quick recap
I moved to a small town in the Doubs region of France at the beginning of August to be an au pair. The parents are “E” and “A”, and their daughters are “e” (5) and “a” (3).1
work
This week was pretty standard, I did lots of face painting again (dinosaurs, rainbows and unicorns were big hits) and also lots of drawing different characters for the girls to color, like Mickey and Minnie, and Smurfs (which I learned are called Strumpfs /stroompfs/ in French).
In the evenings, both girls come down to my apartment to tell me when dinner is ready. It’s becoming a really sweet routine and I look forward to them coming every evening (although they did walk in on me in the shower this week haha). Then, after dinner, they make a barricade at the stairs and I have to tell them a password (they tell it to me, but it changes daily) in order to go back to my apartment.
free time
On Monday, I went for a nice trail run (just under 4 miles) and then had a picnic lunch along Lac de Saint-Point, and on Tuesday, I did something similar but went for a track run (did a speed workout) and then had another picnic next to a different lake. On Thursday, I went for a nice hike along a trail that I’d love to return to and run in the future. I started to get a bit of a runny nose on Thursday evening, but I drank lots of tea and took a multivitamin, and by Friday I was feeling better. I’d planned a 14-mile training run for Friday, but decided to take a rest day and give myself some time to recover- proud of myself for listening to my body instead of pushing it :)
On Saturday I had a slow morning, went for a walk and went to the gym, and then drove about an hour (more because of traffic) to my friend Maria’s house. As I was driving, the signs/street names all switched to German, and I remembered that the family she works for lives right where the language switches over from French. They have a really nice wood-fired sauna on the lake that they live on, and as it was a cold and rainy day, it felt amazing to relax in the warm sauna.
Today, I had another slow morning and then went for a quick run while it wasn’t raining, prepped a bit of food for the week, and went for a walk. It’s been a nice and calm weekend, and while I do miss the business of living in a city sometimes, I’m enjoying leaning into having a slower-paced lifestyle. I’ve been continuing to watch The Sopranos and also the newest season of The Great British Bake-Off, read the first Harry Potter book in French, and started journaling more.
photo dump
I am using initials for the names of my host family members for privacy purposes.
who is ur gbbo front runner atm?