Le Papillon

Hello! Sorry for the long delay since my last post. Now that I am settled in... for the most part, the communication should be more consistent. I am shooting for a post every week.

It's been pretty busy here with school. Every weekday I wake up at 05:50, walk five minutes to the bus at 06:55, get to the RER (Réseau Express

Régional- Regional Network Express) at 07:10 and take the 07:15 train into Paris. I arrive at my metro connection, Magenta, at 08:00 and take line 4 down to the Raspail station at about 08:10. Then I walk ten minutes to the school. In all that's a little more than an hour commute. After an hour of phonetics class and four hours of grammar and lunch I go home at 15:00 (3pm). When I arrive home around 4:30 I check email, facebook etc./relax and then begin studying. That consists of homework, vocab testing and usually TV in French. I make a meal about 1-2 times a week and shop for groceries once a week as well. Needless to say, I am very tired at the end of everyday.

Yesterday I registered for the winter semester. I will take the same sort of course- intensive French (25 hrs./week), but it's duration will be nearly three months. However that begins on 9 October. Therefore next week I am going to visit somewhere in Europe- maybe Belfast, England, Zug, Switzerland, or Prague, The Czech Republic.

My French is coming along. That is for sure. But not as much as I would like. It is frustrating not being able to express one's self well. So I have many lessons in humility. However through John Piper's book "Don't Waste Your Life" God has shown me that I am to do my best and leave the rest up to Him. After all, I am because He is. I exist for His glory and not my comfort, ease or amusement. That helped so much! Praise God. With that said, words and phrases are coming ever more fluidly. What I find most difficult is grammar class... and four hours of it no less. I was not good at nor did I like English grammar so it is as if I am learning two languages. French I love! Grammar I very much dislike!

Praises: 1. God's love and faithfulness in bringing me here, sustaining me, equipping me, providing all my needs (not just speaking materially) and strengthening me 2. Friends 3. Little to no culture shock (so far) 4. This program (the OIKOS House) 5. Patience with language acquisition

Prayer Requests: 1. Patience, diligence, strength, grace (thinking, speaking, reading, listening etc.) in language acquisition 2. Ears for hearing all the language nuances 3. A mouth to mimic and make natural the sounds and positions 4. A mind to understand grammar 5. Continual reliance upon the power of God