It’s already a month since the first Top Up Your French session took place on board the Côte d’Albâtre.  A steadily increasing number of passengers are joining me around the captain’s table with especially more children now that the school holidays have started.  How lovely to hear their laughter and their first attempt at ordering a meal in French! 

I hope you were able to listen to the interview on BH, the Sunday morning Radio 4 program.  The BBC South East Today team will join me on Thursday 14^th of August and I am told their report will appear in the evening program. 

We’ll soon have a link from the Transmanche LD Lines home page.  This is excellent news and I am sure it will bring more people to the sessions.

The Top Up Your French sessions are an essential part of the cosmofil concept.  Helping people to communicate in the language of the country they are visiting is the first step towards a better understanding of different cultures.  This is the message I want to put through to MEP Sharon Bowles when we talk this week.  I am a passionate European and I believe cosmofil can help promote Europe in the UK.

Best cosmofil wishes

Babette

Bonjour!

Today is the big day, with our first national broadcast.  When I say “our”, I’m not using the regal plural but I am thinking of all the people who have supported me from the very beginning.  So, we are on Broadcasting House today and I hope you don’t feel I’ve let you down.  As I said in my previous blog entry, I can only get better, but this is assuming we get another chance.

I’ll be distributing flyers and trying to get people to come to a Top Up your French session while you’ll be drinking your third cup of tea with the Sunday papers spread around you Radio 4 in the background. 

I went to see Norman Baker MP yesterday at his surgery in Lewes, Normie as my friend Mayke calls him.  I did not kiss him on both cheeks on her behalf as she had asked me to do but we’re not on those terms (yet!) and actually I don’t think she is either!  She’s a Dutch woman with a big heart, and when she kisses you  you’d think she has a loo plunger adapted to her lips!

So Norman Baker was very receptive and offered to help me with the media and with getting in touch with our MEP Sharon Bowles.   He also said he would write a press release for me.  My natural French arrogance (don’t you like stereotypes?) made me think “well Normie, that’s very nice, but I didn’t wait for you to write a press release that got me to BH and also a “sounds great, what are your sailing dates in the summer” from, wait for this, Simon Calder, yes, the Independent Travel writer! ”  Funnily enough, I still haven’t managed to secure an article in the local papers such as Sussex Express and The Argus.  I accept that reading about a mad French woman trying  to get people to learn foreign languages is not as exciting as “Kitten found in geranium” (Sussex Express), but hey! I’m local (Alfriston) and I can prove it; can the kitten???

Ooops, nearly 7 am and I must get ready for the ferry.  It’s a later start today but I still woke up at 4.30!  I’m meeting my Transmanche contacts and supporters Emmanuelle and Marie in Dieppe for lunch.  First time I have the opportunity to step off the ferry since I’ve started the ferry sessions. 

Best cosmofil greetings

Babette

French road sign

Hello

Do you know what this road sign means?

 I am amazed by the number of British participants to the  ”Top Up Your French On Board” sessions who have no idea about the importance of this French road sign.  This road sign warns drivers that they must give way to the cars coming on their right at the next crossroad.  Even an English couple now settled in France did not know what it meant.  Amazing isn’t it? There must be an angel looking after them.

Obviously feeling concerned, I’m busy laminating more road signs to do my bit for the safety of the Brits in France (and of drivers coming to their right).  Who would have thought cosmofil would one day work alongside the gendarmes (AKA “les poulets”)!

Babette

What?

They are weekend/three/five day or longer organised stays offered by some of our cosmofil hosts.  The activities offered depend on the region and  on the hosts’ interests, but an emphasis on the local language is the common denominator.

Where:

France: Auberge des Baous, Corinne and Benoit introduce you to their culture rich area in The Alpes Maritimes.  There is so much to do in and around Saint Jeannet!  Walking in the Baous, visiting museums, hill top perched villages, the Riviera, talking to locals, swimming in the Med, the list is exhaustive and the choice is yours but whatever you do, I know you will never forget Corinne and Benoit, their hospitality, kindness, sense of fun, cuisine, patience, knowledge…… again, the list is exhaustive!

Greece: ALEXANDROU TRADITIONAL INN in Halkidiki and Eleonas on Evia Island.  Believe me, during the several years I spent in Greece, I have experienced the best and the worst of what tourism has to offer in this country I love.  If I decided to go back  for a holiday after staying away for almost a decade, I would definitely start my stay doing a cosmofil programme to refresh my Greek, but also to be sure to experience the “philoxenia” Greece is famous for. 

Spain: Las Sirenitas in Andalucia and Agroturismo Alfatx in Mallorca.  Two of the most stunning Spanish regions, introduced to you by friendly and easy going but passionate hosts.  Lluc runs an organic farm on one of the most beautiful islands of the Mediterranean and Jose invites you to relax in a little known regional park close to one the most celebrated and ancient European cities.  Please don’t ask me where I’d choose to go.  I’d love to go to both and practice my very rusty Spanish.

Italy: Marla and Fabrizio from Bella Baita will share with you their love of the Piedmont, a part of Italy rich in culture but also a paradise for outdoors lovers.  Away from the crowds, you will discover a people and traditions not usually associated with La Dolce Vita image of Italy.  Your hosts are very flexible and open to suggestions.  They will create for you and your group a taylor-made stay you will never forget.

Turkey:  Few people have the  cosmofil touch like Heather and Bulent from Villa Jasmine & Villa Begonville in the Turtle Bay.  They offer a programme based on the Turkish language.  They will introduce you to their community and you will be able to observe or even take part in seasonnal jobs such as preparing olives or drying tomatoes.  They will also tell you about the history of their region. 

Panama:  Margaret and Henry from La Loma on the Carribean side of Panama invite you to live and if you so wish work alongside local people in their tropical farm.  Don’t miss this  unique opportunity to practise your Spanish in the New World, and learn about butterfly breeding and cacao producing in Bocas del Toro.  Can you imagine the attention you’ll get at dinner parties after a stay at La Loma? 

How?

You can go with your family, with friends or with fellow language students.  Why not ask your teacher to help you organise a cosmofil field trip?  Or maybe your children would like the chance to practice their foreign language and organise it for you? 

 How much?

 Please email your chosen hosts to find out more about their cosmofil programme.  Prices may vary depending on activities offered and the number of people in your group.

Do you know any hosts who would match these?  Please, send us their contact details and we will contact them as soon as possible. 

Happy cosmofil field trip!  And please don’t forget to send us your review and share your experience with others.

Babette

Hi there

 I would like to welcome our new 2008 cosmofil hosts. 

Thank you Liz and Mel from La zourcière for introducing Marla & Fabrizio from Bella Baita in Piedmont, Italy and Silvana & Richard from La Pierre Bleue in Saint Martin Vesubie, France.  They are generous and talented people, just like you Liz and Mel.

Also in Italy, Marco and Emmanuella from Villa Irelli in Aruzzo are our first hosts to propose an equestrian stay.  Why not take this opportunity to practise your Italian on horseback?  What would be the greater challenge for you?  The riding or the talking?

I met Bulent at the 2008 Times Destinations Show.  Bulent was there to promote Villa Jasmine & Villa Begonville, near Marmaris in Turkey.  It did not take me long to realise that he was “cosmofil”stuff!  He and his wife Heather will open for you the door to the South West of Turkey, its culture, traditions and people.

 Spain also joined the growing list of countries in the last couple of months, with Jose from Las Sirenitas in Andalucia  and  Lluc from Agroturismo Alfatx in Mallorca.  If real Spain appeals to you, look no further.  Go to practice your Spanish or learn some with them.  Their generosity, the beauty and authenticity of their area will combine to make your stay a very enriching experience.

At last, we now have some cosmofil hosts in Greece, where the whole cosmofil concept originates from.  Alexandrou and his family, from ALEXANDROU TRADITIONAL INN in Halkidiki,  Marina & Stephanos from Eleonas on Evia Island and Kostis & Marcie from Red Tractor Farm on Kea Island will introduce you to the daily life as well as to the ancient culture of their region.  Having lived in Greece and witnessed the damage tourism has caused to many areas of  this wonderful country, I have no doubt our first Greek hosts represent philoxenia at its best and I would be really surprised if you did not return home with a wider Modern Greek vocabulary, a keen interest in olive growing, fishing or Greek mythology.

Do you know hosts with the cosmofil touch?  Please introduce them to cosmofil or send me their details using our contact form on  the Contact Us page.

I’ll soon be back with information on cosmofil language and cultural packages offered by some of our hosts and with news on the cosmofil French Walk/Talk challenge. 

Till then, have fun practicing the language you are studying or just communicating with and learning from the local people you meet on holiday or the foreigners who live in your country.

Best cosmofil wishes

Babette