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| Vel d'Hiv Memorial |
I can't believe I've already been gone for two weeks! The time goes
by way too fast, but it must be cause I'm having a great time! Monday, July 16th was
a very important day in history: the 70th anniversary of the Vel D'Hiv
roundup, a day that wasn't even acknowledged in France until less than
twenty years ago, in 1995. Seventy years ago, 13152 Jews were arrested
by the French police, who were at that time controlled by the Nazis. The victims
were kept in the Vélodrome d'Hiver, a bicycle stadium, for days without
food or water, before being sent to the camps. I spent the day at the
Shoah Memorial, a museum and memorial of what happened during those
years beginning in 1942. It was sometimes disturbing, but very moving,
and I felt like I should acknowledge what happened, as most still choose
to ignore it. After I couldn't take any more sadness, I went to where
the Vel d'Hiv used to be, before it was destroyed in a fire. There, in
front of the memorial were many Jewish people, probably amongst them
some survivors. I wondered what it felt like now for them, to show who
they are with pride; I had a tremendous amount of respect
for all of them and just to be in their presence felt great. For more
information on this tragic part of our history, I encourage everyone to
add a book to their Reading List: Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. It's
an amazing book and it has also been made into a film. I think we all
need to be a bit more educated about this stuff :) I only remember
slightly going over it in school, but not to a great extent.
Tuesday
was my shopping day. I woke up nice and early to catch the train to
Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, which is where I used to always shop three
years ago. I guess I haven't mentioned yet but France, by law, only has
two sale seasons every year. It's against the law for any stores to put
stuff on sale when it's not during that period of time. So right now,
we're just nearing the end of the summer sale, which is why I've been
spending so much time shopping. And the sale season is the best/worst
time to come to Paris. I found out that I have no self control; I'm turning
into a shopaholic! Good thing I came with an almost empty suitcase! That
day, I got most of my clothes at H&M, one of my favourite stores
in Europe (it just isn't the same in Canada).
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| Bois de Boulogne |
Wednesday
was my relaxing day. I went to the Bois de Boulogne, a beautiful park
on the edge of Paris, that hardly any tourists know about. It has a
small lake in the middle, where people can rent rowboats and paddle to
the island to have lunch. I spent my time right beside the lake, reading
The Time Traveler's Wife. It was a gorgeous day, and it was nice to get
away from all of the mayhem that occurs in Paris.
Thursday was my Rambouillet day! The family told me to come at 7pm for
dinner but I got to town at about 12 so I could spend some time walking
around town and going to see familiar places. I started at the mall (of
course) and did a bit of shopping there. Then I stopped at my school
and headed downtown, where they were taking down the carousel! So I'm
glad I at least got to see a little bit of it. I got my lunch at my
usual Chinese place and took it to the castle grounds to eat. Everything
was pretty much the same, it felt so good to be back! I think I got
better feelings being back in Rambouillet than when I first got back to
Paris. After lunch, I walked through the grounds and went to look at the
castle. Then I went to my absolute favourite store (Cache Cache), which
I probably shouldn't have saved for last. Then I went to the Celtique,
my café! I was pretty sad when an unfamiliar face came to take my order,
but then I saw Old Guy walk out, and it brought a smile to my face.
None of the other guys were there though. I got my demi-pêche and I had
forgotten how good they were! It was amazing! I ended up staying at the
Celtique for about two hours before it was time to see the family.
My heart was racing as I got closer and closer to their house, getting
to about a thousand beats per minute. I tried walking as slow as I could
to try to calm myself down before I got there, but it didn't work. And
then I was there. I walked up to the front door and knocked, waited, but
no one came. Then I heard a car drive up and as I turned around I
heard, "Janelle!" All of the nervousness washed away and all I could
feel was happiness. I gave Anne and Emmanuel kisses and then Elsa
stepped out of the car. And as soon as I saw her, tears started pouring
out of my eyes. I started bawling as I picked up that little girl and
held her close, as she said in her high-pitched voice, "Janelle, you
looked after me when I was really, really small?" That's right. That
precious baby that I met for the first time when she was four days old,
whose diapers I changed, whose bottles I gave her, who I'd let fall
asleep in my arms, as I tried to make as strong of a connection as I could
with her so that maybe she might remember me, that sweet, little baby
was now a beautiful 3-year-old girl. She's the cutest thing and she's
such a tease, I never saw anything other than a smile on her face. And
she snuggled right up to me all night and asked me to pick her up and
hold her. All that worrying I did about her being too scared to talk to
me because she didn't know who I was, was completely unnecessary. |
| Me, Elsa, Antoine, and Alice |
Alice
and Antoine are pretty much the same, just three years older and much
more mature. Alice is nine, oops sorry, "almost ten," and Antoine is
eight. Alice is still her talkative self, still my little helper when it
comes to my French. She was always so good with making sure I
understood everything at the age of six, and even now, when the adults
were talking, she'd come up and say, "Do you understand what's going
on?" and her English! The parents and I can no longer speak English when
we don't want the kids to know what we're saying. Alice picks up bits
and pieces, strings those pieces together, and can figure out what we're
talking about. She even read me an English book! I was so amazed and so
proud. I went and got my wallet and showed her the marble she gave me
three years ago, the one I carry with me everywhere I go. And she
replied with, "Just a second," and bolted upstairs. She came back down
with a piggy bank and said, "There's only one coin in here and I've kept
it for three years. I'll never spend it," as she pulled out the Canadian quarter
I gave her on my last day. I was touched, that something that doesn't
seem like much to us, could mean so much to a 6-9 year old. And I was
shocked that she had kept it without losing it this entire time! Antoine
is the same too; he's shy and he keeps to himself. The parents say that
I've been the only female who's been able to give him hugs and kisses,
and who he's actually had a real relationship with. "Antoine thinks
he'll never be able to find a girl like you," I couldn't help but feel
flattered. I remember trying so hard to get him to open up to me, and
finally succeeding. As for the family, they haven't had an actual au
pair since me. They've tried but Anne said she kept comparing them to me
so they didn't last long. The first lasted two weeks, and the second
lasted three. Since then, they decided, "It's Janelle, or no one."
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| Tryo!! |
That
night, I got to sleep in MY bed in MY room, which has now been made
into Anne's office. It was nice being back, being able to sleep in a
familiar place, and being able to see familiar faces. I had breakfast
with the family, helped Elsa get dressed, and did Alice's hair, like I
always used to (but this time while I was doing Alice's hair, Elsa was
doing mine). Then I said my goodbyes and went back to the train station,
as they had places to go. It sucks that I only got one day to spend
time with them, since they're leaving on holidays, but it was totally
worth it! I loved every minute of it! :) That night, and for the next
two nights, I went to the FNAC Festival. They had seven concerts every
night set up on a stage outside the Hotel de Ville, and they were all
free! So I got to watch singers and bands, some I didn't know, some I
knew from keeping up with the French music scene while I was gone. There
were 75000 people who showed up for the festival; it was crazy! I got
to see Naive New Beaters, Pony Pony Run Run, Revolver, and many others
that I had never heard of before (and will have to add to my music
library!). One of my favorites was We Were Evergreen so I decided to
name my blog title after one of their songs. The last night and the very
last concert was my favourite band, TRYO! I came early that night (the
concerts start at 5:30) and I ended up getting
front row! By the end, my back and legs were killing me but it was
totally worth it! Anne was very jealous that she couldn't go; she
probably loves them more than I do since she's the one who introduced
them to me. The festival was a great way to spend my weekend! Now I just
have to find more stuff to do before Laura comes on Saturday! I hope
everything is going well at home, miss everyone tons! Love always
1 comment:
Girl! Sounds good.
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