Qu'est-ce que c'est?

Back to School...and Vacation

2011-10-23T17:53:00.001+02:00

It's so nice to be back in a school, working with students. My assistant position is definitely just part-time and very different from a normal teaching job, but I am enjoying being back in the classroom. I started about a week and a half ago and already feel like a part of the school. My students are excellent. Most of my classes are made up of the best students, making my job easy when it comes to classroom management. They are respectful, behaved, engaged, and fun. On Friday I had one of my classes do a group discussion and then they put on a skit for me. It was so cute and they were laughing the entire time. The staff is great. Everyone is very helpful and interested. Every time I sit down in the teachers' lounge I end up having a conversation with a different teacher. On Friday one of the teachers put on a lunch for the staff. I was invited and as soon as I arrived, I was pulled right into a conversation and served lots of good food, including Champagne. I must admit that it was a bit surprising having wine and Champagne served with lunch and then heading to class to teach a few more lessons. I guess this is just life in France. I'm not complaining.

I have a few tutoring sessions lined up so far, and receive continual e-mails from people interested in me as an English tutor or babysitter. Life is good. I like being busy. I like teaching. And I like vacation. Friday was the last day of school for a few weeks because of the All Saints holiday. One of my closest friends, Mackenzie, is coming for just under a week. I'm looking forward to showing her the Cote d'Azur and anything else around here. I hope the weather cooperates. So far it's been very nice, so I hope it stays that way.

I met Olivier two years ago exactly. Time flies. We saw a film today, The Artist, and took a nice walk along the coast and through the old town. I really enjoyed the film. It was definitely different, but that's why I enjoyed it so much. I recommend checking it out. That's about all that I have for this update. Until next time...

Sweet Jesse Dog

2011-10-23T17:35:00.001+02:00

Today my sweet dog, Jesse, died. She was the kindest, most loving dog anyone could ask for (I know her name is spelled like a boy spells Jesse, but I insisted on it when we got her, 12.5 years ago). I'm really going to miss her, but it was her time to go. Whenever I left the states, I wondered if I'd see her again. I guess the last time I said goodbye to her really was the last time. I'm sad and I wish I could be home in Cadillac with my family, but I also realize that they're there together, I have Olivier here, and this is all a part of life. It's amazing how much love one can have for a dog. They truly do become our best friends.

(I meant to post this a week ago...)

Busy Work

2011-09-29T16:17:00.000+02:00

It's Thursday and I have tomorrow and the weekend before I really get into this new teaching assistantship adventure. However, I guess I sort of already started it all this week...at least the paperwork/running-around-getting-paperwork-done part of it.

On Monday of this week, I took the train to Cannes (which reminds me...I need to buy a month pass tomorrow so I'm not stuck doing it last minute in a busy train station while running late next week) to meet my coordinating teacher and see the school for the first time. Normally this is reserved for next Tuesday, but the teacher does not work that day, so I went in a week early, hoping to be able to hand all of my paperwork in on that day. Nothing is ever that easy, especially in France (I don't know if I've mentioned this yet, but the French seem to love paperwork). While waiting to meet the teacher in the staff lounge, I met several other teachers, a few of which are English teachers at the school. They were all very nice and accommodating, which was reassuring. Since the teacher I was supposed to meet with was late because of a meeting or something, another teacher showed me to the secretary's office to deal with all of my paperwork. Of course, there were additional forms that needed to be filled out, etc, which is why I've been shopping for a doctor for the past two days (that's a different story). Once that was all over, I met with the coordinating teacher and we attempted to go over the types of things I will be doing with my classes this year, like different cultural subjects and ways of teaching. I left feeling a little more comfortable with everything.

The only thing that I found a bit odd was that the teacher wanted me to set up my own observation schedule for next week by contacting the other English teachers. I would much prefer and I feel it would be more beneficial if I observe the classes I will be teaching to get a better idea of their specific levels and to get to know those teachers and students. They are the teachers/students I will be working with after all. In my opinion there is no schedule for me yet, which is why I am supposed to be "setting up my own observations" for next week. I am supposed to start teaching, or at least assisting, on October 10th, and I don't think it's a great idea to show up in a classroom never having seen the students or the teacher. Anyway, that's my only stressor at the moment. I wrote to my coordinating teacher and expressed that I felt it beneficial to observe the classes in which I will be placed, so hopefully this will be straightened out soon.

The only real paperwork issue I had left to do (I think) was to find a doctor for the next year. I need this form filled out by one specific doctor so I don't go to five different doctors throughout the course of the next several months and confuse the system. I can always do paperwork to get a different general doctor if there are any issues with this doctor. This paperwork is for my healthcare, which I am very excited to have soon. I found several doctors near where I live and even a few on my street (so convenient). One thing that is not lacking in Nice is doctors. They're everywhere. So I got into the doctor's office on my street and have a signed form. I'm good to go. I was expecting it to cost me the normal price of a visit, 23 euro, but luckily, they didn't charge me anything. Sweet! Now I think I'm good to go.

Other than that, I feel like I have been writing stuff in French non-stop...e-mails, ads for babysitting/tutoring, etc. Luckily I have had several parents interested in my tutoring/babysitting services. I just received a call from a lady on my street that wants me to help her son with English. She asked about doing a group session with a few of his friends. I really don't know what to charge. I think 20 euro an hour is about right for a private session around here (it's the going rate and people definitely pay it), but with the group session, I said maybe 25 euro??? I really have no idea. I guess I'll have to see how it goes. I told her I would meet her next week and we can see talk more about it then.

That's about it right now...I'm just busy doing busy work. I'm looking forward to a calm weekend with Olivier. Then I have a week full of meetings, observations, and no Olivier (he'll be in the North of France all week for a work thing...bummer). Well, I hope you are all doing well. It's been beautiful here. Much love! xo

How'd I end up here & The truth in the distance

2011-09-22T01:09:00.001+02:00

I often find myself thinking about how in the world I ended up in France. I'm still young...maybe I don't actually end up in France, but for now, well...here I am. Ever since my first visit to France, I knew I wanted to spend a semester or something in France, to really get the not-just-a-tourist feel of it all. After a while, as my life went in other directions, like history and math, thoughts of life in France became dimmer and dimmer. Then one summer afternoon, while shaving my legs in the shower, the dream came boldly racing back. Why not? I thought. You better go while you still can. So I went. I figured a summer would be just fine, that it would satisfy my "French hunger," and then I could get back to life. Hah. Guess again.

That summer did nothing but expand my dreams. I needed more. I needed a year. So I became an au pair. When I left that summer, I thought it would be the only time that I would have to say goodbye for a whole year to everyone. It was truly difficult being so far away. I'd wander the streets listening to The Sound of Music to cheer me up. It actually works pretty well.

I am a pretty emotional person. It's in my genes...thanks Porter sisters. I was always scared that I wouldn't be able to last a year, or anything more than that. I remember getting terribly homesick living just two hours from home when I was at MSU. The truth is that living far away from loved ones is terribly hard. I keep their sad faces etched in my mind from each goodbye, remembering what it's like to drive away or watch as a train leaves them behind. I oftentimes want to just call my mom when I am missing her, but I know that calling when I am emotional will only unnecessarily worry her. Even though it is hard to be so far away, there is always another side. I cannot imagine my life any other way than it is right now. My visions of teaching in the US have long since been extinguished. I know that I am lucky because I will be able to come "home" at least every summer and spend a significant amount of time there, soaking up my family. And the only way that I could even begin to do this is with Olivier. He's the other side of the scale. I feel so guilty living so far away from my family, but then I have to remember that I have to follow my dreams. I have to be a little bit selfish. I don't even want to stay in Cadillac, MI, so me being this far just means less visits, but also longer visits (and more expensive visits...hey, at least the euro is worth more right now).

Now back to the other topic: How I got here. I like to think of it as fate. Some people don't believe in it, but I like to. I think I would have left France by Christmas while I was an au pair if I wouldn't have met Olivier. He not only made it okay; being with him made me want to spend my life over here. Even though I have a few sad days here and there, something that helps me get through them is believing that I am not alone. When I can't see the moon, I picture it over the sea. One of the best gifts my grandmother gave me was the comfort in knowing that when I saw the moon, she was thinking of me. Now I believe she is still there, somewhere, keeping an eye on me. I reach down and swirl the ring on my finger; her mother's ring. Then I have this connection, not just to her, but to my mom too. I picture her embrace and I want to think that she knows me now, the person I have become, and not just the child I was then.

To my family and friends on the other side of the pond: I hope that you all know how much I miss you and love you. Even though I miss you and wish I could just drive by for a visit, I am happy here. I can't wait to see what my future holds. So far, it's been quite a ride.

Post-Hiatus Post

2011-09-21T00:37:00.000+02:00

Hello all. I'm back from my unintentional blogging hiatus. Hopefully that doesn't happen again, at least while I'm in France. So yes, I'm back in France, and happy to be here. I arrived last Thursday and have been somewhat busy ever since. However the last two days have been a nice reprieve, as I've been able to be lazy, clean, organize and stock up on groceries. Believe it or not, Olivier is actually a pretty organized guy. He de-clutters every now and then, and does household chores like the laundry and the dishes. However, two months of living like a bachelor while I'm stateside leave the apartment in need of a general all-around cleaning. I like getting all of my stuff cleaned and organized, so having the last few days free to do just that left me surprisingly content.

I spent my first full day back in France in Beausoleil (just behind Monaco) taking care of Baby Charlotte. I've talked about her before. I took care of her for seven weeks back in February and March while her nanny recovered from an operation. I get to watch her on Thursday and Friday of this week too. She was so perfect, happy, and darn cute with her head-full of curls. I think she might even still remember me because she was smiling with me right away like she did. There was no crying when her parents left or anything. Anyway, we had fun going on walks, babbling to each other, and skyping with my mom. She really likes "the lady in the box," and kept looking for her after we finished the call. So adorable.

We left for Antibes on Friday to spend the weekend with Olivier's family. All of his siblings were there and we had a great time just hanging out. We ate a lot of great food, drank plenty of delicious drinks, laid by the pool and sat around talking. It was really nice. I enjoyed watching Olivier and his siblings play in the pool like I'm sure they did as kids. Okay, "play" may not be the right word...maybe "dunk each other under water and throw each other in" describes it better. Haha.

I have a few more weeks of down-time before I start teaching. I have days of orientation, observation and meetings during the first week of October and then I start my teaching assistantship. It's not full-time, but it's a start. I am hoping to tutor students and maybe babysit a little as well to make some extra money. I'm really looking forward to starting my job. My coordinating teacher seems very nice and accommodating, and I am looking forward to meeting him.

As far as an excuse goes for why I haven't blogged all summer...well, take your pick: "A lot happened and I was too busy to blog" or "I could have blogged, but I didn't." The latter is more correct, but they both have some truth to them. Here's a very quick recap.

We went to Olivier's brother's wedding in Italy. It was FANTASTIC! Everything was beautiful, elegant, classy, fun and delicious. It was like no wedding I've ever attended. The Italians know how to have a good time. They even do funny skits!

In mid-July I came home to the US. After a few days of unpacking and getting back into the swing of things, we went camping in Elk Rapids, MI for the annual Brugger Family Reunion. As always, we had a blast. Hopefully I'll be able to make it next year. I might just be able to. I was planning on coming home in August, but now I'm thinking July. I won't know for quite a while still. After that I worked for a week at Hermann's in Cadillac as a server (they let me work my old job for a few weeks here and there while I was home!) and had fun with all of the staff. I miss 'em!

Then Olivier came to the US for the second time. Luckily his trip last summer didn't scare him off. We enjoyed Lake Michigan, went to Mackinaw Island, went camping in Interlochen and tubed down the Platte River, took a road trip to Toronto, Niagara Falls, and Cedar Point, and spend a few nights with family members. It flew by, of course. He saw all of the Great Lakes except for Lake Superior. I'm thinking a road trip to the U.P. next time he comes...

After Olivier left I had another weekend of camping, this time with the Porter family in South Haven. It was wonderful. We celebrated my mom's aunt's 80th birthday and sung around the campfire. I worked a few more weeks at Hermann's and then ended my stay by spending a few days in New Buffalo, MI with Lauren, Karen and my mom in an awesome condo just a few blocks from Lake Michigan. It was a perfect end to a great Michigan stay, including sun, a pool, bloody marys, great food, wonderful people, cards, and laughs.

That's all for now, folks! Until next time. A bientot!

Toulouse

2011-06-24T14:36:00.006+02:00

Last weekend we headed to Toulouse to spend some time with several of Olivier's friends...well, more like "our" friends that were Olivier's friends before I met them and got to know them all. We had a wonderful time!

Honestly, living in France is wonderful, but sometimes it is hard to be the foreigner in the crowd. I don't talk a lot about it, not wanting people back home to worry. Life as a foreigner can get very lonely. Trying to keep up with conversations and understand jokes, etc., can be exhausting and often leads to my mind wandering into it's own little world. With every other foreigner that I have come into contact with over here, we have discussed similar feelings and it turns out that we all feel the same way. In group settings, we often feel lonely, not because people are intentionally leaving us out, but because we really just don't feel like ourselves, and that can be frustrating. When putting so much effort into simply comprehending what is going on, I am not my normal self, talking, being sarcastic, adding my tid-bits here and there...I'm just not my normal, fun (I think I'm fun, anyway) self. About a year ago I was frustrated after having been to a group gathering and I asked Olivier when I would stop feeling like such an outsider. How long does it take to just be myself and stop trying so hard just to understand everything? I felt as if I had a learning disability and was several steps behind everyone, and then simply getting lost because I couldn't catch up (education classes coming into play here, thanks Ferris State University). He lived in Denmark for a year so I thought he might know when this transition actually happens. Well, he didn't know, so I just kept waiting. Nowadays, things are much easier. I still have to put effort into paying attention and comprehending while in a group setting, but I am much more comfortable now than before. It was a lot more isolating a year ago, but since my knowledge of the French language has improved, so have my feelings when in a group setting. I'll just add that when it's just a few people, it is much easier to follow and be a part of conversations in French.

To me, the weekend in Toulouse was a small victory in this struggle. For the first time, I found myself having real fun in the group, talking, laughing, understanding. It felt so great. I think a lot of this had to do with the fact that I was with truly wonderful, fun, caring people. There are so many hurdles in becoming part of another culture, and this is a big one, at least for me. I still find myself confused from time to time, but at least I'm not in my own little world, lost from the conversation as I was before. Anyway, on with the story of our weekend.

We arrived late Friday night. Toulouse is about 5.5 hours from Nice by car. Everyone else came from Paris, so we all arrived around the same time. We talked, ate, and drank for a few hours and then everyone headed to bed. The next morning, we all got up and left for Carcassonne, a fortified city about an hour east of Toulouse. On the way, however, we stopped for apparently the best Cassoulet. Cassoulet is a delicious French dish from the region. It is essentially beans, sausage, chicken, other meats all in a crock pot. It is very good.

After the filling Cassoulet, we went the rest of the way to Carcassonne, where we were traditional tourists, checking out the historic city and its ruins. We had fun climbing on the walls and taking pictures. Here are a few pictures of our time in Carcassonne.

When we returned from Carcassonne, we all played a game of petanque, which is similar to bocce ball, and very popular in France. We played for hours, laughing and having a great time. It ended in a few of the losers being thrown in the pool, and then a card game to end the night. That night was the most fun I have had in a while.

Sunday was our last day in Toulouse, but it was awesome. That's the best way to describe it, really. Pierre and Laetitia are the couple from Toulouse, and Pierre's father is a pilot. He took us all up in a little four-seater plane to see Toulouse from above, making three separate trips to accommodate us all. It was thrilling and the city was beautiful. It is known as la ville rose, as it looks pink from above.

Luckily we didn't have to catch a train, so a few of us were able to walk around Toulouse for a few hours before departing. I found it quite charming. Our hosts could not have been more welcoming or accommodating to us. I am very thankful for having spent such a wonderful weekend with them and for gaining such great people as friends.

To London, To London...

2011-06-20T14:23:00.007+02:00

Olivier and I visited London the weekend before last. He had a holiday from work on Monday, so we took advantage of the long weekend and ventured back to London where we always have fun, despite iffy weather. I almost wrote "unpredictable" to describe the weather, but that, in my opinion, would be inaccurate, as there always tends to be some rain when we are there, despite predictions from weather.com, my go-to source before all travels. And so the story-telling of our enjoyable weekend in London begins... (I must add that I am currently enjoying my coffee from my I Love London coffee mug, my souvenir from our previous visit)

It all started Friday evening right before 7. I was all packed up and ready to go to the train station to take the bus to the airport when Olivier arrived home from work. He informed me that we might as well drive and pay for parking as opposed to paying for the bus, as the difference was quite minimal. I was definitely okay with this since I really don't like taking the bus home and walking after flying. However, instead of finding the cheap lot, we ended up in the minimum 44 euro lot for 96 hours, which was longer than we needed, and definitely more expensive. Oh well, we bit the bullet and stayed there, since we were worried we couldn't leave the lot without paying the full price (no parking attendants). After our cramped EasyJet flight to London Luton, we ran to catch our scheduled bus at 11 pm. We made it just in time, but they had already overfilled the bus and taken our seats, so we waited for the next bus, with the promise of being first to board. We found our way to Olivier's brother's apartment and went to bed immediately, as we were all exhausted.

Luckily for us, Saturday was a nice day. We left to explore the city with Vincent, Olivier's brother, and his fiance, Laura. After a bit of walking near Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus, we found ourselves unable to get over to Westminster/Parliament area because of barricades. After asking a police officer what was going on, he informed us that it was the Queen's birthday celebration. Many people were out, hoping for a glimpse of the queen. We got away from the crowds in search of an alternate route, but once again, found ourselves unable to cross. We decided to give in and wait, and just maybe we'd get to see the queen. As it turns out, we never saw the queen. This is probably because we were not in the right area to see her. There were not very many people waiting...mostly just barricades, police officers here and there, and random tourists.

She never came down the street where we were waiting, but we did get a different surprise. All of a sudden we heard the sound of horses approaching...two carriages to be exact. And who was in that first carriage? None other than Kate Middleton, Prince Harry and Camilla!!! I waved and snapped a picture.

In case you're wondering, the second carriage also had some royalty, but I don't know who they were. Finally we made our way down the street where they were opening up the barricades. All of a sudden floods of well-dressed Brits exited a building, apparently having just attended the Queen's event. I got to see some pretty cool hats and men in tails. Once we approached Downing Street, we had to move aside as the gates opened and David Cameron, the PM, made his way out in his car. I don't have a picture of this because the car flew out rather quickly and he was hidden behind tinted windows. We knew it was him because the guards told us. Once we finally made it to Westminster (well across the street from it anyway), we saw Kate's mother, and I ran up and caught a quick snapshot from behind. I know, that was a stalker moment, but I had to go for it.

Finally crossing the River Thames, we got some great shots of Big Ben and Parliament, along with the London Eye, the huge Ferris Wheel.

After a quick lunch at Eat., we made our way further down the bank and watched street performers doing things I previously thought impossible with their bodies...circus-type stuff, like extreme flexibility, gymnastic stunts, etc. There was even a little air-show for the Queen's birthday celebration. Blue, white and red streamed across the sky, which actually looked like the French flag. Vive la France! Funny.

We continued down the river, taking in the cites, and eventually met up with friends Philippe and Elodie who were also in London for the weekend. Here we are in front of St. Paul's Cathedral, and then again with Vincent and Laura.

With Philippe and Elodie, we continued our walk and enjoyed the English Summer Cocktail, PIMM'S in a few different bars, and ended the evening at a Lebanese restaurant, where we were surprised with a dancer after dessert.

PIMM'S

Exhausted after the day of touristing, we made our way back to Paddington, the area where Oliv's brother lives. We were asleep within minutes of our return.

Sunday...

Unfortunately Sunday was filled with rain. Of course, this did not stop us. Olivier and I made our way to Camden Town where there is a huge market...It reminded me of a huge craft show, actually, with people selling their diverse goods. We checked it out, but since it was raining and we didn't find anything that we wanted to buy, we found a pub and enjoyed the traditional fish and chips. We made our way back to central London for some more shopping and eventually went back to Paddington to relax and escape the rain at the apartment. We went to a pub for dinner with Elodie and Philippe and then wandered to another bar for PIMM'S before returning home.

Olivier and I packed up our things on Monday morning and spent the early afternoon on Oxford Street, perusing the stores. We didn't purchase anything, but we did meet up with Elodie and Philippe one more time before heading back to Paddington to get our stuff and head to the bus stop to get to the airport. Overall, we had a very enjoyable weekend in London. It was filled with exciting and unexpected happenings, great friends, and fun.

Spicing Things Up

2011-06-15T11:58:00.005+02:00

When asked what type of food I like, Mexican seems to come to mind before anything else. Unfortunately Mexican food in France can be hard to come by, especially when it comes to quality. They have a little here and there, but nothing like the restaurants that can be easily found across the US. I did once eat at a Mexican restaurant in Paris that was not too bad. Anyway, I have been wanting some fajitas. With nowhere to go to get this food, I took it into my own hands...I decided to spice things up. Olivier and I had a Mexican-themed dinner the other night. I just wish we would have thought to buy some Corona...next time.

To start I threw together some guacamole and chips.

Then it was time to throw all my pre-cut veggies and chicken into the pan. Thank goodness we found an Old El Paso fajita kit with some spice mix and tortillas.

And then it was time to indulge. So good!

Now that I have successfully made fajitas, I think we may have a fajita night get-together with friends.

Better Late Than Never! Sorry!

2011-06-07T17:03:00.005+02:00

Hello! So sorry not to have posted anything sooner! My excuse? Hmmm....well I don't really have one, but beautiful weather and laziness account for most of my non-blogging. Anyway, I'm back, and will hopefully blog a few more times before I am once again on a non-intentional blogging hiatus. I often think of what I will write in my blogs, however, getting to my computer and actually typing seems to happen much less often.

So, what's been happening on this side of the ocean? Well, the French are, of course, obsessed with this Dominique Strauss-Kahn affair, aka l'affaire DSK. It's all over the news, but I try not to get too into it. Being in France, it is, however, good to at least stay moderately informed so as to not look like a total knowledge-lacking individual. Other than that, I have been taking advantage of many gorgeous days. Even on days like today that start off rainy seem to end in sun. It was raining when I left at lunch. Before I got home, the sun was shining and the sky was blue. I put off blogging for about two more hours to sunbathe on my little terrace. It's not much, but it gets the job done, especially since I have recently purchased a new beach chair. I read for hours in that thing. I believe that the front and back of me are two different shades. As I am only here for a month and a half this time, finding a job is very unlikely. I keep searching here and there for a little something, but in all reality, I am not likely to find much. Therefore, I have taken to just enjoying my free time. I am enjoying cooking in the evenings, walking around, reading, spending my weekends on mini-adventures with Olivier, and meeting a few new faces.

A few weeks ago I met a girl who went to high school in Cadillac named Sierra. She is a few years younger than me, but is very nice, smart, and also living in Nice (unfortunately only until the end of June). We were introduced by another Cadillacian (not a word, I know). Here we are getting a few drinks and getting to know each other. In fact, the band playing that night happened to be called Cadillac! So random!

Last week I ventured into Monaco to go see sweet baby Charlotte. She was the baby I watched for several weeks in February and March. She is getting so big! I was worried that she had forgotten me and would cry when I saw her. Nope :) She just smiled and wanted to be held by me. I just love her!

Last weekend Olivier and I drove to another town on the coast called Menton. It comes right before Italy. It was charming. On the way there we drove up in the twisty hills along the coast and decided to stop for a photo-op.

I am really looking forward to this weekend. We are going to London! I'll definitely have some photos to share from this upcoming excursion.

Recap of the last month from an airport in London

2011-04-11T10:50:00.007+02:00

This blog is just a quick recap of what I've been doing since I last blogged. Sorry it's been so long! Olivier and I did get PACSed. We had our appointment on March 17 at 8:30 am, arrived at 8:20, and left by 8:35. Then we walked to the train station and headed into Monaco to go to work...very romantic. LOL. Here we are outside the public building right after our PACS.

I finished my babysitting job and spent a week and a half just hanging out while Olivier was at work. Then he went to Avignon for a week for work, so I decided to join him on a Wednesday night and spend the days exploring by myself. Avignon is a medieval walled city with its wall still intact. Here is Palais des Papes in Avignon. The papal seat was moved to Avignon, France for about 100 years in the 1300s, and this is the palace.

In France, Avignon is also known for it's bridge, which was long-ago destroyed and finally left as a ruin. However, tourists can still venture upon it. There is a children's song called "Sur le Pont d'Avignon," which means "On the Avignon Bridge." It actually called the Saint Benezet Bridge. The song is about people dancing on the bridge. However, it was originally called "Sous le Pont d'Avignon," meaning "Under the Avignon Bridge," as it was more likely that people actually danced under or beside the bridge.

One day in Avignon was plenty, so I decided to take the train to Arles the next day. Arles was a Roman town and has many ruins still maintained in the city center, surrounded by walls. Here is the Roman Arena. It is under construction, as they are trying to preserve it. It was actually a bit eery as I walked the shadowy halls, imagining what took place hundreds of years ago.

I really enjoyed Arles. Along the Rhone River, Van Gogh painted his famous "Starry Night Over the Rhone."

We drove home to Nice on Friday night, and headed to Paris on Saturday morning for the week. Olivier had to work there, so I decided to come along and enjoy the city. It was very nice to see friends and visit our favorite areas again. I had a pizza dinner with the family I lived with as an au pair last year.

I also did a few cultural things that I had been meaning to do for years, including visiting the Musee de l'Orangerie, which contains Monet's enormous and breathtaking water lily paintings.

I also went to the Catacombs. I dragged Olivier along because I was scared to go alone. The Catacombs is an underground cemetery created in the late 18th century to house the remains of about 6 million people. Paris had to find somewhere to put the remains from several cemeteries because of sanitary conditions and other reasons (I don't know the whole history), and decided to form this mass grave. It is really cool how they have arranged the bones. Most of what I saw were skulls and femurs, as the other smaller bones were piled behind. I'm glad I dragged Olivier along because I get freaked out in these kind of things when I'm by myself.

"Stop! Here is the Empire of Death" is written above the door that leads to the area where the bones start. Yikes!

We flew back to Nice on Saturday evening and spent a relaxing Sunday in Antibes with Olivier's family. Now I'm sitting in the airport in London waiting for my flight back to the states. See you soon!

Carnaval, Florence, and PACS, Oh my!

2011-03-15T09:22:00.006+01:00

Things have been going well. Carnaval in Nice ended with some fantastic fireworks, I met a new friend, we spent last weekend in Florence, Italy, and we will be pacsed this Thursday.

As I've mentioned before, Carnaval is like Mardi Gras, but more family oriented. Nice has parades, activities, etc. for several weeks and then it ends with the burning of the king (not a real person, but a big man-made float thing) and fireworks over the water. Here are a few floats during a Carnaval parade.

Here are the king and queen at the end of Carnaval.

These fireworks were hands-down, the BEST fireworks I have ever seen. They must have cost Nice taxpayers a fortune! I watched the fireworks with my new friend, Asha. She is from Poland and has lived here for the last five years. She is the girlfriend of one of Olivier's close friends, and we met a few weekends ago. We are the same age and get along well. We can relate to each other, as we are both expats and share many similar experiences. I'm guessing we'll be spending quite a bit of time hanging out together. I have to give Olivier a Betsy-break every once in a while, after all. ;)

We will be pacsing this Thursday. Pacs is the French civil union. We decided to go away together for a weekend to celebrate our pacs. I called it a pacs-moon. I was thinking just a weekend in a small provincial French town. However, I randomly suggested Florence as it is only about a 4.5 hour drive from Nice. The next thing I knew, Olivier was checking out Florence hotels. That was Wednesday night. We left Friday night for Florence. It was a perfect weekend.

When we went to our hotel room, we were surprised to see that it had not been cleaned. We told the concierge, assuring him that it was no big deal...mistakes happen. He was very embarrassed and assured us that this does not happen in his hotel, and then upgraded us to a very nice, big room...with a jacuzzi tub! Not so bad. Here's Florence...

We spent all day Saturday being tourists. Luckily the weather cooperated, because it definitely did not on Sunday. We didn't have time for the museums, so we decided to save those for our next trip. Here is Olivier acting the part of a tourist.

If you ever go to Italy, you must eat gelato. It is delicious! It is basically delicious ice cream. I don't know the technical differences or anything like that.

It's Friday :)

2011-02-25T14:50:00.004+01:00

I am so glad it's Friday! I did not have a stressful week or anything...I just really love these weekends where we hang out with no real plans. Last weekend led to a beautiful walk on Nice's promenade and a climb resulting in a gorgeous view of Nice. The weather was perfect...warm (60's) and sunny, and everyone was enjoying the day, especially since Carnaval is currently going on in Nice. Carnaval is basically Nice's version of Mardi Gras. It lasts for a few weeks with lots of events, parades, and fun. Kids are continuously walking by with painted faces. Anyway, I do not have a lot of news, but I did want to share my pictures from last Saturday.

Here we have the king and queen of festivities (I don't know this for sure...we just assumed).

And these are the view from above (plus a few of us).

Skiing in the Alps

2011-02-24T09:46:00.004+01:00

A few weekends ago we went skiing in Auron, a small ski resort town in the lower Alps, just 1.5 hours from Nice by car. I was very excited to be doing some real mountain skiing, especially Alps skiing. Here we are, ready to go.

The mountains were gorgeous, of course. Unfortunately the snow was not so great. I actually could have used some powdery Michigan snow. It had not snowed in a long time, so the snow was very hard and pretty icy in many spots. I was enjoying it anyway.

The slopes were so long compared to what I am used to, which made it pretty fun. However, I had a slight problem. I love skiing and have been skiing a few times a year on average since 5th grade. I'm not great, but I enjoy it and am not afraid of the more challenging runs. I should have rented skis, but used those of a friend instead. They were way too long for me (the same length of Olivier's), they were the old style, and I just could not cut the snow well with them. Anyway, this inability to use my edges well was not helpful on a rather steep and icy slope. Unable to slow down and slipping every time I tried resulted in the biggest fall I've ever taken in my life while skiing. Somehow I ended up sliding face first on my stomach, skis above my head (no they didn't even fall off!) for a very long time. I could not stop because it was too icy. Finally it flattened out enough for me to slow myself down and finally stop. Luckily Olivier stopped when he heard me yelling as I slid down the hill and was able to help me. It took a few minutes to get back on my feet, but finally, I was up. Other skiiers stopped and found my hat for me, which I lost a few yards back. Needless to say, I was all of a sudden quite afraid to continue. Beind halfway through the run, however, I had to finish it off. I skied back and forth, falling often from trying to slow myself down. I was so angry with myself for all of a sudden being so afraid and I couldn't understand why I seemed to have no control over myself. After my fall I was slipping all over the place. After another run or two I suggested we stop for lunch. I really just wanted to get the heck off of my skis for a while. We stopped and ate as I clumsily cut my pizza (it was not the kind that was easily eaten with hands) because of an injured thumb. As we were gearing up to get back to the slopes I thought I should tighten my boots because they felt pretty loose. Somehow (during the fall I'm guessing), they had both come undone. No wonder I had no control! They were the kind that close from the back with one clicky thing. I have no idea how it happened, but they somehow detached. The difference after that was remarkable. Duh! Finally I could control myself. I was still a little shaky from my fall and very sore, but I tried to enjoy the rest of the day, while avoiding the steepest slopes, of course.

I was glad to leave by the end of the day, but I am anxious to get back out there (with rented skis) and actually enjoy skiing a little more. I was just so sore and anxious after my fall that I wasn't really having fun. If the weather cooperates, we'll be going again this weekend. I'm hoping for better luck! I guess I can be glad that I was not badly injured, just lots of bruises and a sprained thumb.

Walks in Beausoleil

2011-02-16T10:35:00.005+01:00

I just thought I would post a few pictures that I have taken during my many walks with Baby Charlotte. Walks keep her happy, which means that we take a lot of them! We tend to stay in Beausoleil, France, but sometimes when we are feeling adventurous, we take LOTS of steps down to Monaco.

The first is picture taken from the balcony of the family's home in Beausoleil. In the background, you can see part of Italy sticking out into the Mediterranean.

We see lots of olive trees...

These reminded me of little trumpets emerging from the stone wall.

Unfortunately we've been stuck inside most of this week because of the rain. I guess it had to happen sometime. Before this week, it only rained once since I arrived.

Settling into the Routine

2011-02-11T10:22:00.003+01:00

Geez, time flies. I have been here for a month now and it seems so much shorter...in fact, I feel like I'll be back in the states preparing my next trip before I know it. There were days before I was working and was home alone all day when I was missing home, but now that I have a routine consisting of working all day and hanging out with Olivier for a few hours when we get home, I am feeling much more comfortable and at-home here. I talk to my parents so often on skype that it makes being far away so much easier. I even get to see my dogs via skype.

I'll be honest, I am not missing the cold at all. I do like Michigan winters for about a month because they can be beautiful, like after a fresh snowfall. After a few weeks, I'm ready for spring, so I guess it's good that I am here now and will be returning in April for a while. Sometimes I like being outside in the winter, but really, I prefer the weather here. I just hate being cold all the time. The weather here isn't warm right now, but it's comfortable...low 50's and sunny pretty much every day. I just wear a light jacket and I am good to go. Plus mountains are accessible for skiing purposes. In fact, we are going skiing this weekend, providing that our plans work out. Olivier was sick the last time we planned to go skiing.

Some good news for me is that I have my babysitting job for two extra weeks in March. That is two weeks where I would possible be job hunting without much luck. The babysitting job is really better than anything I had hoped for. It is temporary (necessary, since I'm leaving in April and July), 40 hours a week, and good pay. Plus the baby is so sweet. I get to catch up on my American tv shows (or blog) during nap time :)

I finally have all of the paperwork Olivier and I need in order to be pacsed. A PACS is basically a French civil union. This will help me get a visa, get on the national health care system, and eventually obtain residency, which will allow me to get a real job. There are several other rights that this will give us. I have to go to the local court house, show them the paperwork, and make an appointment to be pacsed. It only takes about a week to get an appointment, so hopefully we'll be pasced in just a few weeks. That will be a huge weight lifted. Gathering all of the paperwork and translations needed has been a job in itself.

That is about all that is new here. Really, I have just been settling into a normal routine. Olivier has been practicing his English a lot with me and at work. Actually, we have been watching "Friends" almost every night to help with his English...plus I love it! It makes us both laugh all the time. Olivier says it is funnier in English (sometimes a lot is lost in translation). That is all for now. Hopefully I'll be blogging again soon.

A Job for February

2011-02-03T10:12:00.002+01:00

For the month of February, I actually have something to do other than sleep in, wander, and sit at my computer. Thank goodness. It can be nice sometimes, but I need to have things to do, places to be...to at least feel like I did something with my day. As I've said before, part of my "job" before was to find some sort of small job in order to make a little money and have something to do. I was searching without much success every day, and finally, last Friday, I ran across a posting for a childcare job for February. It was 39.5 hours a week during regular working hours, but it was in Beausoleil, France, so not within walking distance. However, there is a train and I was not in the position to be picky. So I replied with all of my information, contacts and resume, with hopes that I might get a reply.

Luckily, the mother called me that night and wanted to know all about me and wondered if I could meet the family the next day. So on Saturday, I made my way to Monaco by train and walked to their home in Beausoleil (just a 25 minute walk from the train station). I talked with the parents and met the baby girl, discussed the job, and left hoping for the best (they were meeting someone else after me). I was called back that night and asked if I could start Monday.

So here I am, sitting in a living room in Beausoleil with a view of the Mediterranean. I can even see Italy in the distance. Every morning, Olivier and I take the same train to Monaco, and then we head our separate ways after a short walk together. The train is about 25 minutes along, and it runs along the water, making for a beautiful start to the day. I spend my day with the sweetest baby girl. Her name is Charlotte, she is 3.5 months old, and she is so calm and happy. She doesn't even cry when I put her down for a nap or when she wakes up. She just rests in her crib happily. She takes two naps while I am here, so I have a lot of quiet time. She's actually sleeping right now. The parents are both wonderful, kind people. This couldn't be a better arrangement. It is only for February because their nanny is having an operation, but that works for me since I am leaving for 1.5 months in April anyway. So for now, that is my life during the week. Olivier and I both work all day and then spend our evenings together. I am looking forward to another weekend together. We don't have any plans, but it's just nice to have down time together.

When Life Gives You Oranges...

2011-01-25T13:25:00.012+01:00

I just wanted to mention my Uncle Bob. He died this week after a battle with cancer. He was definitely a great guy and a joy to be around, always making everyone around him laugh. I loved tubing down the river with him and the rest of the Brugger family. He will be missed, but is a great example of someone who made the best out of everything. I guess you could say he made lemonade when life gave him lemons, or orange juice when he was handed a basket of oranges. We'll miss you, Uncle Bob.

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We just happen to have a lot of citrus fruits in the apartment, especially oranges. This is all in great thanks to Olivier's parents and all of their wonderful citrus trees. Without all of the preservatives, etc. contained in the oranges from the store, these oranges become bad quickly. So, what better way to use 'em up than to make a lot of orange juice. Hence, I have been getting my fair share of completely natural, hand-squeezed, full of Vitamin-C, delicious orange juice. Here is this morning's squeeze (The plastic table cover just happens to fit today's theme).

So here I am in Nice, still jobless, making orange juice. But hey, at least I have plenty of oranges. I've been small-job-hunting online, looking for any random job around here...babysitting being probably my best bet. It seems there are a lot of babysitters and tutors out there, so I just have to be patient and keep up the search. It will be much easier once I actually have the right to have a real job over here, like teaching. Until then, babysitting must suffice. If I have to be jobless, I guess it is a good time. I am getting lots of paperwork together for our civil union (I have an appointment tomorrow with someone at a US consulate office), I am sleeping in, talking over coffee with my mom via skype, discovering the neighborhood, like where to buy the best baguette, and enjoying the sun.

Nice is setting up for Carnaval, which is like France's Mardi Gras celebration. I guess it is pretty nuts, but I will definitely have to check it out at least once. I guess there are lots of families, kids all dressed up, and I'll fill you in on the rest once I know. It doesn't start for a few weeks, but it is so close to where we live, so I'm sure I'll have plenty of photo opportunities.

On a completely different note, I have been remembering my dreams a lot. Usually, I just sleep so hard and can't remember a thing. Lately, I seem to be remembering a lot of them, mostly bizarre, as dreams tend to be. I wonder what that's about. Perhaps it's a sign that our bed is hard and short and we need a new one. I think that's Thursday's task since Olivier doesn't have to work (Monaco has a holiday I guess). Anyway, that is about all that is new here. Just job-hunting, paperwork, and making orange juice.

I'll leave you with a few pictures. The first is the only one of us I've taken since being back...unfortunately, Olivier thought it would be funny to stick his tongue out, so here ya go...

The other is of the Russian church just up the road from us. One of theses days we'll check out the inside.

Adjusting to the Nice life

2011-01-20T15:10:00.006+01:00

I guess you could say that this begins Part II of my life in France. I arrived in Nice, France exactly one week ago and am so glad to be here, finally able to get back to life with Olivier. I felt like life was on hold for those five months apart...like I was just waiting to really get our life together started. So far, I cannot complain. I guess I'll just start from the beginning (sorry I didn't post sooner...I just got internet access today...finally!).

The flight/getting here:

I must say that the journey over was not perfect, but I tried to make the best of it. I flew Detroit to Montreal to Paris to Nice. Not exactly direct, but it got me here. The long flight was rather uncomfortable as I was pretty much crammed in my seat the entire time. I sat next to a very kind French lady, but I felt bad asking to use the bathroom, etc. because she was rather large and it was a process (this is my counterexample to disprove the myth that "French women don't get fat." Not true.). Thank goodness for in-flight movies. AirFrance had some good selections. When I was in Paris, I saw previews for a French film that looked so good. I was bummed that I wouldn't be able to watch it because it wasn't in theaters until after I left for the states. It is called "L'age de Raison", which means "The Age of Reason." I was thrilled that it was one of my choices! I also watched something else I wanted to see, "Life as We Know It." Needless to say I did not sleep at all and was uncomfortable, but I did get to catch up on my movie-watching.

I arrived in Paris right on time, at 6 am. This meant over 9 hours of waiting for my flight to Nice. However, things were not so bad as a very nice Delta Airlines lady was able to get my bags to go all the way to Nice without me having to stay with them all day in Paris (this was supposed to be the case because my ticket to Nice was bought separately). Free of luggage, I made my way into Paris to do what I really needed (no, not see Paris)...take a nap. Thank goodness for great friends. I went to Crystal's, caught up with her and her mother briefly, took a shower, and spent the rest of the morning/early-afternoon catching up on some much-needed sleep. I got my booty back to the airport and finished up the journey, arriving in Nice just as the sun was setting. Not too shabby. Unfortunately Olivier had to be in Marseille until the next day for work, but his mother met me right as I left baggage claim. We drove to his parents' house, as we had yet to get our own apartment, ate dinner with his parents and sister, and basically fell into a deep sleep until around noon the next day. I was a little nervous to be staying at Olivier's parents' house without him, but they were very welcoming and it went well. I was finally able to see Oliv on Friday night...the wait was over.

Move-in:

On Saturday, Oliv and I made our way into Nice to sign on an apartment. His mother had thankfully been apartment hunting for us. We moved all of our stuff in on Sunday and decided to get to know the area a little before he left for another two days in Marseille. I had no idea how close we were to everything!

Our apartment, 14 rue Rossini:

We live on the 2nd floor (3rd floor by American counting...they have "0" floor in France as opposed to the first floor being ground level). There is a little park right across the street, called Place Mozart. We are in the Musicians Quarter and are about a 4 minute walk from the main shopping street in Nice, and just a few minutes from the promenade along the Mediterranean. It couldn't be a better location. And Olivier is happy that there tends to be several parking spaces available each night. One side of the apartment is basically windows/doors, which faces West and allows for a lot of sunlight. We have a great little terrace with a table. The apartment is smaller than what we were looking for, but it will work well for us for now. We are only planning on being in this apartment for a year. Our bedroom isn't even separate, but is actually an alcove with curtains. Haha. There are a lot of old folks living in this area, so we figure that we can work our way up as time goes on, since we really like this building. The consulate of the Netherlands is on the ground floor, as well as a few other offices. We also have a storage room in the basement, which is handy since we need a new bed and a place to store the antique we are currently using. Our apartment is already furnished, which is nice, but not really our style...it's all Louis XV, as I've been told. This means that the bed is particularly short and in my opinion, hard (If you know anything about Olivier, you know that he is very tall. He sleeps diagonally and curled up...poor boy). Anyway, the apartment is great. Here are a few photos of the apartment and the view from the terrace.

And here are some photos I took this afternoon during my walk...

Hanging out:

For now, I've been doing a lot of random things such as cleaning and organizing the apartment, buying things for the apartment, walking around, etc. Since I just got the internet up and running, I can now look for babysitting and tutoring jobs and look for activities for anglophones such as myself, in order to meet some new people. Now that I am here, I intend on keeping this updated, but if you followed last year, you know that sometimes I'm not so good at that. Bye for now.

We're moving to Nice, where it is oh so nice!

2010-10-18T18:55:00.003+02:00

Life sure can be one crazy ride. A year ago, I had just embarked on my journey abroad...my year in Paris. Now I see that that adventure was just the beginning of an exciting, unexpected ride. Once I met Olivier and we became serious, I knew that Nice was a possibility in my future. Then as we grew closer and I planned to move to France for good, I knew that Nice was likely. However, it all is suddenly seeming so very real and I am so excited. On Friday morning, Olivier called me right after an interview for a job in Monaco. "Pack your swimsuit." Huh? I was a little confused, as I was still in a rather sleepy state. "Pack your swimsuit. I got the job. We're moving to Nice!" I was immediately so excited. And I was not in the least bit sad about not spending another cold winter in Paris. After all, it felt really nice to know that we were really going to be starting the next chapter of our life together in the place we eventually wanted to be living. Most of all, I knew that this was what he had been hoping for for so long. Later we talked about when he would be moving and starting the new job. He will probably move in mid-December, and then I arrive in mid-January. Perfect. I told him that I was excited to help him decorate his new apartment. Then he corrected me, "our apartment." I like the sound of that.

The End of One Adventure and the Beginning of Another

2010-08-30T22:47:00.008+02:00

I am writing this blog mostly as a way to wrap up my whirl-wind year in France, and as an introduction to what lies ahead. As made evident by earlier blogs, I was very sad to leave my life in France. I could not quit picturing myself leaving with so much sadness. Well, it was sad. It was hard, but I learned that I am a lot stronger than I originally thought. I pictured my miserable self sobbing on the plane. That is not at all how it went. Thank goodness for individual tv screens and many movie/tv show choices. I made it home and was so happy to see my parents waiting in the airport.

Then I saw a surprise and I was so excited that I cried. One of my dearest friends was waiting with a camera...Miss Julie Weston (soon to be Julie Wilsey :) on October 9!).

My first few weeks home were eventful to say the least...in fact, I was hardly home at all. I was busy squeezing in visits, getting a long overdue haircut, setting up a new mobile phone account, getting everything done so that I could drive my car again, and trying to catch Olivier on Skype whenever our schedules would allow. Then after less than a week back in Cadillac, I went to Elk Rapids for a week for the Brugger family camping reunion. Thank goodness I stayed so busy...I needed it.

Then Olivier came to Michigan (and Chicago and NYC). I freaked out when he called me at 4:45 in the morning the day he was supposed to arrive in Chicago. He couldn't get on the flight because an Aer Lingus employee said he needed to "print" his ESTA number. This is a recently-required US borders thing that is required of all people from specific countries not needing visas for tourism. Anyway, he had the number "recorded" as instructed by Homeland Security. After much research, I have repeatedly verified that he was in the right. Anyway, I was freaking out because we didn't know if he would be able to come, especially with ticket prices being so expensive. By some miracle, his brother found a reasonably-priced (still expensive!) ticket and he was on a flight the next day. I am still waiting to hear back from Aer Lingus. He heard back, and they are only willing to refund his airport tax of 108 euro. Needless to say, this is NOT over yet. With one less day in Chicago, we spent one day exploring and then drove back to Michigan that evening.

Once in Michigan, we spent almost every day at a Lake Michigan beach. He loved it. I loved that he loved it. Honestly, how could one not love Lake Michigan beaches?!

While enjoying the beaches, we also enjoyed the Platte River...a few times. Olivier quickly got the hang of lounging in tubes and drinking beverages while floating down the peaceful river into Lake Michigan. I think we floated it three times that weekend. Along with my family, we had the company of long-time family friends, the Vance/Marvin family. He was able to meet one of my best friends, Brittany Marvin, and Robbie, her sweet and fun husband. We had a blast. Here we are, done with one tour of the river, and ready to start round two.

This tubing trip coincided with our annual camping trip with the Vance's/Marvin's. Olivier successfully enjoyed (so he said) a few nights of camping in a tent, and survived an intense thunderstorm.

Our time together in Michigan was wonderful. The weather was perfect everyday, we saw nature's way of bragging everywhere we went, and we thoroughly enjoyed each other's company. We were not ready to leave when it was time to go. He was actually planning his next trip over before we left for New York.

Last stop: NYC. We spent three nights in New York, enjoying our last days together for now. We started off our first evening enjoying Italian at an outside cafe in Greenwich Village. Then we walked to Times Square to take in the intensity and excitement that only Times Square can provide. We were exhausted, so we headed back to the hotel so that we would be ready for the next day. We packed in as much touristy stuff as possible that day, taking full advantage of our hop-on, hop-off bus pass. Although we did encounter some rain, most of the day was great (Yes, that IS Rupert from Hello Deli!).

We spent our last day taking it easy with a boat ride and long walk through Central Park. I desperately wanted our time to slow down, but like all things, our last evening came to an end. We spent the next morning and early afternoon relaxing. We ate at a local cafe and walked to Prospect Park, not far from our hotel. Then it was time to head to the airport. As I saw signs for La Guardia Airport, I knew it was goodbye. It was so difficult to see him pull away, but I was okay (he had to leave from JFK).

I think part of what makes this all easier is that I know that we are going to work this all out. It is not as hard as I imagined it would be. I am staying busy working and catching up with people, and I talk to him via Skype almost every day. I know that I need to be here right now. I have so much to take care of, including the mountains of paperwork required to get me back to him. I have to make money and go through all of my stuff. So for now, I am okay being here. I know that I will be back with him before long.

As of right now, I am planning on going back to France in mid-January. I decided to work as a waitress and substitute teacher until then, saving as much money as possible. I am spending the holidays here with my family, and then getting ready to head back and start my life with him. For the first year I will not be legally able to get a real job, but I will be babysitting and tutoring in order to make enough to get by (luckily my student loans are my only big expense right now). Then after that year, I can do other paperwork that will allow me the right to work. Once I have that, I will probably work as an English teacher or maybe a math teacher in a bilingual or international school. We'll see. For now, I am just doing what I can to make it work, as is he. Nobody ever said life was easy, but it sure is great. I don't know where my road will lead, but I am currently headed WAY East, with signs in francais.

The Good Stuff (Thanks Greta)

2010-07-14T14:13:00.002+02:00

First of all, I need to mention one of my dearest friends. We've only spent a few days together here and there, but I love her and she is truly one of the most amazing people I know. I just caught up on her blog and she lifted my spirits right up. She is so strong, loving, adventurous, and incredible. Greta Weisman, thank you! Jubilee!!!!

I just posted my last blog a little over an hour ago, and I can't stop thinking about how depressing I sound. Well, I wrote it to feel better. Sometimes I feel better when I write what I'm feeling...just another form of venting I guess.

Here's what happened. I was on my way home and I was listening to my Ipod. Of course, some song came on that triggered everything, and I started crying. I cried by myself and then to get over it, I wrote a blog. Hence, it was pretty miserable. However I will not delete it. It is true, it is how I am feeling, and I can't deny how sad I am about leaving. But I am also happy. I am so comfortable here, I am with the guy I love, and he loves me too. Aside from the fact that going home means I have to leave him, at least for now, I am so excited to get home. Finally. I have missed friends, family, even Cadillac. What do I want to do when I get home?! Well, here's my list. It's not finished and I'm sure I left out a lot, but here are just a few things.

1) Hug my parents
2) Hug my dogs and throw tennis balls for them
3) See Lina, Sanna, and Lucas (Maria, Gus, and Buxton too!)
4) Go to the movie theater with my dad
5) Hang out with Lauren
6) Play Cranium and Euchre with the Lempe family and friends (Lo, you're on my team, chica)
7) Eat peanut butter chocolate ice cream
8) Eat Mexican Food at Herraduras
9) Swing with Grandpa Porter on his porch swing and learn from Pat
10) Drive up to Traverse City to have lunch with Grandpa and Grandma Brugger
11) Call Julie and Brittany and (insert a bunch of names here of my best buds) and REALLY catch up
12) Drink coffee on my porch with my mom
13) Skype Olivier
14) Go through my closet and rediscover my clothes
15) Go camping (luckily I have 2 trips planned right away!)
16) Lay on the boat
17) The list goes on and on.....

I am thankful that when I get back, my time will be completely filled with friends, family, and fun (some of my very favorite "F" words). I already have some lunches planned, I have a week-long camping trip with the Brugger family, and Olivier is coming for two weeks, arriving in Chicago on August 1st. Then it will be my birthday and Lauren has already assured me that we WILL have fun. Basically, I will be so busy having fun, that my time will fly and before I know it, fall will be here, I'll be working, and planning a trip back to France. Life is good. No, life is great.

I'm an Emotional Basketcase

2010-07-13T16:47:00.002+02:00

Hi. I’m sorry that I haven’t blogged in ages. I can’t even explain why. I have not been exceptionally busy or anything. I guess I just have not had the desire. I had plans to run through all of the little details of summer trips, etc. However, for now, I just feel like writing about how I’m feeling.

My countdown has been in effect for several months, but I am officially leaving in a week. It is down to the wire and I am going through hundreds of emotions: happy, devastated, hopeful, love, fear, heartbreak, longing… I still haven’t figured out exactly how I am going to eventually come back to France, but I know that I will…I know that it is in my future, and that I just have to somehow work out the logistics.

Several weeks ago I wrote a poem about being in the calm before the storm. I wrote that I could see a storm approaching, I knew that it would be bad, and that eventually it would pass. The storm I am referring to is, of course, my life far from my love. It hardly seems fair, but I guess life never is. Don’t misinterpret this please. I am so excited to finally be with my family and friends, but my heart is already aching knowing how hard it is going to be for me to be away from Olivier. In my poem, the storm broke as I said goodbye on my way to the airport. It was the strongest at first, and over time, I got used to the thunder and rain. I adapted and even though it was hard, I survived. And I will. There is no doubt in my mind that I will be fine. However, instead of starting when I leave, I feel like the storm is already here. I love every moment I spend with him, but every time I think about how happy I am, I am reminded that my time with him is almost over, at least for now. I just thank God that my upcoming goodbye is just temporary and that I am not saying goodbye forever.

My emotions are completely crazy. I am so happy one moment, then crying the next. I am trying to be strong. I am doing ok. It is just hard. I don’t know how I will find the strength to leave, but I will. I can’t wait to hug my parents. I can’t wait to chat with girl friends, visit family, go camping, walk on the beaches, play ball with my dogs, and see my kids (aka Maria’s kids). This will all immensely help me. I am so lucky to have so much love in my life. Thank you all for loving me, supporting me, and just being there. I love you all. What would I do without you?

My Current Predicament

2010-06-06T22:23:00.003+02:00

Hi everyone. All is going pretty well here. The weather is beautiful and warm. I found a babysitting job to keep me occupied and help me out monetarily until I come home. The family is a nice Australian family. They live in the suburbs of Paris in a nice house on the river. The kids are sweet and the parents are very kind.

Things are also going well with Olivier. I am just dreading leaving him behind when I come home. Thinking about saying goodbye is already hard enough. I am just hoping that I will be able to eventually come back to be with him. For now, I am doing my best to really enjoy the time I have left here. I am down to the under two month mark. Time sure does fly.

When I think about everything I have gone through this year, I realize just how emotional this year has been. It started with homesickness, then troubles with the French family, then missing my family, especially at Christmas, then the realization that I had fallen in love and would have to leave, and of course, the decision to leave the French family. As I look at all of this, the most troubling for me is still unresolved. I want to be with Olivier, but it is nearly impossible. How do you follow your heart when it means living an ocean away from your family? I have really done ok this year being far away. It was hard in the beginning, and from time to time throughout the year, but I am ok. I can manage it. I have realized that being with Olivier makes me so happy, and I feel that I need to follow my heart and see where our relationship goes. Logic has flown right out the window.

Now my struggle is figuring out how to stay here. The reality is that I need to work. I need a real job. I cannot continue babysitting for the rest of my life. It is just not enough, both financially and intellectually. I have those darn student loans hanging over me, and trust me, they will be there for a long, long time. I knew this when I started school. For me, I did not personally have a choice. I had to have an education and student loans were my way of achieving this. Enough about those darn loans. Those are just part of life. In order to live in France, I need a visa. Since I need a job, I need a work visa. I have been researching this for months now and a work visa is almost impossible for an American teacher like me to obtain. Basically, I need to find a job that will do the visa paperwork for me. They must prove that they need my skills for the job, etc... Now why would any school do this when they can easily just hire a Brit or another European? Exactly...they wouldn't. I have sent out numerous e-mails and resumes. Of the responses I received, the jobs required that I already have working papers. It is one big Catch-22. I'm stuck. So basically I am still hoping that any good karma in my life will catch up with me and throw me a miracle of a bone. Until then, I just have to wait and see.

I can't help but continually play one song in my head. It was sort of a theme song last time I left Paris, but it has become even more fitting for my current situation. John Denver's "Leaving on a Jet Plane" pretty much sums it all up. I just hope that when I go, I will be coming back. It might not be for awhile, but I can't imagine my life any other way.

I am going to spend Wednesday through Sunday with Olivier at his parents' home in Antibes. He has some vacation time and I thought it best to spend what little time I have left here enjoying our time together. I really cannot wait to be there. He left yesterday morning for Dublin for a week-end with his best friend, and I will not see him until I fly into Nice. Needless to say, I am giddy with excitement. I hope you are all doing well. I'll see you soon.

My Summer Wish

2010-06-02T17:11:00.002+02:00

I hope that I can make the best of our time together.

I hope I can find a way to come back.

I hope I can be happy and just enjoy being with you,

Instead of being sad about not being with you.

I hope this is not our last summer together.

I hope this is our first summer together.

Bisous, cheri.

I Thought of You

2010-06-02T16:28:00.003+02:00

The other day, I awoke early, and for some reason, had the urge to write this down.

Yesterday, when I moved to another bench to find the sun, I thought of you.

As I saw the moon peek up over the city last night, I thought of you.

As I was crying over life's difficulties, I thought of you.

This morning, in the still early hours,

As the birds' chirping brought the only sound to my ears and I slowly drank my first cup of coffee, I thought of you.

As I thought about your mother, I thought of you.

When the song came on that makes us think of us, I thought of you.

Every day, throughout the day, I think of you.

I love you, I miss you.

No matter what I do or where I am, I keep you with me.

I thought of you, Mom.

I am looking forward to our next morning coffee together.

Our Tour de France

2010-05-18T23:09:00.015+02:00

OK, so here it is...my tour through France with my parents. We had a wonderful time together. I was so happy to see them. It was such a good feeling to be with them in person after so long apart. Once we were back together, it was like nothing had changed...like I had seen them just a few weeks earlier. It was great.

At the airport, we were surprised to find that our rental car happened to be a little better than our quoted Taurus. Hello BMW. We travelled in style :)

My Mom tested her skills among the French drivers and successfully got us to our destination, Crystal's place, for night one. We walked around Pigalle, Paris's touristy red light district, grabbed some lunch, and headed back to the apartment to try and rest up before dinner. My parents were finally able to meet Olivier and it went very well.

The next morning, we left for Normandy....first stop: D-Day beaches. We arrived in the early afternoon at the American National Cemetery in Normandy, where we went for a walking tour and solemnly gazed at Omaha Beach, once widely called "Bloody Omaha."

We decided to call it a day after a light lunch, and headed to our hotel to rest up for the next day. My parents fell asleep very quickly thanks to jet-lag. Jet-lag also influenced internal clocks, along with the help of the blinds that made the room completely dark. After my mother's assurance that my dad would wake up around 6 or 7 am, I did not set my alarm. Well, at 12:14 pm the next day, I woke up in disbelief. Haha. It really didn't matter anyway.

We headed to one of the world's wonders, Mont-Saint-Michel, an abbey started in the 10th century. This medieval city was absolutely breathtaking. My dad couldn't get over how old it was.

After Mont-Saint-Michel, we started the drive south. We knew getting all the way to the French Riviera from Normany was a long stretch, so we stayed one night in Tours. After a long drive the next day, we pulled up to our condo. It was perfect for us and in a great location. Basically it was central to all of the major cities we wanted to visit on the Riviera. Nice and Monoco were to the East, and Antibes and Cannes were to the West.

We decided to spend our first full day on the Riviera with a car tour. We didn't have any specific destination in mind, but since I had been there a few months earlier with Olivier, I sort of knew the area. My mom ventured the winding hairpin turns to our first visit in the medieval town of Eze. Eze is situation very high up and has one of the best views of the Riviera. We climbed the streets and stairs until we finally reached the eagle's nest view surrounded by an exotic garden.

After the trek back down through the village, we drove towards Nice along the water, and then through Monoco. We didn't even get out of the car in Monoco. The streets were so curvy and unfamiliar that we decided we preferred to just head back for the day. We did our grocery shopping and enjoyed a nice meal before heading to the beach to gaze at the moon. It was full, glowing, and glistened over the water. We thought of my grandmother as we always do when we see the moon.

If you know my family, you know that we love the beach. Guess what we did the very next morning. We packed up our mini cooler with drinks, lunch and a few snacks, and headed to the closest beach we could find. The beach was rocky like most beaches east of Antibes, but my mom made the best of the situation, occupying herself for hours in the hunt for the perfect stones and beach glass. She was actually pretty successful in her search. My dad pretended to help and I found a few pieces while I was lying on my towel.

After a few hours in the sun, we decided to check out Antibes, Olivier's home town. It really is charming with all of the boats and little streets. I think it is my favorite Mediterranean city.

That night, after a few cocktails and dinner prepared by me, we headed to the beach again to watch the moon rise (My dad was so surprised that I could cook. He thought I would never know how to cook a thing. I guess France agrees with me. However, I have a LONG way to go...trial and error is how I get by). The moon was absolutely gorgeous. It started off as a huge, glowing, red ball as it climbed itself up over the water. I don't think I have ever watched a moon rise like that before. It was breathtaking. We enjoyed our wine and cameras as we took countless photos, continually laughing uncontrollably at ourselves. Luckily we had a few winners.

The next day we went to a sandy beach in Antibes for a few hours, and then headed home for awhile before venturing into Nice for a dinner out. I couldn't find the restaurant recommended by Olivier, so hunger and the need of a bathroom led us to a restaurant similar to most others. It was the perfect evening for strolling around Nice. Place Massena, the main open area, was very cool and alive with night life.

My parents went to the beach for a few hours the next morning while I slept in and avoided making my sunburn worse. Then we headed into Nice to check out the area a little more for the rest of the day. We left Nice the next morning and drove through Italy and the Alps towards Chamonix. Apparently we were in the South at the right time because a huge wave and bad weather made a mess of the area just a few days after we left.

Chamonix was, unfortunately, not exactly the same as it had been the last time my mom and I visited. It had been perfect before, but this time, the weather made it a little less desirable. It was rainy and very foggy, making the amazing mountains almost completely hidden from our view. We tried to make the best of it by enjoying onion soup and a train ride through the mountains to walk inside a huge glacier. We ended up leaving Chamonix a day early because of the weather. We drove as far as Dijon, and then drove back to Paris as scheduled.

We took a tour bus around Paris for a few days, and then I led us around a little as well. They saw just about everything. The weather was really cold, but at least it was not raining! We were able to have dinner with Olivier again before they left. The last night, we ate dinner, just the three of us, in a little restaurant by Arc de Triomphe, and then headed to a bridge to watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle before heading in. It was hard to see them leave, but it did help knowing that I will be seeing them in just a few short months. I am so thankful that they came and were able to share France with me. Ten years ago, I would never have thought this to be a reality. Thanks so much Mom and Dad. I love you and feel so honored that you came to spend this time here with me.

A Quick Overview...More to Come

2010-05-13T18:13:00.002+02:00

Well, I haven't blogged in over a month...sorry! A lot has happened since I last blogged, so here is a quick overview of everything.

First of all, I moved. Like I said before, I decided to leave the family I was working for. It just was not working out for me, and I wanted to spend my time here enjoying it as much as possible. Luckily things ended relatively well with the family, so there was not much drama. I moved in with Olivier and have started looking for any small job. Basically, I'm looking to tutor people in English and for babysitting jobs.

Right after I moved out, my parents arrived. Perfect timing. Luckily the volcano allowed for their flight to arrive on-time. We did a grand tour of France, and I will post a few pictures later when I have time to go into further detail of our trip. It was so nice to see them again. I had a great time and had fun sharing my love of France with them. We went to Omaha Beach (D-Day landings) in Normandy, Mont-Saint-Michel, the French Riviera, Chamonix (a small town near Mont Blanc in the Alps), and, of course, Paris. We rented a very fun car and enjoyed driving everywhere we went (except Paris). I was sad to see them go, but I know they were ready to leave when their 2 weeks were up.

Now I am just preparing for a long week-end in London. Olivier's brother lives there, so we will stay with him. I am very excited as it will be my first time in London and my first real trip with Olivier. Also, at the end of next week, my cousin Bonnie is coming for about a week and a half. I can't wait to see her! This must be the season for visitors :) I will write more next week when I have a little more time. Things have just been busy. Have a nice week-end!

Paques

2010-04-05T14:28:00.003+02:00

"Paques" is French for Easter. In France, almost everyone gets Monday off of work, so we get a nice 3-day-weekend. I spent mine with Olivier. We didn't do a lot, but it was nice to relax. On Monday we had a friend, Philippe, over and I cooked. To my surprise, the food tasted pretty good. I made pasta with chicken in a garlic, buttery, creamy sauce with mushrooms. Oh and we did eat bread and wine (unintentionally a religious meal). I did miss spending the day with my family and searching for my Easter basket...my dad still likes to watch us search like kids as soon as we wake up (David still acts like a 5-year-old in search of his basket). And I will say that Easter candy in the US is sooooo good. I love it..Starburst jelly beans, Cadbury mini eggs, Reese eggs, ....I could go on all day. I hope you all had a great Easter :)

"Almost French"

2010-04-03T17:41:00.004+02:00

I have found a book that is absolutely perfect in describing how I feel as an outsider living in Paris. It is called "Almost French" and it is written by Sarah Turnbull, an Australian woman who fell in love with a Frenchman and ended up staying in Paris. She brings up so many different things that I have experienced. I am not yet finished with the book, but I am loving it and recommend it. I am just going to include a few quotes that have really impacted me.

"After four months of traveling, I know only one thing with absolute certainty: if I don't go to France...I might regret it forever. I'll always be wondering about the love of my life that could have been, the entirely different future that might have been if only I'd taken the risk. Sure, there's no guarantee that it will work, but then nothing ventured, nothing gained. All I know is a chance encounter has thrown open an unexpected door. Instinct tells me to step through it."

This quote hit me like a ton of bricks. I don't know what my future holds, but I know that if I come home as planned and don't try to be with Olivier, I will always wonder what might have been. The path I had always envisioned for myself has shifted drastically from a life in the US to one in France. The next quote is also very meaningful. I feel like I am an "in-betweener." I feel so American in France, but when I am home in the United States, I feel like a part of me is missing. I see France in everything...I think of it every day. While in Greece, the author encountered a man who was also from Australia, but had spent a lot of his life in Greece.

"'It's a bittersweet thing, knowing two cultures...It's a curse to love two countries.' ...I had no idea then how radically my life was about to change and how well I would come to understand what the Greek had said."

The last quote has to deal with some of the frustration that comes from living in a world where my first language is not spoken on a normal basis. After a dinner party, Sarah was perceived as being shy and quiet for not talking a lot. I feel just like her because I simply cannot always follow conversations and I feel like when I do try to add something, I end up sounding stupid. This is not so bad right now, but before, it could really be frustrating.

"It does matter to me that I'm now perceived as quiet, nice and boring. And the reason it bothers me is because it's true. Looking back, I'd said very little all night. When I did speak, it was to issue childlike statements or ask simple questions which made me cringe at my own dumbness."

In general, this book has really helped me realize the differences in French life and culture, and helped me to better understand that what I am going through is similar for other expats.

With Spring Comes Change

2010-04-01T07:17:00.003+02:00

Spring is here and I am loving it! The weather has been pretty warm (light jacket weather) and it has been really sunny...except when it randomly decides to rain. It feels so nice to be able to walk around Paris and not be shielding from the elements the entire time. While I am thrilled that it is spring and I am having a wonderful time in most aspects of my life, I have decided to make a big change. After many months of being an au pair, I have decided to quit. I have had enough and I am just ready to be done with it all. And here is why...

In general, I feel taken advantage of. What I was told and promised before I arrived is just not the reality. The hours in my contract have never been respected and the idea of being paid for several extra hours left my mind right after I first arrived. I never really know when I will be finished at night, which can be very annoying, especially when I have plans with friends. For example, last week I was supposed to meet with friends around 8:30 pm. Well, since I wasn't relieved of childcare responsibilities until 10 pm, that did not happen. Monday night I figured I might be done around 8:30, when in fact, I was not done until 11. It just gets old. Oh, and hardly ever is there a call or text to inform me that I will be done very late. It is all a guessing game. I am never paid extra for working the hours outside of my contract. Apparently these make up for the "2 babysitting nights" that were never mentioned before I arrived (they are definitely not mentioned in my contract). I had assumed that I would be paid for extra full days (since I had been told I would be). Oh and I am hardly ever paid on time.

Another thing is that it is hard with the kids. They act out all of the time because they want their mother. They blame me for their mother not being there. I understand that they do not understand and I try to comfort them. I do not like being a part of it. I feel bad for them, but I am ready to be away from it.

I did not realize before I arrived that I would have the kids all day long, five days a week during the entire month of July (about 50/55 hours). This is well over the 30 hour a week rule, but once I found out about it, I was told that I would be compensated. Right after announcing that I would be leaving, I learned that in fact I probably would not have been paid anything extra. Thank goodness I am deciding to leave because I would much rather spend most of the month of July in beautiful northern Michigan than spending endless stressful hours watching three kids that are constantly naughty and disrespectful.

In the beginning I had asked about taking a Friday off here and there for traveling. After all, part of living in France is being able to take little vacations around Europe. I was told that this would not be a problem, just as long as I told them a few weeks in advance. Well, for the first time I asked for a Friday off. I asked for it nearly two months in advance. It was refused on the grounds that the parents had to work. Well in my opinion, they have plenty of time to work something else out. I think the mother figured out that I was mad about that and eventually gave me the day off. This happened the day I told her I was leaving, so it was too late for her. Oh well, I wouldn't have changed my decision anyway.

There are lots of other little things that I do not like about my job, like all of the cleaning, but I can put up with that stuff. If I had the hours in my contract and did only "light housework" for the cleaning (like I was told), I would stay the rest of my time here. However being continually taken advantage of has put a damper on my year abroad. I want to spend the rest of my time here enjoying myself without this burden. I have a student visa and plan on taking a class this summer to satisfy that. And if that doesn't work I can always just go to England for a few days and return to France as a tourist. I'll figure it out. I can do little babysitting jobs or tutor people in English and I will make more than I make now. I have a place to stay so I am not worried about that at all. I can always just hop on a plane and come back to the states if there are problems. Since I have told of my leaving, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted. Even though the situation in the home is now pretty uncomfortable, I can deal with it. The parents and I are not often home at the same times anyway. I am helping in the search for another au pair and I already have a few potential people that are already in Paris.

Guest Blog

2010-03-19T21:40:00.004+01:00

I wrote a guest blog describing my life in France as an au pair. Check it out :) Sorry I can't get the link to work, so just copy and paste the address...

http://uneautremere.blogspot.com/2010/03/french-friday-part-trois.html

Arabian Nights: My trip to Morocco

2010-03-08T21:16:00.012+01:00

So, as many of you know, I went to Morocco a few weeks ago. I had a wonderful time and really enjoyed being in a culture so different from that to which I have grown so accustomed. However, after a few days, the excitement began to wear off, and I was definitely ready to return to the western world. It was a great experience and I enjoyed being surrounded by an atmosphere full of new, exotic things. Hearing the call to prayer throughout the day was definitely an experience, as was being a minority among women, as we were not wearing burqas or headscarves of any kind. From night one, we felt like we were in the movie Aladdin. I went with Crystal and another au pair friend Sarah. Sarah's classmate Gabby came along too.

Well, we arrived on time and right away, the warm air put smiles on our faces. The writing on the airport was also exciting because it was in Arabic. That night, after an interesting taxi ride, we were led through small, winding streets by all kinds of people wanting a tip. We were definitely uneasy, but luckily we spoke French and could talk to other people, in order to make sure we were going the right way. Sure enough, after many turns and stops to ask for advice, we arrived at our hostel. Honestly, it is a good thing that locals helped us, because I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have been able to find it ourselves. After a knock on the door, our minds were set at ease as we trudged into our little sanctuary (voted #1 hostel in Morocco in 2008 on Hostel world!). We loved the place right away. It felt very safe, the people were very kind and helpful, and it had an authentic Arabian feel to it. The random cats everywhere also gave it a little character. I guess replacing Parisian pigeons for Moroccan cats isn't a bad trade-off for a few days. Our room that slept 8 was huge! I felt like it had once housed a small harem.

We decided to take a stroll that night to take advantage of our first night in Marrakech. Amazingly enough, we easily found the main square and realized our hostel was in the perfect location. It was in the Souks, a famous area of Marrakech known for it's sellers and bargaining. One could by anything from little leather camels to prayer carpets to saffron to fake Gucci here (no, I did not buy any fake goods)!

In the main square, called Place Jemma el Fna, there were several performers (like gay arabian dancers haha), games, henna artists, and mini restaurants under tents. Being that were were starving and excited to try something new, we dove right in, finding the first tent that looked good, also known as "#81" (since the tents are numbered). It ended up being our favorite. Here are are "homies" and our dinners. They knew us for the rest of the week and called us their "homies" whenever we walked by.

We ended the night early because we wanted to be ready-to-go early the next morning. It is funny how we were all so motivated early-on, and then determined to sleep in the last few days. Lucky for us, the breakfast at our hostel was delicious. First of all, we were served fresh orange juice, which was probably the best OJ I have ever tasted, and then we were brought several goodies. Of these breakfast things, we loved the Moroccan version of the crepe and some fried airy things (a little like beignets), that I quickly named "pockets of love." We documented the making of the pockets of love. The staff got a kick out of our intrigue.

Just for reference, here is our street in the daylight. You can imagine how we were a little worried when we arrived at night.... Also, here are some pictures of our walk through the Souks, on our way to the main square.

Once in the square, we saw our first snake charmers and monkeys of the day, as well as the endless dried fruit stands.

We headed toward the main mosque to start a little sightseeing tour. We quickly realized that everyone willing to help us wanted to be paid, and that road signs, especially those not in French (French is an official language), were almost non-existent. So, we opted for the open-tour bus, a sure-thing in almost any major city, in order to get our bearings. It took us all over the city, and was a very good idea. Oh and by the way, I have grown to thoroughly love McDonalds. I used to hate it, really, but now that I am abroad, McDonalds has come to be some sort of safe-haven where I can always find a Diet Coke (or Coca Light) and a toilet. Crystal and I even went to the Arabian McDonalds to relax and catch some sun one afternoon after we decided we had done all the touristy stuff already. We never regretted it one bit, but we did consider ourselves a bit pathetic, and very American. I was honestly a little sick of couscous when that day came.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking in a famous garden, trying to figure out how we were going to get to Tangier later that week, visiting a palace, and making our way back to the main square for dinner. We had fun bartering with the Souks for a few hours, even though we did not buy much. Most of them were really fun, but there were a few here and there who got annoyed when we didn't buy anything. It is amazing how much they were willing to lower their prices. Usually we could get them down to about a fifth of their original offer. I must say that as the week wore on and in the heat of the day, these sellers could get pretty irritating, as well as the women always trying to henna us.

The next day was another day of touristy stuff, as well as still trying to figure out bus or train tickets (luckily we got it all figured it out that day). We visited a famous school for studying the Koran called the Medersa Ben Youssef, the Museum of Marrakech, and the Saadiens Tombs. The Tombs were actually hidden for centuries by a very narrow passageway, making it an especially hard-to-find tourist attraction. Luckily we are good at being tourists and can figure this stuff out. Hint: follow other tourists with guidebooks that look like they know what they are doing.

For the next few days we took it easy, having already seen the main attractions. We hung out at McDonalds where we sun-bathed and had a nice view of the Atlas Mountains, as I mentioned earlier, rested in a park, strolled in the newer area of the city, did some more haggling in the Souks, and went to a Hammam. The Hammam was the very best idea ever. A Hammam is basically the Muslim version of a spa. And it is amazing. Crystal and I bought the package that included a 30-minute massage, while Sarah joined us until our massage started. I will do my best to describe it. My advice is to go if you ever have the chance. It is soooo worth it. Us and three other tourist women were led into a room where we put all of our belongings, except for our underwear, into a basket, which was locked into a cabinet. We were then led into a shower-type room where two women started dumping buckets of warm water on us, and then washing us down with some type of soap. Then we spent several minutes in a sauna, which towards the end, was almost unbearable. In fact, it was kind of cool because leaving the sauna felt so refreshing. The women poured tepid water on us and then we laid down on tables where they scrubbed us with soap and these gloves that removed our dead skin (luckily we kept the gloves, which made me feel better about the sanitation of the place). Back to the sauna for another melt-down. I couldn't take the heat for very long, so I laid back down on the table, all the while thinking to myself how great this all was. The ladies then led us to another room where they washed our hair and bodies and rinsed us thoroughly with buckets of water. Then we were given big, comfy robes and led to a dim, mesmerizing room where laid down and drank tea while listening to soft, Arabian music. After awhile, we were taken to our massages. This was the first real massage of my life. It was incredible. So perfect. After that we relaxed in a room and drank more tea before leaving. The whole experience lasted around two hours. Imagine doing this, maybe once a week (not with the massage), in the name of religion...

After four full days in Marrakech, we took a night bus to Tangier. We thought this was a good idea. After all, we could sleep on the bus and save money on a hostel, as well as save daylight hours for touring around. We were wrong. This night was very bad. Out of Crystal, Sarah, and I, I was the only one that slept on the bus to Tangier. We first took a bus to Casablanca, we waited there for a few hours, and then took another bus to Tangier, where we arrived around 4:30 am. We found a cafe where we sipped tea and waited for daylight to come, surrounded by baby cockroaches, and then we took naps in the bus station once it opened. We saw the beach, ate some food, wandered a bit, and then finally took a cab to the airport. We were ready to leave Morocco by that time. When we booked our trip, we thought it would be fun to visit Tangier for a few days, so that we were not always in one place. We should have just stayed in Marrakech. Tangier was not too exciting, although I'm sure it would have been nicer if we had more sleep and more time to spend there. The sea was beautiful, luckily, and it was a nice day to wander. One of my Tangier highlights was that there were hundreds of boys playing soccer on the beach and I joined in for a few minutes. I really wanted to play, but quickly realized that I fell down more often than normal in the sand. Ah well...

All in all, it was a wonderful trip. I was able to experience a very different culture and have fun. I even have a great new "worst travel experience" story (I'm talking about the bus trip and early morning in Tangier, of course).

I'm back

2010-03-01T15:02:00.003+01:00

FYI, I just wanted to let you know that I am back from Africa. I don't have time right now, or the energy, for a long post, but I didn't want anyone to worry (I know some of you do). I had a wonderful time and experienced a lot. I will blog later with lots of pictures.

Awaiting Africa

2010-02-17T14:23:00.003+01:00

In less than a week, five days to be exact, I will depart for Morocco. I will be going with Crystal and another American au pair named Sarah, and we will be staying for five days.

I really do not know how this all came about. Basically, Crystal and I both have the same week off and we thought we needed to do something fun together. Looking through the airline prices helped us decide our destination. Africa. I've always wanted to go, so why not now? I know Morocco is in the northern tip of Africa and I'm not venturing into the tribal lands that lie further south, but hey, it's still Africa. We will be flying into Marrakech where we will stay for most of our trip. While there we plan on seeing snake-charmers, bartering for goods, eating lots of couscous, riding on camels, taking a city tour, and basically just checking out the history and culture. Then we plan on taking an overnight train to Tangier and checking out the Straight of Gibraltar before we fly back to Paris.

We found a great hostel in Marrakech for only 13 euro a night. Lucky for us, Marrakech looks like it will be pretty cheap, especially compared to Paris. All of the hostels there were around this price, and this one looked like it would be the best for us. It is right in the city center, so we can basically just walk to get where we need to go. The hostel was even rated the number one hostel in Marrakech for 2008 and has great reviews. So, no worries. We plan on having a great trip. It will be nice to get out of Paris for a few days. I'll blog when I get back with pictures and stories.

Valentine's Day

2010-02-15T14:30:00.003+01:00

I hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day. I have never been one to care that much about the day to be honest, but I definitely enjoyed it this year (it helps having someone to share it with). I guess I had more of a Valentine's week-end than just a "day," since like usual, I got to share the whole week-end with my valentine. I went to Crystal's place on Friday to make cookies. She has a new special someone in her life too, and when I told her I was going to make cookies, she wanted in on the deal. We attempted and succeeded in our cookie-making. This is no big feat under normal circumstances, but when one has to use different ingredients, cut their own chocolate pieces, and use a professional French oven, things can get exciting. With the first taste of the delicious dough, I knew they were not a complete failure. There's something so delicious about an oatmeal chocolate chunk cookie. I boxed them all up and took them to Olivier Friday night, thus commencing a great week-end.

We spent Friday night and Saturday night with the usual band of his friends (which have now become my friends too), eating in restaurants and having drinks at the familiar, cozy bar near his place. His friends are very sweet and funny. Then Sunday rolled around. I really did not expect anything, but he surprised me, like a perfect gentleman. Under the casual cover of "going to get some bread," he returned with the bread, a small chocolate, heart-shaped cake, and a bouquet of peach-colored roses (noting that red roses were so cliche..haha).

Since it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, we decided to go for a walk to soak up the sun. Sacre Coeur, a beautiful basilica and one of my favorite Parisian tourist attractions, is not far from his place, so we met up with some friends to walk there, snacking on Nutella crepes on the way.

The day ended comfortably, perfectly actually. We watched a French movie, and for the first time, I really understood just about everything. I broke a little language barrier I think! It was hilarious in a 1980s Breakfast Club kind-of way. It was called "Les Sous Doues Passent le Bac," or something along the lines of "The Under Achievers Attempt to take the Bac" (Bac: the test at the end of high school). Then we watched a little Olympic action, with France and the US in a head-to-head cross-country ski race. To my dismay, after plenty of trash talk coming from me, France happened to win. It was pretty funny. It was a perfect end to a very nice day.

My Latest Care Package

2010-02-04T14:09:00.003+01:00

Now, before I get into the very interesting detailed account of the contents of my latest care package, I must mention something to my readers about my blogging frequency. I am sorry to my readers for leaving many long, uninterrupted voids between posts. Ideally I would like to be blogging my life away, leaving you all a day-to-day update on an exciting life. Now, being honest with myself and you, I must admit that my life is not, in fact, filled with excitement, thus making day-to-day blogging something that would be very boring and not worth your time, or mine for that matter. Alas, the point of this little rambling is that I just want to inform you that I will try to blog often (hopefully inspiring ideas will really start coming to me), but in all reality, and as my history has shown, don't expect more than a few blogs out of me a month. I'm just not that good at staying up-to-date when it comes to blogging.

Now that that is out of the way, I will now begin explaining to you all my pathetic list of the contents in my most recent care package. Keep in mind that I have been very excited for its arrival, and I know you are all going to think I am crazy.

1. My Pumas. I have been wanting these shoes for months and do not know why I ever left them home in the first place. In a city where I do a lot of walking, these things are a necessity that I have really been missing.

2. Peanut Butter M&M's. Yes, this little entity continually makes itself present in my blogs. Can you tell that I love them? It is actually a good thing that I cannot get these in France. I wouldn't be able to stay away.

3. Dental Floss. I brought two things of floss with me, knowing that it is a little harder to find over here. I am honestly one of the people that do not feel guilty at the dentist's office when I am asked if I have been flossing regularly. I am a flosser and I am choosy when it comes to my floss. I have found floss here (it's at the pharmacy and sometimes Monoprix, as well as other places I have not thought to look, I'm sure), but I was quickly disappointed at the stuff the person at the pharmacy gave me. It does not come close to the Glide floss I love. However, I think I spotted it at a different Monoprix the other day, so I will be going back to check.

4. Jif Extra Crunchy Peanut Butter. Need I say more? Yum (I am currently eating it on an English Muffin)! My mom sent me two huge things of it! Thanks Momma!

5. Fiber. I prefer to not explain this. You all can figure it out.

6. Valentine's Day Card. This was the surprise. I didn't know this was coming and it made me very happy. My mom was really thinking ahead when she sent this. Thank goodness the stores put V-Day stuff out as soon as Christmas is over (and sometimes before).

I know this all seems so basic to you, but this stuff helps me feel just a little better. I may love France and almost everything about it, but I was raised in the US and am used to my favorites. Thanks Mom! My peanut butter stock should last me until my parents come to France in April. If not, well, I'll just have to wander to the exotic foods section and buy a tiny, expensive tub of it.

A Slight Dilemma

2010-02-03T13:51:00.004+01:00

My first and only January in Paris has come and gone faster than I could have imagined. I'm already into February and I can hardly believe it. In just a few short weeks I will have hit six months of being out of the USA. This January, in my opinion, was quite bizarre, and I'm from Michigan where weather is always bizarre. It was bitterly cold here in December and early January, and then it warmed up...not a lot, but enough to stop wearing warm boots and mittens. I still usually wear a scarf, but unless it happens to be an especially cold day, I'm just too warm with all of my Michigan winter gear. Today it was raining when I got up. Now it's sunny. This is very typical. I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen it snowing in Paris.

I have a lot of uncertainties right now, one of which being my status as a student. Officially, I am supposed to be taking a French course in order to be an au pair (student visa). Well, I was taking a French course, but the last trimester ended in December. I decided to switch classes because I was not getting enough out of the other for the amount of money I paid. It met twice a week for two hours each session, I had hardly any homework, no tests, and it cost me 365 euro a trimester plus a registration fee of around 40 euro. That's a lot of money when you are not getting much in return and you come from the US and are dealing with the dollar and a crappy exchange rate. I found another course through the city of Paris. It costs 145 euro. Not so bad. Yes, there are downfalls such as bigger class sizes, but that was not enough to make me stick where I was before. After all, I can deal with big classes. I went to Michigan State and took classes in auditoriums full of people. Crystal and I showed up the first day of registration to make sure we had filled everything in correctly, trying to prevent any possible problems. Everything looked fine and the woman helping us assured us that there should be no problems since we were there on the first day. We walked next door to the post office (they required us to mail the forms), mailed our stuff and waited. The school received our forms the next day (it was postmarked as evidence), and a few weeks later, we each heard back. There arose one BIG problem. Crystal got in. I did not, the reason being that the class was full. Tough luck. So now I don't know what to do. I can't go back to my old school...it started a month ago and I can not possibly pay for it, and all the other classes I have looked up interfere with my schedule as an au pair.

So, here is my plan. Keep in mind that I have done all official visits and filed all official paperwork for my visa ages ago, I only make 250 euro a month, and the previous school was only four hours a week when it was supposed to be ten (according to the French government). I have decided to take matters into my own hands because I'm stuck. I have decided to learn French on my own. I know enough of it to figure out the new stuff, and I have people to help explain concepts to me if I don't understand. After all, the last teacher did say that the best way to learn French was to have a French boyfriend. Along with this, I am going to do a language exchange a few times a week. This is just a meeting over coffee where two people help each other learn their language. So, I will meet with a native French person for help with French, and in return, I will help that person learn English. I have already received several messages of people interested in doing this with me. Actually today, somebody said their French professor wanted to do this and asked for my info. Is there a better way for me to learn French than from a native French professor, one-on-one? I think not. If worse comes to worse, and this does just not "fly" with the French government, then I will just come home. I don't want to, believe me, but that is the very worst thing that could happen here. And besides, there is no way the French government has the time to come check up on me or the thousands of other au pairs, especially after I have paid all of my fees to the government.

So maybe I'm not exactly playing by the rules now that I am not officially registered in a school. I have better things to do than get worked up over this issue that I can do nothing more about. Other than this, life is great. I'm a little homesick today, but this always comes and goes. Plus it is Black Wednesday (I'm home all day with the kids), which means that after today, the week-end is in sight :) I have to say that the best part of being an au pair is the week-end.

My Top 10

2010-01-13T23:27:00.004+01:00

"What is Betsy talking about?" you might be asking yourself..."top ten what? Did I miss something?" In fact, you have reason to be wondering what's up with this "top ten" business. And no, this is in no reference whatsoever to Davis Letterman and his hilarious top ten lists that always make me laugh. I am talking about my top ten things that I love and do not have easy-access to over here in the beloved land of the French. Sometimes the mixing pot of America and its delicious, as well as unhealthy, food gives France a run for its money when it comes to me and my cravings.

I obviously have nothing exciting to write about, so why not write about what's on my mind...FOOD. What else? By the way, I've had enough of chocolate. I'm over it, unless it is a complement to something else, like peanut butter or ice cream....oh peanut butter... This brings me to the list.

The following is a list of foods that I happen to love and rarely or never eat in Paris:

1. Mexican food. I miss my chicken fajitas and spicy queso from Herraduras.

2. Peanut butter...need I say more? By the way, you can occasionally find peanut butter in the exotic food section in France. LOL.

3. Ice cream. Yes, I know ice cream is abundant here. However, other than my McDo cones in October, I have had no ice cream since I was in the states in August. Mint Chocolate Chip has been on my mind lately. I do not buy it for several reasons, including that it is expensive as a single serving and I am cheap, there's no room in my freezer, and the family never buys it.

4. Chewy Granola Bars: Peanut Butter 25% less sugar variety :) Basically, I just really like them.

5. Popcorn. I am not talking about microwave popcorn. I don't even like that stuff, unless it is Kettle Corn. I am talking about the do-it-yourself on the stove, add your own butter delicious goodness. I attribute my excellent popcorn-making skills to both Karen and Lauren Lempe, and my father for always insisting that I make it better than him so I better make him some.

6. Peanut Butter M&M's. I consider these tiny miracle-in-your-mouth candies to be heaven sent. They are just so good. Thanks mom for sending me some already. However, don't do it too often because they disappear way too quickly. I can't stay away.

7. Meijer. The convenience of everything in one store. Never thought I'd miss it. Don't get me wrong. I love the charm of a shop for everything: cheese, wine, bread, fruits, meat, toiletries, etc., but sometimes I just want to go to Meijer, get what I need, and get out, at any hour of the night, any day of the week. I just realized I'm writing a Top Ten List about food and that Meijer is, in fact, a store and not a food item. I will rationalize it. Meijer sells food...it even has its own brand. It does not get deleted from the list.

Alert: This list has officially changed from being solely about foods to things in general that I miss, simply because I cannot think of enough food to list.

8. Singing in my car. I do not sing well...not horribly, but definitely not well. However, I love to sing in my car. Who doesn't? When I'm all alone in my car I love to blast the music and sing as loud as I can, sometimes holding a pen or cellphone as if it were my microphone. Watch out American Idol... I'm pretty sure that I would be regarded as one of the crazy homeless people of Paris if I started singing on the metro.

9. Mother language. I LOVE FRENCH. Obviously. I love learning it, I love hearing it, I love speaking it... But, it really does become tiring sometimes. If I am not consciously trying to understand what another person is saying, it becomes like static to me. It is not background noise like a television that I can half listen to. I have to focus on listening. If someone says something to me and catches me off guard, I can never immediately respond because I have to think about it first, thus pointing out that I am, in fact, an English speaker. To watch a movie or the television is becoming easier, but I definitely have to focus, and if there is other noise, well, my focus is lost and it's all over.

10. Family and friends. This includes my dogs. I miss you all. Really. It is not easy being so far away. Thank goodness I have so many people that I am close to over here. Also, Skype is the best for communicating. It does not seem like I am more than an ocean away. There are so many mornings when I take my coffee that I wish I could be sipping it and talking with my mom.

And there it is. My Top Ten Foods I Miss/ Things I Miss in General. Sorry it changed mid-list. The truth is that I love it over here and could definitely survive. But every once in awhile a girl just wants to belt out a song in her own car or eat some spicy Mexican food.

Tis the season of SOLDES (aka sales)

2010-01-13T15:27:00.004+01:00

In almost every store window in Paris right now one can spot the word "SOLDES." This does not mean that something was sold, but that there are sales. "Sale" just happens to be one of my favorite words. I can honestly say that I have not bought much for myself in Paris other than toiletries and food up to this point. Thanks to the soldes, I just went to H & M and bought myself three sweaters and some new slippers all for 40 euro. I did need some more sweaters. It is colder here than I thought. At least it feels colder, brought on by the fact that I spend a lot of time outside. I have never appreciated a warm scarf so much. I do not plan to spend a lot more money at these semi-annual sales, but maybe I will take one or two more trips into the stores before they are finished. After all, the next soldes start in July!

Bonne Annee!

2010-01-13T14:27:00.006+01:00

Bonne Annee! Or Happy New Year (A few weeks late)! The week following Christmas was excellent, thanks to my trip south. The Tuesday morning before the New Year, I boarded an airplane, destination: Nice. Olivier picked me up at the airport and we went to his parents house where I stayed for almost the next week. I must admit that I was really nervous...first time meeting the parents of a new boyfriend is hectic enough...add the fact that they're French and I wasn't sure how much I would understand, and you can see why I was especially nervous. Let's just say my hands were sweating...a lot. Olivier assured me there was nothing to be scared of, that they were nice people. Lucky for me, it was true. They were very nice and welcoming...even the dogs. I arrived, took my bags upstairs, and right away, got to know the family. Thank goodness I am in France for this, the country where no event is complete without a little wine, champagne, etc. We sat around the coffee table, talking and sipping kir royal (champagne with raspberry or current liqueur). The lunch was served and the talking continued. I couldn't help but continually glance at the perfect view of the Mediterranean out the back windows. And thus began my week on the French Riviera. Here is the view from Olivier's bedroom window.

Olivier was a marvelous tour guide of his native region, driving me all along the coast and through the hilly terrain. Throughout the week we visited Antibes (where his parents live), Nice, Monaco, Cannes, the medieval village of Eze, and the medieval village of Saint Paul de Vence. These medieval villages are situated at higher elevations, as was necessary for protection back when they were established. They had great views of the riviera. This is a picture from Antibes at sunset.

And here is a picture of Antibes that I took while on a walk in the city.

This was taken from the top of Eze. However there was so much fog that day that we missed out on one of the best views of the French Riviera. Oh well. I liked the fog...I thought it was mystical.

This is Cannes. It was so windy that day we only went for a short walk. Our ears hurt from the cold wind.

These are taken from Saint Paul de Vence.

I truly enjoyed spending time with his family. I was not uncomfortable around them, except for the nervousness in the very beginning. His mom cooked several delicious meals for us. I was able to try several traditional French dishes for the first time, as well as many desserts and drinks. I loved the scallops, coquille St. Jacques, which was my first lunch there. I think my favorite dessert was the Tarte Tatin, which is a special, upside-down apple tart. Yummm! I enjoyed my coffee and toast in the morning looking at the Mediterranean. The last morning there it was warm enough to comfortably sit outside in my pajamas and enjoy the sun.

Another exciting point of the trip was New Years Eve in Italy with Olivier's friends. No, not Rome, Florence, Venice, etc. I'm talking about the Alps. We stayed at a tiny summer cabin in the mountains. I don't even know the name of the town. I guess I can describe it best by calling it "rustic." It was charming, however there were some issues that make our NYE a good story. We got there just at nightfall and walked from our cars to the cabin for ten minutes in the snow carrying all of our supplies, including our suitcases, food, and lots of champagne, wine, etc. Once we were finally there, we were pretty cold. No worries, we thought, we'll start the space heaters and the fire and things will be warmed up in no time at all. Haha. Here is my little NYE equation. Space heaters on = blowing fuses => no heat in bedroom = very cold night. Luckily the fire in the fireplace and drinks warmed us up before long. Next news of the night: the toilet was frozen and we had to go to the bathroom outside in the snow. How Fun! Just like camping, but a little more rustic and definitely colder than what I'm used to. We ended up having a wonderful night despite the cold and outdoor facilities, or lack thereof. We came back the next evening, after the guys cooked shrimp outside on a stone slab over a fire. The shrimp was amazing... and HUGE! I think shrimp is bigger over here. However, I really do not know, since I had never tried shrimp before my arrival in France in August. Here we are bringing in the new year.

Saturday night arrived way too quickly. I had to leave for the airport the next morning before 6 am. I will definitely be taking another trip to the region before long. It was a wonderful way to start 2010.

My First French Noel

2009-12-28T23:06:00.004+01:00

Here is just a quick update on my first Christmas in France. It really was nice. Thanks to my up-and-coming trip to the French Riviera, I was in very good spirits. We left for the country on Christmas Eve in the afternoon. I do not remember the name of the small town, but the house was charming and cozy...a typical French country home. Our hostess, Michelle, the friend of the grandmother, was very kind. To describe this Christmas in just a few words I would use the following: food, sleep, champagne. How could it not be a good Christmas? To make things even better, the kids were good almost the entire weekend!

Christmas Eve night, or Reveillon, everyone got all dressed up and partied. We drank champagne, danced, and finished off the night with a huge, fancy dinner. I must admit that I was a little sad early-on, being that I missed being home with my family. Babou, the gradmother that never ceased to top off my champagne glass, saw that I was a little sad, and right away, led me downstairs to the game room with champagne. "Champagne will help," she said, and it did. Haha. She is great. This is Hannah and me early in the night.

And of course, me with all three kids. I must admit that I find them absolutely adorable.

I just had to get a picture of Babou and Sophie.

Here is the beginning of dinner. This is a huge, styrofoam boat of seafood. I can't even remember it all...oysters, shrimp, something like snails, crab... And I tried it all. It wasn't so bad after all. I even like oysters (well, with a little balsamic vinaigrette)! This was only the beginning...not even the main course!

I even got to skype my family after dinner (at 3 am!). I went to bed around 4 am and slept until around 10...no, I did not get up to see what Santa brought the kids. I know, I'm horrible. I was just too tired. Sophie took pictures anyway.

Christmas day was a little more relaxed. Everyone wore normal clothes and several of us took afternoon naps. It is a good thing I did because it was another late night of eating good food and drinking good wine. We spent one more night there and the next day and then drove back to Paris. All in all, I'd say it was a definite success. Tomorrow morning I am leaving for Antibes (where Olivier is form on the French Riviera). My flight arrives in Nice at noon. I cannot wait! New Years in Italy and almost a week with Olivier and his family. Should be fun. Happy New Year!

Things just got a whole lot more Jolly!

2009-12-23T22:15:00.004+01:00

Sunday night I went to bed in hopes of fast-forwarding through the next two weeks. My agenda was this: full days with the kids (aka Black Wednesday every single day), Christmas with the family (about the only highlight), weekends wandering Paris alone, and another week with the kids. I was honestly not looking forward to this holiday season at all, which is sad...I LOVE CHRISTMAS! Things changed Monday night. After a full day of very naughty children (they're lucky Santa isn't real, because a few of them would be on the naughty list), I received some news that instantly put me right back into the holiday spirit. I am free the entire week after Christmas, which means I can get the heck outta town and spend the rest of the holiday on the French Riviera with Olivier and his family! And, I think, New Years Eve in Italy. That's more like it. Honestly, I didn't really care if the plane ticket was expensive, and of course, being peak travel time, it was. Such is life. Nothing can discourage me. I just bought my ticket and did not buy travel insurance, which means this is official. :) Let me describe how happy I am. Yesterday, yet another full day of children, little Nathan was sick. He puked all over himself, his stuffed animal, his bed, and my leg. Being puked on didn't even make me gag. I MUST be in the holiday spirit. Bring on the Christmas music.

The Moon

2009-12-20T19:36:00.003+01:00

Tonight I was on an Ile de France train (just a train that connects Paris to some of the suburbs) with some friends, and I saw the moon. I do not notice the moon a lot here, but when I do, it makes it even more special. The sky was not too dark, a deep blue color, and the sliver of the moon shone brightly in contrast to the deep, cloudless sky. I thought of my grandmother and my mother. The moon no longer reminds me of just my grandmother like it used to. For me it now reminds me of my mom just as it does my grandmother. It is my mom's birthday today and I long to wish her a happy birthday in person. A conversation via Skype will have to suffice this year.

Some of you know the story of the moon. Others do not, so here it is. I was very close to my grandmother when she was alive. I think this has to do with the fact that I spent a lot of time with my Grandpa and Grandma Porter since they lived across the street when I was very little and I stayed at their house when my parents worked nights. My grandma and I always sang the moon songs together and when I was sad to leave, she reminded me that all I needed to do was look at the sky and see the moon to be close to her. She promised she would do the same. And so, throughout my life, this is what I do. Because of her, I love the moon. It makes me feel close to her. I think she would really like to see that I am living in Paris right now, following my dreams. The night of my grandmother's death there was a huge snowstorm. My mom and her amazing driving abilities somehow made it from our home near Caberfae Peaks Ski Resort into Cadillac to be with my grandmother, grandfather, and her siblings. I stayed home, knowing that it was grandma's last night, looking out my window at the blinding snow. Later that night, the storm calmed and the sky opened slightly for just a few minutes and I saw the moon. At that moment, I knew she had died, but I also knew that she was at peace and would always be a part of me. I look down at my ring right now and know that she is with me. It was her mother's ring.

I think of her more at Christmastime than I do throughout the rest of the year. She loved this time of year. I loved Christmas caroling with her, my grandfather, other family members, and members of the church. Christmas Eve at my grandparent's house was my favorite day of the year, filled with cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and lots of good food and Christmas cookies. It was magical for me. Then in the evening we went to church for the Christmas Eve service. We sang Christmas songs and towards the end of the service, the church went dark and one-by-one, everyone's mini candles were lit for the singing of Silent Night. Silent Night is my favorite Christmas song and I think this is why.

So now, here I am in Paris for Christmas. Don't get me wrong, it is beautiful here and I am so happy to be able to experience the Christmas season in Paris, but it is hard to be so far away. I wish I could be with my family for Christmas, and I'm sure there will be many tears this week. Except for right after I arrived, I have not had much trouble with feeling homesick. Knowing that I will be here for Christmas instead of with family makes me homesick. However, I will be ok. I have the moon. And that means I have my grandma. I haven't felt this close to her in years. On Christmas Eve night, when I am somewhere with the family celebrating the holiday, I will step outside and hopefully see the moon. And I know it will help me feel a little better. This is why I love the moon. It warms my heart and keeps me close to two of the most wonderful people in my life, my grandmother and my mother. Happy Birthday Mom. I love you.

The Start of the Christmas Season

2009-12-09T15:52:00.005+01:00

Christmas is in full bloom in Paris right now. Everything is lit up and decorated. I love when I turn a corner and see yet another street draped in lights. For example, here is a street right by my home, rue du Commerce.

Crystal and I checked out the decor right away. We were especially excited to see Champs Elysees all lit up. It definitely is beautiful. Seeing Champs Elysees lit up for Christmas was one of the reasons I wanted to see Paris in the fall/winter.

Crystal and I were excited to see Christmas trees lining the Champs. She called this one her "Charlie Brown Christmas Tree." It turns out that most of the trees here are like this, or not quite as nice. I guess I'm used to a Michigan Christmas (this tree was about our height and somewhat sparse, but it is hard to tell in this picture).

This is just one of the many decorated stores/restaurants in Paris...a pizza place on the Champs Elysees.

You can count on Paris to have a Ferris Wheel at Place de la Concorde for the season. I am lucky and got to go on it (thanks to a sweet boyfriend). Each little compartment is even heated. Classy.

Here is a view of Place de la Concorde and the Champs Elysees from the top.

The large department stores are very decked out for the holidays. If it were not for the decorations, I wouldn't venture near them...they are FULL of people.

Here is the gigantic Christmas tree inside Galeries Lafayette.

Each store window has a different Christmas/holiday scene.

And of course Notre Dame has a Christmas Tree.

The last picture is just for fun...Olivier and me having a lot of fun with friends on a Friday night. I realize my smile is very over-the-top.

The Boy

2009-12-04T00:04:00.002+01:00

Some of you already know that I have a new boyfriend. I have not had a boyfriend in years, so it is very different for me. It is still pretty new, only about a month and a half, but it is really fun. We met at Chez George, one of my favorite bars in Paris. Sine then we have been hanging out a few times a week and having a great time. We speak in French together as I have insisted. He speaks English very well and I am the one who needs the practice. Every once in a while when I am really lost in translation I ask him to please explain/translate in English (en anglais, s'il te plait!).

His name is Olivier and he lives in Paris. He is from a town called Antibes between Cannes and Nice on the French Riviera...it looks gorgeous! I'll spare you all the details, but here's a picture. I happen to think he is gorgeous, by the way...

Thanksgiving with the French

2009-11-25T13:52:00.004+01:00

It is not often that Thanksgiving and the French cross paths. After all, to my knowledge, this scrumptious holiday is celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. However, when Thanksgiving was mentioned around my wonderful friends several weeks ago, it was quickly decided that it would be celebrated this year. After all, I guess if I were French, I would be a little curious about this holiday and the different food. I was very excited because I was able to share a little U.S. culture with my friends, but I was also a little nervous about preparing the meal. Most of you know that I really do not cook. I guess when I try things tend to turn out, but in general, it's just not something that I do.

The only real problem we had was the turkey. Where would we find one? Not the easiest thing to do in Paris, believe it or not. I'm sure it can be done, but I had no idea how. Since we didn't even meet until 4 pm, I told them that it was WAY too late for a turkey anyway...chickens would have to suffice. And they did.

I arrived at my friend's apartment at 4pm. He and I went through the recipes that I had copied down from my mother and made shopping lists...one for Monoprix, the grocery store, and one for Thanksgiving, the American specialty food store. If it wasn't for the Thanksgiving store, I'm pretty sure Thanksgiving here would have been nearly impossible for me to pull off. Where else would I find the Pepperidge Farm bag of dressing ingredients, the Oceanspray cranberries, or the can of Libby's pumpkin pie mix? When a few others arrived we headed to the stores.

The shopping trip was pretty fun. I was consulted as the expert in many circumstances, and often answered with the classic answer of "Je ne sais pas, mais peut-etre..." (I don't know, but perhaps....etc). After the stores we bought some bread (which we were too stuffed to eat) from a boulangerie, some chickens from a boucherie, and some wine from Nicolas, the wine store, because well, I believe a French Thanksgiving (French anything, really) must include wine. We went back to the apartment and started cooking. Lots of peeling, boiling, mixing, etc. took place and it actually started to come together. It was probably 9:30 or 10 pm by the time we actually started eating, but I guess that is the French way of doing things. It was great. I think they enjoyed it. There were some definite hesitations...like about putting cranberry sauce on meat, and the dressing, but it definitely worked out. The only thing that didn't really work out well was the pumpkin pie...there was just something about it that didn't taste right.

Also I didn't have Coolwhip, just some whipped stuff that had more of a sweet cream-cheesy taste.

Here is the evidence:

Sylvain stuffing the chickens...

Group shots...

This year I am thankful for friends, family, and the opportunity to live abroad, experience new things, meet new people, and live life to the fullest.

Freaked Out

2009-11-15T01:54:00.003+01:00

It happened Tuesday...

For a few minutes I was really freaked out. And it wasn't just me. The possibility of losing a child has always scared me, and I experienced it first-hand a few days ago. OK, So I didn't lose a child...she just decided to take off.

I went to the school at 16h25 (aka 4:25 pm) to pick up the kids. I always pick up the two younger kids first and then head next door to the other school to pick up the oldest. Children are supposed to wait with the headmistress or whatever until they see their parent/guardian/au pair. I went with the little ones to wait for Hannah (the 6-year-old), and after waiting several minutes, I started to get a little worried. I usually don't wait for her for more than a few minutes. I took the little ones and went back to their school to see if maybe she decided to wait for us there. Nothing...no sign of her. So I went back to her school to ask about her. Once again, nothing. This all happened within probably 1 to 2 minutes. Then I had nothing to do but call Sophie, her mother. This is a call that every parent fears, and I knew it, but I had to do it asap.

Sophie told me that it was "impossible" ...that there was no way she could have just left on her own. I, on the other hand was thinking the following: she could have easily left here alone, this place is the definition of chaotic, and she would definitely try to pull something like this. In a panicked state, I stayed there as instructed, and paced from one school entrance to the other, not knowing what to do other than wait. Probably 5 minutes later, which seemed like 30 at the time, the grandmother called me to inform me that she had just arrived at the house and Hannah was there as well. Huh. I could breathe again. I about burst into tears, but kept it together for the little ones. I told them the good news (I knew they were worried too), called Sophie, and headed home, all the while trying to calm down.

When I got to the apartment, there was the grandmother and Hannah waiting for me to let them in. Hannah looked at me with eyes that said oh crap, please have mercy on me. I asked her why she left the school without me. She answered that she wanted to walk home all by herself. She knew that that was completely against the rules, but I'm pretty sure she wanted to see if she could get away with it because this is just the type of thing she would pull. Anyway, she talked to her dad via cellphone and of course sobbed after, knowing that her immediate future was not going to be fun. I talked with her for a while, explaining how worried I was and how she can't do what she did, etc.

My anxiety level probably did not go down until four hours later, but at least I could breathe. Looking back, I am amazed at how clearly one thinks in a crisis. I know nothing serious happened to her, but it could have and I knew it, and I kept it together. She, of course, changed her story in an attempt to avoid serious punishment, trying to blame her leaving on the fact that she didn't see me. Ha...as if she didn't know that she was supposed to wait. Well, she did get a punishment and now waits inside, right to the side of the headmistress person until I inform her that I am there.

I still can't believe that a 6-year-old decided to walk home all by herself. This is maybe a 10-15 minute walk involving street crossings, etc. in Paris. I am just so happy that she is safe and will probably never pull that particular stunt again.

What we did during the school holiday...

2009-11-05T12:19:00.006+01:00

I know, I know...I haven't blogged in a very long time. I don't know where the time goes. Well, the kids went back to school after a 1.5 week vacation. Luckily, I had almost all of last week free... thank you, Grandma!

Crystal's kids were away in London with their grandparents all of last week, so we had a lot of time on our hands. We did some errands for the mother of her family that filled some of our time... they were adventures, to say the least. We went to the animal shelter to find her family a dog and found two adorable dogs, brother and sister. Nothing has yet come of that. Also, we ventured outside of the city to make a trip to Ikea. Ikea is another world in itself. Crystal and I looked like fools, I'm sure, taking the bus and train back into Paris with huge blue Ikea bags during rush hour. What else could we do but laugh? We did something educational... we went to a Teotihuacan exhibit in Paris's Quai Branly Museum.

Think early Latin American civilizations...City of the Gods...Quetzalcoatl (feathered serpent god). I love this stuff. Crystal and I had Latin American History together a few years ago, and this stuff fascinates me. Here we have the Disc of Death! Creepy...

We wandered a lot last weekend. We love an area called Le Marais (the gay and Jewish area... lots of character). We stumbled upon Thanksgiving, the store. We were like kids in a candy store. It was full of American food... simple stuff that you would never think you would miss, like pumpkin pie puree, root beer, Butterfinger, Hamburger Helper (ok, so I don't miss that), Betty Crocker cake mix, pancake mix, Reese Cups, Mexican food, etc. We each splurged on an item of our choosing and continued with our wandering. Sometimes a taste of home is just so good!

Fondue is French for Amazing

2009-10-28T00:01:00.003+01:00

I officially love fondue. Last Saturday evening, my dear friend Jerome had a fondue dinner at his home and I was lucky enough to be invited to this gathering.

7:30- I arrived on time...however I forgot that the French tend to run about 15 minutes behind schedule, so in fact, I was early. I met Jerome's lovely wife, Laure, and beautiful 3-year-old daughter. I was given a kir, one of my favorite drinks over here, and we chatted while we waited for the other guests to arrive and while Jerome and Laure finished getting things ready. Next came Basile and Fabien, and then Anne arrived a few minutes later.
Jerome had a delicious plate of cheeses that he started cutting up and putting in the pot for fondue. Then bread was cut... And then we started eating. It was wonderful/amazing/delicious/delectable/scrumptious/warm/yummy/and just plain cheesy (but the good French cheese...not velveeta or kraft singles type cheese). While eating, we, of course, had to continue drinking wine. I was told that I had to keep drinking the wine or...well...the cheese would have an impact on my digestive tract...I think you all know what I mean. So I did. We ate it all rather quickly and then had some salad. Another friend of Jerome arrived and we all agreed that a second helping of fondue was a great idea. So basically, everything I just said happened again. YUM. I knew I liked cheese. Now I know I LOVE cheese. Welcome to France!

After the food and a fruit/coconut balls dessert, we were sitting around talking and decided to play a game. The always-fun/brilliant Anne came up with a few. She must have been thinking about her old middle school years. Truth or Dare, the classic favorite among younger teens, was quickly agreed upon. This could get interesting... In french, it is even more fun to say.

Action ou vérité

It was fun (no details allowed) and we all learned a little more about each other. The night ended in laughs and I went home completely thrilled. This was one experience that I will always remember. Good times with great people.

Oh, there is one thing I forgot to mention about the evening. Somehow Thanksgiving came up in the conversation. I started talking about pumpkin pie I think, and then it was decided that we are going to have our own Thanksgiving over here. I will get the recipes since I'm the American, and we will spend all day preparing and then eating Thanksgiving Dinner. It will be held the Saturday after Thanksgiving since we will all be working on the Thursday. There is an American store where we will buy supplies, which just so happens to be called Thanksgiving. This will definitely be a Thanksgiving to remember...maybe I'll even throw in that sweet story about the Pilgrims and Native Americans. Haha.

I still have a Paris buzz

2009-10-21T00:36:00.002+02:00

This Paris buzz has absolutely nothing to do with alcohol, however I fell the word "buzz" fits well in describing the way I feel about my current home.

Paris-lovers know what I am referring to when I talk about being captivated/obsessed/enchanted by Paris. For me, this intoxication with Paris has made itself known every time I have visited. Of course, over time, this high diminishes a bit, but it has yet to be extinguished...at least for me. It never left when I lived here last summer (obviously...I'm back), and I still experience it daily....even when I have the kids ALL DAY LONG...like tomorrow (another Black Wednesday). It is not about seeing the Eiffel Tower or the Opera or any other great monument...it is in the every-day-life stuff that I experience this magic. It is in speaking French, understanding French, smelling a boulangerie (bread shop), eating a warm, fresh, crispy baguette, feeling the cool, fresh air as I leave the apartment, and then experiencing the welcoming warmth of the Metro heaters, looking up and seeing the remarkable architecture on a random building (who am I kidding...on every building), a greeting and goodbye in every store, the extremely thankful people who truly appreciate even the smallest of deeds...the list could go on for days. I have yet to tire of this place. I wonder if I ever will.

I have FABULOUS new friends

2009-10-17T15:26:00.004+02:00

It is true. I have new friends and they are fabulous! It is funny how quickly one's phone can fill with new numbers.

Last night I went to Rosa Bonheur, one of my favorite bars in Paris, like I do most Friday nights. Sylvain and his friends introduced me to this place and it is always fun. It was my first time going to Rosa without Sylvain, which I was a little nervous about since I have always been Sylvain's friend. Last night ended up being very fun. There was just a small group of us, but the group consisted of most of the people that I know the best: Anne, Jerome, Fabien, and Basile. They are great. I felt like one of the group. We had so much fun. I love talking in French and feeling like I actually know what I'm doing. They say I am speaking French beautifully, but I know that they are just being nice since I am currently still slaughtering the language when I speak.

We drank plenty of delicious wine and ate an array of French stuff...I don't know what I ate, but there was a layout of French pate-type stuff...I think the one I ate the most of was a type of vegetable. After that we danced and met new people. The night was, to say the least, a fun night. Here is a picture of me, Basile, and Fabien...

...And another of Anne and Jerome.

Anne may even meet up with me and some au pair friends tonight.

Tonight I am getting together with some girls from my class and Crystal. They are also au pairs and seem very nice. I have already hung out a few times with Catarina, a girl from Sweden, and shared a Metro ride with Eva, a girl from Germany. I am so excited to be making friends with people from all over Europe! Well, gotta go meet Crystal at Hotel de Ville!

It WAS a Good Day :)

2009-10-15T22:25:00.000+02:00

Today I spent most of my day cleaning, figuring out student loan crap, taking care of kids, and skyping. Yeah, sounds fantastic.... Well it was. After a short trip to the grocery store, I started trying to figure out my mess of student loans...they are coming due very soon. Luckily, so far, things are going well. This is good because I don't want to deal with too much mess over here without a printer, fax machine, etc.

Then I called my dad. Today is his 50th birthday. Happy Birthday, Dad!!! I can't believe he's fifty. Now I feel really grown up....like an adult. Woah, I guess I am, however I still qualify as a "youth" on Europe's trains. I don't feel like I am already 25. I feel like 23 maybe. Anyway, I talked to my dad, mom, and brother for several minutes. They are driving out to Colorado right now. I talked to them again tonight and was able to skype and see them all. That is the first time I have seen my parents faces in about a month and a half. Technology is AMAZING.

While I was doing all kinds of student loan business, Emmanuel walked into my room to give me my mail...my first piece of mail since I arrived!!! And as soon as I saw who it was from I started crying. Lina, Sanna, and Lucas, the kids I have been babysitting for the last 8 years, sent me a package with all kinds of things they made for me...some pictures they colored, a necklace, a keychain, a ring, and even something Lina wrote last summer about summers on Lake Cadillac. It is difficult to be away from those kids. I love them so much. I got to skype with them tonight as well. Basically, those little sweethearts made my week.

The mind is a funny thing. When I wrote that I was going to have a good day, I had no idea I would receive a package of love from those kids...I could just feel that I was going to have a good day. Foresight is a funny thing.

Today's Gonna be a Good Day

2009-10-15T08:40:00.000+02:00

I can feel it. Today's gonna be a good day. It's Thursday morning and it's not yet 9 am. You may ask, "Betsy, don't you adore sleeping in?" Yes, I truly love a good sleep-in day, however, as part of my job, I have to get up and help the kiddos get ready at 7 am. While I do like sleeping in on the weekends, I like the fact that I am already up because it means that I have several hours to do whatever I want (after I clean the house, of course...).

Now, why is it going to be a great day? Well, I am just banking on it. My mood is good, I had my coffee and toast with Nutella, and the best news of all...the weekend is in sight! Thursday always means that my Black Wednesday is over and tomorrow is Friday. I barely feel like I work on Friday because the grandmother comes and I just pick up the kids from school with her, walk home, and help out here and there. Plus, she always tells me I can leave whenever I want.

I want to take a minute to comment on this grandmother character. Her name is Babou, and I don't even know how to spell it. Well, so I think it's probably some nickname for "grandmother," but I'm not sure. If anyone knows, please fill me in. Anyway, this lady is something else, but I really like her. She always brings good food, for example, she brought Nutella last week, and every Friday, she brings champagne. She's laid back and supports me with the kids. And of course, she always lets me know I can leave whenever I want because "I should be out with my friends on Friday nights." :)

I don't know what I will do today. I'm sure I will meet up with Crystal at some point. It is getting colder and I am actually looking forward to bundling up in my wool coat...so cozy. Maybe I'll go for a long walk.

Oh before I forget, I want to share a French food experience. Last Friday I ate fois gras. I didn't go out with friends until later on Friday night, so I had dinner with Babou and the parents. We had champagne, bien sur. Emmanuel got out the fois gras...the real stuff...not the pate. It was even homemade by his aunt (I think). By the way, foie gras is duck liver. Anyone that knows my eating habits well knows that this is HUGE for me. I was not too far from a vegetarian before I came here. I actually liked it. I had to cut it and put it on bread, but it was good. Sophie said normally you eat a chunk of fois gras and then bread, but she ate it on bread, and so did I...after all, it was my first time and eating it alone was a little much for me.

Here's what it looked like...

I never thought I would be the type to eat it, but here I am, drinking champagne and eating foie gras. Ah, j'adore la France!

Fall is Here! An Evening Walk in Paris

2009-10-11T11:22:00.001+02:00

Things have been going very well here. It is going better with the kids...most days, and I am feeling much more comfortable in my living situation. I even get a 5-day-weekend coming up. The kids will be on a school holiday and their grandmother is taking them for the first three days of the week. I would like to go somewhere for a visit, but I have to figure it all out.

Crystal and I went for a walk last night...big surprise. It was the perfect way to spend our Saturday night. We had nothing to do and we didn't want to stay in all night.

Last night it was finally starting to feel like fall over here. It has been unusually warm (so I hear), but it was definitely cool last night. I wore leggings, a dress, and a long sweater and was warm enough, but I almost needed something more to keep me warm. We took the metro to the Louvre and began our walk there. We love walking at night from the Louvre to Champs Elysees because it is absolutely beautiful. Everything is lit up. I think I like seeing monuments better at night. Somehow they just look grander. Anyway, we got off the metro and walked through the Louvre where we came out at the pyramids and fountains. I should have taken a picture, but I'll throw in an older one just to give you an idea.

We then headed toward the Seine. Walking along the Seine at night is phenomenal. There are so many monuments lit up with their reflections shimmering on the surface of the water.

As Crystal and I discussed our future travel plans, we passed several things. I love Place de la Concorde at night, with the Obelisk, fountains, and view of Arc de Triomphe down the busy Champs Elysees.

By the way, the Eiffel Tower is currently white and red. This is in honor of Turkey. They are trying to enter the European Union. Crystal and I wanted to check it out the other night. There must have been a big celebration going on when we walked there because there were tons of people under the Eiffel Tower shouting and running around with Turkish Flags. We honestly think it looks a little ridiculous right now, being that it is simply half red and half white.

Anyway, back to last night's walk. We went to Pont Alexander III (a beautiful bridge), for some pictures and then headed in the direction of Champs Elysees.

Champs Elysees is actually getting a little tiring. There are so many tourists all over the place, and of course we cannot afford anything other than McDo ice cream cones, which happen to only be 1 euro. We parted ways after we walked to the George V metro and headed home. We both needed sleep.

Today we are going to a little performance thing. We are going with Crystal's family (not her real family...the family she is an au pair for). The security guards of Karen, the mother, are doing something near Invalides and we are going to watch. We saw a poster for it last night, but I really have no idea what it is all about.

I'm Running in the Rain, Just Running in the Rain

2009-10-06T20:10:00.000+02:00

I have finally started to actually work out over here. I tend to always put this type of thing off. Procrastinating is what I do well. I kept telling myself that all of the walking I do over was good enough, but I also tend to treat myself to many sweets and baguettes. Anyway, I started running last weekend and found it wonderful. I guess I just need to have the right frame-of-mind when I decide to workout. I have always disliked running for the most part, but I guess running around Paris is a little more interesting than what I am used to.

Yesterday I was all pumped up to go for a little run and when I looked outside it was raining... a lot. Well, I decided that I was going to get all sweaty anyway, so I might as well face the rain. It was great. I ran toward the river and then took a right toward the Eiffel Tower. I figured I would just turn around when I started to get tired. To my surprise I made it to the tower and was still doing great. This is just one thing that I LOVE about living in Paris. I can go for a run... to the Eiffel Tower!!! By the time I made it back I was completely drenched. Luckily it was not very cold outside. A hot shower finished it all off perfectly. Ah, I love it here!

I Love School

2009-09-30T22:22:00.000+02:00

I started my French class yesterday and I am very excited about it. I was getting anxious to be a student again and study French. My class meets for two hours, two times a week, Tuesday and Friday. It is located near Opera, right in the heart of the city. My Metro stop for class is Opera, so on my way to class I will see the gorgeous Opera Garnier when I climb up the Metro steps!

There are maybe 13 or 14 girls in my class from all over Europe. They come from Germany, England, Switzerland, Russia, Spain...and I can't remember where else. Anyway, I am the only American...actually, the only person from my half of the world. This is kinda cool. Last year my class consisted of people from all over the world, but there were several Americans in the mix. My teacher is fabulous. Her name is Isabelle and she is very kind and funny. I felt very comfortable talking in class, which is not normal for me, so that is a good sign. I am really looking forward to going to class again on Friday. My teacher suggested that we all read a novel in French. She said it's best if we read one we've already read in our first language. I saw The Da Vinci Code on the shelf in the living room, so I think I might try reading it. I have always wanted to read it while in Paris since so much of it takes place running around this city. Maybe I'll give myself my very own Da Vinci Code tour of Paris!

I have to talk for ten minutes in French to my class sometime soon. I can talk about basically anything. Any ideas?

Weekend Adventures

2009-09-28T15:51:00.000+02:00

It is now Monday and for some reason (I think it has something to do with a Jewish holiday) I have the day off! A three-day weekend. How I love the little things in life. Since I have been slacking, I figured it would be the perfect time to write a blog about the weekend. After all, weekends are usually my only source of inspiration. I guess my weekend started Friday afternoon. I stayed home all Friday with a sick 2-year-old. However the grandmother arrived around 4:00, and after I went to pick the girls up from school, I was finished. I got all ready to go out and joined friends for another fabulous time at Rosa Bonheur, my usual Friday night hangout. Unfortunately Crystal had to work until 9:30, so she could not come. I had fun anyway. It was Sylvain's little send-off since he left for New York City today. He will be doing research there for the next three months.

Saturday was a very fun day. Crystal and I met for lunch with no plans for the day. This is normal for us. After all, we do tend to just be wanderers. After we finally found an open boulangerie for a baguette, we ate lunch on the steps of Musee d'Orsay. This happens to be probably my favorite museum in Paris with all of its fabulous Monets and VanGoghs. We decided to spend the afternoon in Bois de Boulogne, a park with lakes and paths right outside of the city. To our surprise, there was a carnival set up and we couldn't help ourselves...we had to partake in the fun, especially after we saw this...

We only went on the swings. After all, these rides were sort of expensive!

Then we went to the Bois de Boulogne. It was a perfect day filled with sunshine, warm weather, and families in canoes.

Sunday was also very fun and started with no plans. We started the afternoon with bread from our new favorite Boulangerie. It was the best bread I have ever had and the name of the place is Eric Kayser. We looked it up and found out there is one right by my Metro stop! We ate our lunch on the terrace while we enjoyed the perfect view of Paris.

We then decided to go to Jardin des Plantes, which is a huge garden with lots of plants, flowers, and museums. We decided to check out the inside of Saint-Etienne du Mont on the way since it was open. Beautiful!

I will bring my mom to Jardin des Plantes because I know she will love it. Walking around looking at all of the different kinds of flowers reminded me of my grandmother because I remember walking through her garden and in the woods with her and learning the names of the flowers. She would have loved it. I wonder if she went there when she visited Paris years ago.

Later we decided to relax on the lawns at the Louvre, where we met some nice French guys who wanted to take our picture. It was pretty funny. Now they are our facebook friends. Overall, I would say we had a very nice weekend. It was just what I needed after a stressful week.

Update..

2009-09-26T12:44:00.000+02:00

First of all, sorry for not blogging all week long. It has been sort of a stressful week. Thank goodness it is officially the weekend.

I had some issues I needed to bring up with the parents having to do with my hours, etc. I was very nervous about bringing up the topic with them, but I know I had to because it was eating away at me. Already it feels better even though there are still some things that urk me. At least they are aware that I was working a lot more than I should have been and have been making a conscious effort to keep my hours to those specified in the contract. I had to stay home all day yesterday with a sick child and they told me that they would pay me extra. I am not sure that would have happened if I would not have talked to them about it.

The oldest child is still giving me a lot of trouble. I still deal with a temper tantrum everyday, but my tactic of ignoring her seems to be working and really makes her mad. Hopefully things will start improving soon. If they don't, I don't know what I'm going to do...probably go insane. Crystal was able to witness one of these fits on Wednesday and could not believe how horrible she was. Crystal says she has never in her life seen a child behave like that. At least she is very sweet when she is not being horrible.

As for my Paris adventures, I was not able to do a lot because I was sort of glued to the house 2 of the 5 days. Crystal and I did participate in our normal wanderings. On Tuesday we went to Place des Vosges, where Victor Hugo once lived.

On Thursday we went to Monoprix to buy stuff for sandwiches and ate it on a nice lawn near Invalides. It was the perfect spot. We could see Invalides of course, Pont Alexander III (a beautiful bridge), the Eiffel Tower, and Grand Palais. Then we went for a walk around Champs Elysees before heading back to my area to pick up our kids. After the long week, I did have a very nice, relaxing weekend, which I will talk about later.

Crystal has hopefully found a wonderful family to work for. She has been staying at the foyer where I first stayed for the last week. The family is actually an American family. The kids are very sweet and the parents are kind. Crystal knew this family must be "important" when she received contact information on U.S. Senate stationary. Apparently the mother was an advisor to Obama. I'm not really sure, but we're hoping to be around when he stops in for a visit someday. That would be so cool! Hopefully she will move in on Wednesday once her background check goes through. We ran into the family on Sunday while walking so I got to meet them...and their security guards. Crazy. Anyway, that's all for now.

We Did a Lot of Nothing This Weekend

2009-09-20T23:02:00.000+02:00

The big question running through my mind right now is, "What can I blog about?" The truth is that I really have nothing too exciting to describe. Crystal and I didn't really do anything this weekend, except for our usual wandering. However, we are in Paris, so our "nothing" is probably more than whatever we would be doing if we were home.

First amazing news of the weekend: The family was gone all weekend and I got to have some peace and quiet! Yes! They wonder why I would rather stay in Paris than go with them to a nice house in the country. Hello... I need a break! I had a wonderful time being without children this weekend.

Second amazing news of the weekend: I was finished early this Friday because the family had to leave, and therefore was able to get to Rosa Bonheur on time. I know nobody reading this (other than perhaps Sylvain or Crystal) has any idea what Rosa Bonheur is. It is a very fun bar in a park in Paris. It consists of good times and LOTS of dancing, but it closes at midnight and is very popular, so it is important to get there around 7 or 7:30. Last week I was very bummed because I did not leave the apartment until around 9 and on my way Sylvain called to say that they were not letting anyone else in. My whole Friday night was ruined. Totally not cool when you have little time to do whatever you want.

Third amazing news of the weekend: I am a total rebel. I am not supposed to eat in my room. Nothing...not even crackers. However, I LOVE to snack all by myself so I have decided that civil disobedience is the way to go. I'm not giving up my comfort because someone has a crazy OCD about cleanliness. After all, I have to vacuum my room everyday anyway. That's another story...

Friday night, J'adore! Ah yes, I live for Friday nights at Rosa Bonheur. I have many new friends because of these nights. When I say "many," I mean about 4. Trust me, that is a lot when you know nobody other than Crystal and Sylvain. Actually they are Sylvain's friends who I hope have adopted me. I think I burn off all of my snacking calories from the week at Rosa Bonheur because of all the dancing. I also have a few foot bruises from Friday night...I guess it was worth it. Here is a picture of me and some of my new friends. Yes, we are very sweaty.

Saturday: A day of wandering...big surprise. (I must mention this right now before I forget. As I type this, I keep thinking of words in French and it is kinda throwing me off my game. I am thinking in French! Well, sometimes. Today, as I was writing an e-mail, I could not figure out why a word was mispelled, and then I realized I had spelled it in French! So exciting for me!) Anyway... Crystal and I slept in on Saturday and then met up in the Latin Quarter. Right away we went to the nearest Monoprix to buy some lunch meat, fruit, and a baguette for lunch. The next monument for lunch happened to be the Sorbonne. We both attended the Sorbonne for a few weeks last summer. It is the University of Paris and is way older than the US. It consists of several building, but we ate right in front of the main one on some fountains at Place de la Sorbonne.

After lunch, we walked down to Luxembourg Gardens just in time for the start of the Techno Parade. I have no idea why there is a techno parade, but it was nuts. Well, it was not as crazy as the gay pride parade, but it was definitely something to see...very European. It consisted of extremely loud music, lots of dancing, crazy costumes, and who knows what else. Luckily we are open-minded and always up for an adventure.

That night, after watching the Eiffel Tower from Crystal's terrace, we went to a grocery store to get some beer before going to a bar. What can I say, we are on a budget.. We never even went to a bar, but we did end up back at Place de la Sorbonne with our giant Heineken's to finish the evening. And yes, this is totally legal here.

Sunday: Absolutely nothing happened today...seriously. We met up at Place de la Concorde (I love how we meet up at monuments full of history. This happens to be the former home of a guillotine that chopped a few royal heads from their bodies, including none other than the heads of Marie Antoinette and her hubby, Louis XVI.). We wandered in search of food. However, Sundays kinda suck around here when you are in search of inexpensive food because everything is closed, other than restaurants. Well, we found McDonald's, aka McDo, and then we headed back to Crystal's place to relax and eat. Later that day we decided to walk to a Roman amphitheater, Arenes de Lutece. We decided we should do something productive with our day, and well, being history people, we thought we should see some ruins. They were pretty small compared to other ruins we have seen. It was pretty cool that they were in the middle of Paris and happen to be one of the oldest monuments here... actually, they might be the oldest. Arenes de Lutece once held gladiator games and you can even see where they kept the animals!

That is about it for our weekend. It was fun while it lasted. I just have five days of kids and then I can have another weekend. It gives me something to look forward to. My mantra keeps me going. "I live in Paris."

Black Wednesday

2009-09-17T00:11:00.000+02:00

Today, along with every other Wednesday, is referred to by me as "Black Wednesday." This was not my idea at all, but it seems to fit. As an au pair in France, Wednesdays can be a bit daunting because many French children do not have school on Wednesdays, or only go to school for part of a day. Sophie, the mother of the family I live with, introduced me to this name, which was introduced to her by her previous au pair (thanks Janelle!).

Thankfully, this Wednesday was not too bad. Well, I'll just say it could have definitely been worse. It could even be referred to as a "Gray Wednesday." This morning after breakfast, things turned bad quickly. All three children were complaining and not listening. Luckily the father of the family was home for a little while and straightened them out for me. After that, I just stayed on top of it, not letting them give me any attitude or whatever without being disciplined, and it was fine. We went to a nearby park and then came home for lunch and a nap. I love nap time, even though the oldest stays up with me. It's just nice to have some calm. I only had one huge temper tantrum to deal with today, which was shorter than most, so all in all, it was a good day. I'm over the hump and the weekend is in sight. Weekends are the best part of being an au pair. Sorry for the short, boring blog. There has not been a lot to write about, especially when I spend most of my time during the week with the kids.

Crystal's Rescue

2009-09-14T15:54:00.000+02:00

Crystal, my Parisian nomad partner, decided to switch au pair families. Her family was not nice to her at all and they lived pretty far outside of Paris. The father of the family told her there was "no solution" to her troubles of not being able to stay in Paris past 7 pm, which was greatly affecting her social life, and that she should try to find another family. She did, and when she told him, he was pretty mad. On Sunday morning he confronted her and told her what a horrible person she was and that she better be out of the house by noon. This happened around 9 am. Well, she did get out before noon, luckily having packed her stuff in advance and prepared Jacques with an SOS taxi text the night before. We spent all day Sunday with Jacques celebrating her new freedom...and homelessness, or in French, SDF (Sans domicile fixe). Jacques bought us a nice lunch at a cafe, which did help us feel better about our situation. Here's us with Jacques and our much-needed coffee.

After Jacques had had enough of us for the day, we just kept wandering and found some Subway to eat on our next monument. We both agreed that eating Subway in Paris was pathetic. Here we are in the land of amazing bread and sandwiches, and we chose good old Subway. Pathetic. But it definitely made us laugh.

Crystal said, "I bet nobody has ever done Paris quite like us, Betsy. We're two wandering souls who eat on monuments. At least we have each other." We laugh at ourselves all the time and constantly tell each other that we don't know what we'd do without the other.

Une Sieste...a nap in the heart of Paris

2009-09-12T17:23:00.000+02:00

I left the apartment today in search of something to do. Sophie, the mother of the family I am living with, suggested an art exhibit. It is at the Louvre for about a month and has pictures of Paris before people like Napoleon added all of their self-decorating monuments (at least I think this is what Sophie said...it was all in French, so I am only half sure of what she said). I decided I might as well go. Plus...and this is one of my favorite parts...it is FREE!

I had all day to wander and just hang out, so I stopped on my way to get a fresh baguette and some turkey slices for lunch, which I ate on a bench at the Louvre. I got into my book and probably sat there and read and ate for an hour. Then I went over to some nice grass to continue reading. I was so relaxed and comfortable in the warm sun that I almost fell asleep. Instead of getting up and heading to the exhibit, I decided to find another plot of grass to take a nap. I couldn't help myself. Nice place for a nap, don't you think (notice the Eiffel Tower in the background)? I can always go to that exhibit another day.

It felt so nice and calming. I turned my ipod on, which brought me reminders of all the people I love at home and the memories I have of them and these songs. The sun was so warm and brilliantly bright behind my sunglasses and closed eyelids. There was a gentle breeze that was perfect and calming, and the grass was a little moist beneath me. Every once in a while I would open my eyes to surprise myself with my surroundings. Here I was, taking a nap on the lawns of the Louvre. I was surrounded by it's beauty. In the distance I could see the Eiffel Tower and the Orsay Museum, which houses several masterpieces by artists such as VanGogh, Monet, and Renoir.

The first song on my ipod was "The Longest Time" by Billy Joel. It just made me happy and in a great mood. Then another, more powerful song came on. As I stared up into the blue heavens, half-blinded by the sun's rays, good old Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone" came on. It was really comforting, even though it brought tears to my eyes towards the end where the voices increase an octave (I think that's what happens anyway...I'm not an expert in the music department).

You are not alone, for I am here with you

Though we're far apart, you're always in my heart

It made me think of everyone I miss back home. Everything like this does. I am already an emotional person. Music impacts me very much and can easily bring about goose bumps or tears with its power. While this song reminded me of people I miss back home, it was also very reassuring. Even though I'm far apart, an ocean apart in fact, I can look up at the sky and know that we share a moon or sun, and know that we are really not that far apart in the grand scheme of things, and that being in each others hearts and on each others minds helps us to stay close. After 45 minutes of peaceful contemplation and contentment, I decided to get up and leave. A smile came to my face as I stood up and saw my surroundings. I am in Paris, the city of my dreams, filled with history, love, beauty, and culture. I am following my dream, and I am just a phone call away. I switched my ipod to the Mamma Mia! soundtrack, and was so happy to walk to the beat, just like my mom does when she takes her morning walks. I miss you all. There are hard times of course, when I want nothing more than to sit on my front porch and drink coffee, but I am so happy to be here. I love it. I am on an adventure and have no idea where it will take me. That is part of the excitement.

I walked back through the Tuileries Gardens and then entered the Metro at Place de la Concorde. I love that I live here. I am speaking French without thinking about it because it is becoming more natural, and I am always excited when a tourist asks me directions and I can actually help them without referring to any map.

A New Tradition

2009-09-08T14:20:00.000+02:00

Crystal and I have a new tradition since my last blog. We spend most of our days during the week wandering Paris while the kids are at school. One thing we love to do, and joke about, is to eat our lunch on the steps of monuments. This all started last Saturday when we ate on Saint-Germain-des-Pres, one of Paris's oldest churches.

Sunday:

We relaxed. We slept in, read near some fountains, strolled around the Eiffel Tower, and ended the evening in a cafe drinking Hoegaarden beer with Jacques (friend of Crystal's mother & Parisian taxi driver). We did not eat on any steps on Sunday, FYI.

Monday:

Happy Labor Day! Apparently France's Labor Day is not until spring. However, this is fine with me since the kids went to school and I had some time to myself. After I finished my cleaning chores, I met up with my French buddy Sylvain for some coffee. A few weeks ago he told Crystal and me that if you want the best coffee in Paris, you must go to this place.

Well, Crystal and I never made it, so I went with Sylvain instead. Unfortunately, I forgot the name of this fabulous little cafe. It was charming. It was very small...only room for a few tables. They had more types of coffee than I have ever seen. I'm not talking about espresso, latte, cappuccino, etc. I'm talking about different types of coffee beans from all over the world. We both had Kenyan coffee, which was excellent. I had no idea what to pick, so I went with Sylvain's favorite. It was soooooo good. I do love my coffee! Since I had no real plans until picking up the kids except for wandering with my pal Crystal, Sylvain suggested we wander through some of Paris's passages built in the nineteenth century. So we did. They are really cool. Basically, they're like streets, but they're covered to keep out the elements. We found several, but did not venture too far from where we started. Some are very fancy. Apparently they get a little less classy the further North you go.

Anyway, we had fun wandering and discovering new enchanting things about our favorite city.

Oh by the way, we ate lunch in front of Bourse, which I found out is Paris's historical stock exchange. We opted for a baguette sandwich from a little boulangerie (basically a bakery with pastries and delicious ready-made sandwiches) instead of a do-it-yourself Monoprix sandwich.

Tuesday:

Well, Tuesday is not over, but I do not see anything truly exciting happening in my near future. I have to get the kids in a few hours. Today Crystal and I met up at Place de la Concorde at an Egyptian obelisk. Only in Paris... haha.

We then decided to spend a few hours wandering the area near the Opera. We strolled past the first Chanel store, a true landmark in fashion.

We finished our afternoon together by eating on the steps of the Opera. Apparently this is a popular place to eat lunch because most of the other people there were doing the same thing.

That's all for now. Just some pretty pictures.

Pure Class...

2009-09-06T11:23:00.000+02:00

Crystal and I are taking Paris to a whole new level. Yup. Last night, before meeting up with newly-made friends, Crystal and I decided to hang out at our favorite little wine bar, Chez George. However, before we went there, we stopped at a Monoprix to get some food. This is how we do it cheap in Paris... we go to a grocery store, buy a small pack of sandwich meat, a baguette, some cokes, and whatever else we want, which was gummy candy last night. We were going to sit in a park to eat, but it was closed, so we found some steps that worked perfectly. These steps are no ordinary steps. They are the steps of one of the oldest churches in Paris, the steps to Saint-Germain-des-Pres.

We probably looked like homeless people with our trash scattered around our feet. We found it very amusing and decided that a picture of the situation was necessary, so...

After our little dinner, we made our way to Chez George. We love this place. We always go downstairs to hang out. It is like a cave that is centuries old with dim lighting, classic French tunes, and bottles of wine. I wish I had a recent picture to better describe this place.

Crystal and I finished our wine and left to meet up with some of her new friends. They were very nice. We went to a bar and attended a little birthday celebration where we indulged in delicious chocolate birthday cake (haha... "Let them eat cake." Anyone know what I'm talking about?). Oh, by the way, a strange old man winked at Crystal on the Metro, so to amuse him, she made kissing gestures back as we were leaving. I wish I would have looked to see his facial expression. I'm sure it was priceless. I love how we find ways to amuse ourselves.

We had a wonderful night. We decided that we are a perfect pair for our little adventures, even though we may lack class here and there. Oh well, it makes it even more fun when we can laugh at ourselves.

Thank You Rodgers and Hammerstein

2009-09-05T16:18:00.000+02:00

Proven by my previous post, today started out pretty bad. However, it is my day off and I needed to get out of the house and clear my head. After calling my mother, I decided to go for a walk. Since I do not yet have my unlimited Metro pass, I decided to stay in the area. After all, there are fabulous views of the Eiffel Tower nearby, so why not go for a walk. I first went into a nearby Monoprix grocery store to get some things for lunch. While I was there waiting in a very long line, the lady behind me started talking to me. I had my headphones on, so I couldn't hear her. I took them out, but still couldn't understand since I still have a lot of trouble with that. Anyway, right away she said, "Oh, you speak English! I was just saying how I'm old and standing in lines like this for all these years has really been boring." Haha. She was very kind. I then explained to her in French that I had just arrived a few weeks ago and that I am watching children over here while I improve my French. She told me that even though I had an accent (obviously), my French was very nice (haha. probably because I keep saying that phrase...). Her daughter lives in California, so she has had to learn English for when she visits her. Anyway, she was a very kind lady and helped to improve my spirits. It is amazing what one kind gesture can do for another person.

As I continued waiting in that line, I started to cheer up and thought of Maria von Trapp and her struggles and triumphs in her adventure as the governess for the daunting von Trapp family children. Yes, this character from The Sound of Music and her journey were my inspiration today. As I walked out into the cool, fresh air, I set my ipod to play "I Have Confidence." It made me happy. Luckily, I am the kind of silly person that has this soundtrack on my itunes. I don't care what anyone thinks. I love it, I always have, and I always will. I used to watch that movie over and over again as a child and I still know all of the songs by heart. Those songs remind me of my mother, because I know she loves them too, and Lina, Sanna, and Lucas (the wonderful children I babysit in the USA), because we sang those songs together. I sometimes still sing Edelweiss to Sanna before bed. Even though I'm not so great, she likes it.

I swear that the song "I Have Confidence" is perfect for me. I have to be strong, even though it's hard to be far from loved ones, and face this amazing adventure. It's what I have wanted for so long and who knows what will come of it. I have to "Climb Every Mountain" until I find my dream. I know, I'm cheesy, but even The Reverend Mother inspired me today. I found a nice bench on the ile Saint Louis (one of the islands in the Seine in the middle of Paris) where I ate my lunch. Then I continued my walk with a little more oomph in my step, spurred on by the music. Soon I found the perfect place to stop and take a picture. I found sepia tone worked best today.

I was having a little trouble taking my own picture with the Eiffel Tower, and a nice man on a bike stopped and took it for me. How nice. Honestly. There's another great person who cheered me up. All he did was jump off his bike and ask if I wanted him to take my picture. Here's the result...

I continued my mini adventure towards the Eiffel Tower, and eventually arrived listening to "Edelweiss." Perfect. I love that song. I joined in with the tourists and took several pictures of the Eiffel Tower. After all, I didn't have any in sepia yet.

After seeing the magnificent Eiffel Tower, I decided to go back home. I wasn't exactly sure when Crystal was going to be able to make it into the city.

What a nice walk. I really needed to just clear my head and cheer up. So, thank you friendly people in Paris and Rodgers and Hammerstein for The Sound of Music. I feel much better.

Just a Little Lonely...

2009-09-05T12:01:00.000+02:00

I'm sitting in my room right now really wishing Crystal were here. Actually I wish I were home sitting on the front porch drinking coffee with my mom, but at least I would have my lovely friend Crystal to talk to about anything and everything. Sure, there have been times since I've been here that I missed the people back home, but this morning is a little tough for me.

Last night when I was online before going to bed my brother called me via skype and I got to talk to my brother, parents, aunt and uncle, and even got to see my sweet dog. It really made me long to be with them and just be completely comfortable being myself. I like the family here a lot and I am pretty comfortable around them, but I'm still a guest in their house. I like to have quiet alone time and snack sometimes in my room at night, but I learned I'm not supposed to eat in my room. It's not a big deal, but it just made me want to be in my own room at home where I can do whatever I want when I want. It's one of my days off and I'm sitting in my room skyping, typing, and looking up airfare. I think if I can afford it, I might come home for a few weeks over Christmas. I was not planning on coming home at all, but with about a year left here and already wanting be around those I love, it's becoming more important to me. I don't want to leave early or anything, I just want to know that I'll see my family in a few months rather than in a year.

Well, I better get out of here. I think a nice walk in Paris will cheer me up. I get to be with Crystal later today, which will really help.

Back to Paris

2009-09-04T21:44:00.001+02:00

I have yet to leave Paris since my arrival a few weeks ago, but it feels like I have returned. After a few days with the kids, hardly leaving the neighborhood, I felt like Paris was waiting for me, or rather I longed for it.

Thursday was my first day of freedom from the kids. They started school and I got to leave and be all by myself for a while. I did not do any charming little walks or anything, but I enjoyed my time away. First of all, I had to take a placement test. I am going to take a French class while I am here, so of course, the school needed to figure out my level. I took it, it went well, whatever. I'm right where I left off last summer, so that's good. I'm surprised I remembered some of the stuff I did since I have not studied French at all in such a long time, except for tutoring once a week. For any of you who know Paris, my school is in the 8th arrondissement, which is pretty cool... near Arc de Triomphe. However, my classes will be in a different building than normal because of remodeling or something, so I'll be right by the Opera Garnier (think Phantom of the Opera). I love that building. It is so amazing. If you ever get the chance to go there, do it. It is breathtakingly beautiful on the inside... right out of a fairy-tale. I walked around and just thought about how lucky I felt to be living in Paris. It is still sort of hard to believe that it is real. I have wanted it for so long. I dreamed about living here since I first visited eight years ago. It is magical to me. Sure, some days are not perfect, but I am here and I am happy about that.

Today I ventured out again. I met up with Crystal and basically just walked around and talked. I would be happy doing nothing but talking and drinking coffee with friends in my spare time. Paris is a great atmosphere for that. Who am I kidding? I love doing that everywhere. Did someone say coffee?!!

Tomorrow cannot come soon enough. Well, yes it can. I'm tired and need to sleep first, but I am really looking forward to it. It is the weekend and I have two days off! My friend Matthieu invited me to come to a little get-together tomorrow night. He is the boyfriend of my former roommate Maddie. She lived with me last summer and will be in town this weekend. Crystal and I are going to join them, hang out, and then go out. I don't know where, but I really don't care. I'm sure we'll have a great time. Then Crystal and I are going to an event on Sunday. Couchsurfing.org is a networking thing where you can meet people that are traveling in your area and hang out. We are going to hang out with people we have never met. Perhaps there will be some fun people there. At least we'll be there together if it's a bust. I'm looking forward to it... actually just to getting out and not having to clean or watch kids for a few days. Hopefully I'll have some fun pictures to post later from the weekend.

Until then, a bientot!

Mmmmmm....

2009-09-04T21:29:00.000+02:00

So, in my last post, I finished with the fact that I desperately wanted some chocolate and was going to create a little stash for myself. Well, I did it and it made me so happy. It's funny how the little things in life, like chocolate cookies, can really make a difference. I don't really know why I'm blogging about this...

Yesterday I got off the Metro and entered the Monoprix (French grocery/everything store), which I felt was desperately awaiting me and my purchases. I strolled through the aisles, knowing I needed several things, but for some reason forgot to make a list. I knew I needed toothpaste, so I got that, but I couldn't think of anything else other than chocolate. It was like my brain was fixating on one thing and everything else was given a rain check. "Do I need face wash, eye solution, ....? I don't remember..." I decided I better grab my chocolate so my mind could become a little clearer. Haha. It didn't work. Whatever. I waited in line feeling a bit embarrassed. Everyone else around me was buying normal groceries such as vegetables and bread, and I was waiting there probably looking like a fool. In my hands I held two boxes of these amazing cookies (le Petit Ecolier...Monoprix brand), a three pack of Milka chocolate bars, two Coca Lites, toothpaste, and a pack of gum. Chocolate, Minty stuff, and Diet coke (well sorta). Nice. Very healthy. Way to fit in.

I ate several of those little cookies on my walk home and OMG, they were AMAZING. I ate half of a pack. Luckily, it is just what I needed and I have only eaten a few of those delicious cookies today.

A Nice Little Boat Ride

2009-09-02T20:01:00.000+02:00

The day started out very well. After all, it's my last day having the kids all day long since school starts tomorrow (except every Wednesday, since they don't go to school on Wednesdays...I don't know why, that's just how they do it over here). Anyway, we were having fun this morning... only the normal amount of fighting, yelling, and complaining. But in general, they were getting along pretty well together. Then I received an e-mail from their mother asking if I wanted to meet up with some of her friends and their kids and go for a boat ride on the Seine. Well, bien sur (of course)! It sounded like a fun little outing and the kids were very excited.

Then it started. First, Hannah (the oldest child) jumped off of a stool in the kitchen and hurt her leg, which was very dramatic (big bruises to come soon), and then Salome (the middle child), somehow fell off of her chair, so she was crying too, but I think hers was more for attention since Hannah was getting attention for her injury. Then, of course, Nathan (the youngest) joined in for no reason at all. Ahh! Whatever, after ten minutes of sobbing, etc. lunch was ready and everyone was happy again. After all, we had a boat ride coming up! The kids got all ready for the boat ride, we met up with the friends, and then walked to the river. Things were going great. We got on a boat right by the Eiffel Tower, took our seats, and took off. They were so excited. After awhile they, of course, became restless. We weren't even turned around yet to come back and they were already telling me that they were hungry and wanted to be done. They lasted pretty well.

Once we got off the boat, the main troubles started. I'm sure it won't sound bad for anybody else, but I was just frustrated. We found a spot and I got out the three bananas I brought along for a snack. The girls both grabbed them and opened them before I could even help them and the bananas fell on the ground. Crying. There was a little food stand right there, so one of the parents went there and we decided to get ice cream. However, Hannah gets sick when she has dairy, and trust me, this would not be good without a bathroom nearby (France, and I think a lot of Europe, lacks public restrooms). Anyway, she basically sobbed for fifteen minutes, because crepes and slurpies are not as good as ice cream.

Next we had to walk home. These kids were tired. No nap today. Try walking through tourist Paris with three little children when you do not know the language well, they're tired, and they are not listening. Enough said.

We finally arrived home. What a relief! I did some housework while they actually played pretty well together and then their parents returned home. Finished.

But the story ends well. The kids went to bed and then I had a wonderful salad with the parents. We talked a lot and it was fun. I am very comfortable around them, which is so nice. We are all interested in learning each other's culture and language.

To top it all off, I returned to my room and my bff Lauren started chatting via skype chat right away. Love her. Oh, but she was talking about getting some chocolate and I really want some and don't have any at the moment. I'm going to buy some chocolate tomorrow so I have a little stash.

A tout a l'heure! Bisous!!!

Coucou

2009-08-31T20:59:00.000+02:00

So far, so good. Everything is going fine as an au pair. I have only been living with the French family for a few days and my French skills are already improving... as a means of survival. This family is wonderful. They are always trying to make me feel at home and the children are already pretty comfortable with me. I spent all day with just the kids. We had fun, but it was pretty exhausting at times, especially since it was the first day their mother has worked in a month (ahhh... the life of the French... why wouldn't you take the entire month of August off?). Anyway, I am learning little phrases and my throaty "R" is improving, thanks to the help of the six-year-old. Who would have thought a six-year-old would be my next French teacher. It is easier communicating with the children than I thought because their language is more simple than that of the adults. This is true except when they are all yelling at the same time, two with pacifiers in their mouths, all in French. I just have to tell them to stop and that I do not understand and then they actually take turns talking. I have all day tomorrow and Wednesday with the kids and then school starts. YES! OUI!!! I will probably have more fun stories then when I have more time to myself and have the energy and time to venture out more.

Crystal and I met up yesterday and sat and ordered drinks with Jacques, our Parisian taxi driver friend. We then went for a nice walk around the Bastille area and tried to find a garden walk. We ending up not finding what we originally set out to find, but we found something else (another garden walk), and had a nice time together.

Oh, for those of you not familiar with what's currently popular in Paris, "coucou" is the new casual "hello." Sylvain said "salut" (the old casual greeting) was out, and coucou is in. Once Crystal said something to me about it, it was like the gates were opened and everyone started saying it to me, even the kids! And yes, it is just like the bird.

FYI... I'm at my home for the next year

2009-08-29T12:45:00.000+02:00

This morning, I moved into my new home. Like you all know, I am now an au pair. I met the family and they seem very nice. The mother and father, Sophie and Emmanuel, are very kind. The children are adorable and they have already warmed up to me in the four hours since I arrived. They sang "Itsy, Bitsy, Spider" to me when I arrived and they loved it when I sang along with them.

I am very glad that I am living with a French family. I think this is the best way for me to learn the language and culture. The children know a few words in English, but they speak almost exclusively French with me. It can be confusing when there are three little French voices talking to you, but I am figuring it out. I know I will learn the language very fast here. The parents know some English, which is nice when I do not understand, but they know less than I thought.

I am already venturing into the world of different, sometimes a bit scary, food. Some people know that I tend to be pretty picky with food, especially meat, but I have decided to try it all. When in France... Right? Anyway, for lunch today, Sophie prepared Caspacio. I'm not exactly sure what it was, but it looked like a thin slice of raw beef with some light dressing, lettuce, avocado, cheese, and mushrooms sprinkled over the top. Honestly, it was delicious.

My room is nice. It is the only bedroom downstairs. I have a comfy bed, lots of shelves for my stuff, a little cafe table and chairs, and a wall of windows. So far, so good! The children just went down for a nap, so I have a little quiet time to relax and get organized.

A Magnificent Sunset

2009-08-26T21:23:00.000+02:00

In life, when you have a chance to sit down and smell the roses, breathe deeply. Normally my life goes by so fast that I forget to sit back and basque in the magnificence of this world. Every now and then, when the stars seem to dance on a crisp winter night, or when the water is even bluer than you imagined it could possibly be, I stop and try to appreciate the beauty which surrounds me. Today, I spent my evening on the terrace of the foyer. This has become a little habit of mine. Who wouldn't make a habit out of watching the sunset behind the Eiffel Tower? It is nights like tonight that I am certain life does not just happen by chance. This beauty is so perfect that I know there must be a reason for it. From the perfection in each flower to the infinite colors held in the sky while watching the sun fall below the horizon, I see something greater than just us at work.

The sunset tonight was one I hope I can always remember because it could not have been more perfect. I got to the terrace around 8:15 while the sun was still shining over the Western skyline of Paris. Within a matter of minutes, it made it's way to the point of the highest hill and disappeared, leaving a hot red and sizzling pink where it had just been. Then coming out from these middle colors flowed oranges, yellows, hints of green, sky blue, and then just over my head it eased into a deep, royal purple. There were only wisps of clouds that hung low in the sky far away, and the slight breeze and temperature deemed only a light sweater necessary for comfort. The sun eventually set around 8:40, and then with the sky ablaze in color, the Eiffel Tower sparkled twenty minutes later. It was truly breathtaking. As time passed, the sky filled with darkness and I could see the Big Dipper dimly lit in the sky.

The almost-half moon hung low to my left. The moon always reminds me that my grandmother is watching over me. I looked down at my ring and smiled. It was the ring of my grandmother's mother, and it makes me think of my mother and grandmother, some of my most treasured people. I tried and tried to catch the sunset in a picture, but my camera was unable to capture what my eyes saw.

The Peacefulness of Paris

2009-08-25T17:05:00.000+02:00

Today I went for a peaceful walk all by myself. For my birthday, my mother bought me a little box filled with 50 walks in Paris. I decided today would be a perfect day to do the first. The weather was perfect...slighty overcast and a comfortable temperature which helped me decide to wear a short-sleeve top and twirly skirt (Heidi and Greta know what I'm talking about when I refer to my twirling skirt). My walk took me through the original heart of the city, the island known as Ile de la Cite, where wonderful things like Notre Dame (photo above), Sainte Chapelle, Palais de Justice, and the Conciergerie are located. While a portion of my walk did put me in areas filled with tourists, some of it took me through peaceful little streets that look as if they have been untouched for centuries. These charming little streets I am referring to seem barely wide enough for a single car and are paved in cobblestone. On these streets, I was oftentimes the only person, being that they were off the beaten tourist path. I felt so at peace to be strolling down these paths, and then along the river Seine. The "walk" from my notecard ended on Pont Neuf, Paris's oldest bridge. I always giggle when I see this bridge. I find the faces on it so amusing.

I decided to climb down the stairs to sit along the river. For nearly an hour, I dangled my feet on the slant next to the river and read my book. In a city so full of people, I felt so at peace, as if I was in my own little world. This peacefulness surrounded by beauty and history is just another reason why I love it over here.

A Day Full of Walking

2009-08-24T19:18:00.000+02:00

Yesterday, Crystal and I walked all day long...seriously. After I grabbed some breakfast and took a shower, Crystal met me at the foyer (the place I am staying) where we left for Montmartre. Montmartre is the area of Paris where I lived last year where Sacre Coeur, a beautiful basilica, is located.

We took the Metro, which had a LONG winding staircase and then walked the bazillion steps to Sacre Coeur. Something really cool about Sacre Coeur is that you can see it from very far away because it is situated on a hill. No matter how many times I see Sacre Coeur, I am always amazed by its beauty and uniqueness.

After checking out the area surrounding Sacre Coeur, Crystal and I continued our walk of my old stomping grounds by making our way down to Pigalle, Paris's red light district, home of the famous Moulin Rouge. Honestly, if you ever make it to Pigalle, you must realize that it is filled with sex shops and things you are not used to seeing in public. With that in mind, it is necessary to just laugh and enjoy your time. Crystal and I, as always, did exactly that.

These rare treasures are our old favorites located at Pigalle's erotic museum...

They are just a few of the tamer things one comes across in this colorful area.

After walking around Montmartre for hours, we decided to go somewhere to cool off. There are not many places to just go swimming in Paris, but there are plenty of fountains. There are even some where you can play. Right away, Trocadero came to mind. PERFECT view of the Eiffel Tower. It was so nice there. We felt like children playing in the water.

We relaxed for maybe a half hour with our feet in the water, contemplating where to go next. Since we were in the general area of my future home, we decided to check it out. The area is very residential... no tourist attractions that I know of. It is peaceful and nice. I'm going to live in a fire house!!!

After that, Crystal and I decided we had had enough walking and would just check to see if one of our favorite wine bars was open on our way back to the foyer (it was closed last summer during the month of August because the owners were on holiday). Anyway, as soon as we got off the Metro, Crystal received a call from Sylvain asking if we wanted to join him and his brother Maxime. Bien sur! Of course! I was so excited. These guys are great. It turns out they were only a few streets away drinking Coca-Cola Lights at a little cafe in front of the Odeon Theater. We sat and chatted with the boys and then decided to go for a walk. Haha. As if we hadn't walked enough. We walked to a fun area of Paris called Le Marais. There is lots of history in this area (of course, just like most of Paris). Eventually, after lots of exploring we made our way back down Boulevard Saint-Michel to the foyer in order to take my luggage to Sylvain's apartment where it is being stored for the next week.

Crystal and I said "Au revoir!" to the boys and headed back to the foyer for some food and relaxation on the terrace. It was the perfect night for it. The sky was beautiful and the food hit the spot, even though it was fast food. At one point, the Eiffel Tower was sparkling and the sky possessed every color of the rainbow. This was our view...

We ended the night speaking French with my friend from the previous night.

What a perfect, exhausting day!!!

Reasons why I love it

2009-08-22T23:39:00.000+02:00

I love Paris. Everyone who reads this blog knows that. It's pretty obviously. In the past, many people have asked me, sometimes with slightly disgusted faces, why I like Paris. "Isn't it dirty?" "Someone I know told me it smells." "Don't the French hate us?" "They don't even shave their pits." These comments/questions oftentimes come up in conversations involving Paris while in the United States. Yes, it is true, some people have had bad experiences over here. Maybe they were being loud and obnoxious and were treated badly by an annoyed Parisian. Or perhaps they don't enjoy being in large cities. Maybe they had to rush through the city and didn't get a change to really relax and soak it all in. Whatever. After all of the comments, I try to explain why I love being here. I explain that yes, it is dirty in some areas. Yes, sometimes it can definitely smell, especially people in the Metro. And yes, I am sure there are some that dislike Americans and don't shave their armpits. However, the same things could be said of many cities. Cities can be dirty in certain areas, some people stink, some people refuse to shave, and yes, I've met plenty of Americans who dislike the French. Their reason for disliking the French usually has something to do with the French disliking Americans. It's a vicious circle. I then tell them why I truly love it...the culture, the language, the architecture, the history, the food, etc.

For myself, I decided to make a list of why I love Paris. During my time here, I'm sure I will continue to discover my reasons. Here is what I have from today's adventures.

1) Beautiful churches everywhere. Today I went to the grocery store to get a few food items to keep in my room. As I walked down Boulevard Saint-Michel, I discovered that the only grocery store I knew of was not as close as I had originally believed. After a while, I came back to my room, went on the internet, etc., and decided I needed to get back outside and explore. My main goal was to find a closer grocery store. I quickly did and just kept walking. I then came to a famous horse fountain and turned down a street. I walked a little more and then came to a small alley, which after several twists and turns led me right to a beautiful church that I had never even heard of. Isn't it beautiful?

It is called the Eglise du Val-de-Grace, which means something like "Valley of Grace Church." Anyway, I had never heard of it or seen it, and here it was, not a person around. It is from the seventeenth century. This is not the first time I have come upon a monument by mistake. It happens all of the time. In Paris, there are so many things to see that many things get left out to the average tourist trying to squeeze everything into a short period of time.

2) Speaking French. This evening around ten o'clock, I decided to go to the terrace to watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle. Every hour starting I think at 9 p.m. (maybe 10) it sparkles for a few minutes. It turns out that i was too late. However, as I sat there by myself in the dark staring at that beautiful golden tower and the rest of the glowing monuments visible from my rooftop, my mood quickly changed as a very kind Frenchman pulled up his seat next to me. Right away we started talking. He is from Cannes, "like the film festival," he told me in his thick French accent. For about an hour I spoke French with this guy who wanted nothing more than to practice his English and meet someone in a city where he knew few people. It was just fun to practice and he helped me with words that I did not know. I did the same for him. Anyway, I stayed up there long enough to see the tower sparkle at 11. It always takes my breath away. After the terrace closed, I came back down to my room feeling satisfied with my slight progress. Every little bit counts. I even learned a new French word that I still cannot pronounce. Scintillement. It apparently means "to sparkle."

I could go on all night about why I love Paris, but I think it might be more fun to add things with each encountered experience.

I'm finally in Paris!

2009-08-22T14:14:00.000+02:00

I arrived in Paris yesterday afternoon. So far, everything has been wonderful.

My friend Crystal has a friend who drives a taxi in Paris named Jacques. Jacques is a very kind Frenchman. They picked me up at the airport and instead of taking me directly to where I am staying, he took me on a little tour of the city. Any of you who know anything about Paris driving probably fear the Etoile, a traffic circle around the Arc de Triomphe where 12 roads come together. Of course, being a Paris taxi driver, Jacques took me right there, and then down the Champs Elysees, and basically all over Paris. I got to see most of my favorite monuments before I even dropped off my luggage! Plus, this taxi ride from the airport was free! Merci Jacques.

I am staying at a student dormitory/hostel thing for the next few days until the family I will be an au pair for arrives on the 31st of August. It is a wonderful place. I found out about it through Crystal because she stayed here last summer. It is right on Boulevard Saint-Michel, across the street from the Luxembourg Gardens. In fact, I went for a run in the gardens this morning! BEAUTIFUL! Where I am currently staying, there is a terrace at the top of the building with an exquisite view of Paris. I am actually on the terrace right now soaking up some sun, looking up every now and again to take in the city. This is my view...

Amazing, isn't it?!

Last night, Crystal was able to stay with me and we decided to really make a night out of it. My friend Sylvain invited us to join him and some of his friends at a hip new bar called Rosa Bonheur. We went and had a blast. First of all, it was a little difficult to find this bar because it was in a park, but once we were close, we could hear where we needed to go. Great music, great drinks, relaxing/fun atmosphere. We drank wine with his friends outside, then once we collected enough plastic cups to receive a free beer (30), we went inside to dance. Sylvain and his friends are very nice, fun people.

So here I am, relaxing on my second day in Paris. The weather is great...sunny and warm, and I have no obligations. I will probably go for a walk soon to explore the neighborhood. I know there is a grocery store around here closer than the one I just visited. Now that I am here, I'm sure I will have a lot to write about. Hopefully I'll have the time. A bientot!

Saying Goodbye is the Hardest Part

2009-08-11T22:10:00.000+02:00

I'm sitting in a Panera Bread all alone with my thoughts and laptop on a mission to waste time and get out of the sun and my non-air-conditioned car. I drove down to Grand Rapids today in order to say goodbye to good friends and run a few errands. On my drive, it really hit me how much I am going to miss those closest to me while I am away. I always knew that it would be hard to leave everyone for a year, but that grief just slapped me in the face. I left my house in a cheery mood after drinking coffee with my mother (one of our favorite things to do together). As we talked, I kept looking at my dog and thinking how much I would miss this time with my mom and my sweet dog, Oliver. I drove away thinking that in just one week and two days I will be saying goodbye for a much longer period of time. I then thought of everyone else I will really miss: the kids I babysit, my parents, my closest friends, my dogs, and even my brothers. It is going to be hard, but I know that I have to go and follow the path my heart so longs to walk. One year will fly by, especially in Paris. Perhaps I'll even get a visit from some of the people I love so much. Last year when I returned from Paris, I experienced this same grief. My heart is being pulled in two directions... two directions which happen to be an ocean apart. Even as my tears flowed silently during that drive, I never second-guessed my decision to venture abroad.