Last Friday, October 10th was l'enduro at the French school. It's a running thing that the entire school is involved in. Each year they come up with themes for each class - either a color or a country or something unique. This year, the entire school chose to wear green to represent environmental awareness. They've been learning about recycling and composting at school all week so it was a perfect ending to the week.
Every year the parents are invited to take part in the morning festivities. This year I actually went a bit early to help Ali and her classmates. Her teacher cornered me and convinced me to come. I tried to get out of it as I don't speak French and only a little Hungarian but I figured I was due to take part in a school activity after 3 years of avoiding it. I'm glad I did and Ali was even happier knowing she got to hold my hand ALL morning.
Originally I was supposed to be in charge of 4 kids but extra volunteers turned up so I only had Ali and a little boy named Milan who looked as lost as a deer caught in headlights. I don't know if he spoke French, English or Hungarian (or none of the above) as he never said a word. I talked to him in English and Hungarian and a few words in French. I think both his parents are working full time as neither were there before, during or after the event. I still giggle wondering what went through his head when all he probably heard were words like, "We're going to go run" or "Run, run, run" ... Definitely not the average day in school...
When Ali's class and I arrived to the field across the street, the rest of the school was already there and well into the festivities. I found Mia with her friends and T with his (see below).
Here's Ali with her class waiting for their turn to 'run, run, run'
A shot of all the people on the field.
Every year the parents are invited to take part in the morning festivities. This year I actually went a bit early to help Ali and her classmates. Her teacher cornered me and convinced me to come. I tried to get out of it as I don't speak French and only a little Hungarian but I figured I was due to take part in a school activity after 3 years of avoiding it. I'm glad I did and Ali was even happier knowing she got to hold my hand ALL morning.
Originally I was supposed to be in charge of 4 kids but extra volunteers turned up so I only had Ali and a little boy named Milan who looked as lost as a deer caught in headlights. I don't know if he spoke French, English or Hungarian (or none of the above) as he never said a word. I talked to him in English and Hungarian and a few words in French. I think both his parents are working full time as neither were there before, during or after the event. I still giggle wondering what went through his head when all he probably heard were words like, "We're going to go run" or "Run, run, run" ... Definitely not the average day in school...
When Ali's class and I arrived to the field across the street, the rest of the school was already there and well into the festivities. I found Mia with her friends and T with his (see below).
Here's Ali with her class waiting for their turn to 'run, run, run'
A shot of all the people on the field.
Of my trio, Ali's group was the first to run. I wasn't prepared to run with them the entire time as I had planned to be on the sidelines clicking away on my camera. It was fun as I dragged Ali and little, confused Milan around and around for 5 - 10 mins. I'm lucky that Wendy, who has 2 kids at the school, snapped a couple from the sidelines to prove that I was out there (see below).Note: the man to the right of me in the white shirt is the new director. He's obviously in much better physical shape than I am! We've become close to him and his wife since they moved to Budapest this summer. They live 2 houses away; have 4 children (2 of which are in Ali and Terence's classes); and his wife has been Mia's substitute teacher for the first month while her teacher was taking care of her dying mother back in France.
Every time I ran by with Ali and Milan in tow, Mia and her friends cheered us on. It was so cute that I had to stop and click a shot of them on the sidelines!
Here's Mia's class and some of the bigger groups getting ready for their run. Mia's teacher, Marie Pierre, is in the front with the blue capri pants.
To start each race the director used a real starter gun. He counted down 'trois, deux...' then POP (the kids thought it was cool to see the smoke come out of his gun).Here are the action shots. Notice Mia with her tongue hanging out in the 2nd shot. She's actually an amazing runner. Long strides and very fast. She left her friends in her dust. I thought she would have stayed with them, holding hands the entire way but her competitive spirit took over (I think she gets that from me).
And then there is T who walked half the time. I captured this one on his 3rd lap when he was doing a half walk, half run. I think he thinks he ran a marathon.
Ali afterwards with one of her favorite people, Martha. Martha is in grade 5 and is 10 years old. We are great friends with Martha's family so we spend a lot of time together. Her and Ali have grown very close. I think Martha wishes she had a little sister as she only has 2 younger brothers. One of her brothers is T's best buddies (see him in the photo above with T).
I think it is so funny how Ali closes one eye when she's posing like Curt. It wasn't that sunny out...
Mia at the end of her run - complete exhaustion!
For photos of last year's l'enduro events click on the links below.
