My Weekend at Summer Camp

This weekend started out as a very difficult one. All 20 of the American students, went to the Ardeche region of France with 160 French students. We were at a "campsite" that was really a bunch of bungalows, and were separated into several bungalows. Simply trying to find our bungalow was difficult as 6 of the 8 girls in our bungalow speak French, and spoke French the entire time. French still sounds mostly like jibberish to me, so I had to rely on their intonations and gestures to understand what was going on. After we got settled, we were split into 10 groups for some team building games. The first two rotations were much like the bungalow experience, where 2 of the girls would translate for Michelle (the other American in my group) and I, but soon I was understanding more as they transitioned into "Frenglish". As difficult, taxing, and stressful as it was, I think it was really beneficial as it forced me to pick up more French. Here are some pictures of the games, including the traditional French game of Petanque.We then had a rowdy dinner that included renditions of the French and American national anthems. And a soiree which was a great way for us to meet and interact with the French students. After brunch on Sunday, we spent the late morning and early afternoon at the beautiful and expansive pool/waterfalls/slides/wave pools.
It was a really fun weekend, and it was nice to have today to get some much needed sleep and plan for the upcoming trips. Sorry about the lack of pictures, we were so busy that there wasn't much time. Also, we've been at sort of a loss this week in terms of cooking. Ovens are not considered a necessity in French kitchens, so we've been making a lot of stir fry dishes. If anyone has any great stove-top or no oven recipes, please send them my way! (elizabeth.erratt@gmail.com) Thanks! Much love you all.