No Retreat, No Surrender.

Remember I told you we had started our French Language Classes. Well, we are now at the end of the module and on Monday we have our Oral Test and Wednesday our Aural and Written Tests.

I feel like a piece of chewed string. It doesn't matter how much I look at the notes, eventually I realise I am just staring blankly at the page and feeling as though nothing else is going to majestically make its way into my brain, barring miraculous osmosis.

However, in spite of the blankness of my brain, I can't bring myself to surrender and put the books away, I want to fight back and show it who's the boss.  Except I just don't feel very bossy right now.

Maybe I will just put it down and surrender to the cricket against West Indies for the day, and I will don my red bandanna and Rambo my way into being more authoritarian tomorrow..... 

No retreat - No surrender!

Bonne Weekend.

Christmas Catch-Up

My Girl came for Christmas and since we couldn't be back with the greater family in FH, we decided we would head off by train to Paris for Christmas. It was a lovely few days, the rain held off and since we have been before, we didn't feel the need to rush to every tourist trap, but instead spent the days walking, eating, chatting and shopping. Of course the obligatory fly-by's to some venues had to be done!

Christmas Day was sunny! I wanted to shout from the top of the Eiffel Tower I was so happy! However, I am too scared to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower so had to be content to just WhatsApp my delight to our family group! 

At home we saw that it had been snowing. It was very exciting since we have never had snow "at our own house" before. 

We had barely put our suitcases down when My Girl and I took the snow shovels and began to clear our pavement and driveway.  My Man was quite happy to do it, but we insisted. We were like kids in a toy shop! It's a lot of fun while the snow is light and fluffy, but later we learnt it's not AS much fun when its become ice!

Our balcony was covered in a thick layer of snow and it looked so pretty I decided to leave it. 

Mistake #1. Within a day it was like an ice-rink and I nearly came short when I took a step onto it.  I realised then that we were rookies when it came to snow and I put out a Facebook SOS.

This was my favourite response and gave me a good laugh!  

We left it and admired it over a glass (or two) of wine and avoided the urge to taste any snow!

Some time later we were treated to frost. Oh my word. It was as though I was living in Narnia. I don't know if I have ever seen anything quite as lovely here.

Photo Credit: Luxembourg Ville Photography

Close up of the frost

So, all in all - it's been a lovely festive season, with lots of new things experienced! Now My Girl is back home and My Man is back at work and it's onward and upward into 2015!

                                                          Wishing you all a goodie!

2 Questions & 1 Statement

I went for a lovely long walk with Jack last week and my thoughts turned to how fast this year has gone and I suppose that triggered me thinking... what have I actually DONE this year?

Old habits die hard.  Especially the habit of working.

I found myself thinking that perhaps I needed to pick up the studies again, get back into that -

Do something. Be productive. Stop wasting time!

Immediately, and I know it was God, we've done enough mileage together for me to know his voice, said "No."  Then he quickly followed that up with two questions and a statement:

1. How do you measure your productivity?
2. How do you measure time?

then the punchline - Time with Me is never unproductive.

I was reminded of this post I wrote almost a year ago, and clearly I needed a reminder....!  My heart feels as though it's being prepared for a new season - the word I feel is.... "newness,"  whatever that may look like!  :)

Perhaps it means continuing this new adventure and savouring it all (which I do!) ... who knows?!  He does!

I have a commodity here that I had very little of before.

Time.  What a gift!

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Arrows and Messages

Years ago I was part of a group that did "The Sacred Romance".  I loved it. It was a breath of fresh air that I needed right back then.

One of the chapters was called "Arrows & Messages", I didn't really resonate with this chapter because nothing came to mind that had affected me.

Here is a small portion of what this was about:

"The Message of the Arrows:- There are only two things that pierce the human heart.  One is beauty.  The other is affliction.  Arrows have struck us all.  However they come to us, whether through a loss we experience as abandonment or some deep violation we feel as abuse, their message is always the same: Kill your heart.  Think of how you've handled the affliction that has pierced your own heart.  How did the Arrows come to you?  Where did they land?  Are they still there?  What have you done as a result?"  At the time, (and up until very recently) I still believed that there was no "hidden arrow" that carried a message lodged in my heart. When I was in school, I hated Maths, I couldn't do it. It didn't make sense to me - It still doesn't!  However, in Std 4 & 5, I had a Maths teacher who delighted in making me get up in front of the class, and work out a problem on the board, he would offer no help, no suggestions, and either stare at me like I was a fool, or hit me with the big wooden compass used for geometry.  I dreaded Maths every day. Every day I felt stupid and humiliated. Recently I was asked a question (not because the person didn't know the answer, but wondered if I did), but I didn't know the answer. I felt like I should know it, like I had known it once - but it just wasn't there. There were no hints or clues given, the person just looked at me with what I felt to be mild amusement. Usually, I would just have said "Hey, I don't know, tell me!", but there was something about those 15-20 long seconds, the silence, the waiting for me to answer, that just whisked me right back to Maths class, feeling humiliated in front of everyone, and suddenly I reacted.  I know my reaction was out of character for me. It surprised me and horrified me. So I guess there was an "Arrow" tucked away deeply with the message that says"You're stupid." It was painful to recognise, but it pains me more that I hurt someone with my little outburst. On the flip side, God showed me why I reacted that way (which was kind of Him!) and now I can face it for the lie it is, and move on.   The Maths teacher was an @$$ though.  The person isn't.  PS: I did apologise. Just FYI. * * * *

Un, Deux, Trois...

Two weeks ago we began our French language classes together. Three nights a week for about 90min sessions. It's not too bad for me, but for My Man, it's straight after work, and it's a big ask. 

So far, we have learnt to:

Maybe French will help with the sharks back home?

• introduce ourselves, 
• say what nationality we are,
• what our profession is,
• the language we speak, 
• where we live, 
• our phone number,
• email address...
•  - as well as the obvious - like greetings. 

We can also ask others these same questions.  

Personally, I thought it was going really well and had mentally awarded myself a gold star, until we hit counting.  I think I was needing to be humbled! Haha!

Now I know why I needed basic Arithmetic!

It was because one day I would need to learn to count in French.  My challenge this week is not stringing together a sentence in French, it is learning to count above 70.  

Who does this?

70 = 60 +10          :    71 = 60 + 11         :       72 = 60 + 12 ...  etc.

  

BUT WAIT there's more!

80's!  

 82 = 4 x 20 + 2          :              85 = 4 x 20 + 5

Then there's the 90's...  (faint!)

93 = 4 x 20 +13    :   99 = 4 x 20 + 19   

Then to say it.....  99 = quatre-vingt-dix-neuf.

Damn man. If you made this equation look like this:     a = 4 x 20 + 19        I would have a better chance of success at solving the equation than counting and it and saying it!

 Anyway, enough of that but thank God for someone who made audio flashcards / games /tutorial / tests! (I love it when teachers use tech!  Oh ja, that used to be me!)

Tonight, we start learning the time... oh Dear Lord - please let it be easier than counting!

Laughing at yourself is good for you.

I have had to laugh at myself A LOT since moving here.  You have to. If you get upset over every little silly thing, you would become a sour and miserable individual!

The first idiotic thing I want to share is that when my FH folks were visiting recently, we went on a scenic rondfahrten on the Mosel.  I had bought the ticket for us and put it in my pocket as we ambled along to board the boat.  As we walked up the gangplank, there were a couple of gentlemen in their "sailors" gear to see us aboard.  I led the way, walked up and put my hand into his outstretched hand, and proceeded to shake his hand, greet him and then moved on so the rest of the family could follow, only to have him reach out his hand again and say "Ticket, s'il vous plait".

Oh. So he wasn't actually wanting to shake my hand?  We all had a good laugh but I still blush when I even think about it!

The other thing happened today. I went to collect my race-day pack for a race this weekend. I was not familiar with the area and had looked at the map to see more or less where I needed to go. I took the busses I needed and got to the village with no problem. I followed the sign pointing down the road to the Centre de Sportif (or something similar) hoping that it would be clearly visible. Within about 30 metres I passed what looked hopeful but saw the sign outside said "Maison Relais" (or something similar!) so reckoned it wasn't that.  Suddenly I remembered something about a shuttle that would take you there from the main road. I retraced my steps to the shuttle stop, and waited about 20 minutes for the shuttle. He arrived, I asked if he went there, he had a puzzled look on his face, and then beckoned me to get in, drove the 30 metres and then pointed at that same building.

OK. So I waited 20 minutes for a shuttle that took me 30 metres..... !

Just to add a bit more hysteria, the office to collect the race-packs can only be collected on Saturday.

So, it was a fun morning.  6 busses and 4 hours to collect race-packs that I still don't have. I admit I enjoyed it all. The weather was lovely, and the bus trip was scenic, my book that kept me occupied at the bus / shuttle stops along the way is the final of a trilogy and completely absorbing! (Edge of Eternity - Ken Follett)

I am definitely not complaining, it's been a wonderful morning.

Anti-Litterbug

The sun was shining this morning.

I say this in a sentence on it's own because it has been a rare occurrence recently. Apparently this has been our wettest autumn since 1947!

After my morning coffee I decided to just take a walk around my city and enjoy feeling the warmth on my skin again.  I came across this exhibition in one of the squares which is making a statement about littering.  I am sure I do not need to spell it out for you.

When I was still in Primary School, we went on a camp called "School in the Wild" and at the end of it, we were asked if we would like to sign a "Promise" to ourselves that we wouldn't litter again. Although I don't think I was a litterbug before the time, I was far more aware of littering after the camp and can say in absolute honesty, that I haven't littered since signing that piece of paper.

All that to say that this strong exhibition doesn't need to be translated into every language - because it crosses that barrier and settles directly into ones conscience.

With so many options for recycling these days, so few things are really waste - let's do our bit to keep our world beautiful for the generations to come.

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