Attack of the bumblebees

I could not believe I did not take any pictures on Saturday night. I just realized this when I thought “today I’ll write a blog about the weekend”… so you’ll just have to believe me when I say:

I went to a Birthday party on Saturday for a friend who lives just around here. It was really quite fun to catch up with some people as I haven’t seen any of them for some time, and it was great to eat some really delicious food!

The only downfall was that I had to leave early, as I wanted to go to church in the morning with a Russian au pair-friend I met in this area. Especially because it was Easter, and I really wanted to check out the service in a Parisian-Russian Orthodox church*

The service was so lovely, and as my friend put it, almost meditational. We definitely walked away very happy and ready to enjoy the rest of the sunny day.

We met up with an old friend I met back in University. We really had such a great time. I don’t know whether it was that we were in such a good mood, or that his jokes were so funny but I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much in a full day. We really could not get over the fact of how great the time was! Like even now I can sit here and think back and still laugh… creeping out my work buddy.

A tiny example of the fun we were having at the Invalides. 

Once I got home I was just so exhausted… I went to bed at 9:30 and fell asleep by probably 10 (but then again I might be a bit too generous with my time… it could have been 9:35).

Also today I came to a realization. I have a defense-less defense mode. I am quite disappointed in myself.

I bumble-bee flew into my room and then turned and flew right at my face, and you know what I did?! I just closed my eyes! How freaking useless is that! Like why was my instinct neither fight nor flight but just stand there with my eyes closed under the impression of “if I don’t see it, it doesn’t see me”. So clearly I should start taking some self-defense classes or something, because that just won’t fly with me.

And yes I come up with loads of epiphanies like that when I’m under attack… by bumblebees.

*Do understand I am a scientist. I also very much believe in evolution and that the world is much older than 3 000 years. However I was born and raised in a very religious culture, so it’s almost like a habit now. I’ve also been through things in my life that I could not have gotten over without the feeling that I wasn’t totally alone, even though physically I was.

That time I crashed the family's car.

Now that I have your attention... I shall begin with the happy parts of my week and weekend before I end with a smashing conclusion (see what I did there).

This week is referred to as "hell week" by some aupairs, and apparently some host parents. This is because the kids are not in school for this time and we, as auparis, must watch them every day, every hour, every minute.. you get the picture. However, my kids have been really fun and this time has actually helped us get closer. Granted spending so much time with kids is very exhausting, those little bodies have so much energy!

I like to keep the kiddos busy, and I feel like putting them outside is some of the best things I can do to help them get rid of their energy. So I kept taking them at the park. We also ended up at a big cat zoo [lions and tigers and ... goats and lemurs].

"Don't touch the lemurs"... They are literally able to climb on top of you if they so felt like it (the "barrier" was just a couple of logs, and the cement path). So it was a game of "please don't touch me lemur so I don't get kicked out of the park". 

Leo and I played a "guess the drawing" game. Could any body else guess what this is? To me it looks like a demon cow. I was apparently close. According to Leo it is a mean dog. 

This weekend I ended up taking a road trip to Loire Valley - a place in France with a castle almost every 5 km. It was quite interesting, as you went down the road into each different city, the castles only got better. 

Castle numero uno (that we visited). Dijon.

Dos. Sully. 

Tres. Chambourd. 

"I know you want it" - I'm pitbulling here if no one else gets the reference. But yeah.. this is castle 4. Blois. 

We ended up staying the night in Blois. We also happened to go out for the night and surprisingly we found a place that was open later than 1 am. All this after we played the best dare game in the world, unfortunately now the front desk person thinks I have an obsession with grapes to want them at 12 in the morning. 

The next day we visited Da Vinci's crib. 

For some reason he was hiding out in the basement. I guess he isn't a "people person". 

But his garden was kind of spectacular. 

The last castle was the best one we visited. It was known as the "princess castle" or something like that because mostly women stayed here, and decorated the whole thing. Chenonceau. 

This was the last happy picture I took that day. We left after seeing this castle and the ride home took just over 2 hours. Now consider this, I've been driving for 2 days, manual, and I was just way too happy to be home that 2 seconds into the drive way I hit the side gates that open up into my house and dent the entire back door of my car. Oh yeah, and I hit the wooden gate on my way in as well... because the brick wall just wasn't enough. 

My host parents also had people over that I've never met before, so clearly I am awesome at first impressions. 

Fortunately the family wasn't mad at all. If anything I feel like I was harder on myself than anyone else was. Because I just felt stupid. I have never been in any kind of car accident, and I consider myself a pretty good driver. How the hell do I manage to put a large dent in the car driving INTO the driveway after a 2 day long road trip, 2 months of driving on ridiculously curvy and narrow french roads, and alongside french drivers. Ughh.. Well I guess every au pair has to screw up one way, this was mine....

driving into the driveway...never going to let that go. 

Currently the running joke is: when will I even out the other side?