It's a Team's Life

Trucker Buddy Saint Malo France 8th Grade

 Cafeteria during lunch

As we walked from the school to the playground we saw the group of eighth grade students, faculty and then the TV reporter and camera. We were as intimidated as the students to finally meet in person. The students clapped and welcomed us to the school and then we said a few words about finally meeting all of them in France.

Fort National

All of us set out on our walking tour with the TV crew, for the first part of our day to take a tour of Fort National. Someone posted on my Facebook page that 200 miles driven in the USA is like a 200-year-old building in Europe, we all think nothing of it. The Fort National was built in 1689 and is huge. Inside the massive Fort walls are shops and apartments. We took a tour of the outer walls and then walked through the shops as the students pointed out their favorites.

On the way to the Fort National the students stopped at points of interest and in English told the rest of us what we were seeing. It was fascinating to us of what they take for granted with age of buildings and history. We walked along the tops of the walls and the students pointed out the swimming pool in the Channel. All we could see as the tide was in was the diving board. First we had ever heard of a swimming pool that is only available when the tide is out.

Here is the link to the TV show that was aired in the evening.
http://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/bretagne/saint-malo-les-routiers-americains-s-arretent-au-college-chateaubriand-994093.html

Next we went back to the school cafeteria for lunch. After lunch we were off to Dinar for a boat tour of the river Rance. The journey took us along what was a towpath where animals pulled the boats. We learned that if something happened to the animal the captain would put his wife in harness and she would pull the boat. We were also able to see the Abby of Saint Magioire.

During our field trips the students tried their best to teach us French. We enjoyed our lessons as much as they enjoyed trying to teach us. We learned the names of animals, plants, and other things we saw along our trips. What they learned I believe is that we have just as much trouble with some of their words as they do with ours.

Diving board is barely visible in picture

Once we got back to the school we were ushered into the teachers lounge to wait for our meeting with the students parents. We first visited the loo (restroom) and were a little surprised as the bathroom arraignment. Both sexes share the common room with the washbasins and then there were small rooms with a toilet. The signs on the backs of the doors though were funny.

One of our favorite students, Morigann, made us one of her famous cakes that we have seen pictures of over the years. The cake was fantastic and it was a pleasure to meet Morigann and her sister Lilwenn as well as their dad Gil. After a short break we were escorted to the cafeteria to meet the parents.

The cafeteria was completely decorated with stuff Bob and I have sent to the classroom over the years. It was impressive to see how the students had used what we have sent to do book reports, math problems, maps, and even trips to the grocery store. The students also had a table filled with brochures they had created for our activities while we were in Saint-Malo.

Tables were covered with hor d'oeuvres that were fit for a king & queen. It was unbelievable what the cooks in the cafeteria created for parents night. The evening also included wine and cider along with juice. Everyone was impressed with the class assignments as well as the hors d'oeuvres.

The cafateria was very crowded and we had a line of parents wanting to speak to us. We were overwhelmed by the parents thanking us for inspiring their children to learn English and how many of the parents had actually lived in the states for a short period of time. During the evening we were given a basket of local items from the area. We really enjoyed meeting the parents as some of them did not think we were real or that our names were not really Bob and Linda.

One of the parents learned that we were leaving France by way of the Brittany Ferry and she arraigned an upgrade for us. We were able to leave port up on the Captains Bridge, had a nice meal in one of the restaurants, and had a cabin. This was the biggest boat we had ever been on and to see the bridge was very exciting.

As we left the school that evening with Stephanie to go home, we were exhausted but could not wipe the smiles off of our faces.

Trucker Buddy International has enriched our lives and in a small way we know we are touching other lives. The feedback we got from the parents and the staff of the school reinforced why Trucker Buddy is such a fantastic program.

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Next is day two...