Day to Day

Months ago when people asked us what our day to day was going to look like, we told them to ask after we'd moved to France.  Now we're here.  So, what does our day to day look like?

Mondays we don't start class until 1:30pm, so we take our mornings slow.  We have breakfast, quiet times, and finish up any homework we may have.  We also try to use that time to accomplish a few things around the house, such as laundry.  We have class from 1:30-5pm in Annecy (about a 45 minute commute from our apartment), then come home to make dinner, continue setting up our apartment, and go to bed.  

Tuesdays-Fridays we have class from 9-12:30pm.  Though we go to the market and grocery store on Saturday mornings, inevitably we think of something that we need - either for a meal (bread, cheese, spices) or for settling (a drying rack, light bulbs, batteries, furniture, etc.).  We also have to plan our shopping around what stores are opened over the lunch hours.  There is never a quick stop; even purchasing one item at a grocery store takes us at least 25 minutes.  And sometimes we just get overwhelmed and leave a store before we've actually purchased everything on our list.  (Shopping in France requires us to 1. know the name of the item in French 2. know what kind of package the item comes in 3. know where in the store the item may possibly be located.)

After we return home from school, we quickly eat lunch (we're always starving since it's after 1:30pm) then spend the rest of our afternoons "settling" into our new home.  Sometimes settling includes shopping.  Sometimes it includes building IKEA furniture or cleaning new-but-gently-used furniture we purchased.  Sometimes it involves going to the bank (another regularly visited place these days), picking up a key from the municipal building, or going to the post office.  Last week it involved a lot of unpacking boxes (since our stuff from the States arrived the previous Wednesday!), organizing and re-organizing.  But it usually always involves shopping.

Somewhere in there we cook dinner (we're becoming more French and eating closer to 7:30 or 8pm - that, or the fact that we eat such a late lunch after shopping for so long).  We're definitely enjoying having our own kitchen, gadgets, and menu!  Sometimes we have homework, but usually between 9-10pm we are exhausted and ready for bed.

Saturdays have become one of my favorite days.  We sleep in, have a nice breakfast, then head to the local market to buy our weekly produce.  Often we go to the grocery store down the street, too.   We come home, have a baguette sandwich, and continue to settle.  But Saturdays usually allow for a bit more rest and relaxation.  

Sundays we have church every other week.  On church weeks, Jordan has worship music to practice and I have something to bake.  One non-church weeks we use Sunday to really rest - to recover from the week before and prepare for the week ahead.

Having a routine is really nice, and now that we ourselves are feeling more settled, we can help our teammates get settled, study French outside of the classroom, and get involved in the community.  Our language school schedule changes every month, so we'll continue to be in constant transition, but we're definitely moving out of the absolute chaos stage.  It's a good feeling!  Hopefully from here on out, our days will be less focused on settling and more focused on language/culture learning and building relationships in our new city.