Lees in France

Foreign Land and Background Experiences 9 August 2022

August 18, 2022August 27, 2022Michelle Lee1 Comment

Next luggage, customs, baggage hold, metro tickets and a plan. Enough said, we found all that we needed and headed on our way into Paris for a few hours. Despite exhaustion and the kids not wanting to go, we ventured into the unknown, only following a guide that a friend had sent while in flight on what to do. Mazie became our ticket holder due to her ability to go through customs on her own and having a zipper pocket! The metro was typical except Paris was in a heat wave and must not believe in AIR CONDITIONING, 40 minutes we rode to the St Michel/Notre Dame Stop. Remember the paper fans you made in kindergarten, well we made and used them. I was thankful for my limited metro experiences in DC to help navigate the metro lines. Due to playing SCOTLAND YARD the kids understood reading a metro map as were engaged in the trip.

Leaving the metro station in PARIS the first thing on our minds was lunch! What to our wondering eyes should appear but a BIG brown sign and 8 letters in white, CHIPOTLE. Some premises behind fast food are reliability, expectations, familiarity, and taste. Parisian CHIPOTLE and 2 red cans of COKE did NOT disappoint!! The server suggested eating near Le Seine River, so off we went. Just what we needed.

We found shade, ate, watched tour boats and buses, saw a police boat and a caravan of 8 police transit vans with lights zooming through the city.

Lovely, right? Well, let me also paint the picture of pigeons around us because one boy (in our family) decided it would be fun to feed them as he initially sat down..aargh accompanied with trash floating along the river canal walls.

We decided we were too hot and tired to do much else and headed back to the CDG airport/train station for our last leg of travel. The paper fans resurfaced on the metro and we almost were lulled to sleep by the heat and rocking motion of the train.

Back at the station, we reclaimed our luggage and were revived with Starbucks smoothies, computer time and a trip to the restroom. A trip to the restroom doesn’t seem like a big deal, however, we had to find a bank at the station to change my $5 bill for 3.5 EUROS (bad rate I know). It was enough, though, to get us each into the restrooms one time. “WHAT, YOU HAVE TO PAY to use the bathroom?” the exact words that came out of my kid’s mouth. When both kids exited the restrooms they both agreed the bathrooms were so nice that they were worth the cost!!! Lesson learned again for sure.

Our 2nd to last leg of Trains, Planes, and Automobiles came in the form of the TGV, a super fast train making a 6.5 hour car ride only a 4 hour train ride with stops. While we were making our way south, Randy was enjoying bike riding through vineyards and the countryside with new friends.

We arrived in Montpellier with our 10 pieces of luggage at 10 pm and were greeted by Amy Labadie…just kidding (for those of you who know Amy). Jill, her identical twin sister, was right at the train door so happy to see us, weary travelers. The final leg was a car ride to our new house in Saint Drezery, France, taking “a little less than half an hour.” We were greeted by Randy (DADDY) and Cody along with Jill’s family.

Our travel break-down for inquiring minds:

6 hours: Car Mechanicsville – DC, driving, seeing my sister briefly, and airport pre-flight

7.5 hours: AIR FRANCE DC-Paris,

8 hours: Paris airport, metro, sightseeing, recovering and surviving

4 hours: TGV train Paris-Montpellier,

0.5 hours: Car Montpellier-Saint Drézéry

Stages and Graces, Part 2 August 6-8, 2022

August 17, 2022February 25, 2023Michelle LeeLeave a comment

Can you get a picture of me trying to walk on water?

Another angry storm swept through Friday afternoon, leaving us without power and water for several hours, yet, gracing us with a favorite past time of ditch jumping. We had not had this amount of rain in the 9 years of living here. Our own house or chalet was now surrounded by a moat, perfect foreshadowing of chateaus to come!

Clint praying for us and Amy, Jill’s sister, on worship team

Monday, August 8, came! Yes it did. The kids were incredible helpers with packing, cleaning, and accomplishing last minute chores, including Randy asking for a picture of the house.

As we were loading up our suitcases for our 2 hour ride to DC, to see Jan and family before we flew off, one of the 10 pieces of luggage broke. You have got to be kidding me really!!!!

Prior to pulling out of 5355 we prayed for mercy, truth, righteousness, peace, and grace for us as we traveled and for the people who we come in contact with, that may be kind helpers for us.

Good Bye to this Eiffel Tower at Kings Dominion

Finally we pulled into DC, a few hours later than we wanted but still with time. Jan to the rescue, by grace and because she is also an experienced traveler, having exceedingly more patience than me that day, she was able to get the luggage to work with the help of brute force and duck tape!!!! Back to the 10 pieces of luggage before someone starts judging us :).

In Paris…only photo with our luggage on 2 trollies

Each of us had 1 bag under the plane (50lbs), 1 carry-on (who cares about the weight) and 1 personal item (backpack with laptop, change of clothes and CANDY). We paid for one more under the plane which allowed us to bring peanut butter, chocolate chips, sensodyne toothpaste, school books, contact solution, and Randy’s comfy pillow. OK and I snuck in CFA ketchup packets, CFA sauce, butterscotch cook-n-serve pudding and a box of Kraft Mac & Cheese for when members in our family are having a very rough “I miss home” day. PRICELESS or $100, but who is counting at this point!?!?

Back to the airport I go now with the kids and luggage!!! I dropped the kids and 10 pieces of luggage off at Air France, chatted with the agent and told them I would be back in 10 minutes. I had to park the car for the Frenchies to have when they arrived 4 days later, on Friday. For the LOVE, the shuttle system was PAINFULLY slow. I returned to the kids 40 minutes later (HOKA shoes are amazing especially with plantar fasciitis), seeing 3 agents, 2 kids, and 10 pieces of luggage all waiting for ME!!! I was panicking, Mazie was extremely encouraging and reassured me we were all fine and we could still make it to the plane. The Air France agent, an angel in a navy blue turban, was reassuring and super gracious. The 4 bags to go under were all the precise weight!!! Jokingly I asked if he could just check our carry-ons too! He did it for free! Relief and rest for this weary momma! Security and passport control were a breeze, guess so if you are the last ones to go through!!! We arrived at the gate with time to spare. As we ventured down the terminal looking for a little dinner we came upon the navy blue turban friend. Once again he assured me we had time to get something. I had my final thank you to my Navy Blue Turban friend as he scanned our tickets to enter the plane! The flight was uneventful, kids slept very little. This USA stage of life had come to a hiatus, full of grace, which we all 3 reflected on as we flew over the Atlantic.

Waiting for take off

Waiting to deboard 8 hours later now in Paris @ CDG (Charles de Gaulle Airport)

Stages and Graces, Part 1 July 31-Aug 8, 2022

August 15, 2022August 16, 2022Michelle Lee2 Comments

And we are off….in stages and graces

The kids went to church camp, Sunday, July 31 and said their goodbyes as, “Bye Dad, see you in France!”

Randy and Cody (10 mo. Golden Retriever) flew out of DC, Thursday, Aug 8, 2022, after many events. We thought Cody’s air ticket was $125 already paid. Come to find out he was in the reservation system, however b/c of his weight and kennel size his ticket, which was under the plane in an air pressured control hold, was SURPRISE $400. The $125 ticket was for animals who are small and fit under the seat in the cabin.

As I was leaving the departure area, I realized I had been a lucky recipient of a parking ticket, $40. Randy to the rescue, tracked the officer down and by grace in many ways the ticket was ripped up. I ventured on toward Jan’s house in Falls Church for dinner.

Meanwhile, Cody met the entire Air France crew and obediently went in his kennel and under the plane, last on and first off. A huge storm rolled in, delaying the plane for an hour. This storm also knocked out power at Jan’s and by the time I had received confirmation that the plane was in the air it was too late to drive 2 hours home during a nighttime thunderstorm, thus a sleepover.

I forgot to mention that due to moving overseas Randy and I, in stages, had to transfer our phone numbers before leaving the US. Randy was up first for the loss of communication. The storm, inability to reach Randy, kids at camp, unintended sleep over without power, and oh right moving to France caught up to me and sadness quickly ran its course through my mind. I was reminded of moving to Uganda 25 years ago, before cell phones and the internet as we know it. My reliance on communication ability had been stripped away then and now. So, where did I go then and now for comfort and peace? I could only pray to Jesus for this comfort and true peace. This mindset then led me to text some of you and you prayed for this part of our journey!

Friday came, Randy and Cody landed in Paris. They walked around outside the airport for a few hours before loading onto a high speed train to Montpellier, France. Their final leg of transportation was a car ride to our new home in the village of Saint Drézéry.

By grace and amazing youth leaders, the kids made it home from camp. Mazie’s mono sickness continued to improve at camp and Zach returned home a 6ft.+ long tree branch, just because. Our own stages of packing and saying goodbye to people took hold for the next few days.