Wow! It has been an awesome first 5 days at Fayence. This weekend was pretty slow. I arrived on Saturday and was told to rest up for the next day when I would start at 9:30. At 9:30 however they changed it to 11:00. At 11:00 they changed it to 5:30 haha! It was a bit frustrating but then I learned that my boss was working a wedding Saturday night until 6:30 am so she wanted to rest up!
Sunday, at 5:30 when I finally worked, we did something called "pot d'acceuil." This is the welcoming for the new guests. Our resort works where most guests arrive Sunday and stay for 1 week. Each Sunday night we welcome them in the bar with free sangria or syrup for the kids (flavored syrup with water - so good!) They introduce the guests to the staff and the "equipe d'animation" of which I am a part (an entertainment team) does a "village dance" for the guests. Then we invite them to join us and they do it with us, it's like zumba. We have practice for about 3 hours a week to learn and practice our dances. It makes me feel at home :) Every day at noon the entertainment team goes to the pool to do one of our dances with the guests and play a game with the kids - so fun!
I finally really started work on Monday with a packed day! This is a picture of my schedule.
We do everything here. We are on the entertainment team so we lead activities for the families, but we also help out in the restaurant, the bar, and other random tasks. For instance, today, the domaine (resort) bought an apartment in the city of Fayence (of which we are a bit removed) for some of their employees to live. Today we have to help them move furniture into it. They bought it because they don't have enough room during the busy season to house all of their employees. Next week begins our busy season here at the resort because all of the children will be done with school this Friday, and France basically shuts down in August (everyone has vacation time and doesn't work) so they come here. For that reason they have more employees coming into help (we really need more help in the bar and restaurant - usually it is only 2 people to serve both at the same time with about 30 guests!
Last night, for example, was a big night for us as it was "moules frites" night which means that the restaurant, for 14 euros, served a bottomless plate of mussels and fries with an included dessert which was a tarte aux pommes (picture below). So many people came that we ran out of fries! I was helping serve the tables, passing out bread to them, clearing plates, etc. Following that was the soccer game which we show in the bar. I walk around and take orders from people then tell them to the bartenders who make them and ring them up. One of the bartenders taught me how to make myself an espresso! (I am drinking so much espresso in the tiny cups that I don't know if I will ever go back to coffee- it seems nuts that we drink them in 20 oz!!) Next I want to learn real drinks! Last night it was a lot of drama because the television station TF1 (like ESPN) changed their schedule at the last minute and didn't air the Belgium-USA match. There are a TON of Belgian people here so they were very upset. We streamed it online and hooked it up to the TV but the connection was very poor and we kept getting popup ads for porn on the TV. It was really funny. The last two nights have been late ones because the games don't start until 10 pm and finish after midnight. Luckily, we don't start each day until 10 or 11.
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| Go France! Working at the France soccer game - note the name tag "Léa" |
This morning we drove around and passed out fliers to business and in people's mailboxes that tell them about our resort and that the outdoor pool is now open to the public (for a cost of course). It is annoying to do for Mathilde because she has done it so many times, but for me it is exciting. I get to speak to strangers in France and it is a bit uncomfortable but it makes me feel better about speaking French to strangers. They tell me I am pretty good!
Backtracking to the basics - I live with three people. Two girls, one boy. Their names are Mathilde, Tatiyana, et Jason. Mathilde and Jason are both French and Tatiyana is Belgian but has lived in France for 3 years. Tatiyana works in the restaurant and bar and Mathilde and Jason are the other members of the entertainment team with me. I share a room with Tatiyana. Sadly, she is leaving in one week. She is moving back to where she lives normally (southwest France) because she misses her boyfriend a lot. Too bad it's not that easy for me :p. I think I will get a new roommate in a week but I am not sure because of the apartments they bought.
Communicating here is getting MUCH easier, I get better every day. Also, there are many people here from England or Holland who don't speak French so I get to help them a lot. Every day at the pool when we make announcements about what will happen at night the leader of our team says it in French and I translate it in English on the microphone. My roommate Mathilde doesn't know English very well so she helps me with French and I help her with English. A guy who works in the bar, Thibault (tee-bow, yes like tim), lived in Virginia for a while so he loves speaking English with me to practice.
I am off of work all day Friday, half a day Saturday, and most of Sunday (except pot d'acceuil). I don't know what I will do. Mostly in my free time I have been reading a lot - I finished Divergent and A Fault in Our Stars. I am now reading a book by CS Lewis and I got the second in the Divergent series. Sadly, Netflix doesn't work here but I found out how to watch the first Divergent movie on another site ;p. I think this weekend we will go into the city of Fayence to eat some ice cream and so Mathilde can show me around. Next week will be different because Kid's Club (where I will be primarily working) will start. The kids all officially end school by this Friday so that is why it hasn't started yet. I will have to write when I know more about it. It seems like we work all day here but there are many breaks that last about an hour so it is really nice.
I've started a google doc of all of the new words I've learned. It is available
here if you want to see it - I will continue to add to it as I want to remember all of the words! :)
I hope you are having a good summer so far and thanks for reading. I altered the settings on the comments so hopefully now you will be able to comment if you were not able to before. :)
Here are some pictures from the train ride to Fayence
Too fun!
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