Back in a Classroom
I (Jen) arrived in France on August 24th. Three months was a long time for our family to be separated and it was wonderful to be back together. We have a 2-bedroom apartment on the school campus in a building shared by 7 other families- all studying French, and all being equipped for the mission field. Maylynn was super excited to show me her room which was well stocked with toys, books, and a Winnie the Pooh comforter. Every person we video call with also gets a tour of her abode.
Classes began Monday, September 2nd. Maylynn couldn’t wait to start first grade! Her school is a 10-minute walk from the school campus. We drop her off every morning at 8:30 and pick her up at 4:30. It’s a very long school day, but she gets a 2-hour lunch each day with a 4-course meal at the canteen. On Wednesdays there are no classes, so we enrolled Maylynn in ice-skating lessons for the first trimester. The honeymoon period of school lasted almost 2 weeks and then the anxiety kicked in. By the beginning of the 3rd week Maylynn didn’t want to go back. Unfortunately, all her classmates and her teacher are French speaking and do not understand a word of English. Her inability to communicate really hit hard and was affecting her sleep… which was affecting ALL of our sleep. We have now made a bed on the floor in our bedroom that Maylynn crawls into at some point pretty much every night. But, at least we’re all getting the rest we need. School is still not Maylynn’s favorite thing, but she has made some friends (whom she identifies by the clothes they wore on day 1) and is starting to understand some French. We were on a carnival ride the other day and Maylynn said, “Mom, he (the man doing the ride commentary) wants us to put our hands up!” I supposed she hears “raise your hands” in French pretty frequently in school.
Our classes are going well and I am so glad we did French Duolingo before coming here. In 6 weeks, we have completely surpassed 3 years of high school French! The work load is intense, with new language grammar and vocab each day. There are a few families who started from ground zero, and they have really struggled to keep up. Actually, they are now jumping on board to Duolingo train just to try and keep up with the concepts we’re learning in class. Steve and I are continuing Duolingo just to stay ahead… which is getting more difficult as each day passes. We are now to the point where, in class, we will only use French. It’s intense!!