Exhausted.

Bonjour, mes copines!

Yes, this is yesterdays post….

Today was a fun-filled….and I mean FILLED day.  Woke up at 7 in time to get my last minute packing finished and take my h.e.a.v.y. suitcase to Chloe’s to meet the taxi.  We arrived at the Paris Gare Lyon station with an hour and fifteen minutes to spare.  I had to get Marie-Cesare a carte enfant plus(her old one was expired) which took up about 30 minutes of our time.  Of course we had to eat something and go to the bathroom.  She can pick the most inconvenient times to go…or maybe she is like me when I was little-she just wants to check them out.

Our train was scheduled to leave at 11:16.  At 11:10 we still didn’t know exactly what platform we were leaving from.  There are masses of people standing around train schedule screens and as soon as one is updated a mad rush of people bombard the area.  Picture this:  we are all bundled up in our layers upon layers upon layers of clothes because Chloe told us it was going to be freezing down south.  Marie-Cesare is trying to eat a sandwich with furry gloves on.  I have a small backpack with her toys for the train, my purse, 2 suitcases BOTH with 2 more bags on top.  I wish you could have seen me in the station dragging everything around all on top of keeping up with Marie-Cesare.  It was hilarious.  And I definitely got my workout in. 

As soon as our train platform was updated we all rushed to get on.  No problem? Problem.  There are these sliding glass doors between each train car and you would think they have an automatic sensor if a person is in the door it wouldn’t shut? Wrong.  Marie-Cesare’s shoe got caught in the door and that had her going for at least 15 minutes.  Luckily, there was a girl about 5 years old just across from us and of course they made friends with each other.  They were the life of the party on our car.  They sang lots of songs and played with Play-doh.  Colored many pretty pictures and ate a lot of candy.  That was great for me and I was able to look out the window at everything….and lots of snow!  Our train couldn’t even go as fast as it usually does because of the snow.  If it goes too fast, it will freeze. 

We got to Avignon around 2:30 and met Padi and Didou.  She immediately turns into this crazy child who suddenly doesn’t like me.  I think that this week will be good for us, so that she can see I am part of the family instead of just the “babysitter.”  She is so good when it is just us, and we read together…and play…all sorts of things.  But when one of her family members is there she completely forgets that I am in the room.  Its so frustrating because most children love me!  The friend she made on the train today sat in my lap and we read one of her books. 

I love being with Padi and Didou but it absolutely makes my brain tired.  I love learning so much while I’m with them, but trying to understand what they’re saying makes me tired.  Their house is bigger than expected, but still quaint.  I didn’t want to feel like a stalker on my first day, but I promise I’ll post pictures soon.  Didou immediately wanted to show me around and show me all the special things about the house. 

About an hour later we all piled in their car to go to St. Remy, which is about a 10 minute drive from their house in Maillane.  St. Remy was absolutely beautiful, but has become very touristy.  Didou wanted to show me everything out the windows, and all I really wanted to do was sleep.  We drove through the actual village of Maillane, and a few of the other villages around.  In St. Remy tonight there was a “parade” with pere noel and bon bons for the children and vin chaud and marrons for adults.  Apparently nothing starts on time here and everything is relaxed.  It was suppose to start at 6:30 but didn’t start until 10 after 7. 

Didou showed me around the town a little bit.  It was dark so pictures wouldn’t have done any good, but it was very quaint and so old!  I did take some pictures at the parade.  Which, I’ll have you know the parade consisted of a few “snow queens” dancing and a float with pere noel.  It was hilarious. 

Afterwards we came back home on the “scenic” route through some mountain.  It was wonderful and all but it was dark and I was so tired by this point I could barely see straight.  Didou had prepared dinner…quiche, soup, and salad.  We sat down at an actual table with placemats and silverware and weren’t rushed at all.  A first for me since I’ve been here!  Hopefully that will be the norm this week. 

Should be a very interesting week!  24/7 Marie-Cesare time is exhausting even if she doesn’t want to play with me.  The constant French is good for me but wears me out.  It feels more like Christmas here.  We are going to get a small tree tomorrow to decorate and put up the “Provencal” nativity that they have.  Pictures are taking FOREVER to load, so that may have to wait until I get back to Paris.  I'll try again tonight.  Can’t wait to share more with you!