I am managing, however, to use the house
computer every few days to do vital things like check emails. And now, after
Rob had the ingenious idea of writing my blog on my laptop in my own time and
then quickly uploading it online when I get the chance, I am hoping this will
allow me to do fairly frequent updates.
Let’s begin. I’ve been back in France Mont
- Obviously, lack of
internet, about which I have already ranted.
- Suddenly going
back to full French immersion after having spent a week back in England and the
comfort of my mother tongue (yes, I am still rubbish at French after all these
months, sob).
- The fact that I packed 5 pairs of shorts, about 10 vest tops, but only 1 pair of jeans and one long top....
....and the first day looked like this:
- I decided, being
paranoid me, that the people here didn’t like me.
- The shower is in the barn, and there are spiders and cobwebs EVERYWHERE. Let’s just say showers
have become slightly more infrequent here.
It has got better
since then, I can assure you. The internet issue still exists, but I am
learning slowly to adapt myself. I’ve realised that the full-on French thing
can only be a good thing and can do nothing but improve my language
proficiency. On the rare occasion that the sun shines, it is gorgeous. Here is the view out
my bedroom on a good day:
The people are actually very lovely and I
was just being silly. The shower situation still makes me want to cry, however.
The best thing though, is the food. With proper
home-made French meals twice a day, fresh cheese, yoghurt and milk whenever I
want, it’s not a bad deal! We had a bit of a kitchen disaster the other day
though, when Julie (the woman farmer) had excitedly bought fresh, live crabs
from the supermarket, having had a craving for them after seeing them on TV
the previous day. However, this being the first time she’d cooked them at home,
nobody knew how to eat them when she brought them to the table. Resorting to
crushing the blighters with pliers to get to the meat, by the end of the meal
there was bits of crab in our hair, all over our clothes, on the walls etc. And
the only edible part was the legs, after all that! So, if you’re thinking of
cooking crab, don’t. Biggest waste of time ever.
So this is my daily routine:
07:45 Wake up
08:30 Go down to the barn to milk the 6
cows and the 100+ sheep. If it’s not too wet, we then let the animals out into
the 25 hectare park on the side of the mountain.
10:30 On Mondays and Thursdays, make the
cheese. Otherwise, rub the salt onto the cheeses, or rub in the mould that
grows on the rind. Yum :/
13:00 Have lunch. Yum :)
14:30 Have a siesta if it’s bad weather. Go
for a walk if it’s nice.
18:00 Go back down to the barn to milk
the animals again.
21:00 Have dinner. Yum :)
23:30 Go to bed.
There are 4 of us altogether; me, another
WWOOFer called Marianne who’s 45 and Belgian, Julie, and Tom/Yves (he actually
has 2 names, I’m so confused) who owns the farm.
And now I need to go and get changed to do
some more milking and get covered in lots and lots of poo…
