Paris From Above and Sick Days With Prune

Well, I am sad to report that I am writing this in a Starbucks because my favorite blogging cafe is closed, but I am happy to report that it is raining outside which although seems to make many people miserable, does not cease to make the earth and I feel very very refreshed! 

I do not actually have much to tell you about this week. I mean it was a fantastic week and all, but Prune has had on an off fevers since Tuesday and, since Fred and Cecile have to work during the day, that means I had to come home straight after school every day and sit at home while Prune slept and watched movies. It was relaxing hahah and probablly sounds like heaven to some reading this, but after two days I was ready to move on and leave the house and do things worth blogging about! You know? 

But who has time for such complaining? Maybe I was bored for a few days, but I was bored in FRANCE, which is much more exciting than being bored in Ukiah or Sebastopol. And I do have one or two cool things to blog about! 

Last Sunday, after blogging all morning, I met up with Jess and Olivia to climb the Eiffel Tower! None of us had ever been up there before, and it seemed like something we couldn’t leave Paris without doing. We decided to take the stairs because they are cheaper than the elevator, and I am glad we did because struggling up a million flights of stairs with two friends whom I love very dearly was a hilarious experience. When we got to the first level, we joked around and took pictures and even went ice skating in a ridiculously small arena that was probably meant only for children, but whatever. We made Jess, the Canadian pull us around most of the time, because it seemed like the right thing to do. The ice skating was not actually fun, but laughing about it sure was! Eventually we climbed up to the second layer, which had the exact same view except all the buildings were smaller, and then down again to take a stroll through the park. We had planned on going to a museum, but we took to long at the Tour and it was closed by the time we would have been able to get there. So instead we got a snack together, which was a wonderful idea because snacks in Paris are the absolute best! 

I just realized that I didn’t go straight home on Tuesday, because we didn’t find out Prune was sick until after school! On Tuesday after French class, Moein (Iranian friend) and I went to a really cool old French restaurant. Absolutely no part of the menu was in English (which is not normal for Paris) and the waiters moved around so fast and wrote down the orders on the table clothes! We talked a lot about his life in Iran and his dreams of moving to Canada. It was so interesting talking to someone who has had such a different experience throughout his whole life than I have. Being born in the US seriously makes everything for us so much easier and we hardly realize it. Talking to Moein made me think a lot about that on the metro ride home! I am happy to have an Iranian friend. It is weird how far away and foreign Iran seemed when we studied it in AP Comp Gov, but now it is the homeland of someone I actually care about! 

Hmm what else did I do this week…? Oh yes! I made cookies. I had my momma send me the recipe and they were delicious. She had me take a screenshot of the recipe while we facetimed hahah. Cecile ate all my cookies, so I made more, and then gave them to my friends. So that was fun! 

 

Goodness gracious, I seriously spent so much time with Prune this week. On Wednesday, since she was sick, she couldn’t go to her Wednesday activiites so she spent the morning stamping my face with her new stamps. And after spending all day with her most days, I had to babysit on Friday and Saturday night. That is not a normal amount of babysitting for an au pair, but Fred and Cecile had had plans last Saturday night which they had to cancel becuase Fred was sick, so I agreed to babysit twice this week. Prune and I watched movies and made pizzas. We watched the Aristocats together, which was awesome because it was actually so much better in French since it takes place in Paris. 

On Saturday afternoon, I had planned to meet up with Jess and Olivia and Maira, but it was too rainy for Olivia and Maira to leave their houses, so Jess and I met up and got a coffee just the two of us. We had planned to all go ice skating, but then it didn’t seem as fun to go without our other friends, and Jess was feeling sick anyways. So we decided not to go, which put me in quite a mood, because I hate it when plans change and I extra-hate it when people decide to tell you they aren’t coming AFTER the time you had planned to meet them. Hahaha I was actually so upset. And then I realized that being upset was a terrible waste of time, which made me upset with myself for getting upset in the first place. I just didn’t know what to do with my day after that! And I was in Paris and there is so much to do in Paris and I was on a metro train home to do nothing, just like I had done all week. And I know, I could have walked around, but I wanted to talk to people because I had been alone all week with Prune, but at the same time I was in a bad mood and I didn’t want to talk to anyone becuase I knew how ridiculous I was being. I decided to have a relaxing bath, and then watch a movie, but when I got home Cecile was like “oh! You don’t have plans anymore? Great! Want to help me with Prune’s birthday party preparations?” and I didn’t know how to say “No, do it yourself, I will be in my room alone watching movies” so I helped her and as I did, we gossiped about my friends, and gossiped about her friends, and then went back to my friends and talked about how great they actually are hahaha. I was annoyed they hadn’t showed up, but as we talked I found myself defending them, and then remembering how much I love them and everything hahah. I also realized that I hadn’t spent the afternoon doing nothing, but rather practicing my French and bonding with my host family! That is certainly not a waste of a day, in my opinion. 

And now I am over here in this Starbucks, listening to a cute little tourist couple speakign very American-accented, broken French to an old man. I think they are doing a language exchange, and it is seriously so adorable. I am going to spend the rest of this day planning other weekend trips and skyping my family and what-not. It wil be a good day! 

I CAN’T BELIEVE HOW SOON MY MOM AND SISTER ARE COMING TO SEE MEEEEE! 

I keep forgetting that they are coming and getting excited all over again! :D

I love them. 

Hahaha, also, I don’t think this is necessary to blog about, but last night I was talking to my buddy Todd on snapchat, and he asked me if I was human. I didn’t reallly understand his question, so I made further inquiries, and discovered that Todd has a theory that I am actually an alien who landed on Earth and was just like “WOW! What a strange but lovable place! There is so much to do here and I want to do EVERYTHING!” and so that is why I moved to Chile and then France and that will also explain all the other decisions I will make in my future. Hahah. 

I love Todd so much. He thinks absolutely nothing of himself and always says weird things like this about me that make me laugh and love him even more. He is kind of like a puppy honestly. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done; if you are a decent human being to this guy, he will do his best to make your day every now and then and for that I have a lot of respect for him. 

 

 

Okay, well, that is all for today! Good bye! :D