After an awesome summer (that I'll catch up on later), I'm back in France. It was harder to leave my family this time, as well my new home in Novato. The trip was long but fine. It actually went by kinda fast; I think that says a lot about how much time I've spent travelling...
When I arrived at the.. we'll call it a train stop, Marie-Laure was there. It was so nice to see her again and I was reminded how lucky I was to have met the family I was going to live with before deciding to really do it. If anyone is confused: I decided that studying in France for 5 months was simply not enough. I spoke to much English and I was just not ready to leave France and my friends here. I wanted to come back and spend more time in Bretagne. After thinking long and hard about it, I decided to find a job as an au pair. So this year I'm back in France, this time as an au pair and not a student. I'm living with a French family, helping take care of the children, observing, learning.
So far it's been good. My first day, we went to the beach. That was a Friday and the day of the birthday party I'd been looking forward to for a while. I went to my friend Margaux's house to celebrate her. It was great to see her again cause she's one of the sweetest girls you'll meet. I know her because she lived two rooms down from me in Rennes last spring. She lives in a darling town not too far from Rennes. It was a bit difficult to be thrown into a social situation so soon after re-arriving. I was quite rusty in French after being gone for three months-- only three months, I know. It was fun though and I could speak and understand enough. Saturday I left for Rennes/ Chateaugiron. I had a bit of difficulty with the train that, frankly lead to a brief meltdown. I wondered what I was thinking trying to be adventurous and able. I wondered what I was doing far away and alone. It was needed, and then I was able to find a way to the Oliviers. Again, it was a bit difficult to be in a social situation and I was so tired and I just kinda sat there. I wanted to catch up with people but it was hard to understand what they were saying and the words I wanted to say just couldn't come together. Yes, they made fun of me loosing my French after a summer back in the USA.
Anyway, I was happy to see people again and was happy that I was able to go to church again. People seemed happy to have me back and that felt nice. I met the two other au pairs who are new and don't speak much French and pretty much blurted out all the English I could in a short time. Things worked out and I made it back to Saint-Méloir-des-Ondes. I played with the kids and had dinner with Marie-Laure, and even had a pretty good conversation. By the end of the day, I thought: this could work. I'll be happy here.
The kids are adorable. Louis is about six months old; Blanche, Clotilde, and Jeanne are two years old-- yes, triplets-- and Henri is three and a half years old. It was tiring playing with them and helping out and trying to keep them happy, not to mention polite. However, it's not too hard. Sometimes during the week, I thought that this life will get boring and I'll be tired of doing the same thing over and over for a year; but the week went by pretty fast looking back. I was looking forward to the weekend.
There was a party for Clement who's leaving for his mission. I made cookies. That was fun and by the end of the night, I felt much more comfortable having conversations in French than I had a week earlier. It's still not always easier but with new confidence, I know much more progress will come. Saturday was kind of lazy and fun also, it was like really being back: hanging out at the Oliviers' with Martine and Alicia, playing games. The missionaries were there for a bit, so I could even speak English when I needed a little break. The jetlag had finally worn off so I didn't feel like I'd woken up at one in the morning. Listening to French all day and forming sentences is still tiring, but it was a nice break after the week. I found myself missing them though, hearing their little voices: Moi, cest à moi. It was a bit easier to concentrate in church and focus on what people were saying and actually understanding most of it. I feel good about speaking with people and am trying more to keep conversations going; that'll not only help my language skills, but help me become closer with people I wanted to know better before but was kind of too.. well, shy.. I don't know.. to talk to.
Anyway, that's more or less my week and a half back in France. I'm really excited for what's to come.
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