We are still mucking about. I worked until 2AM local time last night. It was 5PM AZ time. When I say work, I mean that very loosely trying to “be” at work. I am still fascinated with telecommuting as I observe myself participate in it. A woman I know here at work came back from a leave of absence and she wanted to catch up. She asked what time we could meet and I told her as early as she could tolerate. Well that ended up being at 5AM AZ time which caused her to asked where I was and why I was willing to wake up so early to have a call with her on the East Coast. At first I just ignored that part of the conversation, but it did come up again and I finally told her that I was actually in France. She told me that there was a gentleman that she knew who travelled back and forth to Brazil. At first he was afraid to tell anyone but eventually it became apparent that no one could tell the difference and that it was ok to do so. I have to tell my boss eventually I guess. I don’t know how it will come up in our conversation. I hope to have my phone hooked up next week so that when he calls my “desk” I can pick up in Geveze as if I were in CA or AZ. We will see. So I started work at 5AM or 2PM this afternoon so I suppose I only have to hang around here until 2PM or 11PM tonight. That is only another 30 minutes.

Kim invited Martin and her brood over for a BBQ. We never BBQ in the United States because it isn’t anything I care to do. We are going to have to get used to my unavailability in the evenings. I had to leave to go to work. Once we are settled it will be easier because I will be at home. Right now I am alone in Martin’s house while she and Kim entertain the kids over at our Gite. Today Marie Cheve (who curiously served in the same mission as Jarom) offered to help Kim with getting the kids in school. We found out that for CK and Dakota it will be easy as the local school wants a few things, but nothing that we don’t have. Junior High, or as they call it here, college, is a bit more difficult. A member of the bishopric who teaches in Junior High gave me the scoop. Interestingly he graduated with a degree in engineering from BYU, but now teaches Junior High because the BYU degree doesn’t mean much over here. That is another story. So all kids can go to school for free. However for kids who do not speak English they have to go to a special class where all of the refugees from Africa and Eastern Europe attend for a couple of months until they can be integrated into the classroom. Not all Junior Highs (colleges) have that class. His Junior High does have that class so he is very familiar with it. He did not think it was a great environment to learn French. He suggested that we look at private school. Private school is not the same here in France. Private school is public school where parents pay as little as 30€ a month. Someone told us it was paying for the privilege of smaller classes and that is all. It is common for kids to go to private school for simple convenience. He says that the private schools will be much more willing to take the English speaking kids. He gave us a list of schools to check out tomorrow.

Out of all of our kids McKala is the bravest and Xenia is the most studious. Xenia actually complains if she does not have enough time to study her French. Another friend in the ward took Kim and Me to a private school where she and I could take classes. The University is very cheap, 800€ per year, but we would have to have more French ability. The private school charges 9€ an hour. That would be 1600€ for this course for the both of us. We are thinking about it. When else are we going to have the chance to really dive into French? The adult class starts September 27th so we have to make a decision quickly. I got to see the University / downtown section of Rennes. Wow. It is quite the place. I will have to go and take some pictures. This weekend is some sort of free access to State facilities and there is also a Stake youth activity this Saturday. Phew a lot to do. I hope the update is worth a little even without pictures.