A Day at St. Vaast

What a busy day! This morning began with another delicious breakfast, looking out at the beautiful woodland here at Parc D'Olhain. We've even spotted a few rabbits bouncing around!

After breakfast, we set out in the coach for Bethune, to spend another exciting day with our new French friends. On arriving at the school, we had a quick play then visited our pen pals' classrooms.

It was wonderful to see their school lives and they showed us some of their work, as well as performing a song for us. It was called Liberte; a popular song based on a poem from World War Two, which has recently been re-released for charity.

Next, we visited the school's chapel- it had a fascinating 129-year history, it was even used as a hospital for British soldiers in WW1.

Soon it was lunchtime! We had a three-course lunch (!) in the school cafeteria with our pen pals, before heading back out into the sunshine to play in the playground. 

After lunch, St. John's and St. Clare's took turns to play fun team building games in the playground or to take a tour of Bethune.

On our tour, we saw a boulangerie, boucher, chocolatier, fromagerie, the town hall (l'hotel du ville), the famous bell tower from the Middle Ages and the spectacular church of St. Vaast.

After our tour, we had a quick snack and drink in the cafeteria at school, then went to the dchool's drama studio. The French children performed two short plays for us: one about the story of St. Vaast and the other about Bethune during WW1. 

At the end of this wonderful day, we said our goodbyes and told our pen pals that we would be seeing them soon- in June at St. Anthony's!

Now, we are back at the centre and everyone is having some quiet time before getting showered and ready for tonight's party, after dinner!