My La Giraudiere Experience: Day 9

July 8, 2010

We gathered together for our routine breakfast. A few of us are really trying to improve our French, so we watched a French television program as we ate our cereal and yogurt and drank our coffee and juice.

Ten o’clock brought our French teacher, Celine. Again, we had a very productive lesson. We even learned “un gros mot” thanks to author James Patterson and his novel “Des nouvelles de Mary” and my need to know every word that’s not found in my French-English dictionary.

After the break, we went back to our tasks. A few of us received different tasks. Kim now had the task of organizing the office and some of the surrounding rooms. Therese and Lewis, after spending a few hours dealing with drywall, went back to the woods (in the 38 degree Celsius heat!) to cut some foreign roots that were climbing up the trees.

Lidia surprised us by making another flan. Minjie assisted in the flan preparation (So Minjie, be prepared to take over the flan-making duties when Lidia leaves tomorrow!).

After the flan was put into the oven, Jim, having been given the rest of the day off, drove Lidia and Minjie to the store to buy the ingredients for tonight’s dinner: meatloaf (to be prepared by Jim and Lidia)!

LG received a very welcomed visitor. Former volunteer Rhian. Those who were here during her stay were very excited to see her.

Rhian joined us for dinner, which we ate around 6:30. Another splendid meal, but coupled with a little sadness as we toasted Jim and Lidia who will be leaving LG tomorrow morning to head to London, England.

After dinner we prepared to head to the lake to listen to some live music. French Blues/Hip-Hop by the group Syncopera- très intéressant! We all had a great evening.

My La Giraudiere Experience: Day 8

July 7, 2010

Today was pretty much a repeat of yesterday. Everyone continued with their respective chores.
Break was a little interesting, however, as we discussed the relevance of the income tax over coffee, tea, and biscuits. It was interesting to hear the different views.

Jim, Lewis, Therese, and Paul continued their work on the 4th gite. Kim and Linda tried to design a new webpage for LG. Meanwhile, Minjie helped Lidia sort through more of Paul’s invoices and other financial documents. Vicki, of course, provided the nourishment (lunch) to keep us going throughout the day.

Therese made dinner for us tonight. There must be something about the kitchen in gite #3, because we had another fine meal of chicken breasts and vegetables (which she covered with Swiss cheese). Her dishes were devoured in record time.

As the Spain-Germany game was on that evening, everyone gathered into Gite #2 to watch it. This night, as everyone headed to bed after the game, we were all happy. Spain won! Keeping our fingers crossed for them for Sunday (everyone that is except Vicki who is pulling for Holland—because they have the wooden shoes!)

The night was not as cool as the previous nights as we went to sleep. Sure hope that doesn’t mean a miserably hot day tomorrow! Well, we’ll see what tomorrow brings.

My La Giraudiere Experience: Day 7

Tuesday, July 6

We ate breakfast around 8:30. Bruno joined us for breakfast, as Paul had been gracious enough to allow Bruno to park his “camping car” (actual French word), on the LG grounds overnight.

After breakfast, Minjie and Lidia worked on the hedges and took control of the “jungle” that was forming in the back yard.

Jim, Lewis, and Therese got to work indoors. However, their new assignment was plastering the walls. I think they welcomed the change. Therese, in particular, seemed especially excited to work with a drill for the very first time.

Kim resumed her administrative tasks and responded to the many email questions concerning LG itself and upcoming visits/stays. She also began working on a template for the recipes that we will start to collect. (So past volunteers, get ready to submit your recipes!)

Vicki, all healed up, walked to “la patisserie” to purchase the fresh bread. Upon her return, she commenced to preparing the items for our break, while trying to decide the lunch menu that would follow just a few hours later. (Talk about multi-tasking!)

Break was a little different today, as we had no biscuits to go with our coffee and tea. Thank goodness today is shopping day!

Linda, our newest resident emerged shortly after 11. Like every new volunteer who arrived the previous day, she was given the day off. She looks forward to starting her work tomorrow, which will be helping Kim with designing LG’s webpage.

Shortly before lunch, we said good bye to Bruno, who was off to visit a friend somewhere south of Brossac. Fortunately (for me) he will return at the end of the week. Hopefully, for some of the others, his return will allow them to practice more of their French.

After lunch, which consisted of quiche, various salads, and the fixings for a ham and cheese sandwich, everyone went back to work. Paul went grocery shopping with Vicki. (Please don’t forget the biscuits!)

It was Minjie’s night to cook dinner. Tonight’s menu: beef stew and fried rice! Très delicieux! That’s one that certainly needs to go into our soon to be web-published LG recipe collection.

After enjoying a little wine, we settled into Gite #2 to watch the football match. Everyone (except Vicki), was pulling for Uruguay. Well, Vicki was the only happy person at the end of the game, as Holland beat the underdog and will be moving on the final where they will face either Spain or Germany.

My La Giraudiere Experience: Day 6

Monday, July 5

Everyone returned on Monday from their weekend excursions. We were happy to see one another and eager to share our weekend experiences over dinner:

I enjoyed the Roman influences in Saintes, France which I visited on Sunday. Afterwards, we drove to the west coast, to Saint-Sulpice-De-Royan, where I enjoyed their popular dish of moules et frites (clams and fries) by the water at one of the area's many restaurants.

Jim and Lidia visited Bordeaux on Saturday. On Sunday they drove 60 miles to Arcachon Bay to view the “Dune du Pyla.”

Kim and Vicki enjoyed Bordeaux on Saturday as well. They continued to enjoy the lovely city through Sunday and were able to attend a Mormon church service

Minjie and Lewis stayed close to LG, enjoying the football match-ups. However, Therese got a little adventurous and biked nearly 30 kilometers to Barbezieux.

Our newest resident, Linda, joined us for dinner. Linda is former school teacher from the UK. She will be volunteering at LG for 3 weeks.

Paul invited my friend Bruno to join us for dinner. He didn't hesitate a second before accepting. The wonderful pork roast and oven-roasted potatoes that Lidia prepared certainly were no match for the canned soup he planned on having that evening.

Kim, Lewis, and Therese received an extra treat during dinner, as they were able to practice their French with Bruno, who is from Roquemaure, France (southern France).

We ended Monday with a round of boules. It was “les hommes contre les filles.” Therese, Kim, and I played against Paul, Lewis, and Bruno. While I would have loved to report that the ladies won, unfortunately for us, the guys came from behind to beat us 10-13. I feel a rematch coming on next week!

We left around 10:00 to head back to LG, heading for bed in order to be fresh for work on Tuesday.

My La Giraudiere Experience - Day 5

Friday, July 2, 2010

Everyone started work a little early in order to both finish early and get a head start on the brutal heat which would again rear its hot little head today.

Therese agreed to go to town to purchase the fresh bread for Vicki. Vicki was much appreciative of this favor, as she had fallen off the bike the morning before and had a badly bruised knee.
After returning from the baker’s, Therese joined Paul in dumping the trash (or rubbish as Paul might say) that we accumulated over the course of one week. Jim and Lewis continued with the “yard work.”

Lidia returned to trimming the hedges, but this time with the assistance of Minjie, who thankfully was feeling much better.

Kim, being the efficient person that she is, finished with her administrative tasks by mid-morning. However, instead of coasting for the day, she took on the arduous task of mowing and edging the grass!

Our house mother, Vicki, came up with a brilliant idea for lunch—French toast from the day-old French bread. (I use the word “brilliant” not because she found a way to use the stale bread, but because I just love French toast!) Of course Vicki doesn’t just provide one dish. To complement the French toast, Vicki made a Thai rice dish which she topped with peaches. Magnifique!

As it was Friday, so the end of lunch meant the start of our weekend. Most of us stayed at LG Friday night and enjoyed barbeque prepared by Lewis. I was the only one who left Friday afternoon to head to Cognac, France for the weekend with my friend Bruno. Vicki, Kim, Jim, and Lidia would head out to Bordeaux Saturday morning, while our three students (Lewis, Therese, and Minjie) would stay around LG and explore a little of Brossac and its surrounding areas.

Bon Weekend!

My La Giraudiere Experience - Day 4

July 1, 2010

Well, we welcomed in July with another hot day. Everyone had their respective tasks to do and went to them after breakfast.

Lidia went into Gite #3 to prepare the flan that we will have after our dinner tonight. Flan is a Cuban dish. (learned something new). It is a rich custard dessert with a layer of soft caramel on top. (Can’t wait to taste it!)

Therese joined Jim and Lewis today in making a clearing in the woods. (She’s in for a nice surprise).

It was intended that Minjie would join them as well, but due to a cold she caught while traveling to LG (from Paris), Paul thought that it would be better if she helped around the house. As such, Minjie, along with Vicki and myself, biked down to the bakery to purchase some fresh bread. We had to leave Kim behind, as the bike she was using broke down.

Not too long after we returned from the bakery, it was time for our French lesson with Celine. Although we are all at different levels of French, the lesson benefited all of us. Merci beaucoup Celine. Vous ȇtes un très bon professeur!

Since the lesson ended around 1 pm, we all pitched in to help Vicki prepare lunch. We must have worked up an appetite during the lesson. I don’t believe we had anything left over.

Around 3 pm, I began preparing the meal for the day. Tonight we will have jambalaya, baked chicken, and salad. Jambalaya is a Creole dish. I make mine with rice, tomatoes, and sometimes as many as three different kinds of meats: sausage, chicken, and shrimp (if you want to call shrimp a meat). Today I just used sausage. Of course, being in France, or rather, at LG, I had to improvise a little. I didn’t fret too much over it, as it occurred to me that everyone who cooked this week had to improvise and their dishes came out fabulous, so I hoped for the best.

We ate dinner a little earlier tonight to attend a concert down by the lake. I was pleased when everyone complimented me on the jambalaya. They seemed to really enjoy it. However, it was the flan that stole the limelight from the jambalaya! The flan itself was just beautiful. The taste of it was even better. (You know something is really good when you involuntarily make the “MMMM” sound every time you take a bite).

With such wonderful meals this week, Paul suggested an LG Cookbook, featuring the dishes cooked by the temporary residents. C’est une bonne idée, Paul!”

After dinner we all got ready to hear the live music down at the lake. (Poor Minjie stayed behind to nurse her cold). The music was very nice.

Equally as nice was the cool temperature. I actually needed a sweater that evening. We left the concert around 11 to head back home for a good night’s rest so that we could be fresh for tomorrow’s work.

My La Giraudiere Experience - Day 3

June 30, 2010

Another cool morning today, followed by the unbearable heat. Today the temperature reached 30 degrees Celsius (92 degrees Fahrenheit). In other words, very very hot.
I was up and out by 8. I joined Paul, Lydia, and Jim for breakfast. Lewis joined us a little later, followed by Kim, and finally Vicki. Minjie and Therese were still asleep, still exhausted from their trip the day before.


After breakfast, Jim and Lewis put on their suit of armor (long-sleeves, gloves, and hat) to tackle the woods—mainly the underbrush and the thorns. Their job for the day (and perhaps the remainder of the week) is to make a clearing in the woods. The shade from the trees and lots of cold water saved them from getting overheated. However, they weren’t so lucky when they came up against the thorns. They returned from their work with a few pricks. C’est dommage!

Lidia decided that she would trim the hedges. She soon realized this task was a very tall order. Being 5’ 2” (give or take half an inch) and sans ladder, she could not reach some of the highest parts of the bushes. Thus, she switched her task to trimming the patch of grass that she cut the day before. I’m not so sure, however, if this was an easier task, as she trimmed the grass with a pair of scissors—a painstaking job indeed. However, we now have nicely manicured grass leading to gite #2.









After our 10:30 break, Vicki and I biked down to the village to the butcher’s to purchase some chicken for tomorrow’s dinner that I will be making (Yikes!). After packaging up the chicken, the butcher offered some advice on how to cook the chicken (add a little oil, salt, pepper, and bake at 200 degrees Celsius). Très gentil!


We ate lunch again outside. However, the sun was bearing down on us a little more today due to the fact that we did not have as much shade today because we ate a little later than the day before. However, the heat couldn’t keep us from enjoying the leftover pork roast that Kim made the other day. This time we had it cold. You could put a gun to my head and I wouldn’t be able to tell you which way is better.


Shortly after lunch, Paul left to attend the funeral of his very dear friend. Vicki went to prepare the dinner—beef stroganoff. Everyone else went back to their respective tasks.

Paul, along with the cool breeze and shade had returned in time for dinner. Conversation was good and steady as we ate Vicki’s wonderful meal.



After dinner, Paul took Minjie and Therese down to St. Bernard’s to introduce them to some of the locals. Lewis also joined them. They returned about 10:00 that night and found their way into their respective gites to get ready for work the next day.