Day 14 Market Day in Chalais consisted of me stopping off at the post office to send some good ole snail mail to my friends and family. Then once I had my bits done I browsed the stalls. Happening upon some real gems and sometimes wilfully deciding against many impulse buys. In hindsight I'm better off with many of my purchases. Bon!! I found myself a lot more comfortable with myself in situations where I required my French. I have definitely progressed and ...

Day 13... Waking up to the uncomfortable and suffocating heat is never pleasant. I had some things to catch up on today and desperately wanted to just sit by the lake and read my book. I have not read my book since the plane journey here! Quel dommage! So indeed I accompanied one of my fellow volunteers down to the lake and had the most pleasant day. Chatting, reading my book, people watching and learning to crochet. In the throbbing metropolis of Brossac, a...

Day 12... Today I set out on a trip to Périgueux, the gastronomic capital of Dordogne (apparently) , which attracted me because of it's enormous cathedral and deeply rooted roman history. Using the French train system to my advantage, firstly I took the train from Chalais to Coutras and had an hour to spare there. I took a stroll down to the river and up to the centre of town, happened upon the market and bought some typical market items and headed back to th...

Day 11... As always Friday morning began with a French lesson. As it was only me and one other person with the teacher it proved to be a very beneficial lesson. learning slang and innuendos in French is always handy. Quite a lazy day in LG as it was one of our volunteers last night and so we went out for a last bike ride together which was unbearable in the heat unfortunately. However it was also an unusal day in LG as one of the volunteers family was comin...

Day 10... Again plastering and sanding was my job today and kitted out in my overalls I went to work at 8. After a pleasant morning of working getting a room up to its best condition before sealing we enjoyed a beautiful lunch in the shade. As myself and another volunteer here had planned, we went down to the lake to do wake-boarding. Of course I made him go first and then tried to reconsider trying it as it looked really hard but when I got into it I was act...