We arrived on a Thursday around noon. There is a 6 hour time difference, so we had some jet lag to deal with along with a restless night's sleep. Brian's office sponsor picked us up from the airport with 2 vans, one for us and one for our luggage (remember those 11 pieces :) Then they took us right to our apartment. Unfortunately, the apartment they found for us is not ready, so we are in a temporary apartment for about 6 weeks until it's ready. It's in a nice area of Paris called the 16eme and about a 15 minute walk or so from our permanent place. It is a pretty big 3 bedroom place. Our sponsor had been to the place ahead of time and bought us some basic groceries and even scheduled for cable and internet to be installed the day we arrived!
So, the first day, we took a quick walk around the neighborhood and played in the apartment. Then we all went to bed early. But, what we did not anticipate, is that the sun does not set here until 9:30pm in the summer! The rooms are so bright! Which is awesome during the day, but tough to fall asleep. The first night we were all off schedule and poor Ollie was up from 12-3am. But the subsequent nights got better.
Brian had to go to work Friday. So the boys and I walked to a park in our area. It is really nice, has a lot of grassy areas, a street that's blocked off to traffic where kids can ride bikes, 3 separate play areas for different ages, a merry go round, and on the weekends pony rides. We went twice that day and in the afternoon tried out the merry go round and it's different than I've ever seen! It's run by a man and woman. The man walks the horses around and the kids riding the horses get sticks (like drumsticks), the woman stands at a podium and when the kids pass the podium they try to catch rings on the stick that are dangling from the podium. When Ollie and Elias were frustrated they didn't get any, the man came and put rings on their sticks for them. The boys loved it!
We also have a neighborhood sponsor that lives in the building we are in now. The wife came up to say hi, showed me around a bit, and let us borrow an easel to play with.
On Saturday, we walked to Trocadero, where the Eiffel Tower is located. There is a merry go round and park there too. Then we decided to walk a different way home where of course we got lost and had tired, jet lagged boys, so it ended badly.
Sunday we tried out the American Church of Paris. We had heard really good things about it from friends in Bogota, but we were a bit disappointed. Because it's summer there is no Sunday school and it was much more traditional than we normally go for. But, I think we are going to wait it out a bit and see how it goes when everything starts back up again in September.
This week has been filled with more trips to the park and meetings at the embassy. Tomorrow our air freight is being delivered. So we are so excited to have some more toys for the boys, their scooters (they are complaining so much about walking when we walked just as much in Bogota!!), and more kitchen supplies.
I guess that's about it for now. I'm going to try to take some pictures tonight of the apartment so you can see it! I'll post them on the next blog!
So, the first day, we took a quick walk around the neighborhood and played in the apartment. Then we all went to bed early. But, what we did not anticipate, is that the sun does not set here until 9:30pm in the summer! The rooms are so bright! Which is awesome during the day, but tough to fall asleep. The first night we were all off schedule and poor Ollie was up from 12-3am. But the subsequent nights got better.
Brian had to go to work Friday. So the boys and I walked to a park in our area. It is really nice, has a lot of grassy areas, a street that's blocked off to traffic where kids can ride bikes, 3 separate play areas for different ages, a merry go round, and on the weekends pony rides. We went twice that day and in the afternoon tried out the merry go round and it's different than I've ever seen! It's run by a man and woman. The man walks the horses around and the kids riding the horses get sticks (like drumsticks), the woman stands at a podium and when the kids pass the podium they try to catch rings on the stick that are dangling from the podium. When Ollie and Elias were frustrated they didn't get any, the man came and put rings on their sticks for them. The boys loved it!
We also have a neighborhood sponsor that lives in the building we are in now. The wife came up to say hi, showed me around a bit, and let us borrow an easel to play with.
On Saturday, we walked to Trocadero, where the Eiffel Tower is located. There is a merry go round and park there too. Then we decided to walk a different way home where of course we got lost and had tired, jet lagged boys, so it ended badly.
Sunday we tried out the American Church of Paris. We had heard really good things about it from friends in Bogota, but we were a bit disappointed. Because it's summer there is no Sunday school and it was much more traditional than we normally go for. But, I think we are going to wait it out a bit and see how it goes when everything starts back up again in September.
This week has been filled with more trips to the park and meetings at the embassy. Tomorrow our air freight is being delivered. So we are so excited to have some more toys for the boys, their scooters (they are complaining so much about walking when we walked just as much in Bogota!!), and more kitchen supplies.
I guess that's about it for now. I'm going to try to take some pictures tonight of the apartment so you can see it! I'll post them on the next blog!
I remember how the sun set SO late over there - sometimes close to 10pm! I hope that gets better for you and the boys in the coming months. Can't wait to see pictures!
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