2016 in Review

With 2016 now having ended with only one blog post written, I have realized that I would like to resurrect this blog and write more often. In order to do so, I should write a post which gives a brief summary of 2016. Though I can only touch on the highlights, I would like to show off a little of our year 2016, and what we have been up to.

I had a few goals going into 2016. As a goal-oriented person, it makes the most sense to me to discuss the year in the frame of those objectives. My major career goal was to get and have a good internship, followed by finishing my degree and starting full-time work. This was a big deal to me, as it was the key point on which our stay in France hinged. During my studies, I had a student visa, allowing me to stay and study, while working doing intermittent internships. But the real goal has always been to get to work.

Getting to work in France as a non-European foreigner is not as difficult as a few other countries, like the United Kingdom, but nevertheless it is not easy. I read posts daily from Americans and other foreigners hoping to get to work in France. They usually have completed a degree back home, and are hoping to get hired directly by a French company. The responses they receive are almost all negative. The best way to find a job in France is to have a French degree. I knew this when I first started studying how I could live for the long-term in France as a family, which is why I did an engineering degree there.

2016 brought this engineering degree to an end. And while my time at school did not feel very valuable and was indeed expensive, it allowed me to connect with good French companies looking for intern developers. In 2015 I did a good internship at one such company, and in March 2016 I was able to return and do a second internship at the same company, though not in the same exact team or role. It was a good experience, but I was worried that it wouldn’t be impressive enough to negotiate a full-time position. As it turns out, my worries were unfounded, as I found a good team looking for a new web developer. I started full-time work in the beginning of October 2016, and am really enjoying it. This has been a big relief for my family, as we feel much more secure knowing that we have an income and a home here for the foreseeable future.

For my family, the next important subject has been Miriam’s development. As I mentioned in my sole 2016 post, Miriam is our first child, and she is cute, smart, and basically just everything that parents could want from their child. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but your child is not as cute as ours. It’s just not possible, because Miriam is the cutest, most intelligent child in the whole wide world. She brings us so much joy and laughter each day, and though she is often much more energetic, and thus energy-consuming, than us, we can’t imagine our lives without her.

Miriam started crawling in the beginning of the spring, and then pretty soon she was standing up and moving around on her feet with the help of railings and furniture. By her first birthday in the summer, she was walking. Now she is almost one and a half years old, and is starting to talk.

We have been preparing ever since the pregnancy for her speaking abilities. Being an American myself, I speak English to Miriam. My wife speaks Mandarin with her. Of course, Miriam spends much more time with her mother each day, and perhaps as a result her Mandarin is dominant so far. I do try to push her to speak English, and I believe that she will improve rapidly. Mandarin words are just so much easier for a baby to pronounce, as they are short and usually only incorporate one consonant sound and one vowel sound.

I could go on about Miriam, but suffice it to say that she can do many things all by herself. Perhaps most of all, she likes having books read to her, and she likes to dance to music. She asks us to sit down beside her, and she pulls every last one of her many toys out of her toy bins and hands them to us. Our next big goal for her is potty training. Once she has finished that, I think we will be breathing much easier.

Overall, 2016 was not an overly exciting year, but it was a year securing our future and making important advancements. Alex and Miriam got to visit with our family in China for a period of weeks, which was good for them. For us, scheduling vacations is a bit of a game of compromises. We have to balance many things and make sure that both sides of the family get to see Miriam as she continues to grow. While we have these obligations from China as well as America, our most immediate concerns come from our situation in France. My 2016 was spent meeting our basic needs. Now we are working for a 2017 that builds on these accomplishments.