Every day, we open our curtains to LOTS of sunlight and beautiful scenery. There are mountains completely surrounding us here in Albertville, and the mountains look different all throughout the day. M/T and Th/F we have classes we start the day by walking Isaac to nursery, which is on the first floor of our apartment building. He plays with his friends, sometimes does artwork or goes outside, sings songs and hears a little French from his teachers. Isaac takes better naps at his school than he did when we were letting him come up to our apartment for naps. After we drop him off, we walk over to our school which just has a small parking lot in between our school and the apartment building/nursery. We have a devotional and/or worship time with the other students every morning for about 15 minutes before classes begin. From 9:15 – 11:45, we are in class (we have one 15 minute break at 10:30). Kimberly is in and out some with the baby, but since he is a decent sleeper (he naps in the nursery), she is able to attend most if not all of the lessons each day.
At 11:45, we break for lunch. We walk back to our apartment to eat, study, and/or rest. In France, all the local stores, bakeries, and government buildings are closed from noon till around 3pm. There are a couple large grocery stores that Josh sometimes bikes to during lunch if we need some grocery items. It takes him about 15 minutes to bike to these stores. The roads here are all very pedestrian and bicycle-friendly. They have a pedestrian lane and a bicycle lane painted on all the roads, so it is easy to get by without a car.
At 1:50 pm, class begins again. We stay in class until 4:30 (with one 15 minute break at 3). After school, we pick Isaac up and let him play outside with all his little friends in the sandbox. There are tricycles, scooters, basketballs, and a little playhouse that the children love to play with. He is in kid heaven here with almost constant playmates! Kimberly makes dinner and we just do regular bedtime activities. After the kids are in bed, we usually have 1 ½ to 2 hours of studying to do each night just to keep up with the intensive material we cover each day.
Wednesdays, we have no classes, but we both take turns studying or sometimes hire one of the nursery workers to play outside with Isaac for a couple hours so we can get some studying in during the morning. Then, we try to focus on making the rest of the day a fun family day. Sometimes, we take the bus into town and get groceries and eat pizza. Sometimes, we go to a park or just play outside with the other kids. Sometimes, we stroll downtown (a five minute walk) and visit a bakery for a fun treat. Saturdays are similar. We have an evaluation that we both have to complete. So we take turns doing that and then spend the rest of the day having fun.
Sundays, we go to l’Eglise Protestant Evangelique– the one church option we have in Albertville. We are enjoying the church more each week as we are able to understand a little more each week of what is being said in the services! The people are very friendly and we are hoping soon to be more regularly involved in a sort of home group (Kimberly) and a bible study (Josh) that both alternate meetings every other week.
So, there you have it! A typical week in our lives here in France!
kimberly