Mr. Glaceau...

So I have this neighbor, Mr. Glaceau, whom I think is dying.  No joke.  He just recently arrived in Paris (he and his wife have a house in Brittany where they spend most of their time, and he came up to Paris for a week to take care of a few things).  Supposedly he is returning to Brittany soon, but it sure isn't soon enough for me!  I don't know if he's sick or literally dying, but he coughs (and coughs and coughs and coughs) allllll day and night.  There are times when it sounds like he is struggling for breath, choking on something, or puking, but they are all absolutely awful.  Every morning around 7 am I am awakened by this incessant coughing spell...the walls are so thin it sounds like he's coughing into my ear.  I find myself holding my breath at times just by instinct thinking I'm going to catch SARS or something.  So, needless to say, it's been a restless 3 nights sleep now that Mr. Glaceau is back in town.  Brittany or bust!

However, because of this, I have turned to something other than reading to get my mind off of it..it just doesn't cancel out the noise like music does.  So when Mr. Glaceau has a coughing spell, I turn up my music so I can't hear him, and begin surfing my new favorite website in the whole world.  This website of recipes has the most amazing pictures to accompany each recipe, so instead of a mental picture, you can see the real deal.  Plus now that I am a nanny and am required to cook for people, it makes it even more fun thinking of how I could change the recipe to make it kid-friendly.  I spend hours on this site just browsing and losing track of time.  So I encourage you to take a look and see how fantastic it is for yourself!

In other news, I went to yet another au pair meet and greet yesterday and met some really great girls from New Zealand, England, Finland, Germany, and Australia.  I almost met another girl from the states (I can no longer say America cuz there are so many Canadians!) making me and her the only US au pairs so far!  However, as excited as I was to meet a fellow USA-ian, after spending 2 minutes with her, I began cringing with every word that came out of her mouth.  Now, this is absolutely awful of me, but this girl is one of those loud, obnoxious, horribly rude people who give Americans (as in USA-ians) a bad name.  She was brash and every word that came out of her mouth was negative or insulting to other people.  It really nearly ruined my experience there because I was just so turned off by her.  The whole time I was thinking "I hope these other girls don't see ME as being an obnoxious, rude American!"  Upon leaving with my new English friend, Ellie, before I could even open my mouth, she commented on the girl, saying how absolutely ridiculous she was to even think she could get away with saying some of the things she did.  I was relieved to hear that it wasn't just me thinking this, and was even more relieved to have Ellie assure me that I am definitely NOT like that.  So, after encountering that, I am even more aware of how the rest of the world views Americans--negatively--so I am striving (me, myself, and I) to change that view one person at a time! 

And Mr. Glaceau is at it again...I'm out.