Wedding in Bordeaux

I was so lucky to be able to attend a traditional French wedding in Bordeaux with my host family this past weekend... It was really so stunning! However, the 7 hour drive was far from easy!

We stayed in a little town called Blaye, about 40 minutes from Bordeaux (surrounded by more vineyards than I ever thought I'd see in my life!) It was very cute with this ancient Citadel overlooking the town. 

Entrance into the Citadel

 Inside the old, walled town there were quaint terraced cottages that now are home to cute cafes, arty shops of jewellery made from mosaics (Babylon Mosaic), ironwork, pottery, paintings and  vintage clothes. There's a camp site, restaurants overlooking the Gironde river - fabulous for the sunsets - museums, a small hotel and the CUTEST little house I've ever seen *pictured below (belower)* that had a garden full of glorious flowers (unfortunately the photo does little justice to the place and you don't see the beauty of the garden!)

The terraced streets

The darling house inside the Citadel

The church was filled with dressed-to-the-nines women, loads of big hats, and beautiful men. It was full of singing and really beautiful. Vi and Al were both flowergirls and wore white dresses with a dark blue sash and crowns of baby's breath - it wasn't easy getting the girls to keep them on - they were too excited, but too adorable!

The bride and groom left the church in this old-fashioned red Bugatti and had a drive around the sunny French countryside before arriving at Chateau de Barbe for their reception. Champagne and canapes were served on arrival... Foie gras is really nothing special - believe me - I'm not a fan of beetroot mousse either, but it all looked very classy! The champagne was great though!

The getaway car!

The entrance into Chateau de Barbe

It was truly a beautiful day, full of joy and laughter - Baby M supplied most of this and I had to leave the church with him twice because he wouldn't stop. The Chateau gardens where the evening reception was held had stunning views over the vineyards and the river. Wouldn't mind it for my own wedding someday - so beautiful! 

Félicitations Camille & Alexis! Gorgeous couple and that dress is just to-die-for!

Congratulations Camille & Alexis

Bises

K x

Let Them Eat Cake! - Tips on Food

"Qu'ils mangent de la brioche" (Apparently Marie Antoinette didn't actually say this...)

What I've found completely bizarre is the lack of a "good" breakfast eaten in this house. I'm a breakfast fanatic and only lasted a few days here before I had to go buy myself a LARGE box of cereal!

I know it's typically more common in France to eat little and often but the girls actually have gateaux for breakfast and I have to say I'm a bit taken back by it. I come from a healthy-eating home where my mom always put an emphasis on good, healthy breakfasts to start your day, so it's just so different for me to see how it works in another house.

When coming to au pair in another country, it's important to know how they eat and when they eat their large meal, little things like that, so that you know how to adapt. It's definitely not all croissants and crepes! I knew somewhat how it works in France and what they eat, with my cousins living here. They eat their big meal in the middle of the day and eat a smaller meal in the evening, normally quite late, after 8p.m.

'Staple' foods and bases are as such cheeses, cured meats, mustard, bread, eggs, mayonnaise , vegetables - just so you have an idea.

The French adore their fromages!

Quiche is quite common

I'd greatly advise any of you who are picky eaters or hate all the foods above, and are planning to go au pairing, find out what the favourite foods of the household are BEFORE you go... That way you can decide to ask them if they mind if you cook your own meals if you know you don't particularly like what they eat and then it makes less awkward and easier for everyone, especially whoever cooks the meals in the household! Because in France, don't be conned into thinking that they'll make something 'plain' for the kids - the children here eat what is put in front of them and that's typically the same as the parent's meal. 

Bises, 

K x

Weekends on the Beach

26 degrees and gloriously sunny! 

Sunday was a fab day... I went on a picnic with my aunt, uncle, cousin and my uncle's brother's family. We went to this private beach at the hospital Renee Sabron in Giens. Fabulous place! It's a beach which has a pier out onto the water and is equipped with a path on the sand and raised loungers so as to be wheelchair accessible - perfect for my cousin Emilie. A wonderful place with picnic tables and hydraulic lifts so that those in wheelchairs can be lowered into the water, or onto a jet-ski (!!) Yup! - I haven't pictures of this though - justs take my word for it :) 

That water though!

You could see some fish here!

That's me!

Here are some photos taken in Giens the day before - a thunder storm was rolling in so it wasn't half as nice! There is this beautiful small garden and look out point on the hill in the town which has views all around the peninsula...

San Salvador beach and salt marshes in the distance

L'eglise de Giens - cute little town

Loved the washing line!

I sunbathed on the beach on Sunday and didn't burn in the slightest... However, while waiting for my bus back to Toulon in the evening (which was late) my back burned a bit and I have dress-tan lines!! :( 

It's back to the day job now though - no bother after such a wonderful weekend! Had the two girls today after school - they were great, for the most part, and the baby was in brilliant form as always! 

K x

Mon Horaire - Timetable

I've been dreading doing this particular blog post - on my first week here - as I've been worried it would be tedious to type and too long to read, but maybe it'll be fine, I'll do my best to keep it short! (Ha, said the Irish person!)


My days run as so:
- Up and dressed for 7:30, chat to the family - the girls are already eating and dressed by this stage - say goodbye to the mother, eat an apple, dress the baby and bring him to his minder who lives about 5 minutes away, for 8a.m.

- Return to the house, the father leaves. I make sure the girls brush their teeth, tie/pin hair, have a disagreement about something - usually turning off the cartoons - make sure Al's glasses are in her bag, and triple check that both girls have their 'doudou' -teddies- for school or all hell would break loose!

- We leave the house for 8.20a.m. walk to school which is about 10mins up the road, I have 3 bags hanging off me, after losing the will to argue with them that they carry their own, and I walk behind two hyper filles yelling 'Arretez!/Attendez!' (stop/wait), 'Doucement! (slow down), 'Attention!/Regardez!' (be careful/watch) or convincing them to hold my hand when I catch up - cue another argument.

- The two always find friends to run up the road with and I always have a mother standing beside me echoing one another's shouts! (so I'm not the only one) I drop them off in their classroom, hang up their bags and leave them off dancing and laughing with their classmates.

- I return to the house for some peace and breakfast. I'm back for 8:45a.m and free until I collect the girls at 4:30p.m, which is great. I have the day to do with it what I like, whether it's hop on the bus to see my aunt and cousins, go to the beach, wander around Toulon or just chill at the house, I choose.

- I have to be there to get the girls at 4:30, we come home and they have a snack and sit and watch tv/play. Around 5:30/6 p.m their mom arrives back with the baby and I have to go shower the girls (always another disagreement happens here) and they're in their pyjamas by 7p.m when their dad arrives home. Usually this is when I get off but I almost always get dragged into helping with dressing up/singing for their evening Disney Princess indulgence.

- The girls and M get dinner, sometimes we all eat together, other nights, the parents and I wait until the girls are in bed, it depends on the evening. And them I go chill in my bedroom, and watch something on my laptop.

*****

But then we have WEDNESDAYS. I've never hated Wednesdays before this week, and this isn't going to get better unfortunately. On Wednesday I have the girls all day. Yes, ALL DAY. 8a.m to 7p.m... ELEVEN HOURS. And yes there is a siesta mid-afternoon, but you'd need a 4-hour one to make this even slightly better and it's not even close to 4 hours.

Wednesday was testing, to say the least. I never in my life felt as tired as I did that evening, and nearly cried when the parents told me that the kids were off school Thursday this week, AND Friday... Thankfully all of France was off, meaning the parents weren't working and I was allowed a sleep in - so cried with happiness that is!
Vi has been coming down with a sore throat so it was difficult, especially since she's petty when she's well, and a crier, so her being off form just made it all worse and really added to the mania of the day. That, and Al does everything she can to piss off Vi (which she did- all day!) We dressed up, played games, did art, baked and watched cartoons - Thank god to whoever invented the television!!

Wednesday nearly turned me off wanting kids - who knew au pairing was another form of contraceptive?!


- Fridays are date night for the parents, so I babysit, and on Tuesdays the parents work late so I bring Vi to ballet after school and myself and Al go to collect baby M.
And that's it...


*****

Now don't get the wrong idea because for the most part, myself and the two girls get on well. Yes there's times they won't do what I say and it'd be easier to get things going if only I was fluent in French, but it's no different to minding any other girls of 3 and 4 years old. And the two are cute and adorable and die laughing when I read a story to them and say some words wrong.
Al, the 3 year old has already sat me down and made me pronounce the names of book characters and kept making me repeat the names until I said them perfectly and giggled each time I got it wrong - on purpose or otherwise. So it's good, I get on with the kids and the parents and yes I'm still settling in but it's going as well as I could have dreamed!


Sorry this was so long, but it's out of the way now and the rest will be shorter. I promise!

K x

Le Présentation - Disney and Decor

Just so you know I'm still alive, I'm going to do a quick intro to the family I'm with... There'll be another post soon enough with how my past week has gone and what has happened but as it stands, I had nothing to worry or be nervous about as everything is going really well! 

I look after two girls, Vi (4) and Al (3) - they're adorable handfuls! Both girls are obsessed with Disney - I can work with that! There's also an 8 month old baby boy, M, who is the calmest baby I've ever met! This little dude is so laid back and chill that he's almost horizontal. I rarely have look after him as he goes to the 'nou-nou' during the day.

The parents are really very nice and well organised which makes things a lot easier for me. The father's English is quite good, but the mother's not so much. I've never spoke so much French in my life. It's already come to the point that I think and dream in French - which is weird. But after less than a week being surrounded by the language, I've noticed a difference, I can understand people much better and I can think on my feet and respond a bit faster so it's great - I'm looking less and less like a confused, dumb blonde, standing there going 'uuummmm' 'uuuhhh' 'aaahh' 'merde'... Now I just need to stop using the same 20 verbs and increase my vocab somewhat!

Their house is completely amazing, I love my room and the decor in every other room. THEY HAVE A PIANO!! (This was a fabulous surprise that makes being away from home much easier.)

They live in a lovely location within walking distance from all the
main attractions and the station in Toulon. The beach here is fab and I had a lovely swim last Friday. The city was delighted with RCT's win in the Heineken Cup at the weekend - I love a good rugby city! 

On another note, I finally bought cereal and fresh milk today and had a good large cup of Lyon's Tea - it the little things! 

Bisous x

Rosé With Lunch...

Tuesday 20th - fairly breezy but sunny, a comfortable 22 ̊C and a cloudless blue sky.


Today consisted of two hours reading with this view... Jealous? I'm sorry!

Le Pradon

Ma tata Janie et moi

If you look at the photo of the beach in my last blog post, I'm actually sitting against the wall you can see at the left hand side. The day was glorious (thank god) because yesterday was like I had brought the Irish weather with me - grey, drizzly and a cool wind - an understatement would be to say I was not impressed - especially after 8 hours travelling. So this was a great improvement!


Yeah, I had rosé with lunch and a lovely vin rouge de Bordeaux with dinner - cut me a break, I'm on holidays, not au pairing just yet! The wine glasses* that my uncle Bruno used tonight sounded like the Angelus as they clinked when we said 'Santé'... a few more clinks and dings and I would have felt right at home with RTE 1 at 6pm playing in the background!


*Bruno owns many glass sets - typical wine and cheese fanatics here! You open the fridge door and risk your life - that pong would knock a horse out... He claims the stronger it smells the better but no one else quite agrees!

I found this on the fridge in my Tata Janie's house... I wrote it five years ago when I last stayed and was pleasantly surprised they kept something from one of my best memories of my trip!

"Gone to dance in the sprinklers!! Join us! xx (Kiah)" - 22/6/09 

The sprinklers were situated on a roundabout near their house and yes, my cousin and I really did dance in them - and got soaked!


*****

Anyway, tomorrow I am being collected from here by the mother of the family I'm au pairing for... I don't think I've ever been more nervous - that's the reason for the late-night blog post! I'm scared of how it will all go, especially since my French looks to have become NON-existent (however, I seem to be fluent in Spanish at the moment - not much help) and I'm scared I won't be able to communicate well with them... I will however have presents. Maybe I can win them over with presents?... Oh help!


I'll try survive the day tomorrow and let you know how life is really like as an au pair...

Only Minutes to D-Day

Hi!!

Don't worry - They're already safe back in my bag again!

Can't believe that I'll be in France this time tomorrow. It's exciting and at the same time so nerve-wrecking! I will be staying with my aunt and cousins for a few days before heading to my au-pair family so at least I'll a have a few (lazy) days to adjust to the suuuunnnn - bliss!

I fly to Nice and then need to sort myself a train to Toulon so that my aunt can collect me there - I have to say, I'm nervous about organising all that when I get there and not having it perfectly planned already... Sort of has me breaking out in a sweat but it will all be fine, everything will go off without a hitch (I hope!)

For now though, I need to get some sleep - up for 6a.m. I'll be dreaming of the Med, le soleil, la mer and crossing my fingers that all runs smoothly tomorrow!

La plage! - near my aunt's house 

23 days to go...

Well hi! 

This blog is mainly going to be based on my summer... I head to France on May 19th to become an au pair for the first time (exciting stuff!!) 
I'll only be gone for 6 weeks, but for me, 6 weeks is a long time away from home. I will however be heading to Toulon, a town near to where my aunt and cousins live, so I have them. I'll be near my beloved sea, hope to catch a few rays, hopefully have one of those wonderful life experiences and return home with some great stories. 
In the meantime, this blog is to keep my family and friends - those that are interested - up to date in the goings on while I'm off galavanting along the Cote d'Azur! This could be the start of something beautiful. :) 23 days to go...