Final Destination: Ardèche
This morning I left St Ouen des Toits and barely made it onto the train at 9:50. I was actually really sad because I really liked the "work" (I wouldn't call it workwhat I would call it because I enjoyed doing it), the family was great (except really for devil child*), the bread as amazing, and Pete and Effie were there. Especially with another upcoming birthday party this Saturday with all the same attendees as the 13-hour one 2 weeks ago, I was tempted to phone my next host, Estelle, and cancel. But I went ahead as planned-- I took a 4 hour train ride to Valence TGV station, and a 20 minute bus ride to the actual city of Valence. I had a 2 hour layover in Valence (a fair sized town with a few tourist attractions), but I couldn't go far with my heavy suitcase. I asked at the tourist office if there was a place I could leave my bag while I explored the town, but there wasn't. Later, when I told Estelle about this, she said they don't do it much anymore because of terrorists and the threat of bombs in people's luggage. After attempting to walk around with my suitcase, I gave up and sat outside at a cafe, had an Orangina (not Orange-aye-na, Oran-jeena), and read my book. It was 28° outside, and quite pleasant sitting in the shade reading, so not all was lost.
I then got on another bus, this one lasting 2 hours, an hour and a half of which was slow winding through the Alps. I finally arrived at Lamastre, where Estelle and her 2 boys Juan(4), and Malo (6) were waiting. Estelle explained to me that they live in a village called Nozières, and their farm is 4 km away. Here they have cherry trees, gardens, and a few dairy cows). She said they're almost finished harvesting the cherries because as a result of a frost in April, there are a lot less cherries this year.
We drove 8km to their small home in Nozières. First impressions were this: It's pretty dark inside the house because the few windows they have are really small. The kitchen, which is at the entrance of the ouse, doesn't look dirty, but not really clean either-- just lived in. My room is a decent size, but has a few boxes with junk in them. The bathroom is just plain disgusting. I began to realize that the more time I spent in each room, the more I noticed how dirty they were. When I started to clear up after dinner, I realized that part of the clutter in the kitchen was just dirty dishes piled everywhere. There are also grease splatters on the walls, and layers of dust on the ceiling and light fixtures. I don't know when the last time the bathroom was cleaned-- the mirror has splatters all over it, the toilet stinks like stale urine, and the bathtub is covered in a layer of dirty soap scum (and there's no shower). My room isn't too bad, although I swear that they didn't change the sheets on my bed from when the last WWOOFer was there. At this point, I honestly don't know if I can live here for 2 weeks. We'll see, maybe things will change when I start the work, and maybe I'll have time to clean up a bit. I just really can't wait to copm home and sleep in my own bed, with all my familiar things, and not have to live out of a suitcase anymore.
*I forgot to write about the events that lead up to me calling Manon, the 6-year-old girl at St Ouen des Toits a devil child. (I think I just tried to wipe them from my memory, and didn't write them in my blog earlier). They are as follows: One evening, I went up to the room I was sharing with Manon to go to sleep (she had fallen asleep on the couch downstairs). I had worked hard today, it was late, and I was really looking forward to going to bed right away. When I got into the room and turned on the light, there on her bed, neatly placed in a long row was my various eyeshadows, blush, makeup brushes, etc. All had been used. One of my brushes was stained and ruined because she had but it in lotion and then rammed it into eyeshadow. As I began to furiously put the things back into my makeup bag, I realized that she had opened one of my eyeshadows that had turned into a loose powder. It's dark green, and the inside of my makeup bag was covered in it. I then proceeded to clean out the bag, and when I had put most of the things away, I realized that my makeup remover and my tube of $25 liquid makeup were missing. I looked under her pillow, and there they were. The makeup tube was half empty, and most of it was smeared on the sheet. As I went to put other things away, I realized she had also pulled out a bunch of my dental floss, and broken my deoderant. I was furious enough as it was because various things of mine had been used. But you also have to understand, that when travelling from one unknown place to another so often, I need a place of my own-- a sanctuary. No matter how awful a place may be, no matter how dirty and no matter how mean the host, I can always return to my self-created sanctuary that is clean, orderly, and that contains my own things. Because I was sharing a room, my sanctuary was a lot smaller here, but it existed-- I had my own little corner. When Manon went through my things, my sanctuary was lost. I really felt I was a drifter, and I had no place of my own-- not even a small corner. I put all my things back into their various bags, and then put those bags all away in my suitcase, not on the dresser where they were before. With all my things closed up, I went to bed, unable to sleep for quite a while.
I told Marie-Laure the next day, and she scolded Manon, but not really to an extent that would make her regret it. Later that evening, I discovered that my things were missing again. I called Marie-Laure, ad we searched the room and found things hidden in various spots, including in her jewelery box and under the bed. Marie-Laure was really nice about it, and she even told me to scold Manon myself. I talked to Manon about it later, but I really don't know if it did anything.
The next day, Marie-Laure showed Pete, Effie and I around Manon's and Nathan's schools (it was an open house). She had to take Nathan somewhere, so she asked us if we would stick around and walk Manon home when she got out. As soon as she got out, she ran to the park, about 100 meters away. We waited for her to play for about 15 minutes, and we fiured we should start heading back. Manon really wanted to stay and play, and ran from us when we told her it was tile to go. We then started to walk away, hoping that she would eventually think we were leaving her, and come with us. We waited behind a building for about 5 minutes, and we were starting to get really mad, when she came. She saw us and ran behind the building. A fence surrounded 2 sides of the building, so there was only space for one person to pass between the building and the fence. This was perfect, and Effie went in on one side, and I on the other. Manon was trapped, and we literally dragged her from behing the building, dragged her across the road, and dragged her 1km back to the house. The entire way, she was screaming and crying and trying to drag her legs and trying to pull her arms away from mine and Effie's grasps. It was the longest kilometer I've ever walked, and the Aussies and I agreed that we would never agree to take Manon home again.
I then got on another bus, this one lasting 2 hours, an hour and a half of which was slow winding through the Alps. I finally arrived at Lamastre, where Estelle and her 2 boys Juan(4), and Malo (6) were waiting. Estelle explained to me that they live in a village called Nozières, and their farm is 4 km away. Here they have cherry trees, gardens, and a few dairy cows). She said they're almost finished harvesting the cherries because as a result of a frost in April, there are a lot less cherries this year.
We drove 8km to their small home in Nozières. First impressions were this: It's pretty dark inside the house because the few windows they have are really small. The kitchen, which is at the entrance of the ouse, doesn't look dirty, but not really clean either-- just lived in. My room is a decent size, but has a few boxes with junk in them. The bathroom is just plain disgusting. I began to realize that the more time I spent in each room, the more I noticed how dirty they were. When I started to clear up after dinner, I realized that part of the clutter in the kitchen was just dirty dishes piled everywhere. There are also grease splatters on the walls, and layers of dust on the ceiling and light fixtures. I don't know when the last time the bathroom was cleaned-- the mirror has splatters all over it, the toilet stinks like stale urine, and the bathtub is covered in a layer of dirty soap scum (and there's no shower). My room isn't too bad, although I swear that they didn't change the sheets on my bed from when the last WWOOFer was there. At this point, I honestly don't know if I can live here for 2 weeks. We'll see, maybe things will change when I start the work, and maybe I'll have time to clean up a bit. I just really can't wait to copm home and sleep in my own bed, with all my familiar things, and not have to live out of a suitcase anymore.
*I forgot to write about the events that lead up to me calling Manon, the 6-year-old girl at St Ouen des Toits a devil child. (I think I just tried to wipe them from my memory, and didn't write them in my blog earlier). They are as follows: One evening, I went up to the room I was sharing with Manon to go to sleep (she had fallen asleep on the couch downstairs). I had worked hard today, it was late, and I was really looking forward to going to bed right away. When I got into the room and turned on the light, there on her bed, neatly placed in a long row was my various eyeshadows, blush, makeup brushes, etc. All had been used. One of my brushes was stained and ruined because she had but it in lotion and then rammed it into eyeshadow. As I began to furiously put the things back into my makeup bag, I realized that she had opened one of my eyeshadows that had turned into a loose powder. It's dark green, and the inside of my makeup bag was covered in it. I then proceeded to clean out the bag, and when I had put most of the things away, I realized that my makeup remover and my tube of $25 liquid makeup were missing. I looked under her pillow, and there they were. The makeup tube was half empty, and most of it was smeared on the sheet. As I went to put other things away, I realized she had also pulled out a bunch of my dental floss, and broken my deoderant. I was furious enough as it was because various things of mine had been used. But you also have to understand, that when travelling from one unknown place to another so often, I need a place of my own-- a sanctuary. No matter how awful a place may be, no matter how dirty and no matter how mean the host, I can always return to my self-created sanctuary that is clean, orderly, and that contains my own things. Because I was sharing a room, my sanctuary was a lot smaller here, but it existed-- I had my own little corner. When Manon went through my things, my sanctuary was lost. I really felt I was a drifter, and I had no place of my own-- not even a small corner. I put all my things back into their various bags, and then put those bags all away in my suitcase, not on the dresser where they were before. With all my things closed up, I went to bed, unable to sleep for quite a while.
I told Marie-Laure the next day, and she scolded Manon, but not really to an extent that would make her regret it. Later that evening, I discovered that my things were missing again. I called Marie-Laure, ad we searched the room and found things hidden in various spots, including in her jewelery box and under the bed. Marie-Laure was really nice about it, and she even told me to scold Manon myself. I talked to Manon about it later, but I really don't know if it did anything.
The next day, Marie-Laure showed Pete, Effie and I around Manon's and Nathan's schools (it was an open house). She had to take Nathan somewhere, so she asked us if we would stick around and walk Manon home when she got out. As soon as she got out, she ran to the park, about 100 meters away. We waited for her to play for about 15 minutes, and we fiured we should start heading back. Manon really wanted to stay and play, and ran from us when we told her it was tile to go. We then started to walk away, hoping that she would eventually think we were leaving her, and come with us. We waited behind a building for about 5 minutes, and we were starting to get really mad, when she came. She saw us and ran behind the building. A fence surrounded 2 sides of the building, so there was only space for one person to pass between the building and the fence. This was perfect, and Effie went in on one side, and I on the other. Manon was trapped, and we literally dragged her from behing the building, dragged her across the road, and dragged her 1km back to the house. The entire way, she was screaming and crying and trying to drag her legs and trying to pull her arms away from mine and Effie's grasps. It was the longest kilometer I've ever walked, and the Aussies and I agreed that we would never agree to take Manon home again.
posted by Julie | 5:52 a.m.
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