Nouveau Chien de la Famille

Hello everyone!

     Well it’s getting closer for me to go home for the summer, and my emails to my family have been getting

Napoleon Apartments in the Louvre 

fewer and fewer. Which is bad, but sometimes the stories just aren’t as interesting anymore. I guess that’s what happens when people move away. All the little stories disappear and it only becomes about the major events. Well that’s what I’m here to talk about; the major events of my life in Paris.

   
     A good chunk of what has been happening in Paris doesn’t really involve me. I’ve talked about before that’s it’s weird for me to be living in a major world city after growing up in the very protected world of Salt Lake City, Utah. It has become normal for me to see armed soldiers walking around the monuments, crowed areas, and even a few major metro stations. And the numbers increase whenever there’re rumors of protests. Though, I don’t feel scared or unsafe. Everything I have seen has been handled safely, and without extreme violence. That is, until the PSG trophy presentation last week. PSG is the Paris Soccer team, and they won a league title. So they were presenting the trophy at Trocadero (a 10 minute walk from where I live), and a riot broke out. 800 officers were deployed to contain the supporters and it took several hours to bring a situation under control. By the end the place was a mess including smashed store and car windows near the Champs Elysees and setting a few buses on fire.

     All this is basically around the corner from me. Scary hu? Well don’t worry. I was safe and I never saw anything. I only heard about it the next day.

     I hear more about the United States than anything, and it doesn’t sound good. Every couple of months we are getting news of ANOTHER major crisis that’s hitting my home country. Before, while still living in the U.S., I used to think that the only reason why I heard about the tragedies in the U.S. because I lived there. Now I’m in Paris and still a lot of the news is about the U.S. I can’t tell if it’s because the U.S. is getting hit harder with “bad luck” than other countries, or if my brain is just wired to tune into news about home. Either way, good luck. I’m praying I don’t hear about any more breaking news from the States.

Flower Shops are all over Paris. And I love it. 

     Aimée takes horseback riding lessons, and sometimes I am the one that stays with her and walks home with her after. When I went the first time I couldn’t help but laugh because what she was riding is a pony. I was told that all the “horses” are really ponies. Even the big ones. They are called double ponies. They just look like horses. Not sure what the difference is.

     It was funny, Alain came with Cecile, Aimée and Me and they stayed for a minute after dropping us off. After watching them for a while, he comes over and says "Cecile, I want a Horse." She's like "Nope, Sorry." Haha.

     For a while now Cecile and Alain have been thinking about getting a Dog, and recently they became more serious about it. Meaning they told Aimée about it. Basically from there it was nonstop doggy talk for about 4 days. "Can we get a dog? I really want one. What about this kind of dog? What is your favorite?" It was making me crazy! Finally they picked a breed and started looking for where they could get the dog. The contacted a few places and went to look at the puppies on Sunday. Today Cecile told me that they officially have a dog. They can’t take it until it’s a little older, so they are going to pick it up when I come back at the end of the summer. Wow! So looks like when I come back I will have another “kid” to look after.

Mosque of Paris

     The family has been really sweet to involve me in everything to do with the dog. The other night we were discussing dog names, and I’m concerned for this dog. The names the kids are coming up with are… strange. Examples: Binky, Zoggie, Zoro, and I believe the Scooby-Doo was thrown in there. Ok, I know, it’s a dog and not a famous person’s baby, but I still find the names a bit silly. Also since the dog is “Aimée's,” she gets to make the final decision on the name. I will let you all know how that goes down. Maybe this dog will be named Boo like she wants. In that case I’m calling him Bailey.

     A week ago, I went with the family for dinner to this new Muslim restaurant. It's connected to the Mosque of Paris, and it’s a really beautiful building. I loved the food. The environment of it reminded me so much of Egypt. So after telling some stories and hearing about stories about Sara's and Alain's trip to Morocco, I asked Aimée if she could go anywhere where would she like to go. She said London. Cecile asked me where I would like to go and I said “right now I am really interested in either Australia or Amsterdam.” To which Alain said "Oh that is only a train ride away from Paris. Easy to get to." and before I could say anything about how I was thinking of doing that after my second year, Cecile say's "Amsterdam would be nice. Alain lets go there next year."

"OK that sounds beautiful."

"Olivia would you like to come with us."

So I might be going to Amsterdam in the next year or so. Either way, they want me to come with them more on family vacations because as Aimée puts it "you’re part of the family."

     Following this whole conversation, Alain was asking all these things about Utah and the surrounding area, and from what it sounds like they want to come visit Utah some time. I didn’t realize until this moment how close I really was to this wonderful family.

   

The "Cookies"

     Here in Paris, at least in the private schools, each class gets to privilege of going on a class trip. When I was in elementary school we went on one trip. It was 6th grade, three days at Mill-Hollow. Daniel is 6 and Aimée is 9 and they are both taking week long trips in the south of France, and Aimée is even going to a castle. WOW! Daniel was gone last week, and Aimée is gone this week. It has been so nice to have one kid at a time! The house is so quiet and calm! Aimée was very sad to go. She cried, a lot. When we asked her why she said it was because she was afraid she was going to miss us too much. Sweet girl.

     While Daniel was on his trip, Aimée had a friend over one afternoon, and we attempted to make cookies. They didn’t really work… I was so disappointed! The whole time I was trying to help the girls put in the right mixtures, and it didn’t go according to the recipe. They ended up more like chocolate chip scones rather than cookies. I was modified! Lucky the family LOVED them. This is the second time I have made cookies with them and it has messed up in one way or another, yet they still turn out a hit! I don’t understand what it is…

     Yesterday Sara and I were trying to find something to do after church, and we found this beautiful park behind Bercy Village. It was nice to see families out and about again, and children running around in the sun. I do love this time of year. It is so exciting to be outside again.

     

     Well sorry this blog hasn’t been kept up as well recently. I will try to be a little better about that. Thanks for all those who are still reading. I am currently working on a different kind of website that would be more for all kinds of travel with all my kinds of stories and the stories others tell me. So if you have a story, I want to hear about it.

Have a wonderful week!

Voyager de France en Italie

     Hello one and all!

     I am sorry it has been so long since I last wrote a blog. I’m sure you all thought that I had forgotten about my blog. Well you would be right! I have quite the time in Paris and ITALY! Yay!

Mont Blanc in the distance

My first rainy view of Levanto

Alright let’s jump into then!

     I must say, my French is getting better. I am happy to say that I can have a good conversation with a person. Well, as long as I can understand the accent, because that is the hardest part, understanding people. Speaking is so different from writing. They say the writing is harder, but I find it the opposite. Not sure what that says about me… But there is progress!

     I think I have talked about it before, but the way the school system in Paris works is that the kids have six weeks of school and two week vacation. The family usually uses this time to go on a vacation. This time they went to visit their new vacation home in Italy, and they asked me to come along with them.

Panoramic with the kids in the Nunnery Square. Daniel is moving in it.

Beaches in Levanto

     We started Friday after picking up the kids, but the kids passport were forgotten so we had to go back to get them; Putting us 10 minutes behind schedule. We left around 4 in the afternoon and we knew that we would have a six hour drive ahead of us. Cecile hoped to get to the hotel by 10:30. The bad thing was that as soon as we left we hit traffic, and after basically sitting bumper to bumper for an hour we finally started moving faster. At this point it started to rain, and it was the hardest rain that I have ever seen. It didn't stop raining the whole 6 hours. Sure sometimes it was just a sprinkle, but most times it was steady flow of rain. There were a few times where the fog was really thick, and that was scary.

     The kids were watching movies in the back, and Cecile and I were talking in the front. I worked to keep her awake since it was a long drive, in the rain, with it getting darker and darker. She would tell me about the other cities we were driving past, and all the celebrities she has seen while living in Europe.

View of the city from the
 fishing house.

     To get to Italy from France, one needs to drive through Alps and Mont Blanc. There is a tunnel from the French side to the Italian side. The tunnel through the mountain is 7.215 mi long and very secure because in 1999, 39 people died when a transport truck caught fire in the tunnel.

      So they have very high restrictions for this tunnel. Trucks need to be checked, there are emergency exits, reduced speed limits, cars have to stay certain lengths apart, and there are camera and radar to monitor all this. Very intense.

Beautiful churches all over

     After all of that, we made it to the hotel at midnight. We had joined rooms, the kids in one and Cecile and I in the other. That was fine because it was one night and most of the time Cecile used the kids bathroom. All the beds were twin beds though. I thought that was really strange. For breakfast at the hotel they had this apple juice made from sour green apples, and it was so good! When I come home I have all these homemade recipes that I want to try. After breakfast the next morning, we started driving the remainder four hours.

      If you are wondering what it is like to drive from Paris to Italy? Well it's everything you would expect. Lots of open land, farms, little villages, churches in the distance, and castles on the hills. Very beautiful!

     Ok, so here is how our trip went, when Cecile lost her mom she was left with two homes to care for; her childhood home in Milan and the summer apartment in Levanto, Italy. The family is in the final process of selling them. So Levanto was in the first stop on our list. What a beautiful place. The houses are multiple colors, the streets are narrow and small, everyone speaks Italian, and the air feels so fresh.

Time on the beach

     It's really bizarre, learning French, then going to a country where they speak something similar, but I can't understand. I wanted to speak French! Then since we are in a small town Italy, it's very Italian. Not touristy
at all. So everyone speaks only Italian.

     Our time in Levanto was spent walking around town. It's been what Cecile called a "pilgrimage" since she went around to all her old favorite places. The gelato here is fantastic. The kids knew their way around too. We walked by the sea, played soccer in the square. It's was real fun.

Castles in the hills

     All of my time was with the kids. I didn’t mind at all though. Ceciledoes so much, and expects so little from me. I try to jump in and do things for her before she gets a chance to. I find that only fair. They basically let me come along on a family trip where all I do is occupy the kids. Which is not hard because they just play with other kids we find on the beach or the park, and Cecile is always there with us. I have spent a lot of time talking to Cecile and writing in my journal. I can't even begin to express how insane this is for me. Imagine, if you will, going to Italy with an Italian family, who knows the best places to eat and the beaches with the least amount of tourists. Basically, it is the part of Italy that a tourist never gets to see. Then to top it off, the family has money to pay for the best if the best. And they want to pay for me. I love my family, and not because they take me nice places and buy me things, but because they treat me so well, and show me the most amazing things.

     Sunday we walked around the beach. Not through the sand, but up on the sidewalk behind the sand. You could look up into the hills and see them filled with little villages with yellow and orange houses. We played soccer in the open square by the old 17th century nunnery. Oh, and we can hear the church bells from just about everywhere in the village.

     For dinner we went out to have pizza. Now this is expensive Italian restaurant food. I think the pizza melted in my mouth. Wow.

The kids watching the Sharks

     After our week in Levanto, where we cleaned and sold the apartment, we moved onto our second place in Italy. The family has recently purchased a summer home in Forte Dei Marmi. We were there a few days before the workers were finished. Whoa whoa whoa. This place is the same size if not a little bigger than the place in Paris.

The view of the pier from our lunch spot

     It's a three story house that has been modernized to the top gadgets. Everything is new, everything was redesigned. Cecile was very good at managing and knowing how to handle any sort of moving crisis. Meanwhile, I was trying to keep the kids occupied. I really didn't have to do anything, but Cecile didn't want me to help her. She felt bad that she was working me so much. All I had to do was entertain the kids, which was me mostly just watching them play at the park. So I got a trip to the unknown parts of Italy, eating amazing food, staying in very comfortable places, with great people, and in return I supervise the kids? I felt like I was not doing enough. So I help out whenever I can. Set the table, make the beds, set out clothes, and read to the kids... The more I did, the more Cecile is worried she is working me to hard, but the less I do the more I feel useless. So I worked to find a balance. 

     One day Cecile needed to go do some furniture shopping for the new house, and sent me and the kids to the aquarium for the day. That was fun! Things like that are so much fun with kids. They run around and pulled me along to look at all the beautiful fish. Telling me their favorites, and clapping as the dolphins swim quickly by them or the penguins waddle around their tank. Sometimes kids make things that normally wouldn't have interested me, very exciting.

     On Saturday, 5 days before I was to go home, Alain joined us and with both parents there they didn’t have much use for me. Sure I take the kids for several hours a day, but before Cecile needed me all the time. So I got more free time. Which was great! But I had nothing to do. Most times I was a bit lonely.

More Beautiful Churches

     Both of the towns we stayed in were very nice, though I preferred Levanto, and that might be because I had NO internet in Forte Dei Marmi. There were 5 solid days where I didn’t send anything to my family back home. As many of you can imagine, my mom panicked just a bit. It was very hard being cut off from the outside world. The family felt very bad, but there wasn’t much we could do since the internet wouldn’t be installed for another month. Walking around town was OK, but the shopping was SUPER expensive. All the major brand names, so my free time was spent people watching or sitting on the beach writing in my journal. Looking back on it now it was a really nice and relaxing, but at the time I was hard to be cut off.

     The family more than made up for it. They wanted to go visit the neighboring cities in the afternoon. Why? Because I hadn’t seen them. They were very kind to show me around and give me the full Italian experience. I am so grateful for my time here.

     The last day I was in Forte Dei Marmi the 50th anniversary of Lamborghini was happening. 300 Lamborghini's were taking a tour of Europe and they happened to stop for a few days in Forte. It was really exciting to see all the cars there!

     I came back to Paris on my own. Alain was going to drive up with the family so there was no room in the car back. I was given a plane ticket back a few days before the family. They took me to the Pisa airport and when the plane took off I could see the leaning tower out my window. Coming back to Paris was weird. I kept thinking "it's good to be home," but this isn't home. Home is with my family. My family is in Utah. It was nice to be back in a familiar place. It made me realize just how familiar I am with Paris. I can get around this city with no problem now. I know enough French to get by, and I have favorite spots I visit frequently. I was lucky enough to meet up with an old friend from Utah who was visiting with her parents and it was easy for me to show them around. I love history, the art, the culture… It’s a very strange thing for me. I love this city so much.

      Well that is all I have for you this week. I thought it would be great to talk about my wonderful trip to Italy, and I recommend it to anyone who is thinking about driving through Europe! It really was a great experience and I really hope that I can do it again some day. 

Oh, and a side note. I am a few days away from accomplishing another one of my Bucket Lists. I have only a few day (and pages) left in my journal meaning that I have kept a journal going for one year! Good for me that it's the same year I move to Paris! 

Thanks for reading!

Patin à Roues Alignées à Paris.

     Happy Sunday!

     Sorry about last blog! Hahaha! I got so many messages about my "prank." Sorry I really didn't think that it would get that much attention. To clarify, I didn't get a tattoo. Come on, y'all know me better than that. :)

     What a beautiful sunny day we had today in Paris. It was very much needed. The weather has been so back and forth this week that the WHOLE city was excited for the blue sky's and warmth. Really, everyone was outside today. The cafés were packed, ice cream was served, and people were literally dancing in the street. This is where I love Paris the most. When music is played and flowers are in bloom.

Pairs in the Spring. 

     Sara and I walked all over after church today. Just enjoying the weather and atmosphere. Speaking of church, today was the ward conference, and after they hosted a wonderful lunch for the ward. They had hot dogs! Do you know how long it has been since I have had a hot dog? It was so good! It was also really nice to walk around and spend some casual time with the people in our ward. This is one of the many things that I love about the LDS church, we have so many wonderful opportunities to meet new people.

     Anyway, so the weather was beautiful, the company was great, and the kids were so good today! Overall a perfect day. But they have a saving in French that I learned today, En avril, ne te découvre pas d'un fil, which means, Warm weather in April isn't to be trusted. How true that stands. Tomorrow it is going back to the yucky dark clouds and rain. :(

     Other than the excitement with the weather, It's been quiet here.

      I started my new semester of classes. I basically have the same teachers and mostly the same kids. So not much has changed there. Well except, I keep double booking myself on Thursdays. Meaning I have

Last Sunday was my 7th Month in Paris. It's been a great
seven months. 

TWO French classes. 5 non stop hours of French. So by hour 4 1/2 my brain has turned to mush and I can't remember the simplest of phrases. To all you out there who want to learn a language, don't do that.

     The family has had a very trying week. It started with Daniel losing his navigo pass, which is a pain to replace. Then the new family car was broken into, and the windows were smashed. While they were driving Alain's car, the license plate was stolen. It has been a long week of police reports and walking (in the rain).

     Sadly the kids haven't been much help, and added to the hard week. Last Monday, sometime in between the shower and dinner, Aimée said something to Cecile that sent her over the edge and they had a really big argument. It was all in French so I was only able to pick out a little of what it was about. Respect mostly. Alain stayed and worked as a mediator. After some arguing, Daniel ran to watch more tv, Aimée ran to her room, and Cecile looked at me and said "go on and have dinner," and grabbed her keys and walked out the front door. Whoa.

   

Sara and I have been visiting a lot of churches
lately. I am a amazed at the detail that
goes into these buildings. 

Basically it's just me and Alain standing awkwardly in the kitchen. It only took a little to convince the kids to come to dinner, and it wasn't long until Cecile was back. Very calmly she grounded the kids for two weeks. It was all in French so this is what I understood. Both kids have been very rude and spoiled lately, their parents didn't like what they were becoming, and how they were acting when they did their chores. It came down to no T.V., no game boys, no iPad.... Etc.

     Who gets to be in charge of enforcing it? Yours truely. At first I thought it was going to be hard, but the kids responded well to it. They have tried their best to be good the last two weeks. I am so glad that Cecile stepped up and put them in their place, and that Alain backed her up. You don't see that a lot with the Au pair families here in Paris.

     During the last two weeks, whenever we would have a glimpse of good weather I would be itching to get outside. I wanted to play and run, but when I'm not with the kids it can appear a bit strange. I tried running. That flopped. I'm sure I could get used to it after a while, but it just didn't appeal to me. So I had a decision to make. Bike or rollerblades? Everyone I asked said bike. Though to bike around Paris, it means you are in the road a lot. Scary. The problem with rollerblades is that their aren't many places to rollerblade. But I'm stubborn. So I got rollerblades.

     By my house is the Bois de Boulogne. It is SO big. It is very similar to the Jordan Parkway, but bigger

My new Rollerblades! 

and quieter. The paths are great, and I went rollerblading.

     Sigh....

     I guess I should explain. I haven't been on rollerblades in more than three years, and their are some things I forgot. Like how to stop. Oh man. I was bookin it down the paths of the Bois de Boulogne. I only fell twice, and screamed four times. So I would say it was a success! Since them I have only gone twice (the weather), but it gets easier every times. Oh, and don't worry the family bought me an early birthday present, a helmet.

     Paris is really good about rollerbladers. Apparently on Friday nights, and Sunday afternoons they close off some of the streets and have rollerblading parades. I plan on doing that a few times, after I get used to the rollerblades.

     The best part of my adventure? My new app. Its called MapMyRun. It is awesome. I don't need internet. I just push "Start" and it maps my exercise. Where I go and for how long. I can be listening to music and it will give me updates as I go, saying stuff like "Update, you have gone one mile in so much time, your average time per mile is this." It is awesome! So I went four

It was when I came to this in the road
that I really started questioning my decision.

miles yesterday. It was great. Recommended. Five stars.

     How did everyone enjoy Conference? For those who don't know, the Latter-Day Saints had our annual general conference, and it's kind of a big deal for us Mormons. I loved it! I watched all of it! Including priesthood, to which my brother informed that I wasn't suppose to do (oops). I was never really excited about Conference until the last few years, now I get so excited when I know it is coming. One of my favorite talks actually came from the Young Women Meeting from the week before, from Mary N. Cook. Well really all of the Young Women Meeting.Very uplifting for the women of the church.

     I can't get over how powerful Elder Robert D. Hales talk was during Priesthood Session. I have watched it several times now. Same with Holland's talk. I plan on reading that one a few times. And of course, our beloved Prophet. He has always been a wonderful speaker and he has the best stories. I loved how much of the conference talked about family. How important it is to have strong family connections. Especially between the parents, because it will make a difference for generations to come. What a great Conference! Tell me some of your favorites.

The new furby models are sort of scary. 

     Well this weekend, Daniel got a Nerf gun (a big one, like one that grown men collect). And Aimée got a Furby which has been scaring me and won't stop talking. Who remembers furby? Well the new models are freaky! I will never understand this toy. It has been talking so much that I think the parents regret getting it.
Never get a talking toy that doesn't have an off switch.

     Well that's what is happening in Paris. I will keep you all informed of my rollerblading adventures.

     I leave you with my favorite quote from conference,

"All things are possible to them that believe." - Jeffrey r. Holland.

     Love you all, miss you! Until next week!