Week of October 14-18

I find it funny when I see people in ton bundled up... Whilst I'm here walking in a dress and a cardigan.... 

Sorry I don't update daily anymore, I will at least twice a week from now on, but I have a social life now so.... 

So the Erasmus organization is something with exchange students or international people, so they have a themed party every weekend. This past weekend was ESPAÑA, and this coming weekend is All things British. And we have drinks and stuff that are from that country. 

I am sooooo excited fort the USA themed one. I've been deprived of awesome Americanness. 

Also I found bacon! At almost 20€ a kilogram I passed on buying some. But one day I will have bacon again. 

Nico and I were talking and he is starting a training program so we can be in shape for skiing this winter. I thought I was done with dry land training? 

Squats, lunges, wall sits, I'm in physical pain thinking about what he's going to make us do.... He has officially given up on trying to teach me rowing so that's a plus. 

The only important thing that happened last week is that the family left for Megeve with their cousins so I had the flat to myself. Too bad I was sick so it kind of took away from the fun factor of being home alone. On Saturday we did go shopping which was a lot of fun! Didn't buy much but I found a Red Wings sweatshirt at a thrift shop here and almost cried it was so awesome. 

October 11-13

Friday night I watched Mary Poppins with the girls.

Saturday we had America/Canada Brunch! We made French toast (they don't have that here so no idea where that name came from) 

Then we proceeded to watch The Notebook and cry our eyes out... 

So the Erasmus organization is something with exchange students or international people, so they have a themed party every weekend. This past weekend was ESPAÑA, and this coming weekend is All things British. And we have drinks and stuff that are from that country. 

I am sooooo excited fort the USA themed one. I've been deprived of awesome Americanness. 

Unlike the state of Michigan, bars do not close at 2 am, and very very unlike Harbor Springs they close waaaaay later than 11 pm. Most of the bars here are open until 6 am. That's 50 minutes before I have to wake up in the morning! I don't know how they do it, but props to them because I can barely make it to 1 am. 

Sunday we went to Parc e la Tête d'Or. And by we, I mean myself and the other nannies.

Jana (Germany), Me, Heather (England), MiCayla (Canada), Charlotte (England) 

In Lyon they have these massive letters that are put in different places of the city for different amounts of time. 

For a few weeks they have been in the park... 

ONLY LYON. See what they did there...?

Things I don't understand about the French.

First of all, smoking is permitted everywhere. It's disgusting, I don't want to be eating my crepes and have the guy next to me blowing smoke in my face. Gross...

Secondly, if you do not have a license in France, you can drive a Smart Car anyway, if it's under 70 km/hr. If you have NEVER driven a car before, you can drive the Smart Car. Or if you got in trouble for a DUI and got your driving privileges taken away, you could buy a Smart Car and go around the system. So congratulations France, you have found the only useful purpose of a Smart Car...

The French, especially men, wear a lot of scarves. I mean I get it, it's 65 degrees out and you're in a t shirt, but your neck is cold. Happens to me all the time... I'm not against men in scarves but everyday, I don't even know what to think after awhile. I think it makes them look too feminine, but if you like guys in scarves, I'm not judging you. (Yes I am.)

Blackberry. For some reason, France has not received the memo that NO one uses blackberry phones anymore... Everyone here is Blackberry obsessed. I'm like eww, where can I get an iPhone?

The next thing, I don't know if it's just my family here, but they rarely ever use the dryer. Not even for socks or t shirts, or anything. Only for towels and sheets. I think I'm the only one who has used the dryer for clothing.

The American television shows they choose to watch makes me laugh. Gossip Girl is huge here, but for adults not like 15-18 year old girls. Like women in their 40s. 

Also there is a Peanut Butter Faim here in France. It's horrible, you can't find it anywhere! And if you can it's about €15 for a small container. 

Public display of affection. 

Ew. 

I get that you are dating, you do not have to show us on the metro for 10 minutes. 

Gross. 

I like to have things hanging up in my room, pictures poster, paintings whatever. They keep the walls here very plain. They don't put a lot of photos of their family or anything. And if they do, it's in strange locations. 

That's all for now, I'm sure I will complain about other things soon.   

Should probably update.... Oct 3-11

October 3-10.... I think 

Sorry about the lack of posting, it's not that things have been crazy busy it's that I've gotten lazy... 

Let's see.... Thrift Shop is huge here. And sadly no, they don't change the lyrics to "got 20 euros in my pocket." I was disappointed but I don't know if this girl Lorde has made it big in the states but she is MASSIVE in Europe. She's 16 and from New Zealand. She's kind of weird but her songs royals and teams are quite good actually.... 

Lorde #royals #team

Last weekend: 

Nicolas and Aude had a wedding so my Saturday night consisted of me watching a Barbie movie. She was a princess rock star or something like that. 

Sunday the nannies went out for coffee and stuff around the city. Which is always a good time. 

This week has been more relaxed because Nicolas has been in Geneva, which has been a nice break for my body. 

I guess I should mention what happened with Hippolyte and why he had to take an emergency trip to the dentist. Well he fell at school and told his teacher all his teeth were loose and going to fall out, Aude picks him up from school and we go to te dentist. 

Yeah he was perfectly fine. He just looks like he dragged his face on the cement. 

The kids had tennis this week and I guess we've made an impression on the staff because I'm referred to as the "American Nanny." As for the kids... 

Hippolyte I guess just does nothing and is off in Hippo land. 

Eleonore is quite bossy. And will tell any of the other girls if they are doing anything wrong. 

And Apolline is super shy and quiet, very unlike her... 

And Nicolas is there almost everyday so I guess you can say we are regulars.... 

That's all for the week, like I said it wasn't eventful.... Oh the other nannies and I have planned some trips which will fun! I think we are going to Florence for a weekend in about 3 weeks! 

Au revoir 

It's October 3rd.

Well it's October 3rd... if you've seen mean girls you know what I am talking about... hopefully...

Last night Nicolas' cousins came over, and by cousins I mean the ones who's age you can't actually guess. So I was allowed to go out, myself and a few other au pairs went to the cinema. We saw the film Rush starring Chris Hemsworth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05rzPnZ6lxw

The other au pairs and myself highly recommend it. 

So Aude made it safely back from Hong kong which is awesome because I got the evening off, which I spent not doing a whole lot. It was very nice. Well I watched Mean Girls in honor of it being October 3rd. 

Bright and early Friday Morning Nicolas told me we have a court reserved for 10 am on Saturday, and I'm totally okay with that. I wasn't going to sleep in or anything. It's all good... 

In October, kids in France have 2 weeks off randomly. I don't really understand it, but I'm sure it has some meaning. Either way, I'm going to hopefully be spending my time on the Mediterranean getting sun burnt. 

I say that, because that's where they are going for part of the time... Not because my new friends and I made plans.... hahahaha I will post the rest of what happens on Friday in the weekend post. 

Sept 30- Oct 2.

Standard chaotic Monday in the Sordet household.

Nicolas and I went running. He wanted to do some French version of P90x after it and I just looked at him like he was mad. 

One thing I've noticed here is that the schools are not strict when it comes tikis leavin the school for lunch. I'm pretty sure most of them just ride the metro over and over again to look cool. But they maybe 14....? However I'm horrible at guessing ages so they are probably 20 or 7. 

I think I've found my new career path. I just have to learn to play the accordion....

Standard wednesday, tennis in the afternoon, however I decided to run to tennis. It was a mistake. 

The weekend. Sept 27-29

I was social! And I made friends! Saturday we spent most of the day walking around Lyon and doing tourist stuff. It was awesome. We were walking down the street and I stumbled upon this guy..... 

Yeah it was awesome. I'm definitely going back. 

I met up with some of the other au pairs here in Lyon. One is from Toronto area, she's awesome. Loves hockey, One Direction, and peanut butter. Couldn't ask for a better fit. We went to an American cafe for lunch because we both missed basic turkey sandwiches, not this ham stuff. 

We went to the top of Lyon and walked around this church that is absolutely gorgeous. 

Or I guess the name of it is "Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière" It was close to the Roman ruins, which I put together from the amazing view of the city. 

After all of this we went out to an Irish pub called 'Johnny's Kitchen' it was amazing. They only had beers on tap from what would be equivalent to a microbrewery in the states but it was not called that. Anyway, it was awesome they played 90s music and then around 11pm they had a Flogging Molly cover band. It was a riot. If you don't know who Flogging Molly is, please click the links below. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AOp9c5DRzc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ox6bFObL_A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89NjEeHku8o

Absolute. Riot. 

It reminded me of the last night at Whiskey Jack's in Sun Valley out first year there. Cough cough, Paige, James, you know what I'm talking about.... 

I'm not going to lie and say I was chipper on Sunday morning, but I will say I'm very thankful that they went to their cousins, Astrid and Xavier's house at 9 am for breakfast and to play. 

The best part was definitely hanging out with the other au pairs. they are all so awesome.