This summer when I am back in the US I wonder if my life will stay as semi-interesting as it has been here. I don't recall ever having so many twists and turns in my life in Tx but here in Paris life always seems to be tossing me a curved ball.
What's on the menu for today?
Well, you see, when I first moved here I opened a bank account at a bank called La Poste which is the the bank within the post office. If you ask anyone here they'll most likely tell you its the worst bank to open an account with but I had no choice at the time. I had just moved to the Paris area, was living in a little suburb that seemed like I was in the middle of nowhere, it was August aka all the banks were barely functioning and I had no idea how to choose a bank so the family I was living with made the executive decision for me and scheduled an appointment with La Poste for me to open my first French bank account. It was no easy feat, let me tell you. But that story has already been told I'm sure if you just like to go back in time about 2 years. Fast forward to last fall when I started working for the "less than pleasant" family as I like to refer to them as and I decided it was time for a few changes in my life and one of them being a new bank. I wanted a better bank, one that I could get checks with, and to find a bank that was not charging me 7 euros a month to hold next to no money since I never had any. I mean, when you are making 120 euros a week and living in the most expensive city in the world, you aren't exactly saving for the future if you know what I mean. Anyways, I opened a new bank account and voila, my life was all better. So then of course I needed to close my existing account with La Poste so I was no longer paying 7 euros a month for an account I didn't need nor was I using. I went one day to inquire about how to do this and they told me all I needed to was to write a letter and return it to them. Simple, right? Well, lazy me never did that. Fast forward about 9 months and here I am about to leave for the summer and figured what better time than the present to take care of business? So I went to the bank today and asked them about my account to which the teller tells me, "but your account has already been closed." and I said to him, "so who closed it? I didnt!" and he says, "well, I don't know, I am only the middle man between the bank and the post office so you will have to call the bank personally." (so typical france, no one ever knows anything about anything) so I leave a bit confused but ok. I later called a friend and explained the situation and she said that she would call the number for me and find out if it was all taken care of just because I do not want to risk being black listed for leaving the country and not paying off my debts. (mind you, at this point the only reason the account was in a negative was because the bank kept charging me for an account that had been inactive for quite some time). I sent my friend my details and I received a text for her later explaining exactly what the teller had already told me, the account is closed. Dumbfounded I sit here writing this blog. But yay for me as I had put aside 50 euros thinking I needed to go take care of business and in fact the French took care of business for me and closed a very inactive account and reconciled it as well. It's possible and more than likely that they wrote me letters but as I was not very quick (basically I didn't at all) at changing my mailing address, I never received anything informing me so I have no clue what ever happened. All I know is that for once in France someone took an initiative and read my mind. Wow! What a good moment that was! haha. maybe I can infact buy those pair of black jeans I've been eyeing! haha.
In other news, I have worked more than 40 hours since last Friday for another family that has been renting out a flat in my building. That is 40 hours on top of the hours I already work for my family that I am employed by. Basically I have been busy! I'm not at all complaining, especially since I work nothing compared to a real person, but let me tell you, its been exhausting! But definitely rewarding as I was paid hourly for all of those more than 40 hours. Yipee! But the point of that is to tell you that today I was at home with the 9 month old while the parents took their 2 older boys out to an amusement park about 40 minutes away by car. They said they'd be back by 2 knowing I work for my normal family at 3. They called me in a panic at 2 saying they didn't know if they'd even be home by 3. Oh la la. Cutting it as close as I've ever been before, they arrived home at 3:15 which is when the little girl I watch gets out of school. I high tailed it out of that stressful environment, grabbed a bike and sped over to pick up Alix. I made it just on time and in the knick of time as it had just down poured and another one was about to come on. Today was a crazy day. CRAZY. the weather was stupid hot, then poured for 15 minutes almost drowning you, then stupid hot, then major down pour again. What is up? (sorry that this is a less than interesting story, I don't know how to explain into words the extreme stress of not knowing when one family would come home and if i'd be on time to my next job. but it all worked out)
So tonight is FAMILY DINNER. I have not seen the "family" for quite some time as we have all been busy and on the menu for dinner is "vomit" a so-called Brazilian meal but I am not sure if it is really Brazilian. I named it vomit as it looks a bit odd, but don't let the name fool ya, it tastes divine! I always request this but for more reasons than 1, the boys are the ones that cook this meal which means more time for the girls to gossip! :-) And Diana is the one in charge of dessert always, thats her specialty and our request for the dessert was "a sexy cake" so we'll see what she shows up with tonight. :-)
As its my last week and a few days in Paris before I leave I have the busiest schedule ever. Working, lunches, boat rides, picnics, biking, and making lots of memories with my British accented friends, doing all the things I will miss so dearly in the coming weeks. But I am so looking forward to being in Michigan and reuniting with my soul sista and coming back to Texas to sew and bake and live in a house so big that I get lost (compared to Paris apartments its giant). Not so sure about driving a car everywhere or the heat/humidity but I am learning to take the good with the bad and see my grass as green, not the other sides.
Hope you all are enjoying some sun where ever in the world you are! Bonne ....everything!
Love, moi
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