P.S.

Found out that we'll probably be spending Christmas and Paris and Alish and I will probably spend New Years in ROME! Wooooo! Oh and mom, I do have dental insurance here so go ahead and cancel me on yours =D

Cheese And Whine!

So today was whine day EVERYONE was whining! Ines was whining while we did her English and Ariadne was whining after track and now it sounds like I'm whining. Well I would like to sometimes. Today wasn't too bad. The sun visited again and that was nice. I actually slept very well for a girl with a cold and got to sleep in a bit even though the family was pretty loud this morning. I picked the girls and two of their friends up for lunch and brought them home, fed them and took them back to school. Alisha and I hung out for a bit looking for stuff to do in Geneva this weekend. I picked up Aurore and brought her home. I swear I make at least three trips down the hill and three trips up, if I don't have buns of steel by the time I get home I'm going to never workout again because there will be no point!! I get so tired after pushing the dang stroller all the way up the hillS! Haha ok yeah I know I'M whining now. After dinner I put the girls to bed and then met up with Alisha. There were no soccer boys out tonight :(. There is always tomorrow night...hopefully. Well I'm off to bedy-by. Bon soir!

More Facts I Forgot

More Fun France Facts I Love:

• The dads here are SO involved. A lot of the time you'll see them picking up their kids from school and not just the moms. It's so freaking cute!!
• When parents take their kids to school and pick them up, they get out of their cars and wait with them or walk them into the school even. It's just more friendly and caring.
• That almost everyone dresses nice. The guys in Geneva all had really sexy jeans on, I was impressed! When I move back to the states I will be disappointed in the fashion sense of most straight guys.
• In this small village everyone says bonjour as you pass.
• That most people speak at least two languages! America needs to catch up!
• The kids call their moms "mahmo", that's what my kids will call me. And I will call my little girl "shoo shoo".

Facts I'm not so fond of:

• They drive like maniacs! If anyone has ridden with me they know that I tend to tailgate without noticing. I hate when people do that to me but unfortunately I tend to do that when I'm not paying attention, but when I realize it I back off. Anyways, EVERYONE here tailgates and honks as soon as they can.
• All the cute guys that are no longer in high school have a wife and kids!!! Where are the single boys?? Can't some come home on the weekends from college?
• Football is soccer and there is no American football here! BAAA!

Anyways, good night!

P.S. ~Pictures will come as soon as I can get a cord!

Drip, Drip, Drip

I caught a freaking cold somehow!! Drip, drip, drip is what my nose has been doing ALL day! I could make a mattress out of all the used tissues I've gone through!! Other than that though my day has been pretty good. Sophie and I took the kids to school and then took Aurore to gymnastics. That was pretty fun for us. She's such a cutey when she feels like it. I walked all the way up the dang hill after that, but miraculously it was SUNNY AGAIN! So that was probably the highlight of my day!! I studied for the french test and took a quick nap in the sunshine. I ate lunch and Sophie came home. I drove my car with her and took my french test that I barely or really didn't understand. It was frustrating but oh well. She dropped me off at the school and I picked up the girls. We did some homework, ate some dinner then I met up with Alisha. We walked down to the school even though we knew the soccer field lights next to it were off already :(. So we passed this car of boys who whistled at us and that was it. But we sat on a bench and talked. She's a really fun girl. We walked back up toward my house and got freaked out by some creature that we finally determined was a badger as far as we know. It was scary. So now I'm gonna take a shower and wash my hair with lice prevention shampoo because Ines has lice! So yeah I'm a little freaked out about that. I'm doing what I can to prevent it. Bon soir!! Oh and email me! Because everyone who reads this knows how I'm doing but I have no idea what is going on in everyone elses life!!! hannahbananamae@yahoo.com Loves!

**SUNSHINE**

I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and the sky was clear and I could see so many stars! It made me so happy. When I woke up for church this morning I actually saw the sun and there were no clouds in the sky, it's the first sunny day in Thoiry since I arrived. Church was nice, the ward is small but some great people. Not many people my age and no cute guys my age that I noticed. Maybe one of the twenty missionaries. I rode the bus home and we ate lunch outside by the pool when I got home. Ariadne and I worked on her English homework for a few hours and then Ines, Aurore, Sophie and I went to the carnival here in town. It was fun riding the swings again. I saw Alisha there and we decided to meet later after dinner to see if the cute soccer boys were playing or practicing again tonight. We came home for a dinner of pasta and now I'm just catching up with this and then maybe going to walk around the village with Alisha, come back to review for my french test tomorrow. Good night for now!

I'll Take That Guy...Wrapped In A Sexy European Accent Thank You!

Guys! Guys! Guys! Today I hit the mother load!!! Alisha and took the bus to another bus that went to Geneva, Switzerland which is only about thirty minutes away give or take. It was both of our first times in Europe and on public transportation so thankfully Sophie got us started then we were on our own. We got into Geneva and saw a Louis Vuitton (thanks Lauren) store and had to check it out, it's Europe for Pete's sake. Let's just say that EVERYONE in Europe dresses nice and so we already felt out of place and then walking into that store made us feel unworthy to live! I felt like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman when she goes shopping. So we got out of there pretty quickly. Geneva was established in 1291 or something like that so the buildings are huge and really old. They are just so magnificent! Anyways so we walked around down town and got some lunch from a little cart.

You know how in movies you always see old men on the sidewalks or in the park at a ton of different tables all playing chess? They are amatures! When we walked around the park we found GIANT chess pieces. The king and queen were literally as tall as I am! We also found giant checkers that were as big as my feet and we all know I have pretty big feet. Anyways we played checkers and I whooped her butt. It was so cool! After we played we saw three guys and one was pretty hot so we stalked them for a bit until we ran into a little flee market. I bought a book for one Swiss franc. I heard music and a loud annoncer so we looked around and found a skate park. There were a TON of really cute boys there BMXing, staking and blading. I got a picture of one of them =D. I'm such a stalker! They played a lot of American music so that was fun to hear while we feasted our eyes! After that we decided we probably should head back to Thoiry. We walked passed the McDonalds and discovered that is where the hot guys hang out! I got my first Frenchie wave! In other words a really cute French (or possibly Swiss) guy waved at me. Pretty much made my day. Well we couldn't find the bus we needed and looked everywhere. We ended up having to walk all the way across the lake (after walking all day anyways) and then walking some more and FINALLY found the right bus. All in all find the McDonalds and skate parks to find hot boys, but look else where for the rich ones to marry =D.

When I got home we had some dinner and I could tell the girls had missed me which was cute. The littlest came in my room, hopped onto the bed and let me play with her. She's usually kinda shy and wants only mom to do things with and for her. Then after dinner the two oldest and I played little hand games I used to play at recess. The one I remember the most that I taught them goes, "Down by the banks of the hanky-panky, where the bullfrogs jump from bank to bank with an eeps, ops, eeps, ops, ops, skittle, skattle, kurr PLOP!" Well the oldest turns to me and says, "Do your hanky-panky!" I laughed so hard about that because she had no idea that what she said can mean fooling around or whatever and just the way she said it. I thought I was going to die.

Anyways, there is some sort of celebration the town put on for some saint. Yeah, I know I should have payed more attention to the details but they aren't important. Dimitri, the two oldest girls and I went down there about 8:30 this evening. They have a parade where everyone gets a torch and walks around the town a bit then meets at the little carnival. So we did that and Dimitri got them candy after Ariadne almost lit Ines on fire and I went to find Alisha. She and I went into this little concert and felt so out of place because everyone there was either a teenager or a parent. So did you know they don't really have a drinking age here? Or a smoking age? There were fourteen year olds getting tipsy with their parents!!! It was shocking! And everyone here smokes! Pathetic. So she and I left the little concert thing and decided to check out the soccer game that was going on down the street. =D!!!! The gate was locked so an attractive frenchie started telling us how to go around... in french. Since neither of us speak french fluently at all whatsoever, we had no idea what he was saying and apparently he didn't speak a lick of English, which was surprising because most Europeans do. So we just hopped the gate and I did all I could to keep from staring at him and his cute friend instead of the soccer game that we had no idea what team to even cheer for. It was fun to see them play though. We know they play often because the huge lights are always on so we decided that will be our new passtime, watching, not playing of course. Sheesh where's the fun in playing? When it ended we left and unfortunately we never approached those cuties, I guess it would have been pointless anyways because there wouldn't have been much talking. Well you know what I mean haha! I should find a cute guy to kiss while I'm here I mean it couldn't hurt. I'll have to work on that. We left and went home. The walk from town to my house is pretty steep and not a fun one to do alone. It's up, over, up, over, up, over and then I'm there but all the ups are really steep ups.

A few fun facts I love about France:

• They actually use their shutters! They keep light out very well for those suffering from jetlag.
• I love "les bises" (I think that's how it's spelled). It's the kisses on the alternating cheeks. So cute. I'm so bringing that habit back with me!
• There are a lot of hot guys on croch rockets (fast motorcycles).
• BREAD! Although Panera's bagettes are softer.
• A lot of cute soccer guys, even in a small town.
• Oh and chocolate!! Really it's the swiss stuff that's good (I got some today) but hey it's close enough to France so there you go.

GOOD NIGHT! BON WEEK-END, SALUT! BON SOIR!

Well unfortunately I woke up at 3:30 this morning and could not sleep anymore so I stayed in bed for a few hours then called Kelsey. I had cramps something fierce and was probably still suffering from some jetlag that I thought I had overcome but apparently not. So when everyone got up I had some cereal and sat with them. I didn't go to Geneva today with Dimitri as planned because I knew I would be way too tired and wasn't sure how I'd be feeling. Once they left for school and work I went back to bed until one pm. Didn't mean to sleep that long but it sure was a good sleep that I'm sure my body needed. I stayed in bed and read and just relaxed for a while. I decided to get ready and do something with my day so when Sophie came home I walked down with her to pick the girls up from school. I met some more people and thankfully some spoke English. We met a lady who also has an au pair from The States. She's from Michigan. So on our way home we saw them playing in the yard and decided to stop in and meet her. She seems very sweet and it's comforting to know someone else in a very similar situation. There is some sort of celebration in town today that we're all going to and I invited Alisha(the other au pair) to go with us. And then tomorrow perhaps she and I will go to Geneva so I can get a cord!!!! Things during the day here are fun and I enjoy myself but I do get homesick at night sometimes. It's just different living at your job and not sure when you should be working or when you can do things on your own. But I knew to an extent how things would be and what I was getting myself into. So I'll deal. Well I better get ready for dinner and the celebration tonight!! Maybe if I'm lucky there will be some cute guys =D. Maybe!

FRANCE!

Well I've been here two whole days now. It's different in many ways but some things are the same that I would not have expected. First off on the plane ride over here I had three seats all to myself so I slept most of the way. I was still a bit tired by ten. I stopped at the bakery and got fresh bread for breakfast. I have my own room and bathroom minus a toilet. That's in its own room. I got to take a shower. They don't dry their towels in a drier so it was like drying off with soft sand paper. Well not that bad but close haha.
We did quite a bit of running around with the girls (there is no school on Wednesdays here). There are three girls Ariande (pronounced are-he-en) she's 9, Ines is 8 and Aurore is 2. The youngest is a doll and she just loves me already. She can say my name but nothing in English. The family speaks English which is very nice for me! We went to the mall and they had a store much like a small version of Wal-mart. They have the hair dye I use wooo! We had lunch. I tried some goat cheese and some other cheeses too. One left my mouth tasting similar to the smell of a barn... and that was one of the better tasting ones =D. So it'll be interesting to see what I end up really enjoying.
The house is at the base of a mountain. It's much greener here and cooler because the sun does not shine much which will be a tough thing for me. I guess on really clear days you can see the French Alps which are on the other side of Geneva I think.
I made myself stay awake until 9 pm and then went to bed. I woke up around 4 am but fourced myself to sleep longer. When I woke up I ate some cereal. Oh yeah the milk isn't always kept in the frig and it's a more yellow color. Anyways I then had a headache so I went to bed for a bit longer. I walked down to the school with the girls and Sophie after lunch. The walk up is much harder because it's a very steep walk. The village is so quaint. Pretty much like the movies but the roads are paved with asfault rather than brick. The roads are very narrow and people drive much faster than they should.
Speaking of driving, my car used to be her mother's so it's not new but not too old. It's kinda funny looking. It's white with four doors and is a French brand of car. We took it driving tonight. It was an interesting trip. It was much easier than I thought so I guess that's good but a bit tricky. Poor Sophie probably thought we were going to die. I was surprised when I got here to see large cars, I saw some SUVs and even a Nissan Frontier! And something else I didn't think I would see was toilet paper that was soft. The stuff they have is pretty nice haha. Nothing else to report that I can think of. Oh and pictures to come as soon as I get my laptop cord. I'm using one of their laptop that thankfully has an American keyboard because the French one is a little different and it was giving me trouble. Tomorrow I'll go to Geneva all day and walk around by myself while Dimitri is at work. Night!

Only Ten More Days!!

Well as time here in Colorado shortens and France is quickly approaching I find myself quite nervous I guess you could say. Don't get me wrong I'm so extremely excited I can hardly stand it, but at the same time the unknown is a bit scary. These last few months in Colorado were much more than I would have imagined! I absolutely love my job and my boss! She and I have so much fun together and I like knowing that I'm serving my country by serving those that defend it and their families. I've become close to people I had lost and know the ones that will always be there. What a blessing family and friends are in my life! I'll miss the States and many of the conviences I hear they don't have in France, but this is adventure I could not pass up. I'm thrilled with the fact that I'm getting PAID to LIVE in Europe! I guess life has its way of working out. Who'd athunk? Looking back I'm so thankful I've lived my life the way I have. Sure there are a few things I regretted at one point but as the saying goes, "Don't regret anything because at the time it was exactly what you wanted." There is truth to that. Everything I've done, wished I'd done or not done makes me who I am. I live and learn.

Currently I'm pretty bored and kinda bummed for some reason. I guess it's because I didn't make plans tonight. And the fact that there are some people I'd like to be hanging out with tonight that I can't. Blasted relationships!! I seem to come across the right ones at the wrong time. I guess in that case they aren't the right ones. Either way it leaves me a bit lonely. It just seems that at this point in my life I'm at a different crossroad than most of my friends. Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled to be going to France. I know this a once in a lifetime opportunity but when I get back I know I'll be in this same spot! Woo go me! I want my own house and things to just settle down. I don't want to keep moving every 3 or 4 months if you know what I mean. My life is very exciting and I know one day I will kinda miss my freedom to just, I dunno, move to another COUNTRY. But I want consistency too! It'll all work out, it always does! Just gotta be patient I guess.