Psalm 23 shares comfort and reassurance. At different points in life what we need is not that same as before, either. As we shared in the newsletter, something new is that Liberty and Van are taking an international adventure without mom and dad! Good, this is a path I would call “right”. First, it is an opportunity for them to have an adventure with friends, classmates, and teachers. But more than simply an earthly adventure, it is one with spiritual and eternal ramifications. Their group will be going to a place in Africa where there are opportunities for them to participate in ministries which are welcomed. It isn’t just a bunch of foreigners showing up to prove how good they are. It is interesting to think that somewhere in that African town where they are going there could very well be some kids, probably younger, maybe their same age, with whom Liberty and Van are going to connect and bond. And none of them know! So, pray with us as Liberty, Van, their team, and the hosts all prepare for this trip in March.
In case you are led to give financially, here are some details:
This is arranged by BFA/TeachBeyond, meaning we don’t handle the finances. It also means that, for example, if Van receives 5,000 in total, for example, that only 2450 will be used for Van’s trip… the excess goes to TeachBeyond, not us. So take a look at the page before contributing in case the amount shown is close to the USD2450 amount!
You can also give via WEC Canada, or WEC USA – if you use this option, be sure to specify the gift is for the COOKE family.
If you don’t require a tax receipt, you can:
Use our family’s Paypal page: https://paypal.me/shanecooke;
If you are in Europe, or use Wise.com, send a gift using IBAN to: Walter Noel Shane Cooke TRWIBEB1XXX BE64 9670 9300 2552
The Cookes in Strausburg, France, over Christmas 2023.
Pray also for our own path. You may recall that last year we were facing a financial crunch, having lost a significant portion of our support. God arranged a very last-minute miracle whereby we could serve at BFA for one more year. However, this would last for only the year. We find ourselves in a similar situation. Without more people or churches who believe in mission through education, who value the well-being of, caring for, and teaching MKs while their parents remain on-field, who feel we are in line with God’s calling… it is unlikely we will return to BFA for next year. So, we ask you to pray. I suppose one focus of prayer is for more finances. But more importantly, prayer for the path we are to be on is important. After almost 28 years of service overseas, I’m less inclined to automatically assume that God “proves” his calling on someone by supplying all the finances that is needed. I’ve seen far too many instances of valid, needed, excellent efforts started by quality, God-fearing, sincere people simply not get off the ground because of various reasons: unsupportive leadership, weak team, uninterested donors, “not flashy enough”, poor promotion or presentation, etc. The inverse is true, too: how many ministries seem successful but are led by unsavoury characters who know how to play the role, or continue due to inertia, rather than because it is needed? Thankfully, God DOES provide, as would any Father who is asked by his children for fish or bread, but often the provision comes from the family of God.
9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Matthew 7:9-11
We would really relish knowing that you are praying with us about the path we ought to be on. Thank you!
This summer, our family went on a long-awaited camping trip. After being confined in-place for almost 2 years, it was good to be out and driving around. Mind you, we do live in a beautiful place which made most of the confinement bearable, but as a family, we were happy to be in the road again. Prices for hotels were going to be quite high, so we decided to camp. Fortunately, we found a cool tent for 4 people on sale at InterSport! We bought a few more items, and then we were off.
Now, you should understand that because this is Europe, “camping” is not quite the same as what we are used to in Canada, and even the USA. We pitched in between big RVs and trailers wherever we went. But, despite the non-wild feeling of the places, it was good to be sleeping under the sky, with fresh air, and the same midnight stumble to the central bathroom for a bathroom stop. We all had a great time, and didn’t even have any family fights setting up the tent, and taking it down. THAT was actually a lot of work, thus we have no pictures of it because by the time it was up, or down, we were ready to get in it, or ready to leave.
We camped a bit on our way to the yearly WEC conference, and for this I am grateful. I heard the news my mother’s health was poor, and that she might pass into God’s presence soon. We tried to see if the kids and I could get back in time, but it was impossible. So, Aug 11 my mother did die, and went to be with Jesus, and reunited with her hubby. It was a heavy blow. All of us were stunned. We had postponed a video chat just a week earlier, thinking we would chat after the conference. Well, here it is 2 weeks or so later, and we are home, but the shock is still there. Please pray for my family, and for those of my brother and sister, as we all press on in a world without our parents.
Cookes Overseas, this time in Paris.
We visited Paris after the conference with a goal to visit Uighur restaurants. We were aching for some good spicy food. We found three, and ate at each, one per night. Oh! You can check out my IG account to see the restaurant fronts if you want. When we were first considering coming to France, we of course had put Paris on our list of potential places to live. Unfortunately, it wasn’t an option, partly because of how international the city is. But we are always impressed by (ready for something that sounds silly) how many French people are there! We rarely talked with anyone but French people, so it was a relief, in a way, to rediscover that the French capital is still very French and not only or primarily international.
Liberty still has an interest in graffiti.
We like eating at Thai places, especially those named after the city of Van’s birth. This is actually in Toulouse.
It was good to get home eventually. The kids discovered that they are not as small and compact as the last time we went on a long car trip! So, if God wills, we will be looking into buying a larger vehicle (we don’t have a car, and in fact we’ve never had a vehicle when we’ve been overseas!). We had to go retrieve our two guinea pigs, Sunddee and Fizzgigg, from a kind lady who watched them for us. The giggly pigs were happy to see us! And, we were back into a routine, of sorts. Cleaning, sorting, and also getting ready for school.
So, I will end this post with a small request, one which applies to many of you too. Please pray as Liberty and Van re-enter school. Liberty is starting an important year in the French school system, the last year of her academic division – college. Van is in fact starting his first year of the same division, college. So, there will be new and bigger stresses for each. Due to laïcité there is very little content about God, which also means that the students, their home lives, and the entire atmosphere, is very godless. There is lots of immorality. They also deal with a surprising amount of anti-foreigner sentiments. Yes, its true! Despite how “western” and advanced and open France is, there is a constant stream of anti-foreigner feelings, including a particular anti-Americanism. It is pretty tough at times for our kids. But I am proud of them. Even though at times it seems it would be easier if they weren’t Christian, they both do their best to stand against sexual immorality, cheating, bullying, and even despair (suicide is not uncommon amongst the student body). And this is even a Catholic school, where you would think there would be a little more awareness and seeking of God, if not spirituality. But when the teachers are cruel, mock students, and care little for spiritual things, and the kids come from a home-life which also doesn’t include God, what can you expect. Pray for them!! And for the students and teachers.
It had come true, those words spoken to us by those who had lived in France before us. We had expressed our desire to live in Paris. It made sense: It was the capital, what better place to start a new ministry. But we were told, “Everyone thinks they will go to Paris. You will see that it is not as crucial as you think. You will see, its draw over you will wane. Give it time.”
So we certainly gave it time. Two years in fact. Time did its work, with the help of life. We were busy living in the south, finding a rhythm and a flow there. We were getting used to living there, not Paris. We walked around our new city, but not as much as we had walked around Paris.
You see, one thing you never hear about Paris is how eminently walked it is! It seems like every guidebook we read, every review online, they all assumed we would take the metro, just like everyone else. They gave detailed instructions on how to buy the correct type of ticket for the metro, the pros and cons of a booklet, to keep in mind zones, and family options. Until the day we decided to not take it. Why? ALL THOSE STAIRS.
On the map places may not seem far by metro, but it doesn’t take into consideration all the walking you have to do to take the metro. You have to walk to the station, then down flights of stairs, then to the turnstiles for the tickets, then down more hallways and down more flights of stairs to get to the platforms. Hopefully we read the signs right and we at the right platform. Then you stand in the metro car, swaying, hoping the dude playing his guitar doesn’t head your way to ask for change, getting angry when you don’t give him any. (Well, for one thing, we don’t have any change! All we have are cards to pay for things.) Then, you have to get off the car and realize the platform exit is at the far end of the platform, then up more stairs, some winding hallways, more stairs, then the final exit turnstiles, only one of which is working for those leaving, causing a jam. Then, for good measure, one last flight of steps up to the city where you realize… you are on the far side of plaza from where you wanted to be at. More walking.
So with all the walking involved in taking the metro, one visit we decided we would walk. So we did! We walked from the Arc de Triomphe all the way to Montmarte and the Sacre-Coeur basilica. Google Maps says its 4.3 km, just an hour walking. It would take almost that long to do the whole walk-metro-walk routine, so we walked. And we saw bits of Paris that the guidebooks can’t tell you about, because no one has ever walked there! But les Parisiens do. Ever since, we walk through Paris whenever we can.
But last week was my first time back in Paris in over a year. And I was shocked by how touristy it appeared as I walked out of the Montparnasse train station! Glittering lights everywhere! Garish signs! Almost begging me to come and partake of their coffees and treats. All I could think was, “This is not Bayonne! It isn’t even… France!” It had happened. I no longer looked at Paris through the eyes of a dreamer, but through the eyes of one who has walked far less glamourous French streets, the streets Parisiens escape to when they escape the dreaming tourists flocking to Paris, those for whom all the glitter and glamour are displayed. I found I didn’t like; I didn’t need it. I had seen and tasted of a France beyond flashiness, and it was this France I had come to love. Sadly, I had no time to touch that side of Paris. I was only passing through this time.
We are all in the boat! Over the years we’ve sent you email updates because our life takes place in such a different context that it was helpful to share about it. But now, in this Age of Pandemic, most likely our lives look very much the same. Travel is restricted. Only one household member per day is allowed to go out and then only for one hour and only if the purpose is listed as Essential; groceries, medicinal, to help an incapacitated family member, unavoidable civic business (law, court, fines, renewals, etc.) If the one family member who does go out does so for exercise, they must remain within 1 km (less than a mile) of their residence. And each time that household member does go out, even for exercise, they must have on them a self-signed declaration form with the current date, address, purpose of outing, and the hour they left (to make sure you stay within the 1 hour limit) or they face a fine if caught by roaming police. Wow. Welcome to our world.
So with these restrictions, what would happen about church? Of course it is essential… just not essential for broader public safety I guess. Very quickly people were jumping aboard the virtual church train!! And most often that happens with zoom. Even our church here in France started going digital.
Virtual church
Going digital has been a blessing, but also some care must be taken. Zoom for example has already been in trouble before for being underhanded in what they install, and most recently were caught sending info to Facebook, even if you don’t have facebook. Yikes! Because it seems to work the best, it is also being used the most. I prefer to avoid it when I can because of it’s track record. There are other options, some open source, such as Jitsi Meet and Kopano, and even Riot/Matrix I think has a video option. But how many of us are conversant enough to whip up our own server and install these free apps, and have it run well enough to manage 10, 30 or 400 participants!? Well, do what you can, and try to use other options. I think using zoom is going to leave many with regrets eventually.
Speaking of being online, one of the ways I’ve been helping others overseas is by setting up and managing websites and emails. If you find this is something you’d like to have, or indeed have to have with the Stay-at-home protocols, write me an email. I am sure I can help you out.
In the meantime, there is lots to do in the analog world! Like sitting outside and trying to burn out a stump!
Even though Liberty and Van’s schools are within walking distance, Michelle and I like to walk with them to school. I guess we are being a little cautious. Van doesn’t mind, and we often have some really good times walking in the mornings, talking about all kinds of topics. Van and Liberty have to go to school at different times, so one week I will walk with Liberty, who goes 40 minutes earlier, and then the other week I will walk with Van. Most mornings Michelle is up early anyway, but we still alternate.
The other morning after I walked with Liberty, I turned to head home. It was a warmer-than-usual morning, and it wasn’t raining (for once). All in all, it was the perfect morning to go have a coffee somewhere. Right beside the route we take to and from school is a Burger King! Why not have a coffee there!? Well, there is one problem. Generally, places like this open only for lunch. Can you imagine? No egg mcMuffin! No King Breakfast! They just don’t do that here (in the biggest cities, yes, but not here). There ARE smaller local bakeries and Tabacs where you can grab a coffee, but we don’t live near one. Oh well. This is just one small difference in life we have.
Sundays are even worse! Or better, depending on your perspective. I feel like I’m back in Manitoba in the 70s… nothing is open on a Sunday! There is the odd small market that will be open from 9 am to noon, but that is it. So is it a day of rest? Not really, for Sunday is the day all the Associations do their thing! Cyclists cycle, river canoeists paddle, photo groups go snapping, painters paint, and so on. For us, Sunday mornings we head to church!
Saturday is the day we do chores. We load up my trusty bike with the laundry, or with gardening tools borrowed from a church member. Liberty and Van like to enhance the lives of their chickens by building things for them (Popcorn and Charlie). We also like to get out and around Bayonne.
Laundry run on the bikeExtendable trimmer, chainsaw, hedge cutters, and assorted toolsOld stump converted into Chicken ResortMost every city in France will have a Winter Ferris Wheel!
Do you like reading? Do you like writing? I enjoy both, but I wish I was better at it and more consistent. Well, every November for several years now, there is National Novel Writing Month. I’ve given it a go a few times, but unfortunately I have not stuck with it the entire month. You’d think it would be easy to come up with enough stories for an entire novel after all the places we’ve traveled and our many experiences overseas, and at home.
The other day I was in a small grocery store looking for a snack while I waited for the laundry to finish up at the local laverie. I noticed ahead of me was an older gentleman with a very long grey ponytail, tied up low on his neck, the way I tie my hair. Well, I am always on the lookout for people to meet, and ways to meet them, so I thought my own getting-long ponytail might be just the thing to forge a connection here. I walked up the aisle, and when he turned, I saw him look at me and my hair. Instead of an anticipated head nod or some other acknowledgement, he gave me a sideways smirk and turned away, shaking his head! Needless to say, I felt a little hurt! How could a long-haired gent so easily dismiss another? Well, suffice to say, there very well could have been cultural dynamics at play.
I was a little nervous about coming to France with long hair. Back in Central Asia men generally did not do that. To have long hair suggested that you also smoked drugs, drank lots of beer, and were generally up to no good. Sadly, many dudes I met with long hair in Central Asia actually fit that description! So I kept mine short for a long time, even though it pained me.
Here in France however, I discovered something amazing (two things): Many men wait until their 3os to start a family, and those same men have long hair! Imagine my surprise to be standing outside the kids’ school waiting for them, and to look around and see that most fathers had hair longer than mine! And were my age. Astounding. I’m still in the process of meeting them, but it has been a pleasant experience thus far.
Michelle has befriended and older lady at the church who needed some help cleaning her apartment. Kind Michelle of course offered to help, and while there the older dame gives Michelle French lessons! She has introduced Michelle to a few other older lady friends who are in the same situation as she (living alone, difficulty getting out and about, cleaning and tidying), so Michelle has met some and is working out how to bless them all. Pray for her!
Our chickens are still with us, but one, Popcorn, is not feeling well. Please pray for her. We don’t know what is wrong. We’ve read that chickens can get depressed from cloudy and rainy weather, and well, we’ve had a lot of that lately (almost every day this month has been rainy). Despite her laying eggs again suddenly after a lengthy spell, she has returned to some kind of funk. This is Liberty’s chicken, so Liberty is also worried for Popcorn. Please pray!
Popcorn, on the ground, is not feeling well these days.A big tree blown over by the wind
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. The place God put us to start our ministry in Bayonne is an amazing blessing. Did I ever tell you how it came about? Well, going way back to March in Caen, we knew we had to start thinking about moving to the south. Little did we know the incredible challenge it would end up being.
We needed to start the residence permit renewal 3 months before the end date. We actually started about 4.5 months, just to be safe. This is because every sort of official document change/application requires a rendezvous, an appointment with an official at the prefecture offices. So we made our rendezvous a month before the start of the 3-month countdown. We went to the meeting and began submitting our paperwork. This means we had a meeting, and an official went over our paperwork with us to ensure we had everything. We did. Then the official asked us which date we would prefer for the renewal interview – late October or Novmber 2019. ? Quoi!? We told her our permits expire in August… and thus we’d be in the country illegally. She just shurgged her shoulders. We asked her what do we do in the meantime. She again shrugged. Then, we made a fatal error! We told her we would also have moved by then to the south; would we have to come all the way back to up Normandy in Oct/Nov, or could we get the rendezvous transferred to the Pyrenees-Atlantique prefecture. Ohh!
As soon as the Normandy preferecture realized we planned to move they told us to just do the renewal down south. Ok. So we tried to book a rendezvous for the prefecture in Bayonne. But everytime we tried the booking website would say “Closed”. How were we to book a meeting then? We even called the office, and they also said go online. We tried for about 2 weeks but always got the “Closed” notice. We called again, and THIS TIME we were told, “Oh, the booking site only takes bookings on Mondays.”. Wow.
So we waited till the Monday afternoon and tried to make a booking. But it was still closed. We spent the rest of the week trying to call the prefecture, and finally just sent an email. Wonders of wonders they replied to the email explaining that the booking site makes renedezvouses only Monday mornings, between 9 am and 12 noon! Ok, so we waited for the following Monday, made an appointment, then got an email later in the week saying it was cancelled. Now, it is important to keep in mind that these appointments are usually for dates 4 weeks ahead of the current date. So we were now in late May. Then we got busy and didn’t try to make another appointment for 2 weeks. We tried again, but it was cancelled again. We couldn’t understand.
So I looked at the booking site really closely. I realized at the section where it was asking for my address I had been submitting our current address in Caen, in Normandy. And we guessed that that must be why our rendezvous requests were being cancelled – because we weren’t in the Pays-Basque region yet. We decided to just drive down there and go to the prefecture in person because weeks and months of internet attempts and phone calls weren’t getting su anywhere. So in late June we drove down and went to the prefecture. They were helpful, and generally kind. It was quite different altogether compared to the Normandy prefecture. The Normandy prefecture was dealing with hundreds of people a week, a day even, it seemed. If you had to go there, and it opened at 8, you had to be in line outside before 6:30 am or you woudn’t get in before the noon lunch break!
Anyway, the Pays-Basque prefecture explained that we had to make the appointment online, and coached us on how to do it properly. But remember, it is now mid-June, and our permits expired August 3. Taking into consideration the 4-week advance window, we had to make an appointment immediately. But alas! June was proving to be popular, and we could only get one appointment for July 25, for Shane. Michelle’s would be August 14! The last thing the prefecture told us was that we must have a local address or they could not do anything.
All along we had been looking for a place, using sites like leboncoin.fr, pap.fr, and various other sites. But, this was nigh impossible because we weren’t actually in Bayonne in person to look at possible places. No one wanted to do a deal from a distance. (We also have a continuing problem that most agencies require tax returns as proof of sufficient income, but France tax returns. So many agencies with prefect options for us refuse to work with us because, as foreigners, we have no France tax return.) But how in the world would we find a place before July 25? We even looked while we were in Bayonne, but the tax return issue hampered our attempts.
Well, the about 10 days before my July 25 appointment I talked with the teammates we were going to join and I mentioned the housing problem. The husband paused and said, “You know, I might know someone. I will call you back.” So he called someone who had helped his family when they first moved to Bayonne 7 years ago and asked. It turned out that the house that that guy’s church uses to house their pastors was empty, and would be empty until April 2020! And the last council meeting for a few months was the next day! He told my teammate he would raise the question of whether the Cookes could stay in the empty house. We waited with bated breath.
The next day our teammate called back to say yes, we could stay there! So I arranged to go down immediately and meet the council and hopefully sign a rental contract. Off I went, back to Bayonne, and met my teammate and the person in charge of the empty house. It was in need of renovations before we moved in. He asked me when we wanted to move, and I suggested early August. In the end we agreed Aug 14 would be possible. And the morning I had to leave Bayonne to get back to Caen I met the person one more time and we signed the rental agreement! He actually met me in the parking lot of a Burger King, and he was dressed in white and red, on his way to have fun at the Fêtes de Bayonne! I hopped in the rental car and drove back to Caen with some relief. A few days later I returned to Bayonne for my prefecture appointment, ready with all the paperwork.
Fêtes de Bayonne!
This is where things got tricky again. Because we weren’t continuing to be students, and we had no job in France, what status would be applicable for us?? In the end I had to apply for a Visitor Status, good for only 6 months, and this being dependent on a sufficient salary from Canada.
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OK, so my application was accepted, so I asked the lady at the interview about my wife’s appointment being Aug 14, 11 days after her permit expired. So she gave me a Post-It note with her name and date and a brief explanation which would act as a unofficial notice excusing that Michelle would be late, not because of laziness or ineptitude, but because of the dynamics I have just shared with you! (I told her the whole tale too.)
We had been trying to figure out how to move then. We decided on renting a moving van from France Cars. There were some complications there too that I won’t go into detail, but they were resolved by our local bank, BNP, raising our spending limit on our bank card on the spot, something they told us would normally not happen without… an appointment and a long history of banking with them. They were so kind to do that for us!
Due to other details, such as the moving van not being able to be rented one-way and needing to be returned, we decided that Michelle would go down to Bayonne with all her paperwork on the Aug 13, the day before her appointment. The kids and I would load up the moving van the same day, Aug 13, and leave that evening for Bayonne. Let me tell you, the kids did amazing with helping me load up the moving van! And we had our own deadline – 3 pm, when the landlord would come by to check the apartment. At 2:55 we had the apartment totally empty and clean, albeit with a full entrance on th ground floor with our stuff. By 4:30 we had put the last of the stuff in the moving van, said a prayer of thanks to the Lord, and the kids and I began our moving journey down south. We had heard from Michelle, letting us know she made it to Bayonne. (She had to leave early early on the 13th, take a train to Paris, and transfer to another train to go to Bayonne.)
August 14th came. The kids and I had stopped for the night at La Roche-sur-Yon. Michelle called us late morning to let us know her appointment went well, all her papers were accepted, and she too had to switch to the Visitor Status. But, the official did say that due to the computer automatically entering data, there remained the possibility that Michelle would get fined for being late. This is one reason why ask for prayers about our permits… we haven’t heard yet if they’ve been finally processed, and if there is a fine or not. If so, it could be as high as 700 euro!
So, here we are in Bayonne, living in a nice Basque house. There is a yard, trees, an the old chicken coop which is now home to Popcorn and Charlie. But. There are mosquitos. TONS of mosquitos. They especially like Van and I. Poor Van, his legs are covered in red dots, despite spraying anti-pique spray. But I don’t want to complain about the mosquitos! Thank God for this house, our first place in Bayonne!
Hi! Summer went by quickly, didn’t it? Here we are in September already. Hard to believe. Liberty and Van have begun their respective school years. This time they are different schools. We were all a little apprehensive about this sort of change, but there was no room for Van at the school where Liberty is attending; we had looked forward to them going to the same school. Fortunately, just across the street, was another school which had room for Van (in fact, students who get waitlisted for the school Liberty is at often attend this neighbouring school until the following year and they are assured a spot then). So, it is fine, we can walk with them both to their schools since they are close together.
Below is a map of our region. There are a few names for this place, and we aren’t sure why. Colloquially it is called BAB – Biarritz, Anglet, Bayonne. I think we shared that we’d be moving to Biarritz/Bayonne when we were first looking into the area. We have since discovered that Biarritz is a much ritzier and expensive town compared to Bayonne. Anglet is in the middle. Not specifically for this reason, but we have moved to Bayonne. This is mostly because it is the most central of the towns in the area. Before we truly knew too, the school that caught our eye online for Liberty and Van ended up being here, so it has all worked out.
However, the place that God opened up for us is only available until next April. We are going to have to move again. But this is an important question! The region shown on the map above is not too large, but it is the area for which we feel burdened. Since we don’t have a vehicle we will need to find a place that lets us get around by bus or bike. See the map below?
The neighbourhoods we are considering are Arènes, Saint-Léon, Marracq, and Petit Bayonne. If we have to we could consider some of the areas outside the ones I just wrote about. If we were to live further abroad than these areas then Liberty and Van would probably have to change schools, and honestly, we are hoping to avoid that.
So, even though we just moved, we are already keeping an eye out for the next place. Typically places are rented out for 3 years at a time, so we anticipate the next place becoming more homey than the current one.
But! The one we are in now has a wonderful advantage – a ready-to-use chicken coop! 2 weeks after we moved in, we cleaned up the coop and decided to buy two chickens! The red one is called Popcorn, as chosen by Liberty, and the black one is named Charlie, by Van. They’ve begun laying eggs too!
So please pray with us already, giving thanks to God to where he has led us, as well as about where to move to next. Thanks! Merci!
Back in Central Asia we rarely had pets. Our last two years there we did have two pet guinea pigs. It was so hard for Liberty and Van to leave them behind. We fortunately we able to leave with the same lady from whose pet store we bought them from. She was happy to have them back, nice and fat!
Well, here we are in France and the kids have been asking for a pet. But they had inspiration: A chicken coop was already in place in the backyard of where we are staying. We asked the owner, and the neighbours, if we could get two chickens, and everyone thought it was a splendid idea. I imagine they were fine with this because across the back lane from our house, and the other houses, is a fenced-off section where a miniature pony and two goats live. So, two chickens would not be a problem.
We looked online and found a farmer selling chickens for only 12 Euro each. We drove out to his place, and picked a black chicken and a red chicken. Liberty wanted to red one, and named it Popcorn. Van chose the black chicken and called it Charlie. It took a few days for the two hens to adjust to their smaller and more private accomodations, but before you knew it they were walking around eating bugs and grass, AND laying eggs.
So, the kids have ‘pets’. We have a sort of mosquito/pest control system. And we have one fresh egg a day. Yay!
You just get used to doing things a certain way. I was talking with the neighbour the other day and he asked me if we used our bikes. Like, alot? He said always sees us on them. He wondered if that meant we don’t have a car. I told him we don’t have a car. That’s a funny thing about our overseas life: We have never had a car overseas. The week we get back to Canada though we buy something. One reason we don’t have a car overseas I suppose has to do with safety/insurance. Life can be tough as it is, so why add potential complications to it?
What this means in Caen, for us, is taking our laundry up to the local laundomat, or, lavomatique. We discovered these during our previous short visit to France and needed to do laundry while on the road. We discovered that these are all over the place. Most neighbourhoods will have one. They are super handy! But I imagine we are quite the sight, loading up the bikes and hauling our bags of laundry there.
Our lavomatique
But while there alot can happen. We study our French books, or listen to french lessons. We have to solve problems. One time I put in money and nothing happened. So, I called the number on the wall, not sure of what would come next, and somehow was able to explain the issue and understand that the remote technician was going to start the machine for me (he did) and then refund the money if I would place my laundry card to the payment machine. It worked! I couldn’t believe I managed to achieve that. And then the other day I met a young guy from Cuba! He was all excited, telling me that they don’t have such machines in Cuba (really?) and asking me to take his photo with the machines in the background.
