After two weeks of holiday I was glad to get back to my school and home life routine. On Monday I had my English lesson with the juniours but over the holidays I had let myself neglect my teacher responsibilities so instead of planning my lesson in plenty of time I had left it to the last minute which meant on Monday morning I had to frantically prepare some stuff. Luckily the Holy Spirit was willing to help me as always and gave me some inspiration on a game to play with the class which actually worked really well. But I was still left to rush into school with 30 minutes before my lesson to make photo copies and print pictures off which isn't the easiest thing to do when the school computer's system is so ... read more

It was a rare opportunity to get away from Guebwiller for a few days and I welcomed it immensely. I was excited to travel and also to meet other French christians at the small conference we would be going to over the weekend. Laetitia and Cedric had even told me that I might get a prophesy because there were usually prophetic speakers at the conference - this was what I was most excited about - the chance of receiving my first prophesy! Even the prospect of travelling in a car with four small children for five hours didn't put a dampener on my excitement. That was until I actually had to go through the experience and then I wasn't so happy. Being confined in a small space with a three-year-old crying behind you because he's dropped ... read more

After saying good bye to my mum and sister on Friday Aida kindly invited me over to her's for the afternoon. We drank coffee,ate biscuits and watched Glee (in English!!) - I could almost have forgot I was in France. In the evening we went to pick up one of the other English girls from the airport in Basel - she'd been home for a week of the holidays after only three weeks of being in France so I imagine it must have been very difficult for her to come back. I know from speaking to her on a couple of occasions in the past that she hadn't been enjoying it much over here and was finding it really hard. I regret not trying to spend more time with her especially as I have some idea ... read more

After a whole month of waiting the day finally came last Saturday when I got to see my Mum and sister for the first time in nine weeks! As we were driving to the airport to collect them I felt slightly nervous at the prospect of having them in France with me. I was apprehensive at the thought of my two worlds meeting - of course I was excited that I would be able to show my family the life I have here in France but at the same time I'm fiercely proud and protective of it and felt that by having my Mum and sister here it wouldn't be all mine anymore - they would have a part of it and as an independent 18-year-old I wasn't too keen on that idea. Despite my worries ... read more

Seeing as it is the end of one half of the term I thought now would be a good time to sit and reflect on what I've learnt and experienced so far. All good writers (I may not be one yet) need some time to delve deep into the recesses of their minds - they may not always find something but I guess it's good to try. There is no doubting that this has been a challenging experience but it has challenged me in certain ways which I was not expecting. The biggest mountain I've had to climb has been in my relationship with God. When I first got here I really doubted whether this was where God wanted me. I doubted that His hand had led me here. I doubted that He had any plans ... read more

It was an evening that I had been anticipating with mingled fear and excitement for quite some time. The thought of spending a whole evening with young people I didn't know and who didn't speak the same language as me wasn't wasn't a particularly pleasant one. In church on Sundays the 'youth corner' is an area I dare not venture into and none of them have ever attempted to speak to me so for the past six weeks since I'd been here there had been no contact between me and the young people from my church (apart from the occasional smile and introduction), until last Saturday I arrived at the church slightly later than the stated time on the invitation of 16:30 - despite only living upstairs from where it was being held (I'd had to ... read more

Adventure I have learnt is real, it is tangible, it it not merely the thing of fairytales and Hollywood films. In fact, adventure in real life is much more exciting because it lasts much longer than the adventures we see and hear about. Our whole lives were created to be adventures - it's just sometimes we get so caught up in the everyday, mundane things of life that we forget all about the adventure. Before coming here I waited for so long for this adventure because the life I was leading was far from fun and exciting but actually it was the adventure before the adventure - God was working in me, preparing me and yet I did not always see that. Adventure is often about hardship, it is not all about fun and excitement. It ... read more

After weeks of beautiful French sunshine the weather has suddenly taken a turn for the worse. On Friday I witnessed my second day of Alsacian rain which is worse than Welsh rain because at least when it rains in Wales it brings some warmth. But here it rains and the temperature dramatically drops - yesterday it was 10 C!! On Monday we were enjoying temperatures of 27 C but I've been told it does that here - goes from one extreme to the other. Great. I escape from one wet and cold country only to come to another?? As for my new English assistant role, I was meant to be starting on Tuesday so turned up at the school bright and early at 8:30, only to be told by the teacher that the timetable has changed ... read more

On Saturday I was invited by Aida to help out at a charity concert in the town where she lives. I had nothing better to do so I accepted the invitation gladly. I was going to put myself forward to help waitress but when I got to the event and saw how big and chic it was I decided against it, and plus waitressing can be stressful enough when you understand the language everyone else is speaking but with my basic french skills I thought I would be better helping behind the scenes. In the end my appointed role was helping Aida and her husband, Smiley make tarte flambee - an Alscacian speciality which is a bit like pizza but healthier. We had a huge stove, which took us a while to figure out - I ... read more

After three weeks of French, French, French I was at last invited for an English day out by an English mum I met at the school. Her name is Aida and she's lived here for ten years with her husband and four children. She lives in a small town called Soultz which is only a 15 minute bike ride from here, so on Wednesday morning I climbed onto my dirty, second-hand Decathlon (the French JJB) bike and braved the French roads to get to her house. When I got there she took me round the town market with her two youngest children, Zac (11) and Kenza (9). It's a very quaint little town but not quite as big as the one I'm living in. I love visitng French markets because they're just so typical of what ... read more