We had our dozenth home exchange this year the last two weeks in May and it took us to southern France for our second French exchange. (The first one was in Nantes.) Well, they were not totally French exchanges because our partners were English in the first case and German in the second, but they did take place in France. Our house was located just outside of Uzès, about half an hour west of Avignon and north of Nimes. (I have no idea how to make that little roof over the i - just imagine it.)
We flew Ryan Air for the first time and only paid 147.50 € round trip for the two of us. That was one cheap flight even if we had to buy our drinks on the plane. However we sat on the plane for two hours waiting to take off because of some computer malfunction but once we were in the air it went very quickly. It was after 10 pm though when we landed in Montpelier - about an hour (in the dark with only a sketch to guide us) from our exchange home. Lee and the boys had left home that morning by car and we didn't know whether they would arrive that night or the next day. I had sent Lee an SMS from the plane that we were delayed and as soon as we landed in Montpelier I got a call from her. They had been at the house several hours earlier but no one was there and we had no keys yet. I told her to call the woman who was supposed to meet us there and they got everything straightened out so that when we arrived just before midnight there was a welcoming party waiting for us - Lee, Max, Alex and Aiko. Before long though we were all fast asleep.
The house, a Provencial mas, was several hundred years old and very tastefully furnished. There were four bedrooms so we had plenty of room.
The entrance of the house was through the courtyard. The stairs, which we didn't use, led up to one of the bedrooms.
This is the other end of the courtyard and these stairs led to the swimming pool.
The garden was huge, more like a park. Frank and the boys played Frisbee every afternoon on the lawn. However, since we got a lot of rain during the two weeks we were there, by the end of the second week the grass was getting very high. The boys were gone by then though, since they had to return to school. :-(
This is the same pond looking in the other direction.
I walked several times around the garden almost every day and it took me about thirteen minutes of fast walking to circumvent most of the property, which was on three levels. This is taken from the upper level where the vegetable garden and the swimming pool were.
Although normally the weather in southern France in May is hot and dry it was never very warm while we were there and we had a lot of rain, sometimes very impressive thunderstorms, luckily mostly during the night. In fact, it was much hotter in Germany and I heard from our neighbors that our exchange partners were very surprised how warm it was.
The boys enjoyed the pool but they were never in it for very long before they started to turn blue.
(Notice Alex's diving technique. I call this the "stork dive.")
This is Avril, the daughter of Victoria, the woman who looked after things while the owners were gone. She was Alex's age and came over several times to go swimming while her mother weeded the vegetable garden. Luckily I had no problems communicating with Victoria since she was English. She was very helpful and told me a lot of interesting things about the area and living in France.
The boys were on a two-week vacation from school. So what did they spend their time doing aside from swimming and playing Frisbee?
Max had just had his birthday at the beginning of the month and Aiko was his present. A lot of time was spent playing with Aiko and calling his name a hundred times in a row.
This was the other resident of our house. She was very old and had to be fed three times a day. She spent most of her time sleeping in the kitchen window sill where she had her basket. She and Aiko studiously ignored each other the whole time we were there.
Lee had her laptop with her and the boys spent some of their time surfing at the kitchen table.
There was a piano in the living room so the boys were able to practice every day. It may not sound like a lot of fun, but the boys were very
good about it. Frank took over the supervision, which I think Lee was
thankful for.
The boys played cards almost every day although I have to admit I don't know what the game was.
Of course, being boys, they were fascinated by the animal life, especially the creepy crawlies. This example looked like a wasp but it was huge. Maybe a hornet?
Tony wasn't able to take a vacation in May because he had changed jobs at the beginning of the year, but he was able to visit us for a few days on his way from Rome to Hamburg. Lee picked him up at the airport in Marseilles and after several restaurant meals he decided that we should have a barbecue. The fact that there was no grill was no hinderance at all. He and the boys constructed one out of a wheelbarrow and some stones.
Tony had a lot of supervision while he was cooking. Aiko especially kept a watchful eye on the proceedings.
The meal was better than the one we had at the Michelin starred restaurant we went to. (More about that in a later post.)
Aiko, however, clearly thought that after all the help he had been he deserved a place at the table. (No one should feel too sorry for him for that though. He got enough of the meat to make him sick. Little puppies can't handle very much people food, even if it smells wonderful.)
My birthday happened to take place while we were together and very early that morning Max and Alex got the surprise birthday cake out of the car. I think Max was uncomfortable walking on the pebbles barefoot.
The cake, which we all had for breakfast, was really good. I think maybe Max had some influence in choosing this one because he loves raspberries.
Of course there were presents, this one from Livi and her parents.
And this one from Lee, Tony and the boys.
And lovely earrings from Frank, which don't really show up very much in this picture.
(More later, I promise!)
