stamina, mental, physical and relational health during this time. This past month we have had some sick kids and adults. We praise God for our good health last winter. We were able to avoid many of the colds that other students and families experienced.
Our team
There are many needs for medical professionals. Please pray with us this month for nurses. There were several nurses that went to Togo for 1-2 years to help open the hospital, who have started to leave. They played a very important role in the ministry there. Now there is a need for more nurses, especially until the graduation of the first class of Togolese nurses in Mango in a few years. If you are a nurse, or know a nurse who might be interested in being a part of what God is doing in Togo, please contact us.
