Becoming French

Reflections on a year in France

2009-08-19T03:57:00.000+02:00

So this week brings me to the end of my adventures in France. I head back to Los Angeles on Thursday. I guess I feel like I need to do some sort of closing blog to finish out my year. I don’t know exactly what direction I want it to go in, but I’m thinking that a few things I have learned, some of my favorite memories, things I will miss the most, and some final pictures. This will probably be my last blog, unless I decide to keep writing about random things. But who knows. Here goes nothing.

I guess first off, I just want to say that it has been an absolute incredible year in France. I have had experiences that some people can only dream of, I have made friends from all over the world, I have learned a new language and culture, and I have grown as a person. In all honesty, I am not at all ready to leave. I’m actually having a really hard time accepting the fact that I’m going back and I have been avoiding it for awhile now. I am trying to make each moment last because I really don’t want Thursday to come. There are parts of me that want to go back to the states, but most of me just wants to stay here. I have grown accustomed to my life here and my friends here.

I have developed a new way of eating that I don’t even know if it is possible to continue in the states. The food here is so fresh and healthy. It’s so easy to eat crap in the US, and here it takes extra effort. Not just the specific foods, but the way we eat here. A meal in France is so much more than just putting food in your mouth. It’s an event, a chance to reflect and connect with people around us. An average meal lasts about 2 ½ hours, oftentimes even longer. I love the way we start a meal with an aperitif and snacks in the living room. Then we move to the dining room or outside if it’s nice. We have the regular meal with wine. Then after everyone is done with that, we eat cheese, then dessert, then coffee, and all the while chatting and laughing and just enjoying the company of each other. I feel like this is a lost art in the US and that makes me really sad.

Another aspect of my life that has changed is the amount of walking I do. There is rarely a reason to take the car because of how close stuff is. And the public transportation is good too so even if something is far, you still don’t need the car. I am afraid that I will too easily fall back into driving everywhere when I return. I feel so much healthier after being here. I do know that my new apartment isn’t far from a lot of stuff, so I’m hoping to do some walking that way. There are tons of shops and restaurants in an area called old town Pasadena and if I can walk whenever I go there I should be okay.

I really don’t want to leave my friends. I know I have friends back in the states, and I cannot wait to see all of them. But to think right now about the possibility of never seeing some of these people again really kills me. I thank God everyday for the people he has put in my life this past year. At first, I made only au pair friends. That was cool, but I had a huge desire to have French friends. I prayed that God would give me some good French friends. He did just that. First he led me to an incredible church in Paris that accepted me with open arms. Through this church I began making amazing friends and it is these that I do not want to leave. Tatiana, Sylvain, Jean-David, Gaelle, Isabelle, and soooo many more. We have so many fun experiences together and I am truly going to miss each of them. I have been so blessed to have been so accepted by these people. A big thanks to each of you. I will never ever forget you and I pray that we will meet again in the future. At least I know that Tatiana will be coming to visit in November. And actually Sylvain and Jean-David are probably coming as well. I really hope so, as we are a really close foursome that has had the best moments together. Just this past weekend we went down to Orleans (hour south of paris) and hung out at the 2 guys parents house (they are brothers). We love to do spur of the moment things and just have fun.

Well I started writing this a few days ago and haven’t had a chance to finish it. So I’m just going to cut it off there and try to finish when I get back to the states. Ill put up pictures and all sorts of stuff. So everything I said about this being my last post…I take it back. So check back!

I’m currently repacking all my bags trying to somehow make it not be overweight. Ugh. Pray for me guys! I have a stressful 36 hours ahead of me….AHHHHHHHHHHH

sorry, it's been awhile

2009-07-13T23:58:00.005+02:00

Hi all my committed readers. I have heard from several of you that you are waiting my next post. I'm sorry I haven't posted in a long time. I have no good reason. I guess for today, i'll just update you all on what i've been up to the past couple months and what is to come in the near future.

I have been working as normal, making food, walking kids to school, driving to gymnastics and tennis and all sort of other stuff. The kids were pretty stressed out there for awhile because both Pauline and Julien had big exams at the end of the year. But now they are all done with school and it is finally summer vacation. Julien just left on Sunday to go to New York for 2 weeks to practice his english. Pauline left as well, but went to Ireland. and Manon leaves this week for horse camp or something. That means all the kids are going to be out of the house for a week and a half. Technically, i am done with my contract with the family. My last day was actually just this past Friday. I am going to stick around and help out when the 2 girls get back, but other than that i am finished. It feels weird. It's crazy that a year has already gone by. But anyways, what else have I been up to lately? Oh, I just had 2 friends come to visit. Rikki and Kyna, 2 of my best friends from high school days. They came just last week and were here for about a week. We took a weekend trip down to Corsica and had an amazing time. Here are some pictures at the end. We took a train down to nice, then hung out in Nice for the day and took a Ferry that night over to Corsica. We hung out for a couple days then flew back into paris. It was absolutely beautiful, with water so clear and blue. It wasn't too crowded either. We bought cheap rafts and floated in the water every day. it was a much needed vacation. It was really great to have my 2 friends here. We had a lot of laughs and funny experiences and made great memories. Thank you girls for coming to visit me!

Friends in Paris!!!!!!!!!

We stumbled onto the Tour de France in Monaco- it was pretty cool!

Our "ferry" which was definitely more like a cruiseliner.

On the ferry heading down to Corsica:

watching the sunrise on the beach...

corsica shot from a train:

Beautiful picture taken by Kyna:

The first area we were in, Ile Rousse:

The water was so clear and pretty-perfect for relaxing on the beach:

So yeah, thats what has been going on. You may be wondering, "okay, joelle, so you are finished with work, when are you coming back to the states?" Well, i'm glad you asked. even though i am done now, I will be sticking around for a few more weeks. My flight back is set for August 20. I have been invited to go along as a nanny on vacation with another family that i babysit for. They are american and are going to the south of france for 5 days or so. They are taking me along to give the adults some time away from the kids. I'm really excited about it That will be in the end of July through the 2nd of August. AFter that, I'm just sticking around for kicks. Actually my reasoning is that when i was looking for tickets, the prices dropped drastically on the 20th and i couldn't afford to buy the expensive ones. So i'm going to stick around and do some babysitting and hang out with friends. My host family will be leaving on vacation the 31st of July so that means i have to leave the house too. I am going to be living with another American family that I babysit for for 2 weeks and then after that I'm going to stay with my french friend tatiana for the last week. Here is a picture of tatiana:

I guess I probably haven't told you guys about her yet either. She is someone I met at my church in Paris. She has become my best friend here and it has been such a blessing having her around. She has helped me so much with my french, but besides that she has just been a great friend. She has introduced me to a ton of other people, which has been great because I was having such a hard time making French friends. I feel so connected now and know that my experience would not have been as positive had I not met her. Thanks tati! She is actually going to be coming to the United States to visit me for awhile and is even going to come to my mom's house with me for thanksgiving! We are both really excited, but especially her because it will be her first thanksgiving. Ideally she would like to come live in the states for a year and work so that she can improve her english. She wants to start a wedding planning business in France and would like to come work for one in the states to learn about the business. I have been trying to help her find an internship or something, but we aren't having much luck. But anyways, she has been wonderful and I am so grateful to have her as a part of my life.

So yeah, I guess that covers enough for now. I can't say i'll write more soon, because we know how bad I am at this blogging thing. Oh well. I will try to write again before I head home. Thank you everyone for your emails, your prayers, your comments, everything. I'm more likely to write when I know people are reading this. Hope everyone is doing well. Feel free to post questions or things you would like me to address for another post. Much love from Paris, on Bastille day! (oh yeah, i'm having a grand bastille day celebration tomorrow, so i'll post pictures and write about it!)

Open Air Markets

2009-05-09T10:27:00.003+02:00

So every saturday my host dad goes into the city center to do grocery shopping for the upcoming week. There is an open air market where he buys all the fresh stuff like veggies, fruits, cheese, meat, bread, etc... well, this weekend my host family is out of town and they left me money to go do the shopping. I had never been to these markets before and was a bit nervous. However, i got there and walked around to familiarize myself. I had made a list of what we needed and I just dove in and started telling the people what I needed. There were so many people there, yet the workers had it down to a science! they were so efficient and quick, yet personable and patient. I didnt feel rushed or stupid or anything! I bought fresh strawberries, apples, bananas, brocolli, carrots, chicken, and duck! It was such a fun experience and I think Im going to start giving up sleeping in on Saturdays to start going with my host dad to the market!

Another Weekend Getaway

2009-04-08T19:20:00.008+02:00

I think my recent trip to Greece was exactly what I needed to get my mind into the "let's see the world while we can" mindset. I have been wanting to do all this traveling, and after I saw how easy and fun it was with Greece, I just decided to keep it up.

This past week, Chandra told me that she had the upcoming weekend free. I looked at her and said "alright, where we going?" We got online that day and found some really cheap overnight train tickets to the south of France. We booked them the next day and 2 days after that we were on our way! We weren't really sure where we were going but had chosen a city that looked cute from pictures online. The train left at 10:30 friday night and we got into St Jean de Luz at 6am Saturday morning.

It was literally still dark outside and when we walked out of the train had to make a decision as to which way to turn (right or left, and having no clue what was in either direction). We chose left and then just started following signs for "La Plage" (the beach). So here we are in a tiny tourist town in March at 6 in the morning. It was beyond dead. Nothing was open, there were no cars, no people, NOTHING. We walked for quite awhile and found a little shop where we could buy a map. Eventually finding our way to the beach, we parked out on a park bench for a while and ate what food we had left from our train trip. When the sun finally decided to start lighting up the world, we started walking along the beach and looking for a hotel. We found several but nobody was working yet. We took the time to walk around and take lots of pictures. Finally, once it was after 8 and places started opening, we went in to gas stations, hotels, cafes, etc trying to figure out what we could do. We knew one thing: we wanted to rent motos. After lots of different answers, we eventually decided that this town wasn't going to be too successful. We found a cafe, ordered a hot chocolate, and figured out what to do next.

While we were on the train, we noticed that almost everyone had gotten off at the stop just before ours, a town called Biarritz. We asked our waiter if there was a bus to Biarritz and he gave us directions to the stop. We got there and had to wait an hour and a half for the next one, so we found another cafe to sit in while we waited.

By 10:30 we were on the bus and heading towards Biarritz, still having no idea what we would find when we got there. We got off at an area that seemed "hopping" and just started walking around looking for a hotel. We were so sick of carrying our bags around that all we wanted was to find somewhere to leave them and not have to worry about them. We found several right in one area and just picked the cheapest one. We got an adorable tiny room for 40 euros. We had to share a shower room, but it was just with 2 other girls (that we never even saw). We asked the lady at the desk about renting motos and she gave us a flier for a place down the street. We found it without any problems and within 20 minutes were on our way. We rode along the coast, stopping every 5 seconds to take pictures. The town was soooo cute. Big houses, cliffs, rock formations, a lighthouse, bridges, tucked away beaches, sidewalk cafes, and just enough people to feel comfortable.

Our plan was to just stay along the coast, but we soon came across a problem. All the streets became one way and not the way we wanted to go. We kept turning around and backtracking, having no idea what to do. We pulled over and were laughing about how we were already lost when 2 guys on feet started laughing at us too. Assuming they didn't speak english we were being maybe a little rude. We left them and kept riding and 15 seconds later we passed them again. This time they spoke english to us and asked if we needed help. Turns out they were from Australia and were in the area for work. They suggested a direction to us to get us on the main road. We were looking for a pizza place. Somehow we all ended up eating together and hanging out for the day.

They were really cool and showed us around. We followed them in their car and us on our bikes and went to the next town over and walked along the river, watched all sorts of crazy people (there was a big rugby match that night and everyone was pretty excited about it). After all that Chandra and I moto'd back to our hotel.

The next day, one of the guys (dave) had invited us to go to spain with him. After much debate, we decided to do it because we wouldn't have another opportunity like it. Spain was about an hour away and we ended up in the town of St Sebastian or something.
It was so cute, a little fishing village where the river meets the ocean. We walked all around the town,, ate lunch at a cafe, did a little shopping (i didn't buy anything this time!!!), and found the beach where we stuck our feet in the water. We took so many pictures and had such a fun relaxing day. We headed back to France where chandra and I did some more moto-ing and photo shoots. :) Since it was sunday, we had to take the motos back by 6 and our train didn't leave until almost 11 that night. Since the train stopped in Biarritz and St Jean de Luz, we assumed we would be able to get on at either spot. We decided not to risk it and asked at the train station. go figure, that only the French would say you had to get on where your ticket said. So that meant we had to find our way back to st jean de luz by bus or taxi, on a sunday, during the off season. We spent like 2 hours trying to find the right bus stop and when we finally did we still had like 2 hours to kill. We ended up back in St Jean de Luz by 8:30 and found a cafe where we sat until 10:30. We got on the train and headed back to Paris. It was funny because all the same people were on the train that we had seen on Friday. I guess it's a common thing to do. We got back to paris at 6am and got to our houses by 7, and ready to start work by 8! longest day of my life...

And now, here are some pictures:

Greece

2009-03-25T16:33:00.008+01:00

This past weekend was my first real vacation since arriving in France. I know that many people think that I have just been living in a vacation over here, but thats just not the case. It is stressful, exhausting, and not always fun. When I came over, I assumed I would be traveling all the time and getting to see all of Europe. Well, that hasn't happened. I did get to go to London with my host family, but it was not a vacation. So anyways, my dad came to visit me and we decided to take a quick weekend vacation to Greece. Neither of us had ever been there, but we both really wanted to go. He even asked my host family if I could have Monday off and they agreed! So we booked our tickets on Tuesday and our flight left Saturday morning at 7.

We arrived at about 1:30 saturday afternoon to a cold, windy, rainy city. I had done enough research to know that the metro ran from the airport straight to the heart of the city. Well, go figure, the metro just happened to be closed from the airport to the next stop so we had to figure out another way. We asked someone and they told us to take a bus. They pointed at which one adn told us to get on. We did so and had no idea where we were headed. It seemed that nobody really knew. But eventually we figured that it was going to an area close to where we wanted to be. We stayed on til the end and when we got off, the rain had stopped. I had already picked out a few hotels that I thought would be good choices, and we figured out where we were and headed towards the closest one. We found it without a problem and I think we were the only people there. It was really nice, in a great location, at a super cheap price, and included breakfast. The guy showed us a few rooms and let us choose what we wanted. We chose one with 2 balconies, with a partial view of the acropolis, and lots of space. here are some pictures of the room and the views from it:

The rest of the day Saturday we spent walking around the city, seeing the big sights. We saw the acropolis and the parthenon. It was so cool being there in March, because it really felt like we had the city to ourselves. Okay, not really, but we definitely didn't feel overwhelmed by other tourists. Even at the acropolis, we only saw a few other people. It was nice.

We also did some shopping. Our hotel was in an area called Plaka and there are lots of shops and cafes to see and walk around. As many of you know, i love to shop, especially for shoes. Well, the greeks make some pretty great shoes and I happened to stumble into a few shops. I made a friend with the shopowner who happened to be a very convincing salesman. These two things are not a good combination, as I ended up buying 5 pairs of shoes!!!!! Luckily I live in southern california where I can wear flip flops year round. But hey, he threw in a free t-shirt since I bought so many shoes!

On Sunday, we planned to go take a ferry over to one of the closer islands. I had done my research and decided that Hydra would be our best choice in terms of things to do, distance from Athens, etc. So we left our hotel at 8 and headed to the metro which runs all the way down to the port where we can catch a ferry. Well, for one day only, the metro line we needed wasn't running. GO FIGURE!!! it took us awhile to figure it out, and once we did, we had to start asking people what to do. They told us to take a bus but we never found the one we were looking for. As we were standing there looking lost another man came up and helped us. He walked us to the bus and said, "get on this one and get off at __________." neither of us understood, but he was already leaving and the bus was pulling away. So once again we found ourselves on a bus without a clue where we were heading. After half an hour of so, we came over the top of this hill and out of nowhere, saw the port filled with ships! we got off the bus and managed to find the boats we wanted. the one going to hydra had just left a few minutes earlier and the next one didn't leave for several hours. we asked for advice and the ticket lady said we could go to a different island, Aegina. The boat was leaving in 15 minutes, only took 40 minutes to get there, and said there was some neat stuff to see. We went ahead and did it, having no idea what to expect.

So we arrived 40 minutes later and got off the boat with no clue what to do or where to go. We found a little kiosk and bought a map of the island and then just started walking down a street. Some man stopped us and asked if we wanted to rent a bike or moped or jeep or anything. We stopped and talked to him and found out it would only be 10 euros a day to rent the moped things. We decided to do that and before we knew it we were off to some unknown destination. We headed out along the coast and just followed the road. Oh it was soooo beautiful. seriously, it was incredible. The sun was shining, the water was sparkling, and it was just so unbelievable. We rode for awhile until we hit the other side of the island and found this adorable little beach town that must be a huge hit during the summer. we were the only ones there at the time, but still managed to find a restaurant right on the beach overlooking the water, with a great view of mountains. it was amazing.

After having lunch, we headed back the way we came. We returned our mopeds and hung out on the main strip of shops and restaurants while we waited for the next boat to come so we could head back to athens. Had we been able to go to Hydra, we were going to stay the night on the island and go back to Athens the following day, but since we went to Aegina, there really wasnt enough to do, so we both agreed that it would be better to head back to Athens. So thats what we did and had a lovely Greek dinner. Monday morning, we got up and did some more shopping and roaming around new parts of the city. We had lunch at a cafe and then headed towards the airport. It was a short trip, but a much needed vacation.

Nothing like a beautiful rainbow to signal the end of a beautiful vacation!

Random Writings on a Snowy February Day

2009-02-08T16:28:00.004+01:00

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.

Sick...

2008-12-26T18:03:00.002+01:00

I don't typically get sick that often, at least over the past 4 years while I was at Biola. However, since coming to France, I have already been sick more times that I was all those four years combined. I am not sure if it is the weather changes, the fact that i live in the basement, being around kids 24/7, or what, but it is NOT fun. I feel like I get a few days rest before my next illness hits me. It's not anything major, I mean, I just have a cold, or a sore throat, or something like that. It's just annoying, more than anything. The most recent one was the worst. My host family left on Sunday for Egypt. I was sitting in church when I started coughing. nothing major. well, i woke up the next morning with a fever and everything fun that comes with that. I drugged myself with quite a bit of tylenol, cough syrup, cold medecine, basically anything i could find. it stuck with me for 2 days like that before my mom told me I should just go to the doctor.

National Healthcare...
France has national healthcare. It has been quite the journey for me getting all my temporary residency set up and I still haven't finished. I am at the point where I am just waiting for my carte de sejour and my carte vitale to arrive. I have done all the steps on my part (i think). I have been dreading having to go to the doctor because of this. I didnt know if I was going to be charged an outrageous amount of money, or what. I was hoping not to have to find out. Well, the time came and I just had to suck it up and go to the doctor. My experience was NOTHING like going to a doctor in the states.

First of all, when I called to make an appointment, they just asked if i could be there in a half hour. They didn't take my name, they didn't ask what my symptoms were, nothing. When I showed up, there was no reception desk. I didn't have to sign in, or even let anyone know I was there. I just went straight into the waiting room that had about 3 other people in it. Every few minutes (like 15) the doctor would come into the waiting room to take the next person. You just had to know what order you got there in. It was so strange. So it came to my turn and I followed the doctor into his office. He had no nurse or anything. He was running the whole office. He was even answering the phones. He asked me my name and then what was wrong. I never had to fill out paperwork (amazing!), I never had to give him my address or any sort of identification. He did obviously ask the questions about allergies or major health problems. He was extremely patient and kind with me, which is definitely different than what I feel in the states. He was willing to listen to my questions and answer them with sincerity. It was wonderful. At the end, he asked if I had my carte vitale and I told him the story of how I am waiting for it in the mail. He charged me 22 euros and sent me on my way with a paper to take to the pharmacist. It was a great experience. The only difference when I get my carte vitale is that I will be able to get another piece of paper from him that I can send in and get the money reimboursed into my bank. So that will be nice. I think I'm all for national healthcare. I haven't seen the downsides of it yet.

So anyways, I didn't have anything serious, just a viral infection of some sort. He gave me some different medicines and told me to take it easy. I feel much better since then and am ready to finally feel completly healthy. I was looking forward to relaxing in my house while the family was gone, but my getting sick kinda put a damper on that. Oh well...

I'm looking forward to the next week because everyone should start getting back from their Christmas breaks. Brandon is coming, my host family gets back, chandra will be here just after new years, and everyone else will be trickling in throughout the next week and a half or so. It will be nice to have everyone back, as it's been a little lonely here all by myself.

Hope everyone has a safe New Years, wherever you will be!

December

2008-12-10T21:22:00.005+01:00

I can't believe it is already December and I have been in France for nearly 4 months. Sometimes it feels like I just got here a few weeks ago, and sometimes it feels like I have been here an eternity. I am starting to feel more comfortable here and realizing that I'm here for awhile. My language has improved drastically and I feel that I can pretty much communicate whatever I need to. I can't say everything exactly as I would say it in English, but I can make it work. I have found a church that I really enjoy. I am hoping to get to know some people there and feel a part of it. I am making some good friends that are from all over the world. I am learning a lot about myself and my faith. I'm really happy to be here.

Christmas is just around the corner, yet it really doesn't seem like it. I rarely hear Christmas music when I'm out shopping or walking around. I have literally seen less than 10 houses with lights or decorations. The stores are not full out decorated and pushing sales onto customers. I have realized that maybe America makes Christmas into a bigger deal than most places. I guess it also feels weird because since my host family is going to Egypt and wont be here, they dont think it's necessary to have a tree. No decorations in the house, no tree, no piles of wrapping paper and tags. it's just different. it's kind of sad. The one thing that I have noticed that I love is the way the individual towns decorate their main streets. Each town puts up lights on all the lamp posts as well as lights going across the streets. It is really cute and quite festive. Also, the Champs Elysees is beautiful. The trees lining the road have pretty blue lights on them and it lights up all the way down. At the end opposite the Arc de Triomphe is a big lit up Ferris Wheel. Its really pretty and magical. Heres a few pictures.

Also, it did snow the other day for a little while. That was absolutely beautiful. It really was only for about 45 minutes, but i still enjoyed it. It started as Manon and I were arriving back to the house for lunch and I got to watch it all the while preparing lunch. I even took a picture, but I dont know if the snow will really show up. no it didnt, but oh well. you can imagine. :)The weather in general is so cold! It has been quite a change from what I have grown accustomed to. Granted, I did grow up in Arkansas and that was cold. But after living in Southern California for 4 years, I got used to warm weather and flip flops year round. I am not used to wearing so many layers at once. It is kind of fun though. My house is really cold though. I'm not so sure how heating works here. I dont think they really have central heat. Each room has a heater in it, but when you leave that room it is cold. My room is usually pretty warm because my heater is on all the time. But as for the rest of the house, it's really really really cold. We also have a very limited amount of hot water for each day, so I can't even take a long hot shower to warm up. It's a little frustrating. I have learned to make it work, but still it's tough.

Well, I have been sitting here trying to figure out what else to write. I am stumped, yet again. So i will just close with a few fun facts:

Did you know that in France milk is sold non-refrigerated? You buy it in bulk (like bottled water) and it sits in your pantry until you need it. After that you put it in the fridge. But only one bottle at a time. The rest stays in the pantry. It kind of weirds me out.
Families who have 3 children get 30 % off of a lot of stuff. If you have 4 kids, it's 40%, and 5 it's 50%.
35 hours is a normal work week. And typically, they are not allowed to work overtime. Thus, everything is always closed at the most inconvenient times. (ie, 2 hours for lunch every day!)

okay well thats all for now. Hope everyone has a merry christmas.

Much Needed Roommate Time

2008-11-14T09:52:00.010+01:00

*NOTE* i wrote this just after LaDonna left, but haven't been able to post it until now, so just deal with it! :)

So LaDonna just left a few hours ago to head to London to spend some time with her sister. Her time here flew by but each minute was enjoyed. We had such a good time together and I’m so thankful that she was able to come over and visit me. It was much needed. It was so nice to see a familiar face and someone who really knows me. It was wonderful. I was worried that the weather would be bad because when I checked it before she arrived it said it would rain the whole time. Well we were so lucky and had beautiful weather almost each day! It rained the first day and then was a little chilly and overcast the last. But really we had great weather and were able to do a lot because of that.

She arrived Saturday afternoon. I met her at the train station where she was arriving from Amsterdam. We took the metro back to my house and got settled there before going out to explore the city. She was pretty exhausted so we just hung out in Le Vesinet for awhile and rested at the house. We went out that night to eat dinner in Paris and do some walking. We sat at a little café for quite a while just chatting and having a sandwich. We walked around and saw a little bit of paris at night. As we were about to leave, my friend Sam called and said there were a few people getting together down the street from where we were. So we went and hung out with them for a little while before heading back to Le Vesinet.

This is us walking around Paris that first evening.

Sunday was cool. Each first Sunday of the month, most of the museums and other tourist attractions are free entry. Since LaDonna was here for that, we took advantage of it. We headed to Versailles in the morning and spent several hours there. It is so beautiful. I have been several times, but each time I enjoy it just as much if not more. I had never really walked through the gardens, so that is something we made sure to do. They are just massive. They had golf cart tours through the gardens but by that point we were exhausted and didn’t feel like waiting in line. So we grabbed some lunch and headed into Paris to hit up the Louvre. So, we aren’t the most artsy people and don’t have a whole lot of knowledge on the subject. However, we managed to see the famous stuff and read the little placards by some of them. We didn’t spend too long there because we were already pretty tired from walking a lot at Versailles. After leaving there we made our way to the Arc de Triomphe to take a picture and head home. We were exhausted!

This is us at Versailles, out back before strolling through the gardens

There was some strange art exhibition going on by Jeff Koons. They had all these really bizarre "balloon" creations placed throughout the castle. While it was neat, it also sort of took away from the sincerity of Versailles.

Out in front of the castle. You can sort of see another one of the bizarre balloon things in the background.

The massive golden gate!

Venus de Milo (i think) at the Louvre!

We had decided to do the Eiffel Tower on Monday, but had a few other things planned first. For some crazy reason we thought it would be interesting to visit the Sewers of Paris Museum… it wasn’t. It smelled so awful (duh, Joelle…way to think that one through) and was just disgusting. We were fine at first but halfway through we just started running because we couldn’t handle the smell. We got to the end and can you believe there was a gift shop???? We couldn’t even imagine what they would be selling, and we didn’t stay long enough to find out. We were just glad we didn’t work there. I can not imagine coming home from work each day smelling like that. Gross. Anyways, we left there and headed to have lunch before going to the tower. We sat at another lovely café and enjoyed our lunch on the sidewalk (terrace).

Oh the Eiffel tower!!!! Again, the reason I fell in love with Paris. I could go every day and still have the same love for it. The night before we were talking with Severine and she encouraged us to take the steps and not the elevator when we went up. She said it would be more memorable that way and the lines would be shorter. We took her advice. What a climb. When we got to the first level we walked all the way around and looked out over the city before heading up to the next level and the next level. The day was perfect for seeing all of Paris, as the sky was beautiful blue with no signs of rain. It was lovely and really cool to be up there. On the way down I really thought my legs were going to give out under me. They felt like jell-o. we were so tired when we got down and just sat for awhile.

our adventure at the Sewer Museum!

LaDonna's new friend. :) okay not really, but whatever. this was before it started smelling bad. it was just after this that we ran through the rest!

Our little sidewalk cafe where we had lunch before heading to the Eiffel Tower. it was so nice! The waiter set our tables in front of us and it was so cute!

LaDonna's excited face! this was when we were in line waiting to climb the tower!!!!

And here is my excited face!!!

On our way up. not sure what she is looking at, but whatever.

A map of the EU that they set up in the gardens outside the eiffel tower. it's cool cuz you can see it when you are up high. they were in the process of taking it down while we were ascending so thats why it's not complete.

First Floor! doing good...

We made it!!! Look at what a beautiful day it was! and the view! so pretty.

just a picture of paris from the top. i thought it was cool because there was a hot air balloon out there.

The line to get into the eiffel tower! there are 4 entrances and this is just the line for one of them. this line is to take the elevator up. it's cheaper and shorter lines if you just walk, which is what we did. so if you find yourself in paris, walk the eiffel tower and don't ride the elevator! it also makes the event more memorable. right LaDonna??? :)

okay, so i know I just said you should walk and not take the elevator, and now i'm putting up a picture of us after the walk! we were maybe a little exhausted!

she didn't move for awhile...

neither did i...

awwwwwwww!

Tuesday we went to Notre Dame and the Catacombs which were both really cool. At Notre Dame, we were able to walk right in and see a lot of cool stuff. I remember there being crazy lines when I have gone in the past. But it wasn’t bad at all. The catacombs had a pretty big line for some reason but it was okay. We met a lady who has been coming to Paris each October for the past 13 years. She said it’s like home to her. She always stays at the same hotel and knows everyone who works there. She prepares her own meals in the kitchen and is treated like family. It was pretty cute. She had never been to the catacombs and was pretty excited.

in front of Notre Dame

out back of Notre Dame. again, look how beautiful the weather was! We were blessed with amazing weather most of the time she was here!

yes, those are bones. and i think are faces are a perfect demonstration of our attitudes and thoughts. :)

more bones.

Wednesday was our day to do shopping. Ladonna wanted to get souvenirs for everyone and also some stuff for herself. We decided on a few different areas where we would go and set out! It was rainy and yucky this day so it was good we were already done with our sight seeing. We got some shopping done, went to a few cool chocolate shops, and bought some fun souvenirs. There was this tea room we had been trying to go to since the first day but it just never happened. We finally made it on Wednesday and it was soooo lovely. It’s right on the Champs Elysees and is 2 or 3 stories with windows overlooking the street. We were seated upstairs close to a window in an ornately decorated cozy dining room. It was full of small groups of women drinking tea and chatting. The people working there were so polite and were all dressed very professionally. It was absolutely lovely. We ordered our tea and were brought individual teapots with their own mixes of tea. They offered us dessert so we decided to splurge. Well I did anyways! LaDonna ordered a vanilla macaroon and I ordered whatever the lady at the table next to me had and when they came out we just laughed for like 10 minutes. Ladonna’s macaroon was the size of a silver dollar and my dessert was huge! It was hysterical. But anyways, we sat there for hours just chatting about life and drinking our tea. When the pot was empty, they filled it back up with hot water. It really was just the perfect afternoon.

I just want to point out a few things. the massive dessert in the front of the picture is mine. the itsy bitsy round thing in the very back of the picture is LaDonna's dessert. it was quite funnny. But you can also see our precious little teapots and cups. so quaint.

her little dessert. but look how cute the tearoom is too!

Her last day was Thursday and I had to work anyways. So she hung out with me while I worked and then I dropped her off at the train station just before dinner. I had such a wonderful time with her and was sad to see her go.

Disneyland Paris

2008-10-31T21:14:00.006+01:00

So as you know, i'm on holiday with the kids now. Manon and I got to go to Disneyland on Tuesday! It was just an idea and when I asked her if she wanted to go, she was really excited. I told her to ask her mom, and I figured she would say "no, it's too expensive" or something similar. 2 seconds later she tells me that her mom said it was okay! So after looking at the weather, I decided the best day to go would be on Tuesday (and now looking back at the week, it's the only day that it DIDN'T rain). So her mom gave us some money and sent us on our way. Disneyland is exactly opposite where we live on the train line. We just had to hop on and ride for about an hour and it put us out right at the entrance. I was glad for that because I really despise driving here. Anyways, since all of the paris schools vacation at the same time, you can imagine how many people there were. It was insanely crowded. But we had an amazing time. Since I have been to the park in California, I thought it would be interesting to see how it compared and what differences and similarities there were.

- The setup of the actual park was actually identical to that of the California disneyland. All the different "lands" (fantasyland, frontierland, adventureland, etc) are laid out exactly the same. Since I had an annual pass for a year to the park in Cali, I pretty much knew my way around and could get Manon and I to where we wanted to go without much difficulty.

- The restaurants and shops are all the same as well. Granted, the food is a little bit different, but basically the same. That was nice because I knew where to go to eat that wouldn't be outrageously expensive.

- The Pirates of the Caribbean ride was a favorite of mine when my friends and I used to go. The california one was just recently updated to resemble the new movies, but the paris one is exactly the same as the california one before it was redone. Manon didn't really like it because it was slow. She was all for the fast rides. There aren't a whole lot of those at Disneyland, but we still had fun.

- The Indiana Jones ride was my absolute favorite in California so we went to find it in Paris and let's just say it was different. the one in cali is a "ride" while the one in paris is a "roller coaster." However, manon was too short so we couldn't ride it. I was a little disappointed, but oh well.

- We rode Big Thunder Mountain first which is a wooden roller coaster. The wait line was 70 minutes! It was awful. But Manon said it was worth it afterwards. I was about to go crazy because we had these annoying people behind us who were standing entirely too close to us, like way closer than necessary, and I wanted to scream. I "gently" nudged them with my purse, but to no avail... oh well. I survived and didn't let it get to me.
This is us standing in line. I think it must have been early on. We both look pretty happy. :)

- We decided to get a fast pass for the Buzz Lightyear ride, which turned out to be really good because the line was 80 minutes when we decided to go (we only had to wait about 10 with our passes). That ride was probably my favorite. For those that don't know, you sit in a little space ship with one other person and you have a "laser gun" and you shoot the targets. It keeps track of your points on your spaceship and it's a competition with the person next to you. I won. I was pretty excited. :)
So you can't really see much in this picture, but you get the idea. maybe.

I think Manon's favorite ride was Autopia. It's basically a go kart ride except there is a metal track that keeps the car going the right way. Manon was a little nervous at first and being quite cautious. And I was just nervous. :) She was not the best driver.

Then she just got crazy and was having a blast (note- this picture was taken without her knowledge, so she wasn't posing. This is a real candid shot. I love the look on her face!)

By the end we were both having quite a lot of fun! She was still horrible, but it was funny and great.

This is just a picture of Manon after lunch. She got a halloween hat with her kids meal and she was pretty stoked about it. She couldn't wait to wear it on halloween (which is today, and she didn't...). But still, it's a really cute picture!

Here's me in front of the castle.

And here is me by the Pirates Ship:

It was a long day, but it was so fun. Manon loved it and hasn't stopped talking about it. In her words "c'etait SUPER!"

Differences between French and American Schools

2008-10-24T12:27:00.000+02:00

Today begins a two-week holiday for all the kids in Paris and surrounding areas. The schools here are very different than those in America. They go for 6 weeks and then have 2 weeks off and it repeats like that until summer. The reason they get so many breaks is because the time that they are in school is extremely difficult and time-consuming. They are worked hard and kept at school for long hours. My kids go at 8 in the morning and don’t get home until 5 or 6. Julien has to take tests on Saturdays because his teachers don’t want to waste “lesson time” during the week. The students are graded extremely difficult here and are often told that they will never make it. The teachers push the students a lot harder than I remember being pushed as a student. Most assignments are graded out of 20 and it is absolutely impossible to receive a 20. Even if there are no mistakes, it will likely only score a 17. Kids have hours of homework each night and on the weekends. I feel bad for the kids because it seems that they don’t have any sort of social life. I agree that it’s important to receive a good education, but I also think it’s important to have friends and to interact with them regularly outside of school. My kids here aren’t allowed to have friends over or go to a friends during the week. They can only see a friend on Saturdays. As for television, they are only allowed to watch the news during the week. They get home from school, have a snack, watch a very small amount of news and then stay in their rooms all night doing homework. They come down and eat dinner but I don’t see them after that until the next morning. And school doesn’t end when they get home. Julian has math professors and Spanish professors that come over to the house each week for more lessons and practice. I am an English tutor for some kids down the street. I go to their house each Wednesday and help them with their homework, give them vocab words, and work on their writing and speaking. Those kids have another language class on Saturdays that they have to go to as well. They really just don’t get a break. The assignments in English that I help them with are incredibly difficult for a second language. They aren’t just learning grammar and vocabulary. They are studying history, literature, science, and all the other subjects as well (in English!). I had to help a 12 year old write an essay on a Shakespeare play where the topic was asking “to what extent does a mid summer nights dream adhere to a comic play?” it was hard for me, and I can’t imagine what it was like for a 12 year old. In the USA we didn’t start reading Shakespeare until high school. I imagine it must be difficult for a non-native English speaker as the wording is very poetic and old English. There are many days where the kids come home and just cry because of a bad grade they received or just because of the stress of school. I really feel bad for them. Maybe it is just my American mindset, but I don’t know that I would want my children going to school in France. At least in the states, kids are praised for their effort, while here they are scolded if they mess up. I hate that American students don’t learn other languages sooner, but I think Europe may take it a bit too far. It does give me a new perspective on why many foreign people think that Americans are stupid or uneducated. It’s not that we are, it’s just that the standards are a lot higher in other countries.

But anyways, the 2 week break commences today and the kids are thrilled. That means that my classes are on holiday as well because Au-Pairs usually work full time if the kids aren’t in school. My friend Chandra’s host family is going on holiday to Saint-Tropez and she goes with them and looks after the kids the whole time. Most of my friends don’t get to go away, but just stay and watch the kids throughout the day which is what I get to do as well. It’s not too bad for me since I am caring for older children. The oldest two are actually going to see their cousins in England for the first week, so I will just have Manon for that time. We are going to try and do some fun things like go to the movies and go into paris. I don’t know what else we will do but we’ll think of something. Then the second week LaDonna, my roommate, will be here!!! I’m so excited. The family gave me a couple days off so I will get to spend some quality time with her. We are going to have fun. I’m sure I will post all about that with pictures later. So be looking for that.

Well, that is all for today. Thanks for all your input on my postings. I’ll try and use some of your ideas soon.

any suggestions?

2008-10-15T12:50:00.002+02:00

so i haven't posted in awhile because i really just don't know what to write about. can you guys please comment and let me know if there is something you would like to hear about? i'm lost as to what to say. i dont feel like anything exciting is going on, but maybe you guys have ideas or questions or something. so please please, let me know what you want me to write about. thanks guys!!!

One of the reasons I came to Paris

2008-10-01T21:54:00.002+02:00

I love the Eiffel Tower. I always have. I really haven't seen it much during my trip so far. I have climbed to the top on previous trips, but not this one. I have seen it sparkle at night on other trips, but not this one. I see it from a distance and get a little excited. Well the other night i finally got to get close to it. No i didn't go up into it, but I will. Currently, France is leading the EU which is why the tower is blue with stars on it. So these are just a couple pictures of my evening by the tower. It was lovely.

Me and Chandra underneath it.

It sparkles for 10 minutes each hour at night. so here it is sparkling and being blue. *sigh... i love it. i really really just love it. i couldn't stop staring at it the whole evening.

A new school

2008-09-26T12:18:00.002+02:00

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.

just a few pictures

2008-09-16T14:43:00.003+02:00

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.

The Rest of Yesterday

2008-09-12T15:47:00.002+02:00

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.

What a Day!!!!

2008-09-11T17:57:00.000+02:00

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.

A Weekend of New Things

2008-08-31T19:35:00.003+02:00

So this being my first real weekend that I am here (last weekend doesn't count because I don't even think I was unpacked yet), I was able to do several things that were interesting and different.

Wine:
Mariam and I went out to a little cafe on Friday night and ordered a bottle of wine. You can't go to France and not drink their wine (at least I don't think so). So we walked around Le Vesinet (the town we live) and found that nothing was open or exciting at 9 at night. So we hopped on the train and rode up to the next town, Saint-Germain en Laye. There was 3 little cafes right in a row that had a lot of people at them. On the way walking to one of them I saw something on the ground and bent to take a closer look and what do you know it was 50 EUROS!!!! that was exciting. I looked around to see if anyone was looking for it but nobody seemed to notice. So after that excitement we carried on to the cafe and took a seat and patiently waited for our server. 15 minutes later we weren't so patient. Mariam asked someone but supposedly they were from a different restaurant and couldn't serve us. I dont know... so we went up to the guy at the door and asked for a table. He was very nice and sat us down and brought us a menu. We ordered our wine and sat there chatting and drinking wine for an hour and a half or 2 hours. it was absolutely lovely. we were sitting outside and the evening was quite comfortable. It was fun to just watch the other people around and try to listen in on conversations and catch whatever I could. After we finished, we walked through the town and decided to walk home because it was such a nice night. That turned out to take a long time but it was lovely and fun nonetheless. Here is a photo of us at our table:

Church:
I knew that I wanted to go to church this weekend but I wasn't sure where I was going to go. It is my plan to make a list of ones I want to try and just go to a different on each week. I had one all picked out for this week and had figured out how to get there and when it started and when I should leave and all those necessary details. Then it all changed. I had a friend in high school who introduced me to her friend that lived in France because I wanted to practice french with someone. Well this persons name is Max and he and I have stayed in touch kind of irregularly since then. He happened to find me online a week or so before I left and when I told him I was coming he said he'd help me find some people and a church in Paris. He lives in the south of France so I wouldn't be able to go to his church regularly! Anyways, he gave me the contact information for a girl named Emma who lives in Paris and goes to church here. I contacted her and she invited me to join her at her church and for a potluck afterwards. I was extremely excited. We made plans to meet outside the metro station right near the church and walk the rest of the way together. The church was little bitty. There were probably 45-50 people there and they met in a sort of classroom type room. Even before the service started people could tell I was visiting and began introducing themselves to me. they were so nice! The singing was so cool because obviously it was in french. Although I didn't sing along, it was cool to think about how God understands every language. The message was tough for me to follow because I still don't understand everything. I was able to understand what passage we were looking at and follow along in my Bible. After the message they did a bit more singing and then everyone stood around talking. I think I probably met every person at church! They were all so friendly and willing to meet me. The craziest thing for me was from the moment I said "Bonjour" they knew I was not french. They would ask me if I was english, or american, or just where my accent was from. I couldn't believe that they could tell from one word. To me I don't hear any difference. There were some people who wanted to practice their english with me and then there were some that didn't know any and it gave me a chance to try out my french. Overall it was good but it was intimidating because i didn't know anyone and i couldn't really communicate or comprehend. The biggest downside is that it took me an hour to get there. I am living just West of Paris and this church was in the North East, so it was a bit of a trip to get there. When I left Emma told me that she would like to have me come over to her house so that we can talk more personally and not be as distracted. I met her parents and her mom also invited me over. They seem very nice and I am sure I will see them again.

Driving:
Today I went out for my first "driving lesson." The car is a stick shift, so I owe a big thanks to my family for strongly "recommending" that I learn to drive one. Driving is a bit crazy here in France. They don't seem to have lanes and everyone just sort of passes as they please and go where they want. I haven't quite figured it all out, but supposedly the person coming from the right always has the right of way. Which i think this is quite frustrating. Even just driving down a street, if there is someone on a side street, they have the right of way. in a roundabout, the person entering has the right of way unless there is a sign otherwise. and the signs are a whole different issue. they make absolutely no sense!!! Another thing that was hard for me is that they have no 'right on red' rule like in the states. I was at a red light and about to go and Severine said "No, never on a red light! It is forbidden!" So hopefully I don't make that mistake. There are also signs that mean you can't go down a certain street, but they dont have words on them. they are just signs. So I almost went down several "forbidden streets" which wasn't good. I think I will be okay, because the only time i will have to drive is if it is bad weather and the kids can't bike to school or if we need to go somewhere that is too far to walk. So i think i'll be okay. it was a little scary though. I'm just glad they drive on the right side of the road.

Well i was going to be done after my driving story, but as I was writing the doorbell rang and it was another au pair from down the street. She just arrived last night from Sweden and was told that there was another au pair here. So we chatted for a bit. Her name is Caroline and she seems sweet. she is 19 and is excited to be here. So hopefully i will get to know her more later.

Well this post is long enough now. Sorry for the lenght but I'm sure you enjoyed it. If not, then you wouldn't still be reading this. :) I hope everyone is well and I would love to hear from you!

Au Revoir!

My First Friend!

2008-08-27T16:23:00.005+02:00

Well I made a friend! The family i live with has friends next door that also have an au pair. they just had a baby so my family wanted to go see the baby and give them a gift. they took me with them so i could meet the au pair. the children told me to try and be friends with her so that they could go over and use the tennis court and swimming pool...:) they are funny. but anyways, the girls name is Mariam and she is british. she is 23 and has been working as their au pair since the end of May. Today we hung out and went into Paris for the morning. We got coffee and just walked around looking at stuff. It was fun to just talk about our backgrounds and our families and our experiences and everything else. We are going to do some other things too so hopefully this will be a good friendship. She knows some good places to shop for cheap stuff and get cheap food. i'm excited.

She is going to be going to the same language school as me too. She was going to one in Paris but when the mother of the family she is working for found out i was going to one closer, she had her switch to mine. so we will be able to walk to school together!

Here is a couple pictures of us out today:

The Neighborhood and my living area

2008-08-27T14:56:00.015+02:00

Today i'm going to post some pictures of where i live and the surrounding area.

this first picture is the house i am living in. it is kind of a strange shape and i haven't managed to get a good picture of it yet. i'll keep trying. the car out front is the one i will be driving. i think they are going to take me out this weekend to make sure i know what i'm doing before i drive the kids around.

The following house is a special one. it is about a 2 minute walk from my house and is on the way to the train station. the first time i walked there with the kids they pointed it out and told me that it is the house of Johnny Depp the actor! so that is quite exciting and i take an extra long look each time i walk by in case he is there so that i can say i saw him. i'm sure he isn't there much because he probably has houses everywhere, but it is still fun. :)

this is the lake that is across from johnny depps house and also on the way to the train station.

here is another picture of johnny depps house. its just from another angle.

here is another house in the neighborhood. nothing special witht his one.

the lake from a bit of a distance

another house

another house. i think this one is cute

one more house

this is a little bridge that goes over the lake to a restaurant.

and now here are some pictures of my living quarters:
this is my bedroom, mainly my bed.

another angle of my bedroom:

my shower... its pretty small

here is the rest of my bathroom:

well enjoy everyone. will post another blog soon!!!!!!!!

lots of new foods

2008-08-23T15:21:00.000+02:00

People would tend to say i am a picky eater. which is not a good thing when you are going to a new country... however, i have been quite brave to try new things and here is a brief summary of my thoughts!

for dinner the other night, the family asked if i liked salmon and i said yes because i do. typically i like teryaki salmon or something similar. i was expecting it to be grilled or something like what you get in a restaurant in america. well i was soooo wrong! it comes out on 2 plates and it is as raw as raw can be! not sure what to do, i watched the family. they took this pancake like thing and spread a white cream on it. then they piled the salmon on top. what did i do? the EXACT same thing. i was scared to death... but you know what? it was SOOO good. i actually enjoyed it a lot! i couldn't believe it.

then today they asked if i liked fish (in french, but i didn't know how to ask what kind of fish, so i just said OUI!). when it comes out they tell me its tuna. well i HATE tuna. i absolutely despise it. but what did i do? i watched them eat it and did the same thing. and you know what??? it was also good! not my favorite, because it was in a spicy mixture of tomatoes and capers, but it wasnt bad at all.

lunches are very different here. in america we tend to eat something light for lunch like a sandwich or salad or something. not here! they go all out for lunch. one day was beef and green beans and rice. another day was pork and salad and something else. it is very strange. but again i have enjoyed it!

my favorite thing about the eating so far is the CHEESE!!! (chris, i think of you every meal because i always eat cheese). i have tried a different kind of cheese each day so far. it is amazing. they dont eat it with the meal typically, but after. its almost like a dessert. it is delicious. i dont know exactly what kinds i have tried, but they are all great. the family is impressed because they say americans typically dont like the strong cheeses. but i do! so good.

and lastly, i LOVE sweets. chocolate, cake, cookies, pies, everything. i always have to finish my meal with something sweet. and as brandon would tell you, even if i am stuffed after eating a ton of food, i still have room for dessert. i tell him i have a second stomach for desserts. :) here they dont' eat much sweets. after a meal they have dessert but it is typically yogurt or cheese or fruit (or all 3). however they do have a bag of toblerones from their recent trip to argentina and occasionally they will have one after a meal. and by one, i mean a miniature one. i guess its good for me, and i'm actually getting used to replacing it with yogurt or fruit.

well that is all for now. keep checking for new posts. i don't get online as much as i want so some posts will be noted as being written earlier. much love to everyone! stay in touch!

au revoir!

The longest day ever

2008-08-23T14:47:00.000+02:00

Written on aug 20th:

Bonjour from France! I am here in Le Vesinet after an extremely long day of traveling. I woke up at 4:30 Tuesday morning and left for the airport by 5. The night before I was up for hours weighing and re-weighing my luggage to get it close to the 50 pound limit. The first time I weighed them they were both well over 70 lbs! I began pulling things out and packing stuff in boxes to be mailed. Finally I got them as close as I could without being 100% accurate and decided to call it a night. After arriving at the airport, I checked in and the first suitcase weighed 49.5 pounds! Praise the Lord. The second one was 53 pounds and the lady was nice enough to let me remove some items. I decided to let go of my shampoo which was a huge bottle. I took it out and immediately my suitcase was within the limit. She tagged them both and had us take them to security. I was so happy that I didn’t have to pay extra fees for overweight baggage. It was such a relief. As I was about to go through security and Brandon had come as far as he could, he asked me to text him my flight info. I opened my purse and realized I had left my phone at the house! It was so devastating. I had been planning on making my last calls to family and friends at the airport in la as well as philly. Brandon was sweet enough to check the car even though I knew it wasn’t there. However, I had no choice but to move on. I said my goodbyes and went through security. I wont go into all the details of my flights but I will say that they were fine and safe and I made it to paris without any major hang-ups..

When I arrived in paris, it was 7:30am (Wednesday morning) Paris time, making it about 11:30pm (Tuesday night) in California. My baggage arrived without a problem and I went through customs without any hassles. The family was right out front where non-flyers can wait for passengers. It was such a relief because I had a fear that they wouldn’t be there or I wouldn’t find them somehow. However, they were right there and welcomed me as if I were already part of the family.

Their home is 30-45 minute drive from the Paris airport. I was terrified to speak French at first and they were very understanding of that. I tried to answer questions in French but I wasn’t ready to be the asker. The kids were very shy and not wanting to practice their English, so we didn’t talk much in the car. Severine, the mother, has excellent English and was very chatty with me. She showed me different things as we drove.

As I said, it was still early morning in Paris. This meant that I still had a whole day to go through before it was bedtime. I knew that if I allowed myself to sleep then it would just be that much harder to get accustomed. I did manage to take a shower, which helped me feel much better. Afterwards I joined Severine and the kids to run some errands. They showed me around the town and we walked through the shops. I saw the kids’ schools, and different buildings. One thing that was very interesting was that they pointed out a church that they used to attend and then went on to explain why they stopped going and where they go now. They asked if I went to church and I said that I did. We had an excellent talk about religion and they were very interested in the differences between Roman Catholics and evangelical Christians. I was very excited to be able to open up about my beliefs so early on in this journey. I’m looking forward to see where God takes that from here. We continued running errands and went over to the neighboring town, Saint-Germaine. This is the town that my French lessons are located in and we found the building and went in to see when they begin. Severine has to call tomorrow to find out for sure because the woman there wasn’t positive. In Saint-Germaine, there is a beautiful park with gardens and trees that are absoloutely stunning. Within the park is the house where King Louis XIV was born. When you get to the edge of the park there is a great view that overlooks the whole area. I could even see the tippy top of the Eiffel tower! Boy that made my day.

By this point in the day, my nerves had calmed down quite a bit and I was much more willing to give my French a shot. They were very understanding and helped me when I got stuck. The kids warmed up to me as well and enjoyed practicing their English with me. Julien, the oldest, has very good English. He is almost fluent and gets really excited when he uses a phrase correctly. Pauline is 13 and her English is decent. She likes to try but sometimes forgets and just starts rattling off in French. It is funny. And the youngest, Manon, is 8. She has very basic English and is a bit shy to try it out in front of me. But I was impressed at how much ground we covered in the first day. I have already noticed my French improving. I played monopoly with the kids (the European version that uses Euros and the properties are all European cities) and that was an excellent time for us to bond and practice communicating. I was forced to use my numbers in counting money, multiplication, etc. French counting was coming out more easily than English by the end. All I could think about was how great this would be for Mrs. Wann (my French teacher from high school) to get to use in some of her classes. It really helped develop my counting and money skills.

Right now as I’m preparing to go to bed, I would say that today was a pretty good first day. But, I wouldn’t have said that a few hours after I arrived. I was not sure what I was doing and I was scared to death. I wanted to come home and see a familiar face. I wanted to cry. I was completely out of my comfort zone and scared. I guess that is where God wants me though because it forces me to put my trust in Him, knowing that he sent me here for a reason.

Tomorrow I will take the kids into Paris with Severine to do some back to school shopping. The kids start up in 2 weeks. I’m excited to go into paris. I do not have any photos yet, but will post them as I take them. Sorry this was so long. As I said, it’s been a looooong day and I had to cover it all for you! Blessings.

Prayer Requests:
• Continue to pick up the language
• Confidence in myself
• Courage to try new things (foods, driving in Europe, dealing with French sales people, etc)
• Encouragement so that I do not feel the homesickness
• That I would continue trusting God
• That I could have more enlightening conversations about my faith with the family.
• Protection

Thank you all for reading this and keeping me in your thoughts and prayers. I’ll continue to keep you posted as often as possible. Please feel free to e-mail me anytime to let me know what is going on in your life! Missing everyone!

1st Post - Background

2008-08-08T20:58:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone! I'm so glad you decided to come visit my blog. This first post is just going to be a little bit of a summary of what I'm doing and where I'm going. I'm going to try to be really good about posting regularly. Please make sure to comment if you have any questions or anything to say.

Here goes:

Well, I fell in love with France as a kid. It started because my older brothers were taking French classes at school and were practicing with my parents at the dinner table. That is where I learned my first french phrases. I always knew that I would take french when I got to high school and that is exactly what I did. I then got the opportunity to travel to France and other countries during the summer after my freshman year of high school. After all of this I knew that I wanted to live in France. I enjoyed being there for 3 weeks, but I wanted more. I wanted to live there for enough time so that I could become fluent in the language. As I continued through high school and even college, my love only grew. Being the determined individual that I am, I never gave up my dream and promised myself that I would do it when I graduated college. I wasn't sure what I was going to do when I got there, but I knew I was going. So that brings me to today.

I graduated from college in May and I head out to France in 11 days. I have found a family in Le Vesinet that has 3 beautiful children. I will be living with them and taking care of the kids. In addition, I will be taking French classes 3 times a week. I will be over there for 11 months. I feel that this is the perfect position for me because it allows me to live in france, learn the language, live with a french family, and be around kids. It encompasses two of my biggest passions: children and france. I can't wait.

A little bit about the family:
I will be living with Philippe and Severine Tapie and their 3 children: Julien (16), Pauline (13), and Manon (8). They live in a large house in a western suburb of Paris. I will be just 30 minutes from Paris by train.

Well I suppose those are the basics. I'm really excited about this trip. However, while I am mostly excited, I do find that I'm a little bit nervous as well.

Here is what I'm most nervous about:

picking up the language
finding a church
making friends

your prayers, advice, and words of encouragement are most appreciated.

check back often to see what i'm doing and learning!