Seven-course dinner to help pay for France trip

First, feast on some pate with fresh homemade baguettes, then move to the cream of portabella mushroom soup. Next, have some some grapefruit sorbet to cleanse your palate. But save room, there’s more! How about a fresh tossed green salad with goat cheese and a cornish game hen in an apple brandy sauce?

The Lopez school French Club is preparing for its annual seven-course Valentine’s Day dinner. This year it will be served in the school multi-purpose room Saturday, Feb. 7 with two seatings, the first at 5:30 p.m. and the second at 8 p.m. Tickets are now on sale for $35 per person.

“People get their money’s worth,” said French teacher Richard Tetu. The sit- down dinner will be served by the French Club. There will be cloth linens and background dinner music. The proceeds from the event will go toward the French Club’s trip to France, scheduled for April 8-24.

This will be 13th year Tetu has traveled to either France or Quebec with his students. However, this year the kids are facing a challenge with their fundraising goal -- the exchange rate.

When the trip was planned and budgeted, a 15 percent exchange rate difference between the United States and France was accounted for. But the rate is currently 40 percent. The drop in the dollar created a significant budget increase for the club. “That was kind of a shock for the kids,” said Tetu. Nevertheless, the trip is still on and the kids have been busy preparing for the upcoming fundraisers.

In March the French Club will host a five-on-five slow break basketball tournament for community members 18 years and older. It promises to be a fun-filled evening with prizes. To play, each team must pay $15 per person.

Tetu believes the club will meet its fundraising goals with the dinner, the basketball, and sales of candy bars.

When the kids fly to France, they will first stay in the town of Blois. While there they will take an easy bike trip and have the opportunity to explore castles. Their next stop will be Bayeux, near the famed D-Day Normandy beaches. The kids will get a chance to walk these historic beaches, as well as visit the cemetery and chapels.

The next stop will be Mont Saint Michael. Originally built as a medieval castle, Mont Saint Michael has been a favorite in past trips. “It’s a dream place,” said Tetu.

The kids will then head to the region of Provence, where they will stay with French families for a week. During home-stays, the kids often form bonds that cross the ocean with them.

The trip will end with a three-day stay in Paris.

From the moment they step into France the kids must begin speaking the language. “They have to use French and only French,” said Tetu.

“The kids learn more (about pronunciation and culture) in two weeks than in four years of my class,” said Tetu.

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