Wednesday, June 30, 2010

My La Giraudière Experience - Day 2

June 29, 2010

Today was my first full day at La Giraudière. My name is Monica Armstrong. I arrived at LG on Monday, June 28. I live in Lithonia, Georgia (USA). This week marks my 7th week in France. I spent the first 4 weeks in the south of France (Roquemaure) living with a French family and teaching them English. The last two weeks I spent in Paris sharing an apartment with my friend and celebrating my 40th birthday. La Giraudière is the last leg of my French adventure and I am looking forward to a great experience.


The day started out nice and cool. This was great for Bob and his two granddaughters, Rachel and Kathyrne, who left this morning around 7:45. They will drive to Spain and from there fly home to their respective states of North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. By 10:30, however, the cool morning was replaced by exhausting heat thanks to the hot mid-morning sun. Fortunately, there was a nice breeze blowing, so those who were able to work in the shade or indoors, with the front and back doors open, weren’t feeling too bad. However, Paul and Lewis, who spent a good part of the day spraying the yard with weed killer, were not so fortunate.


Vicki spent her morning cleaning up the gite where Bob and his granddaughters stayed for 3 weeks. Afterwards, she prepared the items for the 10:30 break (coffee, tea, and biscuits (which are known as cookies in the US)).


Although Jim and Lidia had the day off (after coming back from a 2-week vacation in Spain and Portugal), Lidia grew a little restless not doing anything, so she decided to mow the small patch of grass in front of the gites. What a mighty fine job she did.

Lunch, prepared by Vicki, consisted of an assortment of salads: potato salad, carrot salad, beet salad, and garden salad. Ham and cheese slices, and couscous (or taboulé, as the French call it) accompanied the salads. We ate lunch in the courtyard since the shade and the breeze made it bearable.


It was Kim’s day to fix dinner. She made a pork roast. While she originally planned to make shredded pork, it became a pork roast when the meat was done in just 2 hours. Sometimes the best things come from the unexpected. Kim’s pork roast was outstanding. Vicki made delicious oven-roasted potatoes and a fruit salad to go along with the pork. Our vegetable for the dinner was green beans.


Two new people joined us at dinner, Minjie Li from Guandong, China and Therese Lothe from Voss, Norway (currently living in Lancaster, UK). They are 20 and 22, respectively. Both are college/university students. Minjie’s stay will be three weeks, while Therese will be here for 6. They are staying with me in Gite #3 (la Cave). Since I am old enough to be their mother, that will be the role that I shall take.


After dinner most everyone went into Gite #2 (la cour) to watch the football (soccer) match. Spain vs. Portugal. A good match-up indeed. (Spoiler alert: Spain won). By 11:00 (23:00), everyone was in their respective gites ready for bed, anticipating another great day at La Giraudière.