Review of the past four days

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Tuesday – I went to the Christian primary school in the morning with Laetitia to meet the headmaster, Patrick and to discuss when I could teach English. He gave me a tour of the school, part of which is in an old chateau – apparently it was used by the Nazis in WW2 and then was brought by Christians who turned it into an orphanage.

Patrick seems very nice and his English is good. I was introduced to some of the teachers and I found out I will be teaching in Anaice’s class which is good news. I start next Monday morning. In the afternoon I went with Laetita and Cedric to help set up a Banc Vestimentaire (an indoor clothes sale) with other members of their church. I met a young girl called Elizabeth who is the same age as me – she seems quite nice but I didn’t talk much to her – my confidence with using French is slowly building. We were there a long time and I got really bored. I entertained myself by browsing through the clothes – most of which were hideous and looked at least a hundred years old. I also played with the children for a bit. It can be hard trying to communicate with them sometimes but I try my best – I’m not as afraid to use my French with them. I say ‘attention’(be careful) and ‘Qu’est que tu fait?’ (What are you doing?) a lot.



Wednesday – This wasn’t a very nice day. We had to stay at home for most of it because the weather was horrible. We had planned on going into the town in the afternoon but then Laetita decided the weather was too bad – luckily we got to go in the evening when it stopped raining. I hated being stuck inside with nothing to do. My only reading material is a Christian book and my Bible – not the sort of thing you want to read all day. I paced my room a lot and tried not to cry. It was very frustrating and I was bombarded by doubts and questions like ‘what am I doing here?’ ‘Why has God called me here?’ I wanted to scream. At about five o’clock Laetita decided we could go for a walk with the children – I was so glad to get out the house. She showed me how to get to the town and the local library, which she thinks I will like. I felt really tired after the walk and just wanted to sleep.



Thursday – Again not a great day but better than the day before. In the morning Laetitia showed me the jobs she has to do every morning like making the children’s beds, tidying the toys, doing the laundry. She is very particular about how she folds clothes and as she was showing me I just wanted to cry. I kept asking myself ‘What am I doing here?’ Surely God didn’t call me here to do this. But perhaps he is trying to teach me about humility and the bigger stuff will come later. I asked Laetitia what the girl before had done during the week and she said that she had worked a lot at the school. So that afternoon I went with Cedric to drop off the children after lunch and to speak again with Patrick. I suggested working with the very little children and perhaps being a classroom assistant for the English teacher. He said he would speak to the relevant staff but that he was sure there would be something more for me to do. I felt much better after that – he also told me that my French was good – my confidence is definitely building.

After that Cedric took me into the chateau to introduce me to Manuela and Luc – the pastors of their church (they live at the top of the chateau). They seem very nice and just meeting new people made me feel better. On Wednesday I just felt so isolated stuck in the flat. Later that day I went with Laetitia to pick the children up from school. I got to speak with the English woman I met on Monday – her name is Aida and she’s a Christian. She seems very nice and is going to give me her phone number so I can go round to hers whenever I want to. It was so good to have a proper conversation with someone in my own language. She told me that there’s another English girl coming at the end of September to work in another school so maybe we could do stuff together - I really hope so!



Friday – This morning I helped Laetitia to do some jobs – I ended up doing the laundry, the dishwasher, hoovering the kitchen and cleaning the big French windows! I don’t mind hard work but I had kind of hoped to go out. I managed to get out in the end – I just went up the road to Lidl to get some toiletries. It was good to get out and explore a bit more of the area. I’m thinking of going out later up the town to familiarize myself with the shops and perhaps buy a few bits for my bedroom to make it feel more homely.



Tomorrow if the weather stays nice we’re going to go to Strasbourg and have a picnic – I’m quite excited about this! Perhaps being here will make me appreciate the more simple things in life. God is going to stretch me I think and test me in a way I did not foresee.

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