No, not in pregnancy…there’s none of that going on here…but we were scheduled to be here, in language school, for three trimesters.  And we just completed week one of the third trimester.  You can sort of feel a buzz about it.  It is refreshing energy to be able to draw from in order to study harder, because this is our “last chance” to learn all the French things.  Spring literally sprung around here this week – with new flowers, green buds on the trees, and sunny days with temperatures approaching 70F/20C!  But it’s also the realization that we’re moving to a new place, a new country, a new culture…in four months!  I look forward to sharing with you all more details about the move when it gets closer…and I when I know them!

But, to recap, exam week was a lovely break from routine of class.  Sure, it included exams that left us with only a fraction of our brain power at the end, but we passed and are moving on to study.  Matthew’s class is now spending a lot of time involved in debates and practicing the language, learning little new grammar, but rather nuance and specificity.  I am preparing to learn several new conjugations that will make reading easier (yes, in French, sometimes the written language uses different conjugations than the spoken…it’s super) and I will continue to press on being able to speak more fluidly.  Is that a word?  I don’t even know English anymore…  …with more fluidity?

Last night we had a lovely get together with our entire #teamcongo.  We even had a special guest, Michelle, an OB/GYN heading with Samaritan’s Purse to a village in eastern Congo where MAF has a base.  She is learning French in Switzerland (at a school for singles – no families), but she came in to meet us.  So, 15 of us gathered (plus four babies, who were pretty much in bed by mid-meal) to eat together, bond a bit with some crazy games, and just hang out.  It was super fun, though playing pictionary with mostly medical personnel, when we’ve made all of our owns clues, can be extra special.

These two ladies are amazing!

#teamcongo, minus one who was sleeping

Pictured above, from the left, Tim & Kathy Rice (Vanga), Michelle Doran (Nyakunde), Anna & Patrick LaRochelle, with Miriam & Luke (Nyakunde), Ashley & Dave Peteresen (Nyakunde, MAF!) – baby Daniel was already asleep.  Front row: Nancy Rice, daughter to Tim & Kathy, you know us…and Shannon & Ryan Potter with Sydney.

We are looking ahead to visas, the last visits from family, packing and hearing of our shipment’s send-off, and, of course, cramming all of the cheese we can into our faces before we leave.

Two weeks ago, we celebrated our six month anniversary of living in France.  And, by “celebrated” I mean that we remembered the next day and one of us mentioned it to the other and we both said “oh, yay!”  We are grateful for the time we’ve had to spend here, immersed in the language, learning the grammar, and preparing ourselves in this way to serve in Congo…and six months down means only four months to go!

Six months here also marks another big milestone…  When we first arrived and learned some French phrases, we began using them at home with the kids.  (Matthew has been using French for a long while, but I was a little behind…)  Levi was always really interested in learning French, but Amelia buckled, scowled and generally was not cool with that.  So, we backed off – there were enough changes in her little life.

Some friends here told us that this is normal, but at around six months their kiddos suddenly started speaking French (comprehension comes a lot quicker, but it is really subtle with little ones).

We, of course, forgot this fact…but sure enough, last week, Amelia broke out of her shell and began speaking to us in French.  Not always understandable French, but always French-sounding babble.  But, SOME of it is real French…and she can name most everything around her (even I didn’t know some of the words, but Levi confirmed them for me).  She even scolded Levi one day for speaking in English.

This is an awesome milestone and we’re so excited for her.  Not only because she’s progressing in her French, but because it also means she is more comfortable with the changes in her life.  She misses her friends and surroundings in Idaho (her only memories), but this is an excellent step!

This week I’ve learned a few interesting things I thought would be fun to share.  We recommenced school after our two week February break.  It was much-needed, but it is hard to go back full swing.  The kids were excited to back to school, so it helped us feel a little more enthusiastic.  Actually, the lack of enthusiasm is probably more due to the fact that our next batch of exams is in two weeks – they will determine whether we move up to the next level or should hang back and review this level.  Either option is really quite valid (…I tell myself, in a state of panic).

Doing the math (…that I totally stole from another language student’s blog, thanks Konroy), we have nearly pushed through the equivalent of two years of high school French and, once we are done, we will have completed three years!  That is crazy!  And it also helps me relax a little that I’m not actually GOING crazy.  French is hard.  And we are cramming it all in AND trying to do normal life with three young kids and a little apartment to keep clean and lives to lead.  Congo is actually starting to sound relaxing…something about the grass being greener in the jungle?  Wasn’t that it?

I also learned an interesting cultural fact.  I love little snippets of cultural differences that make me really think of my own cultural norms and how they are not “normal” but are “specific” to my own culture.  In France, there is a love of bread and it is eaten with most meals.  However, you will rarely find a bread plate anywhere.  Why?  Because you are expected to put it on the table.  In my own culture, putting food on the table is a no-no – it makes a mess and there is the question of the table’s own cleanliness!  But here, especially if you are at the home of a French person, if you put your bread on your plate, they will think that you think their table is not clean!  Whoops – faux pas all around.  So, if you’re like me, you’ll chew on that (ha ha, pun) for a few days and what does it mean?  Who’s manners are better?  Is that a fair question?  (No.)

So, if you find us hiding under a rock for the next few weeks, it’s because exams are around the corner and we are hiding from, errrr, preparing for them!

Today’s dictée…

Roughly each week, in class, we do a dictation (dictée).  Don’t tell my classmates, in case they find it odd, or my husband, but I looooooove dictées.  I find them challenging and an excellent test of what I know…and what I don’t. The teacher will read a short paragraph out loud, once through, then go through it again, line by line, as we write exactly what is said.  Exactly.  Not “close enough” or what we understood, but everything correctly: conjugation, spelling, vocabulary.  After the reading is done, you have several minutes to look over everything and fix it.  Make sure it makes sense and that you remembered all of your accents, gender-related spelling, and little silent word endings.  It is a lovely challenge.  I have not mastered it them, as you can see by my photo above of today’s work, but I still love them.

They are graded on a 0 – 10 scale.  For every mistake you make, you get a point, or part of a point, marked down.  Grammar is a whole point, spelling is a half point (unless it is grammar related), and punctuation (notably, accent marks) are a quarter point.  As you can imagine, most often, zeros are awarded.  While this can seem discouraging, it does make getting ANY points suddenly quite exciting.

I enjoy dictées because I find that I learn to pay attention to all of those little, connecting words that I might otherwise skip over if I’m trying to listen for understanding.  The little words can, indeed, make all of the difference between past tense and present tense, or whether someone had something or went somewhere.  But, it helps me to understand what I’m listening to.  And prove to myself that I did, indeed, understand.

Today I got 1.75…under zero.  Oh well.  I once got a 9.  I’m still standing by that 9.  And, I learned from my [many] mistakes today and [probably] won’t make them again.

Admittedly, despite my recent travels, I am terrible at world geography and other cultures.  I mean, I know more now than I used to, but sometimes I am surprised by some basic facts that I feel like I should’ve known.

So, this post will focus on the French-speaking world, or Francophonie.  Yes, it’s a real word.

We are learning this language that is rarely used or seen in the US.  Yes, many high schools still offer it as a second language, we hear it every two years at the Olympics or if you watch UN meetings.  Some who live near Canada see it more often.  But, mostly, it would seem under utilized.

Le monde francophone

This paragraph, taken from Wiki, is just amazing to me – having known so little…

Algeria is the 3rd largest country in number of francophones, after France and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The 2008 census counted 11,2 million people, aged 5 and older, declaring reading and writing French. Algeria is also sometimes pointed out as the second French-speaking community in the world, having 16 million francophones.

So that brings us to Africa.  Africa has so many French-speaking countries on the continent…here is a close-up map.

Francophone Afrique

Over 220 million people in the world speak French, either as a native language or learned.  It is good to be here to learn this language and suddenly realize how far we can reach knowing it!  While our hearts and plans are all for Congo, God’s plans are bigger than ours and we are open to them above all.  Knowing such a broadly-used language will be an excellent tool.