It's not all roses (or Genepi)!

After our friend Jim Wilson joked about us having too much fun on our #guilleuxsinthalps adventure, I was reminded of the bias of social media to present an illusion of life. So inspired by some colleagues who share their #ifeellikeshit moments to balance their online postings of amazing moments of success, here is a post about when my less than stellar self has shown up in La Mazure.

La Banque Postale

I got a call from the bank. This call followed two in-person meetings, each which took a week to 10 days to schedule. You may be wondering what are you doing with a French bank that is taking so much work. Indeed, I am wondering as well given that I can’t remember the last time I actually stepped in an American bank. Actually Joy and I have been trying to conduct the financially complex transaction of opening a bank account!

That’s right. In order to apply to open a bank account, we have had to provide:

• Proof that I am living in France
• Proof that Joy is living in France 
• Those proofs need to be signed by our land lord who lives in New Zealand
• Proof that our landlords own the house we are renting
• Official government photo identification for our landlords
• Official government photo identification for Joy and I
• Our American tax returns
• Proof of employment translated in French

At the first meeting, I learned that the documentation I provided was not sufficient because the proof of us living in La Mazure had been signed by our land lady but the electric bill she provided as proof they own the house is in her husband’s name (even though she has a hyphened last name with his last name being one of her two last names)

The second meeting I learned that Joy needed separate proof of living in the house we are renting (because you know, my wife might not be living with me when my whole family moves to another country and she is sitting next to me in the meeting).

Finally the phone call yesterday was to let me know that we could not open a bank account because our monthly paychecks are not going to be deposited in the account we want to open. At this point (actually if we are being honest here, I had already passed the frustration threshold at the past two meetings, and may have said something along the lines of “with this kind of bureaucracy, it’s no wonder France is struggling in international business”. I mentioned that both my mother currently and myself, as a kid, have had accounts at this bank and neither my mom currently because she is retired or me as a kid because, well, I was a kid, had monthly pay checks deposited in our accounts.

Somehow this did not convince her that she should change her decision, because as she told me, “her chief has rejected our application”. And there you have it! 8 weeks into our adventure we still don’t have a bank account, which means we cannot get a phone SIM card contract in our name to have a French phone! (Luckily our landlords have allowed us to join their phone plans).

Store fronts in Bourg St Maurice which hosted two stages of the Tour de France. Bourg is 20 minutes away from La Mazure and where we go for any shopping, weekly open air marché, and banking adventures. This is in low season. We are told don't even try to go on weekends during ski season!

Doing Church in La Mazure

On Sunday we finally made it to church. There is only one protestant church in the valley and the website told us that it was not meeting on last few Sundays of August. We didn’t know quite what to expect when we arrived at the community center of Bourg St Maurice down the valley from Ste Foy.

But God had a surprise in store for us. 

Turns out, it’s a small church. A very small church. The presence of our family more than doubled the attendance on this particular Sunday. There was Vincent and Elizabeth, a husband and wife pastor team. Caroline was only attending for the second time. She is a British teacher on a sabbatical of sorts and looking to find work in the valley this winter.

   

The other two attendees were our neighbor, Viviane, and Agnes, one of the school cafeteria ladies! What a surprise! Of all the people in this valley to attend this church! We felt God's hand and were grateful for how He has orchestrated all the details beyond what we could imagine for us to spent a year in La Mazure. 

We worshiped and celebrated together in French and English and the kids were quiet for 1.5 hours that the service lasted!

After church we drove up the mountain above Bourg to the ski area of Les Arcs for a picnic. The scenery was beautiful yet the ghost town feel of the resort was a bit unnerving.

Annelise holding a Cannele, a cinnamon desert the local bakery in Bourg makes which is quickly becoming our favorite reason to drive down the valley to Bourg!

This week all the regional protestant churches are meeting near Grenoble about 2 hours away. So the church decided to have a potluck on Saturday since few of us will make the long trek tomorrow. Viviane hosted us at her house and we spent a good part of the afternoon under the sun enjoying a great meal and conversation.

 Lunch in Peps and Viviane's yard in La Mazure. 

Steve Montgomery and John Creasy, check out the oven that Peps build for his bread baking!

Back in La Mazure

Joy and I have returned from our respective trips. I will let her write about leading the women's Wales trip  in another post. I got to wrap up the third module of a leadership program with high potential leadership of a tech non-profit. It was held at this wonderful retreat center and we got to make use of their outdoor classroom under the beautiful oak tress. One my way back I stopped by Pittsburgh to kick off the fall course at Pitt.

This morning we said good bye to Amanda as she takes a few days to travel before returning home. We are so grateful for the ways she cared for our kids during their first week of school in France. You rock, Amanda!

 Then we took the kids to the bus stop in downtown La Mazure (i.e. the village parking lot). The kids have this luxury passenger van to travel the mile down the mountain to school and they look pretty excited for their second week of school. Tonight is the parent teacher meeting so I'll get to hear about Annelise's class.

Last few days of summer vacation

With Joy gone, we continued our discovery of the Haute Tarentaise Valley. Today we went to visit Villaroger, a small and beautiful village on the other side of the valley. We got a nice perspective on La Masure. Then the kids took me on a hike to the local climbing crag not far from home. Of course we stopped and build karrens in the stream (or used them for target practice in Seb's case!). Friday we headed to Bourg St Maurice for food shopping and discovered the fitness park.

Off to Wales

Jumping the gun from Day 14 to Day 23. Lots to tell you about in later posts. Joy left this morning to lead a group of women on a 10-day spiritual trek and retreat along the Wales Coastal Trail. Together with our good friend Andi Schrader, they will be making space for rest, reflection and seeking God as they explore significant places of Celtic Christianity. You can read more about the trip here. This trip is an amazing intersection of some of Joy's passions in life: travel, trip leading, helping others grow through coaching and discipleship. I can't wait to hear the stories and see the photos of their journey to this wild and beautiful place.

In the mean time, the kids and I are staying in La Mazure. The places is very quiet with all the neighbors out on vacation before school begins next week. This makes for long days for the kids without their new friends. Please keep all of us in your prayers.

Dave and Andi Schrader and Joy during the scouting trip to Wales last year.

Day 14 - Checking in

Joy here. I wanted to give an update since we’ve been in France for about 2 weeks now. Last Wednesday we drove to La Mazure to find our new home. Since our arrival, it’s been a mixed bag of excitement and delight, disappointment and a bit of fear. 

First the delight - it is a pearl of a little village with lots of friendly neighbors, generous and willing to help. One family is British, and have 3 pre-teen girls. Another family has an 11 yo boy and a girl the same age as Annelise. They’ve been playing every day for hours, and they’ll be in the same class in school! What an answer to prayer! There is a French couple next door who run a B&B who have been the caretakers of our house in the absence of the landlords. 

The surroundings/hikes/views are spectacular. We’ve enjoyed going out for a discovery tour each day. Here is glimpse from a 2 hr round trip hike into a gorgeous nearby valley where there’s a refuge and cafe. We hope to ski in and stay overnight next spring when we are in better shape.

The disappointment has been in the state of the house. We knew it would be a rustic, very old un-renovated farmhouse, but we didn’t expect it to require so much work for us to make it comfortable and functional. I’ve spent hours cleaning out the kitchen because mice left a lot of mess and previous tenants left a lot of dirty greasy surfaces. The electrical and plumbing are wonky. It was very musty and there's work to be done in the LR from water damage. We are thankful for landlords who have been supportive and responsive from NZ.

A few days ago, I was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day (to quote a kids book). We were all feeling the effects of a tiring move. The kids were all out of sorts and missing their friends (read feeling all the big feels and acting accordingly). To add to the stress, Francois’ surgery on his finger to re-attach the tendon failed. (He flew back to PA this week for corrective surgery.) I lost my iPhone at the market in town. I put a little dent/scratch in the door of the rental car. No one in town knew where the car is that we are supposed to use for the year. And, the list went on and on! I was at the end of my reserves, and struggled to make sense of all that was swirling in my head and heart.

In the last few days, I feel back in my skin with a hopeful, positive attitude. I have more patience and grace for the ups and downs of all of us. I think the shock wore off, we all are seeing the house becoming home. We are all trusting that God has us in the palm of his hand. That he brought us here and will take care of us (and he already has). 

Love you all, we appreciate your prayers and positive vibes! 

Please let us know your latest, as we’d love to hear what is happening on your side of the globe - it’ll help us feel more connected :)

Joy and fam

Day 8- Saying good bye to Christophe

Day 8-We left Brussels today after time with my extended family to celebrate the life of my cousin, Christophe Pochic and to grieve his premature departure from us. 

Bea and Karl were able to join us and we shared an Airbnb house. It was good to have them there.

Now the car is loaded (can’t see out back window!) and we head towards the Alps. #guilleuxinthealps

Day 5-6: Bruges

We left Paris on Friday to head towards Belgium for my cousin Christophe's funeral that will take place on Monday. Years ago, I had visited Christophe and we had done a visit to Bruges so it seemed like a good way to remembering him by introducing Joy and the kids to this beautiful city and a few Belgian specialities.

The next day we drove to see the North Sea. After the upper 90's degree weather in Paris, the cool ocean air was refreshing. 

Day 4- Visiting Velizy

Today we picked up the rental car and headed to my childhood home in Velizy. The kids got to see Ecole Ferdinand Buisson where I went to elementary school. Mamiejo knocked on our old house and the current owner gave us a tour. Despite all the changes to the house in the last 38 years, we could still see the house as it used to be. Unfortunately in a technological glitch, we lost the pictures from our visit. Upon our return to Paris, we took Annelise to a free rock climbing exhibit and finished the day with a tour of Paris at dusk and the lighting of the Eiffel Tower.

Day 2- Fighting Jet Lag

We made it with all our luggage to Mamiejo's apartment in Paris. Found our way to the park to get our bodies moving and introduced the kids to Diabolo Menthe (Mint syrup with sparkling lemonade). Seb couldn't handle his drink! The adult had this summer's aperitif, Le Spritz.

Leaving for a year abroad

Day 1. PIT-CDG. 6 luggage each around 49 pounds for a year abroad. Delta treated us well and the less than full flight allowed us to stretch out. We celebrated our arrival with a CDG croissants. #guilleuxsinthealps

FAQ 1 How did you decide to live in France for a year?

The seed of possibility was planted firmly between 2009 and 2012 as Francois and I led CCO donor trips to the Alps. We’ve both had a lifetime love of the mountains. We also carry seed packets of possibility wherever we go. “Wouldn’t it be amazing to live here someday?”

Then the kids came along and we dreamed of them being bilingual and knowing where their Papa comes from and their Frenchness. Research and experiences of others told us that preschool and elementary age is the best time to go. Part of what we want to give our kids is a big view of the world and the beautiful diversity in it! We wonder how we will be different living outside the city, with mountains as our back yard. This is a clip that was shared by our neighbor in La Masure of visitors in our back yard.

Baa-ram-ewe! To your breed,your fleece, your clan be true. Moving the sheep to pastures new and greener higher up the mountains with the lovely berger Sebastian. #lamazure #mountainlife #frenchmountains #lifeinthemountains #sheep

A post shared by Anna Pearce (@annamountainmaman) on Jun 30, 2018 at 11:38pm PDT

So, there’s basically two ways to make this type of adventure happen. On one hand, you can save a ton of money, and/or sell everything and take a year off. Or, you can have work that can be done from anywhere - anywhere with WiFi, that is! So, when I transitioned to becoming a leadership development coach last fall, that freed me up from location. Francois will do much of his planning and preparation from home in France, but since he leads trainings, teaches classes, and facilitates groups - all of that will require him to travel.

Practically speaking, this has been a lot like a wilderness expedition. We entered the planning phase. Is it possible? What route will we take? How will we get there? What will we need to do to prepare? We went round and round, back and forth, over hours and days and months of conversations. We made a estimated budget of living in the Alps vs. Paris. Could we go for 4 months? 6 months? 9 or 12 months? It was an ever-moving target as we learned what it will cost for things like rent (do we prioritize having a 3rd bedroom for guests or save money and live tiny), health insurance (3 out of 4 of us have French citizenship - will we be covered there?), transportation (can we get by with public transport via trains, buses, and Ubers or do we need to lease a car?). It’s been exhausting. I’m eager for this part of the trip preparation to be over and for the adventure to continue in the next phase... actually getting on the plane.

Alas, the bags are not packed. The house is not ready for others to move in. There are more friends to have time with before we board. Stay tuned. There’s so much to learn!

You're doing WHAT!?

Next month, Joy is being honored for 20 years of ministry with the CCO. Francois is close behind with 19. And to prepare ourselves for the next season, we are taking a sabbatical. On August 5, we will take the kids and a few large suitcases and board a plane for France. After a stop in Paris to visit Francois' mom, and a family camp week at the Taize community, we will drive to the hamlet of La Masure near the village of Sainte Foy Tarentaise in the Alps. Follow our adventures during this season of discovery on this blog.