Hello everyone!!
First of all, I passed my exams! I now have an official DELF certificate. woo!
This week I helped out at Lu/Sa's school on Thursday. They were doing this day of "reading activities" with the big kids and little kids. To sum it up, my group was very difficult and overall it wasnt the best experience. Glad I only did it in the morning!
I also got caught in this gigantic rain/hail/thunder/lightning storm. Normally I love those things. But then again, I am usually inside or can get inside pretty quickly. It is much more difficult, however, when you have to walk forever, wait 10 minutes for the bus (meanwhile the rain is blowing sideways so any kind of outdoor shelter is rendered useless). Then I had to pick up all three girls and cart them to the other side of the city. Luckily by the time I picked the girls up the clouds had moved on. But I was still completely soaked and after we got home the first thing I did was get into some dry clothes!
I also found out how my last two weeks (after the kids are out of school) are gonna work. And basically I will be working 24/7. None of this 40 hours a week crap: REAL
full time. So that wont exactly be "the best" but its only 15 days or so. And I do care for the girls, and I am confident I can get through it :)
I will be spending this weekend in Paris again. Hopefully it wont storm this time! This might be my last weekend there for some time - which is a bit sad. Let's make it a good one!
Love you all, and I'll be state-side in 25 days!
Friday, June 29, 2012
Monday, June 25, 2012
So Much.
SO MUCH has happened since I went on vacation to Croatia. And for some reason I have been busy and lazy in my blog-documentation of it.
Here are just a couple loose thoughts:
- the littlest, Am, who is so freaking adorable (as any of you who have seen her via skype can verify) that i might just take her home with me, had the chicken pox. Man. I do not remember how gross those things are. I had this lurking fear in the back of my mind that my immune system isn't good enough and that I would re-contract adult chicken pox (shingles) which I read can be fatal (thanks a lot, wikipedia). But then I did more legitimate research and turns out you can't get that from contact with the chicken pox.
(look how gorgeous she is! Louise and Sarah are pretty darn cute too - although they refuse to make a normal face when I take a picture)
-I took myself on a one-day vacation to Disneyland Paris. Twice. It was awesome! Although by 8 PM I was pretty exhausted. I couldn't count the number of times I heard people around me say "Putain mes pieds!" ("F*/whore my feet!"). But I saw the coolest tarzan acrobatic show thing! And basically did nearly every ride I had wanted to do in 2 parks in only 1 day. Including the tower of terror twice. So, basically, success. And then the second time I went I took it a little easier and didn't feel any pressure to do everything so I just did the things I enjoyed. Like the Tarzan acrobatic show again, and the TOT 4 times. and Big Thunder mountain railroad 3 times. oh yeah. Pictures will come soon :)
-I get my final exam results on Thursday! (Yes - I have been attending school in addition to working. For some reason people don't know that). Anyway, parts of the 5 hour exam spread over two days were ok (written production), while others were mostly nerve-wracking (oral production in front of a jury), while yet again others were completely stupefying (oral comprehension. Really? I haven't met any french people in real life who talk that quickly with that much background noise...). I would love to have passed (I hate to fail at, well, anything). But there isn't much at stake here. So it wont be tooooo disappointing if I don't pass
- I visited this chateau in May called Beaumesnil and it was awesome. The thought "this is what Elizabeth must have felt like upon seeing Pemberly for the first time" literally ran through my head. I loved the way the grounds were still slightly wild-ish. The place was lovely; it felt like it was made for autumn howling winds and curling up with a good book. Which might be why it had a book-binding museum in the basement. Awesome. Also I took a self-timer jumping picture and it totally worked (on the third try) so I pretty much felt like a winner that day. Picture for my mother...
Don't you just want to be buds with this dude?
They had a TON of awesome old books. This is a bible from London from the 1600s
The library (it had a spiral staircase. swoon)
Beautiful sparkling waters
Real-life drawbridges are cool
FOR THE WIN!!!
-I don't have many more weekends left. Which is strange because suddenly I feel this pressure to "make them count" which is uncalled for really because I am mostly very happy with the way I have spent my time on the past 9-10 months' worth of weekends. A couple weekends ago it was an all out activity fest with Disney and the Musee Jaquemart-Andre (AWESOME museum I had never been to before) and a nice long walk when I got lost and then a stop by the Paris mosque tea room. The following weekend included me resting all day Saturday (when the kids get sick, I get sick. That rest was needed and did me a lot of good!) the girls' dance recital all day Sunday. Then this past weekend was Disney again and shopping in the Marais. Although it was a bit uncomfortable because of the TOTAL TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR that lasted the entire time I was out. I had an umbrella (I have learned to get over that Oregonians don't use umbrellas thing) but by the end my feet and ankles were soaking and my shoes made really embarrassing squelching noises when I took a step
-29 days until I go home! I can't believe it.
*Also I just want to put it out there that I am doing really well. I have already told some people, and they might get sick of hearing this, but I think its encouraging. I have struggled SO much during my time here. Its been one of the hardest things I have ever done. And I don't know when this happened, (maybe around mid-April?) but I am finally at a good place. I am HAPPY and enjoying myself, despite the whole awkwardness of the au pair situation. I have finally reached that point where I know I am going to miss things and people and will be sad to leave. And while that is a bit sad, its SUPER GREAT to realize that I stuck with the experience long enough to reach this point! It took a long time - but IT HAPPENED! It feels beyond rewarding to know that I am going to look on the experience as a whole with fondness and not bitterness.
Here are just a couple loose thoughts:
- the littlest, Am, who is so freaking adorable (as any of you who have seen her via skype can verify) that i might just take her home with me, had the chicken pox. Man. I do not remember how gross those things are. I had this lurking fear in the back of my mind that my immune system isn't good enough and that I would re-contract adult chicken pox (shingles) which I read can be fatal (thanks a lot, wikipedia). But then I did more legitimate research and turns out you can't get that from contact with the chicken pox.
(look how gorgeous she is! Louise and Sarah are pretty darn cute too - although they refuse to make a normal face when I take a picture)
-I took myself on a one-day vacation to Disneyland Paris. Twice. It was awesome! Although by 8 PM I was pretty exhausted. I couldn't count the number of times I heard people around me say "Putain mes pieds!" ("F*/whore my feet!"). But I saw the coolest tarzan acrobatic show thing! And basically did nearly every ride I had wanted to do in 2 parks in only 1 day. Including the tower of terror twice. So, basically, success. And then the second time I went I took it a little easier and didn't feel any pressure to do everything so I just did the things I enjoyed. Like the Tarzan acrobatic show again, and the TOT 4 times. and Big Thunder mountain railroad 3 times. oh yeah. Pictures will come soon :)
-I get my final exam results on Thursday! (Yes - I have been attending school in addition to working. For some reason people don't know that). Anyway, parts of the 5 hour exam spread over two days were ok (written production), while others were mostly nerve-wracking (oral production in front of a jury), while yet again others were completely stupefying (oral comprehension. Really? I haven't met any french people in real life who talk that quickly with that much background noise...). I would love to have passed (I hate to fail at, well, anything). But there isn't much at stake here. So it wont be tooooo disappointing if I don't pass
- I visited this chateau in May called Beaumesnil and it was awesome. The thought "this is what Elizabeth must have felt like upon seeing Pemberly for the first time" literally ran through my head. I loved the way the grounds were still slightly wild-ish. The place was lovely; it felt like it was made for autumn howling winds and curling up with a good book. Which might be why it had a book-binding museum in the basement. Awesome. Also I took a self-timer jumping picture and it totally worked (on the third try) so I pretty much felt like a winner that day. Picture for my mother...
Don't you just want to be buds with this dude?
They had a TON of awesome old books. This is a bible from London from the 1600s
The library (it had a spiral staircase. swoon)
Beautiful sparkling waters
Real-life drawbridges are cool
FOR THE WIN!!!
-I don't have many more weekends left. Which is strange because suddenly I feel this pressure to "make them count" which is uncalled for really because I am mostly very happy with the way I have spent my time on the past 9-10 months' worth of weekends. A couple weekends ago it was an all out activity fest with Disney and the Musee Jaquemart-Andre (AWESOME museum I had never been to before) and a nice long walk when I got lost and then a stop by the Paris mosque tea room. The following weekend included me resting all day Saturday (when the kids get sick, I get sick. That rest was needed and did me a lot of good!) the girls' dance recital all day Sunday. Then this past weekend was Disney again and shopping in the Marais. Although it was a bit uncomfortable because of the TOTAL TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR that lasted the entire time I was out. I had an umbrella (I have learned to get over that Oregonians don't use umbrellas thing) but by the end my feet and ankles were soaking and my shoes made really embarrassing squelching noises when I took a step
-29 days until I go home! I can't believe it.
*Also I just want to put it out there that I am doing really well. I have already told some people, and they might get sick of hearing this, but I think its encouraging. I have struggled SO much during my time here. Its been one of the hardest things I have ever done. And I don't know when this happened, (maybe around mid-April?) but I am finally at a good place. I am HAPPY and enjoying myself, despite the whole awkwardness of the au pair situation. I have finally reached that point where I know I am going to miss things and people and will be sad to leave. And while that is a bit sad, its SUPER GREAT to realize that I stuck with the experience long enough to reach this point! It took a long time - but IT HAPPENED! It feels beyond rewarding to know that I am going to look on the experience as a whole with fondness and not bitterness.
Monday, June 18, 2012
More on Dubrovnik
Hello!
We continued out exploration by walking out by the marina (we were trying to figure out how to get on the walls).
The marina looks like this:
We wound up exploring the maritime museum (included in the price of our ticket to the rector's palace).
And then found a way onto the walls from there (thanks again, student discount!)
We ended up doing the whole wall-walk. It was gorgeous. But also reallly hot and sunny. Serious sunburn potential for a girl like me. Still, it was worth it.
We were thoroughly tired (the guy at the wall-walking "ticket counter" remarked on how quickly we had made the trip) and so we thought we would try and find the Buza Bar we had read about. It was totally worth it, and we made that visit every evening we were there. Its technically outside the walls, on an outcropping of rock, and there is nothing but you and a rail and the sea. It was absolutely stunning and impossible to re-create in pictures (but I tried anyway)
We hit up the morning market full of figs and candied nuts and orange peel and lavendar. We also were able to take the cable car up the nearby hill for some MORE great views (basically our whole vacation was a montage of beautiful vistas)
We continued to walk around and explore, and ate ice cream (they eat SO MUCH ICE CREAM its EVERYWHERE)
We also toured the Lovrijenac fortress which was pretty cool. It is now used as a theater, particularly for annual productions of Hamlet. Also, for Game of Thrones viewers, I am pretty sure that they filmed in Dubrovnik. Look over some Kings Landing scenes and you'll see this fort!
Overall it was a super super great vacation. One of the best. And sometimes it hits me how incredibly blessed I am to be able to go to these places :)
We wound up exploring the maritime museum (included in the price of our ticket to the rector's palace).
And then found a way onto the walls from there (thanks again, student discount!)
We ended up doing the whole wall-walk. It was gorgeous. But also reallly hot and sunny. Serious sunburn potential for a girl like me. Still, it was worth it.
We were thoroughly tired (the guy at the wall-walking "ticket counter" remarked on how quickly we had made the trip) and so we thought we would try and find the Buza Bar we had read about. It was totally worth it, and we made that visit every evening we were there. Its technically outside the walls, on an outcropping of rock, and there is nothing but you and a rail and the sea. It was absolutely stunning and impossible to re-create in pictures (but I tried anyway)
We hit up the morning market full of figs and candied nuts and orange peel and lavendar. We also were able to take the cable car up the nearby hill for some MORE great views (basically our whole vacation was a montage of beautiful vistas)
We continued to walk around and explore, and ate ice cream (they eat SO MUCH ICE CREAM its EVERYWHERE)
We also toured the Lovrijenac fortress which was pretty cool. It is now used as a theater, particularly for annual productions of Hamlet. Also, for Game of Thrones viewers, I am pretty sure that they filmed in Dubrovnik. Look over some Kings Landing scenes and you'll see this fort!
Overall it was a super super great vacation. One of the best. And sometimes it hits me how incredibly blessed I am to be able to go to these places :)
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