Confessions From an Airplane

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I have a confession to make: I am a travel addict.

I thought a trip to Japan would relieve my curiosity about life on the other side of the world, but it has only worsened my condition. I am writing from a country house in the county of Changé - not even in Chartres and too small to have been listed in the Travelblog locations list - and I am 4 days into an 11-month stint as a nanny.

While my friends are home building careers and buying condos, I am on the road again, spending my savings and pedalling backwards from any notion of settling I may once have had. "What is your plan?" some people have asked. "What are you looking for?" These are very good questions for which answers have eluded me.

I am certainly not fleeing a bad life in Canada, nor am I looking for a better one elsewhere. And yet like someone who constantly seeks out new mountains to climb, I can't turn down any opportunity to live in a new country. It's a costly passion - an au pair (the french term for nanny) earns €200 (about $350) a month - and not one likely to contribute to a viable career path, unless I become a teacher (something I swore I would never do). But it represents to me the ultimate learning opportunity, a virtual discovery of everything from proper french to the rearing of French children to the adaptability of the human body to the excess consumption of delicious cheese.

Although I arrived with a working-holiday visa that will entitle me to participate in the French economy, perhaps with a part-time job in a nice French patisserie, I am taking my time to settle in with the family friends I am helping. While the parents were at work and the boys (all three of them) were at school, I took a walk in the wooded fields behind their house and ended up pondering the questions of plan and expectations that have been asked so often recently.

My answers will likely change over time, but for now they are the following: my plan is to develop every skill available to be learned in France from the language to the cooking and an understanding of this stealthily different culture. And what I'm looking for is a reaction (not from my readers, but from myself). Some people rate themselves on their performance in school or work or sports; but for me, my reaction to strange new situations encountered while travelling is the ultimate test of character.

I may be giving myself a bit of a break by coming to France where the lifestyle (especially here in Changé) may be superior to ours (I have a funny feeling I'm going to ace this test); but with a new family to fit into and so much country to explore I hope to have some interesting stories and photos to relay nonetheless.

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Comments

[Kelly Hyde]

Hi Emilie!
How nice to hear from you - I love hearing all about your travels and your thoughts. I think you're a travel writer in the making. Just imagine you can travel and write about all the places you've been too and get paid - something to consider I think. It snowed here in Canmore today but just enough to put a light dust onto everything - it looks beautiful! Anyway - thanks for staying in touch - take care of yourself! Kelly Hyde

[Jess]

I am glad you made it there safely...and you are not in a cellar, in the basement eating stale bread...lol Love you

[becky]

you are such the adventurer
I admire your adventurous spirit as always - like I say to my kid have fun and play safe happy travels Emily