sorry for not posting much lately. I haven't had internet at all. but anyways, this might be a long one so hopefully that will make up for all the days i have missed.
So I started my French school this week. I have class on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 9-11 am. I am in a class with 14 other au pairs who are all at the same level of french as me. There are girls from all over. the majority are from Germany, one is from canada, another from the US, one is from Maldives, one from New Zealand, one from Sweden, and I don't remember the others. It's cool because since we are from all over the world, we really don't have a common language except french. Therefore, the entire class is conducted in french. its hard but so much better for me. Our teacher's name is Olga and she is probably in her early 30's. She seems fun and nice so far. So basically all we have done so far is just introduce ourselves, do a bunch of group activities, writing exercises, etc. we have covered some of the basic grammar things that we are supposed to already know. it was nice to have the little refresher because it has been quite awhile since i have really studied french. The girls in my class seem to be pretty nice. I have gotten to know one of the german girls pretty well because we take the same train to school. so when we discovered that we started sitting together and chatting. The school is about 10 minutes by train. I also found out that she has the same religious beliefs as me so that is pretty cool. This weekend we are going to go to a french church together. it should be fun.
as for school though, we have a little bit of homework each night and so far it's been kind of fun. The family I live with has been great at helping me. They all enjoy "teaching" me the stuff and correcting the stuff after i do it. it's fun.
Now that I have started school, I am finally in a regular schedule. I thought you guys might be interested to know what a normal day looks like for me.
7:30- wake up
8:15- walk with Manon (the 8 year old) to her school
8:30- walk to the train station where i wait for the train to take me to my school
9:00- in school until 11
11:00- get back on the train to go back to Le Vesinet
11:20- pick up some groceries or something at the store
11:40- Pick up Manon at school for lunch
12:00- make lunch for the 3 kids and myself
1:00- take manon back to school
1:30- some days i will take this time to get stuff done around the house, like ironing, cleaning, dishes, laundry, etc. other times i'll go to the library and use the internet. other times i go to another Family's house where I babysit their children. the latter is what i have been doing so far this week. It's nice because it gives me the opportunity to make some extra money.
4:15- leave to pick up Manon
4:30- on Tuesdays and Thursdays i have to drive to pick her up and then take her and a friend to their gymnastics lessons. on the other days, i just walk and we go back to the house.
5:00- help the kids with their homework, clean, do my homework, play with Manon, etc.
7:00- start making dinner
7:30- eat dinner
8:00- one or both of the parents arrive home and I am free for the rest of the night. Sometimes i will stay at home and do homework, play games on my computer, watch tv, watch a movie, etc. sometimes i'll go over to one of my friends houses and use their internet or just hang out. sometimes a few of us will go into paris for dessert or coffee or wine and just walk around the different areas. Then i go home and go to bed.
that is a typical day for me. nothing too exciting, but busy nonetheless.
well i suppose that is enough for now. if you have questions or want me to write about something in particular just leave me a comment or email me. i want this to be interesting for you guys. i'm not doing it for myself. so if you want to know something just ask.
26 September 2008
16 September 2008
just a few pictures
Sorry I haven't been good at putting up pictures. Here is just a blog with pictures and descriptions. miss you all!!!
this is me and Molly (on the left) and Chandra (in the middle). They are two other americans that are living here as au-pairs. Molly is from Arizona and Chandra is from Missouri. This is us in front of the arc de triomphe
These people are some other friends. the one in sunglasses and the dark haired one are sisters from Italy. They are friends of Chandra because the dark haired one studied abroad in the states and lived with Chandra's family. She was their foreign exchange student. The girl between the italian sisters is Chandra's sister. She was over here as an au pair as well, but just left to go back to the states.
This is me and Caroline. She is my swedish friend. We went out for the evening with some other friends. She lives just 5 or 6 houses down from me.
This is La Defense, I think it's actually an office building or something. But it's pretty cool looking. I had seen it from a distance last time I was in France, but never up close. There is some really good shopping right around it. :)
Me in front of the Louis Vuitton store. :)
I found this pink vespa and just had to take a picture with it!!!
Well I guess that is enough for now. I'll post more later. Enjoy!!!
Oh, i start my french classes next week. so i'll tell you about those after they start.
this is me and Molly (on the left) and Chandra (in the middle). They are two other americans that are living here as au-pairs. Molly is from Arizona and Chandra is from Missouri. This is us in front of the arc de triomphe
These people are some other friends. the one in sunglasses and the dark haired one are sisters from Italy. They are friends of Chandra because the dark haired one studied abroad in the states and lived with Chandra's family. She was their foreign exchange student. The girl between the italian sisters is Chandra's sister. She was over here as an au pair as well, but just left to go back to the states.
This is me and Caroline. She is my swedish friend. We went out for the evening with some other friends. She lives just 5 or 6 houses down from me.
This is La Defense, I think it's actually an office building or something. But it's pretty cool looking. I had seen it from a distance last time I was in France, but never up close. There is some really good shopping right around it. :)
Me in front of the Louis Vuitton store. :)
I found this pink vespa and just had to take a picture with it!!!
Well I guess that is enough for now. I'll post more later. Enjoy!!!Oh, i start my french classes next week. so i'll tell you about those after they start.
12 September 2008
The Rest of Yesterday
I should have known that I was posting too early yesterday, as it wasn't even dinner time yet. The day wasn't over and now I have to post again because it just got more interesting!!!
so just real quick, here is what happened:
I was about to start cooking dinner when it started raining. no big deal. I was upstairs asking the kids to help me with something when out of nowhere it lightninged and thundered louder than i have ever heard in my life. we all screamed and then the lights went out. there was a horrific sound coming from downstairs that i found out later was an alarm. The girls were terrified and I didn't know what was going on. Luckily Julien was there and knew how to turn the alarm off. I didn't even know they had an alarm. He was also able to get the lights back on. After we all calmed down the girls came down to help me with dinner. About 20 minutes later the doorbell rang (the way it works here is there is a gate with a bell, and it rings to a phone in the house where you can see who is at the gate and talk to them). I couldn't tell who was there so i said "oui?" while trying to get one of the kids to talk to them. the person kept rambling in French and i could only say "un moment s'il vous plait." Julian came down and went outside and it was the police!!! They were coming in response to the alarm going off! I guess they had been telling me to open the gate, but i didn't understand that. So anyways, Julien handled that and the rest of the day went smoothly. :)
That's all...quite the day though.
so just real quick, here is what happened:
I was about to start cooking dinner when it started raining. no big deal. I was upstairs asking the kids to help me with something when out of nowhere it lightninged and thundered louder than i have ever heard in my life. we all screamed and then the lights went out. there was a horrific sound coming from downstairs that i found out later was an alarm. The girls were terrified and I didn't know what was going on. Luckily Julien was there and knew how to turn the alarm off. I didn't even know they had an alarm. He was also able to get the lights back on. After we all calmed down the girls came down to help me with dinner. About 20 minutes later the doorbell rang (the way it works here is there is a gate with a bell, and it rings to a phone in the house where you can see who is at the gate and talk to them). I couldn't tell who was there so i said "oui?" while trying to get one of the kids to talk to them. the person kept rambling in French and i could only say "un moment s'il vous plait." Julian came down and went outside and it was the police!!! They were coming in response to the alarm going off! I guess they had been telling me to open the gate, but i didn't understand that. So anyways, Julien handled that and the rest of the day went smoothly. :)
That's all...quite the day though.
11 September 2008
What a Day!!!!
This has been by far the most stressful day for me. Oh my goodness I am so happy to be in the house and not having to be anywhere else. It started out by having to go to Saint-Germain-en-Laye to take a French placement test to see which level of class I will be put in. Today was the first of 2 tests, this one being written and the next one being oral. I wasn’t worried about it at all. The thing I was most nervous about was finding the school. So I get off the RER (the train) and I know that the school is within 2-3 minutes (walking) of the stop. I know the main street it is off of and am just hoping to find that. Well, 30 minutes later I still haven’t found the main street, or the school, or anything that looks right. I was too flustered to ask for help. I didn’t want to get laughed at or be told something that I don’t understand. I knew it would have been the smart thing to do, but I couldn’t make myself do it. Everyone looked like they were in a hurry and I didn’t want to bother them. So I just kept walking. The directions I had written down were from the main street and since I couldn’t find that my directions were useless. I continued walking, back the direction of the RER and all of a sudden pass a street with a name that sounded familiar. I looked at my directions and it was one of the streets I was supposed to turn on. Luckily, it only went one direction so I didn’t have to worry about going the wrong way for 10 minutes. I found the next street which was the one my school is on and there was my school! I was so relieved, yet still flustered and in no mood to take a test. However, I had no choice. Now mind you, this is strictly a general placement test to see what I know. It felt more like an upper level exam towards the end of a course than a placement test. The entire thing was in French (directions and all). I was glad that I have had some sort of training and could get through it because if I had never studied French I would have put my name on it and handed it right back to them. However, I worked my way through it trying my hardest to remember all the stuff I supposedly learned in my French classes over the years. The very end had me write a paragraph and I was so irritated by then that I rushed through it just so I could get out. On my way out I made sure to ask where the RER station was and just as I thought a 2 minute walk. Left, left, right, and it’s on your left. Ugh…
This only brings us to about 10:30. I go about the rest of my day which involves picking Manon up from school, making lunch for the kids, and taking Manon back to school. (I will give you guys a detailed description of what each day looks like when I have figured it all out!) After lunch I went into Paris to meet some friends and do some shopping. Knowing what was coming up later made it difficult to enjoy myself.
Today is my first day of having to drive, with a specific destination. I had to pick Manon up from school, along with one of her friends, and drive them to gymnastics lessons. And of course, as soon as I walk outside to get in the car, it starts raining….perfect. So my first obstacle was finding the windshield wipers. Not too difficult. I guess the picture of a windshield and a wiper is universal. So no biggie. Next I drive to Manons school and have to find parking. The streets are tiny, the car is massive (compared to my mini at home), and they park like sardines (really close together). Arriving in front of the school and looking for anything easy without angering other drivers turns out to be not bad. I can only attribute it to God that a couple got in their car right as I was pulling up and it allowed me to park right by the school. Oh, I don’t know if I mentioned this, but it’s all parallel parking. The idea of a parking lot would simply be too easy…right? So now I have only 2 more obstacles: finding the gymnastics building, and then finding my way back home. Thank goodness Severine had taken me driving over the weekend and showed me where the place was at. I have a pretty good visual memory and was able to navigate my way there without a single wrong turn. Parking there is absolutely impossible so I was just going to have to drop the girls off. Of course there was an irritable driver behind me and the girls weren’t quite ready to get out of the car. So I had to circle the place and try again. We survived and then I was on my own to get back home. That was easy too. Oh but wait, I forgot about my last obstacle: getting the car in the driveway. The streets are tiny and the driveway is also tiny. They like to back the car in so that it’s easier to get out the next time. Up until this point, I have not succeeded in getting the car in backwards. Severine usually allows me to pull in forwards. But today I must go in backwards. They have a gate in front of the house and so I have no room for mistake. There is about 5 inches on each side to spare… honestly guys, I don’t know how I did it…but I did. The car is currently backed into the driveway just as it should be. Thank you Jesus! I am not going anywhere else today. I have had quite the day.
This only brings us to about 10:30. I go about the rest of my day which involves picking Manon up from school, making lunch for the kids, and taking Manon back to school. (I will give you guys a detailed description of what each day looks like when I have figured it all out!) After lunch I went into Paris to meet some friends and do some shopping. Knowing what was coming up later made it difficult to enjoy myself.
Today is my first day of having to drive, with a specific destination. I had to pick Manon up from school, along with one of her friends, and drive them to gymnastics lessons. And of course, as soon as I walk outside to get in the car, it starts raining….perfect. So my first obstacle was finding the windshield wipers. Not too difficult. I guess the picture of a windshield and a wiper is universal. So no biggie. Next I drive to Manons school and have to find parking. The streets are tiny, the car is massive (compared to my mini at home), and they park like sardines (really close together). Arriving in front of the school and looking for anything easy without angering other drivers turns out to be not bad. I can only attribute it to God that a couple got in their car right as I was pulling up and it allowed me to park right by the school. Oh, I don’t know if I mentioned this, but it’s all parallel parking. The idea of a parking lot would simply be too easy…right? So now I have only 2 more obstacles: finding the gymnastics building, and then finding my way back home. Thank goodness Severine had taken me driving over the weekend and showed me where the place was at. I have a pretty good visual memory and was able to navigate my way there without a single wrong turn. Parking there is absolutely impossible so I was just going to have to drop the girls off. Of course there was an irritable driver behind me and the girls weren’t quite ready to get out of the car. So I had to circle the place and try again. We survived and then I was on my own to get back home. That was easy too. Oh but wait, I forgot about my last obstacle: getting the car in the driveway. The streets are tiny and the driveway is also tiny. They like to back the car in so that it’s easier to get out the next time. Up until this point, I have not succeeded in getting the car in backwards. Severine usually allows me to pull in forwards. But today I must go in backwards. They have a gate in front of the house and so I have no room for mistake. There is about 5 inches on each side to spare… honestly guys, I don’t know how I did it…but I did. The car is currently backed into the driveway just as it should be. Thank you Jesus! I am not going anywhere else today. I have had quite the day.
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