Two Weeks Down

A lot has happened in the past week! First of all, I had my first day of work on Monday the 7th. It was terrible! Basically, I had been in contact with this family who wanted to hire me to work as their nanny for the school year and my hours would be from 4-8pm each day. They had two children ages 6 and 3. It seemed like the perfect situation... but no, no, it was not.

Long story short, they had a Philipina housekeeper who had been caring for the children since they were born. The parents had explained to me that the reason this situation was no longer working out was that the housekeeper was not very fluent in either French or English and that she spoiled the children. They stressed that discipline and manners were very important to them and that they hoped that I would be strict with the children. I figured that the children might test some limits at first, but pretty soon we would find our groove and all would work out fine. After having spent one day with the children it was clear that they had never been told NO to anything ever in their entire lives. The next two days basically consisted of me having to discipline the children the entire time. This was not fun for any of us. Then there was the fact that the mom spoke to me like I was "the help" and the housekeeper was clearly afraid of her employers. On day three I found what I am pretty sure was a nanny-cam in the living room. So, I quit. It just didn't seem worth dealing with a bad situation if I am only going to be here for such a short amount of time.

And ever since the moment I quit, my time in Paris has been phenomenal! Things are looking up!

A few highlights from the nanny job:

1. The first night the mom got home and asked if I would make a cake for her son's birthday while she went out to a meeting (all after the time I was supposed to go home).

2. There was a pig's leg in the kitchen. Yes, an entire pig leg (hair, hoof and all). I guess it was to eat? The kids didn't really seem to notice it.

3. The children (who just a reminder were 3 & 6) both wore diapers to bed, had bottles with formula in them, cribs and pacifiers.

4. The housekeeper let the kids eat anything they wanted...e.g. 6 doughnuts for an after-school-snack.

5. They had the full-time housekeeper, me and then they were also going to hire a live-in au pair in the coming months... but they were only willing to pay 10 euros an hour?

My New Paris:

On Friday, Harlan and I went out to dinner and drinks with Coleman (Harlan's old college roommate), Katie (friend of Coleman's who is from Columbus, OH) and Michelle (our lovely roommate). It was so much fun! I ate an entire charcuterie plate on my own at the bar. The meat was unrocognizable but delicious!

On Saturday, we went shopping and found many things we "needed": popcorn, rice cakes, hand-held blender for soup making, speakers so we can play music, and lots of chocolate. We found the french version of the Farmacy (it even smelled the same) and a Big-Lots-ish store. That night we made some awesome butternut squash soup and watched tv and ate popcorn- my dream night! Then today Harlan and I woke up early (9am) and rode bikes to the Eiffel Tower!!! We got breakfast to-go from a boulangerie and ate it under the tower. How Parisian is that? Then we rode home along the Seine! It was great (a little scary to bike in Paris where traffic laws don't exist). Then this afternoon I met up with Natalie (a girl I went to high school with)! We had coffee and took a great walk along the Champs Elysées!

Early November