48 hour check in.

We have now been on the farm for 48 hours. The past two days have been wonderful, difficult and beautiful. Our farm could not be more picturesque. We are tucked away in the French Alps with gorgeous mountains in all directions. The house we are in is over 300 years old- it's very rustic and the whole place is pretty much one killer instagram photo waiting to happen.  I have been put in charge of the "cheeserie" and get to make cheese every morning. It's really fun but a lot of work. It turns out I 'm a natural at cheese but I'm terrible at milking cows. It is so much harder than it looks!  We have spent a lot of time in the garden and yesterday we climbed a cherry tree and picked (and ate) cherries before dinner. We felt like we were in a scene from a movie!  Today our calf was brought back from the slaughter house (yes- just as gross as it sounds) and the butcher spent the morning chopping it up while several people from town came to buy a portion. I was doing the dishes (purposefully as far away from the carcass as possible) when our host Alfred brought in the stomach and started washing it right next to me. Gross.  The mornings here are always very busy. We milk the cows, make cheese, clean the cheesierie and work on whatever outdoor project Alfred has for us. But once we have lunch (around 2) everything dies down until we have to milk the cows again around 6. Usually dinner starts at 9 and ends around midnight (which Trey thinks is the most wonderful thing in the world and I find very inconvenient!)  There are two other Americans here that leave tomorrow. Alfred's  girlfriend leaves on Tuesday and will be gone for most of the rest of our time here. So for the past few days we've been running the farm with 6 people and by Tuesday it will just be us and Alfred. We are excited and nervous to have so much responsibility.  We've been talking a lot about how this lifestyle could translate back home and maybe 48 hours isn't long enough to make a decision, but we sure know more than we did two days ago!