Au revoir Utah summers. I somehow lucked out, once again, and have found myself in the South of France for the summer on a beautiful vineyard. Hum….yeah, I’m basically living the dream, and it rocks! The area is gorgeous and the wine is plenty. Not to mention that the people and family that we’re staying with are amazing, and just might be the kindest french folk that I’ve ever encountered. I have my best friend in the whole world, Ms. Rachael Burks, and some old work pants to take on the vineyard. A few hours of work here and there promises us a lot of wine, really good food, and a really cool 600-year-old beautiful Maison over our head at night…could it get any better?….probably not.
Between bottling wine and nurturing the vines, Rach and I feel like real French workers of the land. Yet, in reality we’re are Les Americaines who get but a taste of the real deal and the pampering of Southern France’s hospitality. We get our hands dirty after a couple of hours in the vinyard and feel pretty cool.
The entirety of our trip, on top of my love for France, revolves around our desire to finally learn French. I figured that there’s no better way than to throw yourselves to the wolves and saturate the shit out yourself in French. There is very little English and our friends put a lot of effort into only speaking french all day, every day…and they’re patient enough to put up with our sad attempts to communicate. While my brain feels like it is going to explode on a regular basis, and I’m the idiot on the sidelines that can’t communicate to save my life, it is absolutely amazing to think how much I’ve learned in this past week since I arrived. I can only hope I learn lot more, and if I’m lucky, speak a little before I leave. I love it…..lost in translation and all.
I have fromage, vin, beautiful country, wild boar and mushroom hunting, and really great people. Is this for real? Someone may have to pinch me. Once again it paid off to be best friends with Rachael, as it is all because of her connection with her beautiful and cute friend Delphine who has welcomed us into her home with her parents Laure and Alain. They run an amazing little vinyard and bed&breakfast outside of Montpellier. www.blancardy.com. The summer has just began, and it is only the beginning of another great adventure.
