Carnaval

It was "Carnaval" at Eve's school last week. Which for 3 year olds apparently just means that they go to school dressed as whatever or whoever they want, have some party food and do some dancing. Eve enjoyed herself!

A friend lent us some dressing-up clothes for Eve. Eve had told me she wanted to be a butterfly, and fortunately this friend had wings (and a tutu-like skirt). So everyone else thought she was a fairy, but she was happy in the knowledge that she was really a butterfly! Parents were allowed to take photos at the beginning of school, so we did.

Eve the butterfly:



Eve with her teacher, Maîtresse Carole:



Eve with the teaching assistant, Catherine (and Papa in the background):

A nice cuppa?

I've been living in France on and off since the age of 20, so I feel pretty much at home here now. One thing I will always find sad is how hard it is to find a good cup of tea. Even the definition of tea is not necessarily the same.

In MacDonald's recently I ordered a cup of tea. Onto our tray arrived ... a Red Fruits Tea bag! I kind of went, "What?!" and the MacDonald's employee said pleasantly, "Oh, would you like a different kind?" "Yes, black tea, please!" I replied (having learned a very long time ago that "black tea" in France doesn't mean "without milk" but "as opposed to green"). So she found me an Earl Grey tea bag.

And then, talking of milk, I asked if I could have some for my tea. Now, I know the purists would never put milk in Earl Grey, but hey, I like what I like. She looked at me uncomprehendingly, and I repeated my request. "Yes, yes, of course you can," she replied, "I've just never heard of milk with tea before!"

"Oh, it must be because I'm English," I smiled, forgiving her (and France) for everything, now that I had the prospect of a good cup of tea before me.

Forget-me-not

It's the children's holidays, so we were down in Lyon last weekend to visit friends and to give a presentation about our work at one of our supporting churches. We were made very welcome, despite everyone (us and them!) feeling under-the-weather.

Marc preaching:

We found this sign in the Tête d'Or park in Lyon:

And as we drove home yesterday we drove through Villefranche-sur-Saône, which is twinned with Kandi (our nearest town in Benin), as you can see on this sign (unless you're reading this on your phone!!).

So we can't forget about Benin even if we were trying to (which we aren't).

Tomorrow we're off again, to Marc's parents' via a friend in Amiens. This coming Sunday Marc will be preaching in the morning in his parents' church in Poissy, and then we'll be giving a presentation about Benin in the afternoon.

Missing my team!

I'm glad to report that the internet connection in the translation office has been holding up lately, and I am able to be in contact with my translators and to exchange work with them.

We are at last even managing to work together. After they had worked through the text of 1 Rois, I worked through the text myself, and sent back my questions and comments. They are now going through it again looking at those questions and comments, and I'm then checking what their modifications have been. It is a long process, but at least feels like teamwork again!

I do miss them though - it is so much more fun working with people when you're all sitting in the same room together!