Working on the Vineyard

So I already told you about my first day of work on the vineyard, but that day was completely different from the rest of my week. My first day of work was the planting day, where we planted a whole bunch of new vines. But that was just the beginning of things. On Tuesday morning I finished watering all of the new vines that we planted, and that afternoon is when the real work started. We had to go through each row of vines and lift them up and raise the wires so that they weren't falling over anymore. My host dad said it would be difficult, but I was like ehh I'll be fine. We did about 5 rows each and by the end of the day my arms were so tired. And on our way home my host dad was like, this isn't work for a girl, and I was like great glad you had me doing that. Wednesday was a lot easier. It was raining so it would be way too difficult to lift the vines, so my host dad decided that we would clean the warehouses/garages. I helped move the hoses to another room, then I swept and mopped both warehouses. Then we collected all of the garbage from the warehouses and brought it to the dump. Since the weather still wasn't cooperating my host dad and I took the rest of the day off. Him and his son took me on a tour of Gaillac instead! It was a lot of fun!

The warehouse that we cleaned on Wednesday 

(I took this picture on Friday that's why it's so sunny)

On Thursday morning the weather still wasn't all that great. It was still drizzling, but since we took Wednesday afternoon off we had to work. So we started pulling up more vines and wires. We did that all day and let me tell ya I think I'm going to be very strong by the end of this month. After work we came home and I helped my host mom make dinner. She had already made some Gazpacho soup, but I helped her make the pizzas. Everything turned out very well! And my host mom gave me her Gazpacho recipe because I liked it so much!

The weather cleared up Thursday afternoon so I took some pictures at work!

Our little car that we drive around the vineyard

The vines

One of the rows that we tied up!

Friday was a very exciting day for me. My host dad said that if I worked hard Friday morning he would let me out of work early and take me to see La Tour de France!!! So Friday morning we pulled up more vines and wires, and I must've worked hard because that afternoon he took me to see the race!!! We got there just in time to see the parade, and then we waited for about 40 minutes and then the cyclists came through. We were at the 400m mark so they flew by in about 5 seconds, but it was so exciting! As the cyclists were coming everybody was banging on the barriers and cheering, it was really cool to see even though they rode by so quickly.

La Tour de France!

Got one decent pic!

Me and Quentin (my host brother)

At the finish line in Albi!

Then yesterday my host family left to go to Paris. So I met up with a friend and we spent the day in Albi. We went to the cathedral there, a museum, and then we shopped for the rest of the day. It was a very beautiful city!

Saint Secile

The garden at the Palais de La Berbie

My first week with my host family has been amazing! I don't think I could've asked for a better family to spend a month with. They are all so kind and really want me to enjoy my time here and feel at home. Oh and here's a pic of their house, it's a very nice home!