9 Month Update

10/1/2016

It's fall! C'est l'automne!

I'm excited that it's fall and that the temperature is cooling down. Time for scarves, sweaters, and boots! I am however a little bummed to be missing the "American fall." -Hayrides, fires, smores, pumpkins, football, free Chipotle on Halloween, etc. There doesn't seem to be as much of a hype for fall here. My hopes are to go searching for some fall decor for our apartment next week but I don't have too high of hopes incase I don't find much.

Here's a quick update about Will and I. I haven't posted in about a month and a lot of changes have happened!

Us

-We've started up our English-speaking small group again, which is really exciting! (We didn't meet over the summer)

-We've been able to keep up with the Bengals games so far this season. Will even stayed up all night for the Thursday night game last week. The time difference works out perfect and we're able to pull up the games every Sunday evening. They're on around 7:00 our time. WHO-DEY!!!

Will

Will's contract for his job ended in August and he decided not to continue long-term. (It wasn't a good fit.) He's been searching like crazy for the past month to find a new job, specifically something more long-term and more in the field of what he is interested in. We're excited to share that on Friday he accepted a job as an Assistant Manager at Hollister and begins on Monday of this week! Although we've had a great last month off together, we're both excited for him to be working again. While unemployed, he has been busy with basketball and also working on some of his own projects, which I hope to share sometime in the future!

Me

I've just completed my first month of babysitting with the French family I mentioned in the last post. The best word to describe it so far would have to be: interesting. The first week was a total challenge, as I struggled to communicate with both girls. Working with kids has always been one of my passions and something I feel most comfortable and confident in. It has been challenging to hit a point where I'm not able to connect with children as effectively and like I normally would.

It has definitely pushed me to work harder on my French and has helped me begin to actually use it and start switching my mindset from English to French. It continues to get better each week and my hopes are to continue connecting more with the girls each day. I speak primarily French, and have begun incorporating English words and phrases so that the girls can begin learning to speak and understand English.

Joey

Our Joey continues to be just as sweet and cute and happy as when we got him a month and a half ago. He's learning lots of commands/tricks, loves the rivers, and wants to be everyone's best friend. It's also been a great chance for me to meet a lot of other dog owners around the city. We love this little guy. Here's a few pictures of him, because you can never have too many. (Just ask my mom how many I send her on Snapchat. ;))

Fun Facts

1. Restaurants:
-No tipping. Waiters/Waitresses are paid hourly like other jobs so people don't give tips.
-No drink refills, aside from water and usually no ice! (Bummer)
-You're not able to do multiple checks to pay. Instead, they divide the total cost based on how many different payments there will be.

2. All the McDonalds here have multiple machines where you can order and pay on your own. I'm really surprised America doesn't have that yet!

3. Air conditioning isn't very common and most houses don't have it.

4. No baseball or country music - Two things I am very happy don't exist here!