Italian Grandpas and Yoga

This week has actually gone by pretty slowly, which is interesting because the month before it flew right by! I have gotten used to waking up early to go to school, and now it is hard for me to sleep in past 8:30 hahah. I am really loving studying French. The class I am in is not very challenging right now, but I am hoping that will change soon when we move onto topics I haven’t yet reached on Rosetta Stone. Everything else about my class is absolutely fantastic! The teacher is very nice and speaks very clearly, and I have met some pretty awesome people in my class! Adriana and Teresa are from Spain and they speak to me in Spanish and I just loooove it even though it is pretty confusing swtiching between Spanish and French pronunciations of words. There is a man from the US (man sounds old but boy sounds young so sorry if you ever end up reading this, Nick) who is also pretty cool, along with a girl from the US named Emily who sits next to me in class. Oh!! There is also a really cool girl named Roaen who is from Syria and a boy from London named Cameron and last but CERTAINLY not least, there is Maira. Maira is the closest thing to a Juliana I will ever find in Paris, and she is sooo amazing! I mean of course her and Juliana are different people, but it is so nice for me to have a bubbly brazilian girl making me happy all the time again hahah. When she sends me messages, she calls me things like “sweet sweet sally” and it just brings back so many memories of being 16 and getting to know Juliana and I love it. 

 

I spent this work/school week rushing between work and running and school and it felt great to be kind of busy again! On Wednesday while Prune was at her horseback riding lesson, Cecile, Eden, and I explored a new park and ohhhh my goodness it was beautiful! I didn’t even feel like I was running; I felt like I was floating around in a painting. When my mom visitis, I do want to show her the Eiffel Tower and what-not, but I also want to take her running in all these semi-hidden parks that have taken my breath away. 

 

On Friday, after class, Nick, Cameron, Maira, Roaen, and I all went to a book store in Paris together to get the French book that the language school had conveniently run out of but is completely mandatory for our class. We took the metro and a train and it was the first time I had ever been on the metro with a group of friends! I remember feeling so cool in my backpack, laughing with all my other backpack-wearing friends. At one point, I sent out a little prayer that there wasn’t some lonely Sally-ish girl riding the metro and watching us and feeling lonely, as I had a couple weeks before. After some time, we found the books we needed and then decided to go get a coffee in the Luxemburg Gardens because we were just right across the street. We sat down at a little cafe to get some coffee, but after and hour of chatting and waiting for a waiter to show up, we decided to walk around a bit instead hahah. It was such a gorgeous place, and I was so happy to be somewhere with people pretty close to my own age! After about 45 minutes of walking around, we said our goodbyes and I went home to get ready to get Prune. Cecile and Fred left that evening to go to Germany for the weekend and visit the au pair that worked here before me. Cecile’s father, who I have come to know as “noo noo” came from a different part of France to be around the house for the weekend. Noo Noo is Italian and also has a house in Sicily that I might get to visit later this year! He has a very strong Italian accent when he speaks French, and he doesn’t remember much English from when he was younger, so we ended up speaking mostly in French. It was so suprising to me that I could actually communicate with someone in French! He understood what I was saying, and when he didn’t, he was patient (enough) and we got through it hahah. Noo Noo is also an amazing cook, so on Friday evening I discovered I was in for a weekend of nice home-made Italian meals! 

On Saturday morning, I got up and felt awful. I wanted to go home again. I missed everyone and I didn’t really know why. I felt the sadness in my belly again, and all of a sudden I couldn’t think clearly. I couldn’t remember why I should be in France, and I began to panick because I realized that some people stay unhappy for the rest of their lives. I know it sounds intense, and it was! I felt awful. But I went on a run, and while I was running I thought individually about all the outstanding people I have in my life, and how knowing them makes me luckier than I will ever be able to comprehend. I thought about the hugs I have received, and considered all the hugs I will recieve in the future hahah. I ran until I felt very very physically healthy, but it didn’t make the sadness go away. It did, however, remind me that I had been happy before, and could be again. It is strange, but the terrible homesickness went away very casually when I was in the car with Noo Noo on our way to drop of Prune at her music lesson. I began to explain some stuff in French to Noo Noo, and got through a few sentences without saying a single thing he couldn’t understand. I felt proud of myself! When we got back to the house, we sat down at the table and had a conversation, and every time I didn’t know a word, I would look it up and then write it down in my school book. By the time it was time to go get Prune again, I had a pretty long list of verbs and adjectives that I couldn’t wait to use again! 

That evening, after a delicious Noo Noo meal, Julia invited me to meet up with her and another German girl at a little bar to have a drink and hang out for a bit. I was soooo scared of the idea of this hahah. I didn’t know what to wear or bring, and I was intimidated because I had to use the metro at night and then again later at night, but I decided to go and be brave and live my life hahah. Everything was fine in the end! It was so calm. She was right, it was just a little bar on a brightly lit street in Paris with a bunch of young people around having a good time. I realized that I am scared of dark nights, but in Paris, it isn’t dark at night at all. There are always people and noises and lights, and to me its less scary than walking out to my car in pitch black Redwood valley. :) We each bought a drink and then talked for a few hours! They spoke in English for me, which was very nice, and when we were done we walked to the metro together and then took our different trains home. I got back at about 12:30, and went to sleep right away because I knew the next day would be a big one. 

(Noo Noo meals!)

This morning, I woke up at about 9:00 and cuddled and watched cartoons with Prunette for a bit. At about 10:30, Noo Noo told me to come to the kitchen so he could teach me to make pizza! I have made pizzas at home before (many of them in chile) but I was pretty stoked about an elderly Italian man teaching me to make his secrety pizza recipe in France. We made enough pizza dough to have one kind of pizza for lunch and a different kind for dinner. While we waited for the dough to rise, we took Prune to the park to play and I happily joined her in going down the slides. I had forgotten how fun slides are, and it made me a little bummed that I couldn’t remember the last time I had gone down one hahah. We headed home at about noon so we could top the pizza and put it in the oven before I had to take the train to Paris. The pizza was delicious, and it tasted even better because I was excited for my next plans that day. Maira had invited me to a “free yoga event” with her and her French friend, and she didn’t give me many details about it, but it sounded fun so I was happy to go try it out. When I got there, I discovered that it was actually in the middle of a closed off street because today is like “no car” day in Paris! Everyone in Paris was riding around on bikes or walking, and it looked even prettier that way. I guess the yoga thing was some sort of environmental movement to make Paris greener, so it was cool to participate! It was pretty difficult because I didn’t understand the directions and had been placed in the front row, but I would just look around and pretend I understood. It was a little awkard to be doing yoga in the middle of Paris, because there were so many people watching us and taking pictures. At one point someone came up to me to interview me for the television, but I had no idea what they were saying and I was in a weird yoga position so they soon gave up on me hahah. At another point, an ambulance came bursting throught the cowd with sirens and everything and we had to grab out mats and run out of the way for a second. I don’t know why the ambulance was there, but it really shook things up for a second. When the yoga session was over, a man and woman came up to me and told me that they had taken pictures of me and wanted to use them for the website or something! I told them they could if they weren’t terrible pictures, and as long as I could see them too! So they gave me the information and I will have those pictures within the next week or so. 

After the yoga, we headed over to the cuuuutest little coffee shop that smelled just like black oak! Maira’s french friend’s friend was at the coffee shop playing piano, and a bunch of people had gathered around to hear him because he was very talented! I got a rasberry juice and talked to Maira for what felt like hours. We admitted to needing a close friend in Paris, and agreed to be that friend for each other hahah. She is very sweet and wants me to teach her how to swim and I am so excited to. She has already been here for three months, so she said she will show me all around Paris and make me an expert on the city. I got home feeling lucky to have made a friend who needs me as much as I need her. She is homesick too right now, and we are going to get through it together. :) 

Those are the highlights of this week! I hope you enjoyed reading this post. See you next Sunday! :)

 

First Day of School

I am officially a French language student at Campus Langues in Paris! 

 

 

This morning I woke up at 7:00am, which is the earliest I have woken up since I arrived in France, but I didn’t mind. I was so ready to go to school! I had my bag packed and my outfit waiting for me on the windowsill and nothing could ruin my happy happy first day of school mood. I took a nice warm shower and had some tea and toast before heading off to the Metro at 8:00. According to the website I use to find the quickest Metro routes, it should only take me about 35 minutes to get to the school, but I have myself an hour because I really didn’t want to be late. 

When I walked down the stairs to the Metro, I was surprised to see a huge crowd waiting for the train. Usually there are like 20 peole at the Les Agnettes stop that is so close to my home, but today there were at least 200. I was lucky when the next train came that I happened to be standing in a particular swarm of very eager people and I was pretty much shoved onto the even more crowded train. There was NO space. I couldn’t move my arms and the man standing behind me had the hiccups and I could literally feel every single one of them rolling up his throat. When I was little, I remember looking at the “Maximum Occupancy” signs in buildings and thinking “no way, I am sure that more people could fit in here if they just smooshed together a little bit!” Well, I have a new appreciation for maximum occupancies because this Metro needed one and it needed to be about half the amount of people who were on that train.  The train moved much more slowly because of all the people, and it took forever at each stop because there was always some person trying to fit on the train that wouldn’t let the door closed so we just had to wait for them to give up before we could move on. I began to wonder and worry about the time, I was able to wriggle my phone out of my pocket, and I saw that it was already 8:40! I hadn’t even changed trains which meant I wasn’t even half way there! About 10 minutes later, we arrived at my stop that’s when I ran into a problem. I started trying to get off the train, but noboy was moving out of the way. I began to panick because I realized that the doors would close in under a minute, and I didn’t know what to do because nobody would move out of the way. I tried to speak louder, but everyone was being loud on the train and I couldn’t remember what to say in French  and then the doors were closing and I was still crushed between people on the train. It would be about three or four minutes until the next stop, so I took a breath and told myself that all I could do in that moment was get off the train and find a new way to school. When the train stopped again, I was not nice. I pushed and yelled and made myself noticable and people listened to me and I got off the train! I ran to a map and found another train that could take me to the other train that I needed to arrive at school. It was after 9:00, so I decided my new goal would be 9:30 hahah. An hour and a half of school is better than no school at all! I wasn’t going to let these silly trains ruin my day, and I decided not to worry over all the traffic problems I couldn’t really do anythig about. When I got to the Metro station near my school, I ran as fast as I could down the streets I remembered Cecile showing me when we went to get me inscripted. I burst through the front doors and in out of breath, broken French, I asked the receptionist where my class was. She kindly laughed (I think she could tell it was my first day) and pointed down the hallway to a room. The classroom door was open, and the teacher, Michelle, was speaking to a class of people who looked like they were happy to be there. I stood kind of awkwardly in the doorway for a second and all the students saw me before the teacher did. The other students were from all around the world, and they had friendly faces but I realized I was definitely the youngest. When the teacher saw me, I smiled and kind of giggled and just said “bonjour!” and she and the rest of the class laughed and Michelle showed me to a seat in the front of the room. 

The class was taught only in French, but I understood everything! Being here for a month has really taught me how to understand, but now I want to learn how to speak. The class is for beginners, so it is all pretty basic, but still it felt so good to be in a classroom learning! I soon learned that there were students from Brasil, Spain, Venezuela, Colombia, India, Syria, China, Poland, Great Britain, and of course, the US! There are only 18 students in the class, but we all come from so many different places and I think that is wonderful. Class went by really fast, and the Metro ride home went a lot more smoothly than it did in the morning. I am so glad that I will get to go to this school every day! I just wish it was longer hahaha. I want to learn French as fast as I can and remember it for the rest of my life. 

So this post was really just to tell you that I had my first day of school and it was complicated and amazing and I can’t wait for tomorrow! :)

 

We Went to Normandieee!

This weekend was faaantastic, people! 

Friday evening when Fred and Cecile came back from work, the house was super busy because we had so much packing to do! I had already prepared the chocolate chip cookies and my own bag during the afternoon, so I helped out by entertaining Prune while Fred and Cecile rushed around grabbing last-minute things. We got in the car at about 7:30pm and set out for our 2 1/2 hour drive to the house in Normandie. Some of Fred and Cecile’s friends had rented the house in Normandie for the weekend to celebrate Cecile’s birthday, and because they are the nicest people ever in the world, Fred and Cecile invited me to come with them. :)

I couldn’t be calm at all in the car! I was too excited to be able to see another part of France! Fred and Cecile laughed as I blabbered on and on about how cool everything I saw was. 

We arrived at the house a little before 10, and since it was dark I wasn’t really sure what the outside looked like, but I soon discovered the inside was really cute and friendly looking! I was greeted warmy by my French family’s friends, and even though its been a weekend I don’t really know exactly what all of their names are hahah. They were three other couples who had brought their kids (all little) and dogs for the weekend! Cecile and I explored the house for a little before putting Prune to sleep. It wasn’t really that big, but there were so many rooms with a lot of beds which meant room for everyone. After the kids were asleep, the adults (yeahhhh that includes meeee!) sat down to have dinner. Except by dinner, I mean we had crackers and champagne, then a course I thought was dinner, then actual dinner, then bread and cheese, and then dessert. By the time we had eaten all of this delicious meal it was 1:30am and I realized that these people didn’t plan on going to sleep anytime soon. I, however, was exhausted so I excused myself and went upstairs to rest because I knew the next day would be a big one and I wanted to be rested enough to enjoy it!

 

 

I didn’t set an alarm, which is not normal for me at all, and I ended up waking up at 9:50 in the morning! I was a bit embarrased to be the last one to wake up, but I quickly got over that because there were so many people in that house that I doubted anyone would really notice. When Cecile saw that I was up, she told me to get into my running clothes so we could go running before lunch. I wish I had brought my camera on that run because it was absolutely breathtaking! We ran for 45 minutes through the beautiful French countryside, and everyone we passed smiled and said hello!  The sky was bright blue and the grass was so green and the air felt fresh in my mouth and lungs. We came back from that run feeling even more rested than when we had woken up, and after quick showers we were ready to enjoy lunch with all the friends! 

I made sure to take pictures of the lunch that we had that afternoon because it was gorgeous. Once again, it came in multiple courses and it tasted so good that it didnt matter if we were hungry! 

After lunch, which took just under 3 hours, we jumped in the cars to go to the ocean! It took about a half hour to get there, but the drive was just as lovely as my run in the morning. The sky seemed so huge, and after a lot of thought I decided it looked so big because the area was so flat that the sky didn’t appear to run into any hills or mountains like it does in California. I sat in the back with Prune and we took turns making a huge deal about every cow or sheep we spotted! 

 

When we arrived at the ocean, it was like no beach I had ever seen before! The beach had no sound, only small smoothe stones, and it ran into large cliffs that didn’t even really look natural but definitely were. The entire beach felt older, like it didn’t belong in 2015, or like an old family film could have been filmed there or something. I loved it. Cecile brought all the cookies I had made for us to snack on and her friends absolutely devoured them! They were gone in about a half hour, and I had made over 50 cookies! Prune and I ran around collecting shells, and I found some pretty cool ones along with a heartshaped rock and a shark egg which I wanted to save and take home to Cherish (I have no idea why but I like to give her things like that) but Prune crushed it up and then a dog ate it so sorry Cherish. Everyone sat on the rocks together talking, and all of a sudden I really wanted to have a conversation. One of Cecile’s friends had brought her 9 year old daughter, so i sat down next to her and said whatever I could in French. It is funny that she was so interested in our conversation, because the things I was saying were not interesting at all, but she was so patient and kind and it made me feel really good! In broken French, I was able to communicate to her that I like dogs more than cats, that Eden was swimming, that my family might visit in December, that I have a dog named Bella, that I have three sisters, and that I want to learn French hahahah. She was such a great teacher! I talked about how nice she was to me the whole car-ride back from the beach and then made sure to spend some time with her the rest of the weekend. 

 

When we got back from the beach, some of the adults invited me to play a game called Patanque which involves throwing a bunch of heavy balls at a little ball and trying to get closest to the little ball. I was a bit shy at first because they all kept cheering me on, but after a couple rounds the cheering changed a little because I was completely beating everyone hahah. Almost every time I got my ball within a foot of the little ball, and they kept teasing me and saying that I must have practiced by bowling in the US hahah. It was really fun and it made me feel very welcome withing the group of friends!

 

That night, dinner was once again served at like 10:30pm and lasted a very long time. After eating a big meal, I taught everyone the word “food baby” and they thought it was pretty funny! After dinner, a cake was brought out celebrate Cecile’s birthday and we all happily sang to her. I was so tired and full that shortly afterwards I went upstairs to sleep in a nice warm and comfy bed! 

This morning, I made sure I was one of the first people to wake up so that I could start cooking. I attempted to make pancakes, and even though they didn’t turn out like they do in the US, I think they were close enough. They were finished just as the last people woke up and came downstairs for breakfast, and everyone loved them! They said they were delicious and they ate all of them with some Canadian maple syrup that Cecile had bought for the occasion. It felt nice to contribute because the other friends had been making delicious meals all weekend. 

For the rest of the day, we ate little appetizers before lunch and then had one final long lunch. It was Cecile’s turn to cook, and she made Raclette again (which is that melted cheese stuff she had made at home the week before). It is certainly an entertaining food to eat, but I could only stomach one peice of cheese because I was so full from all the other meals. I ate a bunch of fresh salad instead and felt a lot better hahah.

After lunch, It was time to pack up and say goodbye. I was sad to leave the cute little house in Normandy, but glad to come back to our little house near Paris! I kind of rushed this blog, but for a fantastic reason! 

TOMORROW IS MY FIRST DAY OF LANGUAGE SCHOOL AND I WILL MAKE FRIENDS AND LEARN FRENCH! I want to make sure I get to bed early and have everything ready! I will probably blog tomorrow, because it will be such an exciting day for me. Language school will be a big part of my year, and I can’t wait to meet other people who are struggling with a foreign language in a big international city and be friends with them.

Sooo, I am going to bed now! I love you all and wish me luck tomorrow! 

A Normal Little Week :)

Last week when I blogged, I didn’t add as much detail about the “little things” as I usually do. After some thought, I decided that maybe that happened because I was so intent on blogging about my trip to Bailleul that I sort of disregarded my week that led up to the trip. Well, tomorrow my French family and I will leave for Normandie, and since I will probably have tons to blog about on Sunday, I decided I should blog tonight just to show you how relevant these past four days have been! 

On Monday I remember waking up and not being able to believe it was Monday again. The housekeeper, Erselia, comes to clean on Monday mornings, and I woke up completely shocked that another week had just flown by! Time flies when you’re having fun, but it reallyyyy flies when you’re having fun in Paris with the cutest little four year old in the universe. :)  Cecile and I went for a run in the forest together (which is becoming a little Monday morning tradition of ours <3) and we took Eden with us so she could flop around in the grass and swim a little bit in the pond. It was kind of warm outside - sunny at least - so we didn’t have enough energy to do our full three laps and did two quick ones instead. After running and stretching we came back to the house where I took a quick shower before rushing off to Paris for a very important meeting. Brianna, a friend of Molly’s from Ukiah, was visiting Paris with her family and my mom had sent a little package with them so that I could meet up with them in Paris to recieve it. It took me about an hour to take the Metro and find the hotel, but I made it there on time because I have learned to give myself an extra 20 minutes of “get lost time.” Brianna’s family greeted me with warm hugs and took me to eat some soup and chat for a bit. It was their last day in Paris and their plane was to leave that evening and GUESS WHAT? I was soooo glad I didn’t have to leave with them! I remember thinking “thank goodness it’s not time for me to leave, I haven’t seen anything yet!” I think realizing this was a huge step for me because just three weeks ago I would have been begging them to take me with them. Not anymore! I have so much to discover here and I know it will go by way too fast.

The package my mom sent contained some really awesome books, letters, and tea that I was very stoked to receive (THANKS MOMMA!). I returned to Asnieres in time to take Eden for a short walk before picking up my lovely little Prune Prune. 

Now, I realize I haven’t ever gone over what I do with Prune on a normal day. We have developed a routine that we both seem to enjoy very much! 

At 4:05, I leave the house for the Metro station. I only have to be on the Metro for about three minutes and it takes me to a stop about ten minutes away from the school (walking) called Gabriel Peri. I arrive at the school at about 4:25 and stand with all the other parents until the gates open at 4:30, and then I stand in line outside Prunette’s classroom and wait for my turn to greet the teacher and take Prune to the park. Prune is alwasy looking for me from inside the classroom, and when we make eye contact, she smiles and giggles and waves and so do I! She is always happy to be picked up because she is hungry and ready to play after school. When it’s my turn, I greet the teacher and then take Prune by the hand and lead her away from the classroom. She complains about being hungry until we get to the park, but once we are inside the gate I slip out of her hand and run towards the grass as she chases me laughing. I get to the grass about 20 seconds before she does, which is enough time to take off my coat so we have something to sit on. When she reaches me, she sits on my coat and giggles as I put on a show pulling out each snack I’ve brought individually until they are all in front of her and she can pick which one she wants to eat first. Prune is very thin, but she can eat sooo much! After our little 10 minute picnic, we pack up our snacks and head over to the playground. Prune has two favorite things to do on the playground: go on the swings and go down the big slide (but only if I give her a high five on the way down). We play with all the other children and the parents all look at me like I am crazy and the children all look at me like they wish I spoke French! At 6:00, I tell Prune she can play for two more minutes, and about 30 seconds later she tells me she is read to go home. On our way out of the park, she politely asks if she can balance along the wall of the fountain and I hold her hand while she walks carefully towards the exit of the park. We then walk to the Metro (usually singing) and make it home by about 6:30. Right when we get home, we both shout “BUBBLE BATH” over and over again as we run upstairs and get her ready for her bath. In the bath, I sing while she dances and, when she has been very good, I play music from Frozen for her on my phone and sing along because according to her, I am the Queen of the Snow. After her bath (at about 7:00), I help her put on pijamas and brush her hair. We then grab a bunch of crayons and markers and set up an art station at the kitchen table so she can draw as I prepare something for her dinner. Prune constantly wants to watch TV, so it was a bit hard to get her interested in doing other things while I cook, but now she doodles happily while I make dinner and sometimes (as you saw in last weeks blog) I even let her give me tattoos! She eats about half of her dinner before getting tired of eating, and when that happens I have to make a deal with her. Usually, I divide the remains of her dinner in two and tell her that if she eats one of the halfs then she can watch TV for 10 minutes after dinner. This works every time because she loves TV so much, and while she is watching cartoons I have time to clean up the kitchen. She doesn’t protest when the alarm goes off after 10 minutes, and we head upstairs to read a book before bed. A lot of the time Cecile and Fred will arrive home while I am reading to her, so they come upstairs and read a book or two, too. After that it is lights out, and night-light and music on! And I can head downstairs to get ready for dinner with Fred and Cecile. :)

 So Prune and I have a pretty great little routine! That is how my Monday ended. 

On Tuesday morning I got up with Cecile to take Eden to the vet for a check up. In the car on the way there, we were talking about the vacations that are coming up in late October and Cecile informed me that I am invited to spend a week in Brittany with Cecile and Prune followed by a week in the South of France with Fred’s mom, Mari, and Prune! I am sooo lucky and excited to get to see different parts of this wonderful country!! After the appointment with the vet, Cecile and I crossed the street to have a coffee at a cute little cafe. She told me that Prune hadn’t been feeling well that morning, and that she thought it might be a good idea to pick her up on the way home so she could rest. Cecile had to work, so she asked me if I would be okay taking care of Prune at home a little earlier than usual and of course I had no problem! I watched a movie with Prune as she cuddled her doo-doo (her favorite white bunny stuffed animal) and then put her down for a three hour nap! When she woke up, she seemed to be feeling much better, so I decided to take her to the library to choose some books. It took us about 15 minutes to walk to the library, and when we got there she was in a good mood and listened when I told her to pick out some books from the English section. I let her check out two books in French also, because I’m soo niiiiice hahah. When we went to check out the books, the librarian didn’t speak English, so I had to use the few things I know how to say in French to communicate with her, and it went very well! She was very sweet, and whenever I didn’t understand her Prune would help me out a little by answering questions to the best of her knowledge hahah. When we got home, I read all the books to Prune, and Cecile came home while we were finishing up the last book and was very pleased to see all the English being practiced hahah. As for the books in French, well, I let Prunette “read” them to me. By “read” I mean she looked at the pictures and said stuff in French in a teacher voice. So cute! 

On Wednesday morning, Cecile dropped Prune and I off at Prune’s first “sport” lesson. I am not completely sure what Prune did during that class (parents and au pairs are not allowed to watch because we are distracting), but afterwards Prune seemed to be very happy about the lesson and she was exhausted and ready for a nap. Wednesdays, as I believe I have explained before, Prunette doesn’t have school so she spends the morning with me and the afternoon with Cecile and me. When we got home (Cecile picked us up from the lesson because it was raining and she didn’t have to work at that moment), we all ate lunch together and then Prune went to sleep because she needed to rest up before her horseback riding lesson later that day. While Prune slept, Cecile worked on the book she has been writing (ISN’T SHE SO COOL?!) and I went for a run in the pouring rain. It might have been the greatest run of my life, because I remember feeling so completely alive and thinking about how running in the rain is much more fun that simply swimming in water hahah. When I came back, I took a quick shower and then went with Cecile to take Prune to the horses. I didn’t need to go with them, but I wanted to, and I think that was my inner- exchange student that still wants to see as much as possible, even if its just a bunch of little French girls in a stinky horse arena thing hahah. While Prunette was riding, Cecile and I took a walk in a nearby park and talked for awhile until it was time to return for Prune. We are pretty sure Prune liked the lesson a lot, but she was too tired to really say a lot about it! That night after Prune had gone to bed, Fred and Cecile made me a special French dinner that involved using a strange machine to melt cheese and then put it on top of potatoes and meat! It was delicious but honestly a little bit stressful because the cheese just kept coming and coming and I wasn’t ready for that much cheese. 

This morning I woke up on the right side of the bed and I am not quite sure why. I had a long to-do list on my mind, and I was ready to get it done and maybe that, for some reason, made me very happy. I got up and went down to the basement to start my laundry before heading off to the grocery store for a long long shopping trip. Cecile had a gigantic list of things to buy for the trip to Normandie, and I had my own list of chocolate chip cookie and pancake ingredients for the treats I promised to prepare for Cecile and her friends in Normandie! We spent about two hours at the grocery store, and since we knew we were going to take so long, we went ahead and got the car cleaned while we were shopping. After unloading all the food at the house, I changed into my workout clothes and cleaned the heckkkk out of my room. It wasn’t really dirty - maybe a tad less organized than usual - but cleaning made me feel very good because I felt like I was doing something very right hahah. I made my room sparkle and then extra-organized all my things. Then, since I was all ready in my running clothes, I went on a run to a nearby workout park. The entire time I wished it was raining; I think running in the rain might be one of my favorite things to do at this point in my life! When I got back from my run, I took a quick shower and finished my laundry before making a simple little lunch of rice and a tomato. Cecile came back while I was eating and told me that she would take me in the car to pick up Prune today because she had an hour off of work. When Prune saw that we were both there to pick her up, she was very happy! We ran to the park (as usual) and she ate her snacks and began to play. Cecile left to work again, and shortly after, Prune and I ran into a bit of a problem. Public restrooms in the US are pretty gross, but public restrooms in France are just a stall with a hole in the ground and should be avoided at all costs. Today, Prune came up to me and whispered that she had to poop, but made it very clear that the park restroom was not an option. She demanded to be taken home. It usually takes us a half hour to get home together, but I sprinted with Prune on my back and we made it home in under 20 minutes and everything was okay! I was so stressed out during those 20 minutes though… I was pretty sure she was going to have an accident. But she didn’t! So yay! We were home an hour earlier than usual, and we filled that hour dancing to random music on my phone and reading lots and lots of books. Prune was such a great listener today, so after dinner I let her watch TV for 20 minutes AND give me a tattoo! Cecile came home in time to read Prune a story before bed, which gave me a couple minutes to pack for Normandie before helping out with dinner. Fred and Cecile said they didn’t need help tonight, so I got my computer and started blogging. Fred began to tease me for blogging before Sunday and brought me some peanuts as a snack while I was “working” hahah. They are so nice! For dinner we ate home made pizza and some salad and now it is 10:27pm and I am in bed blogging for you! 

I am really looking forward to making some chocolate chip cookies to take to Normandie tomorrow night and whatever tomorrow throws my way. Thank you for reading! I will blog again about Normandie on Sunday! :)

Bailleul and...Belgium?

I was very excited all week about the trip I knew I would be taking this weekend, but that didn’t make my work week any less enjoyable in comparison, really hahah. Ever since I arrived in France, Dominique’s family (a family my mom had grown close to during her time in Switzerland) had been trying to set up a weekend trip for me to come visit them in the North of France, and we decided that this weekend would be an ideal time for everyone! Cecile could tell how much I wanted to go see another city during the weekend so she made it possible for me to not have to work on Friday afternoon just so I could have an extra day with this family my mom had been telling me about since I was just a baby. See? Cecile is an angel, I am telling you. 

I spent Monday through Thursday running with Cecile in the mornings and taking care of Prune in the afternoons, and I know that might not sound very fun but I promise you it is! Cecile and I run very well together because she hasn’t run in three months and I am the least competitive runner in the world hahah. We go slow and we don’t do much talking, but we run for about an hour each time which is way longer than I ever thought I would run outside a track workout or a Turkey Trot. I feel so good after we run! And afterwards we stretch and talk for a while and we are thinking of signing up for some actual city runs that we could do together later in the year if we keep training so much. I never imagined that I could have a boss who I lived with who giggles with me like a sister and talks to me like a friend. :)

Taking care of Prune in the afternoons has become something I not only look forward to every day, but actually missed while I was up north in Bailleul. When I get to her school and she spots me she gets this huge grin on her face and together, after safely crossing the street hand in hand, of course, we race each other to our “spot” in the grass at the park where we have a little after school picnic. She is always starving after school, and I have learned which snacks to bring that will make her actually start to dance while she eats them! We have a lot of fun together and only fight like 2-4 times a day which I think is impressive for an 18 year old and a 4 year old who don’t actually speak the same language yet. She is learning English sooo fast! Every time she surprises me with a new word I feel so proud of both of us! She has fantastic manors in English, too, and has begun to say “no thank you” instead of just “non!” 

We have a lot of little jokes together and games we made up. Some games we play, however, are just ideas I stole from my parents giving me the most wonderful childhood ever! Does this look familiar, Dad? She gave me my first tattoo! 

Anyways, this weekend Dominique’s sister, Christine, picked me up at 10am from my house in Asnieres so that we could drive together to Bailleul! It great to meet such a well-traveled and kind person and I was stoked to spend 3 hours in the car with her and get to see the French countryside through her car windows. We talked a lot and she pointed out different things to me as we drove and explained why they were significant. Apparently, we drove for quite a while over where a big chunk of WWI was fought! In three short hours, we arrived safely in Bailleul and I remember feeling very ready to stretch out my legs and meet the other awesomem people awaiting my arrival! 

When we got to Dominique’s house in Bailleul, I was absolutely blown away by how beautiful everything was. I was greeted warmly with kisses and very yummy food, and then told to make myself at home and do whatever I wanted while they prepared for the yard sale they would have Saturday morning. I wondered around and took pictures of the house just so I would be able to blog about them hahah. The house is huge and very old, and it is so colorful and feels familiar even if its your first time there. There is a gorgeous garden in the backyard with fresh fruits and vegetables and most of the house is naturally lit with wide windows on every floor! 

 

little white room I slept in :)

Because I am in none of my pictures hahah

After I had explored the entire house (sorry I didn’t actually take that many pictures of it) Christine proposed that I bike with her to the market to buy some cheese for dinner, and of course I said yes! Riding to the market on the little streets of all brick houses (which is apparently very common in the north of france because of the flemish and spanish achitectual influences) made me feel like I was living in a different century and I couldn’t help but smile the entire time! I kept pulling out my phone to take pictures  because crashing was actually worth how beautiful I knew the photographs would be! 

And we ended up buying SO MUCH CHEESE! 

And it all tasted sooooo good! 

We ate a bunch of different cheeses that night for dinner! 

We all ate a lot and then went to sleep early so we would be ready for the garage sale the next morning. I didn’t actually wake up when everyone else did, though. I was so tired from being spoken to in French! When the family realized that I could understand most of what they said in French, they spoke to me much less in English! It was good for me to be exposed to so much French language but it made me very sleepy so they let me sleep! The garage sale started at 6am and was supposed to last until 6pm but it started raining around 2pm so we cleaned it up. I thought we were the only family who was going to sell things, but it turned out to be a thing the whole town was doing and the streets were closed off that day just for the event! We spent the morning sitting outside the house with all the antique things we were trying to sell and talking. Dominique brought me a photo album to look through and I got to see a bunch of pictures of my mom when she was visiting the same houes and I all of a sudden felt so connected to her. I knew that if 24 year old her happened to be in Bailleul with me, we would have been best friends hahah. There was even a picture of my dad! 

That is a view of the house from the front!

That evening after dinner, we went to watch Dominique’s son in law’s concert. He is in a band called “Whities” and they put on quite an entertaining show! I do not know that much about music but I could tell they were enjoying themselves so I had a fantastic time. After the show, Dominique introduced me to the band and when they found out I was from California they flipped out and gave me a bunch of flyers and a free CD so that I could “make them famous in California” hahaha! It was hilarious but if you like music and want them to be famous you should check out their stuff! 

The next morning I woke up late and was actually only the second person awake! I went downstairs and had breakfast with Christine and waited for the rest of the house to wake up. I have learned that when someone tells you to make yourself at home, the best thing you can do is listen. I found some yogurt to eat for breakfast, made coffee, and took a shower without asking for everyone’s permission and guess what?! Everything was okay! Making yourself at home makes the hosts job much less stressful, I think. 

Later, Christine told me to come with her to get some flowers for Dominique and also fill up the gas tank before the long ride home. When we got to the gas station, I saw some weird looking words in the window and asked Christine what they meant. She replied in the most matter-of-fact voice, “I don’t know, that’s in Flemish. We are in Belgium.” 

What. WHAT?! We were in Belgium! BELGIUM LIKE THE COUNTRY! I was so stoked and shocked and stoked that I had trouble describing to Christine why it was so exciting for me. In the US, you can’t just casually find yourself in Mexico or Canada because the boarders aren’t that simple. I felt so proud to be in a different country and it made the family laugh when Christine told them about it back at home. Because I was so excited, we all decided to go back to Belgium to have a coffee after lunch before Christine and I headed back to Paris. The little pub we went to felt so warm and cozy and it was nice being so comfortable while it was pouring down rain outside. After the quick coffee stop, we said our “see you soons” and headed back to Paris. 

and across the road...

Getting back to Paris felt nice after a few days away, and that is how I know that this little grey house is starting to feel like home. When I surprised Prune during her bath, she squealed with joy and Cecile told me at dinner about how Prunette had been asking about me all weekend! I had missed seeing Cecile and Fred and Prune, and it felt nice to know that I was also missed while I was away. :)

I am sooooo exhausted so I am sorry if this blog post wasn’t descriptive enough or if some of the pictures don’t really make sense. It is midnight here and I really would like to sleep now hahah. I had so many fantastic moments this week that I don’t have the time or energy to document right now but I want you all to know that I am doing very well here and really warming up to this whole “getting to live in France for a whole year” thing. I love you all! Good night!