Greece

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

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...

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

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

*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

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!"