After all the volunteers had completed their long journey to Brossac and had spent the first night in their new home at La Giraudière, the group of international volunteers decided to explore Angoulême the provincial capital of the Charente department.
The idea of taking a day off to visit this beautiful city was suggested by the project manager, Paul Rice and the volunteers just love it.
One of the “street murals” of Angoulême
Known as “La cité de la bande dessinée“, it is full of street art, paintings, culture and shops with different regional products made in Charente.
Our volunteers enjoyed a day visiting the monuments of the city, walking through the pedestrian street, checking out the street art and also having a nice picnic next to the river.
Erasmus Volunteers from: Greece, Portugal and Spain
Discover the “must do” in Angoulême according to our volunteers: – Visit the street murals (free maps available in the tourism office!) – Picnic next to the Charente river – Visit the Cathedral and it’s museum – Visit the museum of “bande dessinée” – Attend the Festival International de la Bande Dessinée – Do a boat trip on Charente river
If you are interested in joining the international group of volunteers at La Giraudière, you can read more about the Erasmus project at Erasmus Project in France or you can visit the International volunteer’s website at Volunteering in France.
On May, Brossac village decided to hold a fête weekend full of western adventures.
This included country and western dancing, stagecoach rides, horseshoe making, mechanical bull, numerous stalls selling American themed products including cowboy hats, Texas steaks and other cuisine was prepared and of course just to add a French touch to the day a “boules” competition was held.
Brossac en Fête
Both international support volunteers and Erasmus Volunteers from La Giraudière who had travelled from all parts of the globe were amazed to find a western event in the small village of Brossac in the south-west countryside of France.
Brossac en Fête
You can read more about Brossac upon it’s Facebook Page
If you are interested in joining the international group of volunteers at La Giraudiere in Brossac then you can read more about the project at Erasmus Project in France
Spring arrives at La Giraudiere, the wysteria is in bloom, the grass is growing, the cookoo have had their say and the birds are roosting. The village prepares for the spring fete for the weekend of the 4th, 5th and 6th of May and at La Giraudiere we prepare for hosting volunteers and interns.
Despite early concerns what with the troubles in Paris and Brexit it looks like it is going to be another Bumper year at La Giraudiere. It is on the 1st of May that LG opens it’s doors and welcomes its first arrivals on this day also is the “fete du travail” et “Fête du Muguet”.
Spring arrives in France
Fete du Travail
The French holiday “Fete du Travail” is unique due to a combination of global and historical French traditions.
Fete du Travail is a time for the French people to spend time with their friends and family members while enjoying a day off from work. Why ” Fete du muguet ” on May 1st? Well offering les muguet, or lily of the valley in English, on the first of May is in fact an almost natural gesture as warmer weather returns.
The Celts celebrated the return of summer on May 1 and considered lily of the valley, present at this time of the year, as a lucky flower.
La Giraudiere prepares for its volunteers
Fete du Muguet
In the Renaissance, May 1st was the feast of love during which a wreath of flowers was made to offer to the loved one. The Muguet, blooming in May, often adorned these wreaths. At the same time, King Charles IX received, on May 1, a muguet as a lucky charm, he then decided to offer Muguet every first May to the ladies of the court.
The tradition of offering Mugueton May 1 persists until today and everyone can sell Muguet on the street, there are no formalities or taxes that day.
So as France and the French welcome the warm breezes of summer La Giraudiere welcomes its international bouquet of guests coming from all points of the globe.
This year La Giraudière encompass another Erasmus project this time funded by the European Solidarity Corps. The project “Recognizing Young Entrepreneurs and teaching Entrepreneurship” attracted hundreds of applicants from which five were selected one from each of the following countries Spain, Germany, Greece, Russia and Portugal. You can read more about the project on our website at http://www.lagiraudiere.com/
Apart from those participating in the Erasmus project we continue to welcome our international volunteers coming from as far as New Zealand. For May alone our volunteers are American, British, French, Canadian and Australian together with our Erasmus volunteers we have a mix of 10 nationalities presenting a true culture exchange in France.
Much is planned for this year and next weeks blog post will give you fuller information on the other projects and the programs for 2019. So please keep returning and see you then.
Born in Taiwan lives in Australia volunteers France
Shiao-Ping came from Brisbane in Australia to volunteer at La Giraudière after spending her working life in banking. She has been learning French at the Alliance Française in Brisbane and it was a dream for her to come to France to learn and improve her knowledge of the French language. Shia-Ping volunteered at La Giraudiere for a 5 weeks arriving in August 2018.
Shiao-Ping was born in Taiwan but lives in Australia with her Aussie husband of 32 years. Her mother tongue is Mandarin. She has a bread blog which you can find at www.thefreshloaf.com/blog/shiaoping! She is also a keen photographer and she has used all her own photos on her bread blog and on her Instagram account (shiaopinghu)
Chinese Volunteers in France
Whilst volunteering at La Giraudière, she worked in the office for a few weeks dealing with reservations and the logistics of bookings she also helped with translation and website creation with the Chinese volunteers.
Shiao-Ping is an excellent cook and the group profited with the superb curries and other spicy dishes she would turn out but her specialty as to be baking and she became known for her yummy cakes!
In Shiao-Ping’s exit evaluation she notes,
She found La Giraudiere a welcoming place in the French countryside. She also encourages you to get out there and use your time off to improve your French and immerse yourself. The best part for her was the interaction with the fellow volunteers, the group excursions and communicating with the local villagers. She rated the program 18/20 and feels the program is good value for money. She also wished the volunteers had spoken more French although she realized her own knowledge of French was only basic.
“Thank you Shiao-Ping for choosing La Giraudiere for your volunteering holiday you were a pleasure to live and work with and make a splendid group or team member and I hope some day you return”. – Paul
Séjour linguistique bénévole pour apprendre l’anglais en France
17 year old Antoine Lang lives in Achères in France and had considered going to England for a linguistic “séjour” so as to improve his English, but then he stumbled on the La Giraudière website offering volunteering opportunities and decided that it would be far easier and cheaper to volunteer in his native France than to go to some unknown part of England.
He was delighted with his three week stay where he was able to meet other volunteers from China, England, Scotland and Australia and get plenty of practice in speaking English.
Whilst staying at La Giraudière, Antoine took advantage of the nearby lake and was able to go swimming in the lake, cycling as well as playing his guitar. He volunteered by doing some gardening, some building maintenance and updating web pages about La Giraudiere program for French speakers titled “bénévole pour apprendre l’anglais en France”
You can also see Antoine learning Scottish dancing during his stay on the video at You Tube Videos
Antoine later wrote to us with this testimonial of his stay at La Giraudiere
Je m’appelle Antoine et j’ai 17 ans. J’ai était bénévole pour La Giraudière durant 2 semaines. C’était super bien, j’ai rencontré des personnes de plein de pays différents : Chine, Angleterre, Écosse, Australie…
Ces 2 semaines sont passés très vite et ont était très enrichissante. J’étais le seul Français durant cette période et cela ma permis d’être vraiment plongé dans la langue Anglaise. Être bénévole à La Giraudière est awesome si tu es français car tu progresse énormément. Du coup, mon niveau en Anglais est monté en flèche. On pense Anglais 24h/24 comme si on était en UK ou aux USA. J’ai appris aussi beaucoup de choses durant mon séjour lors de mes différents travaux en faisant des Constructions et Pages Web. Il y a de super dinners de tout les pays qui nous attendent chaque soir. Une super ambiance, très conviviale, j’ai fais de très bonne rencontre. J’ai aussi pu aller souvent me baigner au Lac, faire du vélo et sortir avec le reste du groupe lors des moments de temps libre. De plus, faire ce séjour est beaucoup moins cher ici. En effet, 1 semaine à l’étranger est équivalent à plus de 6 semaines à La Giraudière. Je pense que c’est le meilleur moyen pour améliorer son Anglais, apprendre des choses en travaillant tout en restant en France et en aidant les autres.
Antoine
Thank you Antoine and maybe see you again at La Giraudiere
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