December Update
The first four months in France have been quite an experience for me. Before this stint the longest period of time that I had been out of the country was two weeks, so I try to look at it as "everyday is a new personal record." I have adjusted fairly smoothly largely due to meeting with other missionaries before I left and speaking with them about their experience, the amazing training I received from the MTI and also the team here that has been my second family and has made the transition about as smooth as possible.
Currently I am living in Cagnes Sur Mer which is a small city directly between Nice and St. Paul, the cities where the two churches are. The first month I was welcomed and made to feel right at home as I stayed with the Orozco family. Very quickly a friend from the church put me in contact with my current landlords and I found a great little place behind a retired Italian couple. They only speak Italian and French that sounds like Italian, so it has been a lot of fun learning how to communicate with them in my bad American-sounding French. They are a wonderful couple and have gone out of their way to make sure that I am comfortable and have everything I need. I feel like I might have found a lost set of grandparents that I didn't know about.
I attended a language school in Nice for nearly three months and I thoroughly enjoyed it (apart from all the French grammar). I was in class with many different people from all over the world. We represented, America, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ukraine, Russia, Germany, the Philippines, Germany, Iran, China, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, Britain, Uzbekistan, Ireland, Brazil and I am sure that I am leaving someone else out. It was truly a wonderful time, one of the most unique and beneficial experiences of my life.
At the moment I have recovered from the week of planning and preparing that preceded the Christmas Carol service, and I am looking forward to the start of a new year and ready to get all I can out of the time that I have left.
Posted December 15, 2009 by Chancey.
