Finding a beautifully balanced life living in France

Marloes Halmans moved her family from the Netherlands to Burgundy in France prior to Covid and loves sharing all that she loves about her adopted home! The greenery, the wildlife, the rural farming, the wine, the food... I completely agree with her, there is something very special about Bourgogne! There always seems to be something happening regardless of the time of year for a visit.

Marloes and I chatted about some cultural differences between the Dutch and French, things that would impact the manner in which new people are accepted. We also discussed some of the quirks of moving to France including having her young children start school with no French fluency at all! Marloes and her family were also renovating an old farmhouse when they first arrived, so there were lot's of challenges! 

Marloes and I had a lovely chat about French style in this podcast chat. We ponder that what we as non-French people usually describe as French design is actually not much at all like a common French home. But there is a style that we often consider evokes a sense of Frenchiness and I must say, that often helps me to feel connected to France. They have overcome any issues and now have a beautiful home and a wonderful YouTube channel sharing their French life as well as places and homes that Marloes visits all over France. 

Marloes has only one goal and that is to bring people into the warmth and calmness of her home, to help people around the globe to escape by sharing happiness, beauty and peace. Marloes is living a beautiful French life and has reminded me to live life intentionally, with purpose. 

Tune in and escape to France with us xx

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Louise Prichard is the host of the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast.
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Other Loulabelle's links:
FrancoFile Fix on YouTube
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Loulabelle's FrancoFiles website

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:11

Bonjour and Bienvenue to the Little Bills Francophiles. Je m'appelle Lou and Aujourd'hui, I'm welcoming you to episode 204. That's episode 2 Sans Cat in season 7 of the podcast that keeps your Frenchie vibes flattering. Just to help Francophiles around the globe immerse in all things French and escape to France virtually wherever you're listening from today. Now, Aujourd'hui, we're chatting to a woman who shows the dreaminess that I love to imagine in a French life through her socials. And I have a number of questions, so let's meet her straight away. Bienvenue to the Little Bell's Francophiles, Malouse Humans. Now, Maluse, your socials, they show this gorgeous country life, which I just love, and lots of other things, not just you living your life, but places that you go and you know the market kind of scene and all sorts of things. Do you actually live in the country in France full-time?

SPEAKER_03 1:12

Absolutely. Yes. It's it's interesting that you see that because I think sometimes when people see someone sharing their life, they think, oh, it's all for the gram, it's all for YouTube. But it's this is my actual life, and I'm incredibly blessed that we've been able to create it. But yes, I live in the countryside of Burgundy, um, 20 minutes outside of Bonn, for those who know the area a little bit, which is a yes, very well-known wine. It's a small city, but it's it's cute. It's very, it's a very lively. So yeah, we're really happy to be really we moved here in 2019. So this is our seventh year of of living here.

SPEAKER_05 1:50

So you were there through COVID too, through all that time. What a lovely spot to be able to lock down during that period. That would have been very I'm sure you were very relieved by that.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

Exactly, yes, because we were in the city I'm Dutch originally, and we were in the city in the Netherlands, so we would have never survived.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

No.

SPEAKER_03 2:07

Well, we would have, but like as many people did. But it was nice that we moved here just a year before all of that happened.

SPEAKER_05 2:15

I'm very jealous because during that time I was locked down in a tiny little house on luckily right next to the beach in Melbourne, but we had the longest lockdowns in the world, so the beach was at a saviour. I was dreaming all the time of being back in France and I missed out on going because lockdown happened the week before I was supposed to depart. So when I think about, you know, that beautiful life that you had, um, it kind of, you know, makes you feel happy that people were able to live like that at that time. I was thinking, oh, at least somebody's enjoying themselves. It's great. But now I've been able to get back there. Oh my goodness. I love that region around where you live so much. It's just, it's so picturesque, but it has so many really beautiful aspects to it, not just what you're looking at, like the culture and the food. And you know, what is it that you love about Burgundy?

SPEAKER_03 3:05

Well, it's it's such a nice question because people all all the time they ask us why Burgundy. And the reason for Burgundy was actually very um random. We wanted to buy a holiday home um to go to from the Netherlands. Okay, and so this was about seven hours, sometimes six, six and a half drive, and that's why we ended up here. But now, as you know, I have a YouTube channel, I film other homes around France, um, and I see so many parts of France. And every time I come home, I say to myself, but Burgundy's still the most beautiful because, like you said, it's very um it's hilly, but no big mountains. Um I love mountains, but I love not living in the mountains because it brings other inconveniences, but it's hilly, and the thing that I love about where I live, the part where I live, so Burgundy is known for the wine and the cheese and all that, but also for the meat. So the cows.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 4:00

So the part where I live is all cattle farms. But the cattle farms here are different from the Netherlands. The pastures are like super big. I was trying to find the right word for it, but and and green and lush, and there's a little stream running through it, and and there's only like five cows in in a super big meadow, which in the Netherlands you would have 200 cows on that same space. And then this the the different meadows or pastures are surrounded by hedges. And I think that's what makes this region so beautiful when you drive through it, because it gives so much greenery, where in other places like the Netherlands, you would just have barbed wire around a pasture. And here they have kept the hedges, which was very intentional, is what the farmers told me. They've kept it for you know, supporting the wildlife and the diversity of all the insects and everything, because everything adds to the ecosystem. Yeah, so they haven't changed everything with barbed wire, and I think that's what makes Burgundy so beautiful. We have so many different land like sceneries and landscapes, but also very different weather, like 10 minutes out, it can be completely different weather than where I am.

SPEAKER_05 5:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:11

Because of all the the hills and the cliffs and the yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:15

It is a really beautiful tapestry that you're looking at as you drive around Burgundy because of that kind of undulating, hilly kind of terrain. And then you do have the crisscross, you can see because they're not just ordinary fences, because they are the beautiful hedges, you can see that crisscrossing as you drive, you know, going along and up a hill. And and in some parts of it, then you'll see the beautiful um, you know, the the the vineyards and and the grapes growing and at different times of the year, watching in because I've been there in a number of different seasons and watching what's happening around in the different seasons. It's different at every part of the year. And so going back there to me never feels like going back to the same place. People say to me, you know, do you go somewhere different? Why do you always go back to the same places? And I say, Well, I don't always, but there are some places I love to return to, but they're never the same. It's not the same every time you go there, you know? There's always something new and different to see.

SPEAKER_03 6:13

Yeah, and what I like about this region is that it's it's quiet, so it's not as ex not as as crowded and you know, over taken over by tourists. It's it's it's quiet year-round, we have busier periods, but it's never mort, as we say in French. It's never dead. Like some, you know, sometimes you go to Gorda or I don't know where in Provence. I go there a lot in the winter. There's nobody, like literally, there is nobody in the villages. And here it just keeps being active and lively. There's always something happening. The wine growers have their activities during the winter. They also have some festivities that they celebrate during the winter. So the it's never nothing. I can't find my words. I'm so thinking in French today, but there's always something happening, which is really lovely for us because it makes, you know, if you live here permanently, it's nice. You, I mean, I have a family, I have kids that go to school. So it's nice to know that that things don't completely die during the winter and nothing is happening and it gets boring because that's what a lot of people experience, I think, in some parts of the French countryside. It looks very different from when you go there in your summer holiday.

SPEAKER_05 7:20

Yes, that's exactly right. And I think that that would be then difficult to be able to make friends in that place because when you're going there as a tourist, you don't really, you know, you meet people and you're not trying to make ongoing friendships. But when you move there like you have, if you're moving somewhere where not a lot goes on, how are you going to meet people? How are you gonna make friendships and sustain that um that social kind of connection? And so because you've moved somewhere where they do interact all year round, uh, that's what I hear from friends that live in Burgundy too. It's a it's a really lovely area in terms of the social connections that that I know other Australians and that live there that they've made. Now, tell me, so your kids are at school. Oh, go ahead, go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 8:03

Yeah, I I was going what is really funny, if you would ask the Burgundians about this, they will say they are not very open to new people. Oh, really? And they'll say that they're kind of focused on their own little life and their own circle of friends. Yes, because I I have quite a few local friends and they and and I keep saying, Oh, we've been welcomed so warmly and into our community and we've made so many friends. And then they'll say, Oh, well, actually, we're actually not known to be very open. It's interesting. So that makes me wonder if I find you're very open, then what's your definition of but it's true? I think in general, the French, there are so many cultural differences, which which I find fascinating because I officially I studied French um literature and culture uh in university, uh, but I never understood the culture until I moved here, is when you really get to experience it. But there's very many different uh it looks the same. Like on at first sight you'll go, oh, it's not that different from my Dutch culture, but there are so many, and everything's about what being polite means in this country. So being polite and friendly in France means you keeping your distance. So when people walk by our house, for example, we have a big window, they will not look inside and wave because that would be intrusive. In the Netherlands, you would look if you see your neighbor and hi, you would wave. That the French find that impolite. And so a lot of yes, a lot of my um, I teach French as well to mostly Americans or other Europeans as well that move here permanently and want to learn the language, and I keep explaining this to them. It's not they're not rude. I think a lot of people misinterpret the French culture and then say they are rude, but they are being the politest they can be, following their cultural norms. So you do not, when you move to a new home, you do not go and meet the neighbors. Like you've seen that your next door home has been bought by, I don't know, Dutch people or Americans. You do not barge in there the next day with cookies or flowers and say, Welcome to the neighborhood, because that would be extremely impolite. Because people need time to settle down, we need time to quietly observe each other and just get a feel for each other, and then they'll invite you for apiro. And if that goes well, then slowly. And then also I think the French are very much focused on their family and their circle of friends, and they are very um what is it? They're good friends. When you're friends, then they really consider you as a friend and they spend time, and you're not like one of the people on their list, which I think is really beautiful because I don't I don't have a lot of friends, but I have very close friends. And I think that's that's a big difference between between my culture, for example, or maybe American culture, I don't know, Australian culture that well, but people think it's rude, but it's actually them being very polite. And that's why I think it's important when you move here that you really try to understand the French culture without. I mean, sometimes I'm very judgmental about certain things because I just don't know why you would do things a certain way. But um, if you understand and they see that you're trying and you're trying to speak French and you're trying to adjust to their culture, they are the loveliest people, honestly. Really.

SPEAKER_05 11:19

So with your French, were you fluent in French from a young age, from before moving to France?

SPEAKER_03 11:26

Yes. Okay, yes, fortunately. That saved us.

SPEAKER_05 11:30

Yeah, yeah. And what about your kids? Is your family fluent in French as well?

SPEAKER_03 11:34

They are now, but when we moved, they were 10 and 8. Okay. Um, so they didn't speak any French. They hadn't had any French in school, obviously, in the Netherlands. So the first few months were quite hard for them because they spoke English, like a lot of Dutch people. Just we grow up with we hear English all the time. And so they thought, you know, I'll just speak English if they don't understand, but they didn't understand English. None of the teachers spoke English, so they were just sitting there with their little iPad and trying to do Google Translate and catching up with it. It was very tough for them. But soon enough, I mean, I was very surprised. Maybe after six months, seven months, they were fluent.

SPEAKER_05 12:11

Oh wow, that's that's crazy. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:14

And now they are now you wouldn't you wouldn't know their Dutch.

SPEAKER_05 12:17

Oh, stop really did having them at school did that help you immerse into the community, do you think?

SPEAKER_03 12:25

I was hoping that would happen. Yeah, because in the Netherlands we have this uh picking up your kids at school culture where all the moms and dads are chatting, and yeah, and I was here getting my kids from school, the first primary school they were in, nobody was talking to anybody. I was just sitting there thinking, okay. And I was trying to, you know, say hello and try to get a conversation going, and it wouldn't work. And then the next week changed schools. So the oldest went to College, which is the junior high, I think. And then I don't know what the equivalent would be. But the first high school, I would say the first middle school, I think is what you call it. So he changed schools, and then the contact with parents got even less because you know, the bigger the kids get, the less you know the parents are involved. But we changed schools for our youngest, and that was a really nice school where the parents actually talk to each other. And and so yeah, I met a couple of people, but I haven't made my friends through my children. The friends I've made is through my work, through everything I do here locally, people I meet, but it definitely helps, I think, because it's tempting to like we bought an old farmhouse, it needs a lot of it still needs some work, but it needed a lot of renovation. So I think what a lot a lot of people do is focus all their time on getting the house finished, and you got you're kind of on your little island with you know, your it takes up all your time. You don't have time to go out and see anybody. You go to the hardware store maybe twice a week and that's it in the grocery store. But when you have kids, you know, you have the school party and the and the soccer barbecue and the and all these places. And I think mostly my husband, who did not speak French, he learned French from just being, you know, involved in all the kids' activities, which was, I think for him was really helpful.

SPEAKER_05 14:08

Oh yeah, yeah. I hadn't thought about the activities that would help. And also for someone that doesn't speak French, you've got a topic that you're talking about then. You know, if you're talking about soccer, or you're talking about the barbecue, or you know, the things that he's discussing when his French is only kind of new, at least it's in a theme, you know, it's not just somebody that's just randomly talking to you about could be anything, anything. What is going on here? But at least you've got a theme and you can, you know, work that out.

SPEAKER_03 14:35

He had that with um, we had a messon, so that's uh a builder, mostly focusing on doing things with stones. I don't know what that what that is in English.

SPEAKER_05 14:46

Stonemason in English, a stonemason.

SPEAKER_03 14:48

Yes, and he helped with the the biggest work we started with turning part of the um the stables. We could still just put the cows in there, everything was there, you know, the troughs and the the it was awful. But we started and turned that into a cottage, and we had a local Mason, stonemason uh help us with that, Jean-Francois, and he didn't speak any English, and um, so he came to help and he was on the chantier, so on the building site with Olaf, my husband. They spent about eight months working together, and so Olaf was just sitting there, but it was building things, you know, it was activities that he understood, he's quite technical. So Jean-Francois would say something and he would just get it, like he would need to fix something, and Jean-Francois would say, uh, well, go get uh, je ne sais pas le tournevis or a word, and it would just make so much sense to Olaf what kind of tool he was asking for, and he would get the right tool, but that's now he actually knows more tools in French than in Dutch because he's also done so many moral building things that he has never done in the Netherlands. So sometimes he'll talk about something on his YouTube channel, he goes, I don't know what this is called, neither in English nor Dutch, but it's a barrame.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

And he'll show it.

SPEAKER_03 16:01

So that's and and I think, yeah, you're very right. I think getting yourself for anyone who wants to move to France, getting yourself involved in some kind of activity where you have context is helpful. And I also think when you we were talking about making friends, what's nice about the French culture, I think, is that they are very focused on community. So there's a lot of association where you go to a book club or a theater club or a cooking club or the I don't know, like walking, um, randonnée. And there are so many activities that you could join. I think every small community has several of these clubs, association, and I that what that would be the best way to get yourself entoure. What is that? Like around the French, and then you'll have to speak French.

SPEAKER_04 16:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 16:48

And that that helps you learn. And it's not that the French don't not all the French speak English. That's definitely true. Some speak a little bit, but what I've noticed, they are I've asked my neighbor actually, I said, Why do you have English in school, but then you still don't speak it? I just I'm it's no judgment. I'm just trying to understand because my kids are in school. My my oldest is 18. They have English in school, he's fluent, but he was when we moved here. But then when I speak to his friends, his 18-year-old friends or his girlfriend, they don't speak English. And I don't understand how you can have six years of English classes in school and not speak English. And my neighbor said the French school system is very much focused on being perfect and not making any mistakes. So a lot of people don't even try because when you're making a mistake, that is you're not punished, but it's just their culture of being so afraid to make mistakes. So he said, We just don't have the courage to try because we're afraid that we'll fail and you'll laugh. And we do speak a little, but we we just don't do it because we feel like we're we're not competent. And that's what you see a lot when you'll say, Do you speak English? No, no, no, not not really, no, because they're just trying to avoid it.

SPEAKER_05 18:05

Yeah. I think that English speakers are a little bit like that with French when they go to France. I know I now, when I go to France, I after probably the first couple of days, I'm immersed in it. After a week or so, I'm dreaming in it again in French, and and so it comes back to me. But when I'm not in France and when I'm having to dip in and dip out, I find that really challenging. And it is a little scary sometimes. I mean, I'm maybe I'm not scared about it anymore, but I can really understand why other people would be. So you get to France and you're a bit scared to say things. I've only ever had one issue with a way to telling me no, you speak perfectly or you don't speak at all. And apart from that, everybody, everybody, and and that's years and years of travelling in all parts of France have been so great when I've just started to try. They've been fabulous. And so it makes me realize we should just give it a bird, just give it a go and see what happens. But it is a challenge for people who are not confident. I get that.

SPEAKER_03 19:02

Yeah, but the French are so appreciative when you try. That's what I tell my students and my friends and everybody. I say they are well, the French are proud of their language, right? The language is very much protected, which is why no TV show, like Friends in the Netherlands, what that's what I grew up with. Friends. We would just have Dutch subtitles, but it would be in American English. We are watching the show in American English with our Dutch subtitles. In France, they would they would dub it, so they would have French. That is their it's but it's because they want to protect the language, and I think it is a very good thing. Yes, because I think a language is a big part of your culture, so that's a good thing, but it also means they're very proud of the language, and so and they know it's a difficult language, and then when you try, they are so appreciative. Like, and so I always say the golden rule is just walk in, say bonjour, try to make a sentence in French, even if you don't manage to get it right right, it's fine. They see you're trying and they'll love you. Yeah, it's it's the people that walk in and go, uh, can I this is a funny story. I was in a supermarket and um there is a man, he was Belgian. So Belgians often the Dutch-speaking Belgians, the Flemish speaking, I should say, often speak French. It's not the other way around. The French-speaking Belgians often don't speak Flemish.

SPEAKER_04 20:18

Right.

SPEAKER_03 20:19

So, you know, obviously he spoke French, but he walks up to the woman. He was trying to, he was, I don't know, for the soap. Let's call it soap. So he walks up to this woman and he goes, Um, where can I find the soap, please? And she looks at him. Bonjour. And he goes, uh where can I find the soap, please? And she looks at him again, she smiles. Bonjour, monsieur. He goes, uh uh the um the soap. Where is the soap? She looks at him again, she just smiles, he's looking. I see his face, and I'm thinking, Come on, you can get it. He goes, uh, bonjour. She goes, Voila! That wasn't so hard, no, was it? And it was so funny, but it was so difficult because if you don't say bonjour, sometimes people go, Well, why do you keep saying bonjour all the time? Like I worked in a French company every single morning. You go and shake everybody's hand. You've seen them yesterday, but that's what you do. Yeah, because it's just, and this is one of the cultural things, it's their way of saying, I have seen you, bonjour, I see you, is a little tiny connection you make before we go on to our daily grind kind of thing. And it also is the reason we have the word re bonjour in French. I don't know if you've ever heard of it, but it's just I know I've seen you before today, and I know this is the same you, so I'm saying re bonjour. And that's the the subtle politeness rules that the French have. And if you don't know them, they are going to be, you know, you're gonna think they are rude because this woman didn't reply to him, and his question was in perfect French, but she was just like, You haven't said bonjour to me. It's like the least you can do, and it's I always mention that example like just say bonjour, try to make your sentence, and they'll be uh there is, and especially here in Burgundy, people. Are lovely.

SPEAKER_05 22:00

Yeah, they are. Yes, so beautiful. Did you grow up in the country when you were in the Netherlands?

SPEAKER_03 22:06

Not really. It was a fairly small town, and we lived on the outskirts, so close to the country, I would always ride my bike and get out of the town and go, you know, see the horses and the farmers, but not really a country vibe.

SPEAKER_05 22:19

Not like you do now. So as regular listeners will know, I love, love, love a road trip through regional France. I think I've been to almost every region, just not right up in that Sti area. I really must go up there. But do you like to travel to other regions of France as well?

SPEAKER_03 22:38

Of course, yes. And I travel a lot for the filming that I do.

SPEAKER_00 22:41

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 22:42

Um, and and you know, like so many people, I like the south of France.

SPEAKER_04 22:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 22:46

I think it's too hot in summer. I could never live there. But um, I just I think France is one, I don't know how many, I I read the number um somewhere a couple of weeks ago, but France is one of the richest comp countries in terms of the variety of landscape and scenery. So we have uh La Mer, we have the sea, we have like real mountains, we have smaller mountains, we have like more uh Provence kind of areas where it feels more like not I won't say desert, but it where it's more dry. Have the the whole Atlantic coast, which is completely different. It's also why many French people stay in their own country to go on a holiday. And and so I haven't even seen all of France yet, but um I I love it. And it's uh funny that you're mentioning the chti, because the chti is what they call the people in the north, right? That's what I learned in university. Okay, s'ti, le chti, c'est ça. And then I come here in Burgundy, and obviously, because uh I studied French, I have an ear for regional dialects and well, dialects are different words, obviously, but also the accents and everything. So I noticed the accents here, which is very particular. Uh, but then at some point my friend was going, Ah, l'ti, le schtit. I'm like, what are you talking? What is the stiit? And it turns out that the children is the s'tiit, and then the s'ti is the boys, and the schtit is the girls. I said, but the s'ti, c'est les gens du nord. No, no, no, you see, l'ti c'est les enfants. Okay. It was so funny. So that, yeah. So I don't know where that comes from. But uh, I didn't know that. That's burgundy.

SPEAKER_05 24:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:18

Oh, we have so many words that are just from Burgundy, and I'm still trying to learn them.

SPEAKER_05 24:23

But um, well, of course, there were like different dialects all over France once upon a time. True. Yeah. And you know, other dials. Yeah, yeah. But a lot of those areas, the generalized French has taken over in, you know, in shops and other places. But there are dialects, and I know friends of mine who live in the Basque region. They're actually studying Basque because it's been lost to them, so they don't know it anymore. But if you go just over the border in in Spain, when I was over there, the menu is in Basque and French and uh Spanish, but not in English. So they really value that that local dialect. But I think in some other parts of France they're still there, but they're not as prominent as they used to be. I think in in Brittany it's it's very prominent as well. That's a you know, really prominent different dialect.

SPEAKER_03 25:11

I think you're you're touching on a very on a very delicate topic for the French because the the French, like any country, has many regional dialects, but also languages. Like we had officially like back in the day, it was a longer douille and the longer duc. But I think the the the like we would call a general French, I don't know what we call it, has been imposed on the people. So before the school would always be teaching the original language, and I think something gets lost when you take that away from I mean it's a it it makes a culture more rich. And when you take that away and you want everybody to speak the same, things get lost, but especially that region you're talking about, like Bi Basque, c'est presque un pays. You would be insulting people to just think they're all just like the French and they speak French. Like they really, they really value their part of the country and it's their own little area. And I think that it's one of those things. It's when it's it's you want to be respectful to people and saying that you know these cultural differences when you I mean, especially when you would move there, you want to study that and understand why that's so important to them.

SPEAKER_00 26:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:19

I I always tell my friends and myself, I'm Dutch, I will never be French, and I will never be perfectly perfectly fluent in French, I will never know all the jokes that everybody's laughing, and you're missing the joke because I don't have the same cultural background, and then someone will explain it to me, and I still don't get it because I don't know this historic person or whatever. But um, any effort you make in trying to understand, they really appreciate it. But yeah, it's true, it's it's such a rich the language is very rich as well. I think it's one of the most beautiful I mean, I studied French for that reason. I think it's one of the most beautiful, it's a difficult language to learn, but it's it's so rich and poetic. You can say things in French with a certain emotional level to them that you cannot say in another language.

SPEAKER_05 27:04

I agree. I think that the language in France, I always love hearing it. I love, love it, love it, love everything about it. But I do agree with you about those regional uh, well, there were separate languages sometimes and sometimes dialects of French. I find that really it's disappointing that they're not as prevalent anymore. I think that there is something that gets a little bit lost when that's not celebrated in the same way. And sometimes there's just particular words that then uh brought in and used all the time, but it's not quite the same, is it really? And I I love that whole concept when I'm travelling around of seeing the differences in the different parts of France, and I'm a complete history nut. I'm mad about history. And so when I'm looking at things and seeing the way that what we see now, how that has kind of grown up and become what it is now from what it used to be, you know, a thousand or even two thousand years ago, and you're looking at that history where it's organically grown, I think that's something that really floats my boat. Maybe it's because I come from Australia where the Western culture is in Australia is quite young. I adore our indigenous history that goes back 60,000 years, and I'm fascinated by that. So it's something about the history in the different in the different regions of France that I find enriches the whole experience of going to the different areas, the different regions, different departments and the other thing is the language, and I I can't I do really agree with you. I think that's a little bit sad that it's not celebrated in every single area the same as it used to be. But you know, at least they're holding on to the French now because the rest of the world is kind of moving towards an English, and I think it'd be very sad to see French be diluted with that. Um sad that they've lost their own.

SPEAKER_02 28:59

That's why they're protecting it. Yeah, they're very protective of the language, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 29:02

Yeah, which is good. Yeah, it is good. Now, Malus, I am very excited to see that you have a cookbook coming out soon. Or is it out?

SPEAKER_03 29:11

Yes. Uh it's the second, actually. My first one I published in 2023. Right. And the second one is you it's actually exciting because I'm getting my proof copy today. Oh. As we speak, like this afternoon is coming in.

SPEAKER_05 29:26

Yeah, yeah. Great. Well, tell me about it. So is it beautiful, rustic, country cooking, like what you would I imagine you make in that beautiful kitchen of yours at home?

SPEAKER_03 29:35

Yes. Well, I am definitely not a cook. Uh, you we you and I have um we both know Kate and Nathan, of course, with your Australian friends. Oh, he's a cook. He will text me when he sees my video.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 29:47

Like he texted me when I was cutting a butternut squash. And the next day he's I've just watched your video. I'm just checking if you still have all your fingers. So that's the level level of chef that I'm not a chef. I'm just a home cook. I love cooking. I I loved cooking all my life, but then you know, life got busy in the Netherlands, and when we moved here, you know, you're so close to where all the produce is being grown, and uh it's and people talk about food all the time. Like, this is the best place to live when you're a home cook and you invite people because the people you wouldn't even think know anything about food or care about it. Everybody in France cares about food. So you would have like at the soccer party, for example, I would make, I don't know, a salad, and then people would go, I'm a c'est bon, I mean tout dedans, yeah, desamond, uh, I would de la mental and and they would just they would know all the they would taste all the ingredients I put in. They would go, ah, but it's it tastes like you put a little bit of this in. What's that? Oh, what's this acid? What is that word? Anyway, soury thing that you put in. And I go, Oh, do you did you taste that? Well, that's actually this. And so I started uh cooking a lot more just because I love it. And I have a YouTube channel, which by the way, I started during lockdown with that in idea of I live in a beautiful area, there's people locked up in 20 square meters apartments. I'm just going to share a little bit of this beauty. That's that was the start of the channel. But I also started cooking, and people were asking about the recipes. And at some point, I got so many people say, Can you not make a book cookbook? I was like, Oh, yeah, sure, I can write the recipes down, take a couple of pictures. Actually, I would love that. It's always been a dream of mine to make a book. I just never knew what about. Yeah, and as I was writing the book, I was like, ah, but I I should share a little bit about maybe how I came here, or maybe, oh, maybe a few nice pictures of the beautiful villages and the and the cows and the brocans, and and it turned into this entirely different thing. I actually had it have it here for you. Well, people can't see it, but I don't know. Yeah, this is the first book. It's called A Taste of French Country Life because it's it's all that, it's it, it's also just a taste of the vibe. The next book will have a different title, but this so it's recipes, but it's also just the villages and the life of the winemakers and uh and beautiful pictures. It's what I would love. And I was not really thinking much of it. I was like, people have asked for this, but I sold so many of them. It's it's crazy. I didn't expect that people would love it that much.

SPEAKER_05 32:20

Oh, I'm not surprised. Even just the photography is so beautiful, it's exceptional. So, congratulations. It is a really, really good effort, and I'm really looking forward to this new one that's coming out as well. That'll be great.

SPEAKER_03 32:31

Well, the new one I'm actually even more excited about because when I I kind of just made this first book, just you know, it just kind of happened, it wrote itself, and people are very excited about it. So it's being sold here in Bonn in one of the nicest shops that we have. It's all about food and wine. And as I was taking a second look, I was thinking to myself, I could have shared more about Burgundy. Like, why did I move to Burgundy? What's so beautiful? I'm there are so many things I'm proud of. So in my second book, I'm talking way more about the traditional burgundy, iconic products, and everybody has agreed to participate. I'm not mentioning all the names because you'll find them in the book, but yeah, like the mutarde and the and the pan de piece, and it's and it's been just a beautiful experience. Like all the people I've met that share this passion for the region and that want to share that the story of what they're doing and how they're keeping the traditional, the artisanal way of making things alive. Yeah. No, and it's it makes me even more. I'm I'm not Burgundian, I'm not French, but um it makes me so proud of this region because it's it's just so rich. As you said, it's rich in heritage, culinary heritage, and and even the the buildings, the castles, the ah, it's yeah.

SPEAKER_05 33:43

But uh sometimes it takes someone who has not just grown up within that area, within that region or within that space, for them to see what's exceptional. Because sometimes when it's just been there for you all the time, yes, of course you're going to love it and appreciate it, but you might not really see the exceptionality of it the same as someone that's come in as a foreigner. So perhaps you would actually be able to sell it to people. I don't mean sell it in a way that's I don't mean to degrade it by saying it's something to be sold. You're able to connect people to it. It's probably a better way to say. Connect people to Burgundy in a much richer way than what the people who have grown up and just take it for granted, maybe.

SPEAKER_03 34:28

Oh, it's actually what's interesting is I get that a lot, well, from the book, like um as um reactions to the book, but also on uh on YouTube, a lot of French people tell me, you you make me see my own country through new eyes, and I'm loving it more because of it.

SPEAKER_01 34:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:46

And I think you're very right. Yeah, we see the wonder because everything is new to me, and I'm learning like you, I like to learn about the history of things, but um to them it's you know, they've it's like a like when I go back to the Netherlands, I don't see how beautiful it is. Because it's you know, I've I can get that.

SPEAKER_05 35:01

I'm probably the same with Australia. Like I, you know, I've travelled around Australia, I've been very fortunate to do that as a child and an adult, but I probably do take it a bit for granted, and it's not until I go to places that I've never been to in Australia, like right up in the centre and up at in Arnhem Land, where it's quite strikingly beautiful, in a in places that are natural where perhaps white people have never walked and we've only been able to get into the swamps in boats and things like that. I find that those places extraordinary, but I do tend to take a lot of Australia for granted. It's not until I get overseas and especially France. There's something about France that obviously I have an affinity with, or I wouldn't be doing a whole podcast about it, but it's it's something that I feel very connected to. It's quite beautiful like that. Now, tell me about your YouTube channel that you're traveling around France. Tell us about what's going on there.

SPEAKER_03 35:51

Well, I'll uh I'm trying to think how it even happened. I just I just wanted to share, like I said, I started doing the lockdown. I just wanted to bring peacefulness to people. It's still my only goal. I think there's a lot going on in the world. We can't close our eyes to it, but we there is not a lot that I can change on my little, you know, I'm here, what can I do? Like I'm not gonna stop a couple of lunatics that are running the world and they're honestly destroying it. What am I gonna do? Um, and so I believe that the antidote to anything like that is beauty, and there is so much beauty still to behold, but it's difficult to see it when we're caught up in, you know, the everyday grind and worries and stuff like that. So my only goal with channel is to kind of invite people into the warmth and the calm of a home, which is mine at this point. Well, it's our home, um, and just share what what I'm doing. And I don't really overthink anything. And at some point, we have friends here that have a holiday home and it's so beautiful. I said, Can I film your home? Because I'd love to share it. It's so beautiful. And that turned into the home tour series where I now intentionally find homes and then travel there and and and film. And and people love it. Some people don't like them as much, they just want to see me cook in my kitchen, and some people don't want to see me cook in my kitchen, they want to see the home tours. Some people want to see the brocante tours. So it's a little bit, it's all the things I love. It's not very focused on one thing, and it's it's perfect for me. It works for me. And the only goal is I just want people to have an escape. And I have people even in war zones that that tell me, like, you're my little escape. I close my curtains, I I put your video on, and I feel like I'm it relaxes my nervous system. I feel like I'm safe. I feel, yeah, like a little escape. And and it's very moving. And I'm surprised with what people share in comments or emails. Like they share their whole life story and what the videos bring. And that's well, that's a great it's grown way bigger than I expected.

SPEAKER_05 37:54

That's a great compliment for you because obviously they trust you, you know, and that's a really beautiful thing. You've developed this relationship with them, even though you don't know them. They feel a sense of trust and connection to you, which is lovely.

SPEAKER_03 38:06

Yeah, yeah. And I'm I'm happy to be my only goal is to bring beauty to people.

SPEAKER_01 38:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 38:10

I worked as a coach before for almost 20 years, and I I I'm focused on well-being. I want people to be happy and feel good about where they are. And and we can't always change everything in our life, but we can change how we look at things, and we can change what we choose to focus on and how we choose to spend our time. And so it's yeah, it's lovely to see that that it's having that effect on people. It's not something I thought about when I started this. And now when I see yeah, the gratitude that people share, it's really touching.

SPEAKER_05 38:40

It is, it's a good thing. Well, something I've noticed when watching your YouTube clips and your insta posts is your wonderful sense of French style. And I'm sure people compliment you on that all the time too. About, you know, you would just have this way in your home. It has this beautiful French style, and I don't know what it is. I can't put my finger on it. It's it I don't know what it is about the rustic country, it's almost a bit provincial, that style that makes it recognizably French. What do you think that is?

SPEAKER_03 39:12

It's a that's such a good question because my home is actually not typically French, uh, the style of it. And I'm actually working on another book, which is about interior design and a new kind of French country because French country, my home is not French country. I mean, I think a lot of people will think it has elements of it, and it certainly does. My home is just what I like, right? But I find it very difficult to pinpoint what makes a home a typically French style home. And I see a lot of people online on YouTube saying, This is a beautiful French home, and it's actually very British to me. It looks to it looks like an English house to me. And in the end, it doesn't matter what how we label it. I mean, the most beautiful home is the one where you feel at home. It reflects your style, it has the colors, even if I don't like the combination of colors. I mean, I help people design their homes and interior. And I it doesn't matter if I like it or not. I mean, obviously they want to work with me because they like my style. So they want a version of what I would do for myself. But then still, the home needs to be where you feel at home or when you come home after work, you go, ah, here's this is where I can relax. But I don't know what the traditional, you tell me, what is a traditional French style? And all the French friends that I have do not have a home that looks anywhere near what we as a foreigner think a French home looks like. That's that's the most striking thing ever. I always thought all the French homes are like what I see in the magazines. Yeah, none of the French homes look like that. And even the homes that I film are a little, it's personal.

SPEAKER_05 40:46

Yeah, it is. People's homes are personal. I think you're right. And the other thing I think that we do now, we it used to be when I look at the way design was when people thought about a French kind of style, it used to be more like a chateau kind of look, that kind of stuff, very kind of contrived or structured. And it feels more accessible or something now. Like now you can just put what you want and put you, get these little pieces that you might get in France, use colour that makes you feel good. But somehow there is something about it when I see particular places that I think, oh, that to me, it looks to me to be to have a French style, and it might not at all. I suppose what it is, it's what I imagine French style to look like, and the things that help me when I'm actually even decorating my own home, the things that connect me to France. When I see those sorts of things, pops of that in other people's houses. And you mentioned Kate and Nathan before, when I see Bear House, that to me evokes a French kind of style, although it's not quintessentially French at all. But it actually, I suppose I connect with my inner Frenchie in the same way and designing in a similar way to what they do. And maybe that's what it is that makes me feel like it's more French when it makes me feel connected to France, just wherever I am. But I'm not I don't have to actually be there.

SPEAKER_03 42:05

Well, that's uh it's all about emotions. It's how your home makes you feel.

SPEAKER_04 42:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:10

And I think that's what's guided us. We've done this huge renovation project. There was only a tiny, like, what is it, 40, 50 square meters part of the home, but that was livable when we habitable when we moved in. We've everything else, we've built it from the ground up, really. There was nothing, there was dirt floor in this kitchen. And I stress a lot when I need to design a space for myself because I'm thinking, oh, I want it to be nice in 10 years. Actually, you should always. I've learned this from other interior designer friends that say just make make the room, the space the way that you want it now. Don't try to keep it forever because you can change it again if you want. You need to be happy here now. Don't play it safe. And so you'll you'll be you know, I'll still like this in 10 years. And if you don't like it today, then what's the point? Like I live here today. So we've taken a couple of choices here where I said, I love so many things. If you look at the cabin we built, it's very Scandinavian. Some call it American. Somebody's told me which state it was. I don't remember. The cottage is way more a Mediterranean, southern France kind of vibe, with a lot of, you know, the kitchen, the way it's built, and with the Pierre de Bourgogne. And and then our our big living space here is I just said to my husband, this used to be a barn. No classic, traditional, authentic farmhouse would have a kitchen here. So we can't replicate what this would originally have looked like because it wouldn't have been used that way. But we can make sure that what we put in is authentic. So I've taken a tomate floor, which I actually don't like as much as all the people on my channel because I don't like the color. It didn't turn out the way that I hoped it would. But at least I know it's what would have been here traditionally. If they would have done what we're doing today a hundred years ago or more, they would put that. And that's basically what has been the the uh the fil conducteur, the what has guided my decisions. I want it to look like this is the most timeless option that I can get. And I'm very much like you. I like the I like the traditional, I have no plastic in my kitchen. I only have like glass things and and cast iron pans and pots and copper, and because I like to cook that way. And I think this also adds a lot to if you just keep it very simple. I think that's the it's not too much designed. I see a lot of homes are thinking, oh, everything is too perfect. And that's that's just not what the French do.

SPEAKER_05 44:40

They just not too contrived.

SPEAKER_03 44:41

No, no, just put the things in that you like and then enjoy how you live. And and um, but that's what we've tried to do at least here, and source a lot of things. Like when you can't see it because we're on audio, but you see the cabinet where I have all my beautiful dishware.

SPEAKER_05 44:55

I can see it, and I can tell people it's absolutely divine. Yes, divine, divine, divine love.

SPEAKER_03 44:59

And also have I'll have a picture of it if people want to see it'll be in my new book, but it's two windows that I that I found at a local farmhouse. The man was replacing all his windows and said, I want those windows, and my husband turned it into this beautiful China cabinet kind of thing. Um, and that's what we try to do. I know I try to source secondhand or original features, and that makes a new space look more like it's it's always been here, but yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:27

Oh, I love that's great. So you mentioned before the cottage and your little scandy hat. And so you've got holiday homes in Burgundy. Are they near you? And have you have you built them from scratch?

SPEAKER_03 45:41

Yes, well, they're in that. Well, one is so here's the real story. We needed to install a new septic tank.

SPEAKER_04 45:47

Right.

SPEAKER_03 45:47

So it destroyed our entire garden. And our garden was um surrounded by hedges, which the the previous owners did. But then the woman of the spunk, which is the the authority that check how your septic tank needs to be installed. Right. She said, We need to have the panneau dependage, so the drip area needs to be there. And that's in your farm field. Is that yours? We said, Yes, it's ours. It's it's on the other side of the hedges. Yeah, well, it needs to be there. So you need to cut the hedges and we need to you need to install it there. And she left with the instructions. Okay, so um we needed to cut all the hedges and make the drip, the drip, I don't know what you call it, the drip field or drip area there. The round. And we were standing there with the excavator, and and I said to my husband, have you seen this view? Did you know we had this view? It was almost two years that we've been living here. Look how beautiful this view is. We never saw it because of the hedges. We need to make a terrace here and not give the because a farmer is using the land and you know he pays for it and everything. I said, I'm gonna call him and tell him that we're gonna keep this little bit here and make a beautiful terrace. Okay. And then we were standing there making the terrace. I said, uh You know what will be really cool if we build a cabin right there. Just imagine having a tiny little cabin, like cute little tiny cabin. Yeah, looking out on the it's it's so beautiful. You look to the forest and the it's so bucolic. It's it's it's a dream. And my husband's like, he he loves building things, especially when it's with wood, like he's almost a carpenter. Like a self-made carpenter. So that's how that came to be. We didn't have the intention of doing any uh holiday home rental because I still had my business in the Netherlands at the time. So we're just doing our job. So we designed it and built it from scratch. Everything is just from the hardware store, and we turned it into this beautiful. We love it. I mean, it's everything I I could live there.

SPEAKER_05 47:35

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_03 47:36

Yeah, and the other is um, like I said, it's the stable where the cows used to be. Because our architect who designed, well, he took care of the building permission for us. That's all he did. But he suggested we turn a stable into a small livable space so we could live there while we were doing the big house, so to speak, like the big barn. And um and then when you know, when that was finished, we don't need all that space. So that turned we turned that into the cottage and actually designed it to be rental after we would move out. Okay, but that's in our home, so that's really well. Next there is a little corridor in between for you know privacy reasons and stuff, but they have their own entrance and a private garden and the shared garden with the pool and everything. But it's um yeah, and I went all crazy with the design of that because I knew it would be a rental, so I knew we could have certain things that you wouldn't do in your own home, yeah, because you know that wouldn't be practical if you live there permanently, but works perfectly for like the bathroom, for example. It has one of these concrete blocks vanities that my husband built with a micro cement finish with open shelving, which you would never have in your own bathroom, but it works, it looks really beautiful on there and and the kitchen same. It's it's all open shelving, but really beautiful.

SPEAKER_05 48:51

Oh, brilliant! So people can actually connect with you and then rent those out and come visit.

SPEAKER_03 48:58

Yeah, definitely. And people do all the time, which is so wonderful, which is another thing that I didn't expect. People that follow us on YouTube will book and then we actually meet them here and they they know the place, they come and go, Oh, oh yeah, this is there, and this is where the pool is. They're like, Oh, really? Oh, yeah, because they've seen it on YouTube. Oh, but it's also a way for me to feel I mean, YouTube is very anonymous.

SPEAKER_04 49:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 49:20

Um, I mean, I'm just sending things out and then there's lots of people commenting, but I'm actually at a point where I recognize the people and their names, and some have become my patrons as well. So you're getting because all I want to be doing is share the beauty and find fellow friends, lovers, you know, like-minded people. That's why I I mean, there's no other point for me to be doing all of this if nobody's watching or if I don't it's a way for me to feel connected to people, um, because I think the world is a very uh disturbing place sometimes, and it's beautiful at the same time. I don't watch the news, I focus on uh feeling connected to other people because I think there's a way more connection than the news will tell us, and that's what what I'm focused on. So it's wonderful to have people from like we had people from India, from Canada, from Australia, from the US, from all the European countries come and coming back as well. And that's it's just beautiful to see like okay, you we've met through YouTube, so to speak, and now we're sitting here enjoying a coffee talking about life and the beauty of life, and that's yeah, it's very beautiful.

SPEAKER_05 50:26

That is our modern life now, isn't it? To do that kind of thing. I love that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Now, Malus, there are three questions that we ask often on this podcast. And after you're saying that you're not a chef, this is not uh a test, this is just really about your favorite food. What's your favorite French dish to order when you're out? Or it could be one that you like to cook at home, given that you do cook.

SPEAKER_03 50:51

Oh, there are so many things I love. Oh I love eggs, uh, and there are it's probably two things, and especially one is French and the other is more from Burgundy. Uh, since I love eggs so much, we have what's called oeuf muret in uh in Burgundy, and it's poached eggs in a it's traditionally a red wine sauce. Some make it with white wine now, which that I love that. It's like almost like a beeuf bourguignon kind of sauce, but then with poached eggs. But my absolute favorite is the gratin d'auffinois. I and we have it at every like at the village parties where we have big roasts, and then there will always be a gratin d'eau finois, and I think it's it's a very simple dish, and that's what I like about the French, like the traditional rustic French kitchen isn't so much about you know making things look extraordinary, and and like uh my old my dad always says, it looks like a little painting in on your plate. I don't care about little painting on my plate, I care about real food, in-seasoned produce, like just good quality, but very simple. And a carton d'auphinois is exactly that. It's just, I think you call it scalloped potatoes, and um, that's what my US family will call it.

SPEAKER_05 52:00

But it's scalloped potatoes in Australia.

SPEAKER_03 52:02

Oh, it's it's but I don't know if scalloped potatoes that you make in Australia will be the same as we make it here. I don't know. There's a lot of cream.

SPEAKER_05 52:10

Yeah, ours, ours has more cheese stock and things like that. So yeah, it's a little bit different.

SPEAKER_03 52:15

Yeah, it shouldn't have, it's just really it. There is a recipe in my notebook, the one because I've tested this over and over again, and I just it's it's very rich, but it's perfect. It's perfect, you know.

SPEAKER_05 52:25

I don't think I've ever had, so we're at episode 204, and I don't think I've ever had anyone say the Dauphinise before. So that's uh a gratin' dauphemoise. So that's that's interesting that this is the first time like it is such a quintessential French dish, and I don't think I've ever had anybody suggest it as their favourite dish.

SPEAKER_03 52:45

So that this is the first I'm very simple. I'm a very simple person. Maybe that's I don't like you'll see in my I'm uh my recipes are as simple. It's just yeah, it's like for farmers market style kind of things, and but it's the way that they make it here is definitely better than anything I had in the Netherlands. They have their way of, I don't know, it's and it's cooked perfectly and it's creamy and it's oh it's yeah, it's seven on the plate.

SPEAKER_05 53:12

Also, that oof mouette. I've had that in a bouchon in Lyon, and I've been to a few the the same bouchon a few times, and they do it as the one of the starters that you have every time, and it is absolutely divine. I love that as well. But they do it with the red wine sauce, like you said. I'd love to try it with the white wine, yeah, gorgeous. Yeah. Do you listen to French music much?

SPEAKER_03 53:34

It's funny you ask because I I was actually a singer once, and I listened to French music a lot when I studied French, and I actually don't listen to any music at the moment. Um, but uh yeah, definitely because I studied French, I knew all of the French tube, like the hits and the uh when I was in my 20s, uh, which is very helpful because now when we move to France and we have these village parties and summer parties, you know, I know all the lyrics because I kind of grew up with the same music. It's funny because people go, You know what I'm saying? Yeah, c'est Francis Cabrel, bah oui.

SPEAKER_05 54:08

Yeah, yeah, it's really fun. Do you have a five from back at that time that you recall?

SPEAKER_03 54:13

Well, Francis Cabrel is just I don't know, he's the I know if you know him, Francis Cabrel.

SPEAKER_00 54:18

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_03 54:19

He's from Toulouse, and he's just he's such a humble person. And it shows in his music. His music is is raw, is pure, is beautiful, it's poetry. He also sings in in Spanish, you probably know. Yes. Um back in the day he had a Spanish album, but I've listened a lot to him, and I sometimes go back and listen to it. It's so funny again because when we moved here, I was kind of still listening to Francis Cabral quite a lot. And then my boys, who were he was 10, I think, and they in their gym, no, as I called their sports class in school, in collage, the the teacher had a test and they had to um, so it was like a quiz kind of thing. And he puts on this piece of music and it was Francis Cabrel. And and he said, Who is this? And he was my age, kind of. And the kids go, and my son goes, C'est Francis Cabrel! And he goes, How you you've only lived here three months? How can you know? You're the only non-French person here, and and yeah, it's lovely. If if yeah, if for all those who are listening who don't know Francis Cabrel, you need to, and it's not Jacques Brel, that's another person. He wasn't French, he was Belgian, but yes, Francis Cabrel.

SPEAKER_05 55:26

Yes. And do you have a favorite song that we can add to our little bell's Francophile's fabulous Frenchie Spotify playlist of his?

SPEAKER_03 55:33

I love all his songs. Yesterday, when we were talking about this, my husband goes, Ah, is that the guy from La Cabane du Pêcheur? I said, Yes, it's La Cabane du Pêcheur, is a very happy um, yeah, La Cabane du Pescheur, I would say. It's not maybe the most obvious one, but it's the one that lifts your that lifts your mood.

SPEAKER_05 55:51

Ah, well, I will pop that onto the playlist. But also that will be with all of the other links from this chat in the blog post so that people can actually go straight to it and and have a listen straight away. Now, the last question I have for you, lovely Maluse, is can you describe for me your favourite French day?

SPEAKER_03 56:13

Oh boy. Stressful question. Like how I would love to spend my day or how I spend my day is probably the same.

SPEAKER_05 56:23

What makes your day, what makes your day particularly French? Because I've had people answer this question in lots of different ways. Some people say, look, it doesn't matter where I am, I do this, this, and this, and that's what makes it a French day to me. Or other people say, Well, if it's a French day, I'm going to be in France, and this is how I imagine it's going to be. So it's what that means to you.

SPEAKER_03 56:42

Well, to me, French living, what is most striking to me, and it probably in my romanticized vision, which might not be true for the French, but there is there is truth in it that they are intentional. I think they're more intentional with their time. One of the first things I noticed when I moved here is how my neighbors take time to sit and relax after work. In the Netherlands, you come home from work, you start doing something else because you're busy, busy, busy, busy, busy. So it would be a French, typical French day would be one where I take time to do, like I'm intentional and I'm present with what I'm doing. So I take time to make my coffee. I actually bought another coffee maker, one that makes more takes more time because it means like I'm not rushing, oh, get a quick coffee and moving on to the next thing. Now I need to actually make it a moment to make my coffee and then to sit and drink. And so one of the things that I've added to my routine, so I think and their eating structure, like you eat at specific times, it's become a thing in this household, midi. Like when my husband was doing all the building work, uh, and it was almost midi. Jean-Francois would get ready to go home at midi, because at midi you go home and you eat. So it's become a thing, like, okay, we take time to have lunch. Like in the Netherlands, you would quickly just grab a sandwich and you know, you would be answering emails. So a typical French day is where you you're present with the thing that you're doing now, and then after that, she'll move on to the next thing. That to me is and it's it's completely calmed my nervous system. And even just simple things like hanging laundry. Okay, now I'm hanging laundry and I'm enjoying the breeze in my hair, and I hear the burrs and the cat's coming to join me and wants to see what I'm doing. And yeah, it's that's that's yeah. And taking time to eat, I mean, yeah. It's lovely to have people that appreciate that you've put time in cooking and appreciate what you're putting on the table. And the French are really they always do that. It's it's what I love.

SPEAKER_05 58:42

Do you know? I don't know that I do that enough at the moment. And I used to be very, especially through COVID, but even afterwards, I was really particular about that, about time to eat, time with the coffee, to sit and, you know, because I'm very fortunate to live in the country, so to sit and look at the animals and the kangaroos on the lawn and actually stop and look at the birds up in the sky and the trees that are rustling and things like that. I don't do that anymore. I rush through it. You've reminded me that life is too short and we must stop and actually immerse ourselves and be intentional about what we're doing. That's a really lovely tip to give people. Whether you're doing it whilst you're traveling and as a tourist, whether you're doing it wherever you live, but being intentional about that means you're you're actually being you're living with mindfulness all the time. I think that's a really important point that can get lost sometimes in our busy Western lives.

SPEAKER_03 59:34

Yeah, it's I think it's a mindset thing. You need to tell yourself, I want to, I want this is how I want to experience my day, and this is how I want to experience my life and this moment, because I hate doing chores, and I keep helping myself say, okay, listen, you're doing taxes, but it means you've got taxes to do. It means you're in a very good place financially.

SPEAKER_04 59:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 59:56

Well, you're putting food on the table, oh, it takes forever, you know, peeling the potatoes. Well, you have a family, you've always dreamed of having a family. Well, here they are. Here is your family, the beautiful family that ended up having with your lovely husband. And you know, be happy that you've got someone to peel potatoes for. I I have one video where I brought Olaf a little um espresso and a little cookie, and I filmed that. I bring the coffee to him, and I have one follower he shared his whole life, uh, people share his whole life. But I know he's a single man and that he has never been able to find the love of his life. And he's shared about a couple of times. And he wrote something like, Oh, how I would just love to have somebody bring me a coffee. And I was moved to tears by that, thinking, Yes, we take so many things for granted, having a lovely husband and me bringing him his coffee. I mean, I have my husband that I can bring the coffee to. Yeah, I mean, who some people have lost their husband. I mean, and so instead of thinking, oh, you get your own coffee, I'm busy. No, you have this person that's the most important person or one of the most important persons in your life. And you yourself are one of the most important people in your life, but we tend to forget about that.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:05

So I try to always pinch myself and I don't take anything for granted. Nothing was given to me. Sometimes people can be very judgmental and and nasty on on YouTube as well. I've worked for everything that you see. I you know, I don't have rich parents. I mean, I didn't win the lottery, I work for it, but I still see, even though I've lived here for a while, like you say, you could you take things for granted. But I so I try to not take them for granted because I think that's where the wonder is. Yeah, we can keep feeling wonder about everything that life is when we when we you know remind ourselves that nothing is to be taken for granted. I mean, look at the world, look at the news. No, it's nothing.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:43

It's not always fun out there. So I think this is a beautiful way to view the world, to have that gratitude. Merci so much for spending this time with us today, Malus, because thank you. You've really reminded me about what it is to be grateful and that we've got so much to be grateful for, but you've also reminded me of how to connect to France, which fills my soul even when I can't be there. So it's been a beautiful chat. And I already knew that I adored Burgundy, but now I'm looking forward to going back there more than ever. So thank you so much.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:16

And do come see us when you're when you're coming back. I will.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:19

I will do that. I definitely will do that. A little see too, A Cela Fan, or should we? That is all for another Little Bells Francophiles episode. I hope you've enjoyed being transported to France with me and the lovely Maluse today. Now, the Little Bells Francophiles is going to have a petite break through the rest of the French summer and the Aussie winter, with new episodes to finish this seventh season coming up later in the year. To be notified when new episodes are released, subscribe on your favourite podcast platform or follow Little Bell's Francophiles on Insta, and that's where the Little Bell's return will be announced. But it's also the place that you can stay connected to France during the upcoming break, as I will be ramping up the reels and the photos from my own personal collection, as well as some from our Little Bell's Francophones guests. All just to help you float away to our favourite place, France. For all of the links from today's chat, head to the Little Bells Francophiles Web Summit to blog post number 204. That's episode 2, Song Cut, or just write MALUS, that's M-A-R-L-O-E-S, in the search bar on the top right of the web summit, and this episode will just magically pop up for you. The web summit link is in the show and it's for today's episode as well. Then come and join me next time on the Little Bells Francophiles podcast, and we can all escape to France together. Au revoir, Malouz. Au revoir, merci. Bonjour. Au revoir de moi, Louise Prussia, bonjour.