Life Updates

Holy 2,000+ blog views, Batman! Thank you, guys! I'm seriously so flattered that my blog has had over 2,000 views from my friends and family (probably mostly from my mom and dad) and I hereby vow to do a better job with blogging. More funny stories as they happen, more pictures (hopefully) and more updating. I tend to get really bogged down and then I forget all the things I wanted to write about and then I end up posting one huge blog entry that no one wants to read all the way through, I'm sure.

Let's throw a quick little update on my life right now since the summer ended:

-The kids went back to school,
-B turned 8 years old, A turned 5 years old, L is turning 14 next week
-The kids hate my rain boots. I do not care. 
-I saw the king tut exhibit that I've been dying to see since it was at the Children's Museum and I missed it
-The new Au Pairs arrived
-I made a friend, Katherine.
-Katherine and I learn to "guard our hearts"
-Finally got my french credit card from the bank, promptly overdrew
-Aileen came to visit
-I got into a cab with possibly the worlds only cab driver who can't read/didn't have a GPS and had no idea where he was going - story to follow
-Expats can be ultra condescending
-School started for myself
-I made some more friends!
-Siobhan came back so I have another friend
-I went to nuit blanche
-I bought myself a stove top
-subsequently after buying the stove top, I learned what it means to be poor
-Host mom switched to whole grain baguettes instead of normal baguettes and I am a little bitter about it because they ARE NOT AS DELICIOUS, obviously. Why are they even a thing?
-the COLTS beat the PACKERS - yes please.
-B said the cutest thing in the world to me.

Where to start:
The kids going back to school.
So H has officially moved to 'college' which is like our middle school. She attends the same school as L and I honestly believe that over-night she sprouted the most riDONKulous attitude I have ever encountered. Seriously. The other night at dinner she got yelled at by her dad so she refused to eat; B needed a spoon so host dad said, oh take H's she isn't using it. She yanked it off the table and clutched it to herself crying. I remember being 11. It's not fun. I get her. The point is, now that she goes to college, I don't have to walk her to school anymore so it's just me and the boys. Things seem to be easier with just 2 boys instead of 2 boys and a girl which is confusing to me. A is still in 'ecole maternelle' which is basically pre-school although he is in his last year (I think) and B is still at his normal elementary school. I drop them off, I pick them up. Normal.

King Tut:
Why am I such a loser? I was so excited to see this exhibit that it was unreal. I woke up 2 hours early, I tried to buy tickets in advance but couldn't figure it out because the website was in complicated French and my French friend Francois was like, no, don't do that, it's stupid. Just buy them there. No one buys them in advance except tourists. (eye roll. Francois did not understand how excited I was to see King Tut). I got there and I could have spent all day looking at the exhibit. I geeked really hard... I made a nice elderly British lady friend who could not understand what the door guys were saying, she heard me speaking English and asked if I would help her. It was all around just delightful. 

The New Au Pairs Got Here/ I Made My First Friend:
As you all know, I have been basically alone since August because all my friends left and I was too awkward and afraid to go out to try to meet people. (plus at some points I was casually traveling, sleeping and/or watching project free tv.) So when I found out the new Au Pairs were coming, I flipped out. Each Friday, our agency had a meeting for the new arrival girls to come, meet each other, go through paperwork and all that jazz. I show up to the cafe and I don't see anyone there, except for a couple girls standing around outside so I just awkwardly stand there as well. Finally, I just decide to walk up to one and I ask if she is waiting for the Au Pair Paris meeting. She was, we chat for a bit, and then realize that people are inside the cafe sitting down and we have just been standing outside for like 10 minutes. She has an A (same name actually) as well, who is 4 so we bond over the ridiculous things our 4 year old A's ask us to do. We go inside and I am introduced to the group as 'the girl who has been here for 4 months so if you have questions.....' Insert every question in the planet being thrown at me. I am now terrified that I look like a know-it-all, obnoxious, show-offy brat. I decide that no one in this round of new girls is going to like me because of that. I have a minor panic attack when we leave and people are all saying 'ohhh yeah! I'll email you details, blah blah' wait.... I don't have anyone's email... did an email list go out without my receipt of it? Is everyone already facebook friends without me knowing? Do they read my blog and make fun of it? Do they already have a voodoo doll of me that they poke with pins? Did I say something stupid that they are going to mock later? ahhhhhhhhhh
Thankfully, the agency sent out an email later in the day with everyone's contact info, Katherine and I got in touch and went out that Saturday and luckily got along so well. We've decided we have to stick together because making friends does not seem to be our forte. Here is a link to her blog if you're interested; it's better than mine though, so if you do read hers, you have to pinky swear to keep reading mine or I'll be jealous. http://eauxpair.blogspot.fr/

Guarding Our Hearts:
This is my favorite story ever; even if it makes me seem a little mean. The second "Au Pair Paris" meeting went well, we met some other new girls and one of the girls from last year came to it as well. I guess she is staying in Paris for a second year because she loved her first year so much- good sign for things to come. A group of maybe 8 of us go to get lunch. We sit down in the Tuileries and this girl immediately starts lecturing us about life in Paris. Not in a super condescending way at first, but then almost out of nowhere she goes on a rant about French men. "Infidelity is really, really common here so you all need to watch your backs." "French men fall in love fast and out of love faster." "I just don't want any of you to get hurt. This isn't like dating back home." "Ladies... just please... guard your hearts." She must have repeated "guard your hearts" at least 3 times during her speech. Bless her heart; I know that some guy must have hurt her really badly and I'm sure she wanted to genuinely warn us about the French culture and French men and that niceness cannot be overrated, but it got a little ridiculous. Katherine and I constantly text each other to remind each other to 'guard our hearts.' Best intentions I'm sure. I realize my hypocrisy in giggling about something that someone said to help me while I was terrified people were doing that about me at the first meeting. I rectify that by telling myself that my answers to questions were things like, "your French will be better in 3 months" "you can buy shampoo at the Monoprix or any other grocery type store" and "no I haven't eaten at Quick (the french 'McDonalds') yet" and never anything like that. Upon typing this, I resolve to be a better person.

PS: I lost my voice this weekend due in most part, to what I believe to be my very first French cold. (host dad's remedy: oh you need to wear a scarf, that will keep your neck warm.) That being said, while I lay in bed this week, I plan to do my best to finish blogging the 'bloggable' things from the above list. That is... when I'm not obsessively watching Downton Abbey.

PPS: If you haven't watched Downton Abbey, I highly recommend it.

PPPS: It has been raining for 20 hours straight. I am cold.