{"id":3154,"date":"2014-07-17T10:26:59","date_gmt":"2014-07-17T08:26:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/?p=3154"},"modified":"2014-07-24T15:51:47","modified_gmt":"2014-07-24T13:51:47","slug":"why-volunteering-in-france-at-la-giraudiere-is-for-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/why-volunteering-in-france-at-la-giraudiere-is-for-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Volunteering in France at La Giraudi\u00e8re is for You"},"content":{"rendered":"

Choosing La Giraudi\u00e8re<\/strong><\/h1>\n

In the depths of a brutal\u00a0 winter, volunteering in France may be the furthest thing from your mind.<\/p>\n

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The rustic charms of La Giraudiere are a big draw.<\/p><\/div>\n

However, the appeal of a holiday in Europe can’t be overestimated. Images of the mild temperatures of the south of France or perhaps the warm waters of The Mediterranean swirl through your head. Along with the bite of permafrost, financial realities sink in and you feel an adventure abroad is out of reach. Cast that notion aside. A trip to France need not break your bank account.<\/p>\n

If you are willing to trade some of your skills and knowledge for room and board, the volunteer opportunities of La Guardiere may be just for you.\u00a0 Therein lies the rub, you think.\u00a0 Perhaps you feel you don’t have any particular talents that would be useful.\u00a0 That is the beauty of La Guardiere.\u00a0 There are so many interesting facets to be found here that it is a sure bet that program director Paul will be able to match\u00a0 whatever your skills and interests are to a useful chore.\u00a0 Rehabbing the main part of the house is a long term project requiring building, constructing, painting and drywallers (among other things.)\u00a0 Notice I used the “ing” form of the word,\u00a0 With a little direction anyone can be a builder or a painter.\u00a0\u00a0 If that still feels out of your realm, housekeeping and cooking may be more to your liking.\u00a0 There are also plenty of opportunities in the garden: planting, seeding, clearing brush, or pruning.\u00a0 Clerical and computer skills also come in handy when it comes to assuring the smooth operation of La Guardiere.\u00a0 Someone has to write these blogs after all but, of course, it takes talent to do that well!\u00a0\u00a0 Traveling across the world to a strange place may also feel a bit daunting.\u00a0 There’s no way to convince you that this need not be the case other than to invite you to pore over La Giraudiere’s website and look at all the friendly faces enjoying the camaraderie of fellow volunteers.\u00a0 Besides working, dining and playing alongside folks from all over the world, there are plenty of opportunities to mix with local people from nearby villages. Whether you are joining in\u00a0 the weekly petanque game in Brossac, teaming with villagers and volunteers alike or helping set up tables for a nearby f\u00eate, It will give you that chance to brush up on your French skills.\u00a0 There it is, perhaps the most unsettling aspect of all, the language barrier.\u00a0 You can put any worries about that away as well.\u00a0 Volunteers come from mainly English speaking countries with a wide range of abilities to speak French. There are volunteers with no French background to the fluent and everything in between. Weekly French lessons are provided and geared to whatever level the volunteer is at.\u00a0 No matter what your skill level, it’s practically impossible not to improve your ability to speak and understand French.\u00a0 So what are you waiting for?\u00a0 Take the first step to your French adventure by filling out an application to volunteer at La Giraudi\u00e8re.<\/p>\n

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\"Terrence<\/a><\/p>\n

Post Written by Terrence Cremin USA whilst on his working holiday volunteering in France\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u00a0For information on volunteering in France<\/a> \u00a0or A working holiday in France<\/a><\/address>\n
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Don’t forget to join us on Twitter <\/a>and Facebook<\/a>!<\/em><\/address>\n
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Choosing La Giraudi\u00e8re In the depths of a brutal\u00a0 winter, volunteering in France may be the furthest thing from your mind. However, the appeal of a holiday in Europe can’t be overestimated. Images of the mild temperatures of the south … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3154"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3358,"href":"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3154\/revisions\/3358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}