A stupid mistake ........

..... with some nasty consequences.

To make a long story short,  I was looking around in the vineyard while the trimmer was going on since everything is just a bit different than at home.  When the tractor had stopped I noticed something strange and went to have a better look, not realising that the blades were still running.  I reached to fix and heard a yell and then it was too late. I was rushed to the nearest hospital  by the proprietor , but there they could not do anything for me, so I was brought to Toulon. I got surgery on three fingers, two cut tendons and a broken thumb. Was brought back by ambulance and in the mean time I realised that my French adventure had taken a slide in another direction. Never a dull moment.

So, since a week I try to live with the use of just one hand, my left one and thus the 'wrong' one. I have improved a lot but there are things I just cannot or am not allowed to do like: driving a car, flossing teeth, tying shoelaces, closing rubbish bags etc.etc.  I am very fortunate that I can stay on this property and the lady-owner transports me to the hospital when needed (3 times a week at the moment) and this whole trip takes 4 hours all together. Also, I feel confident that I will recover since I am in very good hands at a specialised hand clinic.  They have already started to give me fysiotherapy on my hand, which is encouraging but for at least 6 weeks I will have to wear the cask around my hand and thus no work for me.

If anyone knows of a handsome male nurse who wants to stay in the Provence for a while .......

Cheers,
Anita

Suddenly life stands still

Two weeks ago on Sunday I got a call and learned that my oldest brother had had a heart failure and was in the hospital in coma. Since he was a healthy marathon runner this was very unexpected. The following days I was waiting for news but went on with my life in France in the meantime, since they were going to try to recover him.

So, one afternoon I made a great visit to a former study-mate of mine who owns a marvellous Chambre d'Hote http://www.la-barraque.com/  only a short way from where I am - she is also the person that got me on track to the place I am living now. It was a beautiful trip and a nice afternoon during which we just talked on - after 10/12 years - like we had seen each other recently.

I also spent a nice afternoon in St. Maximin de la Beaume - a village 10km from here where there is a huge, old basilique. There was a tour with explanations all in French and it was a great way for me to try to understand a bit more - I think I got around 75% of what was said, which is not too bad?

Well, then it was Thursday and I got the call telling me that my oldest brother did not have any brain activity anymore, meaning that this was the end for him; he passed away a few hours later. Even though I was so closeby in Europe, I still did not make it in time, but I travelled in my rental car to Holland. It was great to be able to travel there and be with my family, which would have been very difficult from New Zealand. It was a heavy week though that was made easier by friends who made the time to catch up.

And although it was not easy, I had to return, so on Thursday I made the long drive back to France again, to be in time before all of the weekend holidaymakers started to travel south. So, now I am back here in the Provence and trying to pick up where I left which is not as easy as I thought.

Love,
Anita

First of all, my cellphone number in France is +33 6 4866 8533   however, where I am living now, I do not have cell phone reception, so email is still the best way of contact for now.

6 July, 2012
It was not easy to get up so early again, but it has to be done! Luckily when we start at 7am it is only around 17 degrees - however, after 'smoko' the temperature goes up to 25 degrees or so, which feels to me like plus 30 degrees - I have not realy adapted to the summer temperatures yet. This morning was more of the same and wire lifting - it was quite a pleasant morning and after that I spent the rest of the day at the swimming pool, which feels like a private swimming pool at the moment. How could I have imagined last week that I would end up in such a place and be able to relax..........

7 July, 2012
Yes, it is already weekend and so no work for me today. So what to do on a day off in the Provence - after some long consideration I came up with the 'grande idee' to go for some winetasting and soaking up some Provencale scenery.

It took me to a rural town where it was market day and where I bought myself a nice skirt (yes, you read this right!!! ) and blouse, since I packed obviously all the wrong clothes for this climate and surroundings.

The destination for today was Chateau La Martinette near Lorgues that I had read about. It is a Chateau that was redone in its old glory by some Dutch people. However, I never met these owners, but a friendly girl at the cellar door which took me through all of their wines, which was mainy Rose, since I am here in the French capital of the Rose. In Provence 40% of the French Rose production is made and this is equivalent to 8% of the world production of Rose.

Then I got the taste and decided to visit another one, this time Chateau Roubine, where I tried to practise my best French again when I got responded to in Dutch. http://www.chateauroubine.com/vin/domaine.htm It sometimes feels like half of the Provence is Dutch, also the number plates of the cars here proof this. This winery produces some very high quality wines and it was very enjoying to spend time going through there three tiers of both whites, roses and reds. Two of the reds were a real high light for me. This was a Chateau Roubine, Terre de Croix 2009, 14.5% - which is a belnd of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah and the Chateau Roubine, Inspire 2009, 14% which is mainly Syrah and a little bit of Sauvignon Blanc. These wines both have some time to further improve. They export to NZ, so you wine-lovers there ....... try to find it somewhere!

After all this excitement I travelled through to Draguignan for a filling lunch before heading back to my 'base' for a swim and relaxing time.

Love,
Anita

The first days in France

3 July 2012
And when I arrived in France - the earth started shaking again in New Zealand. This time it was on the North Island and luckily it was very deep, so no real damage. It was felt in a huge part of the country though and also very well in Blenheim.

4 July 2012
I had a very good night sleep - no real jetlag symptoms at all, so the day started great although the breakfast was as basic as the hotel, but it did not bother me at all! My first goal of the day was Aix en Provence where I needed to sort a SIM-card for my cellphone and a GPS for my car. Well, getting into Aix was more of a challenge than anticipated. Not being used to traffic lights and more than 5 cars waiting for an intersection, driving into Aix was quite an experience for me. Needed to change quickly to European driving mode (slightly aggressive), otherwise I would still have been waiting there somehow/somewhere. Although Aix is not a huge city, it felt like that to me. Also had to wait in the shops for a long time to get served, but finally managed to spend a lot of money but got what I needed.  And in general it is a very beautiful city.

After a very nice and well-deserved lunch with a nice rose I headed to http://www.domainefavori.com/winery-france.htm. This vineyard/winery owned by Dutch people I 'discovered' via an 'old' studymate from years ago in Holland. They offer free accommodation for 4 hours of work in their vineyard 5 days per week. Well, what a great way to be amongst the French vines. Especially, when you can also enjoy the beautiful swimming pool and in general the very nice and relaxed surroundings. After a few hours here I already feel at home, but not the least because of the very friendly people here - and imagine they are all Dutch !!!!  One downside is that I will not improve my French, but to practise it a bit, I bought the book Alice in Wonderland in the French language.
The afternoon ended with a nice swim and then I got invited for a meal by one of the other volunteers and I gladly opened one of the bottles of wine that I bought this afternoon after a very good winetasting at Domaine Saint-Jean-Le-Vieux.  http://www.saintjeanlevieux.com/provence/accueil.php. And imagine - this lady was born and raised in New Zealand!!! How small can the world be ?! So, it was great to talk a bit about our experiences with the cultural differences etc.  But the evening finished early, because .......
Tomorrow morning at 7am it is working time!!!
5 July 2012
Woken up by the alarm at 6am - well, that doesn't sound like holiday, does it? And of we went - 4 of us - to do 4 hours of removal of watershoots - ooohh, the joys of bending and kneeling all the time. I really must admit that I was tired after this - clearly not used to any physical work anymore and the temperatures doesn't help either. But only one more day and then I have already weekend!

In the afternoon I went to one of the villages around here and had a nice lunch again before driving to another bigger village for some happy supermarket shopping. Here I spent a lot of time, especially in the wine department. It is sooooo amazing to see the huge selection of wines here and the prices! I am not saying supermarkets are cheap here, but some products are.

In the afternoon I switched on my TV to watch the Tour de France, and guess what - the TV just has the Dutch connections and I could follow it all in Dutch. How am I going to improve my French here???? And then I did something that was very unusual for me - suddenly had an afternoon nap - well, I absolutely must have been more tired than I thought.

The day was finished with a very nice dinner with the owners and one of the volunteers that is leaving tomorrow.

Love,
Anita

On the way.......

Sunday 1 July, 2012
When I write this, I only have a few more hours at home and then I am off to Auckland where I stay for the night before my long travel to Europe starts.

I have luckily been able to say goodbye to most of my friends here in Blenheim, some of which will leave themselves before I return and therefore I might only see again in some other corner of the world. Yes, we are all moving quite a bit around here, something that sounds strange to the Dutchies, I guess.

The last week has caused some turmoil in my life again - the job that I would originally take up on arrival in France is not there for me anymore. Although I have another offer, this is not set in stone and only starts in August which leaves me with at least 6 weeks of holiday time. But, of course, the reason to travel to France is to make wine (and drink it). Will keep you posted.It looks like I have some adventures ahead and am determined to make the most of it! Now it is off for a 48 hours journey to Marseille but actually only there the real journey will honestly begin ........

Tuesday 3 July, 2012

Finally on Sunday 1 July around 1900 I am seen off at the airport by a friend. My suitcase is too heavy but doesn’t cause a problem for my flight to Auckland and my carry-on luggage is not checked at all. The flight was smooth and since it was at night we had a beautiful view on Mount Taranaki/Egmont that was covered in snow. After a motel night close to the airport the next morning it is off to Auckland airport again. Here I put my suitcase on the scales and I am nicely (NOT) told that it is not allowed to have anything more than 23kg – and the cost of my 2.4 kg extra was around NZD250.00. The solution was to take the 2.4kg from my suitcase and put it in my carry-on luggage. All done and then my carry-on luggage was 11.5kg. The lady directed me via the Premium check-in and there the weight is not checked. This was a very good lesson for any future occasions. So, in short, I still had the same amount of Kgs to take on board ………. weird rules!!

Then it was time for some breakfast and trying to find a tv screen with the final of Euro 2012. When I was all installed after around 15 minutes the screen went to commercials etc. Well, missed the first goal – and then it was time to check my flight – missed the second goal. And then it was time to go to the gate and there were no tv screens, so did not see anything else and had no clue about the outcome for a few days to come!

My seat on the plane from Auckland to Tokyo on Air New Zealand was good and I had enough space. Also the in-flight entertainment was satisfactory, so this made good for the hassles with the luggage. The atmosphere on board was nice and quiet and the 11 hours were not too difficult to handle. Very interesting to mention for a few of my friends is that the red wine on board was a 2009 Pinot Noir of The Crossings. Needless to say that I had a few glasses of that, because it went very well with the Japanese style beef dishes.

The airport of Tokyo is not half as entertaining as Singapore Airport (this one is still my all-time favourite, not the least because of the swimming pool). So, it was great to finally (after 5 hours) get on the plane again. I was already very tired by then and did not really look forward to the 13 hours to Paris, but the only  thing one can do is to try to relax and go for it. For the first time in decades I was not able to have an aisle seat in the plane, but luckily I slept for a large part of the trip which was surprisingly since the seats were really tiny both in width as in leg space. This Air France/KLM flight was a huge step downwards from the Air New Zealand one before.  

And then after over 50 hours of travelling this morning I finally arrived in Marseille, where I get myself a rental car and already managed to get on the wrong side of the road once - ggrrhhhh. It is great though to see the nice hills, to experience summer temperatures and the French around here are very friendly even, and the food is nice as well!! I now just need to organise cellphone connection and a navigation system and then I am sorted for my travels/work or whatever comes my way.

Love,

Anita