Hi everyone. I'm here in Paris, staying at an apartment near St. Sulpice, with my mom's high school friends that are here on vacation. The apartment is really great! It's big and has fun paint and furniture and great character. Today it is probably 70 degrees and clear sunny skies! It is fabulous.
Today I did the cruise along the Seine for one hour. It was perfect weather and I am so happy I did it because it's great to see all the major sites from the water!
I went on my own because mom's 4 friends went off to see things I've already done...so I ventured out in the sun on my own and took lots of pictures from the boat!
Everyone is officially moved out of the house in Bougival, as of yesterday. So all my belongings are in Ashley's apartment in Bougival...so for the next 12 days I'll be going back and forth a lot between there and Paris.
Mom arrives on Sunday afternoon.....we go to Chatearoux for 2 nights.
I'll have one last family dinner with the Vatins in their new house and play with the kids...then they'll take me to the airport to say goodbye the next morning :(
ok off for a nap!
Friday, April 25, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
and the tears begin......
Today was my last day of work with the 3 little French munchkins......... I wasn't too emotional at all during the day and didn't think about it much, until the end of their school day......when we left the school for the last time together, and then went to poney lessons for the last time........and giving them their last bath and making their last dinner was when it all hit me.I have grown so attached to them, as a big sister and also like a mother.....I've done everything for these children that a mother does, day in and day out for 10 months.so, tonight in Paris, I'm a little sad and melancholy........I love them with a big piece of my heart.Luckily I didn't have to say goodbye........yet.I'll see them in 2 weeks...surprise them at school to play one last time, and then I'll be having one more family dinner with them and the parents the night before my flight, and they'll take me to the airport as well........anyways, just filling in those who care to know........being an au pair has really meant making new family members that I'll always be grateful for, no matter how crazy the rollercoaster is....
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Last Days of Work....
Tonight I gave the kids the last bathtime and made the last dinner that I'll ever do for them. :( I haven't been too emotional about any of it this week, but now I'm starting to think about it. I took photos and more video today...... I don't ever want to forget them, and I'm doing my best to document enough so that I can always go back and look at how it was.
Tomorrow I'll do the regular routine one last time...it will be hard even leaving their school at the end of the day...I like a lot of the mothers and their teachers, and especially all the little French children that know me. We are going to have a little party in Tiph's English class...I made 2 apple tarts tonight for the kids. I will videotape in there too.
And then I'll do the last poney lesson with them......even though I wasn't a big fan of that, I'll have fun with it tomorrow.
I've talked to the kids about it being my last day, and they understand I think. They know I'm "content" and that I'm going home to my family and friends. They also know that we'll see each other again in 2 weeks after their April vacation...and we'll have a last big family dinner, and exchange little gifts. Then Virginie will bring the kids with us to the airport to say goodbye.
Oh my gosh........ I'm going to cry. :( I will miss them, and especially their little voices. Even sitting in my studio I can always hear Matt's little voice..."Papa, qu'est-ce que tu fais? Papa. Papa." hehe, he's so cute.
ooooooooookay gotta stop typing so I don't get too emotional yet.
wish me luck! i still have time left in Paris to play and have fun, so no goodbyes yet!
Tomorrow I'll do the regular routine one last time...it will be hard even leaving their school at the end of the day...I like a lot of the mothers and their teachers, and especially all the little French children that know me. We are going to have a little party in Tiph's English class...I made 2 apple tarts tonight for the kids. I will videotape in there too.
And then I'll do the last poney lesson with them......even though I wasn't a big fan of that, I'll have fun with it tomorrow.
I've talked to the kids about it being my last day, and they understand I think. They know I'm "content" and that I'm going home to my family and friends. They also know that we'll see each other again in 2 weeks after their April vacation...and we'll have a last big family dinner, and exchange little gifts. Then Virginie will bring the kids with us to the airport to say goodbye.
Oh my gosh........ I'm going to cry. :( I will miss them, and especially their little voices. Even sitting in my studio I can always hear Matt's little voice..."Papa, qu'est-ce que tu fais? Papa. Papa." hehe, he's so cute.
ooooooooookay gotta stop typing so I don't get too emotional yet.
wish me luck! i still have time left in Paris to play and have fun, so no goodbyes yet!
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
It was a fine time in Ireland, and that's a fine car park over there
Hello hello...... long time, no blog, I know. Life has been fun and busy lately. My parents (Dad and Carolyn) spent a week in Paris and they had fun seeing all the big sites and museums. We spent the weekend together seeing some fun neighborhoods and shopping, and one night we went to Willi's Wine Bar (fantastic again!) and a couple cafes on The Champs Elysees! It was fun to have dinners together and plenty of wine.
After the fiasco of being bag-less for a couple days thanks to British Airways, they finally got all their luggage and we trekked on to Ireland! From the start it was a great time. Each of our taxi drivers had fun stories to tell (and sometimes the accent was strong enough that it was hard to understand their English)! After checking into the hotel room we walked down the block and had a yummy (and big) Irish lunch (lots of meats, bread, seafood, and soup) + Guinness beer...mmmm
Our hotel was in the Temple Bar area which was perfect because it was so cute, lots of colors, and lots of pubs! Dublin was pretty much 2 days of pub crawling, drinking plenty of Guinness as well as Irish whiskey. The first night we went to see the film U23D, one of their concerts in 3D. IT was amazing and felt like we were right in the front row! We saw the elementary school that Bono and The Edge went to in Dublin as little boys, plus we had a drink in The Clarence Hotel, which they both own. Being in Dublin was really fun since I'm such a big U2 fan!
Saturday night we met some cool Irish guys just a few years older than me in the pub next to our hotel, so that turned into a night of Guinness and funny, random stories.
Dublin was very relaxed and cool. I liked the people and the atmosphere a lot. It was full of young people and was kind of more my speed than the young life in Paris. I'd definitely go back there.
The other 2 days of our trip were in the countryside of Ireland, starting in Killarney and then doing The Ring of KErry. Kerry is a country in Ireland, and covers a lot of the country, so we really covered a lot of territory. We started out on a train to Cork and went to the Blarney Castle where we kissed the Blarney Stone and now have the gift of eloquence :) It was a little scary doing that because of the heights, but it was fun and we have great pictures to show for it.
We also went to Cove, a cute, colorful, quaint little town right on the water. It was actually the last calling port for the Titanic just days before it hit the iceberg. It was really interesting to be there and see the docks and the port and visualize the scene. There was a beautiful cathedral up on a hill and the view was spectacular! We ended the day with a stop in a museum devoted to The Titanic, The Luscitania, and the story of the Irish immigration. That night we stayed in a nice bed and breakfast and I slept like a baby :)
On Sunday we took a bus tour of the Ring of Kerry. Words can not describe how beautiful and different it was in the country of Ireland! wow!! It was so green, lots of small rolling hills, and sheep everywhere! Everyone's cameras were constantly on! The houses were all fairly new and the architecture was really neat. They had pretty colors and some were really big. Every now and then there were little old cottages, but mostly the houses were new. We stopped at a village of little old cottage type houses just to see how it looked a long time ago when there wasnt electricity and the houses were the size of a small bedroom.
Fortunately we also made it to the coastline (rivers and bays) and saw beautiful aqua blue water and tall cliffs. There were islands far out in the water too. The scene was gorgeous. The weather was usually fairly sunny with some clouds, but the wind was just awful, making it really cold!
All in all, it was a great vacation and I was really happy to do it with Dad and Carolyn! I would love to return to Ireland one day. There were bumps on the road with transportation and luggage, but it all ended up okay. We also had a very entertaining tour guide on Saturday that we had to try our best at to keep from laughing out loud (but I failed at that) :)
Well, I'd write more but its been a long day and I'm a little sleepy. I will write again soon to update on whats going on in Paris! And pictures soon!
After the fiasco of being bag-less for a couple days thanks to British Airways, they finally got all their luggage and we trekked on to Ireland! From the start it was a great time. Each of our taxi drivers had fun stories to tell (and sometimes the accent was strong enough that it was hard to understand their English)! After checking into the hotel room we walked down the block and had a yummy (and big) Irish lunch (lots of meats, bread, seafood, and soup) + Guinness beer...mmmm
Our hotel was in the Temple Bar area which was perfect because it was so cute, lots of colors, and lots of pubs! Dublin was pretty much 2 days of pub crawling, drinking plenty of Guinness as well as Irish whiskey. The first night we went to see the film U23D, one of their concerts in 3D. IT was amazing and felt like we were right in the front row! We saw the elementary school that Bono and The Edge went to in Dublin as little boys, plus we had a drink in The Clarence Hotel, which they both own. Being in Dublin was really fun since I'm such a big U2 fan!
Saturday night we met some cool Irish guys just a few years older than me in the pub next to our hotel, so that turned into a night of Guinness and funny, random stories.
Dublin was very relaxed and cool. I liked the people and the atmosphere a lot. It was full of young people and was kind of more my speed than the young life in Paris. I'd definitely go back there.
The other 2 days of our trip were in the countryside of Ireland, starting in Killarney and then doing The Ring of KErry. Kerry is a country in Ireland, and covers a lot of the country, so we really covered a lot of territory. We started out on a train to Cork and went to the Blarney Castle where we kissed the Blarney Stone and now have the gift of eloquence :) It was a little scary doing that because of the heights, but it was fun and we have great pictures to show for it.
We also went to Cove, a cute, colorful, quaint little town right on the water. It was actually the last calling port for the Titanic just days before it hit the iceberg. It was really interesting to be there and see the docks and the port and visualize the scene. There was a beautiful cathedral up on a hill and the view was spectacular! We ended the day with a stop in a museum devoted to The Titanic, The Luscitania, and the story of the Irish immigration. That night we stayed in a nice bed and breakfast and I slept like a baby :)
On Sunday we took a bus tour of the Ring of Kerry. Words can not describe how beautiful and different it was in the country of Ireland! wow!! It was so green, lots of small rolling hills, and sheep everywhere! Everyone's cameras were constantly on! The houses were all fairly new and the architecture was really neat. They had pretty colors and some were really big. Every now and then there were little old cottages, but mostly the houses were new. We stopped at a village of little old cottage type houses just to see how it looked a long time ago when there wasnt electricity and the houses were the size of a small bedroom.
Fortunately we also made it to the coastline (rivers and bays) and saw beautiful aqua blue water and tall cliffs. There were islands far out in the water too. The scene was gorgeous. The weather was usually fairly sunny with some clouds, but the wind was just awful, making it really cold!
All in all, it was a great vacation and I was really happy to do it with Dad and Carolyn! I would love to return to Ireland one day. There were bumps on the road with transportation and luggage, but it all ended up okay. We also had a very entertaining tour guide on Saturday that we had to try our best at to keep from laughing out loud (but I failed at that) :)
Well, I'd write more but its been a long day and I'm a little sleepy. I will write again soon to update on whats going on in Paris! And pictures soon!
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