Équipe Saumur 2023: Week 3, post 1

After our action-packed week last week, this week looked as if it was going to be pretty calm. But during the program, there is always something to do.

The weather here in Saumur has been absolutely beautiful. It’s been sunny and in the high 70s. Today, it got to 81.

Normally, Tuesdays and Thursdays are supposed to be our sports days after lunch. Our only problem is that they are tearing down their main gym at Institution Saint Louis. We think we have something worked out for next week. Isaiah and I both love being outdoors. (He walks EVERYWHERE.) So, we decided to go on a hike, part of with follows the path that we take to walk to school.

There’s a small tributary of the Loire River called the Théoet. It is a fairly large stream that winds its way through this beautiful parkland. So, we followed this paved trail through a calm greenspace that is in more or less the center of the city. Everyone seemed to enjoy it.

We really didn’t think about our activity for today.

Community service has become one of the pillars of IUHPFL. Loni says that she wants us to give back to the communities that give so much to us. Our students were amazing at the equestrian school last week. And they were more than fabulous today.

We met the Marcus, the mayor of Saumur Saint Hilaire, once again for today’s community service. We were back on the same trail along the Théoret, this time cleaning up trash.

These kids were incredible! They went at this job like they were cleaning up their front yard. They had to divide the rubbish into recyclable plastics, metals and glass. The rest went into the general trash bags.

The students worked really hard. Marcus prepared them with gloves and trash bags. Marie-Odile pushed the buggy that collected glass (and the students’ water bottles). Other than talking about it being hot (about half the trail was in the sun), there were no complaints. No one whined about getting dirty or picking up nasty bottles and wet paper bags. They just got the job done – with lots of laughter.

I really can’t say enough good about this group of students. They support one another. They work together well. Of course, there are friend groups, but there are no cliques – no “us and them” attitudes. It’s really quite refreshing.

Friday, we have Laser-tag as an optional group activity. (Not sure how I am going to photograph that.) And Sunday is our July 4 picnic with host families. (Okay, it’s on July 2, but July 4 is a Tuesday and not actually a holiday here.) So, there will be another post or two by Sunday evening.

I’ve made tons of photos that really aren’t what the blog is all about. Many of them are just what the kids have seen. The blog is so that you can see the students doing what they do daily. However, I intend to upload all my photos (the good ones) to a Google Drive folder that the students can add to and download from. As soon as I establish that, I will share the link.