Hi all, we have just come from dinner at the end of a busy day here in Criel Sur Mer, the children are currently enjoying French games and mini olympics as I write. The last I saw was children trying some very strange methods at moving a large football between their knees from one end of the field to the other – some were jumping energetically and others were walking like they had cramp. I must say I did chuckle when I saw the variety of techniques on show.
Dinner was a lovely salad followed by some spicy merguez sausages (which are a real barbecue favourite here in France) and the children didn’t seem to miss the good old British banger too much. Pudding was a real treat; some Normandie apple tart – but to my surprise quite a few of the children turned it down – unbelievable!
This was not the case for all of our tourists however…….one child was left behind as the children left for their field games as he was devouring his second, then third slice of delicious tarte. When finally finished, he took a deep breath and walked uneasily to the door escorted by his group leader. He even made him stop so he could take a swig of water to wash it down. I certainly can’t picture this child currently taking an active role in mini olympics 🙂
Tonight also saw the second of our daily dorm inspections, highlights from the girls include a quiz show drama set-up where a not so bright contestant bribed the quiz master to win – I guess for the class of 2017 – money talks.
The girls dorms are all named after French deserts and one amusing moment was when the ‘crepe’ dorm introduced themselves loudly as a different sounding word that rhymes with rap. ‘we are the crepe dorm!’ they announced proudly – cue giggling from Mr Williams.
On the boys side, we had a very energetic and borderline disturbing Haka, it was odd to see such a vehement Haha at just 07:30 in the morning. I asked that same dorm to perform me a Star Trek based drama for tomorrow as their motto is ‘live long and prosper’ – which is a lovely motto for a week where so many of the children seem to be prospering so much.
Following on from yesterday’s 27-a-side 6P vs 6W football match, we were mercifully down to 16 a-side today and I’m sorry to say 6P were once against on the losing side. Despite my encouragement we seem a little vulnerable on the counter – but I’m not letting it get to me 🙂
Earlier in the day our big trip was to the beautiful city of Rouen where children were taken on a brilliant tour led by the brilliant staff here at the Chateau. In the spirit of our Chinese democracy conversations from yesterday we had some very inquisitive questions from one child in Mrs Turner’s group. He became very preoccupied with whether France was a Roman catholic country and then which other countries had a predominantly Roman Catholic population – I’m assuming this made for an interesting sidetrack to the young guide’s normal, historical tour of the stunning cathedral.
Rouen also bought our first visit to the market and as ever there were some funky purchases, we had children buying all sorts from overpriced fidget spinners to beauty products from Lush for their parents – lucky you if that ends up being your gift!
One amusing moment came from one child who couldn’t believe that Lush and Claire’s accessories were the ‘same as in Kingston!’ – what a small world we live in ay. Conversely, one child in my class couldn’t believe their luck when they were able to pick up Grape flavour Fanta and Dr Pepper ‘cola’ bottle sweets – apparently these are rarer than giant pandas in Twickenham – so they were delighted – obviously 😉
Tomorrow is archery, fencing, cider farm, Criel beach, team tech and the….DISCO!
As ever, all children are happy and are squeezing every last drop out of this busy week!
Mr Powell