Working Woman

Hey there kids! Not too too much to report today...

I'm finally back on my computer, but it looks like we may need to look into buying some additional memory for my computer.... with my habit of having umpty-million windows open at once, and all the games I've got on here, memory is definately running thin. Well, just one more thing to add to the list....

I finally got Stephane to check his messages today, something he's generally pretty slack at. Since we havent gotten any word in the mail from UPS about the box I sent before we left and should have been here last Wednesday, I used this as an excuse. Unfortunately they called twice last week, and we've got five days starting Friday to call. (eeeek!) Since Steph's gotta work Monday and Tuesday and I'm useless on a phone right now, Maman Ute is gonna call for us tomorrow. We also heard the message from Doc (sorry about that Doc, but luckily we've already talked about that online) and Steph's co-teacher Frederique, who invited us out for drinks last night. I don't think we would have gone, seeing how completely dead we were after walking so much, but still. Hopefully we'll see some improvement on that in the future.

Well it looks like I'm a working woman, even if it's only a couple of hours a week. We met Carine and Gildas, and their three kids today at their apartment, which is absolutely gorgeous. It's on the eighth floor, with floor to ceiling windows in the sitting room. An absolutely amazing view of Troyes - one Stephane hadn't even seen before. We were quite mesmorized! Carine and Gildas were really really great, not only super nice but were able to switch back and forth between english and french to talk to Steph and me. Looks like the kids will be a small handful (they are ages 8, 6, and 4) but I'm hoping I'll be strange enough to keep them from wanting to torture me for two hours a week. They all understand english, but today were too shy to speak it with us. Funny thing is, they've been told I don't speak french at all so we'll have to see how that plays out. So the plan is, as long as the weather is nice (and it looks like it will be nice for quite a while), I'll walk across town, which is about half an hour, to their school. I'll have to go inside to pick up Ian, the youngest, (ack ack ack pray for me) and then wait in the school yard for the girls. Then we'll walk back to the apartment, where hopefully we'll just chill and start homework before Carine or Gildas gets home. Then I can take a bus if I'm pooped, or walk back home. Easy enough right? (Christ, I know I won't sleep tonight!)

The only small issue is that Carine would like to pay me officially, so she can claim it on her taxes, but we'll have to check with the insurance company to see if that will increase my premium too much for it to be worth it (since I've told them I'm generating no income, it may be less expensive not to work at all!). We'll see about that on Wednesday, when we're out looking for french lessons.

Right, well that's quite enough for my first week in France........ everyone enjoy your Sunday afternoon, and have a great week!