Before the coffee mug, just a few updates since our last news letter that we sent in October.  (side note — if you want Harling monthly updates right in your inbox, please click here!! to sign up!) The violence in Cameroon continues to escalate.  We would still love to end up in Cameroon, but it is becoming less clear where we will actually end up in the fall of 2019.  We ask that you pray for guidance in this area and safety for the missionaries, residents, and citizens of Cameroon who are caught in the middle of this conflict.

Meanwhile, nous continuons à apprendre le français. I moved up a class and now am now considered at the A2 level. See what this means here.  (the website is about acquiring English, but the levels are the same).  The class is challenging since a jumped ahead a lot. I had to do a lot of studying during our two week fall break, but I actually enjoyed it!  I love using my brain this way!  It’s also very helpful that I have a background in Spanish. It seems as if I have a framework to use to learn French.

The coffee mug.

I love coffee. And I especially love a good, special, meaningful, cute coffee mug. And in the States I had three favs. One was from a friend during medical school (thanks Kellie! yes I still have it!) which had large pastel colored dots on squares. One was from a friend since high school (thanks Leigho!) that she gave me a few years ago, and one was from my Hubbie that he purchased in Greenville. I loved sipping coffee, sometimes cold and sometimes warm depending on whether or not I got up before the babies or not, while I read my Bible in the morning. There’s just something special about wrapping my hands around a special mug and drinking good coffee.  And it’s always good coffee because Michael Harling only does good coffee.

When we arrived in France, our apartment was already furnished which was a huge blessing because we didn’t have to include <> to the transition to France. We just asked for an apartment off-campus and the school (Les Cèdres) coordinated our apartment.  We showed up and moved in with our suitcases of clothes and essentials. Sadly, my mugs didn’t make it into the “essential” pile.  We were provided with very nice white coffee mugs.  I initially told myself I didn’t need to go buy a special coffee mug cause we are here for just 10 months and let’s not go crazy and start buying things we don’t “need” cause then we will have to carry it all back to the States and if we can’t fit it then we will have to leave it and then that’s wasting money….

Last week I hit my limit. I told Michael I wanted to go buy a mug. Simple enough. Yet not so simple. The closest store that maaaay have what I want is Cora.  But Cora is like Wal-mart and yeah they probably have mugs but probably not THE mug I wanted. So the next option was Zodio which is like Bed Bath and Beyond.  Great. I’ll definitely be able to find one there.  Normally I’d just jump in the car while the girls were napping to run this sort of errand back home. But we don’t have a car, and via bus the commute is probably 35 minutes. The walk is 25 minutes and free.  So what normally would take me maybe 30 minutes back home would now take me probably an hour and a half and a lot of walking.

Writing this I’m thinking to myself “this is not that big of a deal.”  It’s not. But I think the biggest culture shock to me is the lack of mobility here…i.e. not having a car.  We walk everywhere which is great…I average 2 miles a day during everyday life and average 5-6 miles if we make a trip into Paris. And I eat croissants and baguettes whenever I want and somehow manage to stay the same weight. So I’m not complaining.  I’ve just realized that even the things that seem so small and unimportant (the fact that we are somewhat tethered to 5 mile radius unless we take public transportation) can be what becomes the cause of “culture shock.”   I also learned that in living overseas it’s important to decide what things are important.  If I knew what I know now, I would have not brought a few extra shirts and packed my mugs instead. Cause for some crazy reason a good mug helps this entire apartment feel a little more like home. And it only cost six euro, two miles of walking, and two hours of time 😉