A New Zealander in France

Posted on May 26, 2015 by La Giraudiere

Cultural exchange between New Zealand and France

This is to announce the arrival of another volunteer at La Giraudière. Carolyn from New Zealand will be helping out for 3 weeks and is hoping to improve her French language skills (which are already very good) during her stay by taking part in local activities as often as possible and by communicating with the local community on a daily basis. Furthermore, she loves the idea of being part of an international team and working in a multicultural environment.

Back at home Carolyn works for the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to arrange and support people from developing countries to come to New Zealand for study at university on a scholarship. She is taking a month’s holiday and is coming to France to immerse herself in a useful project with other people for 3 weeks rather than travel alone for the whole month. In addition to her work responsibilities she also does a lot of environmental volunteer work (planting and weeding) near home. Moreover, she has also volunteered in a village with no running water or electricity in Thailand which she enjoyed a lot. Furthermore, Carolyn has also worked as an English teacher for people from many different countries.

Volunteers from New Zealand in France

Carolyn carrying out some building and construction work under the sun

Due to her excellent CV Carolyn can provide help with everything that is needed. She started as a gardener to do some weeding and to plant new flowers. During the next days and weeks she might also be carrying out some painting, do some administrative work or take over the work of our household manager.

Welcome to La Giraudière Carolyn! We are very happy to have you here and look forward to working with you and finding out more about your exciting and interesting work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in New Zealand.

Posted in Volunteering | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on A New Zealander in France

New volunteer from the US in France

Posted on May 19, 2015 by La Giraudiere

French Cultural Experience

We warmly would like to welcome Elisabeth from the US who arrived at La Giraudière last week. After a very exhausting journey from California she found out that her luggage is still in the US and did not make it with her to France. However, this gave her the opportunity to explore beautiful Angouleme the next day as she urgently needed to buy some new clothes 🙂

Elisabeth will be staying at La Giraudiere for three weeks. During the first week she will be taking over Margaret’s tasks as the household manager. Furthermore, she will be helping with every job, for example painting or gardening, which needs to be done. Like every other volunteer Elisabeth wishes to experience French culture authentically by being part of the local village life. While studying Elisabeth has already spent one semester in France  during which she learned very good French. At La Giraudière she would like to refresh her knowledge by speaking French on a daily basis.

Volunteering in France for Americans

Elisabeth and our dog Sidney

Back home in the States Elisabeth has worked in sales for several years. Moreover, she has got a lot of hospitality industry experience. She co-managed an Eco-Lodge in Costa Rica and also managed the front-of-the house in several restaurants. In addition to that Elisabeth worked as an event planner for the American Lung Association and as a fundraiser for some local non-profit organisations. As she has been working in many different areas she can offer excellent planning, social and administrative skills which are all needed for our daily work. Elisabeth, it is great to have you here and we look forward to working with you!

Posted in Volunteering | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on New volunteer from the US in France

American volunteer in France

Posted on May 19, 2015 by La Giraudiere

Cross-cultural communication in France

This is to say a big THANK YOU to Marcella – our volunteer from the United States –  who arrived four weeks ago to experience unique French culture. Unfortunately she left La Giraudière last week to go back to Scotland where she spends her semester abroad.

During her time at La Giraudière Marcella’s main project was the improvement of our orientation guide, which is sent to every volunteer or intern in advance to on the one hand provide them with the most important information about La Giraudière and on the other hand to give them an overview about La Giraudière’s surrounding area. Marcella finished this task very efficiently which made it possible to take over other jobs too. She helped to prepare the appartements for the arrival of other volunteers, did a lot of weeding and other important work in the garden.

Volunteer America France

Marcella giving the hedge a beautiful shape 🙂

Furthermore, during her stay at La Giraudière Marcella improved her French language skills by interacting with the local community on a daily basis. She also got to know French culture including its traditions and lifestyle. This experience of cross-cultural communication and cultural exchange will be very helpful for her studies, her personal life and her future career.

Marcella is now back in Scotland finishing her final exams for this semester. After that she will spend her summer in Italy teaching English as she is a qualified T.E.F.L (Teaching English as a foreign languange) teacher. We wish this talented young lady all the best for her future career and would like to thank her very much for her extraordinary effort and help which made it possible to finish off many projects.

Posted in Volunteering | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on American volunteer in France

Volunteers from America and Australia in France

Posted on May 12, 2015 by La Giraudiere

Cultural Variety at La Giraudière

It is getting busy at La Giraudière! We are very pleased to announce the arrival of 3 new volunteers who all turned up over the last weekend to experience French culture.They were blessed with lovely and warm summer weather which made it possible to enjoy Brossac’s charme from the first day on.

Tom from the US was the first of our new volunteers who arrived last Friday. It is already his third visit at La Giraudière. The charismatic and warm atmosphere, working in an international environment as well as the opportunity to experience French culture authentically are the reasons why he loves to come back every year. Back at home Tom has worked as a pilot for many years and is now retired. At La Giraudière he helps with building and construction work as well as with any other job which needs to be completed.

Australian volunteer in France

Always with a smile on her face Janice is getting some painting work done

Janice and Sharyn, two friends from Australia, arrived on Saturday. Janice is a fit and very active reitree. She has worked as an Interior Architect. Thus, she has got knowledge of design and can offer brilliant technical and also project management skills. She loves the French language and takes regularly part in French language classes at home. The 2 weeks she will be staying at La Giraudière will definitely help to improve her language skills. Furthermore, she looks forward to interacting with people from different ages and backgrounds. So far we have got volunteers from 5 different nationalities – aged between 18 and 67. This makes it possible for Janice to experience a very lively cultural exchange.

Australian volunteer France

Sharyn doing some weeding under France’s beautiful sky

Sharyn works as a Radiation Therapist in Australia and has also renovated several gardens and houses. She has got excellent planning and design skills which will be very helpful for renovation activities as well as for La Giraudire’s daily routine. Moreover, she loves to be involved in local village life and to interact with Brossac’s community on a daily basis.

Tom, Janice and Sharyn – We are very happy to have such motivated and ambitious people with very interesting backgrounds here at La Giraudière and look forward to working with you and to enjoying France’s beauty and charme with you at the same time!

Posted in Volunteering | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Volunteers from America and Australia in France

English Volunteer in France

Posted on May 7, 2015 by La Giraudiere

British – French cultural exchange

The next volunteer has joined our international team at La Giraudière – Shavanna from England in the UK has just arrived yesterday and is already completely involved in our daily work. She has taken over her own tasks like gardening and cleaning the apartments for the arrival of other volunteers.

Shavanna has just finished a dipoloma in uniformed public services with the goal to join the police when she comes back from France. During studying for her diploma she developed excellent team and leadership skills which are highly appreciated at La Giraudière. Furthermore, Shavanna has started learning French and would like to enhance her language skills during her stay to become a fluent speaker. Being fully involved in the local community will be a great help to achieve this objective.

English British UK Volunteer France

Shavanna on her day of arrival at La Giraudière

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Shavanna – We are very happy to be able to welcome you to our intercultural team and look forward to working with you! Knowing to have a future police woman at La Giraudière lets us all stay very calm and relaxed 😉

 

 

Posted in Volunteering | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on English Volunteer in France