Back To School

As a special treat, I was driving my brother to school this morning. Surprisingly enough, my old secondary school (the Collège Royal Marie-Thérèse [CMT] in Herve) is one of the few ones to open its doors as soon as possible. That is the reason why we usually had to stand those annoying TV and radio journalists saying that "Pupils of kindergarten and primary school" were back to school today, but they always forgot us! Even last year, pupils had had to go back to the CMT on 1 September, just for two hours – due to pure bureaucracy matters – which was very upsetting because it was on a Friday, thus ruining a week of holiday. But this year, of course, they had this "longer last week of holyday". As far as I can remember, it was the first time since ten years or so, due to bissextile years. (And for that matter, it won't happen again, due to the additional day of 29 February.)

Anyway, I was driving my brother back to school. In order to spare oil – but also to see my former teachers – I had decided to stay there until my brother funishes at 11 am.

I talked with several teachers, who asked me how did my holiday go; I replied I enjoyed every moment of it since I had succeeded in June.

I went to the small library that the school has because I knew it was a place where I could meet teachers who'd certainly go pass to it. I chatted with the librarian, and she accepted me to help her giving school diaries to the students who'd come. Classes consisted of 24 to 27 pupils. For each class, two students were sent by the headteacher to fetch the books. It was thus quite stuck and crowded in the library when a dozen of pupils came altogether to get the books.

Later, these pupils came back to get the lunch (this is the ONLY thing that the school offers during the whole academic year), which consisted of a waffle and an orange juice.

In the process, I got to see two of my favourite teachers (because they made me laugh a lot back then – and they still do now): M. Kuta and M. Delrée. Last year, I managed to catch one of their numerous "fights" in front of the copy machine. And I put it on YouTube, of course. (Note that these teachers always seemed to argue with each other, but it was just to have a laugh… What a silly school!)



And by the way, M. Kuta lost a lot of weight (more than 60 kg, according to some rumours) since then, but he didn't lose his sence of humour, I can assure you that.

Last Day Of Penitence

And so we continued our journey through the marshes, swamps, will-o'the-whisps and other troublesome natural features… No, it wasn't as bad as I describe it. I've already told you about the Tuesday evening and the Wednesday. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photograph on that Thursday, and I can't precisely remember what we did… I know that we walked a lot, under the rain (fortunately, our sleeping bags were now useless), from Nivezé to Banneux, where we were rather well accomodated by sisters and we got single rooms (!!!) with a shower, a toilet, a tap (with hot water) and a desk, etc.!!! (The picture sums it up.)

One of the sisters (coming from Africa) was a really kind woman, but I though she was under the influence of crack or coke or something else, because she was like talking about Jesus all the time and about miracles in Banneux — a sanctuary place established by Léon Degrelle, grim character (how euphemistic), in 1933, at a time when the fascistic Rex Party was popular (what a surprise!). It's all right to talk about Jesus (especially if you're a sister), but maybe not that much!

We left round 10 o'clock, after breakfast and a cheap montage about the creation of Banneux, and the story of the so-called apparitions to Mariette Beco — who's by the way now an old lady who can't talk to the media. We walked towards the next village of Tancrémont, where you can, as they said, find the best pies around. (When I was a kid, we used to go there to eat something with my grand-parents. I didn't like the pies that much: I prefered playing in the huge sandbox.) On the picture, you can see that I walk really faster than the others… They were 100 metres away…

Later on, we had to cross a river, and the only way to succeed was to use a rusted bridge… What a kerfuffle! I thought somebody was going to fall in the water, but no.

Later in the day, after another 10 kilometres in the woods and using crappy, muddy paths, we arrived at the border of our destination: Verviers, as you can see on the picture, we were cheerful to see that board!

OK, we still had 5 kilometres to walk, and we did. I had enough energy left, and I arrive 10 minutes sooner than the others… I had achieved my goal: seeing that beautiful chip-shop in front of the Railway Station! When my mother came to pick me up, I ate a lot of chips with a "cervelas" (imagine a saussage with unidentified stuff in it). I was exhausted. I came back, I had a shower and I slept.

After A Terrible Night, A Horrific (Penitent's) Walk

After having slept for two hours, we had to get up at 7 o'clock. At last, I was going to warm up… And annihilate that f*****g metalic tap! The others seemed to have slept rather well, actually. I wanted to get out of this crappy place. But before doing anything else, we had to clean that big room up… What a kerfuffle! We first packed our bags and stuffs, then we took a broom and brushed the thick layer of dust on the ground (a wooden one…) while girls were trying to have a wash with the frozen water.
(Now, I wonder how they managed to pee with such frozen toilets… We, boys, don't have this problem. Except for the fact that when we get outside to pee, our privates are frozen, too…)
The point is that the so-called "hotel" was cleaner than at the time we first entered it… The owners should be hanged publicly! It's a shame to let people sleep there—and make them pay for it! We had breakfast and we prepared sandwiches to eat on our way.

That day's goal was to reach the town of Spa, which lies round 20 kilometres further, by walking through the Fagnes, a protected natural area. On the day before, it had snowed. On the day in question, it rained…

We left that alleged "hotel" (without any bit of nostalgy) and we walked towards Stavelot, then penetrated the depths of the Fagnes. It looked as if it was only a big hill… And the snow conjugated with rain made matters worse… We were exhausted. Soaked socks. Hungry, starving… Fortunately, I had brought sugar along. I was thirsty. My bottle of water being soon empty, I had to eat snow to refresh myself… It was a white hell. I wanted to commit suicide.

We walked for five hours in the wet snow, passing through dark woods and climbing steep pathways. We were completely exhausted. I only had a bit of a chocolate to get some energy… we climbed, we climbed, we climbed…

At 2 o'clock, we finally arrived at M. Delrée's sister's house. We devoured our sandwiches rapidly (this was the best chocolate sandwich I've ever had), while M. Delrée and Schyns were trying to light a fire to heat us up. Stinky, we got back on the roads to continue that hellish walk.

After another 10 kilometres, we walked in the snow-covered Fagnes, where the wind blew terribly. M. Delrée told us there was a coffie shop two kilometres away, so I decided to go as a scout. I was completely annihilated when I found out that this coffie shop was not open—even if a ironic board stated that it was opened! No Cécémel. I would have to wait a little bit more.

We continued and finally arrived to our destination (of the day): a kind of hotel held by sisters in Nivezée, on the highs of Spa. There, we were absolutely thrilled that we had rooms (!) for 3 (!) with three radiators (!) with hot water (!) and a bath (!) and plenty of food was waiting for us. In the evening, our two teachers prepared a barbecue for us, as you can see on the picture. I think I ate 2 kilos of meat—no kidding. And I was still starved.

Later, a man came and talked to us about fairtrade and we took part in a role play, where I had to play a soldier being corrupted by banks and honey producers, while being faithful to a Big Boss, whose role was played by M. Delrée, who was really suitable in this role of dictator…

We went to bed and we slept tight. At last.

The Worst Sleeping Place Ever

For sure, back in that time, I had never spent such a horrible night! It was afwul, terrible, exhausting!

Let's give a bit of context. We were a group of about 20 students going on a kind of four-day trip which we called a "retraite" (my dictionary doesn't seem to have a translation for that term), supposed to be a so-called retirement journey to I-don't-know-what. Two teachers were with us, namely M. Schyns (Biology teacher) and M. Delrée (Geography teacher, the funniest teacher I've ever had, a genius).

Our trip started in Herve (town where my college lies) and we took the bus to Verviers, then to a remote place called Wavreumont, not far away from Stavelot, in the Belgian Ardennes. Instead of staying at a hotel kept by monks, we had to stay in a wooden cabin—it was actually that—that the owners dared to call a hotel… Inside this crappy place, where mushrooms and moss and other disgusting organisms were copulating and feeding each other (you got the picture, I think), humidity was at its highest (it nearly rained), and we had to warm this cabin with a fuel radiator (see the picture, on which you can see that thing warming up the taps which were nearly frozen). I suddenly remembered that M. Delrée told us two weeks before we go, concerning Wavreumont: "Si vous comptez prendre une douche… n'y comptez pas.". I got his point.
It was soooo cold, sooo chilly that the toilets were frozen!!! I had never seen that before, and I haven't seen that ever since.

In fact, we had to heat up water on a hob in order to cook pastas, and save a little to have a wash. The dinner was terrible, because we had to eat in plates that were wet (due to humidity) and it tasted really bad. Later in the evening, a monk came to talk about his life as an authentic monk. He looked rather depressed and our question about being single in the middle of a group of old bachelors seemed to make his distress bigger.

After a couple of games or I don't know what, it was time to go to bed. In sleeping bags: the blankets seemed so dusty and moth-eaten that it was safer not to use them. We had to shut down the fuel radiator: it was too noisy, and we could have been poisoned by the toxic gas which filled the one room where boys and girls had to sleep, along with the teachers.
That night was the worst one of my entire life. Ever. I couldn't sleep. Why? For many reasons:
- Once the radiator shut down, the temperature dropped 20 degrees (at least).
- I tried to cover my face as much as possible, but it was pure stifle after 2 minutes.
- My nose was frozen.
- The others had managed to doze off, and it disturbed me that they weren't disturbed.
- The tap in the "bathroom" hadn't been properly tapped, so that a drop was falling every second. I was becoming mad, insane, crazy!!! I wanted to commit suicide, escape from this frozen hell!!!

Anyhow, I have sleep. But only for two hours, I think. The next day, 25 km of walk were waiting for us…


PS. I found something in my archives… Previously, I gave you my account on the "retraite" — you know, that painful walk though the Ardennes. I found the paper that M. Delrée gave us during an information session about the trip. Here's what you could read on it. Square brackets refer to notes that I wrote on the text, basically the funny comments by M. Delrée.

Retraite itinérante (mardi 07/03 au vendredi 10/03/06)

Cher(e) …………………………………….,
Il est grand temps de te communiquer les dernières indications concernant ces trois jours.

Départ
Nous quitterons Herve, tous ensemble, le mardi 7, avec le bus 38B. Rendez-vous à l’arrêt de bus devant l’IPH, à 16 H 00. A Verviers nous prendrons le bus 395 jusqu’en bas de la côte de Wavreumont. Nous serons au gîte du monastère peu avant le souper.

Programme
• mardi soir : souper, rencontre avec un moine. [1]
• mercredi : messe à 8 H 00 suivie du petit déjeuner, remise en ordre des lieux, puis parche vers le Foyer de Charité de Nivezé (+/- 25 km). [2] Installation, puis barbecue [3] et animation sur le “”commerce équitable” par une personne de l’association“ Miel Maya”.
• jeudi : petit déjeuner, remise en ordre des lieux, puis marche vers Banneux (+/- 20 km). Arrivée au Foyer Notre Dame de la Fagne, souper et animation avec les sœurs.
• vendredi : petit déjeuner, remise en ordre des lieux. Passage au sanctuaire de Banneux, puis marche vers Verviers (+/- 15 km). [4]


Retour
Nous serons à Verviers vers 15 H 00 ; les parents qui le souhaitent peuvent reprendre leur fils/leur fille à la gare, les autres reprennent le bus jusque Herve ; arrivée prévue vers 16 H 00.

L’accompagnement
Est assuré par Didier Schyns et Jacques Delrée.

A emporter
Un sac à dos confortable, un sac de couchage, de quoi se changer et se laver pendant trois jours, des chaussures ou des pantoufles pour l’intérieur, un petit nécessaire de pharmacie (prévoyez de quoi soigner les ampoules), de bonnes chaussures de marche (pas neuves si possible) et une gourde. Prévois la pluie, la boue, les températures fraîches…(à titre facultatif: un chansonnier, une lampe de poche, un instrument de musique, …). Prends aussi un peu d’argent de poche pour les trajets en bus (10 euros suffiront amplement). [5]

Ne pas emporter
Une radio, un baladeur (MP3 ou autre), des boissons alcoolisées ou toute autre chose susceptible d’être confisquée ou de “casser” l’esprit de cette retraite. L’utilisation des GSM sera interdite durant la marche et les autres activités de groupe Les fumeurs éventuels recevront des règles strictes à respecter.

Remarque importante
Mardi 7 au matin, tu déposeras, dans le frigo de la salle des profs (avec une étiquette “retraite itinérante”) un morceau de viande (emballé dans un sachet plastique) pour le barbecue de mercredi. Demande à un prof de lee placer dans le sac qui sera prévu à cet effet dans le frigo.

Pour que cette retraite soit un bon moment pour tous, nous comptons sur chacun d’entre-vous pour respecter les consignes, respecter les endroits qui nous accueillent (propreté, ordre, calme, …) et les personnes que nous rencontrerons.
Si tu as une question spécifique, n’hésite pas à nous contacter le plus rapuidement possible.


Jacques Delrée (087/661427) et Didier Schyns.

En cas d’urgence uniquement : J.Delrée 0494/171835, Wavreumont 080/862318, Nivezé 087/793090 et Notre Dame de la Fagne 04/3608408. [6]

——————————
NOTES:

[1] “Vous pourrez lui poser des questions, comme pourquoi est-ce qu’il n’aime pas les femmes…” (…) “On ne loge pas au monastère, mais au gîte.” (…) “Si vous comptez prendre une douche, n’y comptez pas”. Puis il a dit qu’il y aurait assez d’eau chaude seulement pour eux, les profs…
[2] “C’est l’étape la plus belle.”
[3] “(…) un barbecue avec un petit homme de Nivezé, un ex des Village People…”
[4] “(On passera par Tancrémont), vous connaissez les tartes de Tancrémont… très chères…”
[5] “(Pour payer quand on s’arrêtera, vous prendrez) un chocolat chaud, une bière pour nous…”
[6] (À un élève qui mâchait un chewing-gum) “Dis, vieille méduse malade, tu ne vas pas jeter ton chewing-gum par terre…?”

Phone numbers, names and places are authentic. Spelling mistakes too (e.g. "rapuidement" instead of "rapidement").