On the day following
the students' arrival, we met for a Sunday morning walking tour
of the town of Faverges. Starting in the market square, we headed
down the main artery to the back streets, in which some of the
houses date back to the 13th century.
The weather was sunny and cool, which made the climb to the castle
an easy one. (Click on the group picture below if you want to
see a larger version ). After an hour and a half of strolling
about, spotting the classroom building in which classes were
to start the following day, the students returned home for lunch
with their host families. The photo at right below shows Lisa
and Tonie with host parents Claude and Simone Mimault, who have
been receiving students on and off since 1987 and once even visited
Akron to see where their students came from!
Classes began on Monday, and
are held every morning in a comfortable classroom in the center
of town. After class, we went as a group to the bank, post office,
and postcard shop and began to get acquainted with the various
shopkeepers. The photos below show Tonie and Lisa proudly displaying
the postage stamps that will soon adorn postcards bound for Ohio;
the photo at right show French host mom Marie-Caroline Boubée
holding the first of her biweekly conversation sessions with
one student group.
Every Wednesday, an open-air
market fills the market square from dawn til early afternoon.
Despite the rain today, the market was a beehive of activity.
We strolled over from our classroom for a brief visit, meeting
a reporter, sampling horsemeat salami (which, despite the dubious
looks on the students' faces, turned out to taste very much like
regular salami). We were also given cheese samples, and some
students made some purchases as well.
In the afternoon , we walked
over to the neighboring hamlet of Viuz to visit the Archeological Museum. By this time, the weather
had cleared, and the mountains loomed high overhead with breathtaking
clarity. We were given the detailed tour, learning about human
habitation of Faverges since the neolithic period, some 10,000
years ago.
Advancing from polished stone
axes to Bronze Age tools and jewelry (displayed on the armbones of its original owner),
we learned of the Gallo-Roman
period which has enriched the museum with hundreds, if not thousands,
of artifacts that illustrate the daily life of the Gallo-Romans
some two thousand years ago.
The tour ended with a visit to
the museum's offices, where we were shown artifacts not yet on
display; Jennifer is seen below displaying a couple of fragments
of Roman sigillated pottery, which dates back to the First Century.
We will return to the museum
another time to study the medieval artifacts and to visit the
archeological area beneath the St Jean-Baptiste church next door.
Later in the Program we will also visit the Thovey site, which will be the subject of
further digs later in the summer.
Because next Monday is a holiday,
several students are going on trips with their host families
over the three-day weekend; this coming Saturday's planned Annecy
visit is therefore postponed so that all of the students may
share the visit together.
On Friday, the group will be
received in Town Hall, but the next few days are bound to be
pretty calm. So far, everyone seems to be settling in very nicely.
The next report will probably be filed next Sunday.
