Remeber this blog was started by Adrienee and this is the link to the prior postings
ADRIENNES WORKING HOLIDAY AT LA GIRAUDIERE
Here is the link to the La Giraudiere project at
French working holiday
Monica Working holiday at La Giraudiere France
Friday, July 16, 2010
My La Giraudiere Experience - Day 15
July 16
Today we said good bye to Lewis. He will be greatly missed. We've never met a more courteous, helpful, and nice young man. His parents should be very proud to have raised such a wonderful son.
I sadly leave La Giraudiere as well. My experience here has far outweighed my expectations. Thanks so much everyone for such a lovely lovely time. I take with me new friendships that I hope will turn into longtime friendships. Paul, thank you for this wonderful opportunity. I admire and respect everything that you are doing here. Hopefully my summer plans next year will include a visit to LG! (I know what you're thinking Paul, but I'll be back anyway!)
Take care everyone!
Today we said good bye to Lewis. He will be greatly missed. We've never met a more courteous, helpful, and nice young man. His parents should be very proud to have raised such a wonderful son.
I sadly leave La Giraudiere as well. My experience here has far outweighed my expectations. Thanks so much everyone for such a lovely lovely time. I take with me new friendships that I hope will turn into longtime friendships. Paul, thank you for this wonderful opportunity. I admire and respect everything that you are doing here. Hopefully my summer plans next year will include a visit to LG! (I know what you're thinking Paul, but I'll be back anyway!)
Take care everyone!
My La Giraudiere Experience - Day 14
July 15
Paul decided to give us another day off! We all drove down to Royan and enjoyed the wonderful town and its beaches. Paul, you’re the best!
We enjoyed dinner at St. Bernard’s, thanks to John and Keith who footed the bill. The dinner also turned into a farewell party for Lewis and me. Lewis will head back to Scotland tomorrow afternoon, while I will return to Avignon, France before continuing on to Oslo, Norway (and finally the US). What a memorable night!
Paul decided to give us another day off! We all drove down to Royan and enjoyed the wonderful town and its beaches. Paul, you’re the best!
We enjoyed dinner at St. Bernard’s, thanks to John and Keith who footed the bill. The dinner also turned into a farewell party for Lewis and me. Lewis will head back to Scotland tomorrow afternoon, while I will return to Avignon, France before continuing on to Oslo, Norway (and finally the US). What a memorable night!
My La Giraudiere Experience - Day 13
July 14– Bastille Day
All of us helped clean up after last night’s festivities. Paul then gave us the day off for France’s national holiday. Everyone took the day to relax. Thanks so much Paul!
Some time during the afternoon, we received two more visitors at LG. John and Keith, from Great Britain. John and Keith are two very good and long-time friends of Paul. They are here to do some roof repair.
All of us helped clean up after last night’s festivities. Paul then gave us the day off for France’s national holiday. Everyone took the day to relax. Thanks so much Paul!
Some time during the afternoon, we received two more visitors at LG. John and Keith, from Great Britain. John and Keith are two very good and long-time friends of Paul. They are here to do some roof repair.
My La Giraudiere Experience - Day 12
July 13, 2010
Today we eagerly await the festivities celebrating Bastille Day. Therese and Lewis joined Paul in his truck to head down to the lake to prepare for the evening’s festivities. Poor Sydney had to remain behind as they had no room in the van for him (nor could he provide an extra set of hands).
Minjie and Kim put up shelves in the rooms they cleared out last Friday; while Linda, back from her “extended” weekend, resumed her work on LG’s webpage design.
Lunch was our typical menu. We were missing Therese, however, who stayed to have lunch with some of her new Brossac friends.
No one had dinner duty this evening, as we had been invited to eat down at the lake. Minjie, Lewis, and I went down a little early with Paul for “les appertifs.”
We sat down to eat around 9 o’clock. We had a very satisfying dinner coupled with great (French) conversation.
The fireworks started at 11:00. We all enjoyed the spectacular display.
After the fireworks the dancing began. While we were tempted to show off our dance moves, we decided to skip the after-party and head back to the house. That is, everyone except Therese, who, despite working all day, stayed behind to help Paul serve drinks to the people of Brossac. (The small town of Brossac had me fooled. They really know how to have some fun!)
My La Giraudiere - Day 11
July 12, 2010
I returned to LG around 6 pm Monday evening where I found Lewis, Therese, and Minjie in the front of LG eating dinner (shepherd’s pie which Kim and Vicki had made).
I made an inquiry of the rest of the LG crew and learned that Paul, Vicki, and Kim had gone to Angeleme to fetch Linda from her weekend visit and to go shopping for the week. (“Fetch”: where’d that word come from? Paul's Engish is contagious.) They returned about an hour later with groceries, but without Linda. (Turns out that Linda’s bus that would take her to the Angeleme train station never came. Thus, she must wait until Tuesday before rejoining us at LG.
I learned a little about what went on at LG over the weekend:
I learned a little about what went on at LG over the weekend:
The exciting activities starting very early Saturday morning, around 12:30 am, when Kim and Vicki were awakened to the fluttering sounds of a bat! (Perhaps it was the same one discovered by Kim earlier when cleaning up one of the soon-to-be renovated rooms.) After much discussion of what to do about the intrusion, they managed to direct the bat downstairs and finally out of the window.
On Sunday, Paul took Lewis, Minjie, Vicki, and Kim to Aubeterre, France to visit a monolithic church. They found the church absolutely breathtaking. Minjie took some lovely pictures of some of the scenery en route to (name of place).
On Sunday, I visited “La Venise Verte” located in “Le Marais Poitevin.” What a lovely village and a lovely day for a nice boat ride.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
My La Giraudiere Experience: Day 10
July 9, 2010
Breakfast was a little sad today, as we knew this would be our last one with Jim and Lidia. However, Jim had one more task to do before he left LG: teach Vicki to drive an English manual car. (The steering wheel is on the right side and the gear shift is to the driver’s left.) Jim said a prayer before they headed out. However, 30 minutes later, Vicki was pulling back into LG like a pro. Good job, Vicki! Next trip for Vicki, Barbezieux perhaps? (Still waiting for Paul
Most of us spent the morning cleaning up some of the soon-to-be-renovated rooms. This consisted of throwing out many bags of unusable items; sweeping while trying not to inhale the three inches of dust that had accumulated on the floor; and organizing the items that Paul decided were important enough to keep, e.g., old clothes, old movies, old records—yes, the ones requiring a record player—and old photos. The cleaning was so thorough that we even managed to rouse a bat out of its morning sleep.
Therese continued her work on the 4th gite, but this time she was putting plaster on the corners of the ceiling. Very tedious job, indeed.
Vicki called us in for lunch. Today she made grilled cheese sandwiches. Bruno returned and joined us for lunch, as did Rhian. During lunch we learned of everyone's plans for the weekend. Most everyone would remain at LG. Linda planned a little trip northeast of Brossac to visit a friend. I would head out Saturday morning with Bruno somewhere north of Brossac to visit with some of his friends. Rhian would also leave Saturday morning, driving to her hometown in Wales.
After lunch, Kim, Therese, and Lewis practiced their French with Bruno. The discussion became a little heated when the subject turned to politics. (Glad I was inside washing the dishes from lunch.)
For dinner, Lewis did another barbeque, fixing sausages and hamburgers. Some of us Americans improvised with our hamburgers using the French bread as a substitute for hamburger buns. We also had a rice salad and a green salad to round out the meal
The evening provided different plans for all of us. Kim would practice more French with her friend, Indira (from Brossac). Linda, Therese, and Vicki decided that staying in and resting was the best choice for them. However, Paul, Minjie, Lewis, Rhian, Bruno, and I went down to the village to play a round of boules. Again, it was “les filles contre les hommes.” We decided to play until one team reached 8 points since we also planned to have a round of drinks (and dessert) at St. Bernard's. I was certain that the women would win, as we took an early lead of 7 to 3 after only 3 rounds. Unfortunately, we couldn’t muster up any more points and the guys came from behind to beat us again. Final score: 12 to 7.
After the disappointing loss (for the ladies) and the glorious win (for the guys), we all headed to Saint Bernard’s for drinks and ice cream. A perfect ending to a perfect, albeit, hot week.
Breakfast was a little sad today, as we knew this would be our last one with Jim and Lidia. However, Jim had one more task to do before he left LG: teach Vicki to drive an English manual car. (The steering wheel is on the right side and the gear shift is to the driver’s left.) Jim said a prayer before they headed out. However, 30 minutes later, Vicki was pulling back into LG like a pro. Good job, Vicki! Next trip for Vicki, Barbezieux perhaps? (Still waiting for Paul
Most of us spent the morning cleaning up some of the soon-to-be-renovated rooms. This consisted of throwing out many bags of unusable items; sweeping while trying not to inhale the three inches of dust that had accumulated on the floor; and organizing the items that Paul decided were important enough to keep, e.g., old clothes, old movies, old records—yes, the ones requiring a record player—and old photos. The cleaning was so thorough that we even managed to rouse a bat out of its morning sleep.
Therese continued her work on the 4th gite, but this time she was putting plaster on the corners of the ceiling. Very tedious job, indeed.
Vicki called us in for lunch. Today she made grilled cheese sandwiches. Bruno returned and joined us for lunch, as did Rhian. During lunch we learned of everyone's plans for the weekend. Most everyone would remain at LG. Linda planned a little trip northeast of Brossac to visit a friend. I would head out Saturday morning with Bruno somewhere north of Brossac to visit with some of his friends. Rhian would also leave Saturday morning, driving to her hometown in Wales.
After lunch, Kim, Therese, and Lewis practiced their French with Bruno. The discussion became a little heated when the subject turned to politics. (Glad I was inside washing the dishes from lunch.)
For dinner, Lewis did another barbeque, fixing sausages and hamburgers. Some of us Americans improvised with our hamburgers using the French bread as a substitute for hamburger buns. We also had a rice salad and a green salad to round out the meal
The evening provided different plans for all of us. Kim would practice more French with her friend, Indira (from Brossac). Linda, Therese, and Vicki decided that staying in and resting was the best choice for them. However, Paul, Minjie, Lewis, Rhian, Bruno, and I went down to the village to play a round of boules. Again, it was “les filles contre les hommes.” We decided to play until one team reached 8 points since we also planned to have a round of drinks (and dessert) at St. Bernard's. I was certain that the women would win, as we took an early lead of 7 to 3 after only 3 rounds. Unfortunately, we couldn’t muster up any more points and the guys came from behind to beat us again. Final score: 12 to 7.
After the disappointing loss (for the ladies) and the glorious win (for the guys), we all headed to Saint Bernard’s for drinks and ice cream. A perfect ending to a perfect, albeit, hot week.
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