where? montmartre, paris
what? a typical work day
who? myself & my two au pair kids
why? because my parisian daily life is incredibly interesting...
weather? hot, hot 35ºc
mood? comme çi, comme ça; loving the hot weather, but not a fan of the mosquitoes that come with it
7:30AM...
this morning was one of my luckier ones, with a luxury sleep-in until 7:30am. sometimes i have to get noah (22 months) out of bed, and recently he has a habit of waking up at 6am. therefore 7:30 = un petit kiffe. buuut, after a few snoozes - 7:30 became 7:45, became 8. should probably've got up earlier, but there are more things in life to worry about than not being an on-time au pair.
even managed to squeeze in some breakfast - today's was a pain au chocolat (guilty pleasure) & freshly squeezed oj. miam!
8:20AM...
got the boys ready & walked the 2-min walk to liam's school. noah's got a fetish for spending some time in the classroom with all the other frenchies before the class officially starts, so i chucked some little booties on him (he's not so fussed about actual pants in this hot weather) and he becomes un petit écolier (not a reference to the chocolate biscuits) for half an hour. liam is at la maternelle, something of a prep equivalent back home. and yes, prep starts at 8:30am in france.
the walk back home is hilarious (hilariously frustrating?) with noah. he says hello & goodbye to every motorbike "toto", pulls on every car door handle lining the street and swings around every pole. thus, the 2-min walk stretches out to 15-min...
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| christel (liam's teacher) & liam |
9AM...
au pair parents head off to work, so it's playtime for nini & i - aka let's wreak havoc in and around the house & garden. drawing pictures is great for 10 minutes, then turns into drawing-on-walls which isn't so great. he's a good kid though, i just have to be firm with him sometimes. his fav game is steph-picking-noah-up-and-catapulting-him-onto-the-beanbag. the best part about it is that he does this crazy belly-chuckle. i have to film it one day...
recent development: my new name is "teph!"
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| singing songs for the café-goers below |
11:20AM...
back up the street to pick liam up for lunch. french kids gets a two-hour lunch break (literally half the day, i swear) where they can go home & eat...lucky me. i've got a good deal when it comes to cooking - i don't. au pair mama prepares something in the morning that i then put together at lunch-time for the boys. but i'm not just talking a sandwich like what your average australian kid would munch on for lunch. i'm talking steak & veggies, soup, cous cous & salmon... fancy stuff that, to me, seems more dinner-esque.
noah now eats by himself... which is great & all, but the time i save not feeding him is just doubled in cleaning up after his one-metre radius mess he leaves around him. it's all about seeing the kids grow & learn, right?
1PM...
whoa, too much fun for noah = he's out like a light at 1pm. he has a gros dodo (big sleep), with his beloved papa lapin (soft toy rabbit) while liam and & i spend some time doing..... well, whatever comes to his incredibly-imaginative, 6-year-old mind. his latest obsession is paper aeroplanes. i can honestly say i have perfected the art of about 4 different kinds of paper planes. since then, he has learnt how to make them himself...so we're currently sitting at about 40 paper planes littered in & around the house at the present moment. god forbid he catches me culling a few of them...
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| papa lapin |
1:20PM...
with noah asleep, we zip out of the apartment and up to liam's school, where i drop him off for his afternoon class. the sun was shining down on rue gabrielle as i was walking back, so i snapped a couple of shots before getting back to the aparty. summer is the most beautiful time here in montmartre...or in paris in general. every time i look at these photos i think about how lucky i am to be living here, experiencing it all first-hand.
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| liam procrastinating going back to school - "prends une photo de moi!" |
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| liam's school on the right |
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| the steps i will have to climb 4x a day when liam starts school in september. joy |
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| yes, i have my own door code. i love this |
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| the apartment staircase. lucky i'm only on the 1st floor... |
1:30PM...
my little pocket of me-time, of which the duration depends on the length of noah's nana nap. alot of you have asked to see more of the apartment, so here's a bit more insight into my parisian abode. it's a funky apartment full of plants (no, seriously) & crazy artwork. and let's not forget the carved buffalo skull. i love this crazy family.
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| my front door as seen from the hallway/staircase |
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| when you first walk in the front door |
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| the glass roof |
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| my apartment is actually a jungle... |
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| my hard-to-explain hide-away, personalised bed |
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| my ensuite. very colour-coordinated, very tiny & very much my own |
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| living room |
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| "french doors" leading out to the courtyard garden |
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| our resident cat, gribouille. think he belongs the woman on the 4th floor?? |
4:20PM...
noah & i picked liam up from school. he was completely drenched, as the kids & teachers went crazy with the water hose to cool down on this hooooot day. we trotted up to rue norvins, the main strip in montmartre. why? for icecreams, of course! i gave in to a 2-scoop strawberry/passionfruit gelato. melted in my mouth...and in the little tub.
we all made our way to mo abbesses, metro'd to saint-lazare and then got a stinking-hot train to cormeilles en parisis. the grandparents live out here, a good 30 minutes north-west of paris. the boys are staying overnight as there's not school tomorrow & the g/rents have a pool to jump in when it gets hot!
one of the lovely au pair jobs: accompanying the children somewhere, only to have a return journey directly afterwards. buuut i'm not complaining, cos this is the first time i've had to do this particular kinda thing. usually post-school activities include rollerskating (no joke!), art classes & visits to the park...
7PM...
i got back to paris around 7pm, and after a not-so-lovely metro trip in peak hour at 40º, i was very happy to find myself kid-less with a free house for the night (au pair parents are making the most of the kids sleeping at the g/rents and went out). totally out of energy, i called up my fav gourmet pizza place & essentially designed my own pizza. i knew my french skills would come in handy one day...
15 loooong minutes later my pizza arrived. now, here i am: kicking back on my bed, eating out of the pizza box (all class) & watching inglorious basterds. perfect way to wind down after une journée folle...
not sure if that gives some more insight into what my job entails... but voilà! do i enjoy it? yes, definitely. it's the best way to be able to live in the most beautiful, culture-rich city without having to pay those annoying daily expenses. speaking the language prior to arriving has helped alot - i can imagine there to be some really hard times for au pairs who arrive in paris with limited french. language barriers are the ultimate mood-kill.
i've now been living in paris for two months. time has flown & i feel like my time here is running out. could have something to do with the fact i will hardly be here throughout july & august - will be doing alot of travel here & there.
here comes the same old mantra: must make the most of every single day here in the city of light & love...
gros bisous,
S.
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