A Slight Change of Plans

Yesterday I got an e-mail from another host I had contacted about WWOOFing on her property in Monfreville, Normandy. I had a look at her website (chateaumonfreville.com), and it sounded and looked absolutely wonderful, and I really wanted to go. She had been away in South Africa so she didn't receive my e-mail until the other day, and she wanted me to work on her property. The only way I would be able to go was if I shortened my stay in Laval, Mayenne. I looked at where Monfreville is on a map. It's a really small town in the district of Calvados in Normandy-- right on the way from the Chateau de Sacy to Laval. I began to list the negatives and the positives if I were to WWOOF at the Château Monfreville. Positives: It's such a nice place, and would be such a pleasure to work at. It's right on the way to Laval, and I could go there for two weeks after working at the Châteaude Sacy and before going to Laval. Staying at 2 places for 2 weeks each rather than at one place for 4 weeks would be better in case I really dislike the one place. Negatives: I have to buy another train ticket, and go through yet another long train ride and all it's transfers in Paris. I would have to change plans with the host in Laval, and they might not be too happy. I decided that because I'm only going to do this once, the expense of another train ticket and the stress of another long train ride would be worth the experience. As for the host in Laval, I e-mailed her asking if it would be all right if I changed the date and length of time. She answered me saying that it would be alright. So here I am, staying at 4 different places spread out accross all of France withing a 2 month time period, and having to figure out and pay for 5 different train scheduels. I really hope I made the right decision and it's worth it when I get there.

It's Official

After narrowing it down to about a dozen hosts in France, I contacted them, and immediately received responses. Now it's official. On April 20th, I'm starting at the Château de Sacy in central Oise in northern France. The picture on the left is of the château. I'll stay there for 3 weeks maintaing the orchard, herb garden, and small forest, feeding the doves, making jam, and learning about French cooking. Visit the website (chateaudesacy.com) for more information about the place, it's history, and some great pictures. After finishing at the Château de Sacy, I'll take the train to Mayenne where I'll help a family with dairy cows, baking bread, cooking, haymaking, and fencing. After 4 weeks in Mayenne, I'll take a long train ride to Ardèche, in the south of France. The picture on the right is of the cherry farm. I'll arrive around the 8th or 9th of June, just in time for the cherry harvest.
We pick and juice cherries, and friends and family are invited for celebrations. I'm so excited, and all I can think about is the preparation (what I need to pack, buying train tickets in advance, etc). The only problem is I'll probably have to quit my job if I'm going to be gone for 2 months. I'm working at a restaurant that opened at the end of October. I really like it, and I only hope they'll take me back when I return.

The Hunt

I've been wanting to travel to France during my year off after high school for a while now. I wanted to keep busy, gain some life-changing experiences, and maintain my French-- something I`m deathly afraid of losing after 12 years in French immersion. I knew I wouldn't have enough money to just go travelling, so I originally wanted to get a job in France as an au pair so that I could make a little money and do some travelling at the same time. This didn't really work out when I looked at a number of au pair websites and saw that most of them required 2 reference letters from previous babysitting employers. I had babysat for a family for about a year, until they moved west of the city, and I had no way of contacting them. Other than them, I just babysat people on and off-- not enough to get a reference letter out of them. Secondly, I asked myself, do I really want to be babysitting for 5 hours a day, 6 days a week for 2 months? I never really enjoyed it, I just did it for some extra money. That's when I started to look at work experience in France, but all the programs I was looking at had sky-high fees, and I would only receive a stipend of around 180 euros a month-- that works out to about a dollar an hour. My only option left was to volunteer. I decided this really was the best thing for me. I would like to use my time off not only to profit myself, but to help someone else out, and actually make a difference in someone's life without having a price tag attatched to it. The internet is a sea of volunteer oportunities, and I was completely lost. Everything I came across had fees in the $1000 and $2000US range-- not including airfare. I took my mom's advice and joined slow talk, a message board out of slow travel. I posted my dilemma: I'm taking a year off from high school, I don't have much money, and I want to volunteer in France. Where do I start? I received several helpful responses, one of them suggesting I should join WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). I joined for only $30US, and I got a list of 316 independant hosts in France who wanted help on their organic farms, and in exchange would provide room and board.