France!

Hello! I should have written earlier but didn't know where the computer was. I blame any spelling nistakes in this entry on the weird French keyboard. So here I am. It's been great so far. The family I'm stqying with is very Catholic. I've been to church with them a number of times now, including a 3 hour service. Yesterdqy they all read from the Bible and then discussed what the passage meant to them, and this morning we sang religious songs in the open air. I don't usually partake in these activities, just kind of listen and passively participate, it's interesting "quand même", as the French would say. The farm is really pretty, and very rustic - you should see the toilet. But it makes a really nice change, no commodities, no technology, no fashion sense. It's been pretty cold up until now, so I've been wrapped up like the Michelin man; though today was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky. I worked outside attaching the vines to the metal fencing which keeps them in place. I really enjoyed it; it was monotonous but still, just so nice to be outside in the sun, and the surroundings are really beautiful. Other little jobs I've been doing are: weighing chickpeas and packaging them, filling bottles with wine, washing jam jars and labelling them, pruning the vines (I didn't like this very much as I got the feeling I wasn't doing it correctly - there's a "simple" method to it, but complicated in my eyes). Other than that, the people here are very nice and very welcoming. There's always people around so I never feel lonely. 3 of the sons were here for the weekend - it was an important weekend, it being Easter, and there was a lot of talking about Jesus and ressurrection. François and Marie are the owners, and at the moment there are two helpers who are going to be staying here for 2 years! They're learning about "agroforesterie", which means something like planting trees amid other crops like cereal, or something like that - I didn't quite get it. The helpers are "Pilou" (Pierre-Louis) and Jean-Maneau; they're 21 and 27 respectively and I don't know what I'd do without them; I spend all my time with them when I'm not working - they're a real laugh. There's a pool table here, so we play everynight pretty much. Then there's Teddy the dog, and Michou the cat, and lots of hens - and some chicks were born 2 days ago and they're really really cute. So that's it for the moment, this keyboard is driving me lad. I went to Carcassonne today but most things were shut because it's Easter Monday, but I saw the old town and it relly reminded me of Montmatre, lots of expensive restaurants and shops, and lots of tourists.
Anyhow, à-toute-à-l'heure!