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