Friday, November 9, 2007

Je suis une jeune fille au pair!

After the slight hiccup in my original plans to wwoof around for a few months it became quite clear that I needed to do something, preferably that earnt me some money! After trawling through the usual job channels and finding nothing I signed up to an au-pair agency. I recieved lots of replies from families in Genva, Lausanne, Grenoble etc. which were a little bit to far away from J (ahhhhhh...), I then recieved a phone call from a British family living half an hour NW of Lyon in the Beaujolais region... and... to cut a short story even shorter, they liked me and I liked them so now I'm le jeune fille au pair pour la famille 'Innes'!

Robbie (amazing artist - take a look at www.robertinnes.co.uk) and Lousie (fantastic opera singer) and their three children live in a beautiful house on a hill near to Lozane, I work for them Mon-Fri and then return to Lyon to see J. I have a lovely room in there gite (available to rent in the future if any of you fancy a hol!), opposite the family house which is surrounded by vineyards and small wine makers. It has to be one of the most enjoyable jobs I have ever had, the children are lovely, the house is beautiful and Robbie and Lousie are great. Oh and they also have a lovely dog called Dylan (after Bob).

My french is also improving, although they are scottish and have only lived here for the past three years, they speak french fluently and the village is full of friendly french speakers so I am getting the practice I desperately needed!

I really feel like I have landed on my feet, after a shaky start in France, I am really enjoying my job (and the weather!) and its great to be near enough to J so we get to see each other regularly.

Here are some piccys of the Innes family house!

The view to the village from the vines, there are two churches in the village, the largest (you can see the spire) was build by the same family that built Louise and Robbbies house, unfortunately, they gave it some big bells. That chime. Four times an hour. All day. And night. LOUDLY.


Gamay grapes on the vine, due to the weather this year (lots of rain) there were more grapes than could be harvested, even after the vendange the vines were heavily laden with fruit. You can pick great bunches of the vines and munch the day away - also great for distracting screaming 2 year olds!


Le Bourg - The Innes family house.


Yes, these people are really my bosses, not at all strange.....



1 comment:

Unknown said...

Shower of bastids. I'd love to be out doing what you're doing right now (most likely because i'm in a rubbish office with poor air circulation).