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Published: October 4th 2007
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Raphael in Aniane Street
This is a typical street in the center of Aniane. Raphael is the adorable little 2 year old that I take care of Hey All!
So it is the end of my third week working as an jeune fille au pair in the south of France. I am living and working in a tiny village called Aniane. Its a beautiful village, with very old brick homes and roads. The 'town center' is really cute, and is actually pretty similar to what I was expecting. The village houses about 2000 people only...so it is really small!
Well the trip got off to a rough start. My flight was delayed about 2.5 hours, due to 'right engine trouble'. Now, that's all we were told, but that's enough for me to want to get off the plane. However, we all waited patiently while the mechanics sorted out whatever the problem was. But then we were further delayed as a passenger had to leave the plane while we were waiting for them to fix it (probably cause she was too scared to fly on a plane having engine trouble). So they then had to go down and find her luggage and get it out of the hold. But about 2.5 hours later, we finally took off and had an (thankfully) uneventful flight to Paris.
Upon
My House :)
The middle building is the house I'm living in. To the left is a wine store and to the right is a fire station. arrival in Paris, I made my way to the train station in the airport and caught the rapid train south to Montpellier. As I was getting off the train, I noticed the hundreds of people on the platform, and wondered how I was supposed to find Marc (the husband of the family I'm living with). It just so happened that he decided to stand right outside the car that I was in. Very strange. Anyways, we introduced ourselves, as we had never spoken, and were on our way.
The drive to Aniane from Montpellier is about half an hour, and it is spectacular. Just imagine driving down these narrow roads through miles and miles of dense forest lining the mountains that surround the area. Its beautiful! Anyways, enough boring stuff!About my family / job. I'm living with a very nice family in Aniane. The parents' names are Lael and Marc. They have 2 very cute young boys. 1 year old Olivier and 2 year old Raphael, who is a huge handful. When he's in a good mood, hes really very cute! But when he's tired or hungry of just feels like being 2 (ie. difficult), he can be very
My Studio Apartment
This is a view of my apartment in the family's house. It is small but very comfy, and is fully equipped with whatever I need.
I usually eat upstairs with the family, so I don't really use my kitchen much anyways. difficult! But hes still very cute nontheless!Except for a few little diaper changes and baths here and there, Lael very kindly gave me my first week to settle in and get used to my new surroundings.
I went into Montpellier this past Thursday to explore a little. Both the kids were at the creche (daycare)
and so I was not needed. Montpellier has a beautiful central square called La Place de la Comedie. It is a big open area surrounded by cafes and creperies, and all the streets that run off the square are great! They have all these really nice stores that sell eveything from clothes to jewellry to souvenirs etc...But its a really fun place.I went again on Friday before I went to the Chabad (synagogue) in Montpellier for Yom Kippur. I met these 2 British girls, Michelle and Julie on the bus, and spent the afternoon with them roaming the streets of Montpellier. We had a great time checking out the shops, and stopping for drinks. From there, I made my way to the Rabbi's house for dinner before the fast started. I must say that my Yom Kippur experience was very bizarre, but that will
Another view of my Apartment
This is just another view of my apartment so you can see the rest of it :) have to wait for another entry as it is just really long!!
One of the main reasons that I decided to come to France (other than the fact that I had a family here who wanted me :P) was because I want to learn French. I was hoping that spending 3 months in France would get me to the point where I can speak and understand French very easily. However, the American wife who I thought would agree to speak to me in French said No when I asked her. I'm not sure why. I think it has to do with the fact that she feels kind of alone here in France, and was excited at the prospect of having another english speaker in the house. But that sucks for me because I really want to speak French. So I have contacted the French American center who have a program called Language Parners. Basically, they set me up with someone who wants to learn english. I speak to this person in french, they speak to me in english, and we correct eachother and learn through conversation. I am still waiting to hear who they're going to set me up
Olivier (1 year old!)
This is 1 yr old Olivier playing on a slide in St. Guilhem le Desert (a beautiful ancient city near Aniane).
Olivier has just started walking a few weeks ago, and is slowly starting to make sounds that resemble words.
He's really cute!!! with. I hope they find someone soon, since I'm only here until December. They also hold a Tea Party each wednesday with the same idea in mind. Anyone who wants to work on english or french can come, and we pretty much just talk and help eachother learn. I was really excited to learn about this, because living in such a small town, there are not many people to meet. Most of them are elderly families, or families with very young children. So this is another place where I can hopefully meet some other people to spend time with.
I know this is getting long, so I will finish up soon! I just want to write about the World cup Rugby game I went to last night. The match was between South Africa and the U.S. I decided I had to go support my people, even though I didn't really know if I like rugby. Turns out I do, which was a nice bonus! :P I went to the stadium to see if I could get a cheap scalper ticket. I got one, but I'm pretty sure I paid way too much for the ticket. I was in the
Sucre de la Tour Eiffel
When you order a cafe, they bring you an espresso. I learned I must now order a cafe au lait :) But I really just liked the sugars with the Eiffel Tower on them! absolute last row of the stadium. So they were not the best seats in the world, but it was still a lot of fun! I was sitting beside these 2 guys from Spain. Neither one spoke much English at all, and so it was very difficult to communicate with them. But I must say, they were very nice to look at 😉Walking around before the game, there were so many South Africans who had come to see the game, I felt like I was back in Thornhill....ummm, I mean, South Africa. There were some crazy fans who came completely decked out in all their Springbok (the SA team) gear, painted faces and wigs, and whatever else they could find. I will post some pics of them, as they were very amusing.
Anyways, I apologize that this is so long. But I'm going into my 3rd week here, and so I have lots to tell. But I will leave the rest for the next blog.Hope you're all doing well at school, work, GRE studying and whatever else youre doing. Feel free to comment or send me an email 😊Hope to speak to u all soon!Andy 😊
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Hayley
non-member comment
cool!
Andy! good job on the blog, finally we get to see some pictures! i'm so looking forward to getting them more :) and your apartment looks so cute!