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

Hello friends and family,

I hope you are all well and happy on this fine Sunday. Once again, I have neglected my blog and now have tons of things to tell you, but have a hard time remembering them all. OHOH!

I will start by saying that for the last month, I have been in full on Christmas mode. Pretty much everything I think about revolves around Christmas, and that includes seeing all (or most) of you wonderful people when I get home. In exactly 1 weeks time I will be sitting on an airplane probably somewhere over Ontario. Hey, I may even get to wave at Pere Noel in the skies, or am I a little early for that? I really have had trouble thinking of much else, and I think that is in part because everywhere I go I see Christmas. The streets, store windows, and even the snow just make me wish I was home drinking eggnog under the Christmas tree. They don't have eggnog here!! Who are these people anyways?

Truth be told, There have been some less than pleasant things happening here lately and I think that is why I am so desperate to get out. I have not, up to this point, written much about the family goings on on my blog in case they read it one day but I am not sure that will ever happen, and if it does, maybe they will understand how it affects me also. Things with the family are 95% wonderful, and I am still really enjoying them. Philippine and I have become better friends now and although she has her days, I do feel like we have a pretty strong bond. Arnaud is great as usual and we even went to see the new Harry Potter movie a few weeks ago. Yes, we saw it in French without subtitles, and I understood everything!! Alex is where the problems start, and although they do not concern me at all, it makes things around the house very tense. As I have mentioned before, he is at boarding school during the week and only comes home on the weekends. Since I got here at the end of August, not a single weekend has gone by where at least 2 meals have been completely ruined. It is not usually fair to blame a sole person for something like that, but it is honestly awful. I do not speak for sometimes 2 hours at a time because its not my place but it is truly uncomfortable and unpleasant for me. But think, if it's that bad for me, how bad it must be for his parents.

Maybe once a week, if the timing works out, Xavier will drive me to school on his way to work. It is great for me because I get to sleep in a few extra minutes, and it also gives me a chance to catch up with him. I talk to Cecile a lot during the week but Xavier always has other things going on so this is a good opportunity for me to get to know him a bit better. He is a vice-president of technology development at a very large telecom company here in France and is currently working on a massive deal. His job is clearly very stressful and I am not sure I have seen him relax since being here. Forgive me for sidetracking a bit, but I feel the background is necessary.

Around mid-october is when the problems really started... I was aware that things were not good with Alex (clearly) but the past few days had been exceptionally bad. Late night phone calls to him at school and a lot of yelling, and then he was kept in a detention on Saturday morning. Xavier revealed to me in one of our rides to school that Alex had caused some sort of mayhem on the coach bus he normally took to and from his school. He was permanently kicked off the bus and forced to take the train twice a week, costing his parents an extra 400 euro a month. After this incident, Xavier and Cecile met with the principle of the school and were informed that Alex was on thin ice and had to show some behavioral improvement, or he was going to be asked to find a new school in January. Fast forward a few months and we get to this past week. Alex had been expelled from his school. Xavier and Cecile now have 5 days, before the schools close for Christmas, to find him a new place to go to school in January. I am not sure if this is selfish but it means he is moving home, and I am now going to be living with him all the time. I have only spent 2 days at the house with him when his parents weren't home and they were truly awful. I have only cried twice since coming to France and one of those times was because of him. For the most part of the time he ignores me and pretends I don't exist but on those days where I am responsible for telling him when to do his homework, things can get quite bad.

I feel very sad for the parents because they are at a complete loss for what to do. They both have stressful jobs but this on top of it is just awful. I wish things would get better but I guess I don't really see that happening any time in the near future. Anyways, now I have all that off my chest, I'll get back to the good stuff!

Last Sunday I met up with my friend Christie Lee. I have known Christie since kindergarten and she has been at school at Versailles since September. We had been trying to get together for ages and when we finally did it was well worth it! We met at Place de la Concorde and spent some time at the Christmas market there. Christie's mom, Carlotta, is here for the month so she came with us too. After that we ventured to the market at La Defense and each made a few purchases there. Christie has worked a bit with Nike and was given tickets to go to the Paris Saint Germain soccer game that night and asked me to go with her, so after a good lunch in the market we headed off to that. It was really awesome to be in such a huge stadium and with so many enthusiastic fans! Paris won the game too which made it even better.

As you can probably tell, I am getting tired and my writing is getting increasingly worse so I am going to end this post here, and rather abruptly too. I hope you are all good and happy and feel free to leave comments or send me an email if you ever want to say hi!!

Love you all and hope to see you next week!

xoxo

M

Another Picture Post

Here are some more Pictures from when Mom was here and from the last month!

Zuza (from the Czech Republic) and Stephanie (from Winnipeg) at the Christmas market
Coquilles St. Jacques made by Cecile
Me, Graham and Erny
A beautiful window at Printemps
Erny and I at Moulin Rouge

Philippine's 6th Birthday Party with her friends
Skulls and Bones in the Catacombs of Paris
Mommy and I on the Seine
Chopin's Grave
Oscar Wilde's Grave

Pictures of Bruges

The lake of love

Me and Mama

a most delicious belgian waffle

Michaelangelo's Madonna and child

The Markt Square

Worst blogger ever

I am a terrible blogger. Its has been almost a month since my last post and the worst part is that the past month has actually been really quite exciting and I have lots to blog about. It starts off with my mom coming to visit me. She arrived on The 29th of October, and after a very unfortunate lost baggage dilemma we were able to fully enjoy our time together. We spent the first 2 days in Paris, wandering around my neighbourhood and visiting the Pere Lachaise Cemetery. It is the place where famous people like Jim Morrison, Chopin, Oscar Wilde and Edith Piaf are buried. It is also incredibly beautiful and some of the tombs are really something else. It was a perfect time of year to go because the leaves were just starting to change colour.

On the Sunday morning of my mom's visit we got up early and caught a train to Bruges, Belgium. It is a rather small medieval town quite close to the border of Holland. In the 14th and 15th centuries, Bruges was a very important port because of the canals that made trade easier. (sorry for the horrible history lesson!!) Anyways, it is now a very beautiful place, although a bit sleepy. Mom and I drank really great beer and ate belgian waffles and mussels and other flemish specialties. We spent 3 days walking around the pretty town, wandering into cathedrals, museums and lots of chocolate shops.

Once again, the time of year was really great because the colours of the trees made all of our pictures really beautiful. We spent a really nice 2 nights there but I am not sure there would have been much more to do if we had been staying any longer. Its a great place but it is also quite small.

Our next few days in Paris we visited the Musee D'Orsay, the Catacombs of Paris, and I took mom back to the Monet exhibit. Since mom has been to Paris a few times before, we didn't do all of the touristy things and it gave us a chance to do some stuff that is more off the beaten track. The best part of her being here was mostly just getting to catch up. We made really tasty dinners at the house and drank good wine, we slept in a little later than we should have and maybe stayed up too late too. It was a really fantastic week and it did make me miss home a bit more.

I forgot to mention before that during this time, the family was away in the Mauritius Islands so I had the house to myself and mom stayed here with me. It was a good break from "work" and when the family got back I was happy to see them again. Since then, I have been back to the daily routine of hanging out with the kids and going to my french classes.

This past weekend, Graham Johnstone and his wife Erny were here in Paris! The 2 of them are living in Algiers, Algeria right now for Grahams work. I met up with them for Dinner on Friday night to catch up and it was really great. On Sunday Afternoon, we met again and went to the Moulin Rouge to see the show. I have to say that it was not something I was really expecting to do while here, because I thought it was pretty touristy but I was pleasantly surprised. Although it clearly isn't something that Parisians do, it really blew me away. The costumes, the dance and the whole allure of it was really something incredible. There must have been around 100 performers and at least 100 different costumes (all of which were equally sparkly, feathery and just beautiful) in the 2 hour show. At one point, a pool lifted up from the stage and a girl swam with 3 pythons, each at least 2 meters long. After that, 6 miniature ponies came on stage. My jaw was on the floor for most of the show!

After the show, Graham, Erny and I walked for a while and found a nice restaurant, ate a nice leisurely dinner and walked some more. Since I arrived here in August, I have heard people talk about how amazing Paris is at Christmas but I wasn't really prepared for it to start so soon. On our walk after dinner, we passed by the Galeries Lafayettes and Printems, the 2 largest department stores in the city. They had apparently recently unveiled their new window displays, because there were at least 40 people ogling at each window. When we finally did get to look, I understood why so many people come to see them. The ones at Printemps were all done with a theme of art, so all of the backgrounds have a print of a painting from the Louvre. I can't really explain how incredible they are, so I took a few pictures. The don't however do them much justice either!

The other thing that is very Christmassy, is the Christmas markets being set up. There is one at the bottom of the Champs Elysee, and another in La Defense but they are not just any market. There are hundreds of little, wooden, cottage type houses everywhere!! The markets open this weekend and I am dying to see what it turns into because I have to say I am a little confused by the houses at this point.

The main road here in La Garenne Colombes was decorated yesterday with big garlands of real fir branches and gold. It even smells like Christmas!! Everyone getting in the spirit here is making me excited for the holiday season... and for coming home!

Because I have so many pictures from when my mom was here, I think I am going to try to post a few every couple days. They take a long time to load so if I do it that way, maybe I won't get so frustrated.

Apologies again for being a bad blogger.

Love you all,

Margaux

Freezing in France!

hi everyone!

This past week has been pretty relaxed and not too much new has been going on. On the weekend, I went to the Flea market of St. Ouen with Tarah and we had loads of fun looking at odds and ends but overall the market was a bit too pricey for us. It would have been incredible if you had a lot of money and were in need of such things as chandeliers and beautiful old furniture. The weather has changed drastically since last weekend when we were in our tshirts at the Jardin de Luxembourg!! Its freezing here now and both Tarah and I were not at all prepared for the weather when we set out on Sunday morning. Today it even got down to -1. I am sorry I don't have too much to tell you but instead I thought I would just post a bunch of pictures!

Love you

xox

M

At the Market trying on Fur... Looks like I might actually need a coat like this.

Jardin de Luxembourg in the sun!!
Palais de Luxembourg
Tarah in the Gardens
Gorgeous little place in the Jardin de Luxembourg

Philippine at horseback riding lessons. (Don't worry the horses she rides are maybe 1/2 this size)
A pretty pony

Philippine again

Happy Thanksgiving

Dear Friends and Family,

I will start this post by saying Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!! I would like nothing more than to be eating turkey and enjoying the company of my family and friends at home, but I will have to settle for sunny weather and roast beef!

This past week has been pretty busy, starting with Wednesday night. I went to a Monet exhibit at the Grand Palais with Cecile. We booked our reservations a month ago, and still had to wait in the rain for 30 mins! This is the largest Monet exhibit ever and it was really incredible. All of his most famous paintings were there, the water lilies, the japanese bridge and lots of others. It was so busy inside, and this exhibit is here for 6 months! It was really nice for Cecile and I to get out of the house together and have a bit of a girls night. I couldn't take any picture inside the exhibit, but I did buy an exhibit book that I will share when I get home. I loved the whole thing so much that I just made reservations for mom and I to go when she is here in a few weeks!

Thursday night, I was super lucky and got to meet up with Gisa Straith, who comes to Paris every 6 weeks for business. She was so sweet and brought me lots of treats from Mom and Dad at home! I got books, gum, candy, melatonin and nailpolish. Gisa also brought me a can of pumpkin, which came in extremely handy this weekend. We had a really nice dinner at a cafe really close to the Louvre and t was so nice to see a familiar face! Its hard to be away from family and home on the holidays so I was so thankful to be able to spend time with her.

Friday morning I had my french class, and when it ended at 10 I thought about going back home but the weather was so spectacular I decided to go for a little walk. I found out pretty quickly that my school is situated about 2 blocks from the Arc de Triomphe so I took lots of pictures there and then continued on. I ended up stopping at a bakery for a sandwich and then just kept walking until I got to the Eiffel Tower. It was about 25 degrees so I ate lunch in the park and read my book. A really amazing day!!

Place Victor Hugo, Where I go to school

Memorial for Lady Di

Where I ate my lunch :)

Saturday morning, I met up with my friend Tarah and we took off to the market here, and then on the bus and Metro to St. Germain des Pres. We got lunch and a bottle of Rose and went to the Jardin de Luxembourg for the afternoon. The weather was incredible again and we had fun watching the little kids sail their boats in the pond. The Garden was absolutely packed with people but I guess thats pretty normal for a saturday. We continued the day, walking around the area and exploring different little neighbourhoods. I even managed to find a Canadian bar!! Its called The Moose, and it shows NHL games, so you can imagine how thrilled I was to find it... Even though there was a Maple Leafs jersey in the window!!!

On Sunday I got up and got to work making my Pumpkin Pie!! I was so excited with all the tasty smells of fall. Cecile and Xavier had said they wanted to make a thanksgiving for me, but because there are no Turkeys for sale in France right now, we had roastbeef. They were really sweet though and we had a nice bottle of champagne to toast the holiday. My pumpkin Pie turned out incredible! Unfortunately, I was the only one who thought so. Basically the family wasn't super keen on the idea of it, and not so much on the taste either, but the important thing is that they tried it... And now I have a whole pumpkin pie to eat to myself.

Anyways, there is a strike in Paris tomorrow so I am not sure whether or not I will have class because my teacher said there was a big possibility that she herself wouldn't make it! I am going to hope for the best and try to get there anyways.

I am going to finish off my post in true Thanksgiving Tradition, and tell you all of the things that I am thankful for.

I am thankful for my family and friends at home. I am thankful for this new adventure I am on and all the wonderful people I have met so far and will continue to meet. I am thankful for all of the support my family has given me, even though I decided to drop out of school!

I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend filled with family and good food!!

Love you lots,

M

good week, bad week

Hello Friends and Family,

This past week started off really awful but got increasingly better. I will start with the downs...

It started off monday after lunch, Philippine and I walked back to school after eating lunch at home. At some point during the 2 block walk from door to door, I managed to lose my blackberry. I have absolutely no idea what happened but I realized as soon as I dropped her off that it was gone. I walked the path 3 times before giving up and I searched all over the house even though I am sure I put it in my pocket before leaving. If it fell out of my pocket, I am fairly sure I would have heard it fall. Xavier suggested that I may have been a victim of pickpocketing, but I really don't know. I tried calling it and although it was fully charged, it had already been turned off so either way, it is a lost cause!! I was basically devastated because as well as being my easy way to connect with family friends through bbm, anytime, anywhere, the thing is also really expensive and I really do not have the extra funds to just buy a new one!

On Tuesday afternoon, I decided to go to La Defense which is one of the business centres of Paris where there are a lot of sky scrapers and people dressed looking like they mean business! There is a mall there with an Orange boutique so I thought I would go see if I could buy a new phone. Unfortunately, the man who I asked for help wouldn't even give me the time of day without Xavier there or with his identification! I was very frustrated at this point but I did manage to find a Virgin Records store that had a pretty good selection of English books. I also bought a new pair of headphones because mine recently broke so the trip wasn't completely useless. It also gave me the chance to take a couple pictures of the Grande Arche de la Defense. It is a massive building that creates a straight line to the Arc de Triomphe and then onto the Obelisk and the Jardin des Tuileries. The pictures really don't do it justice as it was too big to get into the frame!!

Lunch time at Le Grande Arche.

Wednesday was a really long day because the kids don't have school and it was the first time since being here that I spent the entire day with Philippine. Needless to say, I was wiped out and went to bed really early!

I didn't do a whole lot on Thursday because of the rain but I did manage to clean the whole studio. The bathroom and floors were getting pretty bad but now it is spotless. I also spent the day organizing my things for school. Thursday night I had a great night with the kids because Cecile is away on Business and Xavier had a dinner to go to. Philippine let me french braid her hair for the first time and I think she liked it so hopefully she'll let me again.

Miss Philippine after she let me do her hair!

Today was by far the best day of the week even though I had a really early start. I got up at 6 15 this morning and was out of the house by 7 on my way to school. I have to say though that I don't particularly like getting up before the sun and the walk to the bus stop was a little bit creepy in the dark. I found the school no problem and right away walked into a tiny little classroom crammed with chairs. There are 17 of us with 1 teacher but I think the class is going to change around a bit as people decide what level suits them best. i think the level I am in is really good for my level so I am going to stay where I am. I met a nice girl from Germany and we went together after class to get our books. I came home after that, and thank god I did because not 15 minutes after arriving home there was a knock on the door and there stood the post man with a nice big box, addressed to me!! I really wanted to tear it open, but I was able to resist and I grabbed my camera to take a few pictures. The package was from Nancy and Ted and it is perfect!! Nancy responded to my call for peanut butter as well as a bunch of other treats including 3 books that I am really excited to read. Thanks to both of you for making my bad week into a good week!

I have a love of getting mail (hint, hint) but a package filled with goodies is even better!

Hope everyone at home had a better week than mine and I wanted to say that I love you all so much!!

The Box.

The goodies inside the box!

The goodies laid out: Kraft dinner, books, tea, ginger snaps, peanut butter, rockets

Rockets.....? Smarties....??? hmmmm. Candy from Texas, made in Canada!!