The Internet Storms Away, No Online Support

Posted on May 24, 2012 by La Giraudiere
Good morning, World!

Hi! My name is Maya!

My name is Maya Dougherty and I am the most recent volunteer to join the group helping out at La Giraudiere in the south west of France! I am 18, taking my Gap Year from school, and am Australian (Aussie, to Paul). I arrived in Chalais from Bordeaux on Sunday, the 20th of May and arrived 6 hours early, at that! This normally would not have been a problem but, up to the time of my arrival, it had been difficult to communicate with or contact Paul. LUCKILY Paul and another volunteer, Cullen, came early to pick me up and just happened to stop for coffee in the same cafe where I was! As I came to find out, not only had I not been putting the correct country code in when I was phoning Paul (Ooops!), but the internet connection had been lost for TWO WEEKS at La Giraudiere after a severe electrical storm. So, if you have had problems contacting La Giraudiere, this was the reason why!
After being told two weeks ago that the internet problem would be solved in 4 days, a technician finally arrived from SFR Wednesday apres midi and fixed the problem by replacing the neufbox and the telephone filters. We are now trying to catch up with the backlog of news and events.
My first day of working with the other volunteers was on Tuesday. The weather had not improved since my arrival, so it was still quite cold and dreary. Despite this, La Giraudiere’s location and views over the French countryside were enough to motivate me to wander around the area before breakfast together at eight. It was so quiet and peaceful away from the European capital cities! I could hear cars driving along the road from at least half a kilometre away!
I had breakfast with Paul and Cullen (an American) and we were later joined by Courtney (another American) and Dan (an Englishman). The current group of volunteers are all quite young: I am the youngest, at 18, and the eldest is 27. I had just missed Robert and Sandra, an older American couple who left the week prior to my arrival. The only ‘mature’ member of the group is Paul, who claims that he his like a bottle of vintage bordeaux: melowing and maturing gracefully with age. – I must admit that it’s great to be around people my own age.
Courtney and Cullen began the day by finishing restoration work of a lovely Cherrywood cupboard but, when the sun came out mid-morning, they wisely moved outside to begin stripping, sanding and painting outdoor picnic tables. Meanwhile Paul, Dan and I worked together to renovate the old ‘Gites’ (French word for inexpensive, self catering holiday accommodation).Over the course of the day Paul and Dan showed me how to measure the old, stone walls so that we could cut and ‘fit’ brackets to brace plaster-boards in order to creat fresh, modern walls.
We had a nice morning tea break and an hour ‘dejeuner’ at 1 PM but we were all still quite tired by the end of the working day!
We all take turns cooking dinner and it was Courtney’s turn to cook on Tuesday. She made us a nice dinner of spicy pork chops, roasted potatoes, green salad and I made a tomato salsa to go with it. I’m gluten intolerantm(so no fresh French bread for me!), but they’ve all been really considerate!
After dinner we impressed ourselves by mustering enough energy to go to the local sports centre in Chalais to join in the Badminton night. We teamed up and had a good laugh for an hour or so as we challenged each other, as well as some locals, to a few games before an evening drink in a local restaurant/cafe, Le Bonne Humeur !
It was a very nice, fun first day at La Giraudiere and there’s obviously plenty to do and explore in the area!
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Hive of activity at La Giraudiere!

Posted on May 3, 2012 by La Giraudiere

We are on our 3rd day of sunshine after weeks of rain and the international volunteers at La Giraudiere are as busy as a hive of bees getting the house in ship shape and learning new skills in the process. Before focusing on his Volunteer Program, Paul worked in construction and apprenticed a few of the local young men in Brossac who, on Tuesday, were kind enough to come join us and volunteer with the construction work. They helped Paul and Dan, a 19 year old from Liverpool, get some of the heavier building done while Brianna and Courtney, both young ladies from the United States, put a fresh coat of paint on one of the finished Gites. Everyone worked well as teams and had the place looking great after only one morning!

Yesterday we were helped by Patrick, a friend of Paul’s from England who is 72 years old and 80 percent blind but still restores antiques by feel. He demonstrated for and supervised Courtney and Brianna as they learned some furniture renovation skills. He taught them how to restore the ornate, wooden display cupboard that Paul found damaged back into a piece of gleaming art. It certainly looks better than it did when it was covered in dust in the corner of the derelict building!

Patrick assesses a 200 year old Cherry Wood Cabinet

After learning about all of the metal, wood, and cement cutting tools and machines Dan moved to cutting the grass and learning about all of the gardening tools. Now that the sun has come out, everyone feels called to do gardening and work out in the sunshine! Soon the garden will be looking as good as new!

Patrick teaches Courtney a few things about renovation!
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Newsflash chalais underwater!!!

Posted on April 30, 2012 by La Giraudiere

 

Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th

It has rained so much the little town of Chalais has finally drowned!! The river broke its banks unsurprisingly and as it passes through the Centre of Chalais the whole of the town’s streets are now underwater!!! The intermarche is knee deep in water and so is the petrol station and a few of the little local shops in the dip where the market is have all been flooded and were struggling to save stock. The high street is blocked off and we have to wait till it all drains away. I doubt there will be any market tomorrow and I really hope all the folks in town are okay, if we’d known sooner we could have sent out an LG party to do some rescue work!! Lets hope for a stop in the rain tomorrow

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All aboard to Aubeterre!!

Posted on April 29, 2012 by La Giraudiere

Sunday, April 29th

The group awoke to another grey, rainy morning. Paul, Dan, Cullen and Alice shouldered umbrellas and headed into the rain for Paul’s weekly 9 KM stroll with Sydney, the 11 year old Labrador that is never far from Paul’s side. The stroll took the group through some lovely countryside spotted with cattle (les vaches) and down to the lake where they took a small break for coffee at the clubhouse and spa, Etang Vallier. The countryside leading to the lake resort is a mixture of textures: swaying grass and herds of cows border vineyards and rolling hills topped with stone houses and fields of flowers.

After coffee and respite from the rain, le petit group continued up to the center of Brossac by way of the Petanque court where Paul and the locals have a friendly game every week. In the Village Center the group stopped again at one of the local restaurants, Le St Bernard, and partook in drinks and friendly banter with the local patrons and owners. The owner and workers not only sat and spoke with the group but helped the group read through the horoscopes and tease each other in French. This interaction with the French people and language is one of the most effective ways that the group can practice the level of and amount of French they feel comfortable with, as well as use what was taught during the weekly French lessons on Friday.

While at Le St Bernard the group learned that, though the record amount of rain that has fallen has been beneficial in filling the lakes and watering some of the crops, it has left Chalais flooded and many businesses closed.

Market in Chalais flooded from the rain.

 

In the afternoon the group took an excursion to AUBETERRE-SUR-DRONNE, Charente. With its red-tiled roofs, steep cobbled streets and typically French town square lined with linden trees, it is one of the most popular of the Les Plus Beaux Villages de France. The once fortified town saw battles against both the English and the Huguenots during the Wars of Religion and was a stopping point for travellers on their way to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Little known to many people, the small village was the birthplace of Roger Vivier, the inventor of the stiletto. However, it is the beauty of the village, with the pottery and other crafts of its local artisans, in combination with its pilgrimage history that make Aubeterre a well known and much visited town.

The group sat in  Place Trarieux, a tree-lined square named after Ludovic Trarieux, the founder of the League of Human Rights who was born there, and had crepes and coffees while watching the world bustle by. Gerard, the owner of the clubhouse and spa in Brossac, met the group and he and Paul led a small tour of the town, as the rain had stopped and the sun had come from behind the clouds. C’etait une bonne journee.

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Big day out in Bordeaux, for some….

Posted on April 28, 2012 by La Giraudiere

Saturday 28th

Ouh! Sore heads all round and a slow, early start as Brianna and I had decided a few days previously that we wanted to go to Bordeaux today. Paul managed to drag us out to the station only to find the trains not running in the Angouleme/Bordeaux direction and our options were to give up and go back to bed, (which was quite an attractive option at that moment), or get a lift from Paul to Choutres. We went for the painful option (thanks to Paul’s generous lift offer) and had a chance to snoop round the market when we got there and have a coffee while we waited in the rain for our train. 21 euros later and I had my tickets and we were speeding towards our day trip adventure in the big city.

 

Needless to say it rained and rained and rained all day long but Brianna and I pretended it wasn’t raining and just toured our little hearts out. The city of Bordeaux is such a stunningly beautiful place with sandstone buildings everywhere in the most ornate designs and overwhelming sizes. Street after street of cute boutique shops, galleries and old churches. The highlight for me was the Notre Dame Cathedral, not the same scale as the Parisian one but just as beautiful; I also loved the many squares and the town hall, all stunningly beautiful. I will have to return when its not raining so I can actually get some pictures! I tried but my camera got so wet I had to give up.

After a delicious lunch near the town hall, we separated and both tried to shop till we dropped but when we met back on the train at 5.30 we realised we were both empty handed and wet but happy to have made it into the city but also happy to be going back home to La Giraudiere.

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