Andrew & Esther - Through Our Eyes Archive
Our Thoughts

January 29, 2007
Celebrating in Paris, Working in Oxford & Relaxing in the Alps
The past weeks have been filled to overflowing as I adjust to this new season of life here in France.

A week after I arrived, we boarded the high speed TGV train and spent my birthday weekend in Paris. The amazing weekend began with dinner and a brilliant classical concert on the Champs-Elysées. We spent the next afternoon in the shadow of the Sacré Coeur with the Bakewicz’s who were finishing a belated honeymoon in Europe. We enjoyed a delightful meal, complete with an excellent red wine and topped off with dessert and cappuccinos. It was an amazing time with the four of us, and a rare opportunity for Esther to meet one of my closest friends.

On our final afternoon in Paris, we took in a bit more of the sights of the city, even exploring the oldest bookstore in Paris. It was certainly a birthday weekend I'll be remembering for sometime! (See photos from the weekend)

connecting with the Bakewicz's in ParisLess than a day after returning from Paris, Esther headed off to Latvia for work and I flew over to England where I spent the week in Oxford for meetings related to the next Lausanne international missions congress. It was an early planning meeting for the 2010 event, and it was a special opportunity to catch the vision for the potential of this significant gathering. The trip was as a blessing in that it overlapped exactly with Esther’s trip to Latvia, meaning we were both gone at the same time which prevented me from struggling alone in France just a week after arriving.

It’s been nonstop since then between my 4 hours of French class each day and my afternoons spent working with various web design clients. Thankfully, we managed to pull away this past weekend amidst our full schedules and head up to the French Alps (just 45 minutes away!) to enjoy the perfect weather and reap the benefits of the first snowfall of the winter, just days earlier! We did a bit of snow-shoeing around before heading back and diving into another week.

snow-shoeing in the French AlpsIt seems impossible that I’ve been here for several weeks. In some ways the time has flown by, while at the same time it feels like so much has happened in just 3 weeks. It’s been a delight to just be here at last. At the same time, I find myself dealing with some of the realities of adjusting to life in a foreign culture. The cravings for a good ole’ In n’ Out burger grow surprisingly strong at times! But praise God I’m “struggling” along in France, the land of real cheese, bread and wine.

Thanks for putting up with the sparse blogs. (Not that you’ve really had any say in it…) I’ve hoped to blog much more often while I in the adventure of this next season, but I hadn’t quite expected this adventure to take up so much time, so blogging has fallen by the wayside. I'll keep trying though, and until then, bonsoir!