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The Citizen, 2000-05-17, Page 8PAGE 8. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 2000. Exchange student returns Last fall you read about an exchange student from France, Amandine, living at the Emmrich residence until the end of November. Well Katie Emmrich, through the Canadian Education Exchange Foundation, along with 90 other Canadian teens, went to France on Feb. 11 and returned May 8. Katie lived with exchange student Amandine Feuchot’s family for the three months in the town of Cosnac. For Katie interesting things hap­ pened almost as soon as she arrived at the Paris airport. She was told that if there is any luggage that has not been claimed by any passengers it is then blown up in case it had a bomb in it. They all stayed in a hostel for a night and a day. The next morning they got a bus tour of Paris, then the youths were picked up by their host families. Katie said her family could­ n’t speak much English and were actually encouraged not to, thought they tried once a while. She said for the first month she was pretty home­ sick and the language barrier was difficult, but after awhile she began to fit in and enjoy her stay. They were encouraged not to phone home too often as it would only increase their homesickness, so she heard from her parents and brother Jamie only four times. People will not just come up and welcome you with open arms, she said, unless they have been formally introduced by someone else. After Amandine introduced her to her whole class, she made a lot of friends. She also learned to partici­ pate in their greeting of kissing on each cheek. She said that the girls kiss girls and boys alike on the cheeks but the boys kiss the girls on the cheek, but shake hands with the boys. The high school she attended was a three-floored building with 1,279 students attending. Across the road was the public school. Both schools shared parts of each other’s build­ ings and playground. What amazed Katie was that all the students (grade 8 and up) smoked. Th school that she attended did not use the semester system. Katie also noted that she never saw one school bus there. The students were either driven by parents or they used the city bus system or coaches. On Mondays she started school at 8 a.m. and was done at I p.m. with a two-hour lunch period. Tuesdays started at 9 a.m. and after a three-hour lunch period she would be home at 6 p.m. Wednesday started at 8 a.m. and ended at noon. Thursday was the same as Tuesday and Friday was from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. with a one-hour lunch. Saturday they went to school from 8 a.m. to noon. All of her classes were in French except for English class. Another interesting fact she learned was that phys ed was manda­ tory in all high schools all the way to Grade 12. She had gym for two hours a week. During her long lunch hours she and her friends spent time visiting the different cafes. Pop cost $3 and a very small cup of coffee or hot chocolate was $2. Another great experience was being able to go to Spain for a class trip for a week. The highlight was seeing the Mediterranean Sea. She couldn’t get over how beautiful it was and how different the blue colour of the water was. It was very cold. While in Spain their history teacher took them to the different museums. Katie recalled some of the places that she had the opportunity to see. Collonges-la-Rouge was a very old town that was built of red stone. No one but the people ’who actually lived there were allowed to drive in the town to preserve the stone side­ walks and roads. Being a tourist town there were lots of little bou­ tiques in the buildings. She visited Grottes De Lacave (underground caves) where they weren’t allowed to take pictures. She said there were underground lakes FROM WALTON that you couldn’t tell were lakes at all, because of the reflection from the ceiling. It looked like the stalagmites were all pointing up, like teeth. To see the city of Rocomadour, which was built on a cliff, was a sight to behold and I agreed as she showed me the picture. A very interesting place was the caves containing beautiful pre-his­ toric paintings. Students weren’t allowed in the original calves but only into the reproductions. She said that one painting was 10 feet wide. The paintings of animals were all over the ceilings and walls of the caves. Her favourite time was probably when her host family took her to Paris for a week. Her favourite build­ ing was the Louvre, the famous museum that houses the original Mona Lisa. They spent two days going through the building. One of the tour guides told her that if she spent one minute at each painting it would take four months to see them all. The architecture was incredible and it was such a huge building con­ taining four floors counting the low­ est floor. The Eiffel Tower was a sight to see as well. They walked up 360 stairs to Seaforth Community Hospital BOARD OF DIRECTORS VACANCIES The affairs of the Seaforth Community Hospital are governed by a volunteer Board of Directors. Vacancies on the Board have become available. Responsibilities of a Board member include attendance at the monthly Board meetings plus participation in a number of the Board Committees. The position is strictly voluntary with no salary or remuneration paid to the member. Individuals interested in serving as a member of the Board are requested to submit a letter outlining their interest no later than May 23, 2000. Should you have any questions or require additional information please feel free to call Andrew Williams, Vice President, Multi Site Administration at 527-1650 ext 221. Please submit your letter to: Chair Nominating Committee Seaforth Community Hospital 24 Centennial Drive, P.O. Box 99 Seaforth, Ontario N0K 1W0 the second floor and from there they took the elevator to the very top. The top floor held an apartment that the builder of the tower, M. Eiffel, had built and it was there that he enter­ tained his wealthiest of friends. Seeing the Arc De Triumph was something else too. There is the memorial to the Great Army and a huge flag hanging under the arc. The arc was completed in 1836 and it is 164 ft. high and 147 ft. wide. Some other things that stick out in Katie’s mind was the fact that her friends loved going to the movies and were very unhappy if the movies were spoken in French. They were only happy if the movies were in English with French subtitles under­ neath. So Katie enjoyed watching The Blair Witch Project and Sleepy Hollow in English. The roads are narrow, hilly and winding. The one main highway that is like our 401 is a three-lane high­ way (Auto Route) and is the only road that goes in a straight line. She said it was an incredible experience and it was a good way to leam the culture of the French people. She delighted in the homemade meals which both the mother and father prepared each day. They had fresh bread daily and ate a lot of pasta and vegetables. She said she was excited to be coming home and it feels wonderful to be here but now she is starting to miss her friends over there. She already has had e-mail from some of them. Her understanding of the lan­ guage has improved vastly but she still has a little trouble speaking it, she said. The accent differences are quite noticeable between the two countries and it is taking her a bit to catch on to her French teacher in Seaforth. Welcome home Katie. Actually ‘welcome home’ was just what happened to Katie on Saturday, May 13. Her friend Kelly McDonald went to her place and invited Katie out for a walk and somehow talked her into going into the Walton Hall where friends had a surprise wel­ come home party prepared for her. The girls had a great time, visiting and playing games. RIHRYS GOIHG? foil couM be at risk for diabetes. CANADIAN | ASSOCIATION DIABETES I CANADIENNE ASSOCIATION I DU DIASETE CALL 1-8OO-BANTING PEOPLE AROUND WALTON By Patty Banks Call 887-6156 Congratulations to Jennifer Rea and Jason Thompson on the birth of their baby son. Jordan Eldon Thompson arrived May 11 weighing six pounds and five ounces. The communities’ condolences are Students learn X The letter X was the letter of the week for the Walton kindergarten class. They made treasure maps where X marked the spot. They made pirate hats, eye patches and ships and looked through pirate spy glasses. Mrs. Scott read Tough Boris. For Mother’s Day the children made cards from their handprints on which they drew themselves onto it. The Grade l/2s have been work­ ing hard to rewrite key words from their endangered species research into complete sentences. They are learning more about the editing process as they conference for spelling and punctuation mistakes with their teacher. Their good copy is then glued onto their poster. They grew oregano, basil and thyme to give to their mothers in decorated pots. They also made cards with their own personal mes­ sages in them. The Grade 3s have been working hard at their Grade 3 testing this past week. But one funny thing did hap­ pen to them during the end of a gym class. Students called out to Mrs. Vandendool to look at the skunks in the field. Mrs. Vandendool thought it would be wise to head indoors rather than have an encounter with skunks. Notice is hereby given that the Public is invited to the ANNUAL MEETING of Seaforth Community Hospital to be held Monday, June 26, 2000 at 8:00 p.m. in Conference Room 2 of Seaforth Community Hospital for the purpose of receiving the Annual Reports of the Board of Directors and of the officials of the Hospital, for the election of Directors, for the appointment bf Auditors, and for the transaction of such other business as may properly come before the meeting. The By-laws of Seaforth Community Hospital provide that the Board of Directors shall include trustees to be elected by members of the Hospital Corporation. Membership granting voting privileges may be purchased for two dollars before 4:30 p.m., May 26, 2000. Membership sold after that time will not entitle the purchaser to vote at this Annual Meeting. By resolution of the Board of Directors. Andrew Williams, Secretary extended to Ken Pethick and his family upon the death of his father, George Pethick. Thursday night Walton euchre had lucky 13 tables at play. First place winners were Larry Elston and Harvey Edgar. Second place winners were Boyd and Gertie Driscoll and winners for third were Eileen Sellers and Marie Stewart. Ladies’ lone hand winner was Lillian Appleby and men’s winner was a gent from London. The crowd enjoyed the fresh new painting and papering in the base­ ment. The last Walton Hall euchre will be May 25. Well the joke was on all of them because their skunks took off flying. They turned out to be geese. The Grade 3s made some very lovely napkin ring holders for Mother’s Day. Congratulations to Grant Bolton and Kyle Griffiths who were chosen to attend the Hyper Studio Workshop (multi-media computer program) on Tuesday at Seaforth Public School. For art class students had fun mak­ ing silhouettes, then drawing their spring daydreams in the head of the silhouettes. Mrs. Haney assured them that even adults daydream once in a while too. For Mother’s Day they made poster cards showing how versatile their mothers were. Baans greet at Duff’s Monique and Don Baan and sons greeted worshippers at Duff’s United Church on May 14, Mother’s Day. Next Sunday greeters are Barb Fritz and Joan Van Vliet. Margaret Hem will be the guest speaker.