The Case of the Missing Kimono

I don’t really have much to say about this last week, and I am not sure why. I had a pretty good week, I think, but my days weren’t super interesting so I don’t know what to say about most of them hahah. It was very nice to get back to school after being gone for two weeks! I love waking up early, reading my book on the metro, learning French, hanging out with friends after class, and then coming home to run before seeing Prune, and that is what I did most days this week! Sometimes it is difficult for me to not get bored while living such a free lifestyle. I can do whatever I want with my time, and sometimes I end up spending my time sitting on the couch and wishing I had stuff to do or people to talk to that don’t require the use of social media to reach. I have found that when I am having boring days, the best thing I can do is find little things to do that make me feel like I have my life together. I clean my room very well, read a little in French of try to understand the news in French, practice drawing with my left hand because WHY NOT, brainstorm about christmas arts and crafts I could do with Prune in December, and do whatever else I can come up with. I decided this week that I miss school pretty badly. People here have asked me if I would consider doing another au pair year or travel for another year before college, and after giving it some thought I have come to the conclusion that while its possible learn such important lessons while traveling, I love school and I want to keep studying right when I get back to the US. I was also doing some thinking this week and it occured to me that having so much free time this year could either make me into a super lazy person OR end up really helping me get to know myself while allowing me to enjoy things that a lot of busy people wish they had time for. Like reading a lot! The library that I go to every Wednesday doesn’t have that huge of an English book section, but I have been able to find some pretty awesome books there! Right now I am reading The Da Vinci Code because I remember my older cousins watching the film made after it quite a few Thanksgivings ago and really seeming to enjoy it. The cool thing about me reading it here is that it takes place in Paris, so I recognize most of the street names and then actually find myself walking up and down the streets I have been reading about. As for French, I am currently reading Matilda, and now when I am home alone and read in French I try to read outloud so I can practice pronouncing the words. I probably say a lot of them wrong, but that’s okay. :)

 

 

This Wednesday, something ridiculously stressful happened during Prune and my weekly trip to her gym class. Right now in Prune’s class, the students are supposed to bring little white kimonos to the gym class and then change into them when class begins. Cecile made if very clear to me on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning that I shouldn’t forget the kimono at home because it is an important part of the class. So I made sure the kimono was in my bag, safe and sound, and took Prune to the gym class. When we got there, I went into the corner of the gym with Prune and set down her stuff where I always do, and put the kimono on top of her jacket so it would be easy for her to locate when it became time to change. The gym class doesn’t have windows, so all the parents leave for the hour and then come back to pick up their kids. This hour is when I go to the library right down the street. So I went to the library for a little under an hour, and then came back to pick up Prune at her class. When I went into the class to help Prune put on her shoes and jackets, the children had already changed out of their kimonos and were just holding them or putting them into backpacks. I realized Prune didn’t have one near her, and I asked her where it was. She shrugged and said she didn’t know (which is very typical of Prune because she tends to not care too much about most things haha) and so I decided to try and ask the teacher. I went up and tried to ask in French, but she responded in broken English that I shouldn’t forget the kimono at home next time. I told her I didn’t, and she told me I did. It was loud in the gym and there were kids running around everywhere and I began to get a little irritated because the teacher was looking at me like I was crazy but I was positive that I had brought the kimono. I didn’t know what to do, so I went outside and called Cecile so she could translate for me, but she was busy at work and it was still so loud and I didn’t know what to do so I went back inside to talk to the teacher again and she had left! I began to worry, because the kimono had seemed pretty important to Cecile. Prune seemed worried because I looked worried, and as we walked home I kept trying to ask Prune what had happened to her kimono that I had most definitely left for her at class. Cecile called me and I explained the situation and she seemed very upset but didn’t have time to talk. I made Prune lunch and put her down for a nap, and then sat in the house worrying until Cecile finally came home. I was irritated because the teacher was so unhelpful and becuase the situation made me look careless. I felt like a dissapointment of an au pair and I had no idea how to understand what had happened to the kimono. When Cecile got home and heard the story, she seemed far less irritated with me, but still spent the next hour making phone calls trying to figure out what happened to the stupid kimono hahah. The teacher was apparently very unhelpful on the phone with Cecile as well. I didn’t know what to say to Cecile as we drove in the car to Prune’s horseback riding lesson, but after a few minutes of silence, Cecile said something along the lines of “I JUST HAVE NO IDEA WHERE IT WENT AHH” and we both laughed and laughed. We laughed because somehow this Kimono evaporated into thin air while I was at the library. And it felt so good to laugh, because I had been stressing over the kimono all day but in that moment we realized it was juuuuust a kimono! It was such a simple thing to keep track of, but we had no idea and still have no idea what happened inside that gym class that caused Prune’s kimono do disappear hahaha. 

While Prune did her lesson, I went on a run by the big park near the horseback riding arena. It felt so nice to clear my head and run about and not think about kimonos and angry gym teachers and everything. I had my phone with me, so I took some pictures of the park for you! 

 

The other thing I want to tell you guys about this week is the adventure I had last night. Its almost 3pm on Sunday, and I am so exhausted becuase last night I decided to go out with friends and I didn’t get home until 7am and it was too much. I had a pretty good time last night until about 4am, when I really wanted to go home but couldn’t find a night bus, so my friends and I walked and walked through Paris until the metro started up again this morning and we could go home. While I walked, my feet hurt and I really wanted to sleep, and I all of a sudden I was hit by a wave of homesickness. It is becoming hard for me to distinguish the difference between growing up and simply changing in personality. I realized as I was walking that I have been thinking about going out with friends at night as something that is just a part of growing up, but last night I realized that was very silly of me. I like falling asleep reading and waking up early to run and going out and about when the sun is shining and feeling healthy. It made me miss the way that it was so simple to go hang out at a friends house in California, because here we live with our bosses and are not exactly encouraged to invite our friends over, so in order to see people we have to meet in the city, and more people happen to be free at night. Walking around last night, I realized that my friends are awesome, but I need to find more friends who want to go on bike rides with me or explore the tourisy places I haven’t been to yet or go on picnics. I went to sleep feeling dissapointed in myself for not understanding this right away. 

BUT.

Today I woke up a little after noon, and all of a sudden the reason I shouldn’t be ashamed of yesterday was so clear: I NEVER HAVE TO DO THAT EVER AGAIN IF I DON’T WANT TO! And the thing is, I probably will have other crazy nights and what not, but staying out all night once doesn’t mean I have signed a contract to live the rest of my life a certain way. I am still a young and healthy person, and what I find interesting might bore other people around my age but WHO CARES? I can live this year and the rest of my life making choices based on what I feel would please me most to do with my time. And of course this all sounds obvious to all of you, but I have come to realize that I think in circles. When I am taught something, I do my best to learn it, but when life teaches me new lessons I am always so surprised at how much stronger they get to me. So you know what? I am glad that I went out last night and that my feet hurt and that it made me unhappy for an amount of time, because I learned something. I got to know myself just a little bit better, and that, at least, is a great thing! 

This is a picture of my friend Jess and I in front of the Opera last night. She is Canadian and super cool! :)