Mi Scuzzzzzi

Wow, 3 countries in one weekend. On Friday after dinner (amazing vegetable curry, dinners here are unbelievable) I was thinking of either going to see You, Me and Dupree which was being shown on the lac, or calling up a fellow U of M-er who is from Geneva....but all my kid-free time hopes were dashed when I found out we were heading to the family's chalet in Chamonix, France. As an au pair, I am not obligated to "work" (ie- be with the family and kids) on the weekends. And I'm pretty ready for some alone time by the time friday afternoon rolls around- but since I havent really met people yet, I pretty much do everything with them.

The drive out there was nice- minus the fact that I was squished between two carseats, sitting sideways without enough room to even put on a seatbelt. We finally got to Chamonix around 1030. I stepped out of the car to see their "chalet," which was arguably bigger than my parents' home. My room was on the second floor (I got to choose between two!), had a queen sized bed, shabby-chic (heavy on the chic) decorations, and a full on view of Mont blanc.

I had the most wonderul, silent, mountain-air infused sleep.....only to be awoken the next morning the ear-splitting screams of children. Luckily that's not my job when their mum is around- so I did my best to enjoy what little time was left of what I now consider "sleeping in" (until approx 9:30).

After a lovely breakfast of bread, jam and yogurt (eaten outdoors on the patio with a view of the giant, snow-capped mountain) we loaded up the audi A4 (me as smooshed as ever) and drove to Italia. First we stopped at the "Supermercato" to buy a picnic lunch of bread, cheese (camembert, and two local italian varieties), smoked ham, and sparkling mineral water. One of the highlights of my day was had here, where I was in the way of one of the impossibly stylish italienne womens' way, and she let me know with an emphatic, "Mi SCUZZZI!" (Eurotrip, anyone???).

We drove further up into the mountains, parked the car, and set out for a hike. It was pretty nice, but trying to walk with a 6 and 4 yr. old will test anyone's patience. After we had stopped by a lake, skipped some stones, and had a picnic, we continued the hike...to the tune of incessant whining. I finally ended up carrying Toby, who is younger and therefore lighter-- but who also kicks and squirms so much that I'd rather have the older, heavier and calmer Benji.

The walk finally completed, we headed back the chalet where we ate freshly bought italian ravioli and mozzarella. We also had some wine (I don't know what it was called but it was red) and me and Marc, the dad, got buzzed and discussed his startup business, StickerKid

Sunday morning, awoke to more screaming and fighting. Bleh. Am definitely becoming afraid of my future kids. Went downstairs to be greeted by a frazzled Michelle, who asked me, "Want to help make hotcakes? (they have pancakes/crepes/hotcakes every sunday). I said sure, to which I was then barraged with flour, eggs, bowls, beaters....and given the directions. I was kind of surpised, b/c last time I checked when someone asks if you want to help make something....it means you will be sharing the duties not going hotcake solo! So I slaved over the hot stove for an hour, while she talked to her mother in Australia.

I'm still not quite sure what to make of this. Of course I want to be helpful, but I am not supposed to be a fulltime employee, and especially not on the weekends. They are being so gracious in offerign to share their incredible wealth of amenities with me, but I'm not so sure about being made to do their dishwasher or make their food. I'm not thinking anything of it for now, but we'll see how things go.

Sunday was another hike (shorter, but steeper) that led up to "lac noir," a pretty gross lake in a gorgeous location. We sat on benches carved from logs, and feasted on day old bread with camembert and gruyère (a local Swiss specialty). I was feeling a litle homesick at this point, thinking about how back in Rochester my parents would surely be going on a beautiful walk of their own, and how much I miss them and wished I could be joining them.

Marc (the kids' 'Papa') snapped me out of it though. He kept finding huge stumps and having the kids count "UN, DEUX, TROIS, alllllez (go)" and then he would hurl them in the water making rocket noises. It made me think of when I was little and we would go camping every summer outwest, how my "daddy mel" would come and shake our van and growl in the middle of the night, pretending there was a real bear outside (when we really knew that it was only our "papa bear"). I was about Benji and Toby's age then, yet I can still almost perfectly recall what delight I felt to be so loved and cared for-- these kind of moments' are the things that form the blissful memories of childhood. I feel lucky to not only have had such an amazing one myself, but get to take part in one that in many ways closely resembles my own.
**sidenote: I got a bit teary eyed writing this last paragraph. If it wasn't for Benji sitting next to me now doing his ABC's, I probly would have been full on waterworks. I guess I am more like my dad that I care to admit.... :o)***

After the whirlwind weekend, we came back to Geneva sunday night. Marc made his specialty- spaghetti sauce with olives, and we had more wine. Marc and me got tipsy again and discussed the education systems in the US and Europe. To my surprise, he said that any top American University (Ivy leagues, Berkley, U of Chicago, UCLA) are 10x more likely to get you a job than the top Uni's in Europe). My true wolverine came out during this discussion, proudly explaining that Michigan is tied with Berkely and ahead of UCLA for public Universities (GO BLUE). Tired from the Pasta, wine and the weekend, I headed to bed early, too tired to even respond to the lovely email from my mum (sorry momma!).

So here I am, my third monday à Genève. So far today we had a frantic shopping trip to Coop (swiss kroger, much smaller),rode bikes in the parc, had lunch, and did the alphabet. I'm about to take them to sign up for swimming classes. Surely to be a grand adventure. Ah bientôt (bye) for now!!