Two-Niner

Today:

“I’ve got so much work to do today, I’d better spend two hours in prayer instead of one.”
~Martin Luther

Luther’s right…I’ve been working so hard recently my Bible study has been lacking. I was exhausted in class today. After 3 nights of not sleeping well (wacky dreams, answering tech support calls, keeping up communication, fixing my taxes, discussing overseas shipping, misunderstandings with friends, school work, and just plain bad habits), I’ve earned a nap. There is so much still to do before I leave Switzerland…but stressing about it won’t help.

Speaking of Luther :). Thanks to Jim Leudtke for sharing this verse..

Psalm 127:1-2
1 Unless the LORD builds a house,
its builders labor over it in vain;
unless the LORD watches over a city,
the watchman stays alert in vain.
2 In vain you get up early and stay up late,
eating food earned by hard work;
certainly He gives sleep to the one He loves.

Evaluation:

As far as the big evaluation I emailed everyone about, I still don’t have my results. I know that my listening comprehension went well and the writing because Dominique told me, but I don’t yet have it in my hands. The others had some trouble with the listening part…so we re-did it today…and she’ll take the better of the 2 scores for the evaluation.

This evaluation was especially stressful for Rachel and I because our Branch has already given us provisional permission to buy our plane tickets to Africa with the understanding that we would do well on this evaluation.  Rach and I have bought tickets on the same June 24th flight (This will be the first time in Africa for both of us, so it’s nice to have a friend along). Cameroon requires all long-term workers to have a “Strong B2” in French…so I need to not only pass it, but do quite well. If you ask me what B2 represents, I’d call in functional bilingualism, the ability to communicate well, bet not perfectly in writing, reading, and speaking. The Swiss exam, the DELF is centered on B2 and requires only that you get 50% right to pass and receive a certificate…and I already passed the level B1 with plenty of margin back in November…so I’m a lot less worried about that one.  Please pray for me as I prepare for those exams on the 18th and 19th of June.

The limit is “Strong B2” or 18 months, whichever comes first.  Rachel has reached her 18 months, but since I came with previous French experience, I’m at 13 months with a relatively similar level.  I don’t think they would, but Cameroon could choose to leave me here for another 5 months if I failed this evaluation miserably.

It’s been wonderful and quite refreshing to have 1 uninterrupted goal for a period of time…to learn French. Switzerland has been the best year of my life, and it’s going to be almost as hard to leave here as it was the States, but I’m quite ready to get over to Cameroon with Mandi, Rachel, and Elaine, to get established and oriented, and to start working.

Nap Time.