Sunday, May 27 2007

On Thursday morning, students boarded the intercity bus to head into Annecy for our first group visit there. We walked into the Vieille Ville (old town), visiting old churches and even older streets. The students in the photo at right are seen engrossed by a sign posted on a wall, and are discussing the meaning of some unfamiliar terms. But before you marvel at their commitment to learning, place your mouse on the picture at right to see what they were studying so intently!

Walking from the Rue Sainte Claire, in the center of the Vieille Ville, to the hilltop castle, involves climbing a fairly steep incline which everyone negotiated without so much as a whimper. This is one fit group ! Once in the castle, we walked to the parapet from which one can get an unforgettable view of the entire city of Annecy. You can view the scene by clicking the image below.

We toured the castle, playing with some of the interactive modern art exhibits, finally finding some of the traditional Savoie art and furniture after a half hour of searching. The museum management firmly believe in being modern, and make great efforts to find second-rate modern art to display instead of their peerless collection of local treasures. After visiting the main display halls, we wended our way up and down spiral staircases to finally reach the Tour de la Reine, the oldest surviving part of the castle, where we could fully appreciate the thickness of the castle keep's massive stone walls.

The students posed for a group photo as we crossed the castle courtyard to visit the museum of local ecology and archeology. A larger version can be viewed by clicking on the photo at left.

We continued our visit of the old section of the city, walking the length of the Rue Sainte Claire, pausing at the Ecole de Musique to see the monument to XVIIIth Century philosopher-author-composer Jean-Jacques Rousseau. It's still early in the season, and the streets were relatively free of tourists, though Gypsy beggars did accost our group on several occasions. We learned to scowl and say "Non!" in a dissuassive way, although the broad smiles of the students at right show no evidence of this.

As noontime arrived, stomachs began to growl. So we walked to the lakeside Pâquier park to eat our picnic lunches that the host families had provided. Memories of grade school surfaced as we traded parts of our packaged lunches for more appealing items brought by the other students. Prof. Jeantet left the students to their own devices, with return tickets to Faverges and bus schedules. A few managed to find the modern and upscale shopping mall (with predictable results), though most students failed to find it, consoling themselves with ice cream cones of strange and new flavors ( chocolate-hazelnut mixes apparently being the favorites, in restrospect ).

On Friday morning, we had our three hours of classes as usual. After a short lunch break, seven of the students met at the local elementary school to watch recess, then a class, then recess again. In the photo below, we see Karen answering questions posed by eight-year-olds in the CE1 class (Cours Élémentaire 1). We were surprised at the sophistication of the questions, two pupils asking about the time difference between Faverges and Akron. Their teacher was as puzzled as we were, wondering where these children had picked up this interesting tidbit of science information.

The best part of all was recess, as most of you would probably recall from your own salad days. Rachel somehow became the target of a mob of little girls wanting to play tag with her; they ran after her up and down the school playground.

Rachel skillfully managed to pass off her mob to Jeff who was then chased by perhaps sixty boys and girls. Jeff's facility communicating with children --en français-- was a pleasure to see.

And finally, to top off a very busy Friday, we all dressed up to go to the Mairie (City Hall) for a small reception in our honor. After short speeches by Assistant Mayor Mme Sénéchal and Prof. Jeantet, both of whom recalled the fact that first UA Faverges group had been received 20 years earlier, Mayor Losserand helped to mix and distribute Kirs, a blackcurrant and white wine cocktail that rapidly proved a favorite among our students, all of whom are "legal" here in France, and none of whom are driving vehicles in any case.

We gathered for a group picture, though it must be noted that Jeff failed to show up for the photo. Because the weather service was announcing bad weather for the weekend, Prof. Jeantet, always concerned that the students should not be bored, assigned them three chapters of reading for the weekend. As well as comments on each chapter, to be collected on Monday . . .

But don't weep for those poor overworked students just yet : Saturday evening was the AFA party dinner dance. AFA President Yvette Millot had managed to assemble some 120 paying guests to this AFA fundraiser, and a good time was had by all. The evening started with an apéritif, (Kir), followed by dinner: cold cuts, then a wonderfully tender confit de canard, then fromage, followed by a dazzling dessert table. The photo at left shows one of Yvette's creations, a doll covered in prosciutto skirts.

. . . . . PHOTOS: the cold cuts buffet and the dessert table

Following dinner, there was a raffle; some fifty gift baskets had been donated by local shopkeepers. Yvette drew numbers from a hat as Christine Montcoudiol announced the winning numbers. Several of our students won modest gifts, ranging from a shoe travel case to drinking glasses and even a 10-Euro gift certificate at a local hairdresser's. Perhaps Coda can use the certificate when she has her nails done !

The dancing started around midnight. Two musicians provided a dazzling array of melodies as the revelers stood to dance. A good time was had by all, though it did not look as though all of the students would be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on Sunday. They should, however, be all recovered by Monday for classes.

Note: if you go back to the previous page, you will find a link to videos of students hang-gliding. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Schedule for the week : Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday mornings, classes. Tuesday afternoon, a visit to the Morette War Cemetery and Musée de la Résistance. Thursday the group leaves for a four-day trip to Paris. Next report, probably Wednesday.