Bienvenue en France: First Impressions

My plane to france was only leaving at 6:40pm (from Toronto) and I was going to get to Paris, France at 8:00am. This is so convenient you might say! Why not just sleep the 7(ish) hours on the plane, spend the day with the family, and go to bed when all the french go to bed! Voila, no jet lag.

IF ONLY IT WAS THAT EASY. 

I had the perfect spot on the plane, a window seat, next to a lovely french couple.... with a devil child sitting in the back. And no I am not being harsh, he was horrible. He didnt sleep the entire plane ride, instead he kept kicking my chair, crying at the top of his lungs, and pooping (to put it lightly); all while the mother wouldn't give a sh*t, she didn't do anything to stop him! CONTROL YOUR CHILD WOMAN! I was so exhausted and cranky that I wanted to turn around and say that (as well as other.. not so nice things...) to the woman behind me. It didn't matter, I'd say it in French, Russian, or English, I thing she'd realize what I was trying to say according to my tone (along with the couple sitting beside me... they weren't very happy either). 

Well in the end, the let me into France. Not that it's a hard process, once you actually get here... the French embassy back in Canada.... well that is a different story. 

The family greeted me at the front gates, which was so lovely! They were actually happy to see me. I say "actually" because I have read too many horror stories in au pair blogs. For some reason I only came upon these blogs 3 days before I was leaving... and all I could think was "what did I get myself into, crap!" So that was lovely. Then we spent the day going to Mcdonalds, IKEA, and a lovely french restaurant.

Now I have divided most of the things into categories, if there is a category you would rather not read, then just skip to the next one. 

The House

Their house is located about 45mins away from Paris (by car). It is in such a lovely little village. The surroundings kind of remind me of Hobbiton (but not really). If you have seen the movie "The Holiday" with Cameron Diaz and that Titanic girl; The England village place that Cameron Diaz stays in, is almost exactly like the village I live in. It's awesome. There is a forest in the back, a stream in the front, and nature all around me. It almost reminds me of home, which helps with the homesickness. 

The Family

The girls are really quite nice. They seem to like me which is a very good sign, and will hopefully make my life a little easier. However, they have so much energy. Every night I am just exhausted. It doesn't help that I go to sleep at 1am every night. They think I am cool! Ha! Best compliment ever received from a small human that wasn't related to me. 

Leo (5) and Connie (9)

Leo, the youngest, is just the cutest little girl. Her favourite word to me however is "Quoi" [What], due to my broken french. Connie is a little easier as she understands English, however doesn't usually respond in it, making things a bit difficult for me. Hopefully she will be speaking back in English soon, I'll make sure of it. 

The family overall is very welcoming. Very different from the horror stories I have read of other au pairs. We will see how the rest of the year goes as well. 

Finally a sunny day in France! 

Things that have surprised me so far in France

1. Canadians, our school teachers have lied to us! The french don't us "ne" with "pas". For example to say "I don't like" is just "j'aime pas". Perhaps this is slang, perhaps not, but I have adapted this way of speaking now. 

2. Holy crap, there is so much cheese! And they are all so different... and smelly. 

3. The roads are very narrow. Like "pull over to the side for others to pass" narrow. This is going to be interesting when I am driving... the standard.

4. Did you know French eat raw beef? No, not "rare", raw. I was a little taken aback when Cindy (the mom) handed over a slab of raw ground beef to Connie for lunch. Apparently this is very common. You eat the raw beef with mustard, salt, and pepper. I believe it's called "Steak Tartar". 

5. Roundabouts everywhere. Something else I should get used to. 

6. The french drink, but they tend to be very classy about it. 

7. People aren't as mean as I was told they are going to be. Geez people, what is with all these stereotypes. 

Well I have finally wrote this. Hopefully my next one won't take a week for me to write. I have new experiences everyday, but I get lazy to actually write, when instead I can read about other peoples experiences, some which are pretty horrid. 

Next step: actually make some friends, preferably ones that speak English. I am very tired of all this FOMO when people speak around me.