All's Quiet on the Hill Top

As you know, Walker and I are fending for ourselves and we thought it only appropriate that we give you a report of our life on foreign turf. The truth be known, we are managing quite well! Walker spends most of his time doing his internet studies through the curriculum provider out of Washington state. That has gone well over all, but it is of course a very different approach to education. The course material is very thorough and at times too much so. Doing internet study has been a real learning experience and has taken discipline on all fronts. We seem to tweek something w/ our "system" about everyday. He has loved his history class and will at times just get lost in the reading. His only complaint is he has to move too quickly to keep up w/ his due dates etc. He would like to study the material in greater depth. I assure him he can work on that throughout his life time, and what a wonderful thing to do! We supplement history with DVDs from The Teaching Company which we highly recommend. I love to listen to them as I do art projects etc. Walker's other classes don't rate quite as high on his list as history ... especially French!!! Those accents and getting the correct spelling is a killer when you have to write. But, he speaks QUITE well! Ya know how in the US we see the Hispanic kids translating for the family. Well, that is Walker's new job! Without his help on the language front, we are not sure we could survive on my limp along plan. I can gather food at the market and I guess that's the most important thing!!!

In addition to school Walker is playing Rugby with the St. Marcellin team and he has LOVED it. This has been a good way to meet some boys his age. We are reminded daily, that the French are rather reserved --- kids don't invite one another over like we do in America. So having a team sport is the best way for interaction!




We are going on Sunday to meet some American students who are here for the year on a Rotary International Exchange program. That should be fun!

And then if you haven't heard, there is national news! Yes, the French news came to us via my brother in Mt. Airy, NC. Trains throughout the country are on strike and yes, we verified that the normal 8:03 pm train from Grenoble was in fact NOT in operation. The tracks are at rest again today, and it doesn't look like we'll do any train travel this weekend. Then there is trouble in the presidential household. I spoke w/ a French friend (who is single), and I was saying that the French president was now very lonely, and she said, " yes, but I will meet him next week!" So sounds like we don't need to worry about him anymore!

The church bells are tolling ... 12 noon. Everything closes now for 2 hours, so I'll do the same. Until next time, we wish you a bon weekend! We miss you all!