Australian’s take time out and arrived in the nick of time!

Jack and Kirstina take time out from  Australia — and just in time for their skills to be put to good use.

Kirstina and Jack, a couple with enough travel under their belts to challenge that of the Dalai Lama, were absolutely indispensible during their two weeks at La Giraudière. Kirstina graciously took over the housekeeping side of things, doing laundry galore, setting out meals, readying rooms for the new recruits, and — how did she find the time out for all this? — doing gardening, trimming hedges, and helping Karen with the newsletter project.

Australian volunteer powering through files

Kirstina powering through files

As a retired motor mechanic, Jack put his skills to fantastic use getting the lawn mower up and running again, advising the best course of action for the push mower, fixing a plethora of things on the van (the latch in the back, a door, a window mechanism, the brakes), and providing counsel on all other things vehicle-related.

Australian Time Out

Jack repairs the car window

Miraculous when it comes to the kitchen, the two made delicious fish dishes for the group, full of lemon, and spice, and everything nice (i.e., onion, garlic, and the best potatoes ever to see the inside of an oven), along with some beautiful white and green asparagus.

During the Friday French lessons, Kirstina soaked up as much as she could, putting to good use the term “je voudrais” — the polite way of asking for something, especially when ordering at restaurants.

Speaking of ordering food from French menus, Jack had quite the culinary adventure one evening.  Searching for a steak, he ordered steak tartare — little did he know, he was not about to receive a piece of beef with a lovely sauce, but one that was much closer to alive than any he had previously attempted to eat.  That’s one way to make the vocabulary stick in your memory!

With vehicles to be fixed, hedges to spruce up, years of applications to sort, and fish to be eaten, the arrival of these fantastic Australians at La Giraudière could not have been better timed.

Thinking of taking some time out then La Giraudiere will have something for you visit to read more at Time out in France

About La Giraudiere

The whole idea of the La Giraudiere project is for people of all backgrounds, all ages, all nationalities to have the chance to live together learn about each others lifestyle exchange their knowledge, experiences and skills whilst living and working together in France and at the same time helping, improving and adding to the Project for those to come in the future. To see the different types of volunteers work that has been done and what is still required visit our website
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