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
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