What next?

Above is a question I’ve been asked with an increasing frequency for a number of months now.  The real honest answer is, I don’t know, but I’m trusting that God does.

I feel a strong ‘pull’ towards moving back to the UK, so that is what I plan to do in June.  I’m also leaning towards finding a job in which I can use my French language skills (but not teaching!), preferably in an office-based environment as this has previously suited me.  I am also looking to learn new skills which would allow me more flexibility for work in the future (i.e. accountancy/IT skills).  Might all sound a bit vague, but it’s a start.  And in the current job climate, it might not be a bad thing to not get too specific!

As for where to look for jobs, where to live and who to live with…that’s all unclear too.  To a large extent these things are interdependent.  I’ve had it pointed out to me that moving back in with my family might not be very easy as I haven’t lived at home for more than 4 weeks for 5 years now.  One thing which is fairly obvious is that most French-speaking jobs are in London.  But I don’t fancy the commute into London every day.  Can’t have everything though.

Since last November I have been applying for various UK graduate schemes which start in September, but have not been successful in getting past the online tests for the few that have shown interest in me (which is strange as it was the maths which proved the problem, yet this was my strongest point at A level).  Though if these jobs aren’t right for me it’s better to get rejected at this stage than much further down the line, so from that point of view I’m relieved.

Voilà, hope that wasn’t too much to get your head around.  I really want to make a move in line with what God wants and where I can reach out to those around me to make an impact for Him.  Prayers appreciated!

Fiona x

A bit of fresh air

Bonjour!

So the week after much movement, I didn’t move much.  I spent a week doing a mix of marking, chilling out, sorting out and trying to build up my fitness levels a bit for the cycle trip which I’ll tell you about below.  The Tuesday night was the highlight of my week as we (Manqi and I) invited our girl’s Bible study/prayer group to our house for a meal and short discussion.  We had lots of vegetables to eat from the veg basket which Michèle orders every week so we had to get creative with that (I think we managed to use about 8 different veg in some form or another!) and the meal was enjoyed by all.

At the weekend (13^th-15^th Apr) I went to the campsite I used to work at in Saint Gilles-Croix de Vie (on the coast in the Vendée region of France) to see my friend Jen and her Dad who are part of a small team putting up tents in preparation for the summer season.  We went out for a meal for Jen’s birthday on the Friday, and on the Saturday visited a little island called Noirmoutier where we sat by a nice castle for lunch and wandered round a bit, then headed off in the car to find a good stretch of beach which Jen remembered from previously being there.  Only we couldn’t find it and we spent ages driving round and getting lost which was a shame!




















To exit the island we went along to the ‘passage de Gois’, a special road which allows you to cross from the island to the mainland when the tide goes out.  I enjoyed waiting for the tide to go out and seeing the first cars go across, then going along ourselves (photos above).  The rest of the time was spent chatting, enjoying food, playing games and inspecting tents, it was good to catch up with them.

Last Monday I travelled home on the train, stopping off for coffee in Lille with my friend Nicola, a brilliant way to spend the waiting time between the TGV and the Eurostar!  This past week back in England has been brilliant.  I’ve enjoyed Mum’s cooking (goes without saying?!), a game of badminton with Dad, going to housegroup with my sister and spending a day at Stratford International Station participating in the second training day for the Olympics volunteering programme I’m part of.  This was topped off by the International Café Isle of Wight Cycle Trip 2012, a fantastic weekend which I feel privileged to have been a part of.

It’s the fourth time I’ve been on this cycle trip which has happened in April/May time for the last six years, and it’s just got bigger and bigger every year.  A team of Christian students (although we’re not all students now) takes a group of international students (largely non-Christians) to the Isle of Wight, leaving early Saturday morning from near the university, cycling down to the docks to take a ferry and then we cycle across the island in two groups (with lots of breaks and two different routes), taking in the scenery and trying not to lose people on the way!  Our destination is a guest house on the south of the island, where we enjoy dinner and comfortable beds, then hold a church service on the Sunday morning before setting off back to Southampton via a different route. This year there were around 70 people on the trip (including team).  Despite the weather forecast showing imminent rain for both days the whole week before, God was amazingly good to us and we had sunshine (with some clouds) on the Saturday and on Sunday it only rained on and off from the middle of the afternoon onwards!  He also blessed us enormously with a lack of serious bike problems and accidents.  We were able to share our faith with the students and get alongside them.  The sense of achievement and togetherness is great afterwards and we’re praying they’ll remember it for years to come and come closer to God because of it. I really enjoyed catching up with old friends and making new ones.

I’ve got another 5 or so days here before I head back to Rennes for the final stint.  I would really appreciate your prayers concerning my ‘next step’ as I don’t know what to do next!  (More to come on that soon).

Love,

Fiona x

Clocking up the miles

Within just one week from Saturday to Saturday I set foot in Dorset, Eastleigh, Southampton, London, Rennes, Martigné-Ferchaud, and Vannes! It was hectic but I mostly had a good time. Let’s start with my trip to England…

The wedding in Dorset was a lot of fun and seemed to speed by. My friends and I enjoyed getting ready in the morning and waiting for the beautiful bride to arrive at the church. Afterwards I mingled with some university friends I hadn’t seen in a while and ate scones with jam and cream, then we followed on to the reception venue, which was a school although you didn’t really feel like you were in one! After a little while waiting we were able to go through to the tables, where we enjoyed a delicious 3 course meal, and there was a humorous twist in the middle as someone on each table had been designated as ‘the chef’ (with an apron and chef’s hat) to carve the beef for the main course! After the meal we listened to the speeches and then went off to the hall for a Ceilidh which was a lot of fun.

I then spent a couple of days in the Southampton area, meeting up with friends for a catch-up and spending some quality time with Mel and Tom who I stayed with. On the Tuesday I spent a day in London at the first of three training days for the London Olympic Ambassadors volunteer programme. (For those who don’t know, it’s a scheme which will see 8,000 volunteers welcome people to London, at the airports, stations, where the big screens will be and many tourist sites, throughout the summer. I’m looking forward to it). In the evening I met up with Mum, Dad and Katie for a meal in Pizza Hut which was soothing to the soul.

On Wednesday I was ‘de retour’ for Rennes, after an hour and a half’s delay to the plane taking off which was frustrating, followed by an afternoon of coming up with a backup plan for how to do the listening test on Thursday if a certain piece of equipment wasn’t available to me. Praise God, all went well (eventually) and on Thursday I carried out the tests confidently. I also said goodbye to the students (with mini eggs!), as that was the last time we were in the classroom together. It hasn’t really sunk in yet, I’ll probably see a few of them about, but it’s a weird mix of relief and being sad to see them go.

On Friday morning I did some work at a lycée (6^th form college) for a guy from church who’s an English teacher there. He brought me in to do mock baccalaureate oral exams with 12 of his students and despite the pressure to get it right in terms of marks I actually quite enjoyed it and some of them were really good.

On Friday evening, Manqi and I ventured off to Vannes (which is about 110 km/70 miles to the South West of Rennes) to see our friend Ruth who has come to stay with us a number of times throughout the year to come to church in Rennes. We booked a journey with a car sharing scheme for the way there, but the lady texted us to tell us her car had broken down, so at the last minute we had to find another car to go in, and then they were 35 minutes later than what they’d said so we arrived at Ruth’s at 9:15pm tired and hungry, but she had kindly waited for us and provided us with a nice meal. The following day we wandered around Vannes which is lovely, and went on the bus to a nice picnic spot and really enjoyed ourselves.

I was due to look after the kids at church on Sunday morning, so had to get back to Rennes Saturday evening, and Manqi was coming back too. We had planned to use the car share scheme for the return trip as well, but there were yet more issues - this time with places in cars - so on Saturday morning we decided we’d take the train back as it was a reasonable price and probably more reliable. Then Manqi realised she didn’t have her young person’s rail card so I said she could take a place in a car and I’d go by train. Her departure time was a little earlier than mine so I was left to my own devices to find the train station. To cut a long (and distressing) story short, I missed the train by minutes and although it wasn’t late at night, there wasn’t any other way of getting home until the next morning, so I had to spend another night at Ruth’s, finish prepping the kid’s group, instruct Manqi about what I wanted bringing from home, and go straight from the train journey to arrive at church at roughly the time the kids would be let out! I was very grateful for the support of Manqi and Ruth.

Au revoir for now,

Fiona x