Host 1: The Conversation
Upon hearing we couldn't stay in a place for for human occupancy, we packed our things and told Maria we were ready to leave. She was shocked and told us she had just talked to Ron and we could move into one of the rooms in the guest house, then move again on Tuesday when her brother left. This was too little, too late. The fact that they would put us where they did in the first place was reprehensible (I forgot to add - the ceiling was also damp and had mold) and we felt they didn't have respect for us.
She began to berate us a bit, and tell us it was disrespectful that we wouldn't give them more of a chance and that only one day wasn't enough time and that things would change when her family left. We took it for a bit, until finally letting her know we felt they were the ones being disrespectful, as we just came halfway around the world to work for them and they put us in an awful place when they easily could have done better. She then noted that we could move into a nicer place, but that was beside the point for us, as we had gotten off to a bad enough start that salvaging it didn't seem likely.
Finally after what seemed like 5 minutes but was probably 2 of uncomfortable talk, she called Ron over. Luckily he didn't put up a fight. He said if we all aren't clicking then so be it. We requested they drive us to Montmarault where we would get a hotel. Ron agreed and we were off in another scary drive.
Once we were 100 meters from town the road was closed due to a cycling race. Ron dropped us off and we walked into town with all our stuff. Maria made it clear that we were still welcome in case we didnt find a hotel, and that Ron should wait until we get one. That didn't happen, nor did Maria contact me to make sure I had gotten a hotel. They really didn't care for us. Anyways, I had researched the hotel we wanted back when we had WiFi at their house, but now we had to actually find it without the aid of the internet or our hosts. We were relieved to be away from them though.
Wandering through Montmarault was possibly my favorite part of the trip so far. It is a super quaint town and for the first time I really felt like I was in France. Unfortunately the hotel we wanted was on the outskirts of town and we didn't have much more daylight so we kept moving. After a few miles walking and getting turned around a couple times, we got there and the receptionist spoke English so getting a room was easy. The room is very nice and cheap. We immediately got cleaned up and began sending out messages on helpx to find our next place to stay. We had dinner in the restaurant below and had a great night's sleep.
On Sunday we woke up around 7 (we're beating you, jet lag!) and walked to a nearby grocery store at 9. We bought cheese, chocolate bread rolls, crackers, water, pudding, apples, and a pastry treat we thought would be good. We thought wrong. Turned out it was a rum cake. The rum was quite strong. I would much rather keep my cake and rum separated. Another funny mistake: in France you weigh your own produce, place a sticker on the bag, then the cashier just scans the sticker you print. We slowed down the checkout line because we didn't print the sticker. Everyone was friendly and have us a kind of maternal 'silly American's' laugh.
As I write this it is 3:21 pm and still no responses from helpx. In a couple hours we'll be reaching out to Tawnie's teacher to see if any of her husband's siblings can take us in. If not we'll try Tawnie's old friends from Scotland and possibly flee the country as we don't want our funds eaten up by this hotel. Despite all of this we're in great spirits and having fun. Tawnie has had similar experiences on her other two trips like this, and has succeeded in finding another place to stay. She also knows there are great places to stay, unlike that last one, so we aren't regretting our decision to leave one bit.
She began to berate us a bit, and tell us it was disrespectful that we wouldn't give them more of a chance and that only one day wasn't enough time and that things would change when her family left. We took it for a bit, until finally letting her know we felt they were the ones being disrespectful, as we just came halfway around the world to work for them and they put us in an awful place when they easily could have done better. She then noted that we could move into a nicer place, but that was beside the point for us, as we had gotten off to a bad enough start that salvaging it didn't seem likely.
Finally after what seemed like 5 minutes but was probably 2 of uncomfortable talk, she called Ron over. Luckily he didn't put up a fight. He said if we all aren't clicking then so be it. We requested they drive us to Montmarault where we would get a hotel. Ron agreed and we were off in another scary drive.
Once we were 100 meters from town the road was closed due to a cycling race. Ron dropped us off and we walked into town with all our stuff. Maria made it clear that we were still welcome in case we didnt find a hotel, and that Ron should wait until we get one. That didn't happen, nor did Maria contact me to make sure I had gotten a hotel. They really didn't care for us. Anyways, I had researched the hotel we wanted back when we had WiFi at their house, but now we had to actually find it without the aid of the internet or our hosts. We were relieved to be away from them though.
Wandering through Montmarault was possibly my favorite part of the trip so far. It is a super quaint town and for the first time I really felt like I was in France. Unfortunately the hotel we wanted was on the outskirts of town and we didn't have much more daylight so we kept moving. After a few miles walking and getting turned around a couple times, we got there and the receptionist spoke English so getting a room was easy. The room is very nice and cheap. We immediately got cleaned up and began sending out messages on helpx to find our next place to stay. We had dinner in the restaurant below and had a great night's sleep.
On Sunday we woke up around 7 (we're beating you, jet lag!) and walked to a nearby grocery store at 9. We bought cheese, chocolate bread rolls, crackers, water, pudding, apples, and a pastry treat we thought would be good. We thought wrong. Turned out it was a rum cake. The rum was quite strong. I would much rather keep my cake and rum separated. Another funny mistake: in France you weigh your own produce, place a sticker on the bag, then the cashier just scans the sticker you print. We slowed down the checkout line because we didn't print the sticker. Everyone was friendly and have us a kind of maternal 'silly American's' laugh.
As I write this it is 3:21 pm and still no responses from helpx. In a couple hours we'll be reaching out to Tawnie's teacher to see if any of her husband's siblings can take us in. If not we'll try Tawnie's old friends from Scotland and possibly flee the country as we don't want our funds eaten up by this hotel. Despite all of this we're in great spirits and having fun. Tawnie has had similar experiences on her other two trips like this, and has succeeded in finding another place to stay. She also knows there are great places to stay, unlike that last one, so we aren't regretting our decision to leave one bit.
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