Today was an interesting day. I drove to the new train
station after dropping off the girl to school. It is about a 20 minute drive,
and I take a highway, which is a little intense. But with my driving, I drive
pretty well when I am comfortable with the route. This was a bigger station, so
I parked in the parking lot, but it was freaking far away. The train was two
stories, so I of course sat on the 2nd floor and was eager to look
out my window at the different surroundings. The train traveled through suburbs
that were a lot bigger than my other train, so it was entertaining to watch;
however, soon I’ll be bored and have my nose in a book the whole time.
When I arrived in Paris (since I was on the 2nd
floor I could see the views better) I saw la Géode (big sphere made out of a
mirror/metal I think—I wanna go! The Eiffel Tower, and Sacré Couer. I had no
idea my station was so close to all these things… maybe Paris is not as big as
it seems…
Via text, my plans had changed, so I went to les Invalides
area to the Musée Rudin to meet up with Paige (new au pair friend I always
mention) and other au pairs; two Germans and a Brazilian. These multiple
cultures are great… I really thought the vast majority of au pairs would be
American, but apparently lots of other countries find France cool as well. It
was raining, so I was glad (?) to be in a museum. Yes I live in Paris…. And museums
aren’t exactly my thanggg, but I am glad I am being forced to go to museums
because I never would otherwise, and I need to be cultured and take advantage
of Paris.
Anyway Rudin was a sculpture, so that is what the museum
was. There two inside sections and an outside/garden section. Again Paige
educated me on Rudin and art stuff in general, which I really appreciated, but
after 1.5 hours I was donezo (Paige if you read this—I am truly glad I went J).
All the while the rain had gotten worse (weather.com severely
ruined my day—a 20% of rain means NO rain, thus I didn’t bring my umbrella).
5 minutes later…
The dad has been making an apple tart tonight, and he just
showed me the final step. Ahh it looks and smells so good; we get to eat it tomorrow
night! Je suis partant! (roughly: I am excited).
Back to before… I also decided to retardedly wear these cute
shoes that I had an inkling would kill; I was right. Today was the day of the
most walking ever—in the rain as well. After the museum, we met up with 2 other
German au pairs. One has been here for a while, so she wanted to take us
somewhere for cheap food. Well we freaking walked in the wet weather
unfortunately. Me and Paige were down for the metro as always. Idk if we ever
made it to the location we were supposed to go to, but after like one hour (it
felt like it at least), we picked somewhere to eat. I was grateful to sit down
for my poor feet’s sake and to get out of the rain (this is the first day of
rain—welcome to Paris weather. The weather has been absolutely glorious here
this past month, so shitty weather is overdue).
I didn’t really see anything on the menu to my liking, so I
opted out of food (I was meeting Jérôme for lunch anyway). But I chatted with
the girls about our families and our family dynamics—what are our expectations
and such, and I told the girls about my French friends/boyfriend, so hopefully
they can all meet each other someday! After an hour or so, I had to catch the
metro for my lunch date.
I am really glad I met some au pairs. I am lacking in au
pair friends, but Paige is a great start. She is always meeting new au pairs
(she lives in an area with lots of au pairs—so lucky), and she is just a great
girl in general, so I think I really lucked out with just happening to sit next
to her a week ago at my French school and getting the nerve to say hi.
My lunch date with Jérôme was nice as always (and too quick)
before I had to take the metro yet again to catch my train home. I was nervous
about the timing (new train so it left at a diff time), but I made it all
right. I waited a few minutes for the TV screen to tell me which platform to go
to (that is how it works here) and loaded onto the train and began reading. My
compartment was empty, which I thought was weird, but I didn’t mind having
space! Ten minutes later, I saw the train next to me leave, and that is when I
realized… I effing got on the wrong train. Wtf. I watched MY train leave
WITHOUT me. Uhggg.
How could I have been so stupid? The screen said 18, yet I
got on 19??? Sometimes….
So I called the dad and then the house phone: no answer.
Last effort try and called the mom, and she answered! I told her what happened,
and she said she would get in touch with someone to pick up the girl from
school (my “boulette” [mess-up] forced me to get home too late to pick her up).
So I had to wait another freaking hour. I bought an I-am-sorry-for-myself snack
(chocolate madeleines), and then walked to another station because I could have
taken another train but didn’t really know where it was, but now I do, so maybe
next time if I mess up, it won’t be a big deal. Hope you got that. But I walked
forever in the rain with my feet in agony, so I was super peeved when I got
back to my station to continue to wait for my train.
Finally boarded my train, and it was crowded. I read for
five minutes, then fell asleep waking up every now and then to make sure I wasn’t
at my stop. All the sudden, the train stopped, and I had arrived, so I
scrambled down. Everyone who was getting off had already got off, so I had to
wait for a hoard of people to get in. I then heard the beep noise to signal the
doors were closing, so I rudely said Pardon! And got out of there. I felt bad
because this family had gotten on with their dog, but the other dog was like 15
feet away not getting on. Idk if the dog got there in time. I didn’t look
around to see because it was effing raining and my feet hurt and I had a long
walk to the car.
I drove home in the rain… makes driving a little more
confusing. I got home and had 10 minutes to spare before getting the boy, then
I took the girl to piano a little while later. It was only 30 minutes long, so
I just stayed there playing games on my iPhone. When we got back, I did laundry
while waiting for dinner. Dinner was yummy! The dad cooked (I am not exactly
sure when I am starting—with all this chauffeuring I don’t have time to cook
dinner really, so idk how that will work). He made ratatouille and then duck.
Duck is really good actually. I have missed out for a long time. Then we had
this super fluffy baguette and cheese! Yummm. I was a fatty today ok? Btw my
favorite cheese is Saint Nectaire if anyone is cheese-inclined to know what
that is.
Now I am sitting here. I am actually glad I am not going to
Paris tomorrow. Need a break from trains, so hopefully I can chill out a little
tomorrow. No school for the girl and the boy has a half day, so I have no idea
what is in store for me. Hopefully relaxing time. Although I shouldn’t get my
hopes up.
Another tidbit. The parents got in an intense argument tonight. Well it sounded that much more intense in French. I wonder why they were mad at each other? They get along very well, so I am confused. The mom even peaced out for a bit, but she is back now, and they talked calmly together when she got home, so I guess all is well. Anyway awkward. I just shut my door and acted as if I didn't exist.
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