Yesterday, today, and probably for the rest of the week, I’m working about 6 hours in the vines. Not ideal, I prefer to go somewhere with my boss and move boxes. But it’s not so bad. The thing is, we have a task like raise this wire and pluck the shoots off the bottom of the vine, which takes a person maybe a little less than an hour to do, each row of vines. But this guy has like 36 hectares of vines… totally impossible to do by yourself, or in less than a couple week. Either way, one menial task for chunks of a few hours kinda bugs me. When I have my own vines, it’s going to be a small enough quantity that I can take care of it myself, or at least put energy into until it’s done. Either way, I’ve been working hard, even though I didn’t until today get around to asking my boss if I’ll be paid (good news folks… 30 euros a day is much better than nothing)
I just spent a 4-day weekend at the beach, at my friend Alexandra’s place in Valras, where I’ve gone one time before. It was a bit cloudy, but we saw some real nice patches and got some swimming in. low points include a stolen Frisbee and a lost pair of sunglasses (NOT the first time i’ve tried to swim with shades on… luckily they had cost me $5) but overall very pleasant.
Sunday night I played ice hockey, real ice hockey (with full gear and clean ice and full-sized goals and the whole arena and everything!), for the first time this semester. And last night I played roller hockey for the first time all semester. That was really great because the level of play was a lot tougher than anything else I played this semester. I sweat a lot. I just came from ultimate, and worked an extra long day in the field. I can't remember ever being this physically tired. Tomorrow its back to the vines then pickup hockey. Whew! i'm going to sleep.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
as ordered
why don't i tell you guys a little more about what's going on these days.
i just spent a lovely weekend here in the south of france. saturday i was home chez Bassoul, sunday in Avignon hanging out with my mom! we had a real nice time, pretty much eating our way through town: cafe, spring rolls, sausage, strawberries, another cafe, paella, ice cream. the best part is i get to see my folks again in just a couple weeks ;-)
the vineyard is going real well. the family is not hosting me, which turns out is for the better because i ride my bike to and from and it takes 15-20 minutes, which is eeeeeaaasy. i've been getting there by 9:00 and normally staying till 5:00. at the vineyard, i would put my activities into 4 categories, in order from least to most favorite.
1/ working in the vine. lots of moving around of cables that support the vine. sometimes slow-going when cables are tangled or broken. some pruning. i get pretty solid allergies out there, pollen is in the air. i rubbed my right eye this afternoon, not even that much, but its been REALLY swollen since. dammit.
2/ errands. i don't spend toooo much time doing this, but Bernard, the father of this wine-making family, likes to take me with him when he goes on errands - mayor's to renew his I.D., to storage to organize palettes, to other vineyards nearby, this and that. i like talking to Bernard, we get along really well.
3/ bottling! one good activity that i've gotten to do a few times is filling up boxed wine. machine hooked up to big vat pumps a precise (kinda) amount of wine into the bag i hook up, then i get the air out and plug the little spigot in, the put it in the box and close it up. i feel pretty cool doing this. the main bottling event we have is the once-a-year Mis-en-bouteille that we did last friday. they bring in a semi truck full of machinery, and they pump wine into it, and it fills up bottles and labels and corks and everything, and then we put the bottles into boxes and move boxes onto palettes and wrap the palettes in plastic and storing them (i was working on those last 3). we worked pretty hard at this most of the day, it was pretty fun. i took pictures with Bernard's camera, i'll get them out eventually.
4/ lunch. lunch rocks. i get to eat with Bernard and his wife and 4 kids. pretty cool because all the vegetables come from the ground within a few hundred meters of the house, and because there's always wine. and very often family friends there, who all seem to get pretty excited about me, which i think is because i'm american and polite.
anyway, thats what i've been up to. i'm taking a long weekend starting thursday (don't worry, its a french national holiday anyway) and going to Valras again with Alex and Nico, my french besties. 4 days on the beach shouldn't hurt :-)
much love, i'm going to bed.
i just spent a lovely weekend here in the south of france. saturday i was home chez Bassoul, sunday in Avignon hanging out with my mom! we had a real nice time, pretty much eating our way through town: cafe, spring rolls, sausage, strawberries, another cafe, paella, ice cream. the best part is i get to see my folks again in just a couple weeks ;-)
the vineyard is going real well. the family is not hosting me, which turns out is for the better because i ride my bike to and from and it takes 15-20 minutes, which is eeeeeaaasy. i've been getting there by 9:00 and normally staying till 5:00. at the vineyard, i would put my activities into 4 categories, in order from least to most favorite.
1/ working in the vine. lots of moving around of cables that support the vine. sometimes slow-going when cables are tangled or broken. some pruning. i get pretty solid allergies out there, pollen is in the air. i rubbed my right eye this afternoon, not even that much, but its been REALLY swollen since. dammit.
2/ errands. i don't spend toooo much time doing this, but Bernard, the father of this wine-making family, likes to take me with him when he goes on errands - mayor's to renew his I.D., to storage to organize palettes, to other vineyards nearby, this and that. i like talking to Bernard, we get along really well.
3/ bottling! one good activity that i've gotten to do a few times is filling up boxed wine. machine hooked up to big vat pumps a precise (kinda) amount of wine into the bag i hook up, then i get the air out and plug the little spigot in, the put it in the box and close it up. i feel pretty cool doing this. the main bottling event we have is the once-a-year Mis-en-bouteille that we did last friday. they bring in a semi truck full of machinery, and they pump wine into it, and it fills up bottles and labels and corks and everything, and then we put the bottles into boxes and move boxes onto palettes and wrap the palettes in plastic and storing them (i was working on those last 3). we worked pretty hard at this most of the day, it was pretty fun. i took pictures with Bernard's camera, i'll get them out eventually.
4/ lunch. lunch rocks. i get to eat with Bernard and his wife and 4 kids. pretty cool because all the vegetables come from the ground within a few hundred meters of the house, and because there's always wine. and very often family friends there, who all seem to get pretty excited about me, which i think is because i'm american and polite.
anyway, thats what i've been up to. i'm taking a long weekend starting thursday (don't worry, its a french national holiday anyway) and going to Valras again with Alex and Nico, my french besties. 4 days on the beach shouldn't hurt :-)
much love, i'm going to bed.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
too tired for complete sentences
long day. arrived at vineyard at 8:15 AM by bike. met kids, then worked in vines, repositioning a wire that supports plant. saw lots of spiders. did 2 1/2 hectares, then lunch with farm family. saw property, piped wine to truck, etc then trimmed young plants for couple hours. left on bike at 7:15 PM. hope they decide to pay me, dont know yet.
home for long enough to wish nick good luck on his ultimate frisbee club team tryout, cram a quick dinner and get ready for hockey. played hard, tried to run home, legs said no. see what they'll say tomorrow morning, i bike to work by 9, will be INSIDE a wine vat to clean it WWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE before going-away party of excellent canadian friend, Mr. Reilly Pollard.
ok losing sleep time gotta go
home for long enough to wish nick good luck on his ultimate frisbee club team tryout, cram a quick dinner and get ready for hockey. played hard, tried to run home, legs said no. see what they'll say tomorrow morning, i bike to work by 9, will be INSIDE a wine vat to clean it WWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE before going-away party of excellent canadian friend, Mr. Reilly Pollard.
ok losing sleep time gotta go
Sunday, May 3, 2009
what a day!
i've had a great day today! let me tell you about it. this morning i went with the family to an amazing beach that was different from the others at which i've been spending (a lot) of time because to get there we had to walk alongside the marshlands that cover a lot of coastline around here. then when we did get there, i found it to be the most magnificent beach i've ever visited - it's covered with perfect skipping stones and beautiful shells. i basically laid down in the rocks and dug around the entire time. nick, i might have grabbed some stuff you could make a necklace out of =D
back at the homestead, i enjoyed some guitar time, watched some tv (why...?) ate a bunch, and worked in the yard before taking a tour on my host papa's bike. i biked out of the neighborhood to a pretty little lake not too far away. when i got back, the grandparents were here, and we all had a pizza dinner. there is a pizza place a 10-minute walk from the house that makes (arguably) the best pizza i've ever had. after dinner, we went on a nice walk around the neighborhood. in short, i've really made the most of the weather today, which was spectacular.
besides that, i've spent a lot of time with my ultimate frisbee friends, especially my buddy Reilly from vancouver bc (the guy to the right of me in the picture above). things are better than ever with my host family. i've been spending a lot of time trying to write music, preparing for a collaboration project with my long-time friend from home Dan Kuenzi. i have NOT been studying too much... i've got one final left (paleoenvironment for french geo majors... AAHHHH!!) in 9 days, and the MINUTE that's done i'm heading off for my first vinyard adventure. its a gorgeous farm just a half hour out of montpellier, and the family seems to be awesome. i'll be there for 2 weeks, and i might even get paid for my work! thank you, host mama, for making that connection. excellent.
any questions? please do feel free to ask. thanks for reading!
back at the homestead, i enjoyed some guitar time, watched some tv (why...?) ate a bunch, and worked in the yard before taking a tour on my host papa's bike. i biked out of the neighborhood to a pretty little lake not too far away. when i got back, the grandparents were here, and we all had a pizza dinner. there is a pizza place a 10-minute walk from the house that makes (arguably) the best pizza i've ever had. after dinner, we went on a nice walk around the neighborhood. in short, i've really made the most of the weather today, which was spectacular.
besides that, i've spent a lot of time with my ultimate frisbee friends, especially my buddy Reilly from vancouver bc (the guy to the right of me in the picture above). things are better than ever with my host family. i've been spending a lot of time trying to write music, preparing for a collaboration project with my long-time friend from home Dan Kuenzi. i have NOT been studying too much... i've got one final left (paleoenvironment for french geo majors... AAHHHH!!) in 9 days, and the MINUTE that's done i'm heading off for my first vinyard adventure. its a gorgeous farm just a half hour out of montpellier, and the family seems to be awesome. i'll be there for 2 weeks, and i might even get paid for my work! thank you, host mama, for making that connection. excellent.
any questions? please do feel free to ask. thanks for reading!
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