Crazy question, I know Through my daughter's French class at school, we will be having a student from France stay with us for a couple of weeks. She arrives on Tuesday and will be here over Easter. We were trying to think of fun activities to do while Marie is visiting... some big stuff (which is easy here in Chicago) and some low key stuff to do at home as well. We thought dying eggs would be fun (my daughter loves to dye them regardless), which got us to thinking if Marie would share this tradition as well. I tried looking it up online and didn't find any mention of the act of actually dying eggs. I did learn that bunnies aren't a thing, so I'm going to make sure to pick up a chocolate bunny for her. Does anyone know any other Easter differences? Or have any suggestions of things we think of as normal everyday type things, that might be interesting to do with our exchange student?
In France, we make fun activities with children. We can décoratrice them, but the most fun is the hunt. We hide some chocolate eggs (or bunny or hen or other sweet Easter character) in the house or in the garden. The children search the chocolate and at the and they are always happy to have lots of chocolate. In my town, they organize a geant egg hunt in the castle (because I've the have one castle in my town).
Here are some pages where I documented the hunt https://the-lilypad.com/forum/galleries/happy-easter.298525/ https://the-lilypad.com/forum/galleries/happy-easter-2014.247534/ https://the-lilypad.com/forum/galleries/happy-easter.244213/ https://the-lilypad.com/forum/galleries/joyeuses-paques.345618/
It might depend on the student, but I know I've been fascinated every time we bring up grocery shopping on the forum and talk about the differences. Like cheese. I didn't know our cheese was dyed yellow(orange) in the US until TLP. Maybe she'd like to see the grocery store?
In South Africa we don't but I remember doing it as a child in Germany. It could be more of a European thing. I think it's a lovely gesture and activity, regardless of whether they do or not. If it's something you do, include her in it. There are some stunning Easter activities and things to make/bake on Pinterest if you searched. @bestcee Cheese is dyed yellow?
In Belgium we also have an egg hunt ... when the weather is nice, chocolate eggs are hidden in the garden ... otherwise the eggs are hidden in the house ... the children walk around with their baskets and search ... We also have a big Easter egg hunt in Puyenbroeck - a large provincial domein in our municipality ... On Easter Saturday with music, circus, a large Easter show by clown Rocky, puppet shows, lots of fun activities and of course tasty Easter eggs. The Easter bunnies distribute the chocolate eggs to the children.
Um, it was late when I wrote that. It's actually orange. The bottom orange cheese is cheddar. Yes, it's really that orange. The deviled egg at the top is yellow.
I refuse to buy orange cheese. I won’t buy anything fake. Kerrygold cheese does not dye their cheeses.
It's interesting. Two schools of thought: One was fraud, the other was to even out the color. There's history of margarine being dyed that bright yellow too! Often, white or light yellow cheddar is labelled as "Vermont Cheese" even if it's not from Vermont, because they don't dye their cheese. Most cheese is dyed with Annatto, which is natural. So, it's not fake.
Thanks everyone for the input... I bought a bunch of dye kits at the store yesterday and the stuff to fill an Easter basket for her! Thanks for all of the great information... beautiful layouts as always! I thought about that.... I figure it "kills two birds with one stone" as well... she might find it interesting and it will be a way for her to pick out some food to keep on hand that I know she will like. Thanks! I think they'll have fun with it. Since it's not your typical exchange program, she'll be sightseeing with her travel group about every other school day of her visit. It will be nice to have some low key activities to do at home since she'll be on the go a lot..
My horror at your cheese saga @bestcee is that our cheese is the exact same yellow/orange colour and has been all my life. It was only recently I discovered honey isn't always 100% what bees produce, that sugar may be added to it, or the bees are fed sugar to speed up the honey making process. That wine may be flavoured by oak woodchips instead of aging in actual barrels of oak, etc. I feel like what I know about how things are farmed/produced has been changed so much to make more money faster.
This is so true! It's interesting because in the US we have a product called honey syrup. It's basically honey with a lot of corn syrup. They can't call it honey because it doesn't meet the guidelines, but they want to confuse people!
@tkradtke I think the dying eggs is a great idea. Jelly Beans? Of course Greeks make deep red eggs and there are the paysanka regs in Eastern Europe or the Baltics. Just thinking of things that were different and some still are in a lot of Europe. Let her see you do laundry in the huge washers and separate dryers many of us use. Is popcorn with tv movies a think in Europe? Different products in a makeup store like Ulta or Sephora? Looking at different hair products? Comparing traditional Easter dinner in your family to hers...and maybe her family doesn't even celebrate Easter. Passover? It sounds like great fun no matter what you all do. I used to work for a foreign exchange program and I loved the interactions.
@cookingmylife Great suggestions, Maureen! Clara has several "everyday" adventures planned out for her. Sephora was definitely on the list . Marie plays guitar so Clara planned on taking her to Chicago Music Exchange where they have walls covered in guitars. Clara has been invited to a quinceañera and is able to bring Marie along as her guest so that's one weekend night taken care of. She's also here during Clara's school's Walk to Wrigley event where all of the students walk together from the school to Wrigley Field to see a Cubs game. Oh... and the service we go to on Easter is different than most, we go to the sunrise service on the beach. I love it, its very informal and a lot of people bring their dogs. The tour group takes the French students out on field trips most of the days while Clara is in school. I was just panicking a bit over the four day weekend we have coming up. But I think they'll figure something out.... teens are pretty resourceful