Un Jour Traumatique

Today has been very difficult. This morning I woke up at about 9:30 and was told that I must take the medicine! I find it really hard so spent hours deliberating about it. At about 11:30 Helene came to tell me off and said that it wasn't hard and that hard was being terminally ill and that if I wanted to she'd just hold my nose and force it down my throat - as that really helps me to relax and feel ok about it all! I tried to explain that it was a phobia and that as irrational as she thinks it is, it's a big deal for me. She made me give her the tablet which she crushed it up and then tried to make me take it just like that. 'Just hold your nose and you won't taste anything' - yeah cos that works... I tried to explain to her that the only way I can take medicine at home is very specific; I need to have cranberry juice or blackcurrant juice, two glasses - one with the medicine and a small amount of juice and the other with just lots of juice - and then a straw. They didn't have straws or juice and Helene refused to let me get a second glass, even with just water. I got so worked up about it because she wasn't listening to me that I couldn't breathe properly and got all sweaty and faint. Eventually Helene's sister, Anne (the doctor) came to help. She understands that it's a phobia and tried to help me to take the medicine in a different way. She mashed up a peach so we could use that as fruit juice and let me use a spoon to put the nasty medicine in my mouth (It's partly the tilting my head back thing that I struggle with I think). It took a while but I did it eventually.

Lots of Lizards in Corsica!

For lunch today we had the leftover chicken (just wrote 'children' by accident! Lol!) with rice, bread and salad. I then sat and read the french pirate book about 'Big Jack le Pirate' with Wandrille. I think it is all about the Pirate's search for a blue diamond but I'm not sure.... Reading in french does help with my pronunciation though as the children will correct me and it helps me to match the words with the spellings - very useful as they are rarely phonetic!

Hermine has been in a foul mood all day. She keeps answering me back (in french) and getting all stroppy when I ask her to do anything. Hillaire says she is tired - that much is clear! Anthelme hit her earlier while we were at the pool so she hit him back, when I told them to stop and apologise or go back to the house, Anthelme said 'D'accord, pardon' and then went off to play but Hermine had a huge strop and started throwing things everywhere. 
I told her that I had had enough of it and it was the last chance to stop or she would have to go back to the house (in bad french). She didn't stop so I said, 'ok, assez. Aller a la maison'. She just carried on shouting at me so I repeated myself a few times and then gave up and told her off in english instead. She then screamed at me that she didn't understand it when I spoke in english. I told her (in english) that I know she doesn't but if she won't listen in french then she will listen in english! And then repeated that she had to go back to the house. She screamed and slammed doors and threw things at me and told me that she would tell her parents what I had done (absolutely nothing, just asked her to stop or go inside in french and english!)

At around 4pm, I got the children some bread for a snack. They put chocolate powder on it! Very weird - they told me that 'it is very french'.... well it's definitely not english! Benoit then asked me to clean up after the children, empty the dishwasher, clean the kitchen, tidy the children's room and then go to the shop and buy bread all before 5pm... bit unrealistic! Benoit, Helene and Alienor are really stressed today because we leave tomorrow but they're just making things difficult and stressing out everyone else too.

Very few recognisable things...
Milka, BNs and Frosties were about it #FrenchFood

When I went to the shop, I bumped into Alienor and Alice who were coming back from the beach. They don't even speak to me anymore but they did to ask if Benoit had given me enough money to buy them something (I hadn't). Clearly it's far too much effort to speak in English to me... In an attempt to make future medicine doses easier to take, I bought some juice while I was at the shop and hunted profusely for straws but I couldn't find any.

Strange condiments that the
french keep having with bread

Pretty much all there is in Campomoro
Restaurant (far left), Shop (left by the road) and a Hotel!

Fish from the Corsican Sea

When I got back I was attacked by Wandrille who told me 'VITE VITE VITE, IL Y A UN POISSON!!' - Hillaire had caught a fish in a bucket at the rockpools!

Helene told me that she wanted me to make sure my 'luggage was ready to leave before dinner' - this really confused me because for a minute I thought we were leaving tonight but she just still can't speak english... I packed my main suitcase full of everything I wouldn't need for the next two days. This took a while as I had to repack everything as it wouldn't fit back in properly. They all started the Aperitifs without me (and didn't even bother to come and tell me they were starting) so I missed bread and smoked salmon - one of my favourites. I was not happy about that!

Dinner was Fish Soup (again), and then Pasta and that Tzatziki stuff with more bread. For dessert they had something called 'Fromage Blanc' - I couldn't work out what on earth that was. It's not Creme Fraiche, or Yoghurt, or Cheese, or Cream Cheese... It's kind of like a mix between Cream Cheese (which they don't actually have in France apparently) and Natural Yoghurt. They were pouring sugar onto the top and eating it just like that. Yet another french oddity.

After all that time packing, apparently my hand luggage was still too big and they wouldn't let me put it by my feet so I had to try and squash clothes and toiletries, plus a couple of things to do, all into my laptop bag as the only other bag I had was my medium sized handbag stowed away in my suitcase (they wouldn't let me get it out again). Alienor gave me a paper Carrefour bag and said to just carry my things in there (they don't half make things difficult!) Had they just explained earlier then it wouldn't have been such a problem but they are really bad at explaining things clearly - and bad at listening too because I definitely had room to put the bag by my feet (I just would have had to have limited feet space, but I've done that plenty of times before).

We are due to leave at about 8am tomorrow but apparently I have to get up at 6am (why?!) Surely the best thing to do it to get everyone up and dressed, eat something and then just leave half an hour later? We are getting a ferry (I think from Propriano to Marseille) and then driving until around 12am when we will stop at a 'Hostel' - I hope when she said 'Hostel' she meant one of those Formule 1 French Hotels they have in complexes just off the motorways? We'll see! I'm going to be so bored tomorrow. All I have to do is some Sudokus and my ipod - I won't be able to use laptop or phone much because I have no wifi and will run out of battery pretty quickly. Apparently (according to Alienor) there are no plugs on the ferry and we won't even have plugs at the Hotel - surely not?! After nearly 2 days of driving with very little to do I will be going crazy! I hope the children shut up long enough for me to sleep...

On that note, I am going to sleep. Especially as I will be woken up in just over 6 hours for literally no sensible reason... I won't be able to blog until probably Tuesday but will update on what is definitely sounding like the Journey from Hell!

A bright, clear day in Belvedere-Campomoro, Corsica!

Very clear water!

Mon Premier Jour en Corse

I am staying in a Villa in Belvédère-Campomoro. The views are stunning - we are a stones throw from the beach and have a view across the bay and further towards Porto-Pollo (another village that is further north on the West Coast).

This morning I woke up at around 7am but didn't want to get up. By about 7:45am I could hear a lot of voices so went to see who was awake. The aunt asked me if I wanted something to eat but it looked like she was still setting up breakfast so I went to have a swim with the children first which was very nice. The mother (Hélène) had mentioned yesterday that the youngest child, Wandrille (5 years old) was not good at swimming so needed to be watched by someone older so when I was ready to come inside I tried to ask Wandrille if he wanted to come inside. He either didn't understand or didn't want to but the 12yr old (Anthelme) told me he would watch Wandrille and that it was super. (He speaks a little bit of english but not much. Hélène later came to tell me off for leaving Wandrille all by himself and that he was too young, she told me, it was very dangerous etc. etc. I understand what she means but she just said 'older' to me, not an adult. Her english is really bad!

After my swim, I had a shower. Most of the rooms are ensuite but mine isn't. There is a toilet near the kitchen and then just a 'Spa' which has a Jacuzzi and a 'Hammam' (apparently this is the correct name for a Steam Room rather than our anglicised 'say what it is' thing we have) although this also has a shower in it. I've googled and it looks like there is a proper ritual for 'Hammam's which is to scrub off all the dry skin with hard scrubber things, and then paint yourself with a clay or mud mix and wait for a while, and then put some black soap stuff on and leave that for a while too before rinsing off (sounds a bit like my body wrap experience at Tortworth Court Spa....) The girls said I could use their shower if I needed to but there is already 3 of them in their room so when I went to  ask them if I could they said it was in use. Not many other people were around to ask so I just used the shower in the Hammam. It was fine, it just didn't have a shower hook on the wall so I had to hold it. 

I then came out for breakfast and had my first experience of french hot chocolate in a bowl! It is brilliant! I drink that much hot chocolate anyway and it's really milky. Hermine (7yr old girl) made me some in the microwave. Most of the adults had bread and honey and/or cheese and ham and fruit for breakfast. No croissants or pastries though *sad face*.

Hélène came in briefly to ask me to make sure that Wandrille had suncream on as she was going off for a swim. Then me and Wandrille did some loom bands (the ones I brought as a present for them). They all love them! Alienor and Alice told me that they haven't seen them in France but Alienor had seem them once or twice when she was in London. (She was Au Pairing but only for a month with a family friend).

For lunch, they had pasta, bread and salad and then cheese for dessert. They just put olive oil on the pasta but it was lovely (I think Mum puts too much olive oil on pasta when she does it!) After that, they had cheese and more bread. They had bought some local cheeses - goats cheese and a cow cheese but apparently they were unusual because they were made with raw (unpasteurised?) milk which the german uncle said was illegal in most EU countries.

After lunch I had a nap and then was woken up by Hélène who had come to tell me off for not putting suncream on Hermine (she didn't tell me to!) She had burnt a little bit but Hélène told me it was my fault because I had to make sure the children were 'wearing the sunscreams'. Hermine was in the pool where her mother went after telling me to put some on Wandrille so you'd think she'd have known seeing as she was already outside?! Alienor later told me that it wasn't my fault and helped me learn how to say 'have you got suncream on?' so I can actually ask the children tomorrow. I am really struggling to understand the younger ones - they don't speak any english at all and speak very fast. Wandrille is very high pitched and I think must have a bit of a childish lisp as he doesn't pronounce words very clearly. Hermine is quite good at repeating things several times for me or trying to explain things in a different way.

We all went to the beach at around 3pm and I had a swim in the sea. I think I'm better at swimming than I think as every now and then when the sea got deeper because of the tide or waves and I had to swim because I couldn't touch the bottom I was fine. I find swimming very tiring and my technique is probably very bad but it was ok. The beach was very picturesque and there are even fishes in the sea. I only saw one small one but I think we might go to the rockpools tomorrow as that is directly outside the garden gate! When I came out of the sea I had heat-rash style red bumps on my arms, tummy and legs so Hélène thinks I am allergic to suncream. I don't think I am though as I hadn't put any on before swimming this morning and it happened a bit from the pool too.

After swimming, Hélène and the famille went home but Wandrille wanted to stay so we made sandcastles 'chateaux de sable' though he mostly called it 'un fort'. We tried to make a moat but we had problems because I couldn't think of the word for 'moat' or 'river' or 'around' so settled on 'de l'eau'. Eventually I just got some water from the sea and made one but the water kept sinking into the sand. Turns out 'oh no' is a common phrase as he said that a lot!

Wandrille said he wanted the toilet so I kept trying to ask him if he wanted to go home but he kept saying non. I tried loads of different ways of saying it but then he got really stroppy and smashing sandcastles so I just started packing up the things and gave him his shoes! That worked! Haha.

Back at the villa we washed off and then it was nearly time for dinner. Dinner today was very odd... 

Hélène told me it was the "birthday wedding of her parents a to-monday" so I corrected her...
They had some strange cold onion and cucumber salad/soup with a type of chilli sauce - it had a very french name but I have no idea what that was. Also there was some strange spicy tomato sauce thing, and a black thing which I first thought was caviar but it was disgusting! They also had a massive bottle of Champage - un magnum pour celebrations. Champagne brings out flavours though so not the best thing to have after eating disgusting black stuff. I tried to eat it though as everyone else seemed to really like it. It just made me feel sick though!

L'aperitif!
Grapes
Tomato sauce stuff, Bread, strange Salad/soup,
Watermelon

For dinner they had freshly caught 'Dorade' (Sea bream) and some kind of sliced baked potato with herbs on it, and courgette. For dessert it was the leftover watermelon and grapes and a dessert wine from Corsica made with the 'Muscat' grapes which are very sweet.

I keep getting bitten by mosquitos. They are everywhere. I don't think I had seen them before but I'm covered in little red dots from the bites. Savlon seems to make it better though so that's good.

Alice et Alienor then asked if I wanted to go to the Spa so I went in the jacuzzi with them. They are very good at english. Alice goes to Camp America or similar camps in Canada every year so she is near enough fluent. Alienor is also very good at english but struggles with some unusual words. They were telling me all about french music, schools and exchanges.

It is very hot tonight! The weather forcast for tomorrow is rain apparently so not sure what we'll all do. If it's warm and just a shower I think I'll walk to the local shop to get postcards! If it's really bad then I think I'll just sleep. I'm aching all over from carrying heavy suitcases and swimming so could do with a resting day. That's if Hélène lets me... Jusqu'à demain!

La Piscine!