Montélimar et la Campagne

Today the winds finally stopped, allowing for a peaceful atmosphere once again. The skies are beautiful and the temperature perfect. So, we decided another walk would be appropriate. We had some directions given to us that made the trip feel very "scavenger hunt" like feeling. The directions read like, "Go 300 meters and then head east until you see a farmhouse". Periodically we would see these yellow dots on trees or power poles telling us we were going the right way. The directions led us through a beautiful countryside full of lavender fields, rolling hills, and vineyards. The lavender still has another two weeks before it is in full blossom though. Eventually, we ended up on a hill overlooking the town of St. Paul and although it wasn't as high as our last mountaintop, it was still a sight. Check out some of the pictures below. Also, the houses situated in the countryside are so cool. They are not extravagant, but enough to be considered luxury, and then they are perfectly placed in the most quaint of locations. I think I'll buy one.





Later in the day, we took a trip to the town of Montelimar. Montelimar is much larger than St. Paul, and is comparable to that of Avignon. One thing that I really liked about the town was the coloration and decoration of the town. The best example is in the middle of town, the side of a large building was painted as a large crossword puzzle. Check it out.







Also, in town there just happened to be a classic European car show while we were there. Now, none of the marks I had ever heard of. There were no BMWs or Mercedes, which surprised me, but the cars ranged from the 40s to the 60s. Another note, someone got married at the car show. Interesting I guess... Check out some of my photos from the car show.







On a last note, everything here is going very well, and I am really enjoying my time here. Everyone is very welcoming, and the country is beautiful. If you ever get the chance to come to France, do it!

Le Big Mac

The title says it all. Today, after doing some work around the base, specifically working on an irrigation system, a few of us decided to drive down to McDonald's for dinner. Now, I'm not a huge McDonald's eater, but I felt it a cultural experience. Also, in my last semester sociology class we studied the influence of McDonald's and fast food in the modern world. So, I wanted to see what the McDonald's of France is like. When we arrived, the first things I noticed were the prices. It's funny how you can look at the price of a Big Mac in a country and see the influence of A. GDP B. Competition and I also think C: Work Days. They all tie together. There is actually an economic term that refers to this, aptly named the "Big Mac Index". Check it out here. The price for a Big Mac in the states is around $3.85? I believe that is what it is at, which makes the combo about $5. Well, here, the Big Mac, not sold separately, can be bought in a combo for 6.70 Euros, which comes to $9.38 American Dollars. Now that is a jump. Now I am no expert, but I can make an educated guess as to why.

First off, this McDonald's is the only fast food place anywhere in the 15kms vicinity, which makes them not only an American "Icon", but a unique commodity in this part of the world. Also, the Rhone-Alps region of France is very wealthy, specifically because of the wine, and therefore people can afford it. Also, very rarely do people here eat without their family. The 12 - 2 lunch break everyday allows for workers to go home, cook, and enjoy a meal with their family, then get off at 5 and do it again. So, in other words, the drive-through doesn't stay very busy. Those are just a few of my guesses.

O ya, and the theme for the McDonald's was New York City, and all drinks and fries are about half the size of the U.S. equivalent. The McFlurry, for example, is the same price, but served in a bowl. Hmmmm...

Le Vent, Le Football, et Madrid?

There are a few things I would like to note on today. First of all, I just got back from watching the 2009 Champions League Championship game. On that note, I would like to refer you back to my post entitled, "Les Personnes et La Culture". Notice the jersey hanging on my wall? Yes, that is mine.

If you read that first paragraph twice and are still trying to understand, it's ok, after all, it is European football.

Onto another subject. Here in the Rhone-Alps regions of France, specifically in the Rhone Valley, there is a mysterious force that comes and goes as it pleases. The people here call it "Le Vent Mistral". Translating to "The Mistral Winds", it is basically a wind current that runs throughout all of France, but decides to get really angry right about here. So, our home being on the top of the highest peak overlooking the Rhone Valley, gets hammered. Last night around midnight the wind started howling, and right now it is still going, non-stop. These winds are well over 90kms/hour at times and can cause some serious damage. For example, someone opened the driver's door on the base van just as a gust came and bent the door the opposite direction on the van, causing significant damage to the side panel and door. My small camper gets thrown around at times, rocking me to sleep (not really). Today I heard that amongst the men here, supposedly once the winds come, bets go around as to how long they will last. Bets can only be made in intervals of three, starting with 1,3,6,9, etc... What I now noticed that I hadn't before is that the tall church towers and other large structures in this valley area are built to allow these winds to pass. Church towers will have spaces in them to provide less resistance. Also, did I mention that at some point last week it was 33 degrees here? That's almost 100 fahrenheit. Well, the minute these winds started, it dropped to below 20. That's a huge difference in a matter of hours.

For more information on the Mistral Winds, check out this link:
Mistral Winds

The third and last subject of today is a little sad, but worthy of making news I guess. One of my friends from Berry, Barbara, lives in Spain. Another friend from Berry just happens to be visiting her at the moment and they are spending a few days in Madrid, starting tomorrow. Well, they invited me to go join them. Originally I was on my way, until I realized that a ticket from Barcelona to Madrid and back would cost about $400. That's on train. Why? I have no idea. Well, I found a plane flying from Lyon to Madrid for a round trip price of 200 euros, but after some consideration decide that 200 euros + food + hostel would not be worth a 2 night excursion. My plans to get to Spain at some point still remain however. So, I will try and do something eventful this weekend, and I will be sure to keep you all posted.

Au revoir

La Ville de St. Paul-Trois-Châteaux

So today after my French class, Andy, his wife, Jutta, and myself went to the pool in town. It is actually a large sports facility with bowling, billiards, basketball, and many other things. I wasn't going to swim, but just to see the facility. Andy and Jutta went in to swim, so I decided to walk back via the town and snap some pictures of the market in town. Well, Andy only brought his swimsuit, as that is all he had, which makes sense. Anyway, Andy got kicked out of the pool for having on swim shorts, as only speedos and underwear are allowed to be worn by the men. So they escorted him out of the pool, and he payed to get in. How crazy is that?

So, while this was all going on, I walked through town snapping pictures of the historic district. Today was market day, so a lot of the streets were lined with stands and vehicles. Check it out!

Le Chapeau de Roue

So I found this today on the walk home from church. I decided to keep it.

Un Journée en Avignon

Today, four of us decided to travel forty-five minutes south to the city of Avignon. The purpose of the trip was for me to cash my traveler's checks, so we just decided to make a day of it. I will go ahead and tell you guys about this wonderful city using as many photos as possible without overloading the page.

At 9:15 our train left the town of Pierrelatte heading for Marseille. We got off at Avignon Centre, the normal rail station of the city of Avignon (There is also a bullet train station). The city of Avignon is a completely walled city with the actual wall from the medieval times still in complete contact and as far as I know, functional.


As we entered the city, shops and restaurants lined each and every street with apartments on top, as is typical.

We walked to the center of town where the "Palais des Papes" (Papal Palace) is located. In the medieval times, the Pope lived in Avignon in a huge palace directly in the middle of town. The palace was very extravagant and quite a site to see. Although we did not enter the palace, we did walk around the gardens and the overviews near the palace. Pictured below is the palace.





From the gardens we could view the "Pont du Avignon" (Bridge of Avignon), a famous bridge know because sometime ago half the bridge collapsed, leaving a pathway to the middle of the river. I had never heard of it, but there is a song in French that tells all about it.



After viewing the bridge and the palace, we walked to the other side of town to exchange my money (which took a long time) and then headed for lunch. For lunch we stopped and picked up sandwiches from a deli and headed across the Rhone river to eat. We sat under a large tree right next to the river and ate while overlooking Avignon, the river, and Le Pont de Avignon.



Also, during this time, a stranger decided to join us. He seemed to be looking for food (I didn't really understand him), and he didn't mind invading our personal space. I gave him some of my bread, but he kept on asking for more. He was unique, especially in one aspect, he only had one leg. Interesting huh? He is pictured below.



Later, we continued to walk around the city and look around the different shops. We stopped in a shop called H&M, where I found some capris (man-pris)that were really nice and very comfortable. So, I bought my first French item here in France. When we arrived back home, we stopped at a supermarket. There, three of us split the price of a bottle of french wine. So, this evening I sat down on the deck with a bottle of french wine, my french capris, and a old french farmhouse overlooking the Rhone river, making for quite a classic french scene. Now the language to complete the picture... I'll be working on that.

Biére, Steak, et Romarin

Today we had a cookout at the base and we each had to bring our own meat to be cooked. Yesterday I went to the store and brought a pack of three steaks to be cooked (this was the smallest amount available). So, seeing as I had three hearty steaks, I thought I would experiment with them. I remember that not long ago at an Irish restaurant I had a "Guinness Steak", which is simply a steak marinated in Guinness beer, and it was really good. So, I bought some seasoning and a Guinness (drinking age here is 16, and I don't think they care about that either). If you also remember, I picked up some rosemary from the mountain on our return trip yesterday. So, I decided to have three different steaks and see which was the better one, at least for me. One steak I marinated in seasoning and Guinness overnight, another I marinated the same way but for only one hour, and the last I put in a bowl of rosemary thirty minutes before cooking. After cooking on the grill I tried them out. The results were:

Steak 1 (Overnight w/ Guinness and seasoning) > Overnight was just too long. I, not being a beer drinker obviously, did not really like that I was eating the beer. Although extremely tender, overnight was too long.

Steak 2 (One hour w/ Guinness and seasoning) > This was very similar to the steak at the restaurant. It was not too tender, not too tough, and it still had its' natural flavor alongside of the seasoning and beer. Overall not bad.

Steak 3 (Only rosemary 30 minutes beforehand) > Winner. No beer or steak seasoning involved, only rosemary. I simply put the rosemary in a bowl, set the steak in, made sure to get the rosemary on both sides, then left it in the covered bowl until time to cook. This was absolutely delicious and although not as tender as the others, it was still a good texture and the taste was great. So if you have rosemary near your house, go pick it!

Ok, that's my attempt at fine french cuisine. Now back to work.

A bientot

La Montagne et La Châteaux

Today was a national holiday here in France (as I stated in my last post) and after arriving back at the base, a group of five of us decided to hike up the mountain behind the base and see the sites. I had no idea about the history of the place I am living! I will post pictures as I go to illustrate. So we left at 4:00pm and headed up the mountainside toward the castle at the peak. First side note is that everything here seems to have a strong scent. No joke, the smells here are incredibly vivid. On the trail there are flowers and herbs that you can smell as you approach them. There is a herb called "Times" and you can literally follow your nose to the herb. On that note, we picked up some Rosemary to cook with for tomorrow as well. The trail was very pretty, especially as it rounded the top of the mountain. From the trail we could overlook the valley and see the Rhone River, which travels right through the middle of the valley, and multiple towns within our valley.




As we hiked the mountain, the trail got much steeper towards the top, but the sites got even more amazing. First, we ran into a mineshaft. This mineshaft is HUGE. One of the shafts was commercialized and turned into a fine wine cellar. So this shafts were rock quarries that took huge boulders and carried them down to the river for shipping. This is where it gets really interesting. So this valley was actually the provincial capital of the Roman territory of Gaul at the height of Roman empire. The mountain we live on is an old rock quarry that took huge square blocks and shipped them across the empire. The Rhone river which you see in the picture above goes from Lyon to the Mediterranean which provides access to any location in Italy. There's more, just wait. Here is the mineshaft that was turned into a wine cellar, which has since shutdown. As you can see, there was a large group there today (you can drive from the other side of the mountain).


After leaving the mines, we headed further up the hill. Another 2kms and we reached a place called "Troglodyte", meaning "In the Rock". Basically, it is a village built into the side of the mountain. These houses still remain very visible and you can walk throughout the entire village. It's really amazing. It was built sometime around the 1500s I am guessing, as the date on the church was from the 1600s. The village overlooks the entire valley and was actually very easy to defend if need be. Throughout the village there were spaces for gardens and down near where the base is located is where the vineyards were. Each house has a fireplace and a sink and shelves, all carved into the mountain. It's really amazing.
Here are some of the pictures of the village.





Walking even further up the mountain, we reached the peak, where a castle once stood. The castle ruins are very bad, but still recognizable and able to enter. The castle has an incredible panoramic view. Also, there are two trap doors in the castle that go straight into the mountain. Then, another shaft which we happened to find, goes horizontally through the mountain, making an easy escape route if needed. Also, it seems that the castle was hit with a cannon at one point, no idea what time period, but its very evident. I will post some more pictures of this later, as my camera died on the trip and I had to borrow a camera, which isn't here at the moment. Until then, here is the cannon hole in the wall.


So the place where I'm living is actually an incredibly historic site and this valley is extremely significant not only today, but throughout the past. It puts an interesting perspective on where I live. Next time I get up there, I'll be sure to snap pictures of the quarry from the inside, that is an amazing site as well.

Au Revoir

Les Personnes et La Culture

So today is my third day here at St. Paul and I can say that I now know everyone at least a little. Here is what YWAM France looks like as far as diversity. We currently have three Americans (myself included), two Germans, one Englishman, one New Zealander, three French, one Canadian, and one Cameroonian. Everyone speaks French for the most part except myself and the couple from England and Germany. However, everyone also speaks English which makes the largest native language on the base English. So it will be a little more difficult than expected to pickup French, but it can be done.

A little on French culture. The culture is not at all a shock, seeing as day to day life is very similar to ours, but there are a few big differences that I have noticed in my time here. The most obvious difference is the approach to the workday. As some of you may know, from 12 to 2 in France everything shuts down except restaurants. This time is a national lunch time given to employees. Nothing happens during this hour, even large grocery stores are shut down. This is very interesting to see when walking through a town at mid day and seeing absolutely nobody. Another difference is travel. First thing to note is that the French public transportation system is amazing. After seeing this, I really believe the U.S. should just start another project like the Eisenhower Interstate System but this time with trains. Not only was the system easy to navigate, but it was comfortable and fast. From Paris to Lyon (about a 9 hour drive) I sat and typed on my computer and read while traveling over 300mph. The trip took less than 3 hours and that is the entire length of France. From Lyon, I could catch a local train to anywhere within 10 miles of where I wanted to go. Another difference (not necessarily cultural) is that everything here is more expensive. Even shopping at the grocery store, I have noticed prices are much higher than their American equivalents. For one example, I pay $.99 for the shampoo I use back home, where here it is sold in a two pack for almost 3€, which is a little more than $4. Cars here are also different. Peugeot, Fiat, and Renault own the roads, with well over 50% falling under those three manufacturers. The small Peugeot 206 seems to be maybe ever 1 in 7 cars, and for good reason. Look it up online, it's a great car and the diesel version gets over 70 miles/gallon. It makes me wish Peugeot sold in the states. I actually emailed a freight company based in France and they told me they would ship me one to Savannah, Georgia for 3000€. With that kind of mileage it's almost worth it.
As more things catch my eye I will let you know, but for now those are the most noteworthy.

How about my housing? As you know, I am staying in a camper located in a row of campers just above the base. The camper is actually really nice. Not only is a very roomy, but because I am not sharing it, I can customize it to my liking. I keep the windows open because of the warm air and cool breeze, and it consistently feels good in here, even at night. The temperature has been around 80 degrees during the day and 60 at night, so ya, the weather is great. Below I have posted some pictures of my camper so you get an idea of what I am talking about.





Today is actually a holiday here in France (there are lots of them) and we just got back from the Artist's Market in town. Basically it was like an Art Festival with different booths selling different things. It was very interesting and we also walked around town a little bit. The church in town is in fact from the 11th century, so my complete guess was correct. Tomorrow I am walking into town in the afternoon, so I will be sure to take pictures while there. To give you a view of what Pierrelatte looks like as far as building structures, here is an overhead picture from the tourism office.


I will make sure to post some pictures sometime soon of the town a little closer up.

A bientôt

La Maison

Hey again,
After two train rides and a grocery store, I'm where home is for the next 10 weeks. I took a bullet train from Paris to Lyon and I have to admit, it was very smooth and extremely fast. Not only could you not hear anything, but other than a few turns, I felt as if I were sitting still. The second train was just a normal railcar and even though it was only half the distance, it took twice the time. Before coming to the base, we stopped and I bought my first load of groceries as I have to cook for myself during my time here. I stayed simple by choosing eggs, cereal, bread, salad ingredients, yogurt, and a small box of chicken nuggets. We also drove through town while on the way back, and this town is amazing. If you ever had any stereotypes in your head of those two story colorful buildings with cafes making for long narrow streets with archaic street lights and older than time stone roads, you got it right. Everything about this town is just full of southern France. There is even a school dedicated to horseback riding and the pasture surrounds a soccer field... Naturally. Also, it has a bowling alley, a swimming pool, enough space for way more than its' population (8,000) and a catholic church from like the 11th century that still has mass every sunday. All in all, it's an awesome place. Now the base is a three hundred year old farmhouse built of stone. The garden is very nice, and there are even two donkey outside that nearby farmers use to carry things up and down the hills next to the base. I know right? I have my own apartment (see pictures), with wheels, and it is actually extremely comfortable. Tomorrow I am attending a French class in town with two other members of the base, so that should be interesting. I'll keep you posted!




A tout á l'heure,

Seth