Bienvenue à Égletons (Welcome to Egletons)

Well, here we are in Egletons, France, and it’s hard to describe precisely the feeling of beginning to settle in to a new place. The weather has been beautiful. It’s chilly in the mornings and evenings, but sunny and warm in the afternoons. We have heard that it’s often quite rainy here, so we are soaking up the sunshine while it lasts.

Charles and I get up every morning between 7 and 8am. We wake up in chalet #3 here at Le Colorado and have breakfast together: yogurt and/or toast, coffee (of course), and sometimes orange juice. Then Charles heads out to work with Bob and Nolan (Bob’s son-in-law). Right now, they’re working on building a retaining wall for a future swimming pool. They hope to get all the concrete set in so that it can dry before the cooler weather. I clean the house, clean rooms of clients who have recently left, go on errands with Sheri or Kristin (the Misegades’ daughter), or have quiet time by myself. I cook, and the two of us usually have a fairly leisurely lunch together. In the afternoons, Charles goes back to work with the guys, and I help cook dinner for the clients or clean or hang out with Kristin and her three lovely children: Kailin (almost 5), Sophia (3), and Ryan (8 months). Charles and I try to go on walks when we have time. It’s a beautiful area for walking – even the weeds are pretty. For dinner, Charles and I often eat with the guests in order to get to know them and to practice our French. After a meal lasting up to 2½ hours, we come back to our chalet, watch a French video (language tool from Dr. Garside), maybe an episode of the Office, and fall asleep.

Communicating continues to be a little bit awkward. Today, on an errand with Kristin in Tulle, I met her friend Audrey. All I said was “Bonjour,” and she looked at Kristin and said, “She’s not French either, huh?” It’s not a rude thing to say here, it’s just an observation. Still… from one word, she knew I was American. It’s an odd feeling, trying to hide my nationality. But American tourists have earned such a reputation for being brash, rude, and ignorant of things that are culturally or politically sensitive that I try hard not to fall into the stereotype. I’ve not felt any animosity, though. Especially out here in rural France, we’re well accepted and people are very friendly.

Charles and I have very much enjoyed trying out our French on the customers here. With two of the “regulars,” Tony and Fred, we’ve been able to talk about politics, music, our dreams, religion, death, etc. Sometimes, with Charles’ Cajun accent, I end up acting as translator, but we’re both learning a lot. We also sometimes end up helping them a little bit with their English. Anyway, they’re great guys: friendly, interesting, and patient.

We’ve also started meeting people from around town. Charles met the guys who work at the hardware store, and I’ve met the lady who launders the sheets and the ladies at the grocery store. We’ve also met some of our neighbors, one of whom is a die-hard fan of American Western movies. He loves to wear his cowboy hat, bandana, and chaps.

Something that’s really lit a fire under me to work on my French is the women’s Bible study. It’s every Thursday afternoon at 3pm (9am Eastern Standard time), and it consists of about 7 ladies who meet at Sheri Misegades’ house. They’re all really wonderful, sweet, Christian ladies who enjoy discussing the Bible. I am able to follow the discussion fairly easily (provided my brain is in “French mode,”) but sharing my own thoughts is difficult. I was finally able to share a little bit this past Thursday, but I felt that I halted the fast pace of the discussion. They were all very sweet about it and understood me fine, but I was a little discouraged. All the more reason to keep studying, right?

Anyway, here are a few pictures to give you an idea of the scenery. :) For more photos, see our facebook pages.

Here's Charles in front of a castle not far from where we live. It's one of France's newer castles, from the 16th century. (Charles says it still has that "new castle" smell.)

From left to right: Kristin, Sophia, Bob, Kailin, and Sheri. This was taken during church on Sunday morning at Kristin and Nolan's house.
The big bosses: Bob n' Sheri. :)
Our current residence:

a couple houses in Egletons

picture I love of the nearby city of Tulle
Limousine cow
Our future apartment
Sorry the pictures are in a weird order. I haven't figured out blogger like Charles has. Anyway, thank you for keeping up with us! We'll keep you posted as we continue to get settled here.