We arrived in Chatelnau-de-Guers on Monday night. It is a small, very small, hilltop town and feels very Mediterranean, as we are only 15 or 20 km from the sea. Stopped in front of the epicerie and asked directions to the street, and after a bit of meandering found our way to the house. We were given the tour, including the stone arched kitchen that used to be a cellar/cave for wine. Wine production in the area is huge. We ate outside overlooking the fields, lots of olive oil, local sausage, and all organic veggies. Our hosts, Corinne and Selma are wonderful. The girls were a bit reserved at first but they were having a great time in the local playground and right now they are listening to tunes on YouTube, wrestling, giggling, and singing Katy Perry and Black Eyed Peas songs together. I think they will do fine over the next month.
On Tuesday we registed for school, starting next week., as tomorrow is a holdiay (Ascension) and there is the 'Pont' (days of holiday between a stat holiday and the weekend). For Tegan it was just a matter of going to the local Mairie (town hall) and getting a letter from the mayor. Its not that big a town so that wasn't such a big deal, though we didn't have the official French record of vaccination or family folder. A passport and medical card did the trick. She will be in Selma's class at the elementary school a block away, dating from 100 years ago. She goes swimming on Monday. Life is rough! For Rowan we went to the College office (it took a while to find it among the maze of buildings and hallways) and we had lots of paperwork to fill out. Is Rowan 'externel,' 'demi-pensionnaire' or 'interne,' and why does it matter what my job is? These things are apparently important to the French education system. Then Rowan was whisked away by an assistant to get a stack of textbooks, including English (easy), French (not so tough) and Spanish (hmm, we'll see how that goes . . .) We were then take to meet a woman who I think was a vice-principal, but was called the CPI or CPU or some such thing. She gave Rowan a schedule - starting at 8 am and going to 5 pm, though Wednesday and Thursday she finishes at no, on, unless she needs English support Thursday afternoon.
I started work in the fields today. The farm is 15 km away. Corinne grows and collects all sorts of herbs. We arrived and were invited into the owner's house for un petit cafe, very civilized. I got the tour of the farm, was introduced to all the plants, some of which I recognized, and then we began with the desherbage (weeding). Morning Glory is a pain here too. My back might be stiff tonight. After weeding one of the endless rows of verbene, I trimmed the sage, and then the rain started. Generally it doens't rain for months, but it was actually cool and damp today. So inside we went to the sechoir, the drying shed, and bagged coquelicot petals (red poppies), verbene, and another little green plant whose name escapes me at the moment but will be burned into my mind forever after this trip.
After lunch we did an incredible explore down the hill from the town, following the dried up stream, through the rosemary and thyme and irises and pine that grows naturally here. It is the most wonderful smelling brush I've walked through. We scrambled up red/orange/gold/white rock, more sandy than solid, up and down hills, and then through the town to get stamps and bread. No luck as the post office is closed from 12:00, the 'tabac' corner store only has French stamps, and the boulangerie keeps irregular hours, so far as I can tell.
I think we going to like it here (he writes, as the 3 girls wrestle some more, play with Tegan's bear, chat in French,and sing Michael Jackson songs.
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