Robinson visits from Provence France

Hello to Robinson's family that may be viewing about his trip!

Eva is in her 3rd year of French and there was an opportunity to host a student from France as part of an English immersion program.  So Eva is the only one who speaks any French, he was quite immersed! 

Robinson comes from a tallish family...not as tall as us....but he is the youngest of 4 boys, so he was comfortable with all the people. 

Travis (14) Eva (16) Marie (10) Erika and Chris (43) and Luke (12) 

The next morning, they were court side at an NDSU Bison game. 

Chris couldn't have been more happy to have a reason to go shop for Bison gear. 

Eva and Robinson making copy-cat King's Hawaiian rolls to have with pulled pork.  

I think we spent two hours opening all the fun gifts from Robinson's family.  It was like Christmas!

French Monopoly was one of the gifts and fun way for my kids to learn some recognizable French words.  Marie, Robinson, Garance, Eva, Travis

Yummy candies and this French, pork charcuterie

Garance is a classmate of Robinson's.  Garance stayed with Eva's friend, Kaia.  Kaia plays hockey and often had practice after school.  So Garance was able to hang with Eva and Rob quite a bit.

Downtown at the waffle bar. 

Eva and Garance.  Garance looked like she could've been Marie's twin at times, since we Hansons are so tall for our age.  One day she was at our house and I didn't even notice her. 

 I thought it as Marie!

Robinson's third day of school was a snow day due to a blizzard.  The low that day was -20 Fahrenheit (-29 Celsius) with wind speeds of 50 miles per hour (80 kilometers per hour)

So Luke and Rob played some indoor basketball. 

And Robinson as very helpful and always jumped in to help out. 

So we sent him shoveling. We did wait until the next day when the wind had stopped.  This morning when they left for school it was -24 degress Farenheit (-31 Celsius).  

He lasted about 2/3 as long as Eva and Travis.  

Which is pretty good for someone who lives in Southern France and only sees snow in the mountains. 

And then Robinson turned 15 while he was here on Valentine's Day!  Marie made him a chocolate cake. See the video of Happy Birthday sang in French and English on this blog as well. Videos are in the "February 2020" folder on the right. 

The day after his birthday, we headed to Minneapolis/St. Paul to visit the Evens and show Robinson the city.  Look at these people.  One of them has lived in ND all his life and got in the van without a coat.  See details about recent weather.  Would you be sure you had a coat? 

 Chuck's office is downtown.  We were able to see great views of the city and it was warm enough to take a River Walk.  Luckily Chuck had an extra coat...

A good croissant and chocolate at Bread and Chocolate on Grand Avenue in St. Paul.

The skiers of Buck Hill:  Chris, Robinson, Travis, Norah, Marie, Andrew and Chuck.  Luke was in a walking cast, Erika and Eva can't downhill ski. 

It's certainly not the Alps, but it is right in the Middle of the city! Can't beat the commute.  

And then Robinson went to the Mall of America with Kaia and Garance, and back a second time the next day with all of us. 

There is an amusement park in the middle of the mall. 

Kaia, Eva, Garance, Robinson

 Shopping up a storm.  

 They tell me this is some French rapper's "thing."

Meanwhile, Robinson's parents were off on a hiking (trekking) adventure.  Eva and Robinson have the same, hiking moms?  Maybe Frederique and I can drag our kids to the bottom of the Grand Canyon together some time? 

Eva and Robinson and the Davies French class took a bus trip to Winnipeg. Rob mentioned how different it was to hear French with a Canadian accent.  

Kaia schoolin' everyone in hockey.  

Garance and Robinson in Winnipeg. Rob had some trouble getting back into America!  30 minutes of questioning and we thought we might have to drive to the border to get him?

Kaia's mom's friend also had an exchange student from Garance and Robinson's school, but he went to North High while in Fargo. I can't imagine how confusing this game is in another language?

Kaia teaching Garance and Robinson to skate.  

It was quite warm, so the ice was a little slushy. 

 But they figured it out!

The last week, after going to school with Eva and then Travis, Robinson got to hang with the pros of John and Chris (Cori was out) at Bob 95 FM.  Rob's mom and dad and aunts and uncles and grandparents all were able to hear him on the radio.  

 Wife moment: Chris is just so darn cute pushing all these buttons and levers and talking and running the board.  It's always impressive to me when I see it.  

Robinson says "he just talks!  Without a script!?!?" 

 And Robinson did great while questioned and interviewed.  Many people that speak English get nervous in front of a microphone.  Robinson did so well!  They talked about how France doesn't have country music, they played a top French song, they asked Robinson questions.  I was glad that his parents got a chance to hear his English, as he didn't say much when we skyped with them.  

And then Rob got to head downtown to see some more unscripted talking by Chris on Poker Night in America.

Eva and Chris both kinda failed me on the Fargo sign picture.  

Kaia's hockey team made it to the State Championship hockey game.  Kaia scored a game winning goal in overtime in this pic. Unfortunately, Robinson and Garance's flight left at the same time as the Championship game.  But they had fun at the games prior.  

Robinson, Kelsey, Eva, Garance

Rylee and Garance and Kaia on a stick. 

Robinson and Rylee 

Look at the fan cam on TV.  Chris' jersey collection came in handy for jersey day!

We ate good food while Robinson was here.  We had to Fargo-him-up with tatortot hotdish of course.  

And then of course people want to know what his favorite Fargo foods are.  Rob said people kept asking him and he didn't know.  He had wanted to get a cookbook for his family, particularly one of sweets for his brother.  But I just couldn't find one I liked.  So I made a cook book of things we had made while he was here.  

I have a young teenage son living in my house.  I can imagine the non-details I'd get as his mom after a trip.  So I'm hopeful this cookbook will get the conversations going.  I converted one recipe to French, but that took much too long so they are all in English and non-metric measurements unfortunately.  But at least now he can maybe remember when people ask him the question about food. 

These two were roommates while Robinson stayed in Luke's room.   (this is 10 year old Marie's room.)  When it came time for Robinson to leave, they were excited to have their rooms back, but said they'd rather have him stay and keep sharing a room.  

Kaia's family said their goodbyes prior to the airport so that they could make it to the state Championship hockey game (sadly Kaia's Davies team lost.)

Ugly crying by everyone.  I hear the first student is the saddest.  I hope we'll not be this sappy every time!?!?!

He's just a great kid.  And I guess keeping other people's kids is frowned upon.  

So back they go.  

Robinson and Chris.

Marie and Robinson

Goodbye Garance and Robinson, until next time!  I saved the signs!

Seeing Robinson's empty coat hook made me sad too.  

Bienvenue: Welcome Robinson!  Here are two of his three brothers on the left helping his dad make a sign.  

That's a big sign!  Robinson's mom and dad.  

 How did you make a sign that big?  

And then Luke and Marie played some French monopoly while Robinson reunited with his family.  Too bad Robinson didn't teach them to argue in French so that I could not hear how much they were fighting during this game.