OOOOPS!!

To all of those still following this blog, I am so thankful that you have stuck by, even though I post barely even once a month.

It has been about 2 months since my last post so I am terribly sorry and I have no excuses at all. March and April have been very good to me and I will do my best to recount all of the good things that have happened since I last blogged.

The month of March was not exactly thrilling, so I will start at the end of the month. On the day of my 21^st birthday, I went out for lunch with my 3 close friends here, Adie, Steph and Emily. As silly as it sounds, we have found a delicious Mexican restaurant here in Paris and it is exactly what we needed!!! After all the rich, heavy and sometimes boring French food, a really good taco is just what the doctor ordered. The girls know how much I love to cook so as a gift, they gave me a recipe journal. It’s a beautiful black leather notebook and filled with blank spaces to write down your own recipes. The best part of it though, is that they went in and filled out a few pages each of their own favorite recipes. I have already filled out quite a few pages with recipes that I have picked up from Cecile throughout the year.

After lunch I went home, worked for a few hours and set off into Paris to find Mom, Grandma, Jacquie and Michele! We met at a really nice French Bistro called Aux Lyonnais and had just about the best birthday dinner I could have imagined. It was so amazing to get to spend the night with 4 of my favorite people, and in Paris no less! The 4 of them rented an apartment for the week just next to the Louvre and although it was small, I was able to crash with them and the 5 of us spent such a nice time together. We had some nice meals out, did some sight seeing and most importantly, they got to meet 2 very important parts of my life here. One night, 4 of my close friends came over for wine and cheese. It was so nice for my friends to get to meet my family, but I think my mom was also relieved to know that I actually do have friends here. We had a really nice night and some very interesting conversations. The night before mom and the ladies left, my host family invited them all over for dinner. I am not going to lie, this idea freaked me out!

Between the language barrier and all the things that everyone at home hears about this family, I just wasn’t sure how ready I was for the 2 worlds to come together.

I could not have been more wrong. The night was really perfect, the kids were well behaved, Cecile cooked an incredibly beautiful meal, and Xavier’s English was so good that I felt stupid to have ever been worried about anything. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone after we had spent such a nice week, but Mom will be back here in May and it really won’t be long now before I’m home anyways.

I worked the next week, but things were easy and uneventful, I was just really itching to get to Spain! On April 9^th, my 1 week holiday to the south of Spain began. I had found out in February that I was going to have a week off while the family was on holiday and although there are still about a million places in Europe that I need to cross off my list, I had only 2 criteria for this trip: Sun and Ocean. Growing up in Vancouver, at Keats and Gambier and even living in Victoria, I have developed a true love of the Ocean and now living in a land-locked concrete jungle like Paris, I have realized how important it really is to me. Basically I have come to the realization that wherever I end up in life, there is no doubt about it, it will be on the water somewhere. Anyways, back to the trip! I did a little bit of research on where I could go in April with the highest chance of being able to swim in the ocean and get a tan. My research gave me only one result; go as far south as you can without going to Africa. After I found out that I could get fairly cheap flights on Ryanair to Malaga, I was sold. All of my friends had visitors coming during the week, so I was going to be alone and although I was a bit worried about it, I figured that people do it all the time so how hard could it be? I flew into Malaga on the 9^th and immediately knew I had made the right choice. Day 1 was 35 degrees and the first thing I did was run straight into the ocean and swam for about and hour. It was perfect. I met some really nice people at the hostel I was staying at and although I had originally planned on sightseeing and being active, that beach was too tempting. I did however make it up a giant hill to some medieval ruins which also offered an amazing view of the city.

On the 13^th, I got on a bus and went even farther south to a town called Marbella. As soon as I got off the bus I knew the experience was going to be a little bit different. Marbella is known throughout Europe as a bit of a tourist destination so when the first 50 people I saw were +60 Germans and British, I knew that everything was going to be a bit overpriced and less authentically Spanish. I did manage to find some nice tapa bars and a quieter beach if I walked a bit farther out of the main part of town. I was staying at a Pension here, instead of a hostel so I didn’t meet anyone, but really did enjoy the time on my own to read and think a little bit. I did decide that 3 nights in Marbella was enough though and I headed back to Malaga to spend my last night in Spain at the hostel I had started out at. I had another nice day on the beach and then had dinner at the hostel with 2 really nice girls from Australia. I went to bed about midnight feeling really blessed to have had such a nice vacation but apparently I was getting a little bit ahead of myself. About 2 am, I woke up and starting barfing. This happened every 20 minutes until 10 am, and in a room with 8 other girls who I have never met, you can imagine I was a real favourite! This was the first time in the 3.5 years that I have had diabetes that I have been violently ill like that so to be on my own in Spain really made for excellent timing. Luckily I was able to stay in touch on BBM with my mom throughout the night and I think she got just as little sleep as I did. The next day I somehow managed to get myself to the airport and on the plane home. It was by far the worst travel day of my life, and maybe even the worst day of my life period. I tried crying a couple times, but I was so dehydrated that I couldn’t even form tears. Needless to say, I was feeling very sorry for myself. I did make it back to Paris at about 10pm that night and had a very good sleep. It took my body a few days to recover from all the heaving but I am in full form now and I still consider the trip a huge success despite the one night of doom.

This past week, the kids were still off school and Philippine was at her Grandparents. This meant that once I had recovered from my illness, Arnaud and I were able to do whatever we wanted in the afternoons. I think I have forgotten to mention the recent weather in Paris… Sometime while I was in Spain, the Paris weather gods decided that they didn’t want to wait until July for summer, NO, they were going to start summer right now, in April. And that’s exactly what they’ve done. It has been 25 degrees every day since I have been back and I have worn nothing but shorts and a t-shirt and still I have been hot. Arnaud and I rented bikes one afternoon in the Bois de Boulogne and there were people everywhere in bathing suits working on their tans. I am fully ok with this decision to skip Spring and just pass right into Summer.

This past weekend, my hose family went to visit their grandparents in Nantes, so I was left to my own devices at the house. I was feeling a little sad that I would have to spend Easter alone and then I came across some very exciting news. The Canadian Men’s Hockey team was going to be playing an exhibition game here in Paris on Easter Sunday, on their way to the World Championships next week in Slovakia. I immediately called up all my Canadian friends here and we found pretty cheap seats. I hosted a brunch here before we went, and then we set off to what we were hoping was going to be a pretty one sided game. When the 3^rd period was coming to an end and we were tied 2-2, I was about to be pretty embarrassed for my Canada t-shirt and face painted maple leaf. Please understand that France is not a hockey country and while every one of our players were from the NHL, they had 1!!! We did end up winning the game 3-2 and I had no problem going for celebratory beers at one of the only Canadian bars in the city. It ended up being a very patriotic Easter, and much better than having to spend it alone.

Also, in the past week I have been informed that instead of being able to go home on July 30^th, I am free to go on the 14^th! All of the kids are going to be at camp for the last 2 weeks of July so my work here will be done early and I will have even more time to spend at Keats and Gambier this summer.

Happy belated Easter to everyone and my sincerest apologies for the essay, and the lack of posts. Hope this finds you all well.

Lots of Love,

M

Bird market on Ile de la cite
Maddy and I in Amsterdam


Sainte Chapelle

Exactly one month since I posted... This is bad!!

Lots to tell but the internet is awful right now so I am going to make this one quick just to let everyone know I am happy and good!!

First things first:

HAPPY 75th BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!! I know I missed your big party last night but I was wishing I was there and missing you lots.

Also, Happy belated birthday to 2 very important men in my life. Dad and Dale, hope you both had great days yesterday and I love you both very much.

Ok, so the last 2 weeks have been a whirlwind of spending time with awesome people and getting to visit ( and sometimes re-visit) some pretty cool sites of Paris and then Amsterdam.

The first week of my vacation I spent at the house while the family was away skiing. Sasha Crosse and her friend Katie came up from Madrid to stay with me and we had a blast! It was great to hang out with Sash and to meet her friend. I got to play tour guide for a few days with them and it made me realize how cool the city can be to someone who has never seen it before. I also got to see Sainte Chapelle, which I hadn't seen before. It is truly beautiful and for those who have never been, it is a must-see in Paris. After Sash and Katie left, my wonderful little sister came!! She arrived on the same night as the family got back and it was great fun because they had a little party of sorts for her.

We spent 2 days in Paris and once again, I got to play tour guide. We went out for dinner one night with the family for Xavier's birthday and we saw a lot in Paris. On tuesday morning, Mad and I headed to Amsterdam and had a really great time!!! I will get into more detail on that in my next post. Maddy left this morning and I have just received a message from her saying that she is back in Canada. She just landed in Toronto and is now headed back to Calgary so all is good on both ends!

I will try to post again in the next few days to get into more details.

Love you all very much and hope you have had a good month ;)

M

Hello all,

I have reviewed my recent posts and although there are not many of them, they are all fairly negative. I am blessed to be here in Paris having an experience that most people will never get to have. I am trying to take things one day at a time and lately, things have been a lot better. In light of that, I am going to dedicate this post to the things that are currently making me a happier and better person!

1. My relationship with Philippine

As some of you may know, the first few months here were pretty tough with Philippine. Being a new nanny with stricter rules than the previous one, I had a very hard time getting her to listen to me or even just be considerate at all. Maybe the 2 weeks without me made her realize that she likes me and missed me or maybe she just decided that resisting my rules were just making her life harder. Either way, I am not complaining! Every morning she greets me with a hug and a kiss and seems genuinely really happy to see me. We cuddle lots and she listens when I ask her to do something. At bedtime, even when her parents are home, she chooses me to read to her and tuck her in. We have started playing this game called Rummikub which is a bit like Gin Rummy but its played with tiles instead of cards. The game is for ages 8+ but Philippine has been playing with her Grandma since she was 4 and she is really good at it. She taught m how to play and now we play almost everyday. Sometimes her brothers will play with us, but it has kind of become "our thing" and its really nice to have that. As with all children, things are not always golden but the change in our relationship has made both of our lives significantly easier. The only worry about getting closer to her is the fact that in 6 months, I am going to be leaving her for good.

2. Anticipation of a fantastic 2 week holiday

For Christmas this year, Maddy was given a trip to Paris for her February reading break. The family had told me that they were going skiing for that week so it was a perfect time for Maddy to come. After the flights had been booked and Maddy was all set to come, the family announced that they had changed their holiday to the week before Maddy gets here. They realized they had screwed up so they have now given me both of the weeks off so that I don't have to work while Mads is here. Up until yesterday I wasn't sure what I was going to do for the first week. Mad and I are going to go to Amsterdam for a few days and with my lack of money, I wasn't sure I could afford to do 2 trips back to back. I also wasn't thrilled with the idea of having to spend an entire week alone in Paris. (Most of the friends I have made here either had plans already or didn't have the time off.) Yesterday, things took a turn for the better when Sasha Crosse informed me that she was planning to come visit during that exact week! Sash is on an exchange in Madrid for the semester and she has another friend visiting her who wants to do some travelling. Needless to say I was happy to offer them a place to stay and play host in Paris for a few days. The whole thing works perfectly for me because I will have 3 days here by myself, which will be perfect for some down time, and then 4 days with Sash and her friend.

3. New friends!

In the past 3 weeks since I have blogged, I have found a group of girls that make me really happy. Since coming to Paris, I have met tons of girls from all over the world in my french classes. Its been an interesting process because its a bit repetitive having the same conversation over and over again.... "where are you from?" "how long are you here for?" "do you like the family you work for?" blah, blah, blah. It ends up being a bit superficial and its hard to really get to know people. There are definitely a few girls who I continue to meet with for coffee, walks, and maybe an art show or something but its always one on one. I had really missed just a bunch of easy going girls getting together and chatting.

One of the girls who I had met in class lass semester and continued to meet up with is Stephanie. She is from Manitoba and is actually here with her sister Adrianne. The 2 of them are both Aupairs for different families but kinda decided to tackle this year as a team. A few weeks ago, Stephanie invited me to go to Fontainebleau with her, which is an incredible castle 45 mins south of Paris. I jumped at the opportunity to get out of the city and without having any idea what the plan was, I jumped on the train to go meet up with her. Stephanie, Adrianne, and Emily, another Aupair from Nashville, and I had the most amazing day. The castle and its gardens were incredible, we had an amazing lunch at a cafe in the town, but the best part was how much we laughed. Being with 2 girls I had never met before, and one that I honestly didn't know very well, and being able to have that much fun really surprised me. We ended up spending well over 12 hours together that day and I was not the least bit sick of any of them.

Last Saturday, the 4 of us met up again at Emily's apartment in Bastille. We made lunch and dinner together and spent another 12 hour day laughing. It just feels really good to finally have a group of friends instead of just 3 or 4 individuals that I meet up with once in a while.

That is all I can think of at this moment but I'm liking the idea of the happy list so I may keep it going.

Much Love,

M

Not all those who wander are lost

Hello everyone,

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a nice Christmas holiday and hasn't found it too tough to get back into their daily routines. I have now been back in Paris for a week and it has really been a mix of emotions. I thought it was going to be nearly impossible to leave home after such a great holiday spent with my family but I was wrong. With everyone else heading back to their jobs, school and other adventures I was surprisingly OK with leaving again. At the airport in Vancouver, I had to change flights at the last minute to go through Montreal instead of Paris because I was going to miss my connection otherwise. The flight going through Montreal was taking off in 30 minutes so I really had no time at all to say good bye to Mom and Dale at the airport. I know if I was given the chance, I would have cried and it would have been harder so I guess it was a blessing that I had to rush.

On my flight from Montreal to Paris, I was bumped into business class because the flight was otherwise full. It was very luxurious and I felt like my luck was changing and things were looking up for me. I got to Paris with a real positive energy and was quite happy to be back. I was also a little worried that my french would have suffered in the 2 week break but I was wrong and after a chat with cab driver, I felt like I was right where I had left off.

After the first day or 2, my high of positive energy seemed to diminish very quickly and I immediately felt like getting back on the plane and going home. I am not sure what caused the sudden change but all at once I was sad and frustrated again. This past weekend, I was able to get out of the house quite a bit and spend some time with different friends and do some exploring. Being out in the fresh air felt good, and Sunday was even sunny so I was able to take some good pictures. With all these massive mood swings I am having it is hard for me to decipher how I really am feeling about this whole experience. After my French class this morning I had a good chat with a German girl from my class. She was expressing basically exactly what I was saying in that she also can't decide how she feels about this experience and sometimes feels like packing up and going home. Its hard to explain it to people back home because we are in Paris after all, we should be soaking up every minute of the experience and seeing all their is to see. The truth is, being an aupair can be lonely, challenging, frustrating and very emotional. It definitely makes you appreciate what you have at home.

I know I am only 4 months in out of an 11 month contract so I will not be giving up any time soon. I have a lot to look forward to in the next coming months, including some visits from family and friends! I think if I am able to separate the time up with little trips and visits in between, things will go faster and be much more enjoyable.

I will try to get some pictures up for you this week.

Much love,

Margaux

Diamonds are a girls best friend

Pictures from the Bvlgari exhibit and some others

yellow diamonds and sapphires
This is the necklace that I mentioned the American man bought for his wife... Some lady is getting this as her christmas present this year.

One of many of Elizabeth Taylor's pieces
Some incredibly beautiful yellow diamond earrings

The Suspended tree at Galeries Lafayette
The Opera house
My Amazing Macaroons from Pierre Herme!! I got just a plain caramel one but the other was ginger/banana/chocolate/passionfruit. Delicious.

Ups and Downs

The past 3 days have been a large mix of ups and downs of emotions for me. I will start with Monday night...

Gisa Straith was back in Paris working this week and we almost didn't get the chance to see each other but luckily on her last night I was able to join her and her colleagues for dinner. We went to a lovely little restaurant close to Rue de Rivoli called Le Souffle. As you may have guessed, their specialty is souffle. I had a spinach and goat cheese souffle for dinner and it was delicious! Spinach is something I have been missing here as the kids don't like it. Arnaud is allergic to goat cheese so they don't keep it in the house either. All in all, it was the perfect combo for me! The dinner was lovely and the ladies that Gisa works with, all Canadian women who work for Chanel, were really nice and very interested in the aupair concept. For dessert I had another souffle, this time a pear and chocolate one. It wasn't as good as I expected because it really lacked on pear flavour and was kind of just a plain souffle, with a little pear in it and then chocolate sauce poured over it. I tried some of the other girls' desserts though and they were very tasty. It was nice to see Gisa and she gave me a few little tips for things to see in Paris too.

Tuesday morning after my french class, Stephanie and I went to Galeries Lafayette to do a little bit of Christmas shopping. We were both in search of presents for the families that we work for and as we discovered, it was harder than we had originally thought. After an hour being overwhelmed by the house section we gave up and went to get lunch. We were both craving something exotic because I have come to realize that although french food is mighty delicious, it lacks in spice and sometimes flavour. French food is rich and buttery and often you really get to taste the main ingredient but I think most french people are actually afraid of something with a little kick. Anyways, Steph and I found a sushi restaurant right by the Grands Magasins (department stores) and even though my previous experience with sushi in Paris was awful, I decided to give it another try. Thank god I did because our meal was delicious! We both got the basics and I am not sure whether it was because I have missed sushi so much or that it was actually really good but I thoroughly enjoyed our meal. I also really enjoyed spending the time with a new friend. Steph is 2 years older than me and from a town outside Brandon, Manitoba. She is super cool and even though meeting new people can be a little intimidating, I think I am getting a bit better at it and we had some great conversation. After refuelling, we went to take another shot at shopping. This time we went into the home section of Printemps and I was able to find 2 candle holders that match a bread basket that the family already has. I had already bought books for the kids and although the candle holders were a little bit more expensive than I had planned on spending, I thought I might as well get them and be done with it. I had officially finished all the shopping I had to do this year!!

Today was a rare and precious Wednesday because Cecile wasn't working! I had the entire day to myself and because I had known this in advance, I bought myself a ticket to an exhibit at the Grand Palais. Bvlgari, the jewellery house, was exhibiting their most magnificent pieces from their 125 years. I knew it was an opportunity not to be missed because Elizabeth Taylor's collection was going to be a part of the exhibit! Words cannot describe some of the jewels I saw. Diamonds the size of quarters and there was a sapphire that was literally the size of a chicken egg. It was truly incredible to see all the pieces because let's be honest, I don't know a single person who would ever wear anything like that. Only in Paris! There was a showcase of brooches and they were called "tremblant" which translates to trembling. The brooches were attached by a tiny spring so that they oscillated at the tiniest movement and with the hundreds of diamonds and jewels, they really sparkled. The final piece in the collection was an incredible bib necklace made of diamonds, rubies, mandarin garnets and sapphires of every colour. I had rented an audioguide so luckily I was able to find out the story behind it. The Necklace was bought by an american man in 2009 and he has been waiting to give it to his wife. He is taking her to the exhibit in Paris while its open and when she reads underneath the necklace, she will see her name as the owner. Being as hopelessly romantic as I am, I though that was a pretty amazing story and what a lucky lady she is!

After I finished at the exhibit I considered going home but realized that I should really take advantage of this day to myself so I continued on. I was already on the Champs Elysees so I stopped at the Christmas market for some food and a warm drink. I couldn't turn down some "Punch de Noel" so I went for a big mug of it! Its a mixture of orange juice, cinnamon, rum and some other ingredient I forgot but it was delicious and it really warmed me up. I walked up and down the Champs and I saw that one of the movie theatres was playing a movie I had wanted to see in the english version! I have never in my life been to a movie on my own but I really enjoyed it and it felt good to spend a day with me.

When I got home, I went into the studio to wrap the presents I had bought for the family. Last week, after hearing Philippine talk about Christmas I discovered that in France, every gift comes from Santa. There are no gifts from mom and dad or from Grandma and Grandpa, every single gift comes on christmas, from Santa Clause. I figured I had better ask Cecile about it before I went ahead and signed my name on her card so I went into the house. Cecile had gone out to get bread and so I went to talk to the kids and was greeted by a punch in the face from Philippine. My entire day's worth of being in a good mood and feeling good about myself was gone within a second and I left the house and cried for the 3rd time since coming to France. I felt very under appreciated and especially in the moment while I was wrapping her present! I really wanted to take it back to the store. I found out from Cecile later that I am not allowed to give my gifts to the family before I leave for Vancouver. I have to wait until I get back in January because presents only come from Santa and he only comes on Christmas. Another huge let down for me because I have rushed around and put a lot of effort into the presents for the family and now I have to wait until January to be able to give them. Not to mention the fact that according to Philippine, the gift doesn't even come from me, it comes from Santa. Once again, under appreciated. I am really going to try, over the next 3 days, to make the best of things here. My mom gave me some insight as I was sobbing to her on skype and that was that if I leave on a bad note, its going to be really hard for me to board that plane back to Paris come January 2nd. I need to be able to look at the positives here so that I can have that to look forward to when it's time to come back.

That is going to be my focus for the next few days! I haven't uploaded pictures from today yet but I'll get on that and put them in another post.

Love you all,

M

follow up

Hello again!

It is very unlike me to do 2 consecutive blog posts but I felt that after yesterday I needed to clear a couple of things up. First of all, I made the post quite negative and I did not mean to make it that way, and second, I also didn't do a very good job expressing why the situation was so uncomfortable for me.

I mentioned that a lot of these family blow-outs happen around the table during meal times. I always eat with the family and so I am always present during these fights. Generally Alex will pick a fight with one of his younger siblings and it is often because they are being a "suck-up" to their parents. This usually entails one of them thanking their mom for the meal she prepared and saying that its good. I am not sure how things work here, but for me that is not sucking up at all and its pretty darn normal, and even expected to thank the person who made the meal. This is where the problems start but they only get worse from there and about 5 minutes later, all 5 members of the family are yelling, there is crying and at least one person leaves the table. For me, this is incredibly awkward because I sit there and do not say a single word. It's most definitely not my place to get involved but the whole situation is so uncomfortable. It is selfish of me to think about myself when the rest of the family is clearly so devastated by it, but it truly makes me want to not eat meals with them at all. If I had the money to eat my meals out of the house I most definitely would, but the reality is that its just not possible. I also end up spending a lot of time in the house instead of in my studio because I don't have internet out there, and that means no skype, no facebook and no blogging!!

Anyways, I also think that my issues are also a result of just plain living with new people. I am sure that after a good 2 week holiday spent with family, friends, eggnog, gingerbread and turkey I will be ready to face them again! I am going to finish the post with a few pictures now so I hope you enjoy.

xo