A little story about Josiah’s recent field trip was published in the local paper and Josiah appears in the picture. Pretty neat:
Josiah’s school published a story on their website about the field trip. You can read more here (in French). Josiah appears in one of the pictures (same one as the newspaper it looks like).
Brian had the pleasure of being able to go with Josiah to a school field trip last Friday. Josiah’s class of 4th and 5th graders (CM1 and CM2 here in France) visited a steel mill and a dairy farm to learn about the processing and manufacturing of raw materials here in our region. It was very informative and I was able to translate much of it for Josiah. We had a sack lunch (un pique-nique) along the way. Here are a few pictures:
Very exciting being inside the cow shed. Many of the children didn’t think it smelled very good.
Josiah had to wear safety gear to go into the steel mill.
I also noticed a couple interesting things which probably wouldn’t have happened on an American elementary field trip:
First, the adult chaperones split a bottle of wine with their sack lunch (yes, one of them brought a bottle in their sack lunch). I was offered some, but declined.
Secondly, one of the children fell (slightly, enough to get his pants dirty) into the area where the cows poop. The reaction from everyone was mostly a “too bad for you/tant pis pour toi — guess you shouldn’t have done that”. I would’ve guessed a slightly stronger reaction would’ve happened in the States.
At the end of February, we had a family field trip with the Centre d’Enseignement du Français. It was a beautiful day to visit this nearby town, which is much bigger than Albertville. We also visited a medieval village, Alby-sur-Chéran, where we learned about candle- and shoemaking, the main industries there for many, many years.
We went to Crest-Voland (about 25km from Albertville) for a day of skiing. It was the first time for Eila and Thaddeus to ever try downhill skiing. After a rough start, everyone had a great time and enjoyed it so much, we decided it would be good to try another day as well.
“France is not that different.” said Josiah. Then he went on to say, “except the tiny cars, the long lunch break, half-day Wednesdays, food, and that everything is in FRENCH!” We have been in France for about one month. We celebrated the new year with a local traditional meal, tartiflette, brought to welcome us to Albertville, France.
Within a week of our arrival on the other side of the Atlantic, all of us had taken placement exams and started school. (Well, Eila started one week later, which was just fine with her!) The boys are attending a local elementary school: Val des Roses. Brian and Shannon are studying French at the Centre d’Enseignement du Français. Eila is going to the Cité Scolaire Jean Moulin, where she is taking lots of FLE (French as a foreign language) as well as other classes in French.
A typical day so far is full of school for everyone. Eila’s school, which is about a 30-minute walk from our apartment, begins at 7:55am. The boys’ school begins at 8:25am and our classes begin at 8:40am, so we have just enough time to walk to the various schools and make it to class on time. We all have a two-hour break for lunch between 11:30am and 1:30pm, and then we finish our classes at approximately 4:30pm each afternoon. After a small snack, we review the kids’ work from the day and start on homework. The boys spend time playing in the snow, with legos, or reading while we make dinner. Luckily, we live right across the street from a grocery store.
We are so grateful for your prayers as we are truly starting to feel like we are settling in to life in France and are able to do more than just survive. We are eager to make friends and practice the French we are learning.
The kids’ reactions and quick adjustments to life in France has been very encouraging. We see how God has been preparing the way and getting us ready for our next move to Cameroon this summer.
Thank God with us!
Please Continue to Pray
Josiah’s school posted some pictures from the ski days. Unfortunately, he isn’t in any of the pictures, and it is all in French — but it gives a good idea of what he experienced and what things looked like while he was there.
We are just starting to go beyond saying “Bonjour” to actually talking with and getting to know those around us. We are feeling homesick and yet we are seeing God’s goodness and power in big and little ways each day – like the healing of Shannon’s shoulder pain, an American friend for Thaddeus in his class, a gymnastics club for Eila to join, Josiah’s free skiing lessons with school, delicious bread (among other treats!) and the sun shining on the mountains outside our window.
I lift my eyes to the mountains… My help comes from the Lord.
Psalm 121:1-2
Here is a tour of our apartment. This way you can feel like you’ve come to visit us. We’d love for you to stop by if you are in our general corner of the world.
After entering into our apartment building, you’ll need to climb up to the 4th floor. This is the view out of our front door, looking into the stairwell.
Welcome!
Looking in the front door to the entry/ hallway
Living room & dining room, as seen from the hall way, just to the right after walking through the front door
Living room, looking from the corner behind the dining room table
The view out of the living room
Kitchen & laundry room
Josiah’s side of the boys’ bedroom, which is across the hall from the kitchen, living room & dining room
Thad’s bed and his side of the bedroom
View from Josiah & Thaddeus’ bedroom
Eila’s bedroom, next door to the boys’ bedroom
The desk in Eila’s bedroom
View from Eila’s bed
At the end of the hallway, between Eila’s bedroom and the parent’s bedroom is where you’ll find the toilet (in a special tiny room all by itself.)
Bathroom, complete with bath/shower and sink as well as a cabinet and mirrors
And to the right at the end of the hall is our bedroom, which also has an amazing view!
Google photos automatically created this, but it seemed like a good overview of the travel day.
DTW (Detroit) -> EWR (Newark) -> GVA (Geneva), then a big van to our apartment in Albertville.
The kids have been doing pretty well with such a huge life change. After just a few days of school, Eila is feeling a lot better about the whole thing. She has made a few friends and also connected with some friends back in the US, which has helped her to feel more at home. She still doesn’t understand much, but now knows that lots of people have some English and they are all willing and eager to help. The boys have found the same thing to be true. The boys have also been enjoying playing in the snow whenever they can.
Kids entertaining themselves with the spin cycle of our washing machine…
Here are two stories from our first fews weeks:
It’s a good thing that Thaddeus studied so hard on DuoLingo.com to learn French before we arrived. He was 24% fluent upon arrival and that has made all the difference. 😉
Our first day in France (New Year’s Eve!), we mentioned that it might take a few days to get adjusted to the time change (6 hours) and Thad responded without hesitation: “I’m adjusted”
We proceeded to explain that he might be tired before it is time to go to bed and that being adjusted after an international move usually takes a few days or even weeks. He didn’t seem convinced.
The next day, we were talking about adjusting again and how it is okay that we are not all completely comfortable in our new place yet. Thad didn’t miss a beat and said “I’m comfortable.” And what do you say to that?!
Boys playing soccer with Brian before the snow fell.
Josiah is a homebody. He loves his family and friends. He is a loyal and sensitive friend. Josiah likes to succeed and really doesn’t like to appear incompetent in any way. So, moving to a new country during the Christmas vacation to attend school where he does not understand or speak the language is a bit daunting.
There were a lot of changes at the end of 2016 too, one of which was moving out of our first (and only) home and staying with grandparents for several weeks. During the first of these stays, while Mom and Dad were away at a training, Josiah read a book that he and his brother both enjoyed quite a bit. It seems to fit this period of our life well…
Fortunately, Josiah was able to watch movies during the flight to France. Unfortunately, he didn’t sleep at all.
Fortunately, Josiah found a creek right next to our apartment to play in. Unfortunately, that creek is a sewer drain and not fit for playing in.
Fortunately, the food in France is not bad; they even have fast food restaurants. Unfortunately, Josiah also got the stomach flu just after arriving (day 2) and he had to start school 2 days later on Jan 3.
Fortunately, the first day went better than expected, as his teacher speaks a little English and helped him to understand what she was teaching. He also mastered “Je m’appelle Josiah.” (My name is Josiah.) Unfortunately, that is pretty much the only thing he can say in French at this point.
Unfortunately, It was a rough start to 2017, but it will surely get better fortunately.
cross-posted on thaddeusyee.com and josiahyee.com