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the teacher even asked Candace, who was eleven at the time, to take an English class a few times.

Other adjustments were harder though. The lack of a library or bookstore for English books meant we were spending a fortune on buying things over the internet. Our business wasn't as easy to run as we thought and trying to explain ourselves and failing miserably a lot of the time was more frustrating than we had ever imagined.

What really saved us were the new friends from our church and our amazingly helpful neighbours. On one side were farmers with two children a bit older than the girls. In the time that we lived there our daughters were able to see lambs born, pet newborn foals and calves, and make friends with all sorts of other animals. Our neighbour on the other side regularly invited us over for a little something to eat, at least that's what she called it, although most people would call it a feast. It was a great introduction into French cuisine for us all and she would often painstakingly explain how things were done to Candace who was interested in learning to cook. She gave her many recipes that we would then take home and translate.

The girls were progressing in their language skills despite being too shy to use it sometimes. It

seemed a good idea for them to attend a local school for six months to help with their fluency which was not a popular decision at all, but if they were ever to make a life in France, it would be vital for them to be able to speak the language well. The next few months were hard not only on the girls, being thrust into a foreign school system, but also on us when we didn't agree with some of the policies that the school had. Being a private school it was not totally beholden to the governmental school system. It did work though as the girls left after the six months fluent in French and very much appreciating homeschooling!

On to Asia

After three years we were really settling into life the French way, but we had itchy feet and an idea for a trip. It had always been my dream to visit Asia, so after much research and financial planning we set the date. What a great educational opportunity for the girls too. They would be able to see people living a life so different to our own.

Suddenly we had so much to learn about. The girls each chose a country to research and we got books and pored over websites to get as much information as we could. As we would be travelling with just backpacks, space for books would be limited

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