We have
returned to the small city, Barat, where we are studying our second
language. We arrived early Thursday
morning, 3:30am to be exact, and John jumped right back into his language
sessions that morning. I, Erin, was not
as excited about our return. We had a
schedule and a comfortable home of our own in the large city. Here in Barat we are again staying with
John’s future boss and his family. We
are still trying to figure out language helpers, schedules, and now we’re
adding on home-schooling. All of this
with one-large-suitcase-per-person-limit on a night bus made me feel
unorganized and in limbo, as if we were moving without moving all our stuff. Thanks to a sensitive husband we took 3
suitcases, a book case (broken down), a portable armoire, 3 Rubbermaid tubs, a
whiteboard, and Caedmon’s desk and chair.
As it turned out we didn’t have to pay for any extra baggage!
Back in Barat,
the items we’ve brought along have really helped with our transition. The bookshelf allows all our homeschooling stuff
and books to be put away. The portable
armoire enables our clothes to be put away so we don’t have to live out of
suitcases. There are activities for the
boys. We created a similar environment
for homeschooling because of Caedmon’s desk, posters, and whiteboard. We brought a top sheet for our bed so it
doesn’t have to be swept. We brought a couple Tupperware containers to
keep the ants out of our snacks and oatmeal, which is a staple as the family
here doesn’t eat breakfast. Lastly I
brought a sarong to wear back to my room after showering, which I learned from
the family here, therefore I don’t have to put on clothes with wet feet in a
wet bathroom. These may be simple
things, but with life so different and in someone else’s home, they have been a
very nice transition help.
As with
anywhere, living in someone else’s home can cause stress, let alone in a
completely different culture. One such experienced
occurred yesterday as I helped the mother cook.
I often helped last month while she prepared food for the whole day
about mid-morning. Yesterday I felt as
if I appeared like I didn’t know how to cook at all. All I was doing was chopping vegetables,
taking kernels off the corn cob, and grating carrots. I felt like a novice as I didn’t have a
cutting board which I am so use to using, the knives where very dull (which
kept my fingers safe), and in the states I would just buy frozen kernel
corn. Then as I grated the carrot, the
mother instructed me to pull the carrot towards me on the grater instead of
push it away. I didn’t fully understand
why, but again her method was not my method, slowly me down and keeping me in the
place of a leaner. A funnier experience
was when she pulled out a bowl of something that looked maybe like
seafood. I did not understand the word
she used, but knew right away when she said it apparently is very expensive
food in France that we would be eating escargot for lunch! She paid a dollar for about 2 cups of shelled
snails… not rich people food here.
Please continue
to think of us as we figure out a good schedule for home-schooling and language
study, living with another family, and as we both look for language helpers who
use the local language in their home (many just use the national language or a
mixture).
