Day trip to Angouleme for the volunteers at La Giraudiere

Posted on September 24, 2011 by La Giraudiere

A Volunteers day trip to Angouleme

The day started bright and early at La Giraudiere today as Derrick and Gayle took off to continue their adventure through France.  We will definitely miss our Canadian couple at LG -and our stomachs will most surly miss mum’s cooking- but we hope they have a fabulous time on the rest of their journey!

Cathedral_in_AngoulemeAs noon gets closer, the group gets ready for a day trip to Angoulême that Paul has offered to tour. It’s about a 50-minute drive through the French countryside, and the views are just stunning.

Angouleme -the capital of the Charente Department- is a lovely town located on a hilltop, surrounded by city walls that can be dated back to the 4th century! The old city can be walked quite easily, so we spent out evening touring its main attractions.

…One of the things we found while there was Paul’s mobile restaurant van!

 

 

 

 

…Although it’s a different “Paul” we suggested a van to be incorporated in LG’s future plans. Doesn’t it look nice? ; )

 

 

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Team LG wins a Petanque match

Posted on September 23, 2011 by La Giraudiere

Team LG wins a Petanque match

Friday came fast this week!

Everyone has had a very productive week working on their projects. Derrick, Jim and Emilie enjoy the sunny weather while working in the garden; Marisela and Denise wrap up the week by taking care of the maketing and new projects; and Gayle prepares Elizabeth to take over her role as mum next week.

 

The evening arrives and Derrick decides to spend his last day cooking, he prepared delicious Bolognese pasta!

 

 

 

Afterwards we headed to Brossac to meet some friends and play Petanque. Once we got there, the group slit up to play a match and Marisela and Paul decided to play the local butchers, who are very –very, very- good at Petanque. The first match was a complete shame and we lost 13-0. In an act of bravery, Paul and Marisela asked for a second round, and surly enough made a most successful –and astonishing- comeback, wining the butchers 12-13!

 

Whoo-hoo La Giraudiere!

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It’s French Lesson day at LG and Mari gets into the kitchen for the first time!

Posted on September 22, 2011 by La Giraudiere

So today is our French lesson day; every Thursday afternoon volunteers at La Giraudiere can participate in a French lesson provided by our professeur Lyn,  so all the volunteers hurry during the morning hours to get as much work done and be free after lunch.

Paul, Marlou and Elizabeth install the door for the new bathroom and start the levelling process of the walls, Derrick and Marisela go out to take a panoramic pictures of LG for the website Denise is working on; while Emilie and Jim are working on the garden.

 

 

 

 

 

At noon, all is ready to have some lunch and wait for Lyn pour apprendre et étudier le français. The class is fun and useful for the volunteers and before we know it’s 5pm and Raymond and Jean-Michel stop by LG to say hello. Before they leave they make sure that we are all going to the Pétanque game tomorrow in Brossac –we wouldn’t miss it for the world, Raymond!

Today it’s Marisela’s first time to cook, and although she is Venezuelan, she has decided to make a Lebanese chicken and rice dish for tonight. The weather is nice so we eat outside and the Lebanese cuisine is a great success at LG!

 

bon appétit

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Work, fun and ice cream. Living the life as a volunteer in South-West France!

Posted on September 21, 2011 by La Giraudiere

Wednesday comes along with a lot of sunshine, so it feels good to be outside working in the Charante region.

Derrick is keeping LG pretty by cutting the grass with his weed whacker (an American term for string trimmer); Paul, Marilou and Elizabeth are hard at work on the new bathroom, and Emilie’s garden is looking great! Meanwhile, Jim is working on a project he had last year, opening a path for LG’s access to me meadow. It looks like a lot of work, but we’re excited about it!

Up in the computer room, Denise is working hard on the website –updates soon to come!-  and Marisela is making sure every email is answered and that everyone gets their picture on the blog. Soon it’s lunch time and Gayle, that is working as mum, has prepared a gorgeous vegetable soup

During the evening, part of the team enjoys the sunny day down at the lake, while others visit a near by Cognac and Pineau farm where 5 generations work on producing the local beverage. Did you know that Pineau is an aperitif that is only produced in Chatente?

 

 

Once everyone got back it was dinner time, and Emilie had prepared delicious stirred fried noodles for everyone. Later, to finish the evening we went to have some tea and dessert at the clubhouse near by.

 

 

Bonne Nuit, everyone!

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A good day of work is rewarded with Marlou’s pink potatoes

Posted on September 20, 2011 by La Giraudiere

It’s a lovely day at La Giraudiere and once again it’s time to go back to work!

This week the tasks are changing a bit due to the arrival of new volunteers to the LG; Emilie, who was working last week on improving our website, has decided to enjoy the Charente weather and work outside on the garden. Marlou and Derrick team up and get busy quite fast with the new bathroom project, Marisela is taking over social media and emails and Denise is working on LG’s student program.

Fortunately for all of us, Gayle is once again doing an excellent job as mum making sure everyone is well fed and happy during the workday; and Elizabeth has the day off to get acquainted with all the LG projects; after lunch she discovers La Giraudiere bike storage and gets busy checking the bikes and planning a weekend bike trip to a near by village!

The evening arrives and it is Marlou’s turn to cook; she impresses everyone with Dutch cuisine making a delicious stew called Hollandse Hachee and pink potatoes –gorgeous mashed potatoes with beets and cinnamon on top.

 

 

 

Yumm!

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