Lessons learned

Yesterday we graduated from French language school. It's been a long and challenging ten months. It wasn't only challenging because of the French courses we were taking. This was a year of big changes for all of us. Josh experienced his first year in public school at the same time he experienced his first exposure to another culture. That's really like learning two cultures at once. Emily had to work independently in her studies during my class hours and save the rest for when I came home. Daniel sat through hours and hours of church without understanding what anyone was saying because David and I were required to attend a French church as part of our schooling. I had to balance being out of the home half of each day and having studies and homework of my own with teaching Emily and Daniel and managing our home. David had to balance school with being a husband, father, friend and neighbor. All within a new environment and culture/language. We learned a lot about relationships, priorities, flexibility, and faithfulness. When we first came here, one of my kids didn't believe me when I said that God knows our needs and will provide the relationships we need in Québec. Now that child admits being wrong and not wanting to leave new friends found here. But a lesson was learned, and now there is a confidence that God will take care of us. We are busy packing and cleaning our apartment and squeezing in every spare minute we can with our friends before we go. We'll be here a few more days because Josh has prom this weekend.
We have grown to love the people here. They have been very polite and friendly to us and very patient with our bumbling attempts to speak their language. We like our church and our pastor here very much and were just getting to the point where we understood almost all of the sermons. We have made wonderful friends, not just among our fellow classmates but among local people also. There are some things we won't miss so much: milk that comes in plastic bags instead of jugs, cold weather, having to go to several different stores to get things we need because the grocery stores here don't have built-in pharmacies, make-up aisles, toy aisles, etc.; stores that close at 5pm - the time when most people are finally free to shop. But really those aren't important issues as much as they are inconveniences. I would guess someone from Québec might feel overwhelmed by their first experience in a super Wal-mart, as the Wal-mart here is far from that. We have tried new foods and liked many of them: fresh, real maple syrup, tartinade (a meat pie that is traditionally made for Christmas), Cretons (a meat spread often eaten on toast or crackers), and poutine. Our very first week here we were told that no one has experienced Québec until they have tried poutine. Poutine consists of french fries, with gravy on top, and cheese on top of that. Not just any cheese, though. Fresh cheese curds, usually made that same day, that makes squeaky noises when you chew it. There are many varieties, but that is the basic poutine. Last night, to celebrate that all five of us finished a school year here, we went to Stratos'and had poutine one last time.