Shrimp

I ate the shrimp below tonight. I should have taken my own picture but didn't. So we ate boiled shrimp with the heads still attached. France never fails to surprise me. The first shrimp I decapitated, I got guts all over my fingers. I fine-tuned my decapitating technique later on and no guts were spilled on me hence forth. The tasted the same as in the US, so it was very yummy and exciting/weird at the same time.

I went to Giverny, Monet's gardens, on Saturday with my French school. I had been there before when I studied abroad, but it was worth going again! We also drove to some old old chateau with a great view and had a picnic, and then we went to the village where Van Gogh died. It was a fully day exploring more of France!

When I came home from my wknd last night, the dad told me that they had run out of gas to heat the house/water, so I had to even take shorter showers now. He told me the boy took a 2 minute shower, and I was like well how long am I supposed to take? And he just said as short as possible. I am already paranoid about the length of my showers. I have to wash my hair tomorrow, and I am worried! A guy is coming Wednesday to fix it though, but I have to handle it, and I am nervous communicating with him. I have to tell him where to park and then the dad told me to check how many liters he actually puts to make sure he doesn't cheat us out. I hope is isn't a cheat!

6 more weeks of au pairing, and I AM DONE! Wooooo!

Odds and Ends

So I have been failing at my blog. I don’t have any interest that more really, but a lot has happened since I last posted.

First and foremost, I got incredible news last night. A week ago, I had asked my host mom for some days off in July to be able to go to Nice for interviews for my grad school. They are July 10-11, so I asked if I just could leave for good since my end date was July 19^th. I also said just those days were fine too, but it would be better to get all the days off so I don’t make a trip to Nice then back to Paris just for 5 days. When I got home last night, my host mom  and I were chatting about our weekends, and then I asked when are the kids getting out of school. She said July 5^th, and that I could end then as well. 2 WHOLE WEEKS, booooyaaaaaaaaa!

Now I don’t have to worry about what to do with the kids all day everyday bc they are in school up until I leave. So right now, I need to plan when I am going to Nice and I also am planning a trip to Barcelona with Lindsey. It is good to know my dates now, so I can seriously plan this.

The only bad thing is I had budgeted my remaining salary including the 2 extra weeks of work, so this has put a crank in the budget unfortunately. I was already having to save 50 of my 90 euros a week to be able to pay for these things, along with an iphone I bought this weekend, so now I have to save even more a week, which will be hard. And I bought the iphone to be able to have for next year, and I got a super deal on it, so I am not regretting that at all. A little because I have depleted my money, but I need the phone eventually, so it is ok.

This weekend I am going to Giverny. It is a day trip through my French school, and it is where Monet lived with his gardens to get inspiration for his paintings. I went 2 years ago (almost to the day), with my study abroad group, and it was so pretty. The thing is that when I went 2 years ago, the weather had been beautiful the whole time I had been in Paris… 70’s and sunny. The past few days have been cloudy, rainy, and in the 50’s. It is always in the 50’s. Where is the beautiful weather?? L At least it isn’t freezing anymore, but geez. This whole wknd was rainy, so I literally stayed at Jerome’s apt watching movies and stuff and then going out at night.

Speaking of going out, I went to Jerome’s concert on Friday; my first one. I really enjoyed it and had a good time. He is in the rock band and plays drums. They are getting pretty popular in Paris, which is exciting, and they put on a really good show. They play their own music and covers, and I have heard some of their own songs before, so it was nice hearing familiar music. I enjoy concerts much better when I know the songs.

I also had a 2 week holiday recently where I went to Amsterdam, Lille, and Nice. I don’t really want to recap it because it was so much, but I really enjoyed my time! The Netherlands were like nothing I have ever seen before, and I thoroughly enjoyed discovering a new country. Visiting Lille was really nostalgic, but again, I had a blast, and I am happy I went back! And then Nice actually didn’t have great weather this time around, it was cloudy and cold like Paris, but I still had fun. I went to Monaco one day and a nearby town, Antibes. Discovering more of France!

Oh last week, I made madaleines. They are a French pastry thing; very classic. The dad told me no one knows how to make them anymore and just buy them at the store, so I feel very accomplished. They came out well!

The dad got a job, and he started today. So I have been in charge of cooking since last week. It is a lot to handle, but I haven’t screwed up so far. Today I was so busy with chores and cooking, so it was stressful, but I got everything done!