French Alps: Les Alpes Oz en Oisan station

(I had my laptop with me--minus the internet-- so I journaled while in the Alps...here are my entries from the beginning of the week)

Day One (Sunday)

Today was my first day in the Alps. We arrived early evening on Saturday, giving us just enough time to rent our skies for the week! Let me just say this….when I woke up this morning I sat up in bed and the ALPS were staring right at me!! It is absolutely gorgeous. I don’t even know the altitude level here, but we are so high up, at the top of the mountains with beautiful snow everywhere. Our cabin is kind of tucked into a little village of cabins and we are just above the chair lift! It’s a 3 minute walk to the ski lodge and chair lift….c’est parfait! The cabin has 3 levels, with 2 apartments basically…it is modern and all furnished, and enough beds to sleep 18 people! Yep, it’s my family (The Vatins) + 2 other families and the grandparents…the exact same people from my summer at the ocean! I luckily have a double bed to myself, although it’s a pull-out couch in the downstairs apartment living room, but no one else is using the room or the kitchen so it is just fine…and luckily the temperature in the “salon” is perfect, whereas some of the bedrooms are really hot and I heard some saying they couldn’t sleep because it’s too hot.

Anyways, after waking up I got dressed in my long johns for skiing, then went upstairs to have breakfast and coffee with the family…Jerome and I decided to ski together the first morning because 1) I was a little nervous about skiing for the first time again after 5 years, and 2) I don’t know the mountains and didn’t want to get lost (although we obviously have a map of the mountains). Anyways, I got lucky enough to have sufficient clothing to keep me warm, a mixture of my clothes and borrowed ones, but it’s all good! We walked down to the ski shop where I picked up my skis and boots (Yep, we can leave our rentals in the shop and just get them when we go ski), and then got on the chair lift. The lifts we’ll be using mostly are actually the little ‘gondola boxes’, so one just walks into the box carrying the skis, snowboard, etc. That was a first for me! Anyways the ride is about 5 or 6 minutes up to the top, and boy it is beautiful. I looked often, but not too much to scare myself. When we got off and put my skis on (Jerome snowboards) I was AMAZED and breathless at the view. WOW. Once we started, it was like I had just skied yesterday. I was flawless in my skiing! Haha. It felt so good to do it, and I had no problems at all…Jerome and I went on the first 3 out of 4 levels, up to red (but not black)…so that was cool to challenge myself the very first morning…one run was filled with moguls too, and he took me on it without asking me first, knowing I could handle it. So that felt good. The weather was PERFECT….clear blue skies, sun shining, no wind, no rain or snow, and not cold. The snow had an almost perfect powder too. It was practically perfect, ideal. Our last run of the morning we took 2 different lifts all the way to the top, taking a run that lasted about 35 minutes to descend. It was great. I almost started crying as we were skiing down the ALPS…haha. I even brought my camera in my pocket and took some photos along the way.

With my schedule it works out that I’ll get to ski every morning until lunch time…which is great because that seems to be when there are less people out…around 11 a.m. more young people seem to show up on the slopes, making it a bit more difficult for me (because of my peripheral vision issue..haha). So I will try to be on the slopes every morning around 9:30 or so….and possibly take one day off, but perhaps not! The little kids take ski lessons each afternoon from 2-4:30, so I will be staying in the cabin with Virginie’s niece, Victoire, who is still a toddler and too little to ski. She will nap, giving me time to relax and read. Today when I went to pick up the kids at lessons, I HAD to take photos of Tiph, Martin and Matt…they were so adorable in their snow suits, helmets, goggles and skis…I even told the family about how I began to learn around Matt’s age by skiing in between the legs of my dad and our friend Kurt. “BILLY!”

For the most part I think the week will be nice and I’m going to enjoy this opportunity to ski in the Alps. I know I may have some sore muscles, and I may even try snowboarding one day (although I don’t think so on this trip)…even though this is a great experience, I still am missing my family back home and it is not always easy to be around 17 people that are all part of the same family, excluding me…but in general they are good about including me…sometimes the work aspect of this gets in the way though and it isn’t always the most comfortable feeling, but I’m a strong girl and if skiing in the Alps means sacrificing some of myself for the family I’m sure as hell gonna do it! I’m also looking forward to stuffing the kids’ stockings that I made, and surprising Jerome and Virginie with the 2 I just made for them on Friday…I brought mine along with me that mom sent me as well, so we will be the only 6 with stockings on Christmas morning, “mais c’est la vie!!!”


Day 2 (Monday)
It is about 2:15 pm here, and I’m alone in the cabin and Victoire is sleeping upstairs. I’ve had a pretty good day so far. After “taking the petit dejeuner” with the family, a bunch of us got ready and hit the slopes! We made an extra long haul up to the top of a different side of the mountains than yesterday, and for the first run it was myself, Virginie, Jerome, Monsieur and Madame, and Valerie and Thomas (Virginie’s brother and his wife). It was a fabulous view of the Alps, and a different one from yesterday, so of course I took more photos. Halfway down the hill Virginie and Jerome split from the group to venture off onto another side, so I continued on with the rest of the family because I had to eventually make my way down to return to the cabin to help with the kids’ lunch. My legs were definitely sore from yesterday, so I got tired quicker today, and the snow was not as powdery as yesterday, and a bit icy, but nonetheless it was still an amazing morning of skiing! The weather was again perfect and the sun shining. I finished the runs with just Valerie, and then I returned to the cabin to help Guislaine and Gille with lunch. After we fed the kids the 3 of us ate our lunch and had wine and cheese, along with good conversation. I really enjoyed visiting with them, especially Gille, who is Virginie’s brother-in-law. They live in Kenya, and he speaks English fairly fluently and didn’t hesitate to initiate the convo in English…we didn’t talk that much over the Summer vacation, so it was cool to visit with them about what I want to do in the future, and his job in Kenya with an oil company called Total. Anyways, it made me feel good to have nice conversation with the other family members, and Guislaine is also very friendly….so anyways, I’m off to make a chocolate cake for tonight and then read a new book. We are going to mass tonight at 6, and then celebrating Christmas. Tonight is Christmas Eve, and tomorrow will be a normal day of skiing.
(Later that evening)
This afternoon I made 3 apple tart pies with Madame and Monsieur…we sat around the table and peeled so many apples for about 40 minutes, and I observed exactly how easy it is to make them, so I’m excited to do it for myself some day. When the children returned home from ski school we hurriedly bathed and dressed them and then all 18 of us piled into 3 cars to go to mass down at the bottom of the mountains in a little village. The church was beautiful on the outside, but it was definitely very far from any type of Christmas Eve mass all of us are used to. The church was cold and kind of dark, there weren’t any Christmas decorations or lights, and there wasn’t any music or choir. Everyone was dressed fairly casual and all wearing our winter coats inside because of the cold. We all sang together with the priest, but it was definitely a mass in the Alps. They did however have all the children sit in the front and carry candles down the aisle. Anyways, it was fine enough and then we all returned home…and had Christmas! The children ran inside and saw that “Pere Noel” had passed through the cabin while we were gone and everyone had their own little pile of gifts…I ran downstairs and grabbed the stockings I had made for my family and put them on the stairs for the kids to find. They all enjoyed their little gifts from me, and I’m glad I made all 5 of them a stocking so hopefully they will save them for the coming years. I took pictures of the kids opening gifts. Matthieu fell asleep too early and didn’t open his gifts with the others. I even had my own little stash of gifts from the family, which was a pleasant surprise, as I knew my main gift was the entire ski trip! Virginie gave me a beautiful brown and gold necklace and 6 movie tickets for the cinemas in Paris! She also gave me a French easy recipe book and I’m so excited! Her mother gave me bracelets from India that she bought in Bordeaux. Valerie, Virginie’s sister-in-law gave me a 3 set picture frame from our village in the Alps. It’s wood and has skis and ice skates on it, so I’ll definitely use pictures from this vacation to put inside the frames. Ghuislaine, her sister, gave me a beach towel and sac from Kenya. It’s the same one the other girls in the family used this summer at the beach, so I’m excited to have the same ones. It’s really pretty. Along with these gifts I brought along my stocking that mom sent me and a few of Megan’s gifts for me…including another season of “The Golden Girls”! I can’t wait to watch! After opening gifts the children played with their new toys and we all sat around drinking champagne (including the bottle that Courtney bought last weekend for me from Champagne). We had some yummy appetizers and then sat down to eat fras gras (duck liver), which I tried, but did not particularly care to eat much. Haha. I ate a few bites with an open mind before Valerie told me what fras gras really is. It has the texture of pate, which I do not like (it makes me think of dog food). You eat it with toasted bread, like a spread. It’s definitely an acquired taste. I didn’t hate it, but did not have the desire to finish my helping. I’m glad I tried it though! Then we had some salmon, and then ate the apple tarts that I’d made! Everyone was having fun visiting and drinking, so it was a good way to spend Christmas Eve.

Day 3 (Tuesday)
Christmas day! But it does not feel like it at all to me. Since we did Christmas last night, no one has even said “Joyeux Noel” or anything like that today. It’s a little odd to me, but that’s okay. We are just doing the regular ski routine today. I just went for one run this morning because the second I put my boots on my shins were ACHING! I have never felt this kind of pain before on my bones. It definitely is not regular muscle aches from skiing, as I’ve had that before obviously. It feels like my bones are bruised and I think it must be from the boots I’m wearing. Anyways, I went up on the chair lift with Ghuislaine, Gille and Valerie, but I didn’t even go all the way to the top with them because I knew I was going to have difficulty getting down the slope. It hurt the entire way and I almost thought I was going to either vomit from the pain or just burst into tears. I was close to just sliding on my bottom to finish the run, but I toughed through it and got to the bottom okay. I returned my skis and boots after just the one run, but oh well. I didn’t sleep so well last night and I’m keen to just relax today anyway. Tomorrow I will try different socks and possibly a new set of boots and hope that is better. My legs feel okay otherwise, but if I force pressure on my shins or put the boots on the pain is almost unbearable, so I think I’m definitely bruising and need new boots. Since it’s Christmas day I’d like to watch one of my holiday movies that I brought, and maybe read a story to the kids later. I’m going to read my new John Grisham book that Carolyn and my dad gave me, The Innocent Man. I like it so far! The weather is still perfect here, so that’s really nice. I’d kind of like to go ice skating, but I don’t think it’s near our side of the mountain and may not be convenient to go…if not I’ll go when I’m back in Paris. I think I’ll be ready to return for sure by Saturday!

Friday, Dec. 28, 2007 (last day)

It’s almost 9pm here, and I’m ready for bed. It’s been a good, but kind of long week. And now today everyone except for 3 of us are sick…probably the flu. Soo clearly it is time for us to depart and get home. I skied every morning except today, and each day the weather was great. Last night I did not sleep well at all, so I tried sleeping this morning and just stayed inside all day. I got to take a nap this afternoon too so that was nice. My skiing was okay, but I started feeling less confident in my skiing ability, at least when I went down the icy runs. So I didn’t get too extreme with my skiing, but that’s okay. Yesterday I did 2 runs on my own. A couple afternoons I was in the cabin with just the grandparents, and I helped Madame make apple pies, and today we played with little Victoria. The kids skied every day and Wednesday we took the two 6 year olds (Ines and Blandine) down a green run. Ines is a great little skier (she reminds me of myself, haha). I had fun singing Christmas songs with the kids, and I hung out with the older cousins a few times. We watched episodes of “Prison Break” on their new DVDs they got. I watched the first 6 episodes from Season 1, and now I’m HOOKED and have to find a way to see the rest when I’m back in Bougival.

The brother and his family all left today, so now I’m alone in the downstairs apartment for the evening, which is fine with me. I helped all day with the kids, and since almost everyone is sick, I was ready to get downstairs and take a hot bath. Yes, a BATH! This week I’ve taken my first baths in 6 months! Haha. No bath in Bougival in my studio. Tomorrow we’ll get up fairly early to pack everything into the car and clean the cabin. Then we’re back to the city. I’ll arrive in the evening and can’t wait to get home. I have some visitors this week, and am seeing “The Nutcracker” on Christmas Eve at the Opera so I’m excited to have another holiday, and start the New Year. This week was pleasant, and I’m very appreciative of all the family does for me. I’m glad I came and skied in the Alps! But now I’m ready to get back and start the next phase of this job (meaning COMPANY FROM THE STATES!)

Adventures with C Dawg

I know it's been awhile since my last

blog, but I have been SUPER busy, thus making me extra tired with little time to do my online journal. Anyways, my friend Courtney Brown from UCR and San Diego came to visit me for an entire week! She just left this morning, and we had a great time. Thus, this is my first opportunity to blog all about it!

We spent the first evening on the Champs Elysees looking at the lights, followed by drinks at my favorite cafe near the Arc de Triomphe. We visited for a few hours and really got caught up on our personal lives! It was super nice to visit and go out. Friday morning she came with me to Tiphaine's class to see how teaching English goes for me....she loved seeing the little French children and sang Christmas songs with us. Then she did lunch time duties with me, helping feed the kids, etc. She introduced herself to the family and spoke in some French (she studied it quite a bit back in high school) so they were pleasantly surprised to communicated with her in French. She enjoyed seeing some of the family culture. This was her 3rd time in Paris, so she welcomed these new experiences as opposed to touristy stuff.

Friday night we took the train to Bordeaux! Oh boy...we had some crazy stuff happen to us (got on the wrong section of the train...not realizing there were 2 trains CONNECTED until we tried to get to our car and we could walk no further...then later switched cars when the train made a 2 minute stop..and THANK GOD because when we got to Bordeaux we saw that the 2 trains had disconnected, thus we could have ended up in the wrong city if we had stayed in the first car!)...I lost some gloves on the train, had to carry a ridiculous bag full of kids' ski clothes to deliver to Virginie's sister, and the worst of all was that I BROKE the house key to Virginie's parents' house at 2 IN THE MORNING! We were locked out and I was freaking out....long story and reasons behind why I was so worried, but luckily it all worked out, Madame woke up and opened the door (clearly irritated with me), but all was well the next morning and they fixed their door....

Courtney and I decided to get a hotel the 2nd night so we could be nearer the center of town. We wine tasted at a great winery and had our personal teacher...it was great. Amazing red wine from Bordeaux!

I bought a bottle for very little Euro, and she splurged on an expensive bottle. Then we went to Tours and visited 3 chateaus! It was great...Chenonceau being the most beautiful...then we saw Leonardo da Vinci's house/chateau...it was beautiful and very cool to go inside. I had no idea he was such an inventor also! He invented sooo many things, including the life saver ring floaty thing! haha

I'm giving the short version of this vacation because I'm exhausted, but I wanted to blog quickly about the trip....it was cold, but we had a great time and I'm so glad we wine tasted in Bordeaux and saw wonderful chateaus in Tours...and Tours is only an hour from Paris so I'd love to go again with friends and maybe go to Vouvray to wine taste!

Courtney went to Epernay one day and tasted champagne all day! She even bought me a bottle of Champagne, so that was super nice. I had to work a little that day so I stayed home. We did a little shopping (or I accompanied her)...we also went to some great wine bars and a piano bar in Paris and I discovered a great new street near the Louvre, so that is always good!

She ended up staying one extra day, so she saw a Christian Lacroix exhibit in Paris while I worked, and then we went to a movie together at La Defense just to relax for her last night here...we saw "I Am Legend" with Will Smith. GOOD BUT REALLY BIZAREE and scary....cool plot though.

Okay, I will try to blog one more time tomorrow......with more details. THEN I'M OFF TO THE ALPS! Saturday morning we leave super early for a long car drive...and will be there for one week, returning the next Saturday. I will get to ski a couple days, and go sledding w/the little kids and just hang out in the cabin (17 family members including me staying there)...so I'm just looking at this as a ski vacation and not thinking about Christmas because I know they don't celebrate it a lot like I do, and to avoid getting sad on Christmas day I'm just trying to not think of it and instead just see it as a week long vacay with snow...I will take lots of pics, promise! Apparently there is the longest ski run in Europe at the mountain we're going to....10 miles long, and takes 90 minutes to descend...hmm I'll give it a try hopefully!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

It's Christmas time in the city!

Hi everyone. It's Tuesday evening here and I just returned from Paris (I had the afternoon off work). I got off the metro at Hotel de Ville, where there is a big ice skating rink just in front of the beautiful building! It was soo pretty, and I arrived after it turned dark so it was great. Raining, yes, but just fine for taking pictures and seeing all the lights and some people skating. I went there to find out the deal w/skating, and it looks like I can go for 5 Euro! So, that is on my to-do list before Christmas. Then I just walked down the block to see Notre Dame all lit up. It was sooo pretty! The cathedral at night is pretty anyways when it's lit up, but there is now a BIG Christmas tree in the front w/gold lights and red ornament balls. I arrived just as the bells were ringing too. I got great pictures, and even more of the Seine River w/pretty lights on the surrounding buildings. I was only in the city for about 2 hours, but it was a nice evening just to get out of Bougival.

Kirsty left last Thursday :( We saw each other Wednesday to say bye and hang out for a bit...it was nice, and I'm going to miss her! I spent Saturday being productive in my studio, and then got kind of fancied up and went into Paris with Ashley and Mathieu. He had a 'crepe party' at his new little studio apartment next to the Bastille with just a few friends. Then we went out to a couple bars and ended up at dance club with TECHNO music. THAT WAS A FIRST....let's just say that is NOT dance-able music for me...haha. But we were out til almost 3...then crashed at his apartment and I caught the 6:30 a.m. train back to Bougival. That was my first time staying out in Paris all night...it was fun, but not like a huge BLAST, but that's okay. So I spent most of my Sunday sleeping and being totally lazy.

My friend from San Diego, Courtney, arrives on Thursday! We've been emailing plans back and forth...and as long as THE NEW TRANSPORTATION STRIKE ends on time, we've made plans to take a train to Bordeaux for the weekend to wine taste. So let's just hope the trains will go. How lame. Otherwise we are going to just hang out in Paris. Definitely ice skating I think. It's supposed to get pretty cold this week, but as long as it's not raining I can handle it.

I've gotten 4 boxes of christmas gifts! Thanks to everyone! I've found out that the family here does not do Christmas at all like I'm used to, so it looks as though I will be opening some of my gifts on my own before we leave for the holiday, and maybe some after too. But I'll try to get Ashley to watch a Christmas movie with me and open my gifts with me or something. I'm sure I'll cry a little on the big day, just because it's hard not having a traditional Christmas with my own family...but I'll survive. It WILL be my first time back on the ski slopes in probably almost 5 years! So I can't complain about that...and on the Alps!

One last thing....I am going to see "The Nutcracker" ballet at the Paris Opera de Bastille!!!!! Yep, this little "mouse" and "party girl" is finally going to see it professionally and in PARIS!! New Years Eve exactly...I'll go to the opera to start my evening, then off to the Champs Elysees to party and see the fireworks from the Eiffel tower. (apparently I'm their first au pair that doesn't have to work on New Years Eve, so I get to benefit from the big night in the city!)

Madeleine at Christmas

Well, we are starting to prepare for Christmas (actually I have been in Xmas mode since Strasbourg). Despite developing a cold (sick once a month now?), I am getting in the holiday mood and excited to introduce some of our American and Kluss/Hull traditions to the French family. And to top it off, I've received 4 packages already in the mail! 3 from my mother and 1 from my sister, plus Ive been told to expect at least 2 more! Inside one there was some silver star garland, so I've already hung that in my studio along with the stocking my mom sent me!! It was a great surprise. THe rest of the gifts are wrapped so Ive stashed the boxes under my table to wait for the big day.

Tonight I am babysitting and just read the Madeleine Christmas story to the kids. Tiphaine loves my Madeleine books, and today I found 2 cute little French Xmas stories so I had to buy them as souvenirs I will keep for myself and children and read to them in French. Anyways when I read the Night BEfore Christmas in French it was really cute...after reading the page when the dad hears a clatter on the rooftop and he looks out the window to see what was the matter, Tiphaine looked at me and said "C'est qui, Laura?" Who is it? I said; "I dont know; who do u think?" and she said in a cute little curious voice; " Je crois que c'est Pere Noel!" I believe its Santa Claus! The look on her face was priceless and she really wasnt sure! hehe. A cute memory, and those I am cherishing because there are a lot of difficult times with the job and life away from home, so I just have to keep this all in perspective and enjoy the good memories with the kids and family.

Tomorrow the kids dont have school so we are going to make some Christmas decorations and put ornaments on the tree. I should have the afternoon free so I will go into Paris and maybe see the Christmas market. I also want to find the ice skating rinks! Courtney B from San Diego (sister from UCR) arrives next Thursday and we are going wine tasting in Bordeaux, then hopefully seeing the Nutcracker ballet at the Opera in Paris!!!

I love you all and wish you a happy holiday month, and say a prayer my cold goes away and that I can be healthy for Christmas!