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Tuesday, June 29, 2010

At my wits end

How do you make a do what you want? I'm not talking washing the floors, or cleaning my room, I mean, do the things that his parents ask you to do.

Because I got no freakin' clue.

T tries my patience every single day. I don't think I'm a bad person, but I can't figure out how to deal with this child.

I try to be nice, doesn't work, I'm mean, doesn't work, so far the only thing that seems to do anything, is when he makes a scene in front of the same damn woman and she calms him down. Today, for example, we were running late, so he says "Wait! I need my ball!" I say no, because we have thirty seconds to get to school, and he starts to cry/scream, so I ask if its something for school, no its for play. Pas grave. One, he's not supposed to bring toys to school, two, HE WILL CHANGE HIS MIND IN THIRTY FIVE SECONDS. Anyway, he throws a tantrum, and I'm trying to juggle L, and bring him along and this woman comes up.

Everytime T is at his worst, she seems to be there. So shes like, okay I will take him to the crosswalk, and something snapped. So I told her, in French, no, I am the Au Pair, he needs to listen to me. At which point random woman told him that he needs to listen and obey me, so he said "Mais je n'aime pas la babysitter." But I dont like her. And then random woman takes him to the crosswalk.

(For the record, he pulls the same BS with his parents. It's not like I'm just a horrible person and he hates me, he just hates to be told no, and doesn't comprehend that you can't always get your way, and yes, I know he's only six)

I started crying. I feel like I try to do so much for this little brat, cleaning up after him, playing with him, bringing stuff for him to do, and he doesn't like me because I won't let him do something that hes not supposed to? God, I know he's only six, but this is killing me. A has gotten better since his parents had a talk with him, and to be honest, I LIKE talking to A, and even F. I like their stories, I like playing with them, I like teasing them, I like making them laugh.

L is so cute, that even though shes starting her terrible twos, it's not so bad. We spend a lot of time together too, so I usually know what to do with her to calm her down.

T is a huge question mark. He throws temper tantrums at the most unreasonable times, like when its bathtime, when I ask him to set the table, everything. You can't punish him because I'm not entirely sure he understands what I say, and when I take away one toy he finds another one in about two seconds.

I dont know how to deal with this.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

I spent three hours last night waiting at the Arc de Triumph for the night bus back to O-town.

Holy. God.

Zack metroed with me over there around 1:15 to discover that the first one didn't come until 2:06. So around 1:40 I got a phone call from Nicole telling me that they were going to try and put Ailie in a cab and get her to CDG so she could ride home with me. I had to walk to Champs for a while to find her, then we missed the 2 something bus, then we finally almost got the 3 something bus, AND THEY WOULDNT LET US ON BECAUSE IT WAS FULL.

Are you kidding me? Two foreign girls at 3 in the morning, and you're going to force us to continue waiting outside by ourselves? Thanks, bus services of Paris. Then these kids would not leave us alone. They kept talking to us, and we kept rejecting them, it finally took two French girls to basically tell them to fuck off. On the bus they made round two, so to let them know I didnt want to speak to them, I told the kid, in English, that I was sorry for not being clear, but I did not, at that present moment (Or any moment) wish to speak with them, and if he said something, or touched me again, I would kill him. He left me alone after that. (Remind me to learn how to say that in French).

It was actually kind of scary because it was really unsafe, and I'm really surprised that we didn't get in more trouble than that. I'm thinking I actually should start carrying mace or a knife on me (too street thug?)

Anyway, if everyone ever gets ready, we're going to the lake today! The weathers finally nicer, and I'm really looking forward to swimming.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Cupmania

We went to the Champs Elysees last night, around midnight to see what there was to see. Paris was having a music festival, so the trains were running all night, and my Navego worked!

The Champs was crazy. There were cops, flags waving, drunk people, honking, car accidents with cops cars....I loved it.

I told Vanessa that being out on a Monday night until 3:30 am with no regard for work today made me feel human again. Not like a vampire, human. I was able to go out, do what I wanted and not have anyone tell me know. It was wonderful. Not that my family ever would tell me that I cant do something, but you still have certain constraints on what you feel comfortable doing. Ive been going out a lot more during the week (mainly because I have had more access to the car) but also because I'm in Europe, in a country that treats soccer like a religion (althought most French a bit disillusioned these days....) not only that, this city is so international, everytime someone wins a match, no matter how small the country, the streets are flooded with flags and cheering fans. Except in O-town. So I'm determined to soak up as much crazyness as possible until I get kidnapped and stranded in South France.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Ailie and I went rowing on the Seine yesterday! Actually, I went rowing, and she hung out with a woman named Caroline who taught her to row for 45 minutes.

It was skulling, and its been a while, so it didnt go quite that smoothly. But, it was fun and I think I would like to try again.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Things I would have never thought I would (have) be doing (done)

If you had told me a year ago about this list, I probably wouldn't have believed you.

1) Wearing a jean jacket with jeans

2) Giving wiping lessons to a six year old

3) Encouraging a todler to pee in front of me

4) Running into people that I know, randomly, on the Parisian public transit

5) Last minute planning, and executing a solo trip to Germany, then wandering the city alone for a combined 8 hours

6) Planning to stay at a bar until 5 am to catch my early morning flight

7) Ever getting up at 6 am so I can commute two hours to work by 8 am (location-my kitchen)

8) Meeting a white guy named Antoine

9) Getting breast surgery

10) Seeing 4 children naked everyday

11) BFFriending a Scottish lassie

12) Forgetting how to spell friend

13) Ducking into the metro for warmth, and riding the one for a half hour

14) Bike riding home at one am

15) Taking anything called "the night bus"

16) Thinking 5 euros for a beer was a good price

17) Learning to type on a French keyboard

18) Drinking wine out of a plastic two litter bottle

19) Drinking vodka out of a two litter plastic bottle

20) Hating gypsies

21) Speaking French

22) Ironing pyjamas

23) Spelling words like specialization and realization with an s because I can never remember where the z is on the keyboard

24) Going on a date with a guy that doesnt speak English, or Spanish

25) Eating lunch in a Monoprix

I will add to this list as more weird stuff happens

Monday, June 7, 2010

Resume...

1) Went to Germany to see Kelly, it was good to see some Americans

2) Matt and Dave came through Paris, after a few problems (didnt have a place to stay, got off at the wrong metro, had to crash in a three different places in three nights) we had an awesome time. Unfortunately, I now miss American men.

3) L is on a regime, and officially too fat (She calls both me and S maman)

4) Had my first night bus experience last night with Ailie and Callie.

5) I'm broke. Extremely broke.

6) I threatned to quit on A. His attitude is slowly destroying any patience I have. He can be the coolest little kid, or the most obnoxious. I talked to S and G about it, they agreed that he was back talking way too much. We had an intervention. I dont have a lot of hope.

7) I'm being kidnapped from July 8th to the 25th.