Bonjour mes amis et Famille! Today I did not attend any daytime events, so my blog will be short. Cathie, my host mom convinced me I should see a doctor. She had the morning off, so I agreed. We went VERY early in the morning; and it was an experience indeed. He spoke no english at all, there was no nurse, and Cathie's english is limited. I managed, but it was scary! He was very patient, and in the end, I now have SIX different medicines to get me well! With the high fever and the horrible cough, Cathie and le docteur were very concerned with me. So I stayed in bed until mid afternoon. So, mon mari-(my husband!) Eddie, you are proud of me, oui? It is hard to get me to do that at home! But it meant I had to miss one of the most important trips we had planned here. Our students went to Germany to see Struehoff (I think I spelled that ok!) a museum about the deportation and a concentration camp. It was difficult for our students, and they all took many pictures. I could not get my camera to one of our teachers, so I have no pictures yet. But the students and teachers should post on their own blog, and you may be able to see them there. Tonight was a very different story. Another thing I have learned here is that meals are not to be rushed. Each and every one is a production in itself, to be savored and enjoyed, and you should expect wine with both lunch and dinner. And not just ONE glass of wine; either! Here, it is as common as water. So we teachers do not wish to offend, oui? And we have learned to say this phrase: Se que se passe en France, restes en France! You figured it out, yes? What happens in France, stays in France!!!! It is ordinary and common to serve wine at events where students are. In America, that would be a cause for firing! Not so here! So we began the evening with a reception with the French students; teachers, and Headmaster of the school. I presented our quilt and had to say a little speech. I wrote it out on a "cheat sheet" and had Cathie check me over. It went well, and the students and teachers loved the quilt. After that, we waited for perhaps an hour or so for a dinner for the teachers with the Headmaster. a grande affair!!!! Did you know this school has its own chef?? He created our dinner this evening, and it was amazing. It was salmon with a rice pilaf, a cream sauce, and a mousse of fish on top. And of course, several kinds of wine and beer before, during, and after the meal, followed brilliantly with a delightful dessert and strong black coffee. And this started at around 7, and did not end until after 10 o'clock. It is quite common for meals to last three or more hours here. More conversation, less eating!
Tomorrow, I will have lunch with Sebastien at a local restaurant. Every Wednesday, the students here have the afternoon off- sports in the morning hours, then off they go! I will have several hours to shop alone until Cathie can meet me. I am excited and a little scared to be in France alone, but I will rise to the occasion! I have missed worship here, so I plan to spend some time in the cathedral too.
And now, I am trés fatigué! I promise more tomorrow!

I love and miss you all! Wish you were here!
Bonnie

30 March, 2009

Hello to my family and friends!

Thank you all for following this blog! I am so very blessed to be here, and I want to share as much as I can with you. My family here is incredibly kind and generous. They are very concerned about my truly nasty cold that just won't go away, and are doing every thing possible to help me to wellness. My student's mother is a nurse, so I am in good hands. The only problem is that I will not rest! I flatly refuse to spend a few days in bed, which is what it would probably take to get over this. But the truth is- I can rest at HOME!!! Who would waste such precious time here in France on a cold??? So... onward to the day's activities!

If yesterday was spectacular, there are no words for today. We began the day with a tour of Sebastien's school- St. Etienne's. It is a private, Episcopal church school, and very different from anything in the US. Their shcedule is very flixabile, and their teachers only teach 3 to 4 hours per day. His school day, however, is considerably longer than ours, so the teachers appear to work in shifts. They prepared a tour for us, then provided refreshments and incredible gift bags with wheeled book bags and many, many other things.

This is a picture of their gym where we met this morning, and some of the students in the class. If there's one thing I would like to describe to you, it would be the incredible attention to detail that is evident everywhere. Check out the parquet floor of this gym! Not you're ordinary gym floor! And the beautiful windows. Who else has windows such as this in a gym???

And check out this rec room! Two levels, table tennis, and a floor like this, and I could be in school heaven

On the left here is la Rive I'Ille As best I can figure, it joins the

Rhyne somewhere near here.
We took a beautiful boat ride around

Strasburg on this river.

In the center here are the Cinq Professeurs who made this trip happen in the first place: Byron Hager, Kelli Kidwell, Hilary Peoples, Jordan McEwen, and yours truly. And on the right here is a portion of the outside of St. Etiennes. They have decorated it with the American flag and red, white, and blue balloons to welcome us.

Following the boat ride, we returned to St; Etienne's for lunch. I have to tell you, that if we lunched like this at home, we would be far happier teachers!!! Yep, you guessed it, it is common for teachers to enjoy their own bottle (small one!) of wine with their lunch meal!!!

(The two teachers at the rear of the table are French. Notice I'm not in the picture!!! )

Here are some students at lunch.

After lunch, we walked to the Strasburg Cathedral- Le Notre Dame de Strasburg. Truly amazing sturcture. It is so large, I could not get far enough away fro, the building to capture it all. The details are staggering. And As I sit here at midnight, I discovered I have some editing to do on these photos; so more of the cathedral tomorrow.

We finished the day with a long walk around the city. For my daughter, Jennie- I found a store just for you- but I have to teach them how to spell!!

Please forgive any mispellings or misalignments of photos! Seb's computer uses Vista, and his keyboard is French. If I typed a sentence like I normally would, it would looke something like this:

If you re,e,ber taking typing clqss in school ,qny years qgo; you hqd to leqrn this sentence. *The auidk brozn dog ju,ped over the lqwy foc:

All is well here- the kids are fine; the teachers are fine, we are learning much and making memories.

Blessings and Peace from France!

Bonnie

First Day in Strasburg

Bonjour mon famille et mes amies! It has been an amazing first day! Here are a few pictures of our work on the quilt for the St. Etienne school:

Our students created the silhouttes and the qtudents teachers both glued them to the fabric. I sewed the top part of the flag, and one of our teachers at school sewed the quilt. It is amazing! Here are Kellie Kidwell on the left and Jordan McEwen on the right, two of our teachers on the bus ride fromFrankfurt to Strasburg. We thought it would be a train, but the school arranged it for us. We zill take the train to Paris later! . Today, Sebastien's mother took me through their beautiful village. It is called Ekbolsheim. The houses are extremely old and the archetechture is more German than French- hence the description Alsace-Lorraine.

Tomorrow I will get to see Sebastien's school, take a boat ride around the city, and tour their cathedral. I very much missed worship today, but perhaps I will get to go to their church before I leave.

There was a quaint village Easter fair not far from Sebastien's home. Cathie, Sebastien's mother, took me there. They have very similar traditions: the Easter bunny, colorful Easter eggs, and a childrens egg hunt. Other than the very old archetecture and MANY new foods to try, much here feels familar to me. They drive on the right! That goes a LONG way towards improving my comfort level. But... there is just one tiny, little thing- there are almost no stop signs!!!!! People fly about in these tiny little cars and zip through many round-abouts but seldom stop. There are occasional traffic signals; but there are very few. It is a good thing; though- Cathie is a very safe and careful driver! She does not speed and is very calm. I very much love it here- my family is wonderful, and in fact, let me dispell a couple of myths and generalities Americans make regarding the French:

1. All French people are rude. Utter bunk. Not one French person has said or done a single rude thing to me today. In addition to the village Easter fair, I attended a tremendous piano competition for Sebastien this evening. There were hundreds of people packed into a medium-sized auditorium. We listened for about 4 hours. (Collective gasp from les Americains who cannot manage more than an hour!!!) Yet they were extremlely attentive to each performer. Even the smallest children were admonished if they were too restive.

2. The French Fry is only in America. Sebastien says they regularly have French Fries in his school cafeteria! And they call them that!

I am bound to discover many more as I travel this beautiful country. What an amazing opportunity for our students! Our school superintentant has told us that we can learn about being "Golbal" by reading books and looking at maps. I must say, with no offense intended, that they are truly in error. There is no substitute for this kind of education.

I am really, really tired! So I will say good night for now. Sebastien has showed me how to upload the pictures, so I should be able to chronicle my travels well.

Bonne Nuit!

Bonnie

Bonjour à France! Nous sommes arrivé a 3h aujourd hui. At least I think I,ve spelled that right! We arrived in Strasburg (by way of Frankfurt) at about 3 o,clock Saturday afternoon their time. That woud be about 9 or so there. Flight fro, Frankfurt was the LONGGGGGEEEESSSSSTTT! It took a full 8 hours in the air- far longer than we anticipated. Huge plane; complete with screaming babies! Our kids have been wonderful so far, and I am anticipating a great weekend with my family. Sebastien is about 15 years old; WAY big into sports and wrestling (yes... "western" style throw 'em on the matt 'n fall on top of 'em" type wrestling! Annais is a beautiful an quite tall 2O year-old who is also very active in basketball. Cathie, the mom, and Joel the Dad round out the familly- all wonderfully kind to a nearly french-illiterate Americain. I am in small village called Ekbolsheim 5forgive the spelling!) It is a beautiful and VERY old part of Strasburg; If Sebastien can help me upload pics from my camera later tonight, you will get to see a few of the quaint old building structures. For Matt ,y son- the archetecture is AMAZING! I will try to bring really good pictures home for you to draw. Got to run for now- its almost dinner. And learning to type on a french keyboard is incredibly taxing!!!! Many letters in different places!
Blessings from France!
Bonnie

Vive la France!

Bonjour, mes amies! As a part of the newly-formed Cape Fear Global Club, Inc, my teacher friends and I have been preparing since November for this trip. Earlier in the fall, we hosted 32 students from St. Etienne's school in France. These students stayed with us in our homes, went to school with us, and were a part of our families for two weeks. And now we are traveling to see their beautiful country. We will stay with them in their homes and become a part of their family lives for two weeks. It's been a very bumpy start with the road blocks we've encountered, but we have worked hard to build this very first venture into the world. We hope to leave behind us a legacy of lasting friendship, an adventurous spirit, and a longing to see the world unite in our lifetime.

There are 35 of us on this trip. 30 students, ranging in age from 8th to 12th grade from both Murray Middle School and Ashley High School, and 5 teachers, all from Murray Middle School. A mighty undertaking to be sure! But we've done all that we can do to prepare, and we leave in three days! Check back often for pictures and details of our trip!

A bientot!