Well, here in France we've been locked down since 30th October. Honestly, our day-to-day life doesn't feel much different. Schools are still open, so on weekdays Marc and the kids still go out as usual, and I was working from home anyway, of course. And since I go out to accompany Eve to and from school four times a day, I get my exercise on those days without even using the one-hour within one kilometre of home we are allowed. At weekends we feel it more, and have often found ourselves doing 56- or 57-minute walks and wishing we could have gone further. But we are privileged to live in beautiful surroundings, so we have several fun walks of about the right length in nearby parks and woods.
We do miss other people, but we hadn't been seeing many people anyway because of the Covid situation, and Benin got us used to not having a very exciting social life! Obviously we wish things were different, and find it frustrating not to be part of a vibrant church life, but we have been keeping up friendships by phone and internet, and trying to be patient.
I'm getting on well with proofreading the Monkolé Bible. Lockdown has perhaps meant I've had fewer distractions. In a way it's quite isolated work, but I do have contact with my MiDi Bible colleague in Switzerland, exchange emails too with our SIM Benin Project Manager, and have had some encouraging messages from Pierre, our translation consultant. SIM France keep in touch too. And of course I am still in touch with my team in Benin, though they are longer involved in the daily work.
Marc has been dealing with the reality of being a supply teacher. Just as he'd got quite settled at the school he was at, he had a message one Friday evening that he'd be starting at a school in Phalsbourg from the next Monday morning. Phalsbourg is about an hour and twenty minutes drive away, and when he starts at 8am that means a very early start! But he is teaching the speciality he prefers, and his timetable isn't too bad. He was told he'd be there until 30th November, but it's looking likely he'll be there for longer. However, he might not be told until the last-minute again (just to keep him on his toes!).
On a walk in our local woods.
