Hotel Ariana Villeurbanne

... weekend of the trip to St. Tropez where we began to bond. Where are relationship changed from au pair that tells me what to do to Amber the cool and fun au pair that keeps secrets and lets me have candy more than she should. It may have something to do with my language improving so that we can joke and have fun together. We play Nintendo WII and I have to suck sometimes so that she doesn’t get her ego bruised.

That weekend Michel and I ...

... res. Déjà, on voyait que les rues étaient pleine de gens.

La fête des lumière est un festival toujours autour du 8 decembre (pour dire : MERCI MARIE...lire sur wikipedia si vous etes interessés). Partout dans la ville, on retrouve différentes illuminations sur les batiments ou autres jeu de lumières préparés par différents artistes. C'est très jolie mais ya bcp bcp trop de monde...

... which sadly was quite small and only in French. However, there was a beautiful silk shop attached to it and lots of nice shops in that area, so it wasn't a waste of time.

Then I met up with Lis and we took the tram up the hill to a beautiful church which looked out over the city. The view was really amazing, and, as it was a clear day, we could faintly see Mt Blanc in the distance. We walked back down the hill and, feeling that we had earned it, ate icecream at a cute ...

... that I don’t know about myself and children?

Sometimes I watch kids and laugh, I think "God kids are so bizarre, they are sometimes like little crazy aliens". So in general I have mixed emotions about kids. I am too young, well not too young by scientific means, but not emotionally or financially ready for kids. I am I no rush to have them and hope to spend at least a few years happily (fingers crossed) married before I decide, or get ...

... 8217;s mouth but I needed to hear it straight from the bulldog. So I braced myself and listened.

I was so pleasantly surprised by everything Michel had to say. His priority was Julie and my relationship with both her and in the family. He made it very clear that to him I was not an employee but a family member and all of my misconstrued feelings were his attempt to make me a part of the family, not treat me like an assistant. I admit that ...

... to make it work. I care very much about the family and don’t want to pack my bags and leave over these issues. But I have also realized that a change must be made and it is going to take both parties to work on these changes. I have positive feelings about it all and hope for the best. I am although not exactly looking forward to the actual “talk” or discussion portion, because it ...

... something to say, always. So, me speechless is a rare occasion and frankly it has to say something. It totally sucked though because I didn’t know what to say. Even though what she said made sense from her perspective it’s not being perceived right. For example, why do I spend so much time in my room? Answer, because it’s the only place I feel is my own. I feel like I cant be downstairs ...

... touring France in the summer they sing every night in a different town and sleep at the house of locals. My parents volunteered to have two of them and our time with them was delightful. We of course attended the concert and had the surprise to see that the two boys we had at home were soloists: Celestin and Brieuc. Brieuc will attend 5th grade in the fall. I found some videos of him singing ...

... They did Georgia, and about the 5th number, the pianist sang "Let the good times roll", a truly rockin', swingin' number that got everyone on their feet boogyin'. He did a chorus of roll-oh-oh-oh, and the audience automatically sang the echo-response. I have never seen anything like it. You could really hear the audience, and we sounded beautiful, and nobody told us to do it. On the way back to the bus we heard other musical groups ...

... bread and pastries. Besides the bread I can't resist buying a fresh chevre, a fresh cow's cheese, a matured crusty cow's cheese, some home-made yoghourts (all made from raw milk), and a pain chocolate and tarte de apricot for breakfast. To work this off I end up walking into town, visiting St Irene's church, the Roman ruins and the Basilica on Fourviere hill on the way down, then crossing the Saone and eventually climbing up to the top of Croix Rouge, where there is a fun fair ...