Journey Began On Alarming Note By HELEN HOWARD Laura Shearin, 18-yearold daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Willis Shearin of Warrenton, recently returned from a trip to Noisy Le Roi, France, through the Lions Exchange Program. Miss Shearin was the houseguest of Mr. and Mrs. John Victor Bernard and daughters, Catheryn and Helen. Her experience began on July 13 when she was caught in a plane on the runway in New York City during the blackout. Laura said she was on the plane for 21 hours before departure from New York. Later the passengers were thankful for the dilemna. The aircraft had mechanical trouble in an engine and could have crashed in the Atlantic if it had taken off on time, Miss Shearin noted. Once in Paris, she toured the city for four days before meeting her host family and going to Noisy Le Roi, about six miles from Paris. Laura said the Englishspeaking hosts lived in a big rock house with beautiful marble and had a huge yard with flowers everywhere. They also had a cat who accepted Laura right away. Noisy Le Roi is a small town, much like Warrenton, with few stores and the people all know each other and are very freindly, Laura observed. It took her about a week to adjust to the climate and food, she said. The food was served in courses and more was served at a meal causing her to gain weight. She had beef tongue, beef head, snails and other delicacies to taste. Laura said she attempted all the food offered and liked most. She was taken to a Vietnamese Restaurant and did not like the food there, she said. The family carried her on excursions to Paris museums, theatres and to the Riviera. Laura, like Marie-O, the Lions exchange from France to Warrenton, could not compare New York to Paris. Laura observed that Paris is old and clean and the people are very nice. She said the buildings are old and historical, and gardens and fountains were everywhere along narrow cobblestone streets. But there is a modern Paris, still nothing like New York. The modern skyscrapers are of different colors and no cars are allowed near the buildings. All the buildings have grass lawns leading to the doors. In Paris she visited the Louvre, seeing the Mona Lisa, rode the Metro and visited museums, saw the famous landmarks and went to theatres. Her French family liked American movies and carried her several times. The movie admission was about the same price as in the United States but they do not serve hot popcorn or drinks. While shopping she noted that food is bought at an open-air market where everything is fresh. The meat is cheaper than here but a Coke sells for $1. She noted that the open-air markets sell everything from fish, meat and cheese to bread and vegetables and beverage. The French drink wine and beer, she said, and probably because the beer is two or three times cheaper than the soft drinks. Clothes were also expensive but jeans and T-shirts are the fad in France, also. She found T-shirts for $12 each and jeans were much higher than in the United States But French people dress up more in formal attire. Laura was awed at the beautiful gowns and jewelry worn by French ladies at night in Paris. Men also dress in formal attire, but the ties are still narrow in Paris, Laura said. The formality held over to the Lions meeting she attended. The meeting was very formal with the meal, served in several courses, lasting for three hours or more. Most of the people she met in France spoke English and the Lions were no exception. She presented pins to them and they gave Laura a banner signed by all the members of the club. The Bernards visited cousins at St. Raphael on the Riviera. Laura said the temperature was about 75 degrees and women did not wear bathing suits along the beaches but the Riviera was as beautiful as she had heard. While there she was tutored by a six-and four-year-old who could not understand why she didn't speak French. Laura returned to Noisy Le Roi speaking better French than when she arrived. Mr. Bernard grows beautiful azaleas and other plants in a hot house and Mrs. Bernard is a housewife and teaches yoga. Helen is 15; Catheryn, 18. In the spare time they liked to talk about France and the United States. Knowing Laura to be from the South, they were constantly asking her about President Carter and other Southern notables they read about. Laura noted that all French people liked President Nixon and thought him to be very intellectual. She returned to the United States on August 18 just in time to repack for her freshman year at East Carolina University. Incidentally, she is planning to major in French. CHOW TIME...These you children in Indonesia who re< attention, schooling and Chris Vision International sponsors children in 38 countries are be Seniorama Will Be Held Sunday Mrs. Willie G. Kearney, president of the Golden Years Senior Citizens Club announced this week that the "Golden Years Seniorama" will be held at the Greater Lovely Hill Baptist Church on Sunday, Sept. 11, at 3 p. m. A brief program will be held in the church sanctuary folldwed by a leisure-time exhibit in the fellowship hall. A "stalk" of celery means the whole plant. A single stem is properly called a "rib." lgsters are some of the 14.000 reive food, clothing, medical tian education through World lip. Worldwide, some 100,000 ng helped. CROSSWORD PUZZLE TODAY'S *N»WI« ACROSS I Identifying mark 5 Rose extract M It "lives after them" II Gambler's ace-holder 12 — upon (love to excess) 13 Famed wizard 14 Danube tributary 15 One of a Tolstoy duo 1< Swedish county 17 "It Happened One Night" star 19 Suffix for meteor 20 One of the Germanys 21 Gordian — 22 Proofreading direction 23 Edward of the limerick 24 Comedian, Lew — 25 "Love Letters in the 26 Andy Capp's "Present!" 27 Russian tea urn 30 Football's Paseghian 31 College in Iowa 32 Ripen 33 Imitation silk 25 Use a shears 31 Everlasting (poet.) 37 Timber tree 3S Prokofiev or Koussevitzky 39 Rind DOWN 1 District of France 2 Convex molding 3 Amateur acting group (2 wds.) 4 Suffix for client 5 On guard 6 Three (prefix) T BHSP1 HKPlfeK PIliZlH mkh hsr aeia felPia :• pjsk=jb Bassi MWPSH MHJJBl DWfltl PlDO OPEIEBSK fflFiB P1HE HHK EBBPiaffi 1BSH pibboq BUQt=J KBKiE Predict (3 wds.) Pilot Milk-curdling substance Sprucely dressed See 20 Across Ex-heavyweight champ Card game Notched like a saw w lb 111 mm 27 r 23 One kind of duck 24 Tenant contracts 25 French river 27 Dramatic segment 28 Sprightly 29 Cause aversion 34 Energy unit 35 Weaken Ir IT 55 3'

Page Text

This is the computer-generated OCR text representation of this newspaper page. It may be empty, if no text could be automatically recognized. This data is also available in Plain Text and XML formats.

Return to page view