Bonjour Saint-Malo!

Bonjour France!

Arriving in Saint-Malo, France, our first port, is as incredible as we had imagined it to be. We get to shore in the afternoon of the 19th, and the trials and tribulations we faced during our sail quickly become stories we now laugh whole heartedly at, instead of cry about.

Here is a youtube video taken by one of our students during the storm: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1MiREXAyPA

Shortly after we dock, the faculty heads to a local seafood restaurant to celebrate Jason, our shipboard director’s birthday. I fall in love with France immediately. Not only does it not make me nauseous, but it also has 3 course seafood meals for under 12 Euros. Add cheaper-than-water-but-still-incredibly-good red wine to the mix, and I am now definitely in a state of bliss. We start trading stories of our experience weathering a force 9 storm. Christina and I fondly remember that fateful night/neverending day, and our state of utter invalidity. As you may recall, Christina became my roommate during the roughest part of the sail (ie: 85% of it). She also shares her room with about a million different Norwegian medical supplies, and the crew desktop computer, which was ‘sea fastened’.

Well. Apparently, it wasn’t category 9 storm fastened. Midway through the evening, the computer, which is raised on semi-shelf, and secured with ropes comes off its hinges, and dangles dangerously close to floor, which has now turned into a shallow pool . The waves are rude: they make their way through the door, and into our room without getting our permission…jerks. Christina and I are both curled up in the fetal position in our respective bunks, unable and unwilling to move. I hear Christina faintly mutter above me, in a monotonous tone:

“That computer is going to fall in the water. We’re probably going to get electrocuted”

I am moved to try and save the day. This is my moment, just like my chicken breast accomplishment from my first sail… I can do this. I crawl out of bed, and to the computer. I take the computer in my two hands, and try with all my might to put it back in its rightful place. One lift, and 2.4 seconds of effort later, I declare defeat and make it back into my bunk. Perhaps being electrocuted via computer is simply our fate… and we accept it. I cope with this brush with death by binge eating French pastries over the course of our visit here....ya. That’s it.

I spend my first full day in France indulging in its stereotypical characteristics. Baguettes, croissants and café au lait for le petit dejeuner. The cute little café I enjoy my breakfast in also plays a soundtrack of Radiohead, and David Gray. My ears, my stomach, and my heart could not be happier. Lunch introduces me to sandwich on a baguette. Multiple pain au chocolats throughout the day makes dinner unnecessary. Woops ☺.

Saint-Malo has a section of its port city fortified, much like the old part of Quebec City, which I love. Walking on cobblestone streets, marveling at the beautiful architecture, and culture the buildings exude make me très contente. The beaches that surround the city are a turquoise green colour…so many of my favorite things in one place. I never want to leave.

And then.. word we might not leave. All of France will begin a general strike the day of our scheduled departure, Thursday. They are protesting a change to their pensions, and we are forced to stay in the land of my people for at least one more day. The power of the people is one thing I notice during our stay here. On the way to the beaches of Normandy, our bus driver is not afraid to use his union powers to their full-out extent. He points out, after a few hours of work, that he is entitled to a 45-minute break. He drops us off mid-tour, locks us out of the bus, and returns a little over a hour later. In the afternoon, we take a guided tour of Mont St Michel. The whole thing takes us close to 2 hours… as we return to the bus, we find the driver having another break.

“The union says I have at least 20 more minutes of break. You can only get in the bus in 20 minutes”.

This second break means I now have time to get a crepe, so French unions are fine by me.

Bus driver breaks aside, the tours of Normandy, especially of the Canadian beach of Juno, are both moving and sobering. Our guide here, a University student from Ottawa, does an impressive job of retelling the events of D-Day, and of making us relive what our brave soldiers faced during the battles fought here. There is so much of our own History here, which is just one more reason why I love France so much, I think.

As I finish writing this entry, we are on our last full day in Saint-Malo. I will be spending the morning lesson planning for our upcoming sail to Portugal. While we are at sea, we teach classes every single day… whether it be a 3 day or a 20 day sail. While we are in port, we let the sights, sounds, and tours of the city do the teaching. A few more activities and programs are planned for our students. This afternoon, we are taking a group of them to the grocery store, and will be prepping a picnic-à-la-française on the beach.

The kids make this program as special as it is – I am already so proud and amazed at the challenges some of them overcome, with no complaining. These kids take on a lot of responsibility… right now, at the start of the year, the already strong leaders are coming through, and are easily identifiable. What I love about this opportunity is that it allows the not-yet strong leaders to develop their strength and character. Those that already have tears in their eyes, and are talking to us about wanting to go home will probably benefit the most from this experience in the end, which is definitely their most challenging to date. I’m excited to see who they will become. I’m also excited to see who I will become. Seeing the world in this way, and being placed on a ship for nearly a year with 70 people a fascinating social-experiment, and life experience. I am looking forward to learning much from it.