La Fête des Fraises à Plougastel

The Fête des Fraises at Plougastel was so much fun! Normally, we teachers just go together and meet whatever stagiaires and families are there. This year, however, we had four stagiaires who chose to go with us. Charlie said that it was either the festival or go with her family to visit their former dog.

Aiko, Brooklyn and Lucy also came with us. We got there by 10am in time to listen to the pipe and drum band play and the children’s pipe and drum band. Eventually, there were also traditional dancers.

I bought a huge flat of probably 100 strawberries ($10) and figured I would have to take some home with me. But our stagiaires came through for me, and the berries were gone in under 10 minutes. I bought another flat to take home. They didn’t fare so well in the heat and my backpack. Thankfully, the stagiaires finished them Monday morning before they went completely bad.

After the dancing, we seven walked around the charming little town of Plougastel. Corentin, the master of the smart phone, discovered that there was a crèperie open for lunch. We went there. It was SO good!

We met up with Shanena and her family, Beck and Tasline and their family, Kenneth and his family and Eli and Dominic with their mom at the parade. Kenneth’s parents have two little boys and now a big boy – God bless them! Later, we saw Abigail and her family (very cool people – both teachers).

This is not your typical American parade. The whole festival is put on by three competing Catholic primary schools. So, each school had its entrants. It was also the opportunity for the traditional social clubs to show off their traditional outfits – very cool.

Then there were the floats. They mostly represented popular movies. One was an 80s themed float. To me, it seemed that it was an excuse for adults to get dressed up and act silly for others to see.

There was piping and drumming and traditional dancing and little kids dressed as strawberries and bees. All in all, it was really quite fun.

The festival changed our bus route home, which took us some time to figure out. That was followed by a long walk and a long wait. But that gave the kids an opportunity to use their program phones (flip phones) to communicate with their host families. And we played a cool memory game that the kids remembered two days later.

Suffice it to say, the flip phones are not a hit, nor is talking on the phone in French. Lucy kept tapping the screen expecting something to happen – quite funny.

I kind of felt sorry for our small group as we saw Abigail and her family bicycle past our bus stop. But it was all good.

It was just a really great day with a part of our group. These kids are absolutely incredible!

One of the pipe and drum bands enters the 
town square.
Shanena with her family








Our happy group at the crèperie.

Brooklyn is photographing her honey and
goat cheese crèpe. I think she takes more pictures
than I do.




Charlie, Brooklyn, Aiko and a random woman 
watching the band play.


In the parade, little people as strawberries.
So cute!

Someone really isn't happy about wearing a 
traditional costume and being in a parade.

Lucy has all the angles.

No strawberries without bees.



Yes, there were sheep in the parade.
It was so cool. there was a dog (not a sheep dog
by breed). When he sat down in front of the sheep,
they stopped. When he moved forward,
they moved forward. Just cool.


We collected stagiaires.

Stagiaires in front of one of the 
eight wonders of the Medieval
world. 


So, there's this thing with this little
plush Beanie Baby toy called
Jasper. He shows up in all kinds of
places. His facial expression
kind of creeps me out.


At our last bus stop, Lucy protects 
herself from the sun while learning
from Corentin how to use a flip phone.
No, Lucy, the screen is not a touch
screen!




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