The Internship Experience at La Cite Ecovillage, New Hampshire

A guest post by Leonie Brien

Integrating into the community has been really easy for us so far. The community is always thrilled to celebrate any holidays just to gather everyone together. We have community dinner often, which is a great time for us to get to know each member. The dinner is always casual starting with some wine and cheese for people to chit chat about their week. We’ve rarely miss any of the family dinners despite being introverted homebodies due to the good food and good time with new friends. We also love how open minded the members are, they really show their efforts in getting to know us. We would exchange our life story and talk about the future for the community and it’s children. They are lovely enough to put our birthday on the community calendar so we can celebrate it like a family since both of our relatives live far away from us.

The education and health mindset are the real foundation that bonded us together, we agree on so many ideas and we are looking forward to raise some amazing children like what they have done in the past two generations.

The language might just be the only barrier between us sometimes but since all members speak excellent English and Ping has some basic understanding of French when she was young, the language barrier doesn’t bother us at all.

The community in NH has a strong bond with the mother community back at Quebec and Ping had a chance to go visit them in 2017. She had a blast meeting the many people, shaking hands and introducing our story to them. She didn’t have enough time to know each one of them but she knows that knowing the sister community is also important to us for integrating into the ecovillage. Ping made friends with other expectant mothers. They exchange contact information and often talk about how to take care of the newborns. It’s wonderful that she is connecting with other ladies who are sharing the experience of pregnancy and motherhood. It gives her more perspective in parenthood and on what to expect.

We have honestly been treated as family since the first time we visited the village. We still have a lot to learn about the history of the community and continue to bond with the members. However, we are also looking forward to bring value to the community including possibly animal care and idea about children’s education. The future is bright in this community and we see us living in love, harmony and peace as we raise a family here.
For more information on events, programs and workshops at La Cite:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/10UXCETnnfkfAqm8D_phoFTWyN36JBWsAK_T-qmXI9BI/edit?usp=sharing

For more information on our upcoming Permaculture Design Course, please see:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1g5KMLR0IhB_Um8G5AJrMDH2Fis8Rka-NbuifjokyD5Y/edit