Adventures in France 2

March 7th
The Patron of Catholic schools and the greatest glory of the Dominican order, yes, you guessed him, St. Thomas Aquinas feast day was celebrated on March 7th by what I can only describe as a field day. The whole school was removed to the nearby village of Cadillac for the day. A High Mass complete with organ music, a rare thing for us, was celebrated in the beautiful village church and then there was a seperating of the students into groups for a sort of scavenger hunt. We went all around the town and stopped at local historical sights or places of note. We saw a pilgram house for those on the way to Compostella, which also served as a sick house for the poor, which as far as I was able to gather is still in use today. We saw 2 city portes or gates and a plaza of sortes, the chateau exterior and ramparts, the church of course. The children learned about the towns history etc, but since I, the turtle brain that I am, can still not understand French, I could only pick up bits and pieces. Yes, they are dissapointed in me and dismayed as the normal foreigner implanted in this environment can usually pick it up in about 3 months. What gives? I, the hermitess, have not the gift for languages. Help me, Holy Ghost, with your gift of the tongues!
back to the blog:
We had our picnic lunch in a parking lot of sorts. I think we were supposed to be in a park, but it was inaccessible or else not big enough for everyone. The students had to answer a series of questions after lunch. I suppose they were fairly challenging as it seemed to absorb them for quite a time. Meanwhile the younger children were running around and one of the girls in our group bloodied her knee, but I digress. We ended the day with the rosary inside the church and chocolate and bread, just like every other day, but the chocolate was a sort of truffle and the bread was sweet. The children returned with their parents many of who came out for the Mass and later for the Rosary, I and one other American student returned to the school for a nice, quiet weekend, cloister style! oh ya