Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
l'article de Kaki
Universal Feelings: A Mother’s Love
By: Kaki Bennett
When Monsieur Gatoux told my AP French class he was taking a group to France over spring break to visit HIES’s sister school in Briey, I have to admit I was a little nervous about the trip. After all, we would be staying with people we had never met. Even more intimidating, we would be attending school conducted entirely in French. Although I felt somewhat competent in school French and had been to France with friends and family, I had never had to be completely dependent on my French.
On the Friday night spring break began, eight of us, together with Monsieur Gatoux and Mrs. Many, flew from Atlanta to Amsterdam and then to Luxembourg. From there, we took a bus to Briey, our final destination. After traveling for over twenty four hours, we met our new French friends.
At first, I had trouble communicating and spoke only when spoken to by others. Gradually, we all began to feel more comfortable conversing in French. Our French hosts made us feel welcome and organized fun activities for us. We played laser tag, went skiing in an indoor snow hall, visited the cities of Metz and Verdun, the site of a World War I memorial and peace museum. We also enjoyed dinners and parties with our friends and host families and participated in comical games of charades to overcome the language barrier.
On our last night, my host family entertained the group for dinner and dancing. My family and I were very excited about the chance to entertain the group, and we had spent the day getting ready for the party.
As an aside, I have type I diabetes. Whenever I travel alone, my mother worries about what kind of food I will eat, what my blood sugar will be, or how far the hospital is in case I need medical attention. On this trip, she was especially worried because I was not staying with someone I knew or who spoke English. For the most part, I had done well with managing my diabetes on the trip, and my blood sugars had been relatively normal until the night of the last dance. After the party, when I checked my blood sugar before going to bed, it was 500. Considering that normal blood sugar is 80 to 120 (my blood sugar when I was diagnosed was only 485), a reading of 500 is not good. I called my parents, and my father reassuringly discussed a course of action. When I told my host mother my problem, she calmly asked me what I needed and if there was anything she could do to help me. I assured her that I had the situation under control and would stay up until 3 a.m. to check my blood sugar. Without any hesitation, she told me that she would stay up with me to help me if I needed it. When I called my mother back to tell her that Magali, my host mother, was staying up with me, you could hear the crack in her voice, and her sense of relief came through even over the telephone.
My fears before going to France were of the unknown. After I spent time with my kind, generous host family, we bonded, and I cannot wait to keep in touch with them. Hopefully, my French exchange student, Maryne, will get to come to Atlanta next year. I learned so much on my trip, but most importantly, I learned that the human spirit has no geographic boundaries. It seems that mothers are the same everywhere.
By: Kaki Bennett
When Monsieur Gatoux told my AP French class he was taking a group to France over spring break to visit HIES’s sister school in Briey, I have to admit I was a little nervous about the trip. After all, we would be staying with people we had never met. Even more intimidating, we would be attending school conducted entirely in French. Although I felt somewhat competent in school French and had been to France with friends and family, I had never had to be completely dependent on my French.
On the Friday night spring break began, eight of us, together with Monsieur Gatoux and Mrs. Many, flew from Atlanta to Amsterdam and then to Luxembourg. From there, we took a bus to Briey, our final destination. After traveling for over twenty four hours, we met our new French friends.
At first, I had trouble communicating and spoke only when spoken to by others. Gradually, we all began to feel more comfortable conversing in French. Our French hosts made us feel welcome and organized fun activities for us. We played laser tag, went skiing in an indoor snow hall, visited the cities of Metz and Verdun, the site of a World War I memorial and peace museum. We also enjoyed dinners and parties with our friends and host families and participated in comical games of charades to overcome the language barrier.
On our last night, my host family entertained the group for dinner and dancing. My family and I were very excited about the chance to entertain the group, and we had spent the day getting ready for the party.
As an aside, I have type I diabetes. Whenever I travel alone, my mother worries about what kind of food I will eat, what my blood sugar will be, or how far the hospital is in case I need medical attention. On this trip, she was especially worried because I was not staying with someone I knew or who spoke English. For the most part, I had done well with managing my diabetes on the trip, and my blood sugars had been relatively normal until the night of the last dance. After the party, when I checked my blood sugar before going to bed, it was 500. Considering that normal blood sugar is 80 to 120 (my blood sugar when I was diagnosed was only 485), a reading of 500 is not good. I called my parents, and my father reassuringly discussed a course of action. When I told my host mother my problem, she calmly asked me what I needed and if there was anything she could do to help me. I assured her that I had the situation under control and would stay up until 3 a.m. to check my blood sugar. Without any hesitation, she told me that she would stay up with me to help me if I needed it. When I called my mother back to tell her that Magali, my host mother, was staying up with me, you could hear the crack in her voice, and her sense of relief came through even over the telephone.
My fears before going to France were of the unknown. After I spent time with my kind, generous host family, we bonded, and I cannot wait to keep in touch with them. Hopefully, my French exchange student, Maryne, will get to come to Atlanta next year. I learned so much on my trip, but most importantly, I learned that the human spirit has no geographic boundaries. It seems that mothers are the same everywhere.
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