Les Jours deuxième, troisième, quatrième, et cinquième en France

Sunday

- The only time I've attended a service where the congregation collectively corrects their pastor on minute pronunciation problems during the sermon. (This pastor originally spoke Spanish, as I was duly informed by one of the attendees seconds after the service was over).

- A most beautiful afternoon and evening of exuberant, enthusiastic, delightful, intelligent, engaging, energetic, lovable McCropder children! They will be one of the best parts of this trip.

Monday
- Placement test! It was fun to get back into the classroom, but difficult because they kept on giving me papers until I didn't know much of anything anymore - not a fun feeling on a test!!! Also a little bit hard to try to make myself sound like I was speaking French français after Haiti.
- More and more McCropders getting home from their Christmas break travels
- Pastor Bob and Mrs. Lynn came in late that night. From my bedroom I could hear their voices drifting down the hallway.
- I think some more things happened this day, but it seems so very far away that I cannot recall much of anything else!

Tuesday
- Lots of information about classroom expectations, testing, breaks, scheduling, visas, finances, etc. etc.
- A delightful conversation with a Turkish woman in my class; I'm very much looking forward to getting to know her!
- About an hour or so in the nursery with the kiddos. It's a lovely nursery, and I enjoyed trying some French conversation with a girl about my age who doesn't know any English. She had to speak very slowly for me to understand her, but I think slowly I'm adjusting back into the language!
- All the singles in my building had a lovely meal together last night to celebrate one of the girl's twentieth birthdays. We had meatloaf - not a very European dish. One of the girl's mothers is visiting from the Netherlands, and she was utterly intrigued by this odd meat mixture that one bakes in the oven! Afterwards, we had a delicious chocolate cake with chocolate frosting followed by a movie night, though at least for this time, the movie was not in French...
- Heard from my mommy back at home that a second printing of Fierce Compassion may be in the near future!
- Still slightly jet lagged Kathryn, wide awake until about two o'clock in the morning, enjoyed a midnight snack with the similarly jet lagged Lynns who are staying in the same building.

Aujourd'hui
- Had a fantastic first piano lesson with the lovely Anna Fader. She did a great job, and it was wonderful to start teaching again after too long of a hiatus. I have no doubt that she will be an excellent student.
- Went to the post office with my new friend Mercy - an MK from Chad who is studying here at the Centre. I now have twenty-five stamps ready to be put on an envelope going to the US of A! My address here is: Kathryn Wong, 50 Chemin des Galibouds, 73200 Albertville, FRANCE
- After the post office, we spontaneously stopped by the bakery, and I got my first French pastry!!! Every minute was more delectable than the last! Unfortunately, neither of us had a functioning camera to document the occasion, but there will undoubtedly be other photographic opportunities involving pastries in the future.
- After the bakery, we stopped by a clothing and shoes store, because today in France, the two month sales begin! This happens every year, where nearly everything in the stores goes on sale for two months. Mercy got a very nice pair of boots for only sixteen euros!
- Upon arriving back home, I was introduced to Mercy's sister in-law who studies here and who is a Hillsdale grad!!! A surprise to meet a Hillsdale grad studying here, but I'm very thankful that she is here, and looking forward to talking more with her.

Now I'm back in my room, and after a bit of cleaning and reading, I will head across the parking lot to spend time with my most wonderful little McCropder friends that I become more and more enamored with each day!

À bientôt!
Kathryn