Right place, right time

These few weeks we've been here have really thought me a lot. It's been quite intense with a lot going on. From the very beginning I could tell that we're in the right place.

Here comes some of the perks of living with a bunch of lads

Back in Paris

After a nice few weeks in Finland it's actually good to be back in Paris. The DTS has started and we've met a lot of new people here from all over the place. I don't really have a lot to say but I do have a lot of pictures.

The DTS leaders

Everyone

Random person just sat down while we were taking the photos

The Graffiti Street

We had a treasure hunt which required us to take a selfie 

Winter in Finland

I haven't been writing a lot lately and there are a lot of reasons for that. Now Hannah and I are at my parents house in Finland and just taking it easy. There is a lot going on getting everything ready so at the moment I don't really want to do anything. We'll be going back to Paris in the end of January for our DTS so Hannah and I will be writing about it HERE.

I don't feel like writing a whole lot about it right now so I'll just give you some pictures.

Hannah and I visited Marché de Noël
and made some new friends

Hannah and I found Starbucks

Preparing for the christmas Sunday service

More preparations

And a bit more

An empty metro station in Paris,
not the most common sight 

T & Ta had their christmas show

Back in Finland we're just after making a gingerbread Eiffel tower.
You can see how happy Hannah is

On our way home to my parents house we stopped in Vasa for a visit

This is what Hannah gave me for christmas

Keeping the christmas tradition alive with Monopoly

The day after Sång i Julnatten Hannah and I
payed the Sjölanders a visit.

In the process of eating the tower

Gospel at MVV

Creativity at MVV

Open stage at MVV

Sometimes Hannah just gets these ideas

And finally I got my computer back

I love snow, it's never really winter without it

Full weeks

So as you all may have noticed I haven't been writing too actively here. One of the reasons is that my computer has had some problems and is currently not working. The other reason is that I've had a lot of extra things going on so I haven't had the time or energy to sit down and write. 

Anyway Hannah hasn't been able to visit as much during the weeks since she's babysitting herself. I've found that now when we haven't been able to meet up as much as before things here have become more difficult. Yes we meet up every weekend but it's the weeks that get hard. 

One of the old au pairs came to visit so we went out for a walk and looked at some lamas which was very nice. 

 Hannah and Ta's is on the same day so Hannah came over and we had a little birthday party. 

Last week was filled with driving around a whole lot more than  normal. This resulted in me having less time to myself and less time to take care of my duties. 

On Wednesday O had a thanksgiving dinner at their school. It was the first time I spent thanksgiving so that was interesting. Everyone seemed to enjoy the party. 

On Friday Hannah and I had a thanksgiving party with some of her American friends so we met some new people which was great. 

On Saturday we babysat since Ta was having a sleepover party with a friend. 

Yesterday a friend got baptised so the service was special. We met some more Americans after the service and I came to the conclusion that I haven't met so many Americans in my entire life.

After church Hannah had choir practice so we went to the Swedish church in Paris. At first I sat and read where they had their practice but later on I went and helped out with some of the preparations for their Christmas market. 

By the time we got back to Orgeval I was really tired and just wanted to sleep. Unfortunately we didn't get to sleep as early as I had hoped but early enough I suppose. 

We found out that T had been sick so today he stayed at home. Now I need to go and pick up O. 

I'm still alive

Apparently there's no school for two weeks in October here in France which meant a lot of extra work for me. The second week of the holidays the chaps went to their father's place so I got a much needed week off. Hannah and I spent some time in Ireland. It was really good being back home. We made some new friends and I met some of my old class mates which was a very nice surprise. Spending time with the family was something much needed.

I don't really feel like that week was enough to recover so this past week I've been rather tired. When I got back I felt a bit discouraged. I talked to someone about it and they prayed for me and it got a bit better. At the end of the day all those negative feelings were gone. Things have gone relatively smoothly which is nice. Hannah and I were talking and we realised that it's not long till we leave for Finland. Today it's only 40 days till we go back.

Hannah and I got accepted to the DTS in Paris. That means that in the end of January we're coming back to Paris which we both are looking forward to. We're going to spend three months in Paris and three months in South East Asia. 

Here in Paris we have a lovely church. You can really tell that they genuinely care about what's happening. We had a youth meeting on friday and had lots of fun together. Today we visited one of the pastors couples which was really nice. 

Challenges

It's been a while since I wrote about what's going on here. There has been so much going on so I just haven't felt like writing about all of it. To be honest these past few weeks have been really rough. I've run into a lot of opposition but I think things are going to calm down now. I really hope they will. 

So being here and being "all alone" has thought me a few things. While going through this rough patch I've reached out to my friends and I've had their support. Once again I'm reminded of how important it is to have people behind you who support you. A reminder that I'm never really alone. 

Also having faith has really made a difference. Even though I was facing a disaster I knew that I was safe. My confidence that God had it all under control helped me get through it all. I knew that whatever happens I know that it'll be grand. 

Since the chaps have their October holidays means I have a week off which led to Hannah and I deciding to go to Ireland. After everything that's happened I really need to have a bit of a vacation. 

I usually write a lot of details about what I'm doing but today I just don't feel like sharing. 

A stressful week

With everything going on there's a lot to think about. We just finished our applications for the DTS. Then there's all the wedding planning and all the paperwork and fitting everything into the schedule. Anyway things seem to have settled down a bit now and I'm able to breathe out for a bit. 

O drew a picture of a unicorn and wrote my
name on the picture. I'm impressed by her handwriting.

Playing monopoly with O and Hannah

  

Our favourite coffee place

We've been to our coffee place so many times now the employees all light up when they see us coming. The waitress knows what coffee we're going to order and everything.

La Défense

A part of the application was to get a doctor fill in one of the forms saying that we're in good health and would be able to make the trip.

We got an appointment with a swedish doctor in La Défense so we went there on Thursday. The thing was that it was a bit later than I would have hoped which meant I wouldn't be back in time to pick up O from school so we had to make some extra arrangements. We found La Défense to be confusing for pedestrians and since we didn't know the area we ended up walking a lot more than necessary. It took us longer than expected and I wasn't feeling to great then either. Anyway eventually we found the place and had our appointment.

Both of us were in good health so we would be able to do the DTS. After the meeting we tried to get back and nothing made sense. Eventually we found a way to get back to where we wanted to go. Later on when we finally got back to Saint-Germain-En-Laye we ran into some heavy traffic which took us a lot longer to get back.

When we finally got back to Orgeval and went to the school we didn't quite know from where we were to pick up O. We ran around half the school before we finally someone showed us where to go. At this point T and Ta had already gotten home and they were outside waiting for us since they didn't have the keys and I'm usually already home to let them in. This led to me being overly stressed about the whole thing.

At Antony waiting for the bus

 Anyway the weekend arrived which meant I got to take some time off. Much needed time off. Hannah had a job interview on the saturday but the bus apparently never came. Perhaps it came early but there were other people at the bus stop when we got there. We went back to the house and got a ride to Poissy. Then we found out that they are doing some work on the train line so we had to take the bus to a different place and get on a train there. In addition to everything else the train we waited for was late.

Hannah called the people she was to meet and explained to them about the delays and that she would be a bit late. When we finally got there she sat down and waited for them and ended up not having any interview at all.

On sunday we went to church. After church we had some indian food but I didn't think it was that good. I expected hot food but apparently French people can't handle spices very well which meant the food was very weak according to my standards. I asked Siri about cheap indian food but that place wasn't very cheap.

We went back to our coffee place to have some coffee. The temperature had dropped drastically from a hot summer day to a cold autumn day with rain. We spent the day in Paris and went from one place to another. I told Hannah that I want to live close to the center in the future. Hannah was delighted when I said that.

When it was time to go home I called P and she wondered if I could stay at Hannah's place since it would be easier. We went back to Hannah's place which was nice. On our way there we ran into some nice Canadians who were spending a few days in Paris. We gave them some advice and had a nice conversation.

Yesterday we got up and had breakfast and headed for Orgeval. We decided to go to La Défense and hop on a bus to Orgeval. The bus was nicer than any of the busses we had taken previously. It would have been more like the types of busses we'd be used to in Finland.

In the bus towards Orgeval