Le beau chateâu à Argy

April 27, 2008

Bonjour from Chateau d’Argy once again! This is Rachel with this week’s update, sitting again in the refectory. It was raining earlier, but the sun has been out much more now, which has made everyone a lot happier. We’ve been having a lot of grass battles, and playing games out on the lawn before and after dinner.

Speaking of work, I guess maybe you’ve been wondering what kind of work they make us do here at le chateâu. I’ll give you just a little peek, but if you want to know the whole kitten caboodle, you’ll have to ask us later. In the past week, we have been throwing mortar at walls (a medieval technique) to even and insulate a room and removing old and incredibly stylish wallpaper and matching icky carpet from a room inside the chateâu (we finished this just a few days ago! What an accomplishment!). We began work on a large mural in the new information office (we used a grid system to get the drawing onto the wall. It was arduous, nitpicky work blowing up a small image and drawing it on a wall, with much precise work going into the grid, but in the end we finally got all the outlines down and we are now in the process of carefully painting the subject’s beefy calves and the intricate fields behind him), and we’ve done much weeding, painting, plastering and, of course, sweeping and cleaning and moving heavy objects from one end of the room to the other and back again (in order to clean some more). I have been asked to add, by the entire group, that the woman who helped us begin the mural, Therese, resembled the character from The Incredibles who makes the costumes for all the superheroes… but much taller. Therese also gave us a lecture on frescoes and murals, entirely in French (naturellement…) that was enthralling to hear, even if most of the information wasn’t very new to most of us. We learned a lot of different vocabulary.

We’ve met a ton of new friends here too! Although they just left today, for the past week we hung around with four French boys named Patrick, Guillaume, Vivien and Florian. They busted their backs working with us, then busted them again playing rugby with our own Jack. Last night they even joined us in a large game of Capture the Flag. I should include the fact that I got the flag for the victory of my team… I must say I am proud of myself. I never was much of an athlete, so I also extend thanks to whoever it was that moved the flag close to the boundary line. All I had to do was walk!

Along with our four French boys, we also met two French girls, Meryam and Julie. They keep us in check and force us to speak French all the time. They’re fans of Bob L’Eponge (Spongebob Squarepants) and Kinder Bueno (a type of extremely delicious chocolate).

How is the group faring? I am proud to say that Rebecca and Claire are the only two people who have not gotten sick!! I am not so proud to say that at the precise moment of typing this, I too am sick, but it’s just a cold. War has been waged between Carly, Colin, Jack and Esme, much to the amusement of the other group members as we hear their reactions when they find various things in their beds and suitcases. Our friend Jo (who, if you didn’t know, was our leader for the first week and a few days into the second) took a small group out to have a “(peacock) poop fight” which became a problem when our new French friends arrived to find a group of tired Americans covered in poo. We have been steadily learning the French dance craze known as “Techtonique” (or however it’s spelled) and that our buddy Guillaume “killed Merrie Emmonds” with his moves. (Sorry Merrie, I was told to…) Colin got two tattoos… sadly we expect them to wash off before the end of the week. For one full night, there was an awfully funky stench in the refectory, and we finally traced it to Jack, who smelled wonderfully of Roblochon cheese after making tartiflette (with me, no less!). This would be embarrassing for Jack if he was alone, but sadly, Carly too was afflicted with the stink of cheese (but hers was Roquefort… which is worse?) We also have encountered many large and terrifying spiders, and Jack was chased around with one by Jo. Jack was quoted as saying, in English, “Jo, I don’t think you understand how much I hate spiders!” Of course Jo didn’t understand… we have stories by the dozen to prove he didn’t speak much English. Yesterday (Saturday the 26th) a bunch of us got an Indiana Jones/Jurassic Park ride in the back of a pick-up truck around the grounds of the chateâu, and all of us got a little wet when our driver rooster-tailed in a huge puddle. Carly and Esme had a life-changing experience in a field of daisies (don’t get any dirty ideas… they jumped in smelly puddles of mud!). We’re all in the process of learning medieval dancing, which seems to be Carly and Annie’s new calling. Jack and Annie did some of our dirty laundry (I mean dirty) with a Moroccan man, a Spanish woman, and a French woman who lived in Switzerland working at the Rolex factory. Jack says it was an “international experience.” We thank him for doing all our laundry. There have been various things said about the showering situation at Argy, seeing as there are 10 girls and 2 showers, and then 6 boys and 2 showers. Colin would like to add he now has clean clothes. You can relax in your chair now.

There was a flower market/huge garage sale going on outside, so we all went into town for an hour to look at all the old trinkets. In the sunshine, it was fantastic. We’re all having a much easier time adjusting to the schedule here, as well as the types of work we are doing. The medieval festival is approaching, which is exciting and extremely scary at the same time, because we have to greet visitors in costume and help in workshops, and give tours, all while speaking French (bien sûr!). We have more free time now, which has greatly improved our demeanor. We’re now seeing how cool this opportunity is. We would never get to throw mortar at walls or scrape off wallpaper in Seattle! Here it’s everyday work. We’ve grown to appreciate toilet paper, as there seems to be a constant shortage of it here. (Hey, with this many people in one building…) Small things, we find, make a bigger difference than we give them credit for here. Even shoveling leaves, or painting a wall, in the long run will really help out. (For instance, removing a pile of pebbles and wet leaves from the gutter will protect the wall and keep it from getting too wet and falling down.)

We only have until this Friday left until we depart for our next destination. I’m sure Emma will willingly tell you all about the medieval fair, and I’ll see you in Paris.

À bientôt!
Rachel