Wow, crazy week. We’re finally feeling a little more settled. After the first few days here we started working on getting Judah to sleep on his own. Amazingly, it only took about 2 days of working with him (and listening to a lot of piercing screams) until he would go to sleep on his own in his crib. Praise the Lord! Now we lay him down, he cries a little, and then goes to sleep. Those of you who know how difficult Isaac was will understand our amazement and relief.
Today was our first official day at school, though it was just a tour of the building and a placement test. Well, as expected, it didn’t take long for them to figure out that we are true beginners. The school uses the standard European system of language learning that starts with level A1, then A2, B1, etc. Completing the A levels basically means you can survive in a francophone country, and although you may speak like a 3 year old you can perform basic tasks such as greeting people, buying food, asking simple questions, and so on. The B levels begin to deal with more complex skills such as expressing thoughts and feelings or constructing an argument. I don’t know how many levels there are, but I think we’ll be in B1 or B2 by the time we leave. The goal for us is to be able to perform tasks such as visa renewal, renting an apartment, paying bills, etc. We anticipate doing very little ministry in French, because we will be learning the heart language of the people we’ll be working with. But French is necessary for any dealings with government officials or more highly educated individuals
Isaac and Judah started nursery today. It went pretty well, although all Isaac talks about is that the teacher wouldn’t let him go outside. Hopefully they’ll be able to get outside some while the weather is warm. It’s in the 70s and 80s during the day here, great weather for being outdoors.
josh