Lake Huron/ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

We woke up early Saturday morning and prepared for our day at Grand Bend which is on the shores of Lake Huron and approximately 30 minutes from our home.  Lake Huron is one of the 5 Great Lakes of North America and in surface area is the second largest with a surface area of 59,600 km2  (3rd largest fresh water lake on Earth).  

The day started out overcast but after an hour of being at the beach the sun came out and it turned out to be an enjoyable day.   Fanny put her feet in the lake and had the look of pure shock at just how cold the water felt.  I told her, "welcome to Canada".    We threw the football around for awhile, suntanned, the girls went for a walk down the beach, had lunch that Lydia had prepared and then took a walk down the main strip in Grand Bend.   Fanny commented on how cheap everything was compared to back home in France.  After stopping at Tim Horton's for a coffee (chocolate milk for Fanny) we headed home.  Once home Brooke and Fanny did the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge (www.als.ca)  after Brooke had been challenged by her former ball teammate Mikayla Hart.   We're proud of Fanny for doing the challenge with Brooke and it certainly went a long way to building the bond between these two.   

We had dinner which consisted of baked potatoes, chicken and caesar salad and got laughing hysterically as Lydia, Brooke and myself attempted to pronounce Fanny Cools name properly.   After several poor attempts we almost have it.  lol.   After dinner Brooke and Fanny walked over to meet up with one of Brooke's best friends, Amy Zavitz.  The girls went for ice cream before walking back to our home to play some Wii Dance *see video*  and enjoy a campfire complete with S'mores (graham crackers, chocolate and a roasted marshmallows)   

Fanny Cools Arrives August 22, 2014

It's Friday August 22nd, 2014 Lydia has taken the day off of work.  Lydia and Brooke leave shortly after 10am to head to Mississauga, first for some much needed back to school shopping and most importantly to pick up our exchange student Fanny Cools who will be staying with us over the next 3 months.    After Brooke spent way too much time in her favourite store Hot Topic she left with 3 t-shirts and a few bracelets.  


The girls made their way over to the hotel where they would pick up Fanny.  They arrived shortly after 5, Brooke was taken to meet Fanny and shortly after Lydia was introduced to Fanny.  Modern technology is great and having the ability for not only Brooke and Fanny to Skype but all of us with Fanny's family prior to meeting helped but nothing beats meeting in person.    With Fanny's luggage loaded the girls battled through Toronto traffic and arrived home at 8:45pm.

After some photos out front of our house with our banner welcoming Fanny, Brooke gave Fanny a tour of the house.  Fanny then proceeded to unpack and clean up after a long day in Toronto where she saw the CN Tower, the Eaton Centre and toured the home of the Toronto Blue Jays, Rogers Centre.   We sat out on our back deck for a short time and Fanny presented us with gift after gift.  Several books on France, a cook book for myself on cooking French cuisine, a towel for each of us, a calendar, a bracelet for Brooke, a scarf and some amazing cookies.  Thanks to Fanny and her family for the wonderful gifts.  


Fanny couldn't be more perfect.   She's friendly, courteous, has a great sense of humour and comes to Canada wanting to try new things and new experiences.  Tryouts for Brooke's London Lightning Fastball team begin September 2nd and Fanny is registered.      

Getting to know Fanny Cools

Besides having just an awesome name, after Brooke made contact with Fanny we received her registration and learned she lived in Semblancay which is located in central France which like Ilderton is a small town that is within 10 minutes of Tours and only 2 hours from Paris.  Fanny's parents are Isabelle and Laurent and has an older brother Remi and a younger sister Florine.   Since making contact the girls have chatted daily on Facebook and have learned that they have quite a lot in common.  We've also had 2 Skype sessions with Fanny's wonderful parents and with that we wait, wait for Fanny's arrival on Friday August 22nd at 5:30pm.   Today is August 20th and we're all excited to know that Fanny is now in Canada, exploring Toronto and Niagara Falls with the other 94 exchange students from France before meeting up with us.  

Bienvenue au Canada Fanny, nous espérons que vous avez un moment agréable et apprendre à aimer et à apprécier notre grand pays.  Welcome to Canada Fanny, we hope you have an enjoyable time and learn to love and appreciate our great country. 

 

Registration Form

So at 13 pages Brooke, Lydia and I worked to complete the registration to meet the deadline, which by this point was about 5 days.  Aside from your standard questions such name, birth date, etc, there were sections for Lydia and I and some for Brooke.

We there was the three copies of the application form, three copies of Brooke's most recent school report, three copies of Brooke's transcript and finally money!!!

We laboured through the application, answering questions on household tasks that Brooke needs to perform, we're happy when she makes her bed to describing each family member.   I must add that after it was all said and done the time spent answering each question was time well spent because in early June Brooke received a friend request on Facebook from her Exchange student Fanny Cools.

http://www.iseontario.on.ca/images/2_3_Months_Application_edit_14_save.pdf

Exchange May 2014

It was in early May that Brooke came home from Medway High School excited that her French teacher had talked to the class about becoming an exchange student.   We didn't have much time we were told by Brooke, "if I'm going to do it I need to complete all  (I'll talk about that later) the paper work and submit it within 2 weeks" said Brooke.   After much deliberation regarding the positives and the very few if any negatives and a call through to the high school and to the organization ISE, International Student Exchange Brooke's mom, Lydia and I left the decision to Brooke.  She informed us that she wanted to do it BUT she was concerned about fastball.  Brooke for the last 4 years has played competitive fastball for London Lightning Fastball and doing an exchange would have Brooke living in a foreign country from mid February thru till mid May.  After a quick chat with her current coach Tim Burden, it was official Brooke would do the exchange and could pick up ball when she returned.


Now the difficult part, would she chose Spain, Switzerland or France.  Spain was out right away because Brooke's Spanish vocabulary consisted of words she had learned as a child watching Dora The Explorer and lets face it she could only get so far with words such as Hola, Espera and Amigo.  The decision would come down to either Switzerland or France.  Having been in Switzerland 5 years earlier to visit relatives Brooke quickly decided on France because as she put it, " I've never been and it would be a great new adventure'.  


Next comes the paper work.  As a parent I can fully understand the need for detailed and I mean detailed questions but when you're trying to complete all 10+ pages including  getting photos of your house in a matter of days, it was a challenge.    How much of a challenge and the types of questions will be shared in my next post.