I am grateful to Brooks and Mike for encouraging my trip to visit Proctor in France and Spain, and WiFi willing, I'll be updating this site at breakneck speed. The problem is that--so far--finding functioning wireless access has been what the French call
un mal de tête.
Proctor in France has existed for 34 years, yet this program is new, because we have moved to a remote little city on a large peninsula in Brittany. Pont l'Abbé (The Abbot's Bridge) is dripping with local customs, art and culture. The entire region is comprised of towns, pays (we're in the pays Bigouden) and districts that cling to dialects and customs formed long before the unification of the French nation. Our students attend a lycée loosely affiliated with the church. Classes start at 8:00 AM, long before dawn breaks in this region.
Today started with French language, followed by French literature.
Living with local family, and struggling to negotiate life in a town that speaks very little English, students seem particularly focused on advancing their language skills.
As is typical for Proctor, teaching methodologies involve lots of interaction and relationship. Nothing could be more different at the rest of this school, Lycee Saint Gabriel, where teachers enter by separate entrance, and lecture to classes. The student hang-out, a kind of grungy equivalent to the Wise Center is never visited by adults, so my visit to "the fishbowl" (our students' nickname) gets plenty of attention.
In the fishbowl, our kids mingle with some of the French, and gawk at overt displays of affection rarely seen back home! (I told you this school is only loosely affiliated with the Church!) Back to French Literature!
After school, we check out a public youth hangout that offers game rooms, Internet connection (on a non-Qwerty keyboard) and social interaction.
Thursday is Farmers' Market in Pont l'Abbé, and we have assignments to shop for ingredients for a repas regional tomorrow.
The temptation of quiche, cheese and baguettes in the stalls is too much. All we need is a cafe at which to sit.
Next, we gather at Stacey and Eric's apartment to prepare leeks and potatoes for tomorrow's Vichyssoise.
In the evening, we go to Duncan's homestay, where his "mother" conducts an all-too-relaxing set of breathing and yoga exercises.
Her home, evidencing the regional farmhouse architecture with two chimneys on each end of the maison, is lovely beyond words.
