Thanksgiving, Exams, End of Term

Since I'm living with a lot of Americans, I got to have Thanksgiving for the 1st time. We got a MASSIVE turkey (12kg) but I reckon it was the NZ lamb that topped it off! A bunch of us from the centre asked our language partners & their families to come. (Our language volunteer to listen to us speaking French. They're pretty self-disciplined - they don't laugh at all our mistakes.) It was cool to share in a great American tradition, and it's always good to think about how much I'm grateful for.
We had a field trip to an abbey about an hour's drive from here. The main facade was completed in 1843 and as this photo gives a glimpse of, it's amazing! Unfortunately it was a very cold day - but I was set because I had a flask, tea, sugar, milk, coffee and mugs. Come to think of it I was very popular that day!
The dreaded week of exams went OK, I passed all of them so that's sweet. For 1 exam we had to read about a page to our tutor, for which we'd had 5mins to prepare. It was a bit off-putting seeing her write flat out as I read to her! The pressure certainly hasn't eased since our exams finished. We've learned a new tense, which unfortunately we don't use in English so it's taking me a bit to get my head around. The meaning of it can change depending on what verbs you use it with - fun!! I'm noticing improvements in my French - I'm reading a French classic, The Small Prince, and I'm reaching for the dictionary less & less so that's a good sign.
We had the first snow of the season, with more promised for this week so I'm still hopeful it'll be a white Christmas. I sure appreciate central heating - we're expecting a high of 0 tomorrow! The women are having a Christmas brunch on Wednesday - can you imagine all the fine French food?? Mmm-hmm! Friday evening is the graduation, for which I'm in the choir. That is not a comment on my singing ability or lack thereof, it's just that no students offered to be in the choir at the start of term so we're all in it. The good thing is we don't have to wear robes for it! We just have to remember to pronounce things particularly as the words for 'fat' and 'grace' are similar... yeah, don't wanna be singing about God's fat eh.
While I'm missing kiwis and summer, I reckon having Christmas in France is a pretty good thing! Joyeux noël et bonne année à tous!

Learning the lingo

Our 10 day holiday was great! A really good chance to take a breather and try & catch up with all we'd learned in the first 7 weeks. 3 of us went to Lyon together for 2 days: Marina who's Ukrainian, & Alessandro who's Italian. We checked out some of the sights and I was amazed at the ancient buildings! NZ is so young. The highlight for me was eating frogs' legs. We went to a great restaurant for lunch and at last I got to eat 1 of France's traditional food. And I enjoyed it! Next on my "food to try" list is snails.... yea, not so sure I'll like them but you don't know til you try!



I had to go to the Dr last week because my shoulder's still sore from when I hurt it playing volleyball. I think that 1 of my tendons is inflammed - nothing too serious. I had to ring her and book the appointment - talking on the phone is 1 of the hardest thing to do when you can't speak the language properly! I'd written down some phrases to tell her what had happened and how I'd been resting it but doing stretches every day. I also decided to take my French-English dictionary in case she said stuff I couldn't understand - but I didn't need it!! I managed fine without it so I'm stoked. I need to go back and see her this week cos it's still not 100% although it's improved heaps.

My nursing skills came in handy this week - we went on a school outing to an Abbey about an hour away by bus. The Abbey was built in the 12th Century and is massive! We had lunch there and then went to a coppersmith. He showed us how he uses his lathe to make stuff; it's a dying art and he makes some beautiful things. I had to use the facilities at one point, and a French lady in her late 40s came out saying that she didn't feel well. She was pale and sweating & it looked like she was going to collapse. She didn't collapse because she was leaning against the wall and I was holding her arm, but she did pass out. When she came too, I asked her if she had any pain, cos I was thinking it could be her heart. She didn't answer me so I repeated myself but she still didn't answer so who knows what I was doing wrong?! I'd called for help and a staff member came, and then so did Jamie, another student who's also a Dr. But Jamie has only been learning French for 8 weeks! Jamie asked me questions, which I would then try to interpret so it was a challenge alright! In the end we decided that she was dehydrated and that caused her to pass out. Big dramas!!

Autumn has hit in the last few weeks & the mountains surrounding us look beautiful with the snow on. Sometimes it looks just like icing sugar! I'm hoping for a white Christmas! I'm also going to celebrate Thanksgiving for the 1st time, and I've asked my language partner and her family to come too. It's a good way for us to say thanks to our language partners who volunteer their time so we can practice French. And on Monday week our exams start! 6 exams over 3 days: written and oral comprehension & production, grammar, & dictation. Pretty thorough huh!
I've just completed reading my 1st French book!! It was in simplified French - but it was cool, a good way to learn new vocab. It's a buzz being able to read & understand another language. A couple of weeks ago in church the pastor asked me to open the service in prayer!! No warning, he just looked at me. I actually didn't understand what he'd said but the lady next to me told me what he'd said, and told me I could pray in English. I decided that I'm already competent at praying in English so why not give it a go? It went OK but I think I thanked God that we love him - I meant to say thanks because he loves us! Oh well it could've been worse!!Il grandit petit à petit (it grows bit by bit).

Settling in

My head is full with French words and my tummy is full with French cheese. They know what they're doing alright. Our class recently did a field trip to the weekly market where you can buy clothes, handbags, CDs, lunch, cheese, salami, even rabbits or turkeys!! I got a 25og camembert for NZ$2.20. They sure know how to make the stuff!

All of France had a weekend of free entry into museums and chateaux. We'd been told that assume there's a cost to anything unless told otherwise. There's like a suburb of the city that's an old as city which has got a museum in it. It was amazing!! I saw Louis XV's chair and wardrobe. Hard for me to get my head around stuff that old, but for the Americans and Europeans I was with it was not such a big deal. Figured it's just cos NZ is so young. Incredible buildings all over town, not just that part of the city.

Yesterday we had a party for all of our neighbours, and we all had to bring some food from our own country. I decided on making a pav, but since I've never made one before I had a practice a few days before. Turned out pretty well, and all the other singles were stoked that I don't like cream so needed them to eat it up. I was speaking to another student the other day, she's from 1 of the southern states, and she couldn't understand me! It wasn't the words I was saying, just my kiwi accent. We got there eventually tho.

I enjoyed eating out recently, we'd just been taught in class about vocab needed for food and restaurants so we decided to go and practice. We went to a creperie, and flip it was good food. My main was mushroom, sausage, egg, and of course cheese all wrapped up in a crepe. The egg sounds bad but actually it tasted great. Would've been rude not to have dessert so I had raspberries with a hot chocolate sauce - awesome. And the stuff we'd learned in class was very helpful :)

I'm in France!!!!!

Bonjour tout le monde! (Hello everyone)

I've only been here for 2 weeks yet it feels so much longer!! I'm missing my family and friends in NZ a lot!! BUT I'm settling in well here now. It's a beautiful town, way greener than I thought. All the Frenchies have been really friendly and helpful, and most of the time I'm managing to make myself understood.

(That's my bedroom).

The trip over was LONG but otherwise fine. I had to catch a train from Lyon airport to Chambery, then another to Albert

ville. I managed to buy a ticket no problem. Then just wait for the train. Decided I should answer a call of nature before the train came, and while I was so engaged, I heard them announce that the train was coming. So I hurried as fast as possible to the platform - with my 30kg of baggage, + my 7kg cabin bag. Whew! Made it before the train left, yay. But then I realised that I was in a 1st class carriage but had only paid for a 2nd class ticket!!! "Man, they're gonna throw me off" I thought. And none of the carriages are interconnected. As I got off I saw a conductor and he asked me what was wrong. So I wanted to say that I was on the wrong carriage. But actually I said "the carriage is bad". He probably t

hought, "This is as good as it gets." Anyway I showed him my ticket and he told me to follow him. So we were going as fast as along the platform... still with my 37kg of luggage!! And it was like 30deg so I was boiling! Finally we made it to my carriage. Then he said that my seat was actually upstairs and I must've given him an overwhelmed look, cos he said "you can just stay there." Once at Chambery someone told me what platform I needed to be on to catch the train to Albertville so that was easy. And that train wasn't as flash so I just sat whereever. Well, now I know a bit more about the trains in Franc

e...

There's about 40 students here at the school, mostly Americans but also 4 Dutch, 2 other kiwis (yay), 2 Aussies, 1 Ugandan, 1 Irish, 1 English, 1 Spanish, & 1 Italian. Lots of people having trouble understanding my accent!! Sometimes it's my pronounciation; sometimes it's the words I use. But most of the time we communicate fine. I'm in the intermediate class, and there's only 9 of us in that which is sweet. Our teacher, Valerie, is really nice. We only have 20h of class a week, with Wednesdays as well as Saturdays and Sundays off!! Apparently most businesses have Wednesdays off b

ecause of the recession. Suits me! 20h of class doesn't sound like a lot, but it is. She teaches us the grammar in French; no English allowed. A couple of people in our class sometimes use English to clarify something, but we're meant to only use French. That's what we're here for after all! So those of us in the intermediate or advanced class are to use French all the time while on campus. But we do get some reprieve when we speak to the students in the beginning class! Yay for beginners!! I realised that I can't write and listen to my teacher at the same time, & I have to be really deliberate about listening all the time.

Apart from class, we're strongly encouraged t

o join a club to get to know people and parlez en francais. There are 265 clubs/associations in Albertville. Quite a lot for a town of 20,000 residents! I'm going to check out handball this week and maybe volleyball too. And of course there's church too. I've been going to a nice church about 10mins walk away, & most of the time I can catch the gist of what's going on. The singing is great practice for my pronounciation as well as learning new vocab. I now know how to say 'bend your knees' : "Fleche ses genous" Never know when you might need to say that!! Other handy words I've learned: Accro

branche = obstacle course in a forest; Faire de la randonee = go tramping; mere au foyer = stay-at-home-mum; les feuilles jaunissent = the leaves turn yellow. We're entering into autumn, but it doesn't feel like it yet to me. The temp since I got here has been in the 20s, really

nice. Rained once or twice, but only at night.

Last w

eekend about 10 of us went for a walk up a mountain. (Well, we did drive some of the way up). It's called "La belle etoile", the beautiful star. Pretty steep going but so worth it!!!! It took us 2h to climb up

and not long to get down. Check out some of the pics! The one on the left is of the valley in which Albertville is, then the group photo (with Mont Blanc obscured by clouds), and then a view overlooking Annecy, a town just to the north of Albertville.

What's the time Mr Wolfie?

The last four weeks have been amazing!
I finished work at the end of July, to give myself time for a holiday as I didn't take one at the end of last year, but also to get everything done that needs to be done! So, I've been busy socialising with family & friends, as well as plodding through my to-do list. I've even managed to fit in 2 trips to the bach! Dad & I had planned to go tramping in the Lewis Pass, but the weather was scruffy so we decided to go over the hill and relax at Roa. Well, I relaxed, but dad found a problem with the turbine, which he had to fix. (The turbine charges the batteries to give us lights.) But I supported him in that role by making cups of tea at the appropriate intervals. As you can see, apart from that I did a whole lot of not much!!

I had a bit of fun with Rebecca, my 13 year old niece too. Check out the gorgeous photos of us. Reckon they’ll have to come out at her 21^st. I’ve also taken Jonathan (aged 11) to the pool for his hydrotherapy. He really enjoys the water, & it’s so good to see him relaxed and having fun. Dad, my aunty Bobbie, brother Ben and his family all went to Amberley Beach for a BBQ on Sunday. Wonderful weather, good food, & another memory I’ll treasure in times to come.

The time (according to Mr Wolfie) is 13 DAYS TIL TAKE OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m so stoked! It’s been absolutely amazing, & a bit stressful, to see how everything has come together. I’ve been really encouraged by everyone’s support & good wishes; it’s great. So, in a couple of weeks time, I’ll be surrounded by the French Alps! I’m really looking forward to studying French, and getting to know some of the locals. I'll keep you posted on the important stuff, like can I really eat a snail? and how many croissants can I eat for breakfast??

Coping with swine flu & wishing I was already in France - where it's summer!!!

I spose like everybody else, I've been trying to avoid getting the swine flu. Well, I lucked out. But! it wasn't a bad dose, just a few days when I had to lie low and take things quiet as. My nephew Jonathan also had it but YAY he's made a complete recovery & is back to his usual indestructible self....

I looked after Jonathan & Rebecca (11 & 13) for a weekend so my bro & his wife could have a few days R&R at the bach. I also had to look after Ollie (the spoodle puppy), Katie (the cat), Minnie (a mouse) and Blossom (another mouse). See the pics - none of Jonathan sorry, he wasn't in the mood for a photo shoot).

Everybody survived the weekend (even me!) but one of the mice soon met an untimely end due to dehydration (DAYS after I'd left, I take no responsibility for this whatsoever). Fortunately, the children and other animals fared much better.

Now the countdown's really on as departure day rapidly approaches. That's Thursday the 27th of August at 1.30pm. That's less than 6 weeks. It's 37 days. Here's a map to give you an idea of where the heck Albertville is...

Exactly where the red blob is, in the SE.

2 hours east of Lyon.

1 hour south of Geneva.

A city of about 20,000.

In the alps.

Yes, it's good to be me!!

But it's really AFRICA that I can't wait to get to. Here's a map of Burkina Faso to give you an idea. I spose it's good that nobody's heard of it, just shows that it hasn't been in the news for dumb reasons like dictators or coups or wars. You have to look carefully to see where BF is. The capital's called Ouagadougou - cool name eh!!
I'm going to live in a city in the SW called Banfora, which has a population of about 65,000. (Hamilton has about 125,000 just to give you an idea). My first focus will be on the language and culture, getting to know the people. The language I'll learn is called Dioula ("jewel-a"). I'll be taught that from French - hence the need for me to study hard in France! So yea, not too many chocolate croissants or skiiing lessons for me. Unless I can parlez francais all the way down the slopes....

I got an email recently from Eileen, who's been a missionary in Burkina for 35 years. She said that gold was recently discovered!! But the terrrible thing is that they haven't always been mining it in sustainable or safe ways and some tunnels got dug pretty quickly. When the rain came, some tunnels collapsed, killing at least 35. Tragic eh. The other totally lousy thing is that some girls go along to the mines to sell water. Which is a good idea except they can't make enough to live off. Hence they sell themselves.

However, the literacy work that a missionary couple are involved in at Banfora has been going really well. They recently got asked to start literacy work in another town so they're getting really popular! Being able to read and write will boost people's job opportunities as well as help to keep the language and culture alive and well.

As time goes on, I'll fill you in on more details about the people and places.
For now it's time for me to sign off and brave the chilly night air.... Roll on French summer :)

The countdown has begun!

Hi everybody
I've just had 10 days in the North Island, & it has to be said that it was quite a bit cooler than I'd expected. I was in Kaikohe on Sunday morning and they had a frost!! So much for the winterless north! Apparently frosts are rare up there but even so, it was a pretty decent one.
It was excellent being able to catch up with people! I had 4 nights at Owen & Raewyn's, & the highlight would have to be seeing how good Raewyn looked having finished all her chemo & radiation. She's doing pretty well so that's bliman great. However, I didn't enjoy the rugby! It was fabulous to see everyone in their church again, & to be able to meet a bunch of the newcomers since my last visit. I especially enjoyed their Welsh friends' accent!! Lovn it.
Then it was down to Hamilton for 3 nights, where I caught up with lots of people from WEC & Eastwest College (where I studied last yr). I also saw a few people from the church I went to, as well as my Somalian friends. They came to NZ last April as refugees & I was 1 of the people helping them to settle in. They are all doing so well, they've learned stacks of English, all the kids have friends at school, and most of them play netball or soccer. It was so cool to see how far they've come along in the 8 months since I last saw them! I was also able to spend some time with Sheridyn, Jan, Luke & Jay and Trevor & Margaret. That was great, & they're all doing well! There's nothing quite like catching up with old friends eh.
When I visited friends from my old church, I pulled up and couldn't get the key out of the ignition of my friend's car. I pushed the release button & was pulling the key with all my might, but to no avail. Finally I realised it was cos I'd left it in drive, d'oh! Then when I went to leave Sheridyn & Jan's place, it took me a while to unlock the door. I had to turn the key this way & that, until it eventually let me in. Then I started it but it stalled straight away (it was a cold night). Then I did get it started but couldn't get it into gear.... til Sheridyn told me you have to put your foot on the brake; right. Makes sense to me (not). Then I pulled out of their drive and turned left.... it conked out again. How embarrassing! Finally I got going again and then it was all good!
Then my busyness continued when I headed north to Whangarei to see the Buicks for the weekend. They are doing so great! It's always fabulous to see them, & I was able to spend some time with a couple from their church who I got to know last year. Nick & Karen Klinkenberg were also up for the weekend, so I'm sure you can imagine that a lot of it was spent laughing. It was cool to get to know them too.
Paul & Sharon have just started share milking again, although the cows are dry just now. If you want to hear about the dramas they had with the farmhouse, give them a ring & they'll fill you in. I'm sure they'd love to hear from you too! I also had a bit of a catch up with Amy, Nick, & Josh too, which was great. That family is just amazing - they are so passionate for God & church, and they have all work so hard; absolutely inspirational.
And now I'm back in Chch, and to be fair to the North Islanders, I have to admit it's pretty bleak weather here too. I only have 5 weeks left at work! I'm going to have a month off before I leave to have a holiday and be able to see everyone I want to, & do everything I have to. I really don't want to get to France & be tired or stressed out.
Recently I asked John & Katherine Bennett to be my church representatives. They are very close family friends, & Katherine & mum met when they were 17. Our families used to go camping together over the Christmas holidays, which was always fabulous. Mum & Katherine used to like to stop at EVERY pottery place.... boring! Over the years John & Katherine have shown themselves to be loving, loyal, and wonderful friends. John has been on the Wycliffe board for many years (like, over 30). They are also great hosts, & often have missionaries, or anybody else, to stay in their home. Their role as my reps is basically to be a contact point for people back here, and give info about me to those interested, as well as give me info about what's happening back here. For those of you who have expressed to me an interest in supporting me, you can either contact them in person, or at jkbennett@clear.net.nz. Alternatively you can always see, email, or text me, or contact WEC at admin@wecnz.org. Once I'm away, I'll be updating my blog about every month, as well as using Facebook & Skype. I so appreciate everybody's prayers, this is making a huge difference & is really encouraging! You are and will be a huge, although often unseen part, of what I do. Thank you so much.
Current prayer & praise points:
Thanks God: a wonderful & safe trip to the NI
my job; it's going great & I really enjoy it.
Please God: for my last month at work - I'd like to finish well & be a great ambassador for Jesus
Quality time with my family and friends!
That's it from me for now. I need to get my skates on so I get to work on time!!

biking, visiting, relaxing...

Like everyone else, I think this year's going quickly. Maybe that's just because Chch has had some warm days more akin to summer than autumn; maybe it's because Dad & I have recently decided to bike to the bach so we've been out enjoying that warm weather more. But the date of the trip is approaching more rapidly than our fitness, so yea, it'll be interesting if nothing else. The trip is 260km, so we do have our work cut out for us. I successfully rode up the port hills to the kiwi recently, the first time in 2 or 3 years, so I suppose that's a good start. (The kiwi is 320m high). Porter's Pass is just over 900m high....

Apart from that, it was great to catch up with my niece & nephew, Philippa & Josh, over Easter. They're growing up fast, and both doing well at school. They have lots of outside interests - mainly horses (4 Philippa) and motorbikes (for Josh). Lots of fun!

I had my 1st fundraising event last month, & was pretty happy with how that went. I had lots of help from people who brought along home baking for supper, yum yum. I showed a DVD set in Burkina Faso, that told the story of 1 woman who decided that female circumcision should stop. It was pretty full on, but gave a pretty good insight into the culture and their way of life.

Last week 2 of my nursing friends, Maureen & Suzy, finally got to go to our bach together for a few nights. It took a bit of planning due to our different rosters, but was way worth it! We had lots of fun and did a whole lot of not much. Mainly playing board games, reading, talking, resting, and planning our next trip! It was good R&R and even good weather! Yes, it's true, the coast does get sunshine.... but don't tell anyone cos then everyone will want to go!

Apart from that, I've been getting a good amount of work. We even had a couple of people in who had symptoms of the swine flu, plus had recently travelled to Mexico. That made us get our act together with infection control! All good news though, both people turned out to be negative - yay. I've also been plodding away on things for my departure. I have booked my tickets, and leave Chch for France on Aug 27th! Plus I successfully applied for my British passport (dad was born in England), so that makes everything seem a lot closer!! And I've only had 1 headache (that was probably due to biking too far too fast on a hot day & not drinking enough. Lesson learned.) So I'm rapt that the headaches are gone for good!

That's all I have to say about that.

What's been going on!

Lots of great things have been happening lately & here's the goss...

A while ago Dad & I went tramping on the West Coast. The track we did part of is called the Croesus, & it goes from just out of Blackball (near our bach) all the way through to Barrytown (just south of Punakaiki). We walked into the hut on the 1st day, about 6 hours worth, and slept VERY WELL that night! Then the next day we continued on a bit, then climbed Mount Lyall (it's massive!!!!) But we felt so good instead of just going back to the hut we continued all the way back that we'd tramped the day before. I was planning to attach some photos but for some weird technological reason, I'm unable to. So you'll just have to take my word for it - the views were AMAZING!!

The coolest thing that's happened in the past while is that I haven't had a migraine in over a month!! The new pastor at church, Terry, prayed for me 1 Sunday at church and ever since then!! Sweet as. It's been amazing, it's such a great feeling being free of pain - yay!! So now I can enjoy listening to LOUD! music whenever I want... all good!

Work is going really well. At first it looked like I wasn't going to have any the week before last, but I ended up picking up 3 days, so it always works out that I get enough - stoked! And the people I work with are really nice. We're very multi-cultural at the moment: an Irish nurse, an Australian Dr, an American Dr, a Sri Lankan-English Dr, an English Dr, and then the rest of us are kiwis. Plenty of fun when terminology is different, or even someone's accent! The American Dr asked a nurse for a 4x4 - and what he meant wasn't a piece of wood, or a car, but a piece of gauze, cos in the US they're 4" x 4". So yea, we laugh at each other's weird English.

The rest of my family is well. Dad's doing great, his work went through a quiet patch but it's picked up again now. He's getting into bike riding & has also been tramping on the hills so that's cool. He even managed to get his cholesterol down - so impressive! My brother's family is good - excitedly waiting to get a puppy. My other neice turns 11 this weekend, & I plan to go down to see them in Waimate over Easter.

Church is going really well. Our new pastor & his family are settling in just fine, & the church is in good heart. I'm leading a cell group and that's cool; it's been a while since I did that. I also do a bit of visiting for church and I'm enjoying that.

It's not long now til I go to France - sometime in August. My fundraising efforts kick off on the 23rd of April - I'm going to show a DVD set in Burkina Faso of all places! It'll be on the big screen at church and we'll put on supper, so that should be a lot of fun. I'm in the process of applying for my British passport (Dad's British), as my NZ one expires in November anyway. So I'll keep you posted on that - looks like a lot of paperwork to do!