Well, I don't know about you, but I think this 'updating frequently' thing is actually going pretty goddamned successfully. If, of course, by "success" you mean "failure". Though 'failurelessly' doesn't work as a word or a concept, so I'm not sure what's going on anymore.
Many things have happened since I last updated, few of them interesting. Two of the carré members have jumped ship, though one of them has since been back for a visit, as though to say she didn't really mean to leave but-oh wait she left again. The other one is coming back at some unforeseen time in the future, and possibly not even to Paris, just to Europe. Still, right continent, that's all I really ask for in a friend. And not even that, if I'm entirely honest. She left me a very cryptic message on my facebook yesterday implying that she had bad news to tell me (and by "implying" I mean she left a message saying "I have bad news to tell you"). I have clarified no-one is dead, but I assume that she is just going to inform me that she doesn't love me enough (or does not have enough money) to come back to Paris before I, too, jump ship.
After I leave France in September Dani will be the only person left of the original carré. She will have to make new friends to form a new shape. I challenge her to find enough to make a dodecahedron because who wouldn't want to be in a dodecahedron? It is testament to its awesomeness as a shape that I still remember how to say it, as it is at least seven years since I did any maths and probably longer since I used the word 'dodecahedron' in a sentence. And there I've gone and used it three times in a paragraph.
I turned 23 in June, and to celebrate we went to Disneyland because fuck growing up. It was excellent. Space Mountain is terrifying (and of course we went on twice because we are Daredevils). For my actual birthday, I made myself some brownies and my boss bought me MacDo for my birthday dinner, because I am an extremely healthy person and a successful human being.
The kids and I took a trip to England to visit my parents for a week. It was actually lovely, though seriously, the first two days of having them there all the time, bugging me all the time nearly killed me. I made it through, though! We went to the zoo, which was brilliant - I love zoos, and frankly zoos with little kids are pretty awesome. Also realised that these children are the best children in the world, because we walked miles and they barely complained, and when I told them they weren't allowed ice creams there was only a small amount of dissent in the ranks.
Me and the kids, with me looking like a GIANT.
We also took a trip into London, went to the park and went swimming. Reliving my childhood!
After returning to France, I had a week with the kids at home all the time which I appear to have repressed due to trauma, and then I had a week with just smallest child which was adorable. But also quite stressful because the family were doing a house swap with an American family for their holiday, and so the house had to be pristine for when these people arrived. I, naturally, as it's my job, was in charge of the general housekeepingy part of it - the mum and dad did the DIY stuff because entrusting me with that would essentially have been like saying 'Hey, fuck this house, we don't like it any more, let's let Kate raze it to the ground'. Brooms, I can do, but hammers? Not so much.
After that, they left! And I was on three weeks enforced vacation, alas alas. I'm writing this a week and a half after returning to work, so it's kind of funny to think about how worried I was about being bored. BORED? I didn't have TIME to be bored! So many friends to see, things to do, la la la. The American family who took over the house were super nice; I went sightseeing with them one day and holy crap it was exhausting, but also super fun. Katherine, as previously mentioned, returned for a visit and I can't remember what we did but I suspect it wasn't very energetic. Dani and I made it to Musée du Quai Branly which was freaky but awesome - loads of masks and ceremonial trinkets.
Aix Les Bains
At the start of August, I went on a mini-break to Aix les Bain with my mum. It was lovely! The weather in Paris had been pretty terrible - I'd almost forgotten it was summer - but further south (in the mountains!) it was sunny and lovely. We spent most of our time wandering around and eating, but we also took a bus up a mountain (because we are adventurers) and saw Mont Blanc! (We think...)
View from the mountain
We also saw paragliders!
We also took a boat across the lake which was super pretty only I fell asleep for a lot of it. The commentary was in French and full of statistics so obviously spent most of my time working out the numbers and not a lot of time actually listening to the commentary. Consequently can't remember any interesting facts, apart from that the lake we were on - Lake Bourget - is the biggest lake in France. This is slightly pathetic, especially since it's near Lake Léman - the lake Geneva is on - which is way bigger and still pretty small in the grand scheme of things.
See? Pathetic. We ate lots of nice meals and I got stung by a wasp. All in all a nice, well rounded holiday! She then came back to Paris with me and we had a day together which saw us fail to get into the Musée D'Orsay for the third time (previously we had been too late, this time it was too busy!). We then spent most of the day hanging out in the Tuileries people watching. It was excellent!
The next week was largely Canadian based - I hung out with my friend Katie who was visiting with her family, and then I met three Canadian boys in a hostel a friend of a friend was staying at. They were amazing and I spent three days with them, wandering around Paris and doing quite a bit of touristy stuff I had previously failed to do! One of the guys and I realised we were museum soulmates (in that, we have no attention spans and are consequently crap at museums). He's invited me to go visit him in Montreal, where he's at university and lives with one of the other guys, and as part of his campaign to get me there, has included the campus museum which apparently has dinosaurs and shrunken heads in it! As if I needed an extra reason to go to Montreal on holiday! Anyway, here are a series of photos from wandering around with the boys:
Boyband on top of the Arc de Triomphe
AHAHAHA SO TINY.
La Defense
Levitating at the Eiffel Tower
Currently, I am at the kids' grandparents house which is where I was after Peru last year. It's a bit less of a shock being here after having spent the summer in France - after the excitement of Peru I nearly went insane here last time - but I still dislike it. It is, as the blog title suggests, in the middle of freaking nowhere. I got the weekend off this year (I got it off last year, but didn't go back to Paris - error!) so that has helped, and as I write I only have 24 hours left here so I am bearing up.
After this, I only have three days left of work until the New Aupair comes. Dun dun dunnn. Then 11th September is when I leave France forever. It's only like, two and a half weeks, which is just insane. After that, a week at home with all my family (for the first time since Christmas!) and then off to university! Less than a month until that happens. Where has this year gone? And why is it ending??
