By fhweb | Published:
February 1, 2010
Lac du Bois, Hackensack sends you warm wishes (souhaits chaleureux) in these cold winter months. It is hard to believe that February is already upon us; the summer will be here before we know it! Remember that if you register for a summer program before February 28, 2010, you will receive an Early Bird discount. Click the following link to sign up and save 4%! http://www.concordialanguagevillages.org/newsite/Registration/register1.php
Before we say a final au revoir to the month of January, we should say bonjour to our monos du mois de janvier –Chloë et Thérèse!
Salut from Marseille! I’m spending the semester here studying French, Arabic language and culture, and the relationship between la France and l’Afrique du Nord. On my way to Marseille, I stopped in Paris for a week, where I spent a great afternoon with Angélique. We went to the Centre Pompidou, a modern art museum, and then to a café. Here in Marseille, I’m especially enjoying eating fresh baguettes and trying as many different yogurt flavors as I can (there are so many choices in France!). I can’t wait for this summer at Lac du Bois! A bientôt! Chloë
Bonjour, tout le monde! I’m back in Michigan for the school year, teaching le français and studying at the University of Michigan. It’s been very cold here, so I’ve been drinking lots of chocolat chaud—et du café, bien sûr! When I’m not teaching or studying, I like to chanter, nager, and think about new atéliers and veillées for next summer. J’ai hâte pour l’été, and I hope to see you all back with us at Lac du Bois in 2010! A bientôt, Thérèse
By fhweb | Published:
December 28, 2009
Joyeuses fêtes de fin d’année! As 2009 comes to a close, many people like to reflect upon the events and experiences of the past year. We hope that for you, like us, many fond memories of Lac du Bois come to mind when you consider the happy times of 2009.
Even more importantly, the approaching new year is a time to look forward. It is not too early to start thinking about spending summer 2010 at Lac du Bois, Hackensack. We have many dedicated counselors already committed to joining us that are anxious to see you there!
Say bonjour and bonne année to our monos du mois for the month of December – Delphine and Candice!
“Bonsoir, tout le monde! Right now I am sitting in a completely lovely little café sipping chocolat chaud in Poitiers, France where I am living and working! I spend my week teaching anglais to French children. It has been very interesting learning about the French school system, but I am impatiently awaiting return of the summer months at Lac du Bois where language learning is an all-day adventure instead of a just a weekly lesson. I have been getting lots of practice singing all by myself, so be prepared for my off-key voice louder than ever next summer! 
I recently had the great fortune to be able to visit another counselor, Anita, in Aix-en-Provence and we were able to enjoy the adorable Christmas market there together! — Gros bisous, Delphine”
“Salut Lac du Bois! Since the end of camp, I’ve been busy being a student at St. Olaf College, where one of my majors is French, and where I work in the French department assisting my professor. Another counselor from Lac du Bois and I are in the same French class, and we frequently reminisce about the time we’ve spent in Hackensack, singing camp songs to ourselves and laughing at our memories of Plaisir d’Amour. These memories and the beautiful sunsets on campus remind me of Lac du Bois and make me anxious for another fantastic summer in Hackensack. Hopefully I’ll see you all there! –A plus! Candice”
By fhweb | Published:
November 15, 2009
As temperatures drop in the month of November, summer can seem distant. Yet we have lots of staff who still have Lac du Bois on their minds, and we hope that you do too! Read on to learn how this month’s “monos du mois” — Mélanie et Angélique — are using French this fall.
“Imagine the hills of the Pyrenees suddenly opening into the Mediterranean Sea, and at this meeting point, imagine the most picturesque seaside village with yellow, turquoise, purple, pink and green houses. This was the village of Collioure where I ate a picnic of fresh baguette, fromage, vin and fruit on the beach during the All Saints (la Toussaint) vacation. I also traveled to Carcasonne, a preserved Medieval fortress, and to Bordeaux. I am now in Sartrouville, a suburb west of Paris, where I teach English in a French high school and share an apartment with a Brazilian language assistant. The temperature is dropping in Paris, but we keep warm by sipping our favorite drink, le chocolat chaud! Biz, Angelique.”
“Bonjour mes amis du Lac du Bois! My daughter Sarah and I are in Nîmes (“la ville avec un accent“) France right now. We arrived on October 8 and are staying with a couple from Tahiti (a Francophone country). Sarah (who is 11 years old) is attending public school here for four weeks and I get to teach English to her class and a couple other classes at the elementary school. After teaching French for so long it’s strange and enlightening to teach my native language. I’ve found that Americans think the French “r” is difficult to pronounce, but now I realize that the American “r” is just as difficult and perhaps even more so.
I think of Lac du Bois often here. Just yesterday as I was riding the bus we passed by a park where some older gentlemen were wearing bérets and playing pétanque. Whenever I walk into a boulangerie/pâtisserie it smells like Paris at Lac du Bois when we would have chocolat chaud and croissants for le petit déjeuner. Here in Nîmes there are les Arènes (an ancient Roman amphitheatre), la Tour Magne (a roman tower which dates back 2000 years) and la Maison Carrée (a fully preserved roman temple). I am taking lots of pictures (just like I did at Lac du Bois) and hope to be able to share them with you next summer! Gros bisous, Mélanie”
Great weather continues into the end of the week, which pleases our canoeing and archery groups. Check out our photos on flickr to see what our ateliers have been up to. Today’s theme, the Révolution Française, has installed some semblance of a system of nobility in our daily life here at Lac du Bois. The family Cannelle was chosen at random as Lac du Bois nobles during this morning’s breakfast. During lunchtime the villagers met Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI for our Révolution Française day. Beginning with this afternoon meal, the staff carried out an all day simulation dividing villagers and counselors both into la noblesse and les paysans. Those chosen villagers and a few counselors ate tartiflette and peas together at a separate table while the rest of our village carried on as usual. Through meal sketches and our triangle de sagesse we explained the famine and corruption that lead up to the revolt. As the peasants were transporting water down a human chain to fill buckets a half orchestrated half impulsive uprising broke out and they stormed the Bastille (Sauna). An intense water balloon fight ensued between the nobles and the peasants; each fallen noble became a peasant and the two groups had to work together. They played team-building games to learn the whereabouts of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Once found, the couple was taken to the quai where they entered the guillotine (pushed into the lake). After these activities we all signed the declaration des droits de l’homme and sang around out campfire before heading to bed.
Want to see our village in action? Check out our Flickr site for tons of pictures each day: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ldbhackensack/
This morning villagers and counselors alike seemed in great spirits; smiles all around, healthy appetites and willing participation are nearly overwhelming. It may have something to do with the sun and warm weather, but I’d like to believe that it’s the start of our new ateliers that has gotten everyone excited. This time around we’re offering macramé extrême for those crafters amongst us who have already a basic knowledge of bracelet making skills. Canoeing and archery are huge favorites as usual.
Charles Baudelaire graced us with his presence during the lunch presentation today in honor of poetry day. Food was transformed into verse and rimes seemed to just float around during dinner. For this evening’s activity villagers divided into family and worked on Madlibs. Next, we distributed handfuls of words from our word bank to give inspiration for a few lines of poetry. It was a collective effort magnetic poetry activity, which was then passed to other families to get variety into our verse. Once all of the preparation work was done we headed to Champagne for our Café Poésie. Two villagers from each family came up to the front to read their couplets. After all the families had read we had created a nice original poem. This was a great activity for the campers to use their creativity and learn quite a bit of new French, and how to use it.
Want to see our village in action? Check out our Flickr site for tons of pictures each day: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ldbhackensack/
New villagers went through orientation today at the confiserie, boutique and sauna to learn the ropes a little while our two-weekers participated in their ateliers. We signed up for new activities this afternoon during sieste and will get started in those tomorrow morning. This time through counselors offered badminton, tir à l’arc, danse africaine, canoeing, cake decoration and macramé. New arrivals participated in their first Odyssée today, getting to know counselors with whom they will pass quite a bit of time over the next few days and diving right into fun activities. Some of our villagers got to make a music video this afternoon in découverte: chansons d’enfance, a short video clip that should be up soon on our flickr page.
The United Nations was today’s theme at Lac du Bois, and we called on the villagers’ problem solving skills. Differences between two imaginary countries, Poissonlande and Tourismanie, divided a group of counselors. They began disputing possible uses of trees and firewood, the presence of our camp monster in the lake and who should be able to use the quai. Villagers discussed these issues in families before making resolutions on the use of our resources shared by Poissonlande and Tourismanie. We pulled some interesting and very good ideas out of this group and they enjoyed discussing their opinions.
Want to see our village in action? Check out our Flickr site for tons of pictures each day: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ldbhackensack/
This afternoon we worked an Opening Day around our normal activities so that our two-week villagers could continue participating in all the activities they enjoy and that we could still welcome our new one-week campers to site and help them install themselves. Our new arrivals weaved their way through our Franco hill, passing by stations to create a nametag with their new French name, to depose their contrebande, to work with our travel agents to arrange departure details, to sign up for morning ateliers and to talk with one of our counselors to be placed in an Odyssée. While others were at activités au choix our new villagers set up their temporary homes in the cabins and got to know their counselors and cabin mates. They jumped right into songs and took a site tour during our evening activity.
Our supermonos for today invited two-week villagers to a Casino Royal after Plaisirs d’Amour. Today’s theme of Romans Policiers, detective novels, imposes the need of crime in the village; campers thus become detectives in a sense and help solve the mystery. One of the counselors here at Lac du Bois was suspected as having stolen la Poste du Lac du Bois, the community mail system. Casino Royal set the scene for a discreet investigation in which card players – villagers – asked leading questions to our four dealers, counselors whose characters were based on Clue personnages. At the end of our games and mingling two secret detectives opened up the floor for accusations to see if our campers got to the bottom of the mystery. Professor Prune and Madame Paon were the two counselors on the chopping block and villagers pulled through: accused, voted and arrested the guilty Professor Prune.
Want to see our village in action? Check out our Flickr site for tons of pictures each day: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ldbhackensack/
To live a little more à la française, Sundays here at Lac du Bois move at a different pace. We made up for the late night at the dance by sleeping in this morning and having a brunch américain. After feasting on cinnamon rolls, sausage and scrambled eggs we headed into the grand activité following today’s theme of Grands Explorateurs. Counselors divided villagers up into three groups, equipped them with compasses, a map of our site and instructions leading them to a specific location where they were to set up a “new colony”. At these sites they searched for food – hidden boxes containing s’mores materials – and shelter. Small groups were then sent out to find other neighboring communities to exchange food and goods that could help them accomplish their tasks. The directions given by our supermonos were approximate at best, so the leading counselors and campers were left to intuition and cardinal directions. They all really enjoyed the short trek through our woods and achieving their ultimate objective.
Once sieste and activities were through each cabin had a chance to bond over après-midi en cabane during which villagers were able to choose an activity they all wanted to do as a group. Some cabins went down to the beach and others chose to have a “spa night” this afternoon. This is always an exciting time for villagers to get to know their cabin-mates a little better and to laugh and bond with their counselors over things they enjoy. Following après-midi en cabane we headed to dinner for beef stew and blueberry pie. We pushed tables together in Paris to allow multiple families to eat together; it was really great to see some new faces around the dinner table. Tonight’s activity followed in line with the rest of our relaxing day: soirée cinema! Villagers and counselors brought pillows and blankets to Champagne to watch Bolt en français. Popcorn and fruit juice made this particular cabin feel a bit more like the movie theater and it was a nice treat for the campers to watch a movie allongés par terre as if they were having a sleep over at home.
Want to see our village in action? Check out our Flickr site for tons of pictures each day: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ldbhackensack/
A couple of our cabins this morning were packing up and getting ready to meet their parents for the departure presentation. We’re in the mid-session limbo where half of our community goes home and the other continues daily life at Lac du Bois, but no one left without seeing Super Français and la Tornade Blanche one more time over croissants and nutella. Our two-week villagers joined us after their ateliers to help out their Odyssée during the parent presentation. Each group performed a short sketch or discussed briefly their Odyssée’s theme and staff counselors familiarized parents with our daily schedule at Lac du Bois. Intermittently we sang our favorite camp songs and honored our six-year villager, Mathieu.
To shake things up a bit for our two-week villagers we held our famous Resto-Danse and played a large game of loup-garou. Villagers signed up with friends during activités au choix for their restaurant tables. Counselors served them stuffed turkey legs, honey baked ham or a ratatouille-esque vegetarian option as they dined and chatted amongst themselves this evening. We held the big dance in Champagne tonight, which created a slightly more intimate and secure atmosphere for dancing. Villagers stayed out a little late tonight to get in all the dancing possible. Luckily we’re sleeping in tomorrow for our grasse matinée Sunday à la Française!
Want to see our village in action? Check out our Flickr site for tons of pictures each day: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ldbhackensack/
Today, we learned about the Roman invasion of Gaulle and how our beloved France became the country it is now. Julius Cesar demanded food from a gaulois prisoner in exchange for freedom during our lunchtime meal presentation. We served the villagers one of their favorites today: gratin dauphinois au bacon, a potato and cheese casserole topped with a few slices of bacon. Following the afternoon activities and our banquet we divided the campers into seven teams for a large and complicated game of capture the flag. This was to represent in some senses the battles between Gaul and the Romans. Once the game was over and villagers tired we held a special beret ceremony in Champagne before singing goodnight songs à la Lac du Bois. Our counselors and their fellow villagers honored our one-week students for their great efforts and years of dedication to our camp.
Villagers took their last canoe trip, decorated their last cakes, launched their last arrows and smudged their last pastels this morning. Our one-week session came slowly to an end today, the last full day of activities and meals. We wrapped up our ateliers; villagers searched high and low for stray centimes and euros around their cabins; every member of the Plaisirs d’Amour cast somehow ended up in the lake. These are the things that mark the end of a session here at Lac du Bois. However, it’s not over quite yet! Tomorrow we’ll invite the parents of our one-week villagers to a program highlighting their children whose accomplishments this past week will be the center of attention. After all is said and done for our parting campers we have a special weekend in store for those who stay with us through the end of next week.
Want to see our village in action? Check out our Flickr site for tons of pictures each day: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ldbhackensack/
