August 03, 2004
French Exchange Notes: Part Quatre
See the original post "Ouí Ouí!" for explanations.
This is the final installment of discussions on having a French exchange student living with us for a few weeks in July. The first three parts are located at:
Notes Part Un
Notes Part Deux
Notes Part Troix
Without further delay, I present the final entry:
Yes, Robinson is now gone from our home, if not from our lives. It was a real pleasure to have such a good young man join us from Paris to spend 3 weeks improving his English and his horseback riding skills at a stables north of us.
We were very sad to see him leave, and it finally hit us on a verrrry quiet Sunday afternoon that Mr. Beraud was no longer with us in person. The house was silent, there were no planned activities, and Max kept asking where his good friend Robinson went. Un Deux Trois. (Max learned a few words in Francais).
On the plus side, I was finally able to rent Starsky & Hutch. Robinson had seen it twice recently so he wouldn't let me rent it again.
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Robinson was a credit to his country, a wonderful guest and family member in our home this summer and we appreciated every minute of his stay.
The last three days were fantastic. We enjoyed going to the soccer game (it was Max's first soccer game this year) and my in-laws had a blast talking and spending time with him. Our Tarte Á l'Oignon was the hit of the French Farewell Dinner! BTW — recipes on the Internet have the pie made with nutmeg, but we used Herbs de Provence, a preferred alternative of the Parisian Café scene.
We have many fond memories of our time together, and I'm sure Max will remember Robinson for a long time.
Somehow along the way I picked up a few words in Francais, and I will continue to work on pronouncing his name :-)
"Ah tu swee" is part of our vocabulary now when somebody sneezes!
It was fun, as Robinson was an excellent teacher. In fact, he was never frustrated by our inability to pronounce the French "r" and didn't wince more than a couple times as we slaughtered his native tongue.
Ahhhh, I can't go on, I'll start getting all teary-eyed 'n' stuff.
A plus Robinson! (See you later, buddy)
Posted by BilFish at August 3, 2004 07:10 AM