Author: Emmanuel

“Je ne suis pas Anglais, je suis Gallois”

I took the stand to the market in Rostrenen this morning. The sun was shining, the market was quiet, most tourists have gone now. Nobody wanted to speak to me. But when I saw a man wearing a T-shirt saying “Je ne suis pas Anglais, je suis Gallois”, i had to ask where in Wales he and his wife were from.

We spoke Welsh, they were tourists from Carmarthenshire.

You’ve got to love Sundays

Sundays with 3 young children can be difficult. But they are usually privileged days spent together. We can enjoy each other’s company and speak about God and His grace towards us. It doesn’t always work out ideally, and dark, rainy winter Sundays feel endless.

Yesterday was one of those great, relaxed Sundays. I preached in the morning on Judges 2:6-23: the roots of apostasy, its expression, and God’s reaction to it. In the afternoon, after a nap and Bible story we went to see our friends at the campsite. They had a number of visitors from St Brieuc Evangelical church and we spent some time with them catching up on news by the river side. It was hot and sunny.

Funny French words: rutilant.

We are continuing our little series on funny French words. Today’s word is “rutilant”. According to the online Larousse dictionary, it means: “Qui est d’un rouge vif, éclatant : Cuivre rutilant.” Or “Qui brille d’un vif éclat : Une carrosserie rutilante.” In English, you would translate by gleaming or glowing.

The longest Saturday of the year

The first Saturday September must be the longest Saturday of the year for most French parents. That’s when the “forum des associations” (societies fair) takes place, and you must register to the various activities the children will do outside of school.

So this morning, we went early to the “forum des associations” to have a look around. We already knew what we want to do, so I picked up information for my Breton classes and we did not spend too much time hanging around. But we arrived early and it was already packed. Then, in the afternoon, I went to the music school to confirm the slots chosen for Jean-Baptiste’s Guitar lessons back in June, and choose the best slot for the choir practice. That was awful. I was again early, but there was a lot of waiting and queuing, just to see two teachers for a few seconds.

After a lot of waiting around, I took Maxime to the horse riding club to register him. He’s been wanting to try pony riding for a while now. I’d told him that if he hadn’t changed his mind by the end of the summer, we’d look into it. So he is registered for 10 lessons. I like his independent mind. Some people have tried to persuade him to play football, but he has not bulged and told everyone that pony riding was what he wanted to do.