It’s the thought that counts

My host mom went grocery shopping last night.  When she arrived and I’m helping her arrange everything she shows me these green bananas she bought. She was so excited about them. She says, “I saw these came from Dominican Republic so I purchased for you. I don’t really know what they are, but I knew you would know how to prepare them.”

I said thank you, but I didn’t really have the heart to tell her that they are just unripe bananas. I cooked one today since there is a good possibly they will be yellow when we return.

My host mom’s heart is in a good place.  It was really kind of her to think of me.

Microbes in the Air

L is still sick, as I described earlier this week. I took him to the doctor on Wednesday for his runny nose. My mom wanted to get him on antibiotics before our weekend ski trip.

On a side note: I wonder if it is just my host parents or if all French people visit the doctor every time they have a tickle in their nose. My host parents encourage me to go to the doctor when I’m sick and to take antibiotics whenever I feel I might get sick (it seems as if they are all on antibiotics all the time). I’m not the type of person that runs to the doctor for every little thing, nor am I one that likes to rely on medicine and antibiotics. I prefer my immune system to battle it out, but I will succumb to antibiotics after a week or so. Maybe people go to the doctor frequently because it is cheap; my host parents have a 1 Euro co-pay for each visit, while in the States my co-pay was 30 USD. So, I had to pretty much be dying to visit the doctor. I certainly never went for a common cold, unlike my host parents. My host dad remarked Wednesday that as a foreigner, I must have a great immune system because I have only been sick once since arriving. I’m impressed myself considering that L is always sick.

Wednesday morning, my host mom was upset that the pediatrician didn’t answer her phone at 7:15 am (Her office opens at 8am).. She complained and wondered how she can possibly be a pediatrician if she is never available. I know I certainly wouldn’t be a pediatrician if all of my patients visited me on a monthly basis, and if their parents called me non-stop every morning to schedule an appointment. I ended up taking L to another doctor.

Well, this morning I wake up to find that L spent all of last night vomiting and has diarrhea (yay). As a result, him and my host mom are home today (she took the day off to take care of him….hey better her than me). She took him to the doctor this morning (twice in one week) and he has a gastrointestinal virus, which the doctor claims is highly contagious. She got medicine for all of us to take, as a preventative measure, so we won’t catch it over the weekend. I swear, if this kid gives me his stomach virus, I will not be a happy camper! Can you imagine skiing with nausea and diarrhea? Not exactly the weekend ski adventure I had in mind. I haven’t decided if I should err on the side of caution and take the medicine or take the risk.

I do know that I woke up with morning with a super sore throat, so the chance that come Sunday I will be sick is pretty high. I did start taking Emergen-C yesterday, but I may be too late! Only time will tell.

Have a great weekend everyone and stay healthy!

Pain au Chocolat Study Date

After dropping a tearful L at school, I took a nice stroll around the village. Usually Wednesday is my no study day, but I wanted to get some fresh air and make a stop at the bakery.

I’ve wasted enough time this morning and I want to hit the books. Before I do, I just want to share a picture of my favorite indulgence. Pain au Chocolat. The buttery, flaky, crossaint filled with dark chocolate is a simple yet delectable treat.

I have all my tools lined up for a productive study day.

Essentially, I just want to make everyone jealous (of the crossiant, not the textbooks). The only thing I could use to really enhance my study experience is an elevated,cubby desk from the Fine Arts Library at the University of Florida. That would be the perfect studying experience.

Bonne Journee!

Where is the Vapor Rub

L is sick again. That makes 4-5 times since I arrived (yes, I have already lost count). Is it normal for kids to be sick that often? He is at that age where they harbor every microbe and spread it from child to child at school, so I think yes, it is normal. In this case, my host family went to a party Saturday night and I think he spent a lot of it outdoors playing, so that is probably why is his sick. Anyway, this time he has a runny nose and is slowly developing a cough, and we are going skiing this weekend. So, I hope for his sake he feels a little bit better for the weekend. Either way, I’m sure a weekend rolling around in the snow will worsen his condition.

Weird Inhalation Device

L mentioned during dinner that he and the other kids ate plants at school today and he had a tummy ache afterward. His mom told him not to eat plants or leaves when he’s outdoors because he can feel sick or even die (way to scare the poor kid). After establishing that eating random plants is bad, my mom prepared this weird inhalation device to help clear up his sinuses. L was terrified; he started crying, pleading, insisting that he didn’t need the medicine. He said blowing his nose would suffice. He used the device in the morning, so we weren’t sure why he was so afraid of it in the evening. Turns out, he thought that the oil, with plant extracts, his mom puts inside the water was actual plants. In all honesty, he thought this because she explained to a 4 year old that it was a medicine consisting of plants and showed him the picture on the box. Essentially she gave him too much information. I digress. He explained that he swallowed during the inhalation and it gave him a stomach ache, and he didn’t want to do it again because he didn’t want to die as his mom just finished explaining to him as the effect when you eat plants.

My host parents found it absolutely hilarious that he was terrified of the vaporizer. Look at the picture, it looks like a torture device; I’d be afraid too. I found it endearing that he was so scared. As a result, the three of us tried to calm him down and explain that there are not real plants inside. His parents showed him one of the house plants and explained that he shouldn’t eat those. Eventually (thanks to my awesome au pair skills and a cleverly placed “poo-poo” joke), we calmed him down enough to use the machine.

I told my mom she should buy an electric machine like my mom used when I was younger. It is hassle free and provides the vapor all night. Plus, it uses Vick’s menthol which I absolutely love. I almost told her to go to the pharmacy and buy Vick’s Vapor Rub, but I was pretty confident she would have no idea what I was talking about. Furthermore, I didn’t want excitedly explain vapor rub to them and unintentionally scare them with my obsession. Is it just Hispanics that are obsessed with Vick’s vapor rub? I’m not even sick and I could use some. It is pretty expensive here, but if I were sick, it’d be worth every last “centime.”

I hope everyone is keeping all the maladies at bay. Keep that vapor rub close by, just in case.

A bientot!

They Don’t Know That I Know They Know

Happy Monday, everyone. Can you believe that the first month of a new year is coming to a close? It really does feel like yesterday I was ringing in the new year. I’m also coming up on my 5 month anniversary in France. It certainly feels like I’ve been here longer, yet time is flying by just as fast as I expected.

The first half of last week had a lot of rain while the latter half was sunny and characterized by the famous Mistral wind. The wind makes driving a scooter not only bitter cold but undesirable since it blows you across the lane. So, I basically did a good job of staying indoors. You know things are serious when I couldn’t even find the motivation to walk 12 minutes to the bakery for pain au chocolat. I did go to a girl friend’s house Wednesday for coffee, tea, galette des rois, and girl talk.

Since my week was pretty calm, you can imagine I let loose this weekend. Friday night I went dancing with said girl friend. We went to her ex’s birthday party. He just so happens to be a dance instructor and after his class on Friday nights he throws a killer social (lights, drinks, good music, and some good dancers). Unfortunately, we never go because it is her ex (obviously) and it takes close to an hour to get there. We prefer to go to closer (and more drama free) places that are just as good. Anyway, we had a lot of fun dancing all night. I was wearing super long pants so I stayed in my super high heels almost all night. By the end of the night my feet were definitely killing me.

Normally, my feet hurting isn’t a big deal since I know I will recover after a day or two. Unfortunately for me, I had plans to hike the next morning and hit the dance floor again at night. I ended up not going hiking on Saturday; the bus schedule was not very workable to go to the rendez-vous point and I had a massive headache. I was determined to make it out Saturday night, so I ran a few errands and rested. Saturday night I went to one my favorite places, The Loft, for their monthly kizomba party. My feet still hurt from the night before (actually, they still even hurt today), but I put on my big girl pants (skirt in this case), drank a bottle of wine (I swear it is weaker than water here), and headed out the door.

I decided to wear my favorite pencil skirt with a crop top. This skirt fits, well, perfectly. Since it is made out of a spandex type fabric, it is virtually impossible to wear underwear with it. I’ve tried, and no matter what I pair it with, you can always see the panty lines. Now, sometimes I throw fashion faux pas to the wind and wear my spandex shorts under it for extra measure. But, since it is a long skirt, there is no risk of having a Britney incident and showing the world my “goodies.” So, the majority of the time I go commando because it makes for a better figure. Now, going commando isn’t something I usually do because it is mentally uncomfortable. It’s like I have a dirty little secret, yet I’m convinced that everyone can read it on my face, that they know. And when you dance kizomba, sometimes your partner may put his hand on your waist to block your path, and discover that you are going commando. I knew that they knew I was wearing no underwear. Maybe they knew that I knew they knew. Or, maybe I knew that they knew I knew they knew…..if you know where this going, then brownie points for you. Otherwise, you need to brush up on your lines from classic TV sitcoms (cough, FRIENDS, cough). In the end, I’m sure it remained my little secret. Maybe I should stick to wearing the spandex shorts, even if for just the peace of mind.

Bonne semaine!

Searching for Answers

In my near five months of living in France, there are certainly differences I have noticed between our cultures. There are also times when I see something, tilt my head to the side, and think, “What the hell?”

I decided to jot these things down after I went dancing last weekend. I walked into the club, looked around, and immediately registered that everyone was dressed in black. Did I miss some kind of memo? My friend was wearing a white dress, so she also stood out. On the other hand, I was wearing teal pants and a salmon blouse (color not material), making me stand out more than usual. Is it an unspoken rule to wear all black to a club? A bit depressing if you ask me. Anyway it got me thinking and here is a list of some general observations and curiosities regarding French people and culture:

1. Black Wardrobe – I already touched on this in the previous paragraph, but the black doesn’t extend to just evening wear. It seems that French people love black (I mean, it is the ultimate classy color). Don’t get me wrong, I love black too, but I don’t want to look in my closet and see only black. Sure, it is easy to coordinate an ensemble when everything you own is black, but without color and print, where is the personality? I brought my indigo peacoat to France, knowing that I would stand out. I just love color, especially in the dreary winter.

30 Days of Yoga

If you read my post on resolutions, you know that practicing yoga regularly is on my list. I started doing yoga last Wednesday and I’m really surprised at how much I’m enjoying it.

Before the new year, I scoped out yoga videos on youtube so I can find someone I like. That is how I discovered Yoga With Adriene. Her videos are really great, not too easy nor challenging, and her quirky personality makes the videos really enjoyable and reminds you to relax and enjoy the moment.

Anyway, last week, I decided to quit being lazy and start the journey on tackling a resolution. I went to her youtube channel and discovered that she started a 30 Days of Yoga series, which is what I linked above. I was excited and disappointed that the month was already half way over. I didn’t want to wait until February to start yoga because I will be tackling Susan Salzberg’s 28 meditation challenge and I was afraid it be too much change to my routine. I don’t want to collapse half way through the month.

I spent the first few days doing some of her other videos and yesterday I started her 30 Days of Yoga. I am absolutely loving yoga right now. Before, I could hardly keep focus for more than 20 minutes of a yoga video. I was always focused on the wrong things. I wanted to speed through the difficult poses because my body would tremble, yet I wanted to also speed through the easy poses because they were boring.

I find that Adriene’s engaging personality 30 minute video fly by. But it’s not just her personality. She reminds you to take things slow, breath through the poses, and maintain integrity. I find myself wanting to continue my practice and spend more time on the mat. However, I take a step back and recognize that I don’t want to take things too fast and get burned out half way through the month. So, I am going to continue to look forward to each and every day of this 30 day challenge.

If you have ever wanted to try yoga, I highly recommend checking out Yoga with Adriene’s youtube channel.

Namaste

Quand L’Ecole Est Finie

Every day when I drop L off at school he asks me, “When school is finished, will Sally come pick me up?” I reply, “Yes, of course.” He may ask two to three times more, but he always asks again. He needs reassurance that I’ll be there and that his schedule won’t change.

Last night, my host parents were late coming home because they had an appointment after work. After I finish his bed time story, I tuck him in and ask if there is anything he needs before I switch off the light. He begins to say, “When school is finished,” but suddenly realizes that he is, in fact, not at school and we both fell into a fit of giggles. I reassured him that I would pick up him the next day after school but right now it is time for bed. Before I turned off the light, I reassured him that mommy and daddy would come and give him a good night kiss in the middle of the night, just like the Prince does to the Princess. He was sound asleep soon after.