babel <°)))<

Ju made a comment the other day about having to translate Marc's blog using an online translator. I thought I'd see what results that gave, and if you do understand French you can see it on Marc's blog. In case you don't, here is the result of translating my post about the church weekend away - having been translated from English to French and then back again. It'll give you an idea of how accurate a translation you will get from one of these automatic translators:

"Our weekend of church far was recreation and to encourage and tire! The recreation because there was a good number of people there - 60, who were the maximum number us could have - and because there was a mixture of the ages and each one made the effort speak with a good number of different people. Recreation also, because although I usually avoid playing of the plays, this time I joined the "grand play" (a kind of play in the teams) and even played a couple of the rounds of Uno the night of plays. And recreation because Simon seems to appreciate to be surrounded by people and having a good number of new things to look at. To encourage initially all for my first reason of recreation which we managed to oblige so many people of the church to come the weekend! Moreover encouraging because the spoke of loudspeaker on "gifts in the church" and its teaching was healthy and accessible. It said in a maintenance that him and his wife, with their 6 kids, moved enormously, but God was always very faithful and the kids with long never suffered. I know that of my own experiment, but it is still useful to intend somebody of other to say it. Tiring because we spent much of time with others, at the one week end very occupied for marc. We were in a Juste of room to be slept at the most remote end of a corridor, which meant it was quieter than it could have been... but had a baby who is not nights of sleep still in the next room, which meant that it could have been quieter! When I was awaked by him during the night, I was afraid which it would place Simon at far, but not, I intended Simon to suck his inch, but he did not cry."

Human translators don't need to worry about becoming obsolete for a while!

PS This is not a criticism of anyone who does use an online translator - it is one way of getting the gist of what is said!

photos of the church weekend

church weekend

Our church weekend away was fun and encouraging and tiring!

Fun because there were a good number of people there – 60, which was the maximum number we could have – and because there was a mix of ages and everyone made the effort to talk to lots of different people. Fun too, because although I usually avoid playing games, this time I joined in the “big game” (a kind of quiz in teams) and even played a couple of rounds of Uno on Games Night. And fun because Simon seems to enjoy being surrounded by people and having lots of new things to look at.

Encouraging first of all for my first reason for fun – that we managed to get so many people from church to come on the weekend! Also encouraging because the speaker spoke on “Gifts in the Church” and his teaching was both sound and accessible. He said in one talk that he and his wife, with their 6 kids, have moved quite a lot, but God has always been very faithful and the kids have never suffered in the long run. I know that from my own experience, but it’s still helpful to hear someone else say it.

Tiring because we spent a lot of time with other people, at the end of a very busy week for Marc. We were in a bedroom right at the farthest end of a corridor, which meant it was quieter than it could have been … but had a baby who isn’t sleeping nights yet in the next room, which meant it could have been quieter! When I was woken up by him during the night, I was afraid he’d set Simon off, but no, I heard Simon sucking his thumb, but he didn’t cry.

I know it's summer when...

... I burn my feet hanging washing out barefoot

... I smother myself (and my baby) in SPF60 cream before going out with the buggy

... I don't have to put on coat, scarf and gloves before leaving the flat!

... Simon can at last wear his "Piglet" sun hat!

... we're forecast a 10° drop in temperatures over the next 2 days *sigh*

Whoever knew a cushion could be so much fun!

Hilary likes to google

Ok, this is a silly Internet game, but it is actually very funny! You type into a Google search (in my case) “Hilary likes to” and then you see how many of the results apply to you.

Here’s mine:

1. Hilary likes to move quickly, take risks.

Not usually, but it can happen (getting married in 3½ months … didn’t feel like a risk though!)

2. We get the juice on where Hilary likes to spend her down time. Let's just say that a cemetery is involved!

Er, right. No.

3. Hilary likes to be needed, as well as to cherish and protect her loved ones, of whom she is somewhat possessive. Hilary is attracted to foreigners, …

I’d say yes. And as for the last part, one foreigner in particular!

4. Late at night and on the weekends, Hilary likes to consider herself a writer.

Well, I suppose I have my blog!

5. Hilary likes to spend time with her 5 year old mare and boxer Holly.

Haha. Not that I’ve noticed!

6. You can see where Molly likes to eat in New York; where Hilary likes to shop in Los Angeles …

Yeah…

7. Hilary likes to find the wonderful things hidden in plain view, and helping others to see them, too.

I’d like to say yes…?

8. Hilary likes to review what she's eaten.

Only during pregnancy (euh, gross!).

9. Hilary likes to encourage families to come here in the school holidays.

No. Sorry.

10. Hilary likes to make use of glass that others have no use for.

Not really.
I also wanted to add number 14 – “Hilary likes to hear the speeches she has written.” How smug of me!

travels in a bed

On Saturday, when I put Simon down for his morning nap, I decided to zip up his sleeping bag but not to bother with the shoulder fastenings. I knew he’d be warm enough, so I just tucked them in. After that, we heard him “chatting” away in his bed for quite a long time, but eventually there was silence. Later, when I heard him making noises again, I went to get him up, and here’s what I found… (his head had been towards the right of the photo, feet to the left, with all the toys up at the right-hand end of the bed!)

simon news!

It’s been a while since I gave a Simon update, so since today we had a visit to the paediatrician, it seemed like a good opportunity!

Today he weighed 6.5kg (14lb 3oz) and measured 62cm, so he’d put on 500g and 2cm since last month. He’s following the growth charts exactly, which is reassuring!

He is still desperate to be able to get about on his own, and is able to roll from his back to his front and vice versa, but doesn’t bother much as he hasn’t realised that that would get him anywhere. But he has worked out that lying on his side to play with his toys is good as it means he can see them better than when he is on his back, and has his hands free, unlike when he is on his front!

He’s still quite a fan of sitting – at least as opposed to lying – though he won’t stay sitting up on his own as he’s always leaning over to try to get to things he can see. He won’t sit back in his bouncy chair anymore, he has to be sitting upright (or looking at his feet!).

Everything he gets his hands on goes into his mouth … unless of course the angle is wrong and when he gets his hand to his mouth he ends up just putting his thumb and/or his finger in! Chewing is a big thing for him, which can be quite painful for Mummy or Papa’s fingers. But his teething ring just isn’t quite the right shape for him to be able to hold it in place for long.

He is now banned from sucking on Mummy’s face (while she burps him) as he sucks way too hard. The beard puts him off trying the same thing on Papa!

And he is *very* vocal!! It can be wonderful to hear him burbling joyfully, but for the last two days he sounded as if he was complaining about everything! Fortunately today he seemed happier, and we had more smiles again.

decorating plans

Well, the landlord and the painter came round, with a girl who works for the landlord, and I won’t go into too much detail or I’ll get annoyed again! The landlord totally didn’t get that it was a problem for me with a baby to have the painter in and lose a room at a time (not to mention the noise/dust/paint smells) and it took me crying to get him to ease up a little. As I said to my mum, it wouldn’t be true to say I cried on purpose, but I certainly didn’t try to stop myself! He eventually agreed to wait until the beginning of June, at which point Simon and I can go and spend 10 days with Marc’s parents while the worst of it is being done. This also gives me time to get the rooms tidied and everything out on surfaces packed away.

People like him just annoy me. Ok, I don’t like outright hostility either, but the attitude “I’m doing you a favour here” from someone who is making life difficult for me really rubs me up the wrong way!

going greener

This weekend we watched Al Gore’s film « An Inconvenient Truth ». In a way, it didn’t present us with anything surprising. We already knew there was a global environmental crisis, and Al Gore shows just how true this is. Part of me feels totally pessimistic about it – changing anything will require sacrifices on the part of a lot of people who don’t want to make those sacrifices. And when it comes down to it, human beings are fundamentally selfish. The only hope we have is that we will realise that we need to work for our longterm self-interest rather than having an ostrich-like focus on our short-term comfort and economic growth.

Marc and I are trying to become more environmentally friendly. We’ve recycled for a long time, and have found lots of tips to improve our impact on the world from the Generous online community. I would encourage anyone to go onto their website and have a look. As they say about themselves:

"Basically it's a rapidly growing crowd of people who think that if a lot of us begin to make small changes in the way we live, then together we will create a big change in favour of the planet and its people.

"There's now more than a thousand of us signed up and each month we get emailed some suggested Generous Actions and the idea is to try and commit to taking on one or two - and then making them part of our everyday life.

"Some are easy (takes five minutes to sign up online as an organ donor), some are more of a hassle (switching to an ethical bank, putting a plastic brick in your cistern to save water, starting to shop local and fair trade) and some are more challenging (cutting back on your car use, offsetting your airmiles, improving home energy efficiency).

"Every time a Generous member commits to an action, it gets logged on the site - for example there's now 415 people who have stopped taking carrier bags from shops, 365 who turn off the tap when cleaning their teeth, and 308 who have unplugged their chargers to reduce their emissions.

"If it sounds like your kind of thing, you can read more about it here
http://generous.org.uk/about/"

bulldozered by the landlord

I had a phonecall from our landlord yesterday. He said he’d got our letter about moving out at the end of July, and he wanted to sort out when their painter could come in and redecorate, so that when we moved out he wouldn’t have to charge us 3 or 4 million francs for wear and tear. Yeah, right, whatever. The truth of it is, he wants the flat to be newly re-decorated by the time we move out so that he can rent it out again immediately, and he even told me that their painter doesn’t have anything to do at the moment.

At first I was a bit annoyed, as the flat wasn’t in great shape when we moved in, and it hasn’t suffered particularly over the last 3 years. Yes, it needs redecorating, but it did 3 years ago and they didn’t bother doing it then! Then I decided that at the end of the day, having the painter in will force us to get organised, and at least we’ll get to live in a newly-decorated flat for the rest of our time here. The landlord said it will only take 2 or 3 weeks, but I’m dubious about that! We’ve already had their painter in to do the kitchen after the boiler exploded. He’s a nice bloke, but every day he came he arrived later and left earlier!! It took him 5 days to do the kitchen and it’s the smallest room by far.

Oh well, I’m resigned to living without one or other of our rooms for the next few weeks (the landlord wants to see us on Monday and get the painter started straight away!).

Weekend III

Tuesday was still the weekend – yay! – and we drove back up from the Auvergne, stopping in St Etienne for lunch with our friends Pete and Rachel, and their six week old baby, Anna. They are missionaries who are planting a church in the south of the city. It was great to see them, and Simon enjoyed making friends with Anna!

The rest of the journey was long, and I couldn’t blame Simon for being a bit restless. The only real screams we had during the journey though were when he was hungry. And after so many hours of travelling in so few days, he probably thought we’d decided to opt for a nomadic lifestyle. We were all very glad to get home at 7.

More weekend photos

Fernand and Christiane, Agnès' parents.

Agnès' grandmother

Weekend II

On Sunday morning we went to church in Orange. It was a “seeker service” with a Gospel group and a presentation about slavery and Negro Spiritual/Gospel music. Very interesting, though not really a worship service as such. Simon behaved very well, and I took him out towards the end to feed him. They had a really nice little room for babies, with a basin in it and everything.

We left straight after church to drive to the Auvergne, stopping once on the way for us to eat, and once for Simon. It was hot in the car, and he did get quite agitated at one stage, so we stopped for some fresh air which cheered him up!

In the Auvergne we were staying with the parents of Agnès, who was my penfriend when I was a teenager. I first went to stay with her and her family in the village of Marat when I was 17, and have been there several times since. Agnès now lives in Lyon with her husband and kids, but they were in Marat just for the weekend, and hadn’t left before we got there, which was great!

On Monday we had a relaxing day, just went out for a walk in the afternoon, and then we left again early on Tuesday morning.

Weekend I

So, our weekend away! We couldn’t leave before Friday evening, as Marc was working all afternoon, but in the end we thought that might work out well anyway, as I could feed Simon at 5 and then not again until we reached our hotel. In theory, Simon would have slept most of the journey … but he had other ideas! We even put him into his car-safe Moses basket thinking he’d sleep better if he was lying flat … but after leaving at 6.45pm, he only had little naps until 10pm when he at last fell asleep properly.

He was great though – he ate at midnight when we got to our hotel in Montélimar, slept through the night despite sharing a room with us, and then ate once I’d had my shower in the morning. We had another 45 minutes or so drive to Orange, arriving seconds before most of the other people who all seemed to arrive at once for the SIM (Serving In Mission/Société Internationale Missionnaire) France meeting. There were about 25 or 30 people there for the meeting, including us and two other couples who were also longterm missionary candidates.

I thought Simon might sleep for the morning as he usually does, but no, there was too much going on and too many new faces for him to switch off. He was very good though – during the first part of the meeting we could hear him gurgling away next door, then when we went out while they discussed us and the other candidates, he came with us. I fed him, then put him down again when we had to go before the committee. It was funny, as they asked us exactly the same question as Mike Wall had done at All Nations, which was to explain to them why we feel God is calling us to the overseas mission field. So we did the same thing as we had in England – first I told my story, then Marc took over and told his story and then the continuation of our story. It was as if the All Nations interview had been a dress rehearsal – in English – for this interview! There was a bit of discussion with us afterwards, though they didn’t have many questions for us.

And then we went out again while they deliberated … and then all three couples were called back in to be told that we’d all been accepted as SIM France missionaries! Marc and I won’t officially have the status of longterm missionaries until we go out to Bénin … and that’s assuming the right project is found for us in Bénin … but for next year at ANCC we’ll already be SIM “missionaries-in-training” or something like that, and it’ll save having to go through the application process while we’re studying.

We all had lunch together afterwards, and then Marc stayed for the rest of the meeting, and I came and went, depending on Simon’s needs. What I did hear was very interesting, and I was impressed by the friendly atmosphere – family-like, really! In fact, Marc knew quite a lot of people there from various times of his life, and I saw a missionary couple I’d met out in Bénin, who are now working in France. They had a baby boy two and a half months ago, so I had some baby chats with the mum!

We stayed overnight with the Soudrain family – Directors of SIM France but also very good friends of ours!

Saturday lunch with the SIM France committee and various guests

in brief

We are back from a rich and rewarding weekend … and I can tell it will take several blog posts to write it up! We left Friday evening, spent Friday night in a hotel near Montélimar, and got to Orange for 9am Saturday for an all-day meeting of SIM France. We stayed there overnight, went to church there on Sunday morning, and then drove up to stay with a family we know in the Auvergne. They are the family of a penfriend I had as a teenager. Monday was very relaxing, and today we drove back up to Nancy, with a quick stop for lunch with our friends Pete and Rachel and their 6 week old daughter Anna, in St Etienne.

I will write more this week, but I will just add that at the Saturday’s meeting the committee of SIM France officially accepted us as SIM missionaries, which is another exciting step forward for us! Praise God!

French nationality, anyone?

My attempts to take French nationality came to a (temporary) standstill yesterday. Simon and I went down to the “Préfecture”, undaunted by tram problems and heavy swinging doors, to present my dossier, with all the documents necessary. I thought I’d better ask how long it might take though, and was told “about two years”. “Oh … so since we’re leaving France in the summer, there isn’t much point leaving my dossier, is there?” “No.”

All is not lost. That was if I was asking for nationality by residency. After four years of marriage (so August 2008) I can go to any French Consulate in any country and apply for nationality through marriage to a French citizen. And I’ve been told it’s easier. Plus I’ll already have the documents ready.

Speaking of which, here is a selection of the documents necessary to apply for French nationality (by residency):

Own birth certificate, translated by an officially recognised translator.
Both parents’ birth certificates, translated by an officially recognised translator.
Own marriage certificate, and if married outside France, translated by an officially recognised translator.
Parents’ marriage certificate, translated by an officially recognised translator.
(And of course it isn’t cheap to get things officially translated!)
Own “titre de séjour”, a kind of work permit. EU citizens don’t actually need one of these to live and work in France … but they do need one to be able to apply for French nationality!
If working, last three months pay slips, plus the pay slips for the last three months of December.
The last three years’ tax certificates (saying how much you have to pay) and another certificate saying that you actually did pay it.
An “extrait de casier judiciaire” – doesn’t exist in the UK but the police will give you a certificate (for a tenner) saying you have no criminal record.
And let’s not forget all the documents relating to husband’s identity and even baby’s identity and place of residence!

And of course two copies of the official application form, including the names and addresses of your parents and all your siblings, and all the addresses you’ve ever lived at! All the jobs you’ve ever had too.

What is weird is that they don’t actually ask you to say anything about your studies, though you can add other “evidence” to strengthen your case.

Oh well, I guess I can wait another few years to become French. If we aren’t living here I can’t vote anyway, and so my two main reasons for wanting French nationality are 1) so that our whole family has a common nationality – could help with repatriation if we were ever in a country where there were problems – and 2) while living in France I was happy with my English identity, but now that we’re leaving I feel I should have something to show for my 8 or 9 years here. After all, my time in France has been part of me becoming who I am now. Marc thinks though that maybe a French husband and son count for something!!

bank holiday walk in the sun