1st January 2012

Andrew preached at church on New Years Day, he talked about the commitment that we are to have to Christ - a challenge that was really good to hear at the beginning of the year.  He mentioned how our commitment means that we must do something not sit around and discuss it. (Josh 1:10) After God told Joshua what to do, he immediately responded with action.   Secondly it is a commitment that often requires sacrifice, being committed to Christ often means that we give up our time, energy, money to serve Him in different ways.  However, when we think of how Christ made the ultimate sacrifice for us by dying on the cross, so that we could have salvation freely if we trust Him, then what we do is not a sacrifice.  Finally our commitment is to be total.  

This is something I hope I continue to remember for the rest of the year, hopefully it will help me keep the resolves that I mentioned earlier!  I really enjoyed being back at church and although there weren't many people there it was nice to see everyone again after the holidays.  Getting back into the way of speaking French wasn't too difficult, although it did involve more concentration!!  By the way, for those who are French speakers, s'engager = to commit yourself -- It took me until the end of the sermon to work that out!!!

 Helen, David and Mel McFarland spent the new year in France and so on Sabbath afternoon they had a meal at one of the local churches for some of their friends in Nantes.  It was really great to be able to chat to some of these people and get to know them a bit, even just being reminded there are other people around us in Nantes working with the same goal was cool.  That night I went back to my apartment for the first time since the holidays to find it very cold - as Andrew had told me it would be !!  And so I quickly got into bed with my borrowed hot water bottle (shown to the right!), keeping resolve number 2!!

Bonne Année !! (Happy New Year)

So, I arrived in Nantes at 10pm on the evening of the 31st Dec, after having spent a very long 4 hours wandering around Paris Airport!!  Although it did mean that I got most of my lessons planned for the week, which was a positive benefit!!

Malcolm picked me up from the airport and we went to get Jefté (one of the young guys who comes to church) who was also celebrating new years at the Balls house.  With a couple of hiccups along the way, we finally met him and got back to the Balls house around 11pm, where we started to catch up on the courses of the meal we were having.  We had eaten the starter in the car and so we continued with the rest of the starter foie gras (goose fat) and salad - which actually tastes pretty good, unless you think about what it really is!!  We began our main course - chapon (a fat chicken?), mini balls of friend mashed potato and carrot/parsnip casserole - while Edith and Muriel had their dessert, and Andrew and Heather (having eaten earlier in the evening) looked on and chatted to us.  I discovered that it is difficult to eat quickly and talk at the same time - particularly in French, but eventually got to the cheese course, which was followed by fresh fruit salad and tea/coffee.  We welcomed the New Year between cheese and dessert I think, in a very dignified and calm way compared to most other years where I have been in Ballyclabber at a barn party!!  But it was quite a welcome relief to be able to just sit and relax after having spent the day travelling.  Thanks to Muriel for a wonderful meal and patiently waiting for all of the guests to finally arrive!!

After doing the dishes, we headed to bed soon after - I stayed with the Balls - and what seemed like not long after, were up for church the next morning!!

Resolution 2012!!

Hi!!
So, this year, I have resolved that I will
1. spend more time reading the Bible each day and talking to Him
2. get more sleep
3. reply to any emails I receive within one week
4. post on this blog at least every 2 weeks, hopefully more

For those who email me, please feel free to keep me accountable to this!! And for those who still check the blog - if any, you can also remind me to update it!!!

The plan for now is to let you know what's happening here, and slowly also catch you up with what I did from Sep-Dec...  We'll see how that goes!!!

Em

School!!

The school I work for has friendly teachers – my first Saturday here they invited to go canoeing with them, which was great fun!!!  The pupils at school are attentive and respectful which has been great – a lot of them have been keen to speak english in class which has been great!  Although there are still one or two classes which are very quiet. 

School starts at 8am and finishes at 6pm but, unlike NI, teachers are not required to stay if they are not teaching, although because I live so far away, I stay in school if I have classes later in the day.  Although there is a shopping centre and small town nearby which I may explore later on in the year.  My timetable still isn’t set in stone, but at the minute I have classes from 8am-9am on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.  And then 11-12 and 5-6pm on Monday and 4-6pm on a Tuesday.

Three of these classes are English conversation, in which I can study whatever I want for the most part, as long as the pupils are speaking in English! – So if you have any ideas, feel free to pass them on!!  I’ve really enjoyed these classes although, they can be difficult since the pupils are used to speaking and listening to English spoken in a French accent and not in my NI/American one!!  One of my classes is a History/Geography class which is taught in English and so at the minute we are study Emigration and Immigration, particularly from Ireland to America round the time of the Famine! – I have been taking about 17 pupils at a time to study a song written about that time period or to look at different paintings of that era.  This has been fun, if a little overwhelming since I haven’t studied either subject for the last 8 years!! 

The other three classes are “Maths en Europe”.  So theses are classes where the pupils learn Maths in English! After I mentioned that I had just finished training to be a maths teacher in NI, the headmistress was quick to offer me the opportunity to sit in on these Maths classes… Unfortunately the teacher has been ill since I arrived and so I am taking them alone!!  For the most part, I enjoy them, since the pupils are some of the best in the school, however I do have one class of 35 pupils, which is difficult since they have never done it before!  I am also preparing one of the older classes for their baccalaureate (equivalent to A Levels) and so that is a lot of pressure!! 

In addition to these, I am taking two different English classes for the teachers who want to learn or improve their English.  These are kind of scary since they are teachers but this week they went really well. On Monday I have a group of three beginners where we studied how to ask for directions.  And on Tuesday, I have a group of about 6 who want to practise their English in a conversation context so we talked about how the education system works in NI – it ended up centring around whether uniforms were good or bad!!!

Tomorrow I have my first English club for the pupils where we will just play informal games and chat in English.  Last week no-one came, so hopefully there will be some who are interested this week!!

I'm here!!!

Dear Friends,

Bonjour de Nantes, (France!)

For those of you, for whom this is the first time you have heard from me, I am sorry.  Thank you so much to those who have been praying for me, your prayers have been answered and more.  I am really enjoying my time here.  The next couple of posts will hopefully catch you up on what is happening in my life!!  I then hope to update this with photos and posts reasonably frequently!!  And little by little it will hopefully start looking a little more exciting!!!