Adjusting

So it's been about 3 days since I arrived here in France. It's been quite the adjustment. The language barrier is very real, but is teaching me patience. Well, everything is teaching me patience. I'm not "doing" much here. the café serves roughly 10 to 15 customers a day between 10 am and 7 PM, which is a shame because Sébastien (the guy who works here) makes an awesome cup of coffee. I guess God and I were on the same page when I would tell people that the main reason I was coming was to learn about myself and gain a broader perspective.

Saint Etienne seems to be a truly French city. absolutely nothing is in English. It seems to be minimally effected by American culture. I haven't been to Paris yet, but I feel like I'll be more comfortable there seeing as thought there is such a large tourist population. It may be foolish, but I feel like I'm the only American in a city of 200,000. God has blessed me with one person who speaks fluent English though, Sébastien. I spend my afternoons with him at the café, which is nice because I can actually express myself without strain. in the evenings I spend my time with the Peigné family. They are wonderfully friendly people, the only Chrisitan in the home is their son, but their hospitality is awesome. I really feel like God is drawing them to Himself. Anyways, at night I sit with them and we try and talk to each other. It's slow and painful, but we definitely enjoy each other's company. Last night I got to talk to them about my schooling. Mrs Peigné definitely found it strange that I studied four years of the Bible and Church. Her husband and her are both engineers, but her husband is the only one who works. She says that finding work in Saint Etienne is hard.

Life is much much slower here. everything stops at noon for dejuner. I would call it lunch, but it's not just a meal in the middle of the day, it's more like an hour break from everything, kids even come home to eat and then return to school. no one is in a hurry to do anything. Things happen when they happen. I'm kind of torn about it. I think it's good in a lot of ways, but I also feel like they could be reaching more people if it wasn't just word of mouth about their Café.

Sorry if these blogs seem choppy. even Sébastien and I have slower conversations and I have to explain some expressions I use. I'm growing accustomed to speaking in short, Simple sentences.

This is where I work, kind of... haha.

Blessings.