Why?

After years of dreaming, months of preparing, and weeks of packing, my four year old, Lily, with 98% of her young life's treasured belongings disappeared into boxes and bags, asked:
"Mama, why are we moving to Fuh-wance?"
Well, Lily-pie, there's a longer answer and a much shorter one.
The longer answer takes us back to 1981 when as a 12 year-old, I too had to pack up most of my belongings, and say good-bye to friends (to a pre-teen, there was no greater perceived hardship!) to move with my family to East London for one year. It was such a formative year for me; such a bonding experience for our family and so much excitement and learning about another culture and history. Even the memories of being a shy, strange-talking newcomer, walking through the gates of Hainault High that September and daily being surrounded by gobs of English kids and bombarded with questions and demands in strong cockney accents, such as: "Wha-eye yo' legs soo brown?" (Canadian teens in the early 80's wore brown pantyhose with skirts - not so in Essex I quickly learned), or "Wha-eye you sah-ay "pardon me", it's too posh, just sah-ay "WOT'?", make for entertaining stories decades later.
Barry, also had a formative year growing up. As an 8 year old he and his family moved to Kenya, which apart from his one term stint in a strict boarding school, was the highlight from his childhood. He too was instilled with an interest in travelling and learning about other cultures because of his time in Africa.
So, we both knew we wanted to experience another year abroad, this time as the parent figures.
Also, although attending late French immersion, I was never fully bilingual and this has always been a dream of mine; to become fluent in French. So, learning French, along with the history and culture, is also part of the long answer to why "Fuh-wance".

But, the short answer and the one I gave to Lily the other day is "For the adventure".