Dortmund: Travelling Like Hobbits

Dortmund was an unplanned stop on our eurotrip. It was more of a 12 hour layover, which was made much easier because I got to see a friend that I met at the beginning of my au pair year!

I am sure I would have enjoyed Dortmund much more if I wasn’t sleep deprived, it didn’t rain 50% of the time, and the bathrooms were free (even though I didn’t pay for them, but it was incredibly frustrating to be told I have to pay after eating at the restaurant).

If it wasn't for this park we visited in Dortmund and my friend coming by, I feel like Dennis and I would just have slept in a McDonalds. 

It was funny as most of these barrels had drifted to the little island across this pond. So it is virtually impossible to grab the barrels without swimming across. So we had to wait for the only barrel available that was [at this moment] occupied.

Let the hobbit adventure begin! 

Barreling is harder than it looks. It also feels like you might drown at any moment. Not suitable for small children, or people who cannot swim. 

Like I mentioned, this park was really cool. It had the barrel riding (pictured above), these swinging things, cinema, a nice walking path, and... 

Flamingos. 

Advice for future travellers do not take two over night buses back to back unless you are a smaller than average height, function when sleep deprived, or are a robot who can just shut off for a couple of hours.

Tell the world, I'm coming home.

Best. News. Ever was received by me today. I got my Russian visa. Which means I get to go home and see people I have not seen for 12 years! 12 years! I started crying on the Champs Elysee, because I was so freaking happy.

This week overall has been so amazing!

Let's start with last Sunday (a calendar week starts on Sunday in Europe, I now know some people find this weird).

Last Sunday was Fête de la Musique in France. Which is a huge festival of music, and it happens all over France. It is where artists, famous and amateur, come out and play on stages, small and large. I kind of expected it to be more musical than it was, but we did end up at Republique which where the main stage was set up in Paris. I listened to some amazing new music and had a really great pizza! The fête goes until 3am; however, I am a working woman! And also I live far and my train stops at 12am. Granted I didn't even stay that long because I just wanted to finish watching Game of Thrones season 5 (especially because people were posting left and right what was happening and I didn't want my boyfriend to have the ending spoiled for him; I've already read the books so it wasn't much of a surprise to me).

Oh yeah, and the day before we ate a lot... That was pretty much all we did:

The idea was to go into Paris for Moules Frites... but we got hungry before, and then we had to get our Moules... I mean that's why we were there. 

Then the busiest week started. 

It is the end of the year, meaning all activities are finished and progress must be shown to the parents. 

I have to admit though it was adorable!! I also loved how every time the little ones would come out on stage all they'd want to do was look for their parents and then wave profusely. 

Then came the regular Tuesday (that I will soon write about, it's turns out it's a lot more work than I thought... and I am lazy). 

Then came my goodbye party/ all nighter in Paris (as we suburbianers (?) must do when we go out for a night in Paris). 

We started off meeting everyone, going to the Seine, and drinking a full bottle of vodka and two jugs of orange juice (I say this separately because we didn't bring cups, so it was little bottle, then jug of juice). We then rejoined many other people by the Seine, and continued drinking until we all felt like dancing, so we headed out to Bastille (I don't know why I always end up there!). Because transport is usually difficult for such a large number of people, we all got split up. So while I don't actually remember everything clearly I'll just add the pictures, because a picture is a thousand words (and I have many pictures). 

After the bar closed we headed down to the Bastille Opera to jam, because what else could you do at 5 am?! Also surprisingly you meet some lovely people who could either play guitar or can really sing! Quite a lovely end to the perfect evening (or morning..?) 

This is our album cover for the new CD that we'll have out entitled: "no we won't get a hangover as long as we're jammin".

Irina and I got home at 7:30 am, and guess what we did? That's right, we went to sleep! A bed has never looked so good! The rest of the weekend was a recovery weekend. We mostly hung out, ate food, and played Monopoly... which I won... that's right I will never live this down. Monopoly, the game where you lose all your friends. 

Look at all them dolla' dolla' bills that Caro plans to give to me. 

It's ok if you lose, but I better win. 

I'm kidding... kind of. 

Paris, je t'aime vraiment.

This month has been a huge gumble of things! I have so little time left that I am constantly on the move trying to fit as many things into my schedule as I can, therefore I kept on putting of blogging as I didn't see it as "très important".

Throughout this time I have met some old friends, made tons of new friends, and did things I never thought I would do. I have also spent a lot of time by the pool, because au pairing is hard and sometimes you need a day by the pool (I am sarcastic here, I know it isn't noticeable, but I am).

Gosh I am getting all sad all of a sudden. Just thinking of all the things I have done and still need to do, I can't believe the finish is so close. But I will have some exciting things to post soon (not that so far it wasn't exciting...)!

I really love this experience and the people I've met. To laugh so hard you start crying, to sit so close to the seine you feel like you might fall, so you start looking for the closest shore that you might be able to swim to in case that happens, and of course to go so hard all night to then later fall asleep on the 7 am train trip back home. I love this city, I couldn't have picked a better family, and I couldn't have asked for better friends!

Even when the one true french "recommends" us wine that we then notice is without alcohol... and still tastes just bad rosé

And even with my fear of water, I still went kayaking on the Loing for 16km! All while sitting in a puddle of the river water for perhaps 4 hours that we were there. Notice the sweater? Yeah... it gets cold when you sit in a couple of cm of water for a couple of hours and then get out to have a picnic, only to stay in your soaking clothes. 

Just 2 weeks left. Just wait, exciting posts coming!

 

It just hit me I have 1 month left.

I haven't written anything since last time just because I haven't found anything too exciting to write about.

Unless people want to hear that I am stressed about doing visa's, getting everything done in a short amount of time, and freaking out that I have to leave in a month!

But I will do some arbitrary posts about au pairing. Should be fun.

So a bit ago I was going through this boredom stage, especially when the girls have been on vacation, so I decided to do something different (especially because I haven't posted a video in a while)... I decided to "try acting". But not actually.. this is sort of embarrassing, but I seriously don't care anymore. I put hard work into this! With all the hair flipping that I did to try and get some volume in my limp, straight hair.

Enjoy!

Sam Smith - I'm not the only one

The parisian lifestyle.

It seems like every time people hear that chocolate is not my favourite thing, people start freaking out. Some friends will hear it for second, third, fourth time and will still be shocked! Guys it’s ok… it’s not like I don’t like ice cream! (but don’t get me started on chocolate ice-cream… that stuff is gross!!)

So this past Wednesday I finally saw the old railroad and the plants that are built around it. It’s somewhere near Gare de Lyon… but unfortunately the name has escaped me… something to do with “promenade” and “plants”. I’m sure if you type those words and “railway” you’ll see what I am talking about.

It was a lovely walk with some lovely friends.

We then got the idea to stop by a chocolatier and grab some fondue. Yes I know… after my schpeel in the beginning you’d think “why is she having fondue”… I ate the fruit, dipped in tiny amounts of chocolate, contrary to my friends. It’s not like I detest chocolate – unlike the chocolate ice cream – I am just not a person who would ever go out of my way to buy it, or crave it on a regular basis, or get excited when it is around.

The Thursday following we had an incident with the little one who got a migraine! I took care of the little one as best as I could, even after she vomited in my car twice. But I really couldn’t care less; I just wanted her to feel better (which she did after a little nap!).

The Friday was our potluck dinner with a couple of friends. I spontaneously ended up staying the night in Paris and stayed with the best hostess! My friend and her husband were so lovely to us, giving us pyjamas, flippy-floppies (Havannas I think they were called?? Most comfiest flippy-floppies… totally ordering them online once I get back home… apparently they are all over Brazil, why have I never seen them in Canada???), breakfast, and just a wonderful, comfy sleep! Oh and then we were treated to a wonderful stroll through the Citroën park (or citron as I like to call him… which I was pointed out by my friend is a joke the French have towards the car anyways… so I was being French without even knowing it!).

After all that I arrived 45 minutes late to meet another friend due to me being an idiot and getting lost on the metro, then taking the correct line only to realize it’s last 5 stops (mine was the 5^th) were all under construction and the train wasn’t going to stop there. So I had to take extra time to take 3 different lines to get to the destination! Quite frustrating.

My friend and I pretty much ended up getting lost in Paris (actually not even Paris, we ended up way outside of Paris), but checking out a lovely park. Then we figured why not check out the Vincennes castle only to be severely disappointed by it.

Then after spending more than 24 hours in Paris I ended up going for some drinks with other friends were we discussed the beauties of tinder.

Coming home was a bit of a drag, after spending so much time in Paris. It was really lovely to see how convenient it is to live right in the center. However, I wouldn’t change my girls just to live in the city center (I heard Parisian families can be a little crazy…).

Oh during my run through the metro trying to get to my friend I ended up ripping my bag as I had stuffed it up too much and it got very heavy. I tried to pull a Lina and make my bag the Hermoine bag…. But clearly my bag fought back. I tried to sew it back today but do you know how difficult it is to sew through thick leather!! The needle went through my skin 4 (+?) times! I stopped counting after blood was all over my bag and the needle… It was getting ridiculous. But I did a half-ass job of it, and at least the handle is staying…for now.

On the Sunday I met my friend up in the city near-by to take a walk through the forest, which was a great chill day after a so much time spent partying it up in Paris. My wallet and I really deserved the break.  

A 3 in 1 blogpost.

I am so bad at this! I write all these blogs in my mind but when to comes to writing them I just find other things to do.... like youtube exercise videos that make me hurt the next day. So instead of posting two different blogs in one day, I am going to do one but title them within the blog post.

Night Bus Adventures

So last Wednesday I was in Paris to visit a friend and happened to stay fairly late. I also happened to get lost on the metro and ended up going the wrong way on my way to the train station.... twice. Then one of the metro lines I was on suddenly stopped and I had to get off and switch trains. Inevitably I missed the train I wanted to take but with all my confusion I made it with 7 minutes to spare for the other train (clearly I got lost for a while, it was late and I was tired after our nightly shenanigans)! Then to my surprise the train happens to stop at the first station and everyone just starts getting off because, surprise, train is no longer running, the busses are taking over. So because I obviously wanted to get home I got on the bus. The guy beside me started to be sort of creepy when we got to my stop asking me where I live and et cetera. Let's just say I got to my car pretty quickly after that. 

Welcome to Paris in the Summer time

So I hear Canada is still pretty cold... that sucks. Good thing I am in France. 

This weekend I had to pack lightly as a friend and I were going to spend the night in Paris. In my attempts to stuff everything into my little purse/backpack I ended up breaking the little zipper thinger on the bag... good job me. This whole zipper problem has happened to my pants (haha yes I am getting fat on baguette and cheese, whatever make your jokes) but seriously I have been through 2 pairs of pants and two purses with broken zippers now! What is going on in the world! 

So on the first day some friends and I went to this food tasting thing. I must say it was delicious, but some items tended to be on the expensive side for the amount of food they were giving out. Well either way, it was fun. 

It's like Lady and the Tramp but with a hydration fruit juice.

Irina and I then headed over to the friend with whom we were later staying at, as we had a dinner being prepared for us. I know we are just the luckiest people. 

Dinner was lovely! It also included one and a half bottles of wine, and beer so you know it was good. After judging my music taste and showing us that our new "dj" can do better we headed out to Pigalle for a bar and then a club. The club was quite interesting as at first there was a live band playing. As my french friend pointed out one of the guitarists looked exactly like Tyrion Lannister, while the second Daario Naharis - the second actor (clearly we watch too much game of thrones to be seeing these characters now in real life). 

Daario and Tyrion in their true environments.

Well after a good laugh and dancing we headed home. Where our poor friend (who is over 6 feet) slept on the tiniest couch while we, two small girls, slept on the bed. I believe we had the better deal...

In the morning we had slept through half of our day by waking up at 11:30, then by the time we made breakfast (including french croissants and pain au chocolate... because when in Paris you do like the parisians)

We could see bits of the tower from the window... so you know we are fancy.

Then we headed out to explore the area bumping into a couple of shows, a museum and the fountains in front of the Eiffel Tower. Where we decided to have our own private photo shoot! 

"I believe I can fly"

She doesn't need to believe, she can fly.

The spectacle in front of the Eiffel tower was quite amusing!

Then we headed out to meet some more people very close to our train station (and next to Jardin des Plantes which is starting to be very beautiful compared to the last time I visited when it was mostly bare trees... oh and kangaroos). 

We figured 17 minutes would be plenty to get back to our train station and take the train on time.... oh how wrong I was. We sprinted half way to the train station, got lost in the train station (the trains had changed it's track) and then missed it by a millisecond!! We got down as the train started to pull away. So frustrating!! 

Jam Session in Paris

If you don't know me very well, I love to sing. And so Irina and I found this event in Paris that we went to last night that was simply titled "Jam Session". We were so glad we went, it was such a wonderful experience. I got to sing two songs! And the other singers were just so perfect! Even if you aren't a singer really go check out these jam sessions. It's like going to a concert, but we just took over the basement of the bar, set up a mic and speakers, and people just sang either their own stuff or covers! It was so perfect. Reminds me of the times back home when we would just set up a campfire, have a guitar, and just sing (side note: I've noticed Bohemian Rhapsody is almost always sang during these campfires... QUBS oh the good old days of field research and waders). 

Oh yeah... pizza was totally involved too. 

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.

Smooth Criminal

Last week I was driving the girls to their afterschool activities to a neighbouring village. As we were coming up to the roundabout one of the girls says “Oooh look police”. To my surprise there were 2 cop cars and about 7 policemen/woman standing around the roundabout stopping people. So I just continued driving and realized that they were checking the opposing traffic (i.e after dropping the girls off I would potentially be stopped by them). Now this was probably just an alcohol barrier thing that they do all the time in all different countries. So as we passed by I started to think of what I would say in my broken French (I definitely don’t want to seem drunk due to bad language skills) and then started thinking about the documents I would have to give them: car insurance, drivers license… drivers license! I had forgotten my drivers license at home! All I had taken were the house keys.  So now I am in a panic and trying to think how can I explain that I just live in the next village over and that I can drive back here in 5 minutes and prove that I am no weird foreigner driving kids in a van. Or maybe I’ll just wait at the girls’ activities for 30 minutes, by that time surely the police would leave. Then my brain kicked in, what if I just evade them by going around that village? So once I dropped off the girls I just followed random signs that took me to my neighbouring village. My fear was that A) the police would realize people might do this and be posted at all neighbouring roads or B) It turns out the road I take takes me to the same road the police are on. Luckily I had turned out to come out on the road exactly parallel to the road the police were on. Now every time I leave the house I remember to take my license, even if it’s a place down the road... I’m so paranoid.

Of course Easter was last weekend. By Sunday the girls had so much chocolate they could probably have it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a full month. I figured this was “family time” so I just spent the time in Paris the whole long weekend. Who wants some stranger hanging around while you catch up with all extended family, and also I’d have felt really out of place, not only because I am not related but that I don’t even speak the same language.

At one point in the weekend, a friend and I went to Shakespeare and Company to a writing workshop. After writing a piece the last thing I wanted to hear was “this is sharing time now”. I swear I was just going to burst into tears at how nervous I was. I don’t mind performing in front of people or being the center of attention when I have a good experience story to tell, but when I have to share something that is so close to me and that I had put so much emotion into… yeah I don’t want to. But people were very positive after my read, and had genuinely enjoyed my piece. I think though because the piece was so close to experiences I’ve had I’d prefer to do a completely separate blog post on it, just to explain where it stems from, or not… again telling stories is one thing, sharing emotions through art is a completely vulnerable part of me that I don’t know if I feel comfortable sharing with people other than myself.

Otherwise the weekend was as usual: meet new cool folks, eat lots of good Parisian food that I can’t afford, and just have a wonderful time in Paris.

I finally went to the Pompidou... it was alright

But at least I became a rockstar for 5 seconds.

Also I was contacted by my University to let me know I have been officially accepted into my Masters program (yay!) but that I have a different name on my application compared to my transcript. Damn it Lithuanian spelling! Why do you put random “J’s” in area’s where they should not exist! So right now I am registered as two different people under the same last name… oops.

Oh also had to say goodbye to a friend yesterday. While we had a wonderful time eating lunch and then drinking wine by the Pantheon, it was still bittersweet when you hear “That was a lovely time” in a British accent one last time. But unfortunately not everyone comes to Paris permanently. Out of our entire Wednesday gang only one person will stay in France! And they aren’t even au pairs!