Grief and grève

Well, it's been quite a while since I frequented this humble little blog... Don't really know where to begin, but one thing is certain and that is that life surely has a way of putting you on emotional roller-coasters every now and then and when you least expect it to.
Familymembers becoming dreadfully ill (thus the "grief"), but then decide to get married in a loop, yes that's definitely one way life likes to express it's capriciousness. I spent two weeks away from France in October to try to come to turns with what's going on there with the familymember's alleged health... Alas, it didn't go as I wished, that piece of the puzzle will have to remain unsolved as of now.
So, I'm back since a couple of weeks in my little au pair environment, studiously trodding along and trying my best to keep the spirits up. It's straining on me both physically and mentally, but I trudge along. If only this effing transportstrike would end! It's been going on for almost 2 weeks now. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about; the French transportpeople including metro, buses, trains and whatnot, have all decided to go on strike ("grève"=strike in French) so there is almost no way of getting anywhere. I've been stuck in my little village for almost two weeks! Well, I tried every now and then to get into Paris to go to class and it took me on average an hour and a half (normally it takes me 45 mins...). And it's mayhem!! People pushing and feeling you up, and then getting panique-attaques all over the place because of the stress. Jeez... Hopefully it'll end soon, this is getting a bit tiresome.
Whatsmore, I've been to Lille with the family, it was cold as... but nice. The Mottes had their annual reunion, there are over 270 people in that family! Not all of them were there though, luckily. We partied out in a lovely little chateau in the country and spent the night in a hotel, I got breakfast-buffet in the morning - j'adore.
Winter's here I think, you can tell when all the spiders from the garden are trying to get into your room... I like the idea of it being Christmas soon (I can go home!!), but on the other hand that means I have to finish my University-work so I get all freaked out thinking about it being December in 10 days.
Right now I'm working on a litterature piece (or rather, that's a lie, I'm rebeliously blogging), and it has taken me ages just to write one single paragraph, do I suck or what?
Will return to my studies now, they're calling out to me.
Ciao and goodbye

Autumn's here....

It's raining. As if we haven't had enough of that this summer. But I have to say, these past 2 weeks have been bliss with a lot of sunshine and pleasant warmth.
I'm in St Germain-en-Laye at the moment, tapping away at the French computer. It always takes a little while longer, the keys are all jumbled about. This week has been really nice, with the language course finally starting. We've got one more girl joining our group, which enhances the total of participants to three girls in my class, yay! Takes the pressure off just a tad. Doesn't mean we don't have to work hard though.
I also tried out the Paris rent-a-bike system, called Velib. Very clever, shove your creditcard in, take a bike, tour around and return. Costs 1 euro. Although, I haven't gotten back my 150 euro down-payment yet... cheeky Frenchies. All in all it's a great system, I suppose. Only Paris isn't built for cycling AT ALL. You're supposed to behave like a car really, and abide to the rules like any other vehiculean. However, I don't know if it's widely known, but the French are such little a-holes behind the wheel (pardon my German), it's not like Amsterdam where you can get away with almost anything as long as you're on a McBike, par example. You just really have to look out, and stop when the light is red or you WILL be run over!
Ah, and I have had my first celebrity-spotting! Or, to be more truthful, Matilda (another Swedish au pair) spotted and I just went along for the ride; we were standing in the line at Starbucks when people in front of us started behaving really weirdly. Turns out little miss Marc Jacobs is there to buy his coffee, standing there right next to us. I mean, if it was just me there, I hardly would have been able to tell it was him just by looking at him. Sure, he has his logo tattooed on his arm, but still... Matilda was quite smitten though, and the poor little Starbucksdude couldn't stop messing up my order. I'm POSITIVE it had nothing to do with my French or anything, it's quite impeccable at this stage!
So what else is new? Nah I guess that's it really, nothing else to report this time (or rather, I did have lots to write but I appear to have lost most of it on the way over here).
Oh well, it'll come back to me sooner or later.
Until then, just keep swimming

First day of school

There, finally I'm doing something useful. Went to my first lesson at L'étoile, school for foreigners, between 10 and 12. There were only 2 students in my class, that is me and a german girl! Gaah! Which unevitably meant us being forced to speak and participate like mad. But it went alright, I guess. Mostly repetition, verbs and such. Nothing new really. The teacher was nice, too.
The weekend was sweet, went to Amsterdam for Olivier's birthdayparty. Didn't go out much though, we stayed at Czaar Peter straat and just partied the night away. Took the Thalys (TGV) and didn't get back at Louveciennes until 00.20! So, I'm a bit worn out today.
Weather's taken a turn for the worse, rainy and cold today. However, we've had awsome weather these past couple of weeks. Reckon the weather gods felt a bit bad for messing up the summer so badly, and wanted to make up for it. I went sightseeing Friday with another au pair girl Amanda. Saw all the famous sights, and rode the big wheel, great view! Only Paris has so much to offer, I've only just begun scraping the surface as of yet...
Start "working" at 17.30 today, so I should get going soon. Might go for a quick run in the Bois de Louveciennes, if I can muster the strength...

alors, à bientot!