French language

Daniel and I have discovered our extreme incompetence at speaking and understanding the French language. I guess it really isn't a new discovery, it's more of a confirmed awareness. We are both refining our charade skills, and I would have to say we've mastered the finger point. It really is our secret weapon when it comes to ordering any food item.

Daniel and I have done ok at ordering things on the menu. We are understanding more of what the food items are on the menu, but we are not sure how to say them. For lunch today we went to the La Defense huge shopping center. ( It is a definite must if you come to Paris. Everything I have seen has been so expensive, but at this mall they actually have some stores with reasonable priced items. So if you want to buy some French couture,and not bust the bank. I would recommend this place. Fun food places and fun stores.) At the restaurant, we went to place our order. I kindly asked the waiter if he spoke English, and he didn't so that made it a little difficult. We knew what we wanted to order, but couldn't really convey to guy or the hostess that could speak a little English. She recommended something for us, and so we just changed our order completely. At the end of ordering, Daniel asked me, " do you know what we ordered?," and my response, "no, not really." My thoughts were it can't be that bad since we have kids. Lucky for us, it was very delicious. It was a sort of sample platter that we shared and the kids got these fruity pineapple drinks that Daniel and I tested to make sure they were not alcoholic, which they weren't. So despite our lack of communication skills, we ended up having an as enjoyable experience at the restaurant as one could hope for with three young children.

Also,at church, I had my first half English/ half French conversation with a very sweet 12 year old girl. I wish all the French were as sweet, patient, and willing to speak with me like she was. The French have all been great, but I really haven't had a conversation with them like I had with this young girl. She told me about her brother, her sister, and she showed me pictures of her nephew. She understood my French, and I understood some of her French, and all of her English. She speaks better English than I speak French. Anyways here's to the hope of having more French conversations.

On a side note, Daniel and I might have the opportunity to switch to a different home. His work location will change in a year making it a 40 minute commute on a good day as opposed to a 30 minute commute on a good day. It would also make Kylee's bus ride to school 25 minutes instead of 40 minutes. It wouldn't be a house, but a ground floor apartment that is actually bigger than our house we would be renting. We would be across the street from a huge park as well. It would also put us about 15 minutes closer to Paris and it would have better city transportation access. We really like the home, but also like the idea of living in the city. Daniel and I would never permanently settle down in an apartment, but we kind of like the idea of city life in an apartment for the three years. Let me know what you think.