Monoprix

I feel that today is a major milestone. For one thing, it marks exactly one week that I've been in France. It's amazing that it's already been that long and I'm starting to dread how fast this year will fly. Better make it count I guess.

I also realized last night (around midnight so it counts as today I think) how much French I've learned in just one week. I thought I wasn't getting anywhere with it but I decided to watch one of my French movies that I brought. This time, I understood so many more phrases than before and I'm starting to be able to take sentences apart and figure out what they meant. Needless to say, I was uber excited and encouraged.

But the main thing I'm excited about today is that I went into Aubagne city center completely alone. Yesterday, Julien told me I could take the car out today, and not for practice, he said, but to go out and see things. At first I completely dismissed the idea. Then I realized I could either spend today being bored, or I could go on an adventure. I woke up in the adventure mood.

To set up the story, you have to understand that I had to leave my body wash at the airport because my suitcase was one pound too heavy and I figured they would have soap in Marseille since it is famous for it's soap factories. Since I've been here I've been using the little bit I stuck in my carry-on. It is quickly running out. I determined that I would make my way to the Monoprix and get soap. I checked on Google Maps (one of my favorite websites ever) and it said that if I walk from the train station (which is as far as I'm willing to drive right now plus it doesn't have parallel parking) it's only three minutes away. Hooray!

So I went. The drive was great. I adjusted my seat further back and now I can actually drive the car without bending my ankles in unnatural positions. I arrived at the train station, walked across the bridge over the train tracks, and walked up and down the sidewalk trying to figure out where the road I was supposed to go on was. While I still love Google Maps, I will admit that it has flaws. So, since I don't think that road actually exists, I followed the signs to the city center, hoping I'd come across it on my way. Low and behold, three minutes later, there it was!

The Monoprix is now my favorite store in the world. It is basically a Target. It has everything. I got my soap, some decent shaving cream, a notebook, and memo cards (basically index cards. I thought it was a notepad but apparently I can't read as well as I thought). I also snooped around and discovered they carry almost all the same brands of toiletries I use and that made me happy...also regretful because I packed so much in my suitcase. Anyway... They also have cute clothes and food and stuff. So I got my stuff, paid, and got out before they close at 12. It seems that everything is closed on Sundays except them but they close early.

Then I walked around the market admiring booths and booths of amazing pottery. Sometime I'll go back and take pictures but I was trying not to look like a tourist. But I probably did because I forgot that you have to buy bags or take them with you to stores so I was walking around with a bunch of soap and notebooks falling out of my hands.

After my little stroll, I headed back toward the train station, across the road where I waited forever until two nice men stopped and let me cross, and back home in my car. Now I am here writing this and feeling very proud of myself. I actually think I can do this now and I'm relieved.

*In the picture, check out the lines in the notebook. They all look like that or like graph paper. It's pretty cool but i don't understand it's purpose. Kind of distracting.

France!!

Bonjour de France!!

I'm here, I'm finally here! I've been here about a week and so far it's been a rollercoaster of experiences and emotions. I've gone from exhausted and nervous to homesick and confused and finally to excited and content. The beginning was more difficult than I anticipated. Fortunately, I think I'm starting to get settled into the routine and life is making more sense to me now.

I don't even really know how to write this entry. So much has happened and I don't know where to start. Hm...well, the plane trip was fine. I actually slept about five hours and had long layovers so I didn't miss any flights like last time. Anne and the kids picked me up at the airport where we ate breakfast together and Marie (the three year old) was already holding my hand as we left. We drove through Marseille and then on to Aubagne, the rural, suburb-type place where we live. We stopped at the market in the city center where they were selling vegetables and pottery. Very cool. Then we went on to the house and I took a nice long nap.

I learned early on that I could understand a lot of what the kids are saying, or at least get the gist of it. I've been having more trouble talking to them and trying to explain what I need them to do. It makes for some difficult situations. Right now they're testing their boundaries with me and I'm having touble communicating. They are really great kids though. Very cute and sweet. The other day I taught Paul (the six year old) how to make shapes (like teacups and the eiffel tower) with string like we used to do as kids. He got really excited and hugged me and kept saying it was "magique!" He's really good at explaining what he's talking about by saying it slower or finding a different way to say it. Marie just says it louder and louder. It's funny.

We spend our days playing, eating, napping, and playing some more. They have a pool which has been wonderful. The food here is also wonderful. I'm out of my comfort zone a little bit with it because I've always been a really picky eater but I'm trying everything (except olives which I tried last time I was here and I hate). I ate beets the other day. Definitely not top on my list. However, escargot and sardines are not bad. I absolutely love bread with cheese. Their milk is different from what I'm used to. It tastes different and doesn't have to be refrigerated until it's opened. Their fruit is also a variation on ours, particularly their melons. I've even started to like water, something I never thought possible.

We've had guests for dinner four times now. It's been fun but difficult for me to try to follow conversations. Anne is great about translating for me though. We often eat outside by the pool because the weather is so nice. It's magnificent. Meals last a really long time here and it's nice to just relax at the table for a few hours.

The least relaxing thing has been driving. Julien has gone with me twice and I attempted it alone yesterday. The kids road the first two times and the whole time Paul kept saying "very good" with his cute French accent and Marie kept putting her foot on my ear. The car is manual but easier than ones I've driven at home. I do still have trouble with hills though. The biggest problem is that the roads are different and people drive differently. Also, most of the parking is parallel which scares the...something...out of me. There are traffic circles everywhere and the roads are narrow. On our road, there are a number of places where it turns into one lane abruptly and if you meet someone, one of you has to drive backward until there is more room. That happened to me yesterday and I panicked, hit the break, and stalled out.

So, it's been a stressful week but a good one. I'm off on weekends so I'm using today to catch up on everything I didn't have time to do before. It's also warm and windy outside and I took a walk around the house taking pictures and exploring. They're renovating so there are always men here working and lots of hammering and drilling noises. Right now it's pretty peaceful and I think I'll go out by the pool and study up on my French. A bientôt!

A Bigger Suitcase

The time is upon us. I have 18 hours until I board the plane and fly off into the sunset, providing the weather is kind to me, unlike the last time I tried to fly anywhere.

I have been seriously freaking out for the last few days. I kept panicking about what to take and what's going to happen once I get there. Today, though, has been much more peaceful. I'm almost finished getting ready and this morning I watched Samantha Brown in Marseille that we taped from the Travel Chanel. It made me happy.

I crave the excitement that comes from stepping out into the unknown. It's one of the things in life that makes me feel alive. I realized today that I must even crave the freaking out that comes from it all. It's like my brother would say cheerfully (and obnoxiously) after our muscles were all sore from bike riding or hiking, "It's good for you. It lets you know you're alive." I suppose the upset stomach and sleepless, worried nights are similar to a lactic acid buildup. Hm, interesting theory.

Now I've written too long and need to get back to work. I'm confident everything will be ready for tomorrow, in preparation for my 20 hours of overall travel time, but until then, I've got to get in gear and make this thing happen!

P.S. At the top is a picture of everything I'm taking. I can't decide if it looks like way too much or "Are you crazy? I can't live off that stuff for a year!" I suppose I shouldn't be too worried. After all, they do have stores in France...nice ones...with pretty clothes =)

A Happy Dance

This is just a short update. I'm in the process of cramming for a French placement exam for language school. I really want to cheat and sound smart but that would do me no good because then I'd be in way over my head when I got to school. I don't generally cheat (before you get the wrong impression) but I always tried to cheat on eye exams. Again, that did me no good. It just meant I couldn't see well out of my glasses. Wow, that was a tangent.

The point of this is, I got my visa in the mail today!!! *happy dance happy dance* I'm legal in France for a year starting August 22nd. Finally! I was getting so worried about it being approved and getting here on time that the past couple nights I've been having stress dreams about it. I always seem to have a group of people with me and we're searching everywhere for my passport with the visa glued in. One night I remember we were digging in the dirt and we found it under a tree. This morning, in my semi-consciousness, every time my alarm went off I looked at it and thought that I could reach into the face of the clock and pull out the visa. I was seriously disappointed when I tried and it didn't work.

Fortunately, I think those dreams have come to an end. Now I get to have crazy dreams about getting packed in time and missing the flight and fun stuff like that. I think, though, that the worst is over.

Now that that major stresser is resolved, I'm more excited than ever. The movie I just watched, L'auberge espagnole (see photo above), and its sequel may have helped. I definitely need to find awesome friends from all different countries while I'm over there. I plan to take full advantage of the multi-cultural situation that language school will present. I really hope I make French friends too. What better way to learn the real French language?

Net Savvy

I am getting old. I know this when the kids I used to babysit are teenagers, when my friends are getting married, when my little brother heads off to college (that happened today), and when technology is starting to overwhelm me. Right now I am wrestling with becoming more "net savvy." I like that phrase. Well, actually I like the word savvy and spent about 20 minutes googling it trying to find another word to go with it that would be a fitting title for this post. So, I am in pursuit of net savvy(ness).

I'm trying to get as many different methods of communication as possible set up before I leave in less than two weeks. Ah! Everytime I think of that I freak out a little inside. Anyway, I just want to stay connected. It seems like there are more ways to do that these days than there are minutes to invest in using them. For example, I now have 3 email addresses, Facebook, Twitter, this blog, AIM, and most recently, Skype. It's a lot to keep track of. I laugh at movies like He's Just Not That Into You where they talk about being rejected by, like, 10 different modes of communication. But it's certainly possible. The saddest days of my life are when I check each thing 50 times and there is nothing new. Therefore, if you want me to be eternally happy, people need to write to me. Just kidding. Kinda.

Basically what I'm saying is, the world of communication is advancing faster than me and by the time I'm actually old, I'm going to be one of those people stuck in the past, still sending email when the latest craze is holograms and teleporters. (Yes, I've been known to watch Star Trek on occasion. Blame my father if you must.) For now though, I'm attempting to stay net savvy and trying to see technology for it's benefits rather than it's downfalls.

*Please do not sue me for using the above picture. It is not mine and I do not take credit for it.

Rad Driving Skills

Meet Felix. He's the lovely little car we're renting so I can learn how to drive stick shift. Now, Felix is a little rough around the edges. He's been used and abused. But he and I understand each other. We at least have a mutual agreement. I will try not to break him if he doesn't let me crash. I think that's a healthy goal for any relationship.

So, I have to learn to drive a manual car because that's what I'll be driving in Europe. In fact, I think that's what everyone drives in Europe. I'm pretty nervous about it. It's what I'm most nervous about in this whole experience I think. Not only do I have to drive in a foreign country with foreign road signs, I have to learn which sidewalks it is apparently ok to park on, when entering traffic has the right away in which traffic circles, and how to drive a car who's main goal seems to be stalling in the middle of intersections, all while trying to get myself and two children through town unscathed. Needless to say, I am trying to get practice in now.

I've only stalled out 3 times in traffic...so far. None of these times has been overly disasterous but they scare me. At least nothing can be as scary as learning to drive the first time around. The fact that I (and anyone who's tried to teach me) haven't suffered a nervous breakdown is encouragement enough. I mostly just encounter embarrassing situations. Like today for instance. I was driving to Pizza Hut with my dad. I have trouble starting off quickly after stop lights because I'm afraid of stalling. My solution: hit the gas and clutch at the same time...hard. So far it's worked. I haven't stalled but man, those tires can squeal! Apparently I've also been nicknamed Gear-Jerker but at least no one outside the car can hear/feel when I change gears.

So, all this to say, preparing for life in a foreign country is much more complex than I originally anticipated. In the beginning my main concern was, how on earth do I pack one suitcase for a whole year of my life? Now I've discovered the joys of paperwork, visa applications, manual driving lessons, and learning how to say goodbye. But through it all I just remember how it is so worth it. A year in the South of France, on the Mediteranean, with a wonderful family whom I can't wait to see again! Yeah, it's all worth it.

A Visa

So I know you've all been holding your breath. And the verdict is... they didn't reject me! They accepted all my paperwork and I'm pretty confident that the visa will be granted. I guess I'll find out when they mail my passport back hopefully before August 22nd.

This weekend was crazy! My dad and I left from home Thursday evening to begin the 5 hour trek to Washington, DC. The trip was fine and the GPS is quickly becoming one of my favorite things. We reached our hotel at around 11:30 I think and my dad fell asleep right away. I was still nervous about whether I needed the forms filled out in French or English so I stayed up until 2am translating to the best of my ability. Little did I know what the next day would hold...

We left the hotel the next morning at 9:30. I only had a granola bar and some apple juice in my stomach. First we needed to find the embassy, then we'd find some food. We finally settled on trying to drive there rather than paying for a taxi or taking a ridiculous 1hr 30min ride on public transportation to go 10 miles. This turns out to have been a good move since it only took us 20min to get there. Once there we decided to drive into the embassy just to check on stuff and then head out to get breakfast before I vomited or passed out from lack of food. Unfortunately, the lady at the embassy gate was evil. She forced my dad to leave, took my drivers license, gave me a little badge to wear, and sent me walking up the hill to the visa office. At this point I discovered that the cute new shoes I had on were never meant to be walked in. I still have a raw ankle.

Once inside, I had an 2 hours to wait until my 11:45 appointment. During the wait, I made friends with a couple other people my age who were nervous about their appointments too. We helped calm each other down and compared paperwork and stressed about whether we brought the right stuff or filled it out correctly. The first girl apparently did everything right because she was on her way home by 11:00. The guy on my other side was not so lucky. He didn't even hear them call his name, then realized he'd forgotten paperwork, then lost his badge. The entire day did not go so well for him.

I finally heard my name called at around 12:15. Not bad considering it was supposed to be 11:45. It was a little annoying though since they act like you must be on time under penalty of death. First, the woman asked for my application. She was polite but you must understand that this woman had been listening to stupid, unprepared Americans all morning and was really ready for lunch. This was the moment I'd been holding my breath for. I asked if she wanted it in French or English. She looks confused. "It is only available in French." "No, I mean, filled out in French or English." A raised eyebrow... "We have no preference." Oh, great then. I hand over the English.

A glance down and then a glance at me. "You do know we no longer offer the au pair visa." "Um...", panic, "Well, the website said you do and I followed all the directions on it exactly." "Oh, we only recently changed it." Hm, like in the last hour when I checked the requirements on some girl's iPhone? "Ok then, what should I do?"

I was sent next door to Campus France to fill out a bunch of stuff and pay a bunch of money and run around wearing an even bigger blister into my heel. For a brief moment I am alone in the office. A knock on the door. It's a French woman. "Bonjour, il y a... Oh, you do not work here. Sorry." And off she goes. It is a random story but it made me laugh.

Everything is finished in Campus France and I run back over the the visa office to catch them before their lunch break. This time a man helps me. He seems to be new at his job. Fortunately, the entire office took pity on my because they accepted a lot of papers in place of the ones they actually wanted and continued to be helpful even though I was still there when I was supposed to be finished. In the end, it all worked out alright.

I really liked the place and hearing everyone speak French or with French accents. It made me happy and I'm really excited about next year all over again. It's a good thing I liked it too because I was almost stuck there indefinitely. By the time it was over, it was 1:00 and I really needed to find the restroom. I found it, used it, and then I headed for the front door. I was locked in! I was just in time though because a nice man was still in an office and ran out to assist me apologizing the whole time and wishing me a fantastic weekend. I was free!! Then I saw the same boy who was having such a bad day. He was running back to the office to find his badge so he could get back his drivers license. I wonder if he ever got out...

So, that turns out to be a long story that's not as funny on here as it was when it happened. Sorry. I feel especially sorry for my dad who paced the road for 3 hours thinking I must have been detained or something. Phones weren't allowed in the embassy.

Then we headed to my grandparents' house in Richmond where we stayed the night. My dad left the next morning and I stayed to go to a tea house in Williamsburg with Grammie, my cousin Jackie, and Grammie's sister Eleanor. It was a fantastic, girly day. We wore cute dresses, drank way too much tea (mine was spiced plum, yummy!), and stuffed ourselves with teeny sandwiches and mini desserts (they made creme brulee in honor of me =) Then we shopped.

Later Jackie and I went to a store to get makeovers. It was a terrible experience but really hilarious. I have never seen make up look worse and I have been behind some truly horrendous looks. We were embarassed for anyone to see us that way. We left, drove to the nearest parking lot, removed all the makeup, and applied our own in the car. It took a while and we got some awesome comments from the people walking by. Great, great times.

This afternoon I had to say goodbye to my cousins, aunt, and uncle. I will definitely be missing everyone while I'm gone. I'm not looking forward to that. Then Grammie and Pa drove me home and now I'm writing this ridiculously long blog. I'm tired so I'm rambling.

I think that's it. A busy weekend. Hopefully it'll turn out for the best. I'm missing the sound of the French language already so I'm off to watch yet another fantastic French film. Au revoir!