Coulogne 2012 june 18

On 18th of june the big trip to Coulogne started. All the students were ready with their exams, so they could leave very early: 8.30 h. So they will certainly arrive on time in Coulogne. But ... after 20 minutes Mr. Aerts found out he had forgotten the money. So Mrs. van Hest stayed at Wouwse Tol and Mr. Aerts got the money. They took a very good route: no problems on the way and allready at 12.30 they arrived in Escalles.

• Op 18 juni begint de grote reis naar Coulogne. Alle studenten zijn klaar met hun proefwerken, dus kunnen ze al vroeg vertrekken: 8.30 uur. Dus ze zullen zeker op tijd in Coulogne aankomen. Maar .. na 20 minuten komt meneer Aerts tot de ontdekking dat het het geld is vergeten. Dus mevrouw van Hest blijft bij de Wouwse Tol wachten en meneer Aerts rijdt vliegensvlug op en neer. Ze hebben een geweldige route want ze hebben geen enkel oponthoud gehad. Om 12.30 uur arriveren ze al in Escalles.

Ze zijn gearriveerd, helemaal fris. Lekker uitgerust tijdens de reis.

So the teachers got some coffee. They did the hard work: drive the minibusses. The students got 2 small drinks in a parcel and then I send them for a beautifull walk on Le Cap Blanc Nez. They made many pictures, I hope we will see them soon.

• Dus kregen de leraren lekker een kopje koffie. Zij hadden het zware werk gedaan: de busjes besturen. De leerlingen kregen twee pakjes drinken en een plattegrond met een wandelroute. Toen zijn ze op weg gegaan voor een mooie wandeling over de Cap Blanc Nez. Ze hebben onderweg heel veel foto's gemaakt. Ik hoop dat we die snel te zien zullen krijgen.

Start the walk on Le Cap Blanc Nez

Two hours later they were back. A little bit tired, but happy. They have been in a beautifull environement with lots of fresh air. The boys and girls must learn to work together this week and this is the first step. They all got a blanket and got some rest in my garden. 

• Twee uur later druppelden ze weer binnen. Ze waren moe, maar voldaan. Ze hebben gewandeld in een prachtige omgeving met heel veel frisse lucht. De jongens en meisjes moeten nog een beetje beter leren samenwerken, maar dit was de eerste stap. Ze hebben allemaal een picknickdeken gekregen zodat ze lekker even in mijn tuin konden uitrusten.

Lekker even bijkomen van de wandeling.

Then it's time to leave for the real job: Lycee de Coulogne. I send a textmessage to the headmaster Mrs. Isabelle Sauvage and then they leave. At the school nobody can talk Dutch, so from now on, our students must talk English to other people. After they got acquintance they got a tour in the school. One French students showes one Dutch student around. This is the real practice of all their English lessons at school. 

Then it's time for the dinner, the students are going to eat together with the French students. They will learn how things are managed of you live in a "internat". This is something our Dutch students don't know. They must be flexible, adjust to the French customs and habits without the help of their teachers ... and ofcourse they will miss the good care of their mothers. It will not be easy, but I'm sure they will manage.

• Dan wordt het tijd om te vertrekken voor het echte werk: op naar Lycee de Coulogne. Ik SMS naar de directrice van de school dat ze er aankomen. Op de Franse school spreekt niemand Nederlands, dus van nu af zullen onze leerlingen zich moeten behelpne in het Engels. Nadat ze kennis gemaakt hebben, krijgen ze een rondleiding in de school. Eén Franse leerling leidt één Nederlandse leerling rond. Dit is het oefenen van hun Engelse lessen in de praktijk.
  Daarna wordt het tijd voor het diner, de leerlingen eten apart van de leraren, samen met de Franse studenten. Deze avond zullen ze leren hoe het leven in een internaat er aan toegaat. Dit is iets wat onze Nederlandse kinderen nauwelijks kennne, hooguit uit verhalen. Ze zullen zich dus flexibel op moeten stellen en zich aan moeten passen aan de Franse gewoonten en gebruiken, zonder de hulp van hun leraren ... en natuurlijk zullen ze de goede zorgen van hun moeders gaan missen. Dat is zeker niet makkelijk, maar ik heb er alle vertrouwen in dat ze dit gaat lukken.

During the evening some problems came up, it isn't so easy to handle all this new information. The students are very happy when they see Mrs. van Hest en Mr. Aerts again. Immediately they start solving some problems. The bed of Zoë get another place. The make good agreements en tomorrowmorning their will be some extra shopping for the food of Lobke. Around 23.00 I call mr. Aerts. Everything is stable and we hope everyone will adjust soon. But we are sure this will happen: look at the picture!

• De avond verloopt niet helemaal vlekkeloos, het valt ook allemaal niet mee om met zoveel nieuwe informatie om te gaan. De leerlingen zijn blij dat ze  Mevrouw van Hest en Meneer Aerts weer terug zien. Onmiddellijk wordt er actie ondernomen m.b.t. de ongemakken. Het bed van Zoë wordt verplaatst. Er worden goede afspraken gemaakt en morgenvroeg zullen er nog extra boodschappen gedaan worden voor Lobke voor glutenvrije voeding. Om 11 uur bel ik nog even met meneer Aerts. Het gaat goed en we hopen dat iedereen zijn draai kan vinden. Maar dat komt goed, want kijk nu zelf: het is toch een prachtploeg die op pad is gegaan!

The first Dutch group for the exchange-program.

Concept program

Everybody (the students, parents and teachers) are very curious about the program. Friday the first concept of the program was send by Mrs. Isabelle Sauvage. It's published on the right.

Changes can be made!

But it's nice to see what kind of interesting and lovely things she has in mind for us!

I will keep you informed!

Participants for Studytrip NL students to Coulogne

Good news, we have the final list for all the students and teachers who will go for the studytrip to Coulogne:

• Bo Raats
• Chantal van den Bergh
• Elleke van Bavel
• Lobke Bink
• Lucca Oorschot
• Luuk Maes
• Melanie Engelbert
• Neel Martens
• Sam Willemse
• Zoë Meertens

You can meet them at the facebookgroup: Coulogne Prinsentuin Escalles

Day 5: the last day

It's a pity. Time flies. This is the last day of the studyweek. But no time to spoil, lot has to be done. First the visit to the nursery for mini-cucumbers and snack-tomatoes Verhoeven. Mr. Jan van Dorst will introduce them and Mr. Chris Wessels will help with translations.

Explanation at Fam. Verhoeven.

Packaging

After this very interesting visit and a small coffebreak it was time for the final workshop. Mr. Dennis Kneepkens came specially from Amstedam to show the students how to make a very special flowerarrangements for hair for the girls and a corsage for the boys.

Mr. Dennis Kneepkens gives instructions.

The French students are very interested.

The results are beautifull.

Corsage

Then it was really time to leave. All the things in the car. Say a final goodbye and with presents and a Picknick-bag for on the way, they left. It was hard to say goodbye.

Orange tulips for the ladies - special gift of Peter and Thea van Vessem.



A little gift for the students to remember us.



An orange flag for the teachers (for the EK) an Orangebitter for 30 april (Queens day NL).

One last photo ......

At 16.00 I got a textmessage of Mrs. Isabel Sauvage they were safely home. Time to relaxe ... and enjoy the memories of a beautirfull week.

In a few weeks I will visit them again to make preparation for the exchange weeks in Escalles and Coulogne. Our Dutch students will work, learn, make visits and fun with them in june.

Day 4 = D-day = Floriade-day

The fourth day is the most important day of the week. In 3 minibusses the students and teachers leave for the Floriade in Venlo. Ofcourse all the French students and teachers, the Dutch students Desiree, Lotte, Lotte, Megan, Zoë, Mick and Juul. Because Nicole couldn't come (she has exams) I asked two extra students to help the French students: Killian Rommens and Martin Nuchelmans. Today they are in the hands of Mr. Eric Abrahams and Mr. Cor Ruczynski.

Mr. Cor Ruczynshi (left) and Mr. Eric Abrahams (right)

Mr. Abrahams wrote a report:

At 18.00 h they arrived at the hotel. They were very tired, but very happy. It was the most beautifull day of the week. We ended it with a very nice dinner, all together (18 students and 8 teachers) at the restaurant of the hotel Rooi Pannen.

Yesterday we went to the Floriade with our French guests. Floriade is the Dutch World Expo, where we show how great we are in horticulture. After a long ride, we arrived at 11h at the entrance and everybody started to walk through the park.

First we (the teachers) took the cable-lane for an overview over the park. We saw the Royal Bus, because queen Beatrix and Willem-Alexander had invited the Turkish president for a visit of the Floriade.

Arrival of the Royal bus with the Queen Beatrix and President of Turkye.

We saw most of the districts and a lot of high-tech product promotions. Most impressive was the technique to give a single-coloured rose a multi-coloured look (all colours of the rainbow in just one flower: innovative!). We also saw a lot of countries promoting their horticulture novelties.



Students at Floriade Venlo



 At 16h we drove back to The Red Tiles (Rooi Pannen) for a delicious diner. The day was long, but it was quit pleasant.

Dinner at Rooi Pannen

Tomorrow the final day: cucumbers, floralworkshop and ..... departure to France.

Day 3: relaxed program

Today we did a relaxed program because tomorrow we will visit the Floriade. At 8.30 everybody arrived at the school. First Mrs. Anne Motte had to visit the English lesson of Mr. Hans Mertens.

English lesson Mr. Hans Mertens

On the right: Mrs. Anne Motte.

Mrs. Sabine Laconte and Mrs. Genevieve Vanhersecke had to find fuel for the car and so it was a beautifull opportunity for the students to write a report for facebook. When their teachers came back, they published the reports.

Control the report.

Manon and Romaane help Mrs. Vanhersecke with facebook.

While the students visit the lessons of the Dutch students, Mrs. Vanhersecke and Mrs. Laconte went out for fuel.
 At 10.15 we left for "Groenrijk" in Oosterhout. Groenrijk is a very big shop with all kinds of things and many plants for the garden. It's a little bit like Jardiland in Calais. This entreprise is well known by Mr. Jan van Dorst. He is the teacher who takes care of "stage" for our Dutch students. And quiet a lot of our students have worked here. So it was lovely Mr. Jan van Dorst kept us company.



Groenrijk Oosterhout



Have a little bit to drink in Groenrijk.



Anthony is ready for the EK this summer. As you see, he loves Holland.

At school lunch was ready and Mr. Hans Mertens and Mr. Eric Abrahams joined the group. After lunch the visit at the tree nursery in Wernhout was planned. The tree nursery is owned by the father of one of teh Prinsentuin students: Ruud Jochems. He showed the visitors around.

Tree nursery Jochems Wernhout.

French students are very interested.

After the visit at the tree nursery the students had some freetime. They went shopping in the city of Breda, together with their new Dutch friends. Aftwerwards a relaxing evening.

For the French teachers we had a small evening program. They allso went shopping, but at 18.00 h Mr. Peter van Vessem and Mrs. Thea van Vessem (not me) picked them up at the hotel. They had dinner in restaurant Don Quichon and afterwards is was Ikea-time. They have to find the spatiphylums again.

Ikea time

In Ikea Mrs. Sabine Laconte found the Spatipylums

Now it's time to relax and sleep. The teachers love the hotel.

Tomorrow it's D-day. The Floriade day.

Day 2: the longest day.

This morning all the students were at the parking at 6.00. We had one place to less in the cars, so Mr. Eduard Kamstra stayed at home. Mr. Noud Theuws did a big job: he took all the French students, teachers and Dutch students to the Flowermarket in Naaldwijk.

After a beautifull visit, they came back to Breda. At 10.15 h they arrived at the school in Breda and after a little break, they started the flowerlessons with Mrs. Agnes van Zon.



Floral workshop with Mrs. Agnes van Zon.

 


Mrs. Agnes van Zon gives all the instructions in English.

  


The students can pick the materials they like the best. Mrs. Sabine Laconte (on the right) is completely in heaven.

 



As you see, the are making a "flowercake".

 Then it was time for lunch. Mrs. Marieke van de Veeken and Mrs. Marieke Kavelaars did a great job. Specially for our guests they baked the famous Dutch "vleeskroketten". I learned the students to eat with 2 slices of bread, musterd and then simply with your hands.

The FR-students had written with their English teacher a lot of questions. Happily Nicole Peeters was at the lunch. She is one of the Dutch students. So all the FR-students had the posibility to exercise to ask the questions.

At 13.15 it was time to leave for the Spatiphylum-nursery. Killian Rommers (NL-student) went by the bike, together with Jessy Baele and Anthony Senecat (FR-students). They allmost arrived at the same time as we (with the cars). Mr. Hans Mertens was allready waiting for us.
The spatiphylum-nursery is owned by the brothers Houtepen. Arthur Houtepen was inside and after a little "hello". He showed us around in this beautifull entreprise. The French students and teachers were very excited: never seen such a business before.
Pictures say more then words:

Aroun 16.00 we arrived again at the school. After a hot Coco or coffea it was time for the students to go home. The French and Dutch students eat together at the Dutch families. The teachers went back to the hotel and will go for Chines food around the 16.00 h with Mr. Noud Theuws, Mrs. Judith de Groot and Mr. Eudard Kamstra. 

As you read: this is the longest day. At 20.00 h all the French students and Dutch students are expected the Sonsbeek-swimming pool for a few hours of fun. When I left France, only 4 of the 8 students wanted to swim. But the Dutch students all want to swim. So we decided we will try. But look at the photo's, I think the French students had great fun (as the Dutch).

Swimming pool Sonsbeek - Breda

I think they will sleep very wel this night.