Merry Noël

All is going well here. The Valdocco is continuing to grow, our CCD classes are in the middle of preparing for confirmation, the boarding school now knows how to play baseball, basketball, and football(American), and we're all prepared and ready for Christmas!

In the last couple months there's been a lot of progress at the Valdocco.  We've added another 10 kids, to bring up our total to 21; and we've also had to add two more part-time tutorers to help with the afternoon homework sessions.  For October, the schools in France had a sort-of fall break for two weeks, so that gave us an opportunity to put on two mini-camps. The first was a joint camp with the Valdocco from Lyon at a youth center outside of Avignon.  One of the major goals of this camp, aside working with the kids, was to help the new youth leaders learn how to organize and lead different activities for future camps.  Half of the staff would work with the kids while the other half would participate in classes and discussions.  It turned out well, with all the new youth leaders,

With each group comes new challenges,
 you can see one of our challenges in this picture.

to include myself, being able to organize an activity for kids; I teamed up with another new youth leader to put on a variety show with a skit, trivia game, and relay race.

For the second week of vacation, and for Halloween, we had our second camp back in Nice.  For this camp we combined activities in afternoon with homework sessions in the morning.  We had on average 8 kids coming each day, from the 2 different schools in our quarter.  Some of the activities we did were mountain biking, a small soccer tournament, and then on the last day we all went out to a local park to play baseball, football, run an obstacle course, and paint ourselves (the kids) up like ghostly zombies.

Here they come!

After fall break and for November and most of December we've been back to work focusing on improving the Valdocco, working with the 3 CCD classes, organizing activities with the boarding school, and I've been talking to more English classes. The CCD classes are all coming along, they seem to be learning and more importantly maintaining there motivation to come.  Two of three classes that Manu and I teach meet during the lunch periods on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and for December we combined the two so that we could organize a small skit for the school's Christmas show. The show turned out to be a combination of a Christmas blessing (from two of the resident priests), a small awards ceremony, some singing of French Christmas songs, and the CCD's skit.  It went well!  The kids performed a modern version of the Nativity that lasted for about 15 minutes and had 8ish good sized parts to play, with the rest of the kids serving in supporting roles (curious bystanders and farm animals).  One of the awards was the presentation of food that the school had collected in a drive to support a local mission, we filled up two shopping carts with cakes, canned food, and other holiday treats.

The Nativity, you can barley see Mary holding a baby Jesus in the middle.

Jennifer perfectly reciting her lines. 

I've been staying busy with the boarding school too, helping by planning activities for Tuesday and Thursday nights. As of lately we've been playing a lot of American sports, and it's not cause I'm pressuring them to play with me, but because I think they actually enjoy playing American sports, with the real rules! (not like the baseball adaption that I saw in the PE class where there's 5 bases..) Since the last post we've had 12 evenings that we've payed sports ranging from: volleyball, ping-pong, soccer, basketball, baseball, and football American.  I thought about badminton, but they seem to be more into physical sports, and they're not real big on things from England (except soccer, rugby, and tennis..).  On Monday's we've started helping out at the local soup kitchen mission.  The same mission we donated the two carts of food to during our Christmas show, is who we've been working with.  We typically have a small group of three to four kids from the boarding school and a professor who'll drive us to two spots to help with the distribution of soup, sandwiches, and drinks.  All together the group of volunteers range from 15-25 people and we probably serve around 45-55 needy locals.

Three Soup Kitchen volunteers from the Boarding school.

The Parish had it's Christmas party last Sunday.  It turned out well, and we had a good amount of the congregation show up. The Sunday flyers had it advertised as a Karaoke party so I was feeling pretty good about it, I was sure to practice all my country Christmas classics beforehand.  The way it ended up going was that we divided up into four teams with each team judging the other. The teams sang four times, in the categories of French Christmas songs, English Christmas songs, Disney songs, and random Christmas songs.  Our team ended up coming in third, despite dominating the English Christmas song category (we sang George Michael's Last Christmas). In the end everyone had a good time, and it's probably for the best that I didn't go solo, all be it I was more than ready.

Manu explaining the
rules to "team-karaoke"

That's about all that's been going on here.  For the Christmas break the Valdocco will be having a week long camp in which I'll be sure to get some pictures posted from that.  I'm planned on talking to more English classes in January, and I'll let you know if anything new comes from there.  On the personal side of things I've been pretty lucky in that I've been given some time off for travel.  My brother came for Thanksgiving which was great.  We met in Munich, went to Austria, and finished in Nice. It was nice to talk freely in English again and to have someone to watch college football with (especially on the night of the Iron Bowl!).  For Christmas and New Years I'll be staying in France and visiting some friends in Paris.  It's good to hear from everyone, and to know I'm in your thoughts and prayers.  Let me know if y'all have any questions are thoughts.. or maybe want to come visit!!

À toute à l'heure!

Cultural differences:

I think I've pretty much become used to living here, so things seem less strange and harder to recognize as different... the only things I've notice recently are:

The weird Students/teachers schedules.  Every student has a different schedule with each day being a different combination of classes with different times of finishing for the day; sometimes they'll finish at noon and other times at 5:30.
The teachers are the same way, crazy schedules and on top of that they don't stay in the same room, they move for each class.  That leaves the classrooms undecorated and gives them a sort of cold/sterile feeling.  And for some reason the teachers have to go get there classes, usually standing together in the court yard, before each class.

The other difference is a good one, and that's all the Christmas markets.  It seems like each town organizes a couple spot in the city center for all the local business to set up kiosks to sell all kinds of good Christmas gifts and snacks (hot churros, crepes, hot wine, and other junk food).  And there's always an ice rink, which gives you something to watch while you're eating or drinking.

 

Our Cathedral, St. Marie Auxiliatrice

Le Valdocco's Open! 

With school starting last month, the Valdocco's been hard at work!  As of right now we have 10 kids who've regularly been coming for afternoon homework help, and as the year goes on we hope to have more.  Some of the subject's we've been working on are Algebra and Geometry, Science, History, and my favorite English.  Unfortunately with my French still not being great, I'm a little limited to how much I can help, but we're usually able to get through the math and English fairly easy.

The way the Valdocco's setup is that we operate in collaboration with parents and teachers.  When a teacher/parent recognizes that a child is falling behind and needs help, or just a quiet place to work, they contact us.  We receive the majority of our funding from the state and therefore it's little to no cost for the parents to enroll their children.  We've already added 3 kids since school's started.  

 

Manu prepping the kids for his game

 

Ismael, my Valdocco co-worker, quizzing the
kids before they run our obstacle course

Being that we usually only work in the afternoons and after school's out, we've had plenty of time to prepare and plan for upcoming activities.  Our last activity was about two weeks ago.  The 6th graders were having a sort of field meet/activity day at a local park and we (the 3 staff from the Valdocco) went to participate.  We setup two stations, one was a relay obstacle course, where you could only start the course once you answered a 6th grade level question, and the other was a team building exercise that had the kids working together to try and get a rosary into a cup; the rosary was tied to a middle knot that had 4 stings coming out that were attached to 4 headbands worn by kids (much easier to do than explain).  Everything went well, all the kids had a good time and we were able to explain to them, and to some of the accompanying parents about what the Valdocco is and offers.  (This is only the second year that we've been open so a big part of our work is still just in getting the word out.)
  
Some of the other activities that I've been doing while not at the Valdocco are:

Talking with the 18 year olds
in English class

- Talking to the English classes about America:  This was a lot of fun.  So far I've talked to 5 classes (all the English classes for one teacher) and hope to talk to more, there're 3 or 4 English teachers here.  What made it so great is that I've forgotten how much I enjoy to (1) talk freely in English, (2) to talk about all the things I love and miss about America (College Football, big trucks, cheesy Mexican food, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches..) and (3) to explain to the students that to get a real feel for the US, you've got to go outside of NY and LA (all the best place & people are in-between!); and then of course that not everything's like what you see and hear in movies and rap/pop music.  They had some pretty good/interesting questions too, the most popular were:
- Do you have a gun?   I say "Bien sûr!"
- How long does it take to go from NY to LA?
- Where have you been for spring break, and is it like on MTV!?  
- Do you prefer American or French food (and girls)?  To each I say France is great, and has a lot going for it, but! America's just too good to top. (Sidenote: the girls are nice and pretty here, but quite feministic.. strongly opinionated.. ugh) 

- Helping with the young evangelizing groups:  For Tuesday and Thursday Manu and I have lunch with two separate age groups of kids; one group's heading into their first communion and the other into confirmation.  So far it seems to be similar to how CCD is run in the states.  We start with a small faith-based activity to get to group talking, then we'll have a lesson, and then we pray and head to the cafeteria for lunch.  Last year they helped organize a food drive and a couple other activities to help the local community.  In all we have about 25 kids, 12ish in each group, and we plan to have their 1st Communion and Confirmation sometime next spring.

 

One of the Morning Prayer poster:
"..See you in the Morning!?"

- Assisting with the Morning Prayer group:  To give the students and faculty a place to pray before the day starts, Manu has organized a morning prayer in our chapel.  They had something similar to this last year but at different times and not all week, so this should be an improvement.  We started last week and so far we've only had 3-4 faculty (out of like 50) and 2 students come.  ..So it can only get better!  I came up with a couple posters ideas to help spread the word but so far there hasn't been a real spike in attendance..

- Evening activities with the boarding school:  Part of the Fondation Don Bosco (the school's formal name) is to teach kids from outside Nice applicable skills so that they can go straight into the work force, similar to a Vo-Tech School.  Being that these kids aren't always from Nice they're allowed to stay and sleep at the school for the duration of the week.  Since there's not a lot going on in the evenings, and they aren't allowed to leave, the boarding school staff and I come up with activities for Tuesday and Thursday nights.  We started with just playing soccer and basketball but now that I my football's arrived, thank you mom, we'll have some decent options.  We'll also probably work in some baseball. 

 

Keep Calm and Come Pray!

That's about it for now.  As the year goes on I expect our schedule get busier in which I'll be sure to keep the blog updated.  Let me know if you have questions, comments or ideas for activities.

À plus tard!


More cultural differences:
- Popping wheelies is the thing to do, especially if you're teenage boy trying to impress some girls.  It's not uncommon to see a guy ride a wheelie (on bikes and skooters) for a 100 feet.. it's actually be kind of impressive.  Haven't seen anyone fall either (knock on wood)...
- Most things start later.  Except for the schools, most people start work around 9ish and finish around 5 or 6 (keep in mind they have 35 hour work weeks).  They also eat later, 7 or 8, and go to bed around 11ish. 
- We've fall break coming up, it lasts for 2 weeks!! booyah! (we will be putting on a mini-camp for half of it..)

Our Nice Coast!

Le Valdocco Camping Trip and Campo Bosco:

Lac de Montriond. On the other side, in the little valley is 

where we camped at: Les Albertans - Centre Jean Bosco 

After VIDES France Camp and a little time off, I arrived at my final mission site in Nice on 10 August.  Their wasn't a whole lot of time to get situated before we went to work planning for the next two youth camps.  For the first camp, Father Manu, my sponsor/boss, and I left Nice on the 12th with 5, 15 year olds for a week long camping trip at Les Albertan's Centre Jean Bosco.  At first I only had a basic idea of the agenda and I wasn't really sure of what all to expect, but as soon as we arrived and got started I was immediately impressed with all the activities and games that Father Manu had prepared; mind you my French and his English still aren't great, so conversations explaining details and actives have been somewhat limited. This trip, similar to the VIDES France Camp, was one in which religion was not 

The Front part of Les Centre Jean Bosco. 

necessarily the obvious focus, with 2 of the kids actually being practicing Muslims. So instead our emphasis was again on establishing that relationship and trust with the kids, to hopefully later develop into a relationship based on religion. But! The area that we camped at, the Centre Jean Bosco was very Catholic and operated by a Priest.  So for one of the days we (those from our group who wanted to participate) were actually able to celebrate Mass with the other campers, which was nice.  And of course without having discussions and regular worships we had a lot of time to do awesome mountain-like activities, like: white water rafting, mountain biking, hiking, swimming in the pond by the lake, and playing games in the woods! (Unfortunately my memory card died last week so I lost the pictures, so what you see are just general pics from the internet..)  In the end everyone was exhausted, I hardly ever saw Manu sleep, but being this was the first camping trip for the majority of the kids, and the amount of activities and fun we had, I'd call it a great success! 

....now for Campo Bosco!!

Tons of Dancing!

Small group discussions were a great way for the
kids to talk about there faith and how it applies
to their lives.

From what I've seen and heard, Campo Bosco is the Flag Ship event for the France/Belgium Salesian Community.  From 22 to 26 August, 75+ Salesian Priests, Sisters, Brothers and lay volunteers from all over France and Belgium came together to support on incredible Summer Camp and faith building experience for about 250 kids! From start to finish there was always something going on!  Every day was packed with 

The last night we had a big show for all the kids to
show off the activities that they had been working
on all week.  This was part the demonstration by
the "Arts du Cirque" activity group.

some sort of dancing, prayer, testimonial, game/activity, small group discussion, we had Mass two or three time, and every night ended (once or twice at midnight) with evening prayer and some inspirational/guiding thoughts from the head priest.

The majority of the days were taken up with a huge variety of activities for the campers to take part in, there was: Martial arts, Guitar lessons, Campo News (a couple of the videos are posted on the FB link below), Theater, 4 types of dance, Arts du Cirque, Art de Table (my activity, we made something like 300 cupcakes for everyone to eat on the last night’s celebration!), Poetry, Photography, Scrap booking, and a couple others..  Needless to say there was an activity for everyone, and on the final night everyone got to demonstrate their newly acquired skills in a big final going away show. 

There were something like 15 priests!! And an
awesome old castle.

In the end it was great to see the kids get so excited (even emotional) about there faith.  It was also great to see that Catholicism can be made fun and appealing to that age group (not that I doubt it could, I just never really saw it happen when I was that age).  Next year will be the 10^th addition of Campo Bosco, and to celebrate the continued growth and success, it’ll be held in Turin, Italy, the town in which Don Bosco first began his work!

To sum up the last couple weeks… I definitely still feel that this year in France is and will continue to be a huge blessing.  It's incredible to witness the amount of time and effort that goes into coordinating these camps.  The France/Belgium community of Salesians has an incredible passion for sharing the love of God with the youth, and I’m truly grateful to be a part of it!

One of the kids slack lining during the going away speech.  

Looks just like St. John Bosco!

..I’m still waiting to see how exactly I’ll be working with the school and kids this year.  Right now it looks like I'll be starting profession french lessons soon, and helping out with a couple different programs within the school.  I expect to have a more definite spot/job by mid October or early November.

More cultural differences:

- The French are more social.  While having lunch and dinner they take the time to talk to each other throughout the majority of it.. and therefore lunch and dinner typically last for an hour.  Also contributing to the time is that there’s usually appetizers, then the meal, then fruit and/or fromage for dessert.

- Picnics and lying in the grass are very popular!  Along with eating lots of fromage I plan to keep this practice when I return home!

- They have huge vacations!  People with similar levels of education and experience as me get roughly a month of vacation a year.  And everyone seems to take their vacation in August, and therefore not a lot gets done.

- As you probably know, everything’s a little smaller (or more economic); from showers to cars. but whenever you need a little taste of home there's always a McDonald’s near by with a delicious american sized servings!

A couple links (Google Chrome will auto translates these sites):
Le Valdocco:
http://www.le-valdocco.fr/nice/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Le-Valdocco/488729907886641?ref=br_tf

Campo Bosco:
https://www.facebook.com/campobosco.fr
http://www.don-bosco.net/index.php/accueil/famille-salesienne/1440-campobosco-2013-trouver-le-juste-equilibre.html

What a blessing France will be!  It’s only really been a week and a half that I’ve been here in Lille, but already it’s been an incredible experience.  These first two weeks I’ve been working with a group of VIDES France volunteers, in a very similar situation to what I went through in San Antonio.  What we’re doing is organized to where each mornings we pray, learn, and study about the Salesian values and methods of accompaniment(mentorship), and then in the afternoon’s we implement what we learn by putting on a sort of Vacation Bible School for the local community.  What’s uniquely challenging about this camp is that France has incredibly strict “separation of church and state” laws, so even though we’re organized through the Don Bosco Catholic School, we can’t talk or discuss any sort of religion.  So instead, our focus is on providing good examples and hoping that these kids, ages from 5-18, will realize the true spirit and meaning behind what we’re doing, or at least we pray they do…

All of us repainting the teenager's youth group room.  It was a constant battle to keep them painting the wall and not each other... 

The finished youth group room, it looks much better!

The sisters and volunteers were interested in having some great American desserts,
so we made bread pudding.  In Europe they measure  all their ingredient by weight, so
working through that was interesting, but it turned out alright!

They insisted I make real American pancakes, but they don't sell
Bisquick here!  luckily I was saved by the great taste of maple syrup!

Don Bosco and Mary Mazzarello stopped by!

We performed the Boot Scootin' Boogie for the end of camp show.

As for my experience in working and living in the French culture, it’s been great.  Everyone is very friendly and patient with me as I struggle to comprehend what’s going on.  A couple other volunteers speak broken English so I’m able to have a general idea of the daily plans, but participating in discussions is difficult.  The community is nice, much smaller than in San Antonio, with only three sisters and a priest living in the house, as compared to the 35ish that we lived with in TX.  They don’t wear any of the traditional uniforms for safety reasons, not sure if it’s a French Salesian or regional Catholic thing.  Unfortunately, we haven’t spent too much time outside the convent and local area, but last weekend we did go downtown to celebrate France’s Independence Day, Bastille Day, and saw a bunch of fireworks.  I’ll have some of those pictures up on Facebook soon.

That’s about it for now.. After camp I’ll be headed to Paris for a couple weeks, before going to my final destination of Nice.. Pretty dang rough!!  Oh and before school starts in September we’ll be going a summer camp in the French Alps..

Feel free to let me know what you think or if you have any recommendations.  I’d love to hear from you!  Here are a couple major differences I’ve noticed, and have had to get used to…

-  Breakfast isn't big here.  If you eat it’s usually a piece of toast with Nutella or jelly, and some coffee.  There’s always a variety of cheese (fromage) available and passed around at the end of the meal.   

-   There’s a lot more sun light!  The sun comes up around 6:30 and sets around 10:00.

-  No hugging!  To greet and a woman you kiss both cheeks, and a man with a handshake.  However when in southern France you apparently kiss men on both checks as well...  I’ll be maintaining my American customs instead.

À bientôt!

All the volunteers!

My Formation/Service Camp experience…

June 5 - 20, San Antonio, TX

Our first day at Vacation Bible School.

Hey! My name is Will Cook, I’m 27, and I’m from Tulsa, Oklahoma. I graduated from Oklahoma State in 2009 and have spent the last four years in the U.S. Marine Corps.  Now that I'm finished with the Marine Corps and have a little time on my hands, my plan is to work with the Salesian Sisters and VIDES in France for one year, beginning in July.

Last week, while at formation/service camp, we had the opportunity to work with the local parish in putting on a vacation Bible school. While we only had about 20 kids, it turned out to be a great experience, one that I think everyone really benefited from. The most inspiring part was seeing the kids learn about God’s love and forgiveness, especially when not all of them had really been able to understand it before.

Will with two of our young campers!

These last couple weeks here at the Formation Service Camp have been incredibly rewarding and an experience that I won’t forget.  It’s been a privilege and a blessing to have someone so full of love, as Sister Gloria is, to teach us and guide us in how to be better mentors, leaders, and followers of Christ.  I look forward to putting into action all that I’ve learned as well as seeing what great things the other volunteers accomplish!

Will plays Jesus in one of our skits with the junior high students.