I am three nights away from leaving the Cote d’Azur now… I will travel into the mountains just north west of here to an area called Ardèche. That means that I will have to be prepared to speak French a lot more than I have been getting away with on the south east coast. It’s a good thing. Two years ago, I went to this region on the basis of a Facebook message and a couple of video calls. It seems so long ago now, but this moment was when a real miracle had occurred in my life.
To make the story brief, I had found myself stuck in a difficult situation in the far west of Ireland. I had intended to travel from Ireland to France, having given up hopes of finding an apartment there during the housing crisis. So, I organised a volunteer homestay with a French lady, who also happened to have a property in west Cork. We agreed to meet up at her property there and after working for ten days we’d go to her farm in the north west of France together. It didn’t end up going very well for me… and I found myself in a situation that I wanted to get out of but didn’t know how. But some way or the other, after a few days of staying at her property, I somehow convinced her to take me to an Airbnb close to the little seaside town of Bantry.
I still remember that night when I arrived at the Airbnb. I couldn’t stop crying, mostly with relief. Sometimes we feel traumatised by people and we don’t really know why. The lady was nice enough, but something about her presence made me grow cold inside. I tried to justify it at that time – maybe it was the things she said, maybe it was the things she did… I have learned since then to not make it logical. Now I just immediately follow my gut, even if it means that I offend or confuse people sometimes.
There was only one problem… I now had plane tickets to France in a weeks’ time, and no accommodation. The next day, I asked around and someone suggested that I post about my conundrum on a Facebook page. I went to the group of Australians in France that I thought was the kindest, shared the dates I was going, the city of my arrival and I waited. I think it was only an hour or so later, maybe less, I received a message from a man. As soon as I read it, I knew that I had to say yes, which was strange… because he offered a home and pet sitting position to me with the wrong dates, and for a city in the exact opposite side of the country than I had planned. Still, when I got a gut feeling about something, I knew I had to follow through.
We had a video call the next day, and it was confirmed. I spoke with a couple who had lived in Australia and now had a property in a place called Ardèche. I had never been there before, but somehow in this instant I trusted them. They said they were worried about the dates and the city being different, but I reassured them that I would change my flights and it would be no hassle. In fact, the new flights cost more than I thought they would, and they were a little difficult to find – but I organised it all. After one month, I arrived at their home.
Quiet, peaceful, calm. My whole body seemed to slow down, and almost shut down. I didn’t want to do anything, all I wanted to do was sleep and go to the market in the village at the bottom of the mountain. I was living some kind of dream life, I was being healed in some mysterious way. While the owners were gone, I made friends with their aunt and uncle who lived just a little further down the road. Even though the owners spoke great English, everyone else there only spoke French – including their aunt and uncle. Needless to say, I was nervous initially, but after the first night they invited me for a drink… I then found my way.
This is the moment when my French truly improved, and not because I forced myself to practice. For the first time in my life, I came face to face with people who couldn’t speak the same language as me but were insistent on knowing me more. They were so interested in my perspective. They told me that they liked my accent, and they thought my life experiences were interesting. They shared things about their life with me, as well as history about the region and especially about wine.
Even though I couldn’t follow them very well most times, they were patient with me. It didn’t matter that we didn’t understand each other’s words exactly – we were sharing something and it was something special. I fell in love with them, and even when I am far away, I always keep them in my heart.
Since that moment, I have gone back again once with my mother. This time when I go back again, we will see a different side of each other. Love comes in so many forms, and I am lucky enough to have experienced it in so many different ways.
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