The End of the Adventure

This week has been a non-stop party. On Thursday it was Sacha's  end-of -the-year class  party.

  
He brought home his Christmas handcraft: a lovely Nativity crib.

It is in place of honour in our entrance hall, and much admired.




Everyone in the class had done a drawing for Sacha, and these were all bound together with a class photograph in a souvenir album.

A photo of the artist appears in the corner of each drawing

Sacha in charcoal jumper next to little girl in pink

On Friday morning, the whole school went to a Christmas service at a nearby church. Sacha came home for lunch as Louis was invited out for lunch two days running : on Thursday with Valentin, and on the last day with Andrew.


At last the moment arrived. The last hometime of the last day of term.The boys were  fêted, kissed, hugged, and wept over.

We went to the station to collect Denis, Emilia and William who have come for Christmas.  Nick arrived in the late evening. Then this morning at dawn, they were off for a week of winter sports.

Monsieur Gautier, the headmaster, told Caroline that he had been very doubtful in the summer, when we told him of the plans to send the children over to France for a term. However, it wasn't long before he was watching them joining in with the others in the playground, and saying their first words of French. That is when he began saying: "How very lucky those children are, to have such an advantage in their lives!"

It was a wonderful adventure, not only for the children but also for us, the French grandparents. The four months simply flew by. We will have so many lovely memories of our time together.

As for their progress in French, you could get an idea by clicking on this link. Denis made a little video.  (You have to make sure that the volume is turned up when Sacha speaks as there was a small technical hitch at that point. ) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVlFcoBC4Ig

Thank you all for following this blog!

Sir Hugo's birthday and visit to Clara

The final Wednesday before the end of term. Sacha missed swimming again, as both he and I have colds, and preferred to stay warm and dry this morning. We put the final touches to Louis' knight's costume. François made him a splendid shield.
                                        

It was a wonderful birthday party. The knights were taken to the town centre, and given turns on horseback on the roundabout before returning home for chocolate birthday cake.

Sacha helped me to make a cake for his school leaving party tomorrow, and it was soon time for his visit to Clara. She only lives at the end of our garden, so we didn't have far to walk. Clara was an excellent hostess. I stayed to have a cup of tea with her Maman, and was thrilled to hear Sacha playing with Clara IN FRENCH. He was apparently very good company, and wished everyone "Bonne Soirée!" as he left, with absolutely no prompting from me.

Christmas market

We went into town to see the decorations, and the Christmas market. There were a lot of people in the streets. The boys were allowed to choose the shops that we would visit. They chose a nice souvenir shop, and a children's clothes shop.


We had lunch in a steak restaurant, then walked down into the town centre. Louis bought a hat from one of the stalls.

He chose the hat himself, and looks very good in it.
Then they had a turn on the old-fashioned roundabout.

In the evening, they drove to La Flèche to see Ingrid and her babies. Ingrid had come from Paris for the weekend.

Hair and decorations

Sacha wasn't too pleased when Caroline met him from school this evening, and announced that he had an appointment with the hairdresser. But once he had got used to the idea, he quite enjoyed the experience.

He managed to sit fairly still, and he now looks very smart and French.

They helped to decorate the Christmas tree when we arrived home.

Helping.

Oh do come on, boys, SMILE......

  Caroline tried to get them to pose for a Christmas card photo, but they weren't really in posing mood.

If you want to take my photo, it has to be like this.

How do you expect me to put that onto a Christmas card?

Advent

We are well into Advent. Thank you Luke and Colette for the chocolate Advent Calenders!  These are very much appreciated, and also serve to count off the number of swimming lessons, the number of early risings, the number of weekends etc to go until school finishes, thus marking the end of their time here.

The days are going past so quickly.  At school, the children are making mysterious objects. There are Nativity scenes and Christmas decorations in all the classrooms. Louis and some other little visitors to the school were taken into Angers this lunchtime, to see the Christmas market in the town centre.


Louis was invited to lunch last week with Valentin, another  classmate, and has just received his invitation to Hugo's 7th Birthday party next Wednesday. Or should I say Sir Hugo, as the birthday party will have a Chivalric theme. I don't know whether there will be any damsels present.




Today the boys initiated Selma into the mysteries of Bingo, and Snakes and Ladders, but in French. Next week we'll teach her Ludo.

More music

Sacha and Clara

On Tuesday afternoon I accompanied Sacha's class to the music centre at the Chateau du Pin. They were informed at very short notice that there was a slot available for this school, and it was quite a long slot - two hours.

 The teacher asked for two volunteers, and Sacha's hand shot up immediately. He was chosen, with Clara, who lives in the house at the back of our garden.
They played an instrument from Africa which works on the principle of a rasp.

Sacha and Wandrille, with Adrien just behind

 The Far-Eastern room was fascinating. The class saw some Javanese shadow puppets and played gongs and cymbal-like instruments.

In the North-African room, everyone watched and drummed in time to the music. The children were all very interested and well-behaved. Sacha followed everything and listened intently.

Futuroscope

Nick took the boys  to see the Futuroscope this weekend. This is a multimedia theme park in Poitiers, featuring cinema and audio-visual techniques.





There were several 3D and 4D cinemas, and various other attractions.

 Louis was congratulated upon his magnificent French by the lady in one of the restaurants.

It was a good weekend to visit, as there were not too many other visitors, and there were no queues. Sacha especially  liked the film about a man making his way across the Antarctic with no food. Louis enjoyed the journey to the moon featuring three men, and three flies.