Bye Bye Bréhat

Blipped on my last, early morning, coastal jog, route.

A quick round up: I think if I'm honest, I went to France a little reluctantly (to become a teacher, I needed to spend another 2 months in France and having graduated 6 years ago, my French was also pretty rusty).

I chose Wwoofing as having left an office job, I didn't want to spend the summer in an office and thought that volunteering on an organic farm sounded like a bit of an adventure and a fun way to speak French and be outside.

I had a week turnaround between coming home from our epic travel adventures and heading off again. It sounds completely pathetic as I've always thought of myself as quite independant and Luckyjim and have spent long stints apart during our relationship but we have lived together for the last four years and had just spent three wonderful months exploring Asia together. I must admit that I felt lost on arrival to France, like part of me was missing and it took me a little while to be myself again. (I also realise that we have girl jobs and boy jobs a bit in our relationship and that when it comes to practical things like putting up a tent and tinkering with bicycles etc, I had a little to learn - although I got there in the end!)

However, once I found my rhythm, life at Kervilon (the farm where I stayed) proved to be a magical experience. Weeding in the fields for the first 10 days and then working in the kitchen with master-zen-chef, Anthony for the rest of the summer (with the odd day on the market stall selling our fruit and veg). Working in the kitchen was fantastic - the mornings spent baking and ice-cream and jam making, the afternoons waiting tables. A great team in the kitchen and always a lovely working environment (well, apart from the odd flying crepe from Maeva's spatula)! The first time in a long time that I've woken up in the morning and looked forward to going to work!

Definitely a brilliant way to learn French whilst at the same time, experiencing and learning new things and meeting fantastic people. I recommend!