Aaaaah Paree. I feel so comfortable here, like I already spent ten days exploring this city from end to end two months ago. Two months!!! It wouldn't be Paris without losing my way. At least this time I wasn't dragging my bags to and fro. The hotel I'm staying at is in St. Germain de Pres, which is adjacent to the arrondissment that I lived in when I first arrived. Therefore, I really do know this area pretty well, and I knew exactly what I was looking for. I only have a day and a half here, so I have to [View Full Entry]

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You would think that, being twenty minutes from the French border, citizens of western Belgium would speak French. But that would be too easy. Belgium splits itself up, linguisticall, by North and South. In southern Belgium, they do indeed speak French. But in northern Belgium, where I was in Gent, they speak Flemish. D'oh. The most interesting part was, after conveying the fact that I don't understand Flemish, people immediately switched to English, instead of French like I expected. It seems to be the second-most spoken language there. Odd, but nice for me. The intent of the trip [View Full Entry]

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After a day, I’m not sure four days here will be too long. The people have been amazing so far. There’s a huge language barrier, I didn’t realize Gaspard wasn’t fluent in English. We went to hang out with some of his friends last night who thought it would be fun to speak English all night, mostly for my benefit, but I think people like to show off their multi-linguality. Today I wandered around myself, and went to Vieux Lille. I passed a friterie, which, if you know my favorite food, you know how excited I was. Gaspard tells me that [View Full Entry]

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I decided to leave my last place in Sourdeval a few days early, as I’ve discovered that 2 weeks is an ample amount of time to live with one family. The kids seemed upset that I was leaving early, and had their own ways of showing it. On my last day, the little five-year-old kept coming into my/his room, and just hanging about the doorway, not really doing anything, just talking nonsense. I went to the bathroom across the hall, and heard a knock on my bedroom door. “Can I come in?” he chirped. Shaking my head, and knowing I might [View Full Entry]

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Today I witnessed full-circle the process of existance. It makes me marvel everyday how connected to nature you become living in the country, and how detached us city-folk are. My sunday morning started (with a bit of a hangover) unwittingly one hour ahead of schedule. Today the clocks went back in France and GB, so what I thought was a late wake-up of 10am, was really a fairly reasonable 9 o'clock. I was the second one up, Nigel having woke up early to try to fix the heater. It was hazy and cold, the first real day of Autumn upon us. [View Full Entry]

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It’s funny how free I can be with complete strangers. One of the best things about this host is that Jayne busies herself with a lot of social activities, and while she’s doing them, I typically come with her. There’s not much work I can do on my own at her house. I get the benefit of glimpsing into the subculture of older, British ex-pats in France. It’s remarkable, and worth a study. I don’t’ really have a control specimen, as I don’t know too many American women this age, but I find the most notable sentiment to extract from these [View Full Entry]

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I haven't decided which major city I'm closest to. Two out of three hosts I've stayed with have threatened to kidnap/stake my foot to the floor, so that I couldn't leave. I think that's a compliment. And while the third was less violent, he did invite me to come work the reception desk at the annual wine festival in Sitges Beach next year. One morning, Jayne asked if I wanted to toast up a muffin for breakfast, and I imagined cutting a blueberry muffin in half, and cramming it in the toaster. Which actually sounded good, so I agreed. Lo and [View Full Entry]

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The Wilson’s have taught me many lessons during my two weeks on their farm. One thing I’d like to clear up from earlier is some phraseology. I mentioned a couple entries ago that their “garden” was hardly such, but much more. The other day Enid explained that in England, the small houses were allotted a tiny patch of grass behind the building, and this was called a “yard”. Therefore, when a Brit hears that someone has a yard, they feel sorry for the poor sap who can’t afford more than a tiny plot. But a “garden”, that can be acres of [View Full Entry]

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Enid and Kevin have left on a mini-break weekend to the Pyrenees, and left me in charge of the grounds. It's amazing how I can get people to think I'm trustworthy. Normally I don't have to work on the weekends, so I could sleep in if I wanted, but now as head farmer, I have to wake up with the cats to make sure all the chores are done. I thought this morning I would just get a little bit of a late start, but a starving cat cacophany got me up earlier than normal. First step is to put cat [View Full Entry]

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I came on this trip to learn something. I think that's ninety percent of the reason anyone travels (even if they don't realize it). When I travel, I mostly learn about myself, which is a selfish way to look at it, and I don't intend it to be that way, it just happens. Also I hope to learn about a different culture. Right now, I'm not learning too much about French culture, but more about the British. Good thing I'm not particular, since nearly everyone I'm staying with is a Brit. I'm one of those people that loves accents, and when [View Full Entry]

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