Cinderella

This year at school Olivia's grade has had an intense focus on the performing arts. They have had many opportunities to attend the theater and see classical pieces like "Candide" and also modern dance programs. The week long Buthiers camp had all kinds of activities dealing with theater. Not only did her French class put on a big production, but the Anglophone (English) section did a show as well.

Last night was the debut of the Anglophone class version of "Cinderella". It was a musical and I thought everyone did a great job. Olivia was one of the "step-mothers"...many children shared each role. For instance there were 4 Cinderellas, 4 step-mothers, 4 princes, etc . Each child wore the same costume to help avoid confusion when a different person came on stage. Olivia had to sing a solo. She really surprised us with her calm yet confident stage presence - she played a "mean" step-mom! Her song sounded fabulous. As the school year closes in on us we are really enjoying these "last performances". It's been a real Cinderella story for our entire family!


The Cast party after the show
Sasha, Rebecca, Anna, Claire, Zoe, Tess, Olivia

81 élèves (81 pupils)

The big production for Olivia's French class starred 81 élèves. Hours of planning, rehearsing and work went into the show. Unfortunately I never got a good photo because it was too dark the night of the performance. Olivia had one little speaking part...she did just fine. Overall it was a great experience. It was called L'horologer de l'aube. We are still trying to figure out what it was all about...liberty and justice for all. There were a couple of very interesting "French" aspects. One person was shot and killed in a scene and several others required the soldiers marching around with guns. Quite grown-up content for 5th graders, but a pleasant learning experience nonetheless.

l' accident (the mishap)

With all of our travels and company we had l' accident on Sunday. Olivia was asked to play her violin for the Ponelle baptism at the church. We misunderstood the request and she showed up on Sunday unprepared and without her violin. When the mistake was realized I hurried home to fetch her violin. She hadn't practiced all week due to our many activities, but she remained as calm and pleasant as ever. Her good friend Alysee offered to accompany her on the piano and in just 20 minutes of practicing they had a nice little song prepared for the program. Nice to know that under pressure friends can help us through many trials!

Buthiers Camp Report

It's been a while since I've written and there is sooo much to catch up...I'm going to start at the beginning of our last school vacation....

It was great to add Olivia to our family scene once again as we picked her up from Buthier camp. She was all smiles & had lots of fun stories to share about her experience. They provided croissants & drinks for a little social hour while the kids showed the parents around the place & said their final “good-byes” to the counselors & friends. Every day the kids woke at 7am, had a little breakfast and then attended different classes related to theater. Her favorite was painting and designing scenery for the class play. They took explorations through the forest & did course orientation, went mountain biking, rock climbing, rode go-carts, & played lots of different tag games. Surprisingly she said the food was pretty good…cordon bleu, pastas, fresh salads, fruits and puddings. She was afraid it would be too much like canteen at school, so it was a nice surprise that everything was edible.

I think her favorite thing was sharing a room with 10 other girls: Claire, Zoe, Tess, Anna, Clara, Sasha, Rebecca, Marta & Flora. Everyone got along fabulously. These girls have very clever senses of humor which kept them all from any homesickness. They talked and talked and laughed until the counselors said “lights out & mouths shut” every night!

Buthiers Camp

Olivia left this morning for Buthiers Camp. The entire CM2 (5th grade) class is going to camp for one week. They are staying at a location about an hour away. It is in the forest so they will do exploration, star gazing and other fun things. The focus of the week is theater. The class will be preparing for the French play...they will rehearse, design scenery and learn all about a stage production. Olivia was thrilled at the prospect. She is sharing a room with 10 other girls and fortunately she thinks all of them are fantastic. We hope she has a grand adventure!