Lunch by the Canal and a Ball

The sausage balls were a huge hit this morning, and I think I may have been welcomed back even more warmly today! :)

This morning, I had the pleasure of accompanying about twenty French students in year 8 to the lower school just down the road. The wonderful French teacher at school had planned a day where the older kids could play some games with French words with the younger students to help them feel prepared for moving up to the middle school. As it was the last week, chaperones were a bit hard to come by and I was honored to get to go. The students, some of which I had taught, did a great job. I loved watching them interact with the younger students. For some of them, teaching came naturally, while others struggled a bit, but nevertheless kept the students engaged. They all did a great job though, and everyone, both younger and older, seemed to have fun on this Bastille Day.

Before I even arrived at Fulbrook two years ago, I received an email from one of the school's governors (sort of like a school board). Angela greeted me with warmth and affection, sharing that she had a very close friend in Alabama that they frequently visited. During my year here, she and her husband, Graham were surrogate parents to me, providing me with home-cooked meals, taking me out for special treats, and even driving me to the airport on my final day. During that year, they made a trip to visit their friend in Alabama and even had a chance to meet up with my parents. Since that time, I've gotten to see them in Alabama once, but look forward to many more meetings.

As a treat today, since I truly have no responsibility at school this week, they came to pick me up at school and take me out to lunch. What a joy it was to see them again! They took me to a neighboring town, Leighton Buzzard, where we sat by a window in a pub that overlooked the canals. Like the canals in Fort Augustus that we saw two weeks ago, these narrow canals have locks in them so that people may travel throughout England by way of boat. The boats here look quite different from what I'm used to. Most of the boats that travel through the canals are house boats. Sure, there are some that carry cargo, but typically trains and lorries (18-wheelers) do that much more efficiently. The house boats are long and narrow, built to fit into the narrow canals. These canals were hand dug back before railroads used as a way to move supplies from one town to the next. Angela and Graham even told me that the term "leg-it" came from the time when canals were used to transport goods. When boats would come to a tunnel and could no longer be pulled by the horses that were on the banks, people had to lie on their backs on the boat and use their feet to walk, or "leg-it" across the interior of the tunnel. After a delicious meal and a lovely catch-up, they returned me to school just in time for the last lesson.

I even got to help open and close the lock!

Angela, Graham and I

For this lesson, I joined the French teacher once again to look in on one of her year 7 classes as it had a lot of my former students in the class. I enjoyed catching up with them, seeing the projects they had just completed and hearing about their summer plans. In the middle of the lesson, I was asked to cover another classroom for a teacher. She is expecting any day now, so of course I was happy to step in and do whatever I could. I just should have asked what class before I said yes. It was food. I jumped into a lesson, mostly finished, where about twenty ten-year-olds were completing baking and icing cupcakes. I must admit that it was organized chaos because the two incredibly capable teaching assistants had it totally under control. I was just there for a bit of direction and crowd control. I put on an apron and helped direct kids in the finishing process and make sure they thoroughly cleaned their area.

One boy said, "If I was American, I definitely wouldn't move here because of the weather." 

I responded with, "I don't live here." 

"Then how do you work here?"

"I don't work here."

His look of total confusion was well worth the afternoon in the food room.

Last week, Charlotte sent me an itinerary for the week. Being a planner, I was incredibly thrilled to have a schedule for the week, and as it is the last week of school, there is a lot going on. When I saw what was on tap for this evening, I was ecstatic! The year I was here, the Year 8 Ball was one of my favorite events. How could I have forgotten that that would be happening this, the final week? Charlotte and I decided to spent our time at school this afternoon rather than driving back and forth, so after the bell rang and the food room was mostly clean, I headed to the staff room.

We have a staff room back home, too, but it isn't very large, and there are never times where the majority of the staff is free at the same time, so it isn't widely used except to pass through and nibble on goodies left out. Here, it is the hub of staff life, a gathering point for discussions, laughs and breaks. I love the afternoons here. Teachers wander in, tired from the day, often times looking for some sort of distraction to keep them from doing more work just yet, or perhaps needing some sort of burst of energy before setting out to complete the day's tasks. I spent most of my afternoon here, chatting with whoever wandered in while Charlotte got a bit of work done.

Freshened up and dressed "smart," we headed to the picturesque village of Eversholtt where the Ball was to take place. There is a lovely club house here on the cricket green where I spent a happy day almost exactly two years ago. The club house was all decked out and ready for the party: tables with balloons, party hats, and confetti, banners hanging from the walls, and a red carpet rolled out to meet the students. Before the kids arrived, we staff members took advantage of a new toy added to the ball this year: a photo booth. This giant photo booth, complete with funny hats and masks was a great way for us to pass the time. Later on in the evening, we even may have ushered the kids out once or twice for a few more funny staff photos.

The kids, finishing up year 8 (7th grade) and about to move on to upper schools arrived dressed to the nines, many even arriving in fancy cars. The head blamed me (and all Americans) for the influence we had had and how their balls are now much more like our proms seen in films and TV series. Of course, ours are typically eighteen year olds rather than thirteen. There were flashy sports cars, old open jeeps, and a couple of hummer limos, one of which could not even pull into the parking lot from the narrow village street. Girls were in short, sparkly dresses, while the boys mostly wore khaki-style pants, a nice shirt and often a tie. I love watching the arrival party. All the kids in the parking lot eagerly awaiting to see who pulls up next and how they look. So much fun to just be an observer without having to be that age again. After the arrival, pizza was served, but before we could all finish our meals, the kids were back outside again posing for photos and running around. It didn't take long to get them back inside though. Tables cleared, lights going and music blaring, the kids were on the dance floor dancing some popular new line dances (I'm thankful to still be cool enough to know one of the latest ones), fun pop songs and of course the YMCA. The song that brought the most delighted screams however, was one that completely shocked me, and yet utterly made my night. When "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" from Frozen came on, the kids squealed and raced back inside eager to join in the sing along. Sure, they may have looked like young adults tonight, but they, thankfully, are still just kids.