MAXIMILIANO OMG

Hello, Blog Readers! 

I hope you are all doing well. I sure am! :)

This week was an amazing one because I got to see my Chilean host brother, Maxi, again after two whole years! He is currently an exchange student in Germany and came to Paris with the Rotary Euro-Tour.  But I will tell you about that in detail when I get to that day of the week hahah.

On Monday, the interesting thing that I did was go to get lunch with my German friend, Bianca. Bianca was one of my close friends in my French classes and I have always liked hanging out with her because she is an interesting person and we get to practice our French together. We got sandwiches and caught up and it was a lovely way to spend the early afternoon before work, so that was nice!

On Tuesday I had one of my important Sally-Needs-To-Keep-Learning-French-Words Mornings. This means that I went to a little cafe and read in French for three hours and looked up all the words I didn’t know the exact meaning of. It was kinda rainy outside so I was content in that cafe with my books and coffee. I try to do that at least once every week because I think it is good for me!

Nowww for Wednesday! Well, on Wednesday afternoon, I met up with a new au pair friend named Marlene who I had only talked to a bit on Facebook. We found each other when I posted in an au pair group asking if there were other au pairs who don’t work on Wednesday afternoons who would like to meet up with me because all my friends work that day, and she responded ot my post! I wasn’t sure what she would be like, but I was certainly not dissapointed with this new friend I had made! She showed me an adorable cafe I had never been to before, and we sat there until it closed, getting to know each other and talking about our lives in Paris. Once the cafe had closed, we weren’t ready to say goodbye, so we walked our way all through the center of Paris and arrived at the Eiffel Tower at around 7:30pm (we had met up at 3:30pm so it was a long time to be walking hahah). I had planned to meet up with Maxi on Thursday morning, but earlier that Wednesday, I had recieved a message from him saying that he and all the other exchange students would be at the Eiffel Tower on Wednesday evening. He didn’t have wifi, so I couldn’t get more information on where to meet him or what time, but I was so determined to meet him that I figured I could just walk around until I saw a bunch of teenagers with flags taking pictures which would CLEARLY mean I had found him. Marlene didn’t have anywhere else to be and we had so thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon together that she decided to help me find Maxi. We walked back and forth under the Eiffel Tower until we were too hungry and had to stop and get sandwiches.

 

I thought it wouldn’t be that hard to find them, but there were so many different groups of students that it began to seem impossible. At about 8:30, Marlene went home (I really didn’t blame her hahahah it seemed like a hopless cause) and I kept on walking around with all the tourists, looking for my Maxi. Then I saw him. I saw my Chilean host brother and it didn’t feel real. He was huddled in a group with other exchange students, taking a picture. I walked towards him as their group huddle fell apart, and Maxi turned towards me and we made quick eye contact but he didn’t recognize me and he turned away to take a picture with his phone so I walked up close enough to be IN the picture. When he felt some stranger standing so close to him, he turned around to see WHO I WAS AND WHAT I WANTED and I got to see his beautiful face melt from utter confusion into pure joy and it made me so happy I could have cried. He threw his arms around me and started yelling things in Spanish and German and whatever language happiness is, because it was one of the best moments ever and we couldn’t have dreamt of it being that good. 

All the other exchange students in his district were confused. They didn’t know who I was or where I came from or what I meant to Maxi, but they saw we were happy and we all smiled at each other. I hung out with Maxi and his district until very late that night, and even went up the Eiffel Tower with them! I begged Maxi to keep speaking in Spanish with me even though his English had really improved in Germany and I used a lot of words in French in my Spanish sentences hahaha. There were other Chileans in his district, and hearing them use “po” and “me tinca” and “weon” made me feel so warm and at home! That night was wild and exciting for me. Maxi and I stuck together the entire time, blabbering on about our memories and inside sibling jokes and hugging every half hour because neither of us could believe that we were together in Paris! Eventually, the American exchange students realized I spoke English and that I am also American and they asked me all sorts of questions and all ended up being super lovely people. I didn’t end up getting back home to Asnieres until about 1:00am, and I went right to sleep when I got home because I had promised to meet up with all of them early the next morning.

So on Thursday morning, I got up at 6:30 so I could leave by 7:20 and find their hotel by 8:30, and finding the hotel went very smoothly. Except for when I needed to ask a military man for directions and when I tried to speak French, Spanish just kept spilling out! The man was patient and understanding and we even laughed together over my language problems, and I ended up finding the hotel in time, stoked that my Spanish had come back so strongly! Together with Maxi and the other students, we all headed off to Sacre-Coeur for the morning as a group and after that the exchange students were given free time for the rest of the day. A lot of them had their own plans, but when they heard that I was going to give Maxi a super-walking-tour of the city, quite a few of them decided to join us! I made them walk sooooo much hahah but they really did see a lot! We rode the metro from Sacre-Coeur to Arc du Triomphe and then walked all the way down through the Tulieres Gardens to the Louvre before walking over to Notre Dame, eating, and then taking the metro to the Opera. When we got to the Opera House, it was time for me to head to work. I said bye to Maxi, and it was kind of a bummer, but I was so happy that I had gotten to see him in the first place that I mostly just felt grateful. I have the best Chilean brother in the universe and he loves me just as much as I love him and his entire family and I can’t believe I found a connection like that with people who come from such a different place than I do. Traveling is a magical experience and humans and life are so darn interesting hahaha. 

The rest of Thursday I was soooooo exhausted. I had barely slept the night before and I had walked all over Paris and my body felt so heavy! Luckily, Prune was really nice and listened to me and didn’t make work difficult.

On Friday morning, I didn’t run. I didn’t get out of bed until 10, and when i got up go get breakfast my legs and feet hurt so much and I still felt so sleepy that I just got back in bed and rested up before work. I needed a day like that, and I was proud of my mind for not guilting my body into going on adventures it couldn’t handle that day hahaha. 

Friday ended up being a very nice day, anyways. It was warm outside and the sky was blue and that evening, Prune and I had a picnic in the backyard for dinner with Eden! 

Saturday morning I got up super early to go sourvenir shopping for my friends and family. I had held off on buying gifts for everyone until the end of my year here, and since all my friends were busy that morning I decided it would be a good time to get that done! 

I came back home for lunch before heading off to a cafe to meet up with Chloe, a girl I will be going to London with in the end of June! I had been planning on going to London the third weekend of June when I saw that Chloe had posted in an au pair group asking if anyone wanted to go to London with her the same weekend I had planned on going. We began to message each other to plan on how to buy tickets and what-not, when I looked at her picture and realized that she was one of the au pair girls that my mom had met while we were waiting in line for the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam! Sooooo basically this whole London thing was meant to be hahah. We met up to get coffee and buy our bus and hostel tickets together, just to make sure we did everything right. I don’t know Chloe very well, but she seems very sweet and I think our trip to London is going to be really fun!

Saturday evening we had some neighbors over for dinner, and I got to help by cutting up all the fruit to be dipped in chocolate fondu for dessert. The guests were very nice people who I hadn’t met before. They asked me lots of questions and were always trying to bring me into the conversations in a way no other guests we have had in my experience here had before, and this gave me a very high opinion of them. This gave me the impression that they were very comfortable in their own skin, and I liked that. They were also very funny! Cecile and Fred had prepared a yummy meal, but after the appetizer, dinner, and cheese course it was 12:30am and I was too sleepy to care about dessert, so I did some cleaning, excused myself, and went to sleep. 

Now it is Sunday morning and I have actually finished this post quite early for it is only 11:18am! Today I am going to meet up and do something with Marlene in Paris. We had planned on running together this morning, but we both ended up having late nights and called that off hahah. I don’t know what we will do, but I bet it will be fun! 

Okay. That is all for now. Tell you guys more next week!