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Hey,

So I know that last blog post I left it hanging and that this next post now would be on the next part of the Paris weekend of last week. However I can't do that right now, it's no excuse but a legit reason why. I'm actually going home in a few weeks, if not this week then next week. It's nothing to do with my host family though partly by default. However this choice is not my own but in a way it is. Circumstances being what they are, my family is going through a terrible ordeal, a loss of one of their members so I'm needed back home. It's a horrible feeling being helpless and alone over here when something as abrupt and unforgiving as death interrupts our seemingly normal existence. It makes me wonder for the first time, why I thought going abroad alone was the best choice. This was a fear of mine in the back of my head that someone would die while I was away. As if I had any control of that if I stayed there.

It makes you remember what's importance, and in a way forces you to face your own demons. And it's hard and my mother is taking this, well the whole family really is taking this extremely hard. It's like no one can get past that thick layer of shock as the person in question who passed had just come back home after being on the road for work. Anyways, until such a time when I can get my grief under control to the extent where writing on this blog no longer feels like a chore I will not be updating it.

Until then, Sorry.

Paris, France 2014 (Part One)

So it's Monday night, and I've justt come back from my Paris Trip this past weekend. I actually got back this morning around 5:30am but who the eff wants to type then? I could go on a Tirade discussing the bus itself but I'm already annoyed iwith my life so I am not going to go there. Let's see, starting with Friday.

Friday we went to the Trian station at 10, our bus was early so we were there on time lol. We left at 110:45pm, and rode through Belgium to get to France. The Eurolines bus didn't have outlets on there, but everything else worked fine. No wifi of course. Okay so it's literally a 5 hour journey we end up in Paris around 6 am. We're confused and unsure what the hell to do. We go to check out at Mcdonalds to use their wifi, but it doesn't open until 7:30m. Okay, lemme just say, French people in the Customer Service position are some rude mofos. I'm getting that out the way now. We ended up buying an all day Train pass for 3.75 euros, sweet deal and we still had our stuff on us.

So then on our first trip on the metro, we got on a train, but someone had thrown up on it, ad it was so disgusting. I cannot be near puke period. So the Paris trains(some of them anyway) were connected like the cars but not onected to where you can go to another car if one was full. You had to actually get off the tain and hurry up and run to the next car to get on. We did that, Turzia one of the girls I went with both made it on the train, Claudine however, did not. 

It was a moment where we were freaking out, before that fear shed way to like like uncontrollable explosive laughter from how funny it was. Claudine was slightly tramatized. So it's saturday morning and after we are all accounted for, we made the decisions to go look at some sites before 11am, that is when we could check into our hostel and drop our bags down.

I'm really tired. Emotionally speaking that is, so I will finish this post later.

Well, not something you hear everyday!

Hey, so I'm super tired at the moment, but I'm not planning on sleeping for another few hours so I know I've got some time to blog then. Bascially what's been going on with me since my last post is nothing much. Today is November 11, which is Veteran's Day in the states, and St. Martins Day here in Holland. Bascially the children go around to the houses sing songs and get candy, like Halloween slightly. Anyway that is not the reason for this blog post today.

I don't know if I ever said it but my Host dad is a Lord. Like an extremely high up person and in the Royal Family. Okay, take that in for a moment. Once you get passed that heres the next part. Tonight at dinner(and still here!) he's having an annual business dinner with all the important delegates in Holland(which are his colleagues and stuff) as well as Mark Rutte. And he is the Dutch Prime Minister! I could have met him if I stuck around earlier but I don't want too, it's just too weird for me. And he's still in the house now. They had a caterer and wine and it was just in a frenzy today.

Anyway that is all, I'll have more to talk about this week coming. I go to Paris on Friday with Claudine and Tirza.

Halloween 2014 (In Holland)

So as you know this past Friday was Halloween, and as my host kids are used to having American Au Pairs they and the kids down the street as well as a few others have adopted this tradition. It's not a huge thing like back home but a few houses do do it, for the kids. This picture to the left were spider cookies, made from oreos and pretzels.

                                                                                          Over here you have witches broomsticks, made from Pretzels and String cheese lol.

These treats were super easy to make, and I find it more annoying every time i here the phrase. You're ready for motherhood....no the hell I'm not..and moving  on lol.

 Each of my host kids had two friends, except for my 4 year old, and after I had fed them all I had to make a variety of Halloween treats with them, while the moms( I kid you not) oohed and ahhed over it as we made them lol. I have a few pictures but like I said my camera was crapping out on Friday. I didn't know that Sunday it would flash it's last photo...damn lol 

These here are skelton bones, made with prezels and mini marshmallows. It had some white chocolate covering but my host kid picked the rice chocolate and it didn't come out right. It was good though. 

These two photes are the eyeballs or ghosts on sticks, made with the food coloring pens and marshmallows and Pretzels. 

 This freaky picture here is my Host kid Wies, decked out in her costume. She went in case you couldn't tell as a Scary Clown.







All in all it was a pretty fun night, and they loved getting candy of course lol.

What I have been up too??

Okay, I bet your wondering where the hell I've been. I can explain? I havent' done anything worthwihile mentioning since London. Because the bank charged my account 67.50 euros and depleted my account. I don't know if you know but London is very pricey! Those pounds are costly the exhange rate sucks for euros I don't even want to imagine how dollars would fair there. So since England I've been slumming it, going to parks after dark with a friend of course, I know totally unsafe, but whatever. And now it's November and I'm nearly broke again. The life an au pair, well you're living a very poor life indeed. Anyway, I'm not talking about that right now.

So I don't have many pictures this post because my camera of 8 or 9 years finally died on Sunday. Right when I had an Au Pair outing that my agency and Host mom made me go too. I had to spend 85 euros of my 300 euros this month to buy a new one as I am going to Paris next week. I want pictures...like seriously??? It's supposed to be delivered today.

So on Sunday I went to Nijmegen, which is somewhere in the middle part of Holland, I live in the south part so it was 2 hours by train, however I had to change trains like 4 times, so in actuality it took like, 4 hours..it sucked. Let's see there we had a lunch and I found to my utter horror that my body has an issue tolerating salt at the momnt. Like seriously they had a pumpkin soup there and it was way to salty to mee so I didn't eat it. In actuality it was fine, but my host family uses no salt, and no pepper as I've stated before so as you can see my issue. When I go home, it's gonna suck in that way anyway. No way in hell do I want to stay longer here..lol.

So anyway, after the lunch we had this tour, given by two guys on the history of WW2. I still need to go to a concentration camp, but I digress. Anyway, they mostly talked about bombings...I'm more interested in the personal stories as were the majority of the girls, so it was a bust for me. It's a black page on Dutch history I was told, because back then, Dutch police not Germans turned in the Jewish dutch people in holland...how could they do that? I can't judge, I know but that's horrific. I'm not surprised, because there is a lot of things that are slightly taboo here.

Take Sinterklass for instance....visit this link, pay attention to the paragraph Zwarte Piets..which translates to Black Peters. That is all I can say about that, without touching a nerve with some people, myself included.

  http://alexlaybourne.com/2011/11/12/sinterklaas-%E2%80%93-a-history/

Until next time, which may or may not be next week for Paris. 

On a side note, I almost forgot, Halloween with the kids...actually I'll make that a seperate  post until then lol