At first I was a bit nervous since that would mean I would be in the middle of nowhere with the kids for an entire week without being able to see my friends. I know I have been living with my host family for 4 months now, but I have never been with them for an entire week with them only without being able to go out at night with friends to wind down. I was also nervous because I wasn't sure if they were expecting me to help them with the kids or not.
After our 6 hour drive and getting lost and not being able to find the house my host mom had rented, we finally made it to our destination. I wasn't sure what to expect, she had said that it was a house in a farm that the farmer rented out and that we could go see the cows, the horse, the donkey etc.
We got there and I really felt cut out of civilization. I don't know how people can live in small towns! It was such a big change from Paris to a small town near the city of "Pornic". I was trying to stay positive and open minded but I had no idea what to expect of this vacation. What were we supposed to do here besides see the farm animals? There was beaches nearby but in April it's not still the warmest time to be at the beach all the time.
I started those vacations with pretty much not knowing what to expect and thinking that it might be really tough with the kids, but my experience was completely different. I had a great time!
We were able to see the farmer milk the cows and try FRESH milk. I'm a big milk lover so this was pretty cool for me. However the second time we tried it I didn't quite like it, it had a really weird smell to it. We also got to see just born calfs! They were so cute. There was also this donkey who was soooo cute! Everytime we would go outside and he would see us he would come up to us! He loved being petted and he would follow us everywhere, it was so adorable.
We also got to go to the beach and oh my God, I fell in love. I love the beach, always have...I mean who doesn't? But this beach was different, much different from the ones I'm used to, beaches like Cancun. First of all the weather was completely different. It was April so of course it was still a bit cold, but not only that there was so much wind! I hate wind, so this was one of the things I did not like about the beach, but the view won me over at made me forget about the wind. The beaches in this area where filled with gigantic rocks, I don't know what they're called or how to describe them so I'm just going to include pictures so you can see for yourselves. I can't even describe the beauty of the beach, and maybe you'll be like okay it's not that nice, but for me there was something different, something special about these beaches that stole my heart. At the end of this trip I just knew that I wanted and needed to move to a city that has a beach. I would love to have that view every day. Here are some pictures....
Another great thing about this trip was the food. I ate SO much food, and I have to blame the grandpa for that. I seriously think I gained 10 lb in this trip with all the food. Worst part was that I knew I was eating too much but I just wanted to try everything and it was hard to say no. Also, the meals where very different from what I'm used to, here they actually have the full 3 course meal. (I should not though that this 3 course meal (4 if you include cheese) was for special occasions because back home we only eat the main course and dessert. )We first had an appetizer, either salad or some kind of vegetables. We then would have the meal and after that we would have dessert and oh of course cheese. This was where everything went wrong. It was so hard for me to choose between cheese or dessert. I fell in love with cheese, and they had so many different kinds of cheese and I wanted to try them all, but then again they kept ordering typical "breton" (from the region) desserts that looked delicious. It also didn't help that the grandpa kept asking me if I wanted cheese, and then he would offer me dessert. I wanted to say no and I did sometimes, but he just kept saying "oh c'mon" and would give me the cutest smile that made me feel like it was okay if I was eating that much. But then I would look at my host mom and she made me feel the complete opposite. I would get this vibe from here saying "oh my god you're eating way too much", and this is what I don't understand about french women. As you can see from my description of our meals, the french clearly love their food but at the same time I feel like french women don't eat anything and that ladies is how and why french women are so skinny. Then again maybe it was just my host mom that was like this? Because I had a friend who said that her host mom ate a lot and was still pretty skinny... so I am still perplexed by this question every woman asks herself "why are french woman so skinny?" I mean how do they do it? They eat so much bread, wine and cheese. I don't understand. Anyways going back to the food...I tried a several different desserts and I can't remember all of their names but my favourite was the Kouign Aman.
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| (Picture taken from google) |
It was so delicious, it was crunchy and sugary what more can you ask for?!
By the end of this trip I was really happy I had had the chance to come it was a different environment and different interaction with the kids. First of all the second eldest ( I won't say their names for privacy reasons) was like in love with me. He wanted me to sit with him all the time at the table, he asked for me all the time, it was so random but so adorable and it made me very happy. I got to play soccer a couple of times with the eldest and his cousin with the soccer ball I brought them from Barcelona ( I shall point out how that ball ended up destroyed by the end of the trip! Those kids really like to play soccer) which was fun but at the same time very tiring since they were playing 2 against one and well they're pretty good and I'm quite out of shape so it was hard for me to be running around all the time. Plus it's crazy how those kids can go on for hours playing soccer, me on the other hand I can only play one match and that's it haha.
To all those au pair's out there reading this and are going to be going on vacation with the family and are a bit scared about the experience don't be. In a way I think this is much better than a regular day back at home because you actually get to play with the kids, so its a different interaction. I also feel like everybody is more relaxed making the kids easier to handle. You can actually do all the activities they/you want unlike when you are back home and you have to give them their bath, dinner get them ready for bed etc and are more limited with time. However before you go on vacation I would suggest that you ask your host family what your duties will be. For example I didn't have to work, I just helped with the table, if the mom needed help I would help with the bath and of course play with the kids. That's pretty much all I had to do, but I had a friend who went on vacation with the grandmother and the kids and well she pretty much had to work so for her it was a different experience.
For all of those who are thinking of traveling around France I would really recommend visiting the french region of Brittany (Bretagne), it is such a beautiful region!
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