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

Posted on May 21, 2016 by La Giraudiere

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

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We welcome another gap year student

Posted on May 19, 2016 by La Giraudiere

Charles, an American student who has made the impeccable choice of taking a gap year, arrived on the scene Friday, the 13th of May.

Perfect timing to welcome someone who has fully embraced superstiton (he doesn’t know the Stevie Wonder song).

Charles is no stranger to southwest France — or any part of the country, for that matter.  In fact, having been all across continental Europe, volunteering in Africa (Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa), and studying at the Oxford Tutorial College, he is quite the world traveller at only nineteen.

Since he arrived during the weekend, Charles has been able to adapt to life at La Giraudière at a leisurely pace.  He attended a brocante, or flea market, with the group; got to experience the market at Chalais Monday morning; and did a few hours of pruning and bonfire construction Monday afternoon.  Tuesday, he lent a hand rendering the walls of Gîte 4’s balcony and celebrated with a delicious pizza from Brossac’s restaurant L’Un Des Sens. Wednesday, he thoroughly enjoyed the group day out exploring ever-larger coastal towns.

Gap year student at work in the office and constructing scaffolding

(From left) Charles at work in the office and constructing scaffolding

His current projects involve the puzzle that is constructing indoor scaffolding, with the end goal of cementing the wall adjacent to the Old House staircase (more on that later) and continuing Karen’s newsletter work.  Who knows what plethora of new projects the next week will bring for this gap year student?

Thinking about your gap year look to see what La Giraudiere can offer Gap Year in France

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Volunteer dinner out in France at O P’tit En K

Posted on May 8, 2016 by La Giraudiere

Volunteers had a wonderful dinner in France at O P’tit En K, but we were missing one thing…

dinner_in_france

Fresh chips and a delectable pizza at O P’tit En K

bread.

To elaborate on this rather cryptic post, the team spent Saturday exploring the region: Karen and John took in the sights and shops of Chalais, while Zach and Katherine headed off to Angoulême, city of “bandes dessinées,” or comic-style artwork (more on the new arrivals coming soon to a screen near you).  They had a great time attempting to translate the information about the artwork in the “musée de la bande dessinée” into English and exploring the hilly environs of the city, where they happened upon a small park inabited by two gigantic sculptures of hands.  Upon their return to Chalais, Paul took Zach and Katherine to the lovely O P’tit En K restaurant, where they had the best chips and black olive pizza in the department of Charente.

sculpture-of-giant-hand-angouleme

Making connections with the local sculpture in Angouleme

If you would like to benefit from a dinner in France such as this, visit our website at Volunteer in France.

 

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British volunteer arrives in France

Posted on May 7, 2016 by La Giraudiere

Farhad Mustafa, a British-Bangladeshi volunteer, arrives in France to help at La Giraudiere

Hot off the heels of Zach and Choon comes Farhad, hereby referred to as Foo, to join the 2016 volunteer season of La Giraudiere.

Foo has a Bengali heritage but was born and raised in England, specifically the West Midlands but Paul calls him a Northerner. He can speak English & Bengali and studied French & Spanish at college. He decided to volunteer at La Giraudiere in order to improve his French and experience life abroad.

 

farhad_mustafa-british_volunteer

Foo learning how to play the French card game Belote at the local village hall in Brossac

Foo arrived on the 16th of April, bringing a deluge of British weather along with him. He spent the first few days acclimatising to Brossac, enjoying the plentiful vistas and food it has to offer. He watched a local football match between Brossac-Chalais and Barbezieux, which with his support ended 6-2 in favour of Brossac-Chalais. You can follow the football team on their Facebook page Entente Brossac-Chalais.

farhad_mustafa-british_volunteer-work_prep

In his time here Foo has been supporting the team with their projects such as rendering the balcony and cleaning up the apartments. He has also done a touch of translation and has been working the emails, answering queries from prospective volunteers and interns and helping volunteers to arrange travel to La Giraudiere.

During his stay Foo has been eating plenty, thanks to all the great cooking provided by the team. He’s produced a few meals of his own which were well received. In his weekends Foo has visited Bordeaux, La Rochelle and Angouleme in order to see the sights.

french-lesson

French lessons every Friday morning at La Giraudiere

Foo has been keen to get involved with the French lessons and has been enjoying them very much. He has been using his spare time to study French.

————————————————— Update ——————————————————

Foo made his departure Saturday, May 7th, at 07:00, making it the earliest Foo sighting on record.

Ready to tackle any task Paul put in front of him and highly regarded by volunteers and locals alike, Foo was an invaluable member of the 2016 team.

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British volunteers arrive from Germany

Posted on May 3, 2016 by La Giraudiere

John and Geoff head into La Giraudiere to volunteer and lend a hand in France.

La Giraudiere continues its 2016 season with the arrival of 2 new guests. John, Paul’s brother, and his friend Geoffrey Heath came to volunteer in France for a week. They are tied for 5th volunteer of the 2016 season.

John is a Londoner through and through whereas Geoffrey is from Rochdale, however they both now reside in Germany. John works for the US army and Geoff is a retired tailor.

John was a valuable asset to the team – he assisted greatly in painting apartment 4 and the balcony rendering project by providing a constant supply of cement. He also repaired the shower in apartment 4, chopped some wood for the fireplace and cut down some weeds with the weed whacker.

Geoffrey took over housekeeping duties, keeping the apartments spick and span and making sure the table was set for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day to keep morale bursting high.

On the night of their arrival the duo were welcomed by being taken to Le Bistrot du Circuit, a local French restaurant which overlooks a Formula 2 race course. Their menu offers a wide variety of splendid French dishes and great value for money – you can get a three course meal for 18€ with a choice of 6 entrées, 6 plats and 6 desserts.

They both leant their talents to create some great-tasting German cuisine to share with the team, with rhubarb and apple pie for dessert for the weekend.

volunteers-french_night_out

Geoff, Foo, Paul and John enjoying a drink together

They finished off their stay at La Giraudiere by attending a special fish & chips night held at The Clubhouse, a local sports bar. La Giraudiere was full of fun and laughter during the week of their stay.

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