Random Writings on a Snowy February Day

the weather here has been absolutely bizarre. 2 days ago, it was 12 degrees Celsius, i guess thats like, mid 50's F. well, the next morning, i woke up to find almost 2 inches of snow covering the town and it was still coming down. It was the strangest thing. Then today, it's sunny and warm again and all the snow is melting! However, Manon and I did manage to go outside and play in the snow. We made a snowman, and i honestly think it was my first snowman ever. I remember when I was a kid and it snowed, we just had snowball fights and built forts. We never did snowmen. But maybe that's just what happens when you have 3 brothers...they have no interest in snowmen. :) Anyways, it was quite the experience.






















Recent Frustrations:

So lately I have been having a lot frustration with the kids. Mostly Manon, but the others as well. I have come to the realization that they don't respect me. Rather than respect, I get attitude and it really irritates me. I feel like I have tried to be a fun au pair and more of their friend than just a mean nanny. But I don't think I got the balance right. I think I have been too much of a friend, that now they take advantage of that and don't listen when I am asking them to do stuff. Manon is only 9, so she really should have a few more years of sweetness left. And granted, she does have her moments where we have a lot of fun together and she is really sweet. Like playing in the snow yesterday, we had a great time. But then there are other times when she rolls her eyes, sulks, talks back, etc. The worst is when I'm trying to ask her to do something and I get attitude, so I get a little more firm and then rather than obeying me, she just corrects my french using the same attitude. I basically interpret it as "you can't even speak my language, so why should I have to listen to you?" ohhhh it just drives me nuts. I did talk with the parents about it the other day and I think we were able to come up with some ideas and ways of dealing with it. Bahhhh. I miss all my 3 and 4 year olds from sunday school class. :)


Things I am looking forward to:

coming up soon is the kids next holiday. As I have said before, they go to school for about 6 weeks and then have 2 weeks of holidays. So for this one, the first week we are going to just hang out and try and find some fun stuff to do. But for the second week we are going to London! Severine's brother lives there and we are going to go stay with them for a few days and see London. I'm really excited!

Then, their next holiday after that is in April and we are going skiing!!! I am not sure where, but it's somewhere on the border of France and Switzerland. It's going to be really fun. I'm going to be snowboarding of course. I can't wait.


Well, I dont have much more to say for today. I am sitting at a little cafe in Saint-Germain-en-Laye using wireless. Its quite lovely. Happy february everyone.