Pourquoi est-ce que je n'aime pas blog maintenant?
I never thought I would learn French. In addition to English, I thought my only hope of becoming bi-lingual was Spanish. And yet now I'm more comfortable with French than I've ever been with Spanish! It's crazy! I've had moments of being so proud of myself when I effectively communicate with a parking attendant or our domestic worker.
Mark and I also have laughed over the assumptions we've made over the years about French and French speakers. In high school, they were the weird artsy people. It sounds so nasal! (yes)
During Seed orientation, my French ability took at least 19 steps back as I was entirely consumed with trying to make the orientation happen and keep our Seeders alive, fed, and in the country legally. Speaking of, we just got around to reading the evaluations from orientation - maybe I've been putting it off longer than was necessary - but they were so encouraging! I was blessed to read about what our Seeders learned, and there were a few specific suggestions that will definitely be simple to implement for the next Seed orientation.
I don't know if you saw this picture of me with the Walker family on Facebook, but these are the lovely kids I spent the week with in Zambia. One friend in Zambia asked how long my term is in Congo. Of course, the correct answer is three years. But it's a different state of mind to think "three years, unless things start to head south and we have to cancel the program..." One of our country reps advised me to take every day here as a gift.
The political situation here is not at all stable. We're home from the office this afternoon because there have been protests today since the Constitutional court ruled that the current president can remain in office even after his 5 year term is up if the presidential elections don't happen. Who knows how long that will be as elections that are supposed to happen in November 2016 will be delayed due to the electoral commission not being properly funded for the last 5 years and, many analysts agree, a lack of political will for the elections to actually take place. If you're interested in learning more just google it. There's lots of good reporting happening on the situation right now.
In other news, Mark and I have submitted our requests for absentee ballots. That's all I'll say about US elections because Lord knows everyone hears too much about them already. That's one great thing about being here; we don't have quite as much forced exposure to the drama. Our voting residence is still in Virginia, another fact that makes me feel like a vagabond.
Yesterday, I skyped with my sister and her kids. My niece said she's going to swim during summer break and something about goggles, then she asked if I'm coming home (to Roswell) this summer. Maybe my sister and I both got choked up when I couldn't say yes. Our summer break will consist of 6 weeks of French language study in Brussels, and a visit to Mark's sister in Romania. That's a pretty good consolation!
I never thought I would learn French. In addition to English, I thought my only hope of becoming bi-lingual was Spanish. And yet now I'm more comfortable with French than I've ever been with Spanish! It's crazy! I've had moments of being so proud of myself when I effectively communicate with a parking attendant or our domestic worker.
Mark and I also have laughed over the assumptions we've made over the years about French and French speakers. In high school, they were the weird artsy people. It sounds so nasal! (yes)
During Seed orientation, my French ability took at least 19 steps back as I was entirely consumed with trying to make the orientation happen and keep our Seeders alive, fed, and in the country legally. Speaking of, we just got around to reading the evaluations from orientation - maybe I've been putting it off longer than was necessary - but they were so encouraging! I was blessed to read about what our Seeders learned, and there were a few specific suggestions that will definitely be simple to implement for the next Seed orientation.
I don't know if you saw this picture of me with the Walker family on Facebook, but these are the lovely kids I spent the week with in Zambia. One friend in Zambia asked how long my term is in Congo. Of course, the correct answer is three years. But it's a different state of mind to think "three years, unless things start to head south and we have to cancel the program..." One of our country reps advised me to take every day here as a gift.
The political situation here is not at all stable. We're home from the office this afternoon because there have been protests today since the Constitutional court ruled that the current president can remain in office even after his 5 year term is up if the presidential elections don't happen. Who knows how long that will be as elections that are supposed to happen in November 2016 will be delayed due to the electoral commission not being properly funded for the last 5 years and, many analysts agree, a lack of political will for the elections to actually take place. If you're interested in learning more just google it. There's lots of good reporting happening on the situation right now.
In other news, Mark and I have submitted our requests for absentee ballots. That's all I'll say about US elections because Lord knows everyone hears too much about them already. That's one great thing about being here; we don't have quite as much forced exposure to the drama. Our voting residence is still in Virginia, another fact that makes me feel like a vagabond.
Yesterday, I skyped with my sister and her kids. My niece said she's going to swim during summer break and something about goggles, then she asked if I'm coming home (to Roswell) this summer. Maybe my sister and I both got choked up when I couldn't say yes. Our summer break will consist of 6 weeks of French language study in Brussels, and a visit to Mark's sister in Romania. That's a pretty good consolation!
At least you will get to see your nephew this summer!
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