One Week Mark

I have made it to the one week mark!  Which, to be honest, felt so far away last week.  I literally feel like I have been here for nearly a month already.  It has been quite the whirlwind so far (getting all my paperwork, citizenship, insurance, school, etc set up), but nonetheless, it's been great!

The main reason why it feels like I arrived FOREVER ago is because of the way my schedule works.  While I work every weekday, I only work in the afternoons from 4:30-7:30, so my day is split in two.  Between all of my appointments and paperwork last week, I was actually able to do a bit of touring around in my spare time.  I now know my neighborhood quite well I think, and can honestly say that it is my favorite part of Paris so far.  I live literally a block from the Saint Martin Canal (below)

Thursday I was able to walk around my neighborhood and learn the ins and outs of all the streets and nearby metro stops, and I even managed to fit in some reading time along the canal.  I have never been one to just pick up a book and read for fun, but lucky me I bought a few books at home to bring with me in case I wanted to begin reading and can't find any in English.  I'm currently working on Eat, Pray, Love (in honor of the new movie, but mainly inspired by Anna).  It is so peaceful along here and it has become my new favorite place to just sit and be or do.  In fact tomorrow I plan on sitting there and doing a little sewing...because I made the children aprons, Valerie has given me an old sweater of Luciens and one of Alice's dress up costumes to repair, so that is my activity for tomorrow.

Friday I made it up to one of my favorite areas, Montmartre to walk around and see it all in the daytime...last time I was in Paris, we stayed in Montmartre, but only made it up to the Sacre Coeur at nighttime.  Montmartre is a very artsy district with cafe's and art shops strewn everywhere.  It is the highest point in Paris and therefore has amazing views of the entire city.  At the very top of the hill is the Sacre Coeur Basilica, and while it is absolutely stunning at all times a day, the church in particular was better at nighttime.  The area was crawling with tourists (and therefore pickpockets) so I was a little turned off by that, but once I had my ham and cheese crepe in hand I was happy wondering around the side streets and exploring the area.  Upon returning home, this was my first day to pick up the kids from school on my own.  Luckily I remembered how to get to their school (although it is literally down the street).  That night the family (and I) were invited to go to the kids' friends house for dinner, but I turned down the invite for a chance to meet some new friends!

Sacre Coeur Basilica

View from Montmartre, in front of the Sacre Coeur

Beautiful cobblestone streets of Montmartre

Apparently on Wednesday when I was at the school registering for classes, another au pair saw me leave, got my name off of my paperwork, and facebooked me to see if I would be interested in meeting.  So Friday night I met her and her roommate (both English girls) at the Irish pub on the canal behind my house.  We went to a Brasserie for a drink and then walked around and found a nice little French cafe for dinner.  It was a nice 2 course meal with a cheese quiche for appetizer (here it's called entree) and salmon and rice with veggies for the main course...with a bottle of wine to accompany it of course.  These girls were super sweet and it was really great to actually talk to people my age and have fun for the first time in almost a week!  As it turns out, she and I are registered for all the same classes at school, so it will be a nice treat actually knowing someone on the first day!  And bonus, she lives right near me, about a 10 minute walk down the canal!

Saturday I had to work in the morning/afternoon while the parents and Lucien went golfing.  Alice and I colored and watched Charlotte's Web (lucky me, they are ONLY allowed to watch movies in English!) and then I walked her around the corner to her friends' birthday party.  From there, I went to the Centre Pompidou to meet up with some other au pairs I had met on facebook.  There is a group for au pairs in Paris and a girl from Germany arranged a "little" meet and greet for all of us....turns out about 25 girls showed up to this thing, from all over the world.  Surprisingly enough, I was the ONLY girl from the states.  There were a few Canadians, a few English girls, a girl from Austria, a girl from Hungary, and pretty much the rest were from Germany.  We sat there and talked for quite a bit, then walked over to the nearby McDonalds.  In Europe, McDonalds sells beer, and these girls were so shocked by this that they just had to go try an infamous "McBeer".  After this we decided to head to the Jardin du Luxembourg to hang out and talk some more.  I ended up meeting a really cool girl from Canada who lives right near me and we seem to have so much in common.  We instantly connected and I see us being great friends this year and beyond, so I was extremely excited about this!  After the gardens, most girls parted ways and went home for dinner, but 3 of us decided we weren't ready to leave, so we hopped on the metro back to my neck of the woods.  Right next to my house is a restaurant (kinda) called Doner Kabob (which was HUGE in Spain and soooo delicious) so we decided to jump in there to grab a kabob and head down to the canal to eat and talk.  It was a great time getting to know them and I'm super excited about the friendships some of us have already created.

Some of us au pairs at the Jardin du Luxembourg

Luxembourg Palace

Today 4 of us decided to have a picnic under the Eiffel Tower.  We each contributed items such as baguette, ham, gouda, wine, apples, pears, and chocolate and had ourselves a nice feast.  As we were sitting there, a girl sitting nearby heard us speaking English and sparked conversation.  We invited her to join us and had a great time getting to know her.  She is from Detroit and is an au pair back there, but she has been saving for this trip for years and came to Europe to go backpacking for 6 weeks.  Paris was only her second stop so far, but she has an amazing journey ahead of her and it was cool to hear about it so far.  Then 2 other girls came up to us who were also au pairs and sat and joined us.  Apparently they were supposed to be meeting a different group of au pairs there that we knew nothing about, but they "settled" for us when the others were nowhere to be found.  So, our group of 4 turned into a group of 7 and we had so much fun enjoying the hot weather and delicious food.  Then we decided to head back to my area yet again (I swear it's the best area in Paris) so that they could all see the canal and we could enjoy a nice ice cream by the canal.  After walking about a mile down the canal, we settled for ice cream bars instead of soft serve and sat on the edge of the canal for hours just talking and getting to know each other.  I can not tell you guys how different it is now to have friends.  I have people to share kid stories with, talk to, text, and actually hang out with when I'm bored...and 3 of them live right near me!  It's great.

Our massive spread of deliciousness

After our picnic at the Eiffel Tower

Enjoying our ice cream along the canal

Needless to say, I am enjoying my time here very much so far.  While I do wish I was home this weekend for the Labor Day camping trip, I am keeping myself preoccupied pretty well, so it's not too bad.

Next weekend I am off to Versailles, so if you don't hear from me before then, you definitely will Sunday or Monday!  Love you all!!