Alex and John French Nouvelles 2017
Noël 2017
Warm wishes once again to the family and friends. Here are our main highlights to share with you. What a promising year it has been.
2017 started with Thomas and his classmates on a Peniche for a week. He returned home very happy to have shared a great time, sleeping on it, helping to prepare the meals, doing chores and boat activities and learning new games. They travelled up to Lyon and then down to Chavanay along the Rivers ‘Le Rhône’ and ‘La Saône’, stopping off at various points of interest. It was a fun nature adventure learning about canal waterways, castors, museums, etc…
In February, John stopped working at Axeltech in Saint Etienne and since May he’s been leaving on a Monday morning (5am), driving for 4 hours where he’s contracted by an agency to work for Zodiac Seats France at Issoudun as a production manager, then returning home on a Friday evening for the weekend. To his & our relief his job will stop at the end of December even though he did enjoy the interesting challenges. Since the agency pays him he’s now waiting for the next job offer closer but to home this time.
In June, Thomas’s primary school year finished nicely being recognised by his teacher (school principle) as the favourite pupil in his class. My sister Clare and Marco visited Dordrecht so I took the opportunity to spend a long weekend there, so good to catch up with family.
During the summer holidays in July we cheered for the La Tour de France cyclists. (see photos.) In August we ended our summer holiday at Seignosse, for 3 weeks. Thomas got into skate boarding and taking lessons. The first time we went to Seignosse was in 2004, since then we’ve continued going there and visiting the cities/countries close by in the south/west of France. (see photos)
Starting college for the first time was an exciting period for Thomas in September. He liked the transformation from being the oldest children at school to the newcomers at college (6eme). He caught up with friends he knew from his school or those from other activities and enjoyed making new friends. During the year we’ve been given a good dose to Thomas’s YouTube world of vloggers on skate boarding, scooter tricks, trampoline, etc…
Now he can do front flips on our trampoline, even I can do them. His next challenge is the back flip but no thanks we won’t be doing them.
Thomas turned 11 and Alex and John 52 this year. He can wear my sock size but he’s hasn’t reached my height yet. He can bet us both in sprint races and recently came first in the 50 metres sprint competition for the Loire Region (11–12 yrs category). His passions at college are Sport, Chemistry, Maths and Technology plus of course English. In May he ran in the Pila Trail again coming 2nd this time from getting 3rd two years ago and 4th three years ago. (see photo & video, it poured hard just before the race). Allez Thomas! Allez!
2018 brings a year where now I won’t be teaching at many companies (some I’ve been teaching English at for 10 years) but reduced to only two. From January, I’ll be working full-time but luckily I can be at home when Thomas has his school holidays.
This year has brought a lot movement towards our future plans. We hope that our family and friends keep well and continue to enjoy themselves.
Joyeuses Fêtes et Bonne Année 2018.
Amitiés,
Alexandra, John & Thomas. xxx