About Us

Welcome to the first ever Bates Blog! We are here in Southern France for a 10 month stay.....hence, the title "ALMOST a year in Provence"! For those of you who don't already know us, a little bit about our family.... My husband, Nick, our youngest child, Sarah, and I have moved to the wonderful, Provencal city of Aix-en-Provence from our home in Massachusetts until June 2007. Sarah is in 6th grade and attending the International Bilingual School of Provence(IBS). Meanwhile, our older two children, Nicholas, 21, and our daughter, Lindsey, 18, are attending college back in the States. When we planned this adventure, we had hoped they might join us and attend one of the many university programs here in Aix, but it worked out better for them to stay where they are. We three miss them and look forward to their long visit with us here over their Christmas break. Maybe they'll love it as much as we do and want to return when they get out of school in the spring.

This "dream come true"adventure is made up of several components:
*my VERY postgraduate year abroad/desire to live in a french speaking country
*a chance for us to slow down, stop and smell the roses(really that should be lavender!)
*an incredible education opportunity/life expereince for Sarah(though she does not realize this yet)
*a chance for Nick to expand his business into the European market and
*an opportunity to for us to travel in France and her neighboring countries.

We can already see that 10 months will not only fly by but it won't be nearly enough time to do all that we'd like.......but, that being said, we feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to put this whole trip together in the first place. Truthfully, during the 10 months we spent planning the trip(curious how that's the same amount of time we'll be here isn't it?!?) there were times we weren't sure it would actually come together(more about the planning part of the trip in a future blog) but, it did and here we are!! We really feel God opened all the major doors we needed opened to allow the whole thing to happen....from finding the house we've rented here in Aix, to renting our home in Massachusetts to a wonderful family, to finding the right school for Sarah and a wonderful little English speaking church community right here in Aix. The people we've met so far-both French and Intenational have been kind, helpful and welcoming. We are eagerly looking forward to the next 9 months and sharing it with you in this blog.

So, there you have a little bit "about us". now it's on to filling you in on some of our adventures so far.............
Hopefully I won't be the only one writing this blog but for now I'm it as this is my idea and project. I've encouraged all our family members to contribute. Nick and Sarah will have some entries soon and who knows, maybe Nicholas and Lindsey will contribute from time to time about their travels in the US?