First few Days in France

Hello everyone, Thank you all for your prayers. It has been a good few days. Our flights went very smoothly. We always waited til the last to get off the plane which can make for an interesting experience. Once we heard a tarmac worker apologizing for taking 15 minutes to get the skyway to the plane because they didn't have it turned on properly. Later in Paris by the time we got off and got into the airport the doors were locked and we couldn't get in. Fortunatley there were two workers coming back from the plane and after several tries they got the door unlocked. Then when we found our way to customs they workers had pity on us when they saw and counted our four (un, deux, trois, quatre) and let us go to the front of a new line and even go to the check out for EU countries. This of course made another line upset because our line had to alternate with their line due to the one worker (they opened a new line but no employee was at it) and now they would have to wait twice as long. Our friend Yvain and another helper (Gabriel, pronounced like the female in english) was waiting for us at the airport and we rode to the school without any problems. At the school we met Saraly, the director and Pierre, the President and we followed them to the apartment to drop off our luggage. The apartment is nice, downtown, mostly businesses for neighbors I think. I'll send pictures again after we move in tomorrow. Natcha, the housing director has only had the keys to this apartment for one week and she has been very busy furnishing it and fixing it up for us. She and her family have been working quite hard on it even during these holidays. Afterwards we had lunch back at the school. We were served pizza. Sadly, Lilia's words were, 'This isn't pizza.' Thankfully she whispered. Caleb came to me and said, 'Mom could you go tell them I want pepperoni, please.' At lunch we met an array of people. Other sudents who were passing through the communal kitchen. Two american students, who have most recently come from Nairobi, Kenya, have adopted us to some extent, Karen and Frank Mills. Karen who previously was a french teacher is taking some cultural classes and Frank began learning in August. They have been most helpful, by cooking us dinner our first night and walked with us to the grocery store and the pharmacy today. At the pharmacy she was very helpful in translating the need for tuberculosis test we need before the children can receive the TB vaccination, which they must have before they can attend school. This evening we had spaghetti for dinner which was quite good and Lilia said it tasted the same as she was used to. After dinner Natcha came in and gave me the keys to the apartment but they will want to do a few more things to it later. She said we will only have hot water at night if we run out during the day it is really expensive to get more and that electricity is cheaper at night if we can keep things off during the day (like the heaters) it will help the bill- a very important thing to know. We have met many other students and will meet many more after the holidays. Lilia and Caleb have met new friends from these families. Even went over and played for a little while. This afternoon I went to the little store down the street to get Jason some Coke or other caffeinated product. While there I got in the shorter line. Then a man came up to ask which line I was in because our line was long and had to curve around to the other line. I had to say I'm sorry I don't speak French then in English he said I'm behind you. Later a lady cut in front of me out of nowhere. I was going to let her because I don't know what the culture is or how to tell her I was in line. But the man behind me let her know we were in line and she moved. Also as I neared the checkout there was a man buying batteries and needed one more package. He was telling the cashier but she couldn't reach them. I was getting a little nervous because I was right beside them- then sure enough he began asking me to reach them. Of course I had no idea which ones he needed and there were many to choose from and I couldn't understand what he was saying so I reached for one and held it up. He shook his head and said many other things and motioned further down and I picked another and that was the one, thankfully. So it was nice that I didn't have to look like an ignorant person- which will happen on many other occasions I am sure and my rescuer behind me didn't have to help out again. Although I'm sure he got a good laugh at my stab in the dark with those batteries. Oh yes I did find Jason Pepsi which was nice since he prefers that to Coke.THanks for the prayers! ANGIE