Just came back from a weekend at an apricot plantation in Valence (south-west France). Their harvest season is over these 3 weeks and they employ over 40 people who stay on camping grounds and an old house. The son is a close friend of a neighbour so I was cordially invited to take part in this annual activity. I arrived Fri night and worked from 7-12 on Saturday morning. They work neither on Saturday afternoons nor on Sundays. (Phew) This year's production is estimated at 250 tonnes. Estimated selling price is 7F a kilo (about S$1.70), and 15F in the French markets.

-More photos and online recruitment for next year's harvest on the François' website

Saturday was also 14th July, France's National day. We took a walk in a nearby town called Touron and had a sandwich dinner of l'Ardechois, a sandwich of pork liver paste and herbes. Liked it pretty much. Followed by 3 flavours of ice-cream. Coconut ice-cream is absolutely delicious with the little grains of coconut inside. (Fresh coconuts are NOT available in the markets here.) A walk in the village market and degustations of local wines (wine tasting). Ended up buying 2 bottles of Clairette de Die, supposedly one of the top white wines in France, slightly fruity and bubbly. Just the way I like it. At 33F (S$8.20) a bottle, they were really a steal. A French classmate of mine bought 6, 3 for him and 3 for his father.

Speaking of wines, here's what I learnt about them during the weekend.

- AOC = appellation d'origine (shucks, I've already forgotten what the C stands for). => it's a big brand.

Funnily enough, AOC in my school stands for Activité d'ouverture culturelle. :)

- White wines can be sweet (doux) or dry (sec). The former are the fruity ones. An example of a famous white wine which I like is Pinot from Alsace (north west of France). I can't remember if it's sweet or dry though.

We topped off the evening with a fireworks display, a tradition in every sizeable French town either on the eve of National Day or during the night itself. Then the people started adancing at the village ball.

Sunday was unfortunately a rainy day in the region. Spent the morning in front of the google box and learnt that the averaging galloping speed of a giraffe is 56 km/h, that out of 100 naturalists (nudists) on a French beach, 1 is an agriculteur (do we say agriculturer?).

Had lunch with the family of François Popon, our host. His parents were very excited to have a Singaporean in their home and bombarded me with questions. It was a pleasure answering them and I look forward to hosting them in Singapore one day. They were joking about going to China for the Olympics!

Came back to Paris in fine weather after a week of rain and gloomy skies all throughout last week. It was refreshing to come back to bright skies. Apparently, the aeroplanes couldn't fly over Champs Elysees as they usually do every July 14th due to the terrible storm yesterday though. What a shame!

Also had very interesting conversations with various people during these 2 days, especially on the subject of money. Is the minimum to eat and sleep? There are people who are happy although they have little things. Could u? Would you agree that happiness is the satisfaction from having put in effort in something and is more lasting than pleasure which is more immediate satisfaction?

Another point of conversation : France as a welfare state. One of the workers present told us how he once considered retiring immediately and hence living on his retirement funds (which come from a collective fund) in France, then working at a later age and hoping that he dies before 60 (retirement age in France). In fact, he once earned 4700FF while working as a mechanic while as a declared unemployed, he could receive 4800FF. François' father bemoans the fact that with such a system, work is no longer valued highly in thic country and they are in decline. In fact, the French government are reviewing their social security system. I wonder how the Scandinavian countries (eg. Finland, Sweden) have such a highly successful and developed welfare system and if it really works?!

On a lighter note, my internship is interesting but I'm still having some trouble communicating. Feel a bit left out during company events and I often listen but am as yet to fully take part in a group conversation. Perhaps it's because I'm the only intern there and the pple there are mostly a lot older than I am, except for my closest colleagues and the secretaries. One of them, who is Korean and adopted by Belgian parents, has been a great lunch partner for the past week though, together with another communications intern who unfortunately had her last day on Friday. As I've mentioned to some of you, we've had two farewell receptions this past week on Mon and thurs for the interns who were leaving. Standard fare is Moët and Chandon champagne which is one of the group's products + other finger foods.

Also attended a farewell dinner for the intern whom I'm replacing at a French restaurant, a private thing with nine people who had worked closely with him. Hence, I had to pay for my dinner which came up to 205F. I'm not complaining since the food was good.

love,

hsieng

This article in French

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