Week one

So these last few days have been hectic. There has been a lot of new things coming up and new places to drive to. It's exhausting when there's a lot of new things going on all the time.

Anyway O and I are like best friends now. The other day we were playing with the dominos and we ended up making a few different things. Here on the pictures above you can see that we made the Eiffel tower and a man that's sitting driving a car with a hat and a scarf. We had a really nice day that day. O has also started going to this international school where there are classes in all kinds of different languages. There's even a Swedish section. There was a mixup which made getting her to class and everything got a lot more complicated but eventually everything got settled.

In the morning we found this fellow in the sink

Hannah is enjoying the nice hot weather

Hannah came to visit me yesterday and helped me out with everything. It's nice having her around. The meatballs were appreciated. The bus came from the wrong direction which made Hannah miss the bus so she had to come back since it was the last bus that passed. She ended up helping me tidying up after supper and helped me get the lads to bed. P was going to come home late since there was this meeting in the international school. We went and picked her up and dropped Hannah off at the train station.

Preparing meatballs and mashed potatoes

O is helping us out with the dinner and she's making some vinaigrette for the salad

Since I didn't really know where these new places were I decided to try and find them beforehand during my free hours. In the end I ended up filling the entire day and I didn't get any free time until P got back home. I was a bit unhappy with the outcome since I wanted to do some reading so I came up with the brilliant idea to bring the bible with me when I went to pick up O from school. Since there are so many students in the school and all the parents have to pick them up you need to be there in good time so you can find a parking space. While I sat parked, waiting for the gates to open, I did some more reading. 

 

I decided to read the Bible while I was waiting

All the parents picking up their children

After we got home I made some lunch and tried to make sense of where it was I was supposed to go with O next. P had sent me some descriptions which helped me get a grip of where I was going. I drove her to her dancing class and went back home. It felt like I only got in through the door before I had to go pick her up again. I grabbed something quick to eat and asked T if he wanted to come with me and pick up O. He wasn't doing anything else so he decided to come with me. After we picked up O we decided to try and locate where O was going to have her sculpture class. We found the right road but we just weren't sure about where on that road it was. We headed back home before we found it and thought we'd call P and see if she knew. Shortly after arriving home Hannah showed up. I called P and with her help I knew where to go. We got there and found the place and waited for them to start. The time went by and we started to wonder whether or not it was on today. There was a number on the door with some information. Hannah called the number and found out that the class doesn't start until October which meant I had stressed for no reason.

Hannah and O spent some time in the garden while I took care of the washing and some housework. When we got in the door T headed out to get his haircut and Ta had gone over to the neighbour. Later on I tuned T's guitar and played for a little while. I'm going to start teaching him soon. The rest of the day went smoothly.

It has never been so apparent to me before that I am a foreigner. I've been in Finland for so long I don't really think of myself as a foreigner too much and I'm still able to get things done there with little difficulty. Here it's a lot more challenging. My french is not that good yet and I'm having a hard time communicating with people so it's difficult to get things done. It's hard to be independent when you can't really do anything. I've been a foreigner most of my life but it's never felt like this before. Suddenly you get an understanding of how hard it must be for refugees.

My time here has also given me a bit of insight into parenthood. I always knew that parenthood isn't all that easy but now I have a greater understanding. There's always a lot you need to think of. I've never really cared to check the weather until now. It's a bit fun when people assume I'm the girls father and I explain to them that I'm just the Au Pair. I suppose they don't really consider that since nearly all au pairs are female.

In my time here it has become more clear how important my faith in God means to me. Things have been a bit tough and draining but it helps to know that God is with me. I feel that it's more necessary for me now when I'm out in the world basically all alone, with the exception of Hannah. I think we both feel the same way about this. It's kind of the only stability we have right now. I think it's in situations like these you just start to pray more and rely on God more than you would when you're among friends and family and you know you're safe.

It's amazing how much your life can change in a very short while.

Settling in

 So these past few days have been intense. It has really been a lot to take in. There's always something going on and the traffic here is a lot more stressful than I'm used to. I haven't really gotten out to explore Orgeval properly yet and I haven't really been speaking any French yet. 

Saturday we went to sign up the chaps for activities. Everyone is in this big hall and there are tables with people sitting there. Above the tables are signs so you know what activity they're offering. There were a lot of people there. After this we went back home to grab some dinner.

After dinner I was to go into the center of Paris and meet Hannah. The plan was for me to get my pass navigo so I can travel as much as I like within certain zones. Sadly the offices were closed which means we'll have to do it sometime this week. Anyway I got a weekend ticket and I was off. 

Hannah was already there waiting for me. There was people everywhere again. We got out of the station and we just walked. I had brought my jacket just in case but France is a lot warmer than I had anticipated.

The park

We went to this little park in the middle of everything and sat down. My jacket was of use after all. We were there for a while trying to recover from the overload of people. After taking a few deep breaths we started to think about what to do next and where to go. So we crossed the river Seine in search for food.

We walked around a bit and saw lots of people everywhere. There was this artist on the street who was drawing things and selling them. He was making portraits and he was actually quite talented. We were tempted to get him to draw us but we didn't have any proper way of transporting it so we decided to do it later.

Hannah at the river Seine

 

Hannah and I continued into this place where the streets were filled with different restaurants. There was lots to choose from but we settled for french cuisine. It was a nice little place where we got three courses. I ordered their homemade burger and it must be one of the best burgers I have ever had. We sat there for quite a while and had a great time. 

After this we decided to go over to a park and then continue on to the Eiffel tower. We went down to the metro and realised that there was something wrong with the ticket. We took it to the information desk and told them and they gave me a new one. We went to the other park and sat there for a few minutes. It was a pity that the park was closing and everyone had to go out. I never realised that a park is a place that you would close. 

Since the park closed we went off and found a little open restaurant and had a glass of wine. We checked the timetables to see when we had to leave. After a nice time at the restaurant we headed to the metro so we could catch the train. Again there was something wrong with the ticked and the information booth was closed so we had to find a different metro station. There we told them the problem and they gave us a new one. Hannah figured there must be a problem with the system since that ticket is supposed to work all weekend with all types of transport. Anyway since we had to walk more than expected we missed the train I had planned on taking so I got onto the next one. We had to skip the Eiffel tower since there simply wasn't any time. 

Today I haven't been doing much. I had planned on going into Paris to church but I decided to prioritise rest. If I'm to survive another week I couldn't go stressing myself out. So I stayed home and slept in late and waited for Hannah to arrive. I went to pick her up from Poissy. We watched the Holy Ghost movie that was streaming for free. After having watched the movie we decided to get something to eat. We arrived at the pizza place only to realise that it was Sunday and nothing is opened on Sundays. To our disappointment we walked back home and got something there instead. Before we knew it it was time to drive Hannah to the train station in Poissy. 

It just feels like my mission here is a lot bigger than I had realised. I see a lot more than I had expected. This wasn't the most pleasant realisation. This is what I came for and this is what I want to do, but it's not going to be easy. At least I can be happy that I'm not alone in this. 

The picture says it all

Day 1

So I've survived the first day. The day started out slowly. I got up at roughly 9 and everyone had already left. I had expected the eldest to be home since school started late for him. Anyway I was alone in the house for a while before P and T got home. We dropped T off at school and P showed me around a bit before getting back home. I was mostly just sitting down not doing much while I waited for P to get her stuff done before I drove her to the bus. The car being British didn't really help with the stress of driving a car you aren't used to and not quite knowing where you were or where you were going. It sounds a lot more dramatic than it really was.

After navigating my way back home I had a few minutes to spare before picking up O from school. Since it was close and I wasn't completely sure about where it was I decided to walk instead of taking the car. I reckoned it would be easier to get a hold of the area by foot. I picked her up from school and we walked home.

Later on a neighbour came over and left her boy here while she went off to pick up her daughter. I got to practice some of my French even though some of the conversation went in English. She wasn't gone for too long before she came back to get her son. We talked some more so I got to practice a bit more and the rest of the chaps turned up. I've spoken with them a bit trying to get to know them a bit. We got to messing around a bit which was nice. Everything loosened up after that. The chaps are great, at least they haven't killed me yet. Then another neighbours daughters came over for a short while and then P came back home.

P made supper and we got to talk a bit and get to know each other a bit better. We ate and sent the chaps to bed. P is a very nice person. It seems like we're going to get on well. I've only been here one day and I already feel relaxed with the family.

The Arrival

Here I am. I survived the trip. P picked us up and we dropped Hannah off close to where she'll be staying and off we went home. Tomorrow I suppose I'll get a little tour so I'll become familiar with the area.

A leap of faith

Today is the big day. I'm moving to Paris, or one of it's suburbs to be precise. I don't really know what to expect. Now we're going to put my French to the test. You'd think I'd be more excited about it but right now I'm fairly neutral. I suppose it will come later when I'm actually there, surrounded by French people. 

I remember sitting outside on one of the nice summedays thinking about moving to Paris. At that point I was still a bit unsure about going there. I suppose I was a bit worried that the only reason I was going was because of Hannah. After some soul searching and prayers I came to the conclusion that it was more than that. The fact that Hannah will be there is only a bonus. But if I was meant to go, why didn't I already have a place to stay and something to do? September was closing in and I still didn't know what I would do there. 

Later I spoke with Hannah and she said "What if you just buy the plane ticket and trust that God will fix everything? Wouldn't that be a big leap of faith?". I had been thinking something similar myself while I had been out. 

Not long after that I went to a youth weekend. While I sat there I felt compelled. I just knew that I needed to speak with a specific person. I sat waiting for the person to sit down. After running back and forth this person comes and sits down beside me and feels that they need to pray for me. Anyway we talk for a bit and one thing that this person says is "Sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith and trust that God will take care of you". From that moment on I simply knew that Paris was my next stop. 

A long time passed and at the end of august I still didn't know what was happening. I remember talking to M and discussing my stay in Paris. I felt called to Paris but I still didn't know what I was going to do there. I told him how frustrating it was that it was getting so close without me knowing. "I have no problem trusting God will take care of everything, but does he have to wait so long to do it?" The next day everything fell into place. I know what I'll be doing. Even thought it was scary at times thinking about the future it still paid off to persevere.