My Final Weeks with the Family

After saying goodbye to some friends, it was time for a few weeks of isolation with the family. Two weeks in France. Two weeks without internet. Two weeks with a lot of French. Two weeks.

So the week started with a Monday train to Le Chaufaud. It is a very small village right on the border of Switzerland and France. I mean right on the border.  It was about a 10 minute walk to Switzerland.  It is an old house that has been in the family for generations. It was the taken by the Nazis in World War II and became their headquarters on the border (as Switzerland was a neutral country people were trying to cross to freedom).  It is also a very old house. It was the end of July and it was raining and freezing in the house. Shoes, sweaters, electric and wood fire heaters were in full use. It was just me Baby Gaga and G for the week; and a few generations of Mama C’s family.  It was such a cool experience to see four generations of a family together.  

Mama C's Dad gave me joking looks of disapproval as I would respond to the French I understood in English. He told G to only speak French with me, which she did every once in awhile, but always quickly returned to English. This is one of the many reason my French is no where close to fluency! Other than that, I went on a couple of hikes with and without the girls. 

This was a tough week. I had been hearing G say things for months about my leaving, but this week, she was telling me how she is going to have a crying, screaming fit when I leave her. She repeated that fact that I am in fact “leaving her” too many times. Each time it became more difficult for me to respond to. On top of that, Baby Gaga has reached 10 months, which is the age of becoming clingy. She would literally only go to me and her Mom. Since her Mom was back in Zurich, we spent a week attached at the hip. Lucky for me she is sleeping through the night and likes to nap a couple of time during the day.  She is as close to “my baby” as I want to be for a long time to come. But she is my baby. When I see her go only to her Mom and me, I realize that the relationship I have with her is special. I am not her Mom and she knows it, but I am second best.

After a weekend off, I headed to Hyéres, to spend a week on a vineyard on the sea with the other side of Mama C’s family. This could not have contrasted more to the cabin in the woods. There was a chef, a pool, and the sea was a short walk away. Many spent the day on the boat, diving and drinking; followed by a French meal. The attire was dressy. Champagne with apértif. Salad or cold soup, meat and vegetables, a cheese patter, and dessert. And obviously, a copious amount of wine. Rosé. Red. White. Ports. 

Most everyone spoke English this week. While most of the time it was French, Mama C’s family is international. There were Americans, French who live in the United States, and the French who live in London. Since, I have not succeeded in speaking French (comprehension only...and even that is debatable at times), Mama C’s family is extremely welcoming and happy to speak English with me. The conversations always ended up back in French, as they should, but I would throw in my own sentence in English here and there.

This was not a bad place to spend my last week with the kids. It was a bittersweet week. I am sad to say goodbye to the kids in a few days but I am glad that the job is over in so many ways. I made it through a year and I am positive I made the right decision in not sticking around for any longer.  I will have one last day/dinner with the kids before I am off to finish my travels and head home. No one is making it easy for me to leave but if goodbyes are hard then it means you made some good friends and did a good job right?

The vineyard on the way to the sea!

The beach

My beach babe

J'ai laissé mon cœur à Paris

So I don't actually know how to say this in French but Google (love) translated my title for me! It says "I left my heart in Paris." I will need to go back as often as possible until I can find it!

I am going to skip the complaining about the trip because whenever I say my complaints out loud, well, it just sounds silly (as my Dad reminded me yesterday). My life is not difficult; work brought me to Paris. (This is going to be my new life mantra..)

It snowed in Paris this weekend and quite hard. Mama C was shocked. It apparently rarely snows in the city and very rarely as hard as it was snowing. Lucky me, the snow followed me to Paris!

On Saturday evening, I was allowed out for the night to explore on my own.  The skies had cleared so I started walking. I had done a bit of research on places to go and things to see but really I just wanted to walk. I started at Notre Dame, which was gorgeous. I arrived just in time to see the beginning of Saturday night Mass (sorry Mom, I didn't stay). It was indeed a gorgeous church.

Joan of Arc 

"St. Joan of Arc (1421-1431) Born in Lomaine, burned
alive in Rouen as a heretic and a witch. The decision
to rehabilitate her reputation was made in this Cathedral. 

I thought this was an interesting fact! One of the few women we ever hear about in religious history!

Then I continued to weave through the streets of Paris. I didn't exactly know where I wanted to go end up but I stopped and got some Vin Chaud (hot wine) which has popped up as a (not so) tasty treat around Europe. It was disgusting and I did the unthinkable and threw away a glass of wine.

I continued to walk and look at the shops and every building I walked by made me fall in love with the city even more. It had a lively personality and the diversity was extremely apparent. It reminded me New York City in a lot of ways, only everyone speaks French, and the buildings are notably historical instead of tall!

This is one of the main government buildings. 

This is possibly a fact I should know or at least researched before departing to Paris but I didn't know where the Eiffel Tower was.  I also felt too silly asking. I figured it is tall and must be visible throughout the city. I will just stumble upon it! I was wrong. I eventually asked for a visitor's map at the metro and had of course been walking the wrong way!

I turned around and started the trek. Since it was a lovely 2-3 degress out (35 F) I figured I would walk there. I mean how far away could it really be...

About 2 hours later, I was getting closer. So close I could see more than the top of it! I got so excited I stopped and ate dinner! Now, I loved this city a lot, but sitting at a restaurant alone in Paris, is not a pleasant experience. I recommend grabbing to go because people stare with so much sadness when you sit alone. It is the most romantic city in the world for a reason, I guess.

Then I made it to the Eiffel Tower. There are so many things around the world that we see pictures of growing up and when you see the real thing it is a let down in a weird way. This was not one of them for me. I loved it! I thought it was absolutely gorgeous.

Sorry, I really LOVED it!

Just as I was leaving, I was thinking, I did think it sparkled more..and before my eyes it did! It was absolutely gorgeous! 

My Dad is completely right..my life is just not difficult..frustrating and exhausting perhaps, but not difficult! 

I woke up early on Sunday morning to catch free day at the Musee d'Orsay.  It is much more manageable with the time that I had free before we left. I loved this museum. The archeticture itself made it amazing not to mention the amazing artists who have their work on display.  Now a large portion of the Van Gogh and Monet collection is at some other museum somewhere in the world.  They had everything mixed up a bit which was really interesting. They combined much of their Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art (this makes me sound oh so smart..right?) since they were missing portions of each. 

I really did enjoy them being mixed together. It did make it interesting to wander through that section of the museum.  There was also a bit of the beginning of photography which I also really enjoyed. It was a great way to spend my Sunday morning! 

I then headed to Angelina's for some African hot chocolate, which absolutely amazing, and a lemon tart (that I just finished eating) and my 20th croissant (I am only being a little sarcastic).  

The museum with an awesome elephant and the line that I fortunately did not have to wait in.

This visit to Paris will be one of many in my lifetime. It has become my latest inspiration to continue to learn the language, which I can only guess will make my Parisian experience even better!

Strasbourg, France

After the bonfire, we went to Rachel's apartment for a few hours of sleep and the headed off to Strasbourg, France.  Packed the car full of people and were off! It was my first time to France and I loved it. It was an adorable city full of food and adorable children in béret (it is not just a stereotype) speaking French.  It was lovely to be surrounded by French speakers for the weekend (German isn't the prettiest language to surround yourself with).

...and we definitely had enough chocolate to get through a few days...

We found our hotel slightly outside the city and figured out how to get into the city via public transportation.  Strasbourg is a great walking city and that is what we did.  Our Saturday consisted of eating, walking, and shopping.  We all had hopes of finding some winter clothing cheaper than we could find it in Switzerland.  I found an adorable dress...it is a perfect summer dress! I am destined to be cold for the winter!

We continued to eat our way through the day.  There were delicious paninis, coffees, croissants, pizza, crepes, and pastries!  There was also a "hot chocolate" which was actually just a cup of melting chocolate...can you say delicious? Every pastry and candy shop was gorgeous and smelled amazing. We stopped too often to admire their beauty and usually ended up walking out with some tasty treat. 

We did get to see the Cathedral, which is probably my favorite one that I have seen since arriving in Europe. We also saw the beginning of Saturday night Mass and were able to hear the choir for a bit. 

Saturday Night Mass

We continued to wonder the city and had dinner and a couple of drinks and then headed back to our hotel for an early night...or so we thought! 

Our favorite spot! Adorable buildings and glorious cafes!

We ended up missing our bus back to the hotel (by about 5 hours) so we walked.  Luckily, we had all paid attention to random things along the bus ride and made it back to our hotel! Upon arrival, one of the room key was not working and no one at reception.  This meant that 5 of us crammed into one room, four into the bed. Needless to say, it was not the most comfortable night of sleeping. No one returned the call until two and half hours later! They then opened the door but we were too sleepy and unaware of what he was doing so we stayed in our current sleeping positions for the remainder of the night. We will hopefully be getting a check for the room we didn't touch! 

Sunday was lovely! We woke up and heading into the city for our crepe and baguette! All of which were delicious! I then forced the crew to go check out the EU Parliament. Which was a really cool building.

I am standing in front of the "Heart of Europe"

As much of the "inside" as you can see

Then we were off to the Chocolate Museum and the Gingerbread Museum....post to come

Three Months Down

I have created a life of constant change for myself. I feel like I haven't been in the same place for more than a year for going on SIX years now. While I was at good ol' Chappy for four years, each year required a move, and for the most part a new group of people. I have a few consistent friends from all four years, but between people graduating, moving off campus (which really did put them off the radar), different activities, classes, and a new Resident Advisor staff every year, I was constantly meeting new people and creating different core friends. I was always living in a different hall/apartment.

I think that this constant change is good. It keeps me on my toes. Meeting new people is always important and I never want that to stop! On the other hand, there are moments when I wish I could round up my friends and put them all in the same place.  We could recreate the idealistic college life we had and I could throw some high school and post-grad friends as well!  It would be an epic lifestyle! Unfortunately, I have adapting over the last 6 years to living away from my family and friends so while it is difficult at times to only be able to call/video chat, this is not something new to me.

I have found that you can't let yourself ponder what you don't have for too long or you just get depressed/lonely/etc. I have an amazing life in Switzerland and I am enjoying taking advantage of it all! The three month point is the big hump you need to get over. As an RA in college, this was when homesickness settled in for first-year students. You realize that the honeymoon is over, you are away from what you know, and this is now just life. This can be an AMAZING and/or SCARY revelation!

This brings me to the point of the post. I continue to move place to place and as I look into the future I can't imagine that I will find that city to settle down (whatever that means) in for a several more years! I do, however, miss things, people, and certain concepts. I didn't have a culture shock when I moved here. I was immediately surrounded by English and the food wasn't all that different. I have gotten used to not being able to communicate very well with people at restaurants and for the most part I have started to just speak English with hand motions in order to get my point across.

So here's a few things that I miss (obviously I miss you too!)

1. Shopping for and making my own food

2. Having privacy (the laundry room is accessed through my room...and we all know the laundry is never done!)

4. Being able to send people a text when something reminds me of them

5. Calling people while I walk to and from and sending texts with random moments from the day (However, I read a lot more now!)

6. Jamba Juice (I missed this in DC too)

7. Frozen Yogurt!

8. The warmth of the sun


And things that love about being here:

1. The free time to read

2. Walking outside and seeing snow capped mountains everyday

3. Learning French

4. That the hardest part of my day is getting 2 kids to brush their teeth

5. Being able to be in 4 different countries within 3-4 hours

6. Traveling!

7. Meeting new people from all over the world

8. Walking places

9. That a 50 degree rainy day is now good weather! (I am changing!)

This month is going to go by so quickly and so is my year here!

French - Rosetta Stone Style

When I was convincing myself that quitting my legit job in Washington DC to move across the world to take care of kids was a good idea, I told myself I had to learn French. It was a selling point. I need another language to go to GradSchool. I should just speak a second language and since Spanish classes went so well (7 years and I can bearly form sentences) I decided to start anew.

French. It is spoken around the world. I can do this. It will help me for life.

I convinced the host family to let me get Rosetta Stone instead of taking private lessons. Since Zurich is part of the German speaking portion of Switzerland, they teach French in German.  Learning a language you don't understand..nearly impossibly..at least for me. Private lessons are expensive!

Rosetta Stone means I can go at my own pace. It is interactive. I will learn to speak, write, listen, etc.

What have I learned so far?

1. It is difficult to motivate myself to just do it. 
2. Once I am working with the program it actually usually enjoyable...except when
3. I cannot make my mouth make the right sounds. I have literally tried to say car (luckily you can also just say "auto") which is voiture.  When it is broken down to 'voi' and 'ture', I get it right every time. No problems there. Then I combine the syllables and I fail miserably. 
4. The French don't pronounce 50% of the letters in every word. 
5. Words are masculine and feminine. Now, this is not new. While my Spanish isn't all that great (Meredith will tell you!), I do know the basics. The difference is that you change the adjective to match the word you are describing. Example: Les fluers sont petite. (The flowers are small.)  or Le chien son petit. (The dog is small.)  Not extremely complicated but there are 2 problems that arise with this:
1. Petit and Petite sound EXACTLY the same (I confirmed this information with the Mama C whose first language is French so I am not crazy)
2. Often times there is no real reason why a word is masculine or feminine.  Voiture (car) is feminine. So if you were looking at a car you would say "She is yellow." (Elle son jaune). 
3. This is fine and all but there is no reason why we shouldn't invent the work "it" inanimate objects.

Rosetta Stone does seem like a pretty good program. If you aren't saying a work properly you can listen to it slowly and say it your way and have them play both back for you. There is no translation involved which is key.  So I didn't learn that un chien is a dog because they told me it was a dog but because they said the word, showed it to me all with the picture of a dog. You have to discover what things are through pictures.  I think this is key to learning a language.  

With Spanish, the most intimidating this was speaking it because I knew my accent was awful (and I couldn't quite conjugate very well but that I blame 2 years of bad Spanish teachers for).  So I need to start speaking it at the house a bit soon and I have a few friends here who speak French so hopefully this will work! 

*** If you speak French please note that the above statements may often be wrong... I am just beginning!

Baby Watch 2010: Still no baby. We are getting very impatient.  By "we" I do mean everyone but Mama C looks like she is ready to pop now and is tired often.  She is sooooo done being pregnant so maybe Baby Gaga will realize this tonight and join us already!