Sunday, October 27, 2013

Family Soidarity

  We made it home from Scotland without getting lost the other night. I was quite proud of myself and my kids were most appreciative. After a train ride, bus ride, 2 airplanes, another bus, then a 1.5 hours drive back to our house, Youngest Child did ask about every 5 minutes if we were lost yet, and I got to respond honestly-"No Honey, we are right on track."
  I keep thinking of how happy I am to be able to say we are happy to be home.  I am relieved that all of us are feeling good enough about this adventure, that we are content to return to French life, French culture, French language. A week of English language was very relieving, but Scotland was just as foreign as France is, to us. While all of us struggle with feelings of loneliness frequently, maybe we still appreciate what we are learning from this year abroad and are settling into our home(for a year).
   Our stay in Scotland was a great pleasure. Oldest Child had a good dose of early teen camaraderie. They shopped, spent alot of time surfing Instagram and girl talking. My other two kids were thrilled to play with Oldest Child's friend's old toys- boxes of Legos and Playmobil. That gave me hours to chat with my friends, swapping stories about our European moves. We walked on the beach-no it wasn't a swimming beach-but the beaches were covered with round rocks and mellow, rolling surf. It was certainly inviting, but none of us dared to put a toe in. Well, except for our host who swims regularly in the North Sea.
   My week away gave me time to reflect upon how to make the most of our remaining months in Europe. The struggles are language barrier (a major pain in the neck) and loneliness. So, perhaps family solidarity will help relief some of these struggles that we will continue to deal with for another 7 months. Yes, we desperately need more French lessons which, in retrospect, should have been much more of a priority before leaving the states and if we can obtain more communication skills, life will be easier for all of us.
   Don't worry, we are doing well, we are happy and healthy and look forward to each day we spend here. We are living a great adventure.
Oldest Child is working on a scrapbook of our travels
THe flock at Brodie Castle
Entrance to a lovely garden
Watching the seals play
Welcome home lunch-back at our table

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Missed your clan at the Gresh Halloween party this year. Am living vicariously through your fabulous blog. Of course the language barrier creates a loneliness, but you will look back and see that was just part of the experience. Hope you are all well. Carrie