Surprisingly enough, eight whole months have passed by since I began working as a "nanny" for the current family I am with. Technically speaking, this is my first experience as a full-blown nanny... Aside from the teeny-bopper babysitting gigs for friends of the family, or watching my younger sister for a rather measly service charge-- that being absolutely free. As my parents would say, watching my own sister should be, "out of the goodness of my heart," or simply for "experience." At that age, it's hard enough to be talked into any sort of responsibility, let alone for nothing in exchange. As I've gotten older, I've realized that babysitters, or nannies for that matter, although severely needed in some cases, do not come cheap. As horrible as it may have seemed at the time, without my assistance when it came to supervising my "precious" little sister, my parents would have found themselves in a pickle and with their pockets unnecessarily lighter.
Moving along from the trip down memory lane, the family who I currently work with moved from France; Paris to be exact. Both of the parents are indeed Ottawa natives; the mother, Nathalie, being born in France and emigrating to Canada at a very young age, and the father, Andrew, growing up in a Francophone family in the city. Skip ahead some years later, and after being married, they moved to France where they had their three children: Theodore, Ewan, and Morgana; who are ages 7, 6, and 4, respectively. About two years ago, they picked up their family and moved back to the nation's capital... Fast forward to about a year later and this is where I show up.
I usually work Tuesday through Friday (Nathalie is currently studying her PhD in Business and has class on Mondays, so Andrew's mother picks up the kids from school and keeps them until the evening) from about 4-8, although this varies much of the time. I usually stay late a few nights a week so Nathalie and Andrew can go out, and I also frequent their household on the weekends as needed. During my job search some time ago, I figured that nannying seemed to be the best job prospect to fit around my school schedule. This particular job has meshed seamlessly into my day-to-day life and after eight months, it has all become so routine that the odd time when my schedule changes for whatever reason, I feel a bit lost without my daily dose of dealing with fits of rage over a toy or what we're having for dinner, with moments of utter charm, humour, and cuteness here-and-there...
Each day I head over to the house on my bike before the kids and Nathalie get home and clean up the kitchen/common area as needed. Then as soon as the little monsters come through the door, lunches are emptied and usually homework is tended to. Theodore likes to do his homework alone (the strong, stubborn type) and Nathalie will do his dictee with him afterwards, while I usually help Ewan with his homework and dictee. Attending a French school, this proves to be a bit interesting, as I am unable to pride myself with being bilingual, despite studying French from grades one through nine. I can hold my own when it comes to writing in French and the vocabulary, but I've never been able to roll my r's; so, when I attempt to speak some French, it simply sounds like my tongue is a numb mess. The kids find this quite humourous and I'm in pretty good spirits about it all and am usually happy to entertain them. Morgana especially prides herself in improving my French... We'll read French stories in her bed and she never hesitates to correct the pronunciation of practically every word that comes out of my mouth. I'm sure some would find this to be completely annoying and demoralizing, but coming from the cutest blond-haired, blue-eyed four-year old, it seems to be one of the most entertaining situations ever and it never ceases to get old. As time has passed, I've certainly gotten much better with both my pronunciation and deciphering common conversation between the kids and their parents (they speak French to one another for the most part), and hopefully this advancement continues!
Now, to the purpose of this blog... A few months ago, Nathalie came to me with the proposition of accompanying them to France for the summer, where they take up residence with Nathalie's mother in the French countryside. Nathalie has described the area as the "Tuscany part of France," with castle ruins and orchards surrounding the property (how idyllic, right?). She was worried about the fact that it is in a very rural area and there wouldn't be much for me to do in my spare time, but I couldn't express any stronger that my hometown is about as rural as it gets, with a population of about 1600 and having to go to nearby towns for pretty much anything besides what can be bought at the Mac's near the "four corners" or at the local fisheries and fruit/vegetable stands. Needless to say, I was thrilled about the prospect of travelling abroad with them. This is the type of thing that I could only ever dream about, yet now it is becoming a reality. I will be spending five weeks between both the French countryside and Paris with three youngsters who dearly hold my heart, and their family who has certainly grown to become much more like a family away from home rather than an employer. I couldn't ask for better people to work for and with, and this job has easily surpassed all others in terms of enjoyability and the amount of personal rewards that I have reaped from it. So, I created this blog to keep my close friends and family in the loop of my experiences as I travel abroad. Approximately one month until my departure, which is tentatively set for July 6th, and I couldn't be more excited. I'm sure there will be countless "firsts" to come and I can't wait to share them all!
I leave you all to with a quote from Mark Twain:
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade wings in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
I look at my journey abroad as not travelling for work, but as work allowing me to travel. So, for five weeks my only ties to my homeland will be the five others whom I go abroad with. Other than that, it'll be up to me to seek all sorts of new acquaintances, something which hasn't been so apparent since I left the "safe harbour" of my hometown and set off alone for the city of Ottawa to attend university three years ago. It's all kinds of excitement and thrill to think about!
That's all for today. Enjoy the weekend and ta-ta for now:)
