A French Weekend
Have you ever been on a retreat?
I'm guessing that many of you have been on a women's retreat, a men's retreat, or a youth retreat, but few of you have probably been on an entire church retreat.
In France it is common for churches to have a "church weekend" once a year, and this weekend Jordan and I were asked to care for the children during ABBA's retreat. (ABBA is a church in Annecy; we lived with the pastor's family when we first arrived.) I have never been so intimidated by the idea of babysitting before! Us, in charge of 6 French children who hardly speak more French than we do? I was nervous! Fortunately, the weather was beautiful and the children were able to play together outside with little instruction from us.
When we weren't caring for the children, we found ourselves listening to and speaking a LOT of French. On Saturday afternoon, teams were created, instructions were given, and the Photo Rally competition began: Each team was to take a group photo completing a specific task. The first task was to determine a team name. Our team of 10 people sat around the picnic table for a good 15 minutes before agreeing on a name, then we began taking photos in a scavenger hunt-like style: human pyramid, upside down, all team members in the same car, all team members together in the camp's fountain, spelling a word with their bodies as the letters, everyone in the air, etc. It was a great opportunity for team building and fun.
I'm guessing that many of you have been on a women's retreat, a men's retreat, or a youth retreat, but few of you have probably been on an entire church retreat.
In France it is common for churches to have a "church weekend" once a year, and this weekend Jordan and I were asked to care for the children during ABBA's retreat. (ABBA is a church in Annecy; we lived with the pastor's family when we first arrived.) I have never been so intimidated by the idea of babysitting before! Us, in charge of 6 French children who hardly speak more French than we do? I was nervous! Fortunately, the weather was beautiful and the children were able to play together outside with little instruction from us.
When we weren't caring for the children, we found ourselves listening to and speaking a LOT of French. On Saturday afternoon, teams were created, instructions were given, and the Photo Rally competition began: Each team was to take a group photo completing a specific task. The first task was to determine a team name. Our team of 10 people sat around the picnic table for a good 15 minutes before agreeing on a name, then we began taking photos in a scavenger hunt-like style: human pyramid, upside down, all team members in the same car, all team members together in the camp's fountain, spelling a word with their bodies as the letters, everyone in the air, etc. It was a great opportunity for team building and fun.
But it was obvious to Jordan and me that we are not in the United States.
As we talked about our experiences after the game, we realized that both of us had a sense of urgency. It was our understanding, for whatever reason, that we were to complete the tasks as quickly, yet creatively, as possible. It was apparent that the French had a different strategy.
They calmly made sure that the team name was communicating exactly what they wanted. When the photos were taken, there was not just one-take; several photos were snapped, team members verified the quality was high, a re-take was done, and then we moved onto the next photo.
It was a cultural experience for us. The French are concerned about image and quality, not efficiency. Though we had been given 90 minutes to complete the Photo Rally, no team finished in less than 2 hours, and Jordan thinks his team took 2 1/2 hours. The game was about the creativity and relationships.
We returned home this afternoon completely exhausted! Our French comprehension is increasing by leaps and bounds, but with our comprehension comes fatigue. Overall, it was a good experience for us with beaucoup des opportunities to speak French.
And for the record: my team won the Photo Rally.
Comments
Post a Comment