Monday, April 9, 2012

Vimy the way it was ...then and now.....Day 5


     The big day is finally here and now gone but I will get to the finer details a little later on.  The day started off with an early breakfast(as per usual) and the kids are awesome as usual once again. I love these guys...once again I would travel with these young men and women anywhere!  As we hit the road we hit the road with the thoughts of our veterans in our minds and hearts more than ever, we look forward to the short trip back to Vimy...oh S^&t our first casualty of the trip has just occurred...No death but definitively a very severe injury has just occurred and it makes me very nervous to tell you as parents, who have entrusted your children with us.  
     This calls for a very major decision, one which I think falls under the categories outlined in that lawyer thingy that you signed earlier, but not 100% sure what to do.....I make a snap judgement as it only affects our bus....with that in mind we decide not to turn back and forge ahead towards and not look back, and cripes that must have hurt, but we are on a tight schedule so we’ll come back and get him tonight on the way back, but in all honesty I don’t think he will be alive by then.  
     That Mallard duck that just smashed into the window is on his own, we can’t turn back with the big bus and besides it’s impossible to do a U-turn.  Sorry Daffy! RIP...well we are not sure he is dead but my god he hit the window hard, he was eye level with me and was like a cartoon because he stuck to the for a slight moment and stared right at me in the front see and as he slid off the window, ala his cousin Daffy, he attmepted to fly again but we didn’t see how he made out.  Duck a L’orange tonight possibly?  Enough goofiness sorry...

There is the monument in the distance...what a beautiful site...1936 finished and opened for the public by Sir Walter Alward...one of a kind stone from an old Roman quarry in Croatia...the spires rising into the sky signifying both Canada and France and then the names, this is going to be a big day!  
The significance for Canadian history is well documented and the transformation or even birth of a nation is in the forefront,  I truly believe this will be the same for many of your children.  I do't want to bog you down with a ton of videos or history lessons, but I  do want you to know about what you kids are learning.  This will give you some perspective as to what they are learning about over here, it will also show you and others that learning can take place out of the classroom no matter what is thought or said at the higher levels of the "powers that be."



Hard to imagine that all happened 95 years ago....or maybe not.  What happened in those days leading up to Easter Monday was a perfect example of what Canadians as a whole do.  When times are tough we buck up and muster through no matter what.  What a great life lesson to be taught...sorry about the long history lesson.  Back to the ceremony.


As we arrive in Givenchy we are queued in line to grab our box lunch and then to get ready for the march.  Bigger and better every year! 3800 teachers and chaperones marching back through the town of Givenchy in a completely silent march...wow!  The rain is holding off as we head into cemetery #2 which is well below the monument...logistically it took EF 48.5 minutes to get everyone in and centered on the grave sites.  Now back for about a 3 KM walk minimun with 3799 of my closest proud canadians.  The people of the city also came out of their houses to wave Canadian flags at the  kids, their way of saying thanks.

     As I broke from the group to get ready for the ceremonies as co-master of ceremonies, Adam Gallant and Amanda Rundle are queued in line with one of our wreaths and the rest of the students are lined up beside a grave.  The time has come and these kids are ready...they understand, the really do get it..we have done our job, and we are still dry!!!  Oops check that the opening remarks are made and a few sprinkles come down...now its windy and now its raining...Vimy in 2012 was only slighlty different in weather than 1917, they were cold and wet and now so are we.  It makes us all a little warmer inside knowing that these men gave their lives and the cold is not as bitter....the rain is not as wet....and our lives are not so bad, in fact they are great!
     After a very moving ceremony that lasted about 45-50 minutes, and with a couple of great masters of ceremony, it comes to close and we move back up the hill to the trenches and then onto lunch and then to the Memorial for a vieweing.  There a little dispapointment however, because the Governor General is coming and the French big wigs, we are not allowed on the monument to read all the names....high high secuirty because of some issues in the country a few weeks ago....but we do get to stand on the back and have our pic taken...most thought it was the front but they now know it was the back!  Then it starts to pour...downpour and it did so for the next 5 hours and we are in the middle of it...the kids are holding up well.  
    The afternoon ceremony is the national one and we are spectators only, other than Brendan who is sitting on the monument after acting as an honnorary torch bearer for our province...he is so proud and also Grace, who has now rejoined us, who was part of a small group of students carrying our national flag of remembrance into the main ceremony.
     Hate to report that we did take a couple of kids to first aid and they needed to get warmed up...Abbey and Marissa first and then Jaime...all is well and everyone but Jaime made it to the concert that everning...I am sooooo sorry but I will need to finish tomorrow and I have much more to tell.  I need to be up in 3 hours because I need to go to Paris early...I made a decision to get all the kids back on one bus....I am heading to Paris early with the other bus with Bluefield, Ktown and Morrell..long story short, the other schools skipped the concert to get to Paris early(concert was awesome and our kids were the life of the party!!!) and we need to remove on person to make room for all the kids and chaperones and parents to go to Paris together and together is the key word...they are sleeping in until 7:30 and yours truly will be on his way to Paris by himself...I will meet them again about 2 or 3 in the afternoon...guess I am going to the Louvre...by myself!!!  Chat more tomorrow...Kids are all good and we are loving the world tour!!!  Sooo sorrry about a short story tonight!!!


dc
 PS..next morning is here...just thought I would let you know that the rest of the story only need be told that your kids had a blast and are sooooo glad they came to the concert...now dry, warm and fed(a little sweaty and stinky now too!)  Our entire group danced the night away and crowd surfed for a good portion of it!  Yikes!!!!   The two bands as you have heard before are Hey Rosetta! and Spirit of the West.
We encountered no casualties and we have the happiest kids in the stadium.  I will leave you with a couple of more videos from the bands the kids have danced to all night...they are tired but in great spirits and we have had more than one remark about how much fun that one group seems to be having...having fun with these fools was not something I was worried about!!!!!! Chat tonight and thanks for reading once again!!!  EF has once again outdid themselves for these kids!!!  Trust me on this one!!!
Oh yeah forgot to mention...we even got a visit, not us personally, I am good but not that good, from the Governor General and he spoke quite candidly to the kids at the concert.  IN fact the GG's speech was Brendan's favorite part of the concert!!!!  Haha




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