Operation Pinata

I am a happy person right now. I really am settling into my au pair life with my family. They really are great people, and I feel so welcome here. I am glad I picked this family… I think I am really lucky. I am so glad I am learning to appreciate what I have… I knew I would get over my initial culture shock eventually, and I am glad it happened so soon. Now school has not started for me or the kids yet, I am not cooking dinner by myself every night, I am not washing/ironing, and a lot of the other stuff I will be doing, but I think I will enjoy (and if not, tolerate) my job.

I was a busy bee today, which is fine by me. I did the usual of waking up at 10:30am and going for a run around the area, showering, and helping cook lunch with the dad.

Today we made croque monsieurs! Yum yum yum. I have had these before, but these were the best (homemade an all). We began by making a special sauce for the croquet monsieur… consisting of butter, flour, then milk, a yolk (or as the French say-- the yellow), salt, and beaucoup du fromage. We then laid out the bread and buttered it up and put ham and the sauce in layers to make sandwiches and baked them. It is basically a deluxe grilled cheese for those who are unfamiliar.

After lunch, I hung out with the girl. She finally came back from her escapade, and I was grateful because she is easier to talk to than the boy. She gave me a French lesson for like an hour teaching me the French “r” (or rather “errre”). I don’t think I really have it right, but sometimes she would be totally surprised when I said a word absolutely correctly.

We then went to a boulangerie in town and bought two baguettes with the dad and girl. So French J We continued to be French by going to a crèmerie five minutes away from the house. The owner is a French guy who married an American woman whose daughter is (what seems to be) the girl’s bff. The girl goes to their farm all the time and rides horses etc. The family has a big farm with cows, horses, geese and such. We bought milk—real, fresh milk straight from the cows five feet away! So crazy (for me as an American…). When we got home, the three of us drank one liter (sorry not the American measurements—I have to learn them though) of milk. The dad made chocolate milk for me and him, and we dipped the baguettes we had just bought into the milk. Yummy snack for sure.

I then drove to a grocery store with just the girl. This was the first time driving without a teacher, and with one of the kids. Double whammy. I was familiar with the route to the store, though, so I wasn’t too nervous. We bought balloons and candy to make a piñata (the mom’s bday is Saturday), and then headed home. As I pulled out onto the main road to go home, I was on a hill AND car was behind me so that was the cue for freak-out mode. I basically burned rubber out of the grocery store, but hey, I got the job done. Not smoothly, but that is besides the point. Also, when I parked the car when we got home (I told the girl to just get out—I’d be a while) I managed to do it in one step! I have to back in to my parking spot on a freaking hill, so that makes matters complicated, but I did it perfectly today. Usually it takes me ten times backing up, moving up, straightening up, etc.

The dad then left for a Scout meeting…. Which meant the first time with the kids alone. I was given the duty to prepare les frites for our dinner tonight, so I had to peel a freaking load of potatoes and then use a fry maker apparatus (idk what to call it… it gave French fries their shape). Me and the girl also started the task of making this piñata, which turned out to be disastrous but extremely funny. She blew up a balloon and we attempted to paper mâché to make a piñata, but we used a glue stick to stick magazine paper to the balloon, which didn’t really work. We then proceeded to paint the thing with black paint. Half-way through, the balloon rolls over onto the floor and gets wet, black paint everywhere, and the girl repeatedly says, “My mom/dad will kill me.” We use massive amounts of paper towels to wipe it up, but since our hands are covered, it kept getting on the floor. I had a bonne idée to move it outside, but we eventually decided to take a break from everything.

I had to switch into Authoritative Au Pair (she really is a joke) and ask the kids to shower. After some encouragement, they finally took showers. I am glad I successfully completed all my tasks before the dad got home…showers and potatoes. However, the mom came home during the piñata fiasco (it’s supposed to be a surprise), so I successfully used my broken French to engage the mom in conversation while the kids hid everything. Operation Piñata is still ongoing… the girl and I will finish Friday (she is leaving again tomorrow for her bff’s house).

The dad came home, and I skyped my mom for bit, and then headed to the kitchen to help prepare dinner. He fried the fries in a fry cooker, and we prepared mussels. We just added butter, shallots, onions, and rosemary to a big pot, then the mussels, which cooked for 8 minutes, and then crème fraiche at the very end. And thus I ate mussels for the first time. Pretty good. The boy also volunteered to tell me the technique to eat them, which was much appreciated (eat a mussel, then use the empty clam shell as a claw to grasp the remaining mussels from their shells—clever). For dessert, I ate a nectarine, kiwi, and then dark chocolate yogurt. I am trying to eat lots of fruit. I ate a kiwi for desert for lunch today too.

After dinner, I gave the girl her Abercrombie shirt. She really liked it too, and showed her parents. Then she got the mom to take pics of her and the boy with their shirts. They were really a hit! Super Au Pair in the making?

I then took an online French test for my language school. They emailed asking me to take it (I was supposed to at the end of July—oops). I am glad I waited because my French has improved since being in France. I think I get to go to the school this Tuesday for oral tests and signing up for classes. It is in Paris, so I really hope I get to have a reason to go to Paris and not have to wait for the weekend to do so. The kids start school on Tuesday anyway…

Now I am here and writing. I have made plans to do a picnic with Nico and others (hopefully) on Saturday, which will consist of baguettes, cheese, and wine somewhere in a park or maybe the Eiffel Tower. Who knows. I think I also will see Jerome on Friday, so I am looking forward to this weekend! I inherited a Paris Walking Tour book also, so I may try one of those walks out with Jerome on Sunday.

Ma vie est bonne J