Mercredi, 17 Octobre 2012: Adventures at the Laverie

Children in France don't have class on Wednesdays so when I knew I would be au-pairing for sure, I told Nathalie that I wouldn't be available on any Wednesday. She's my only prof then. Though I hadn't started watching the children yet, I reserved the day to clean up and pack--I had about two weeks of dirty clothes...

When I woke up this morning, I immediately put my clothes in the washer. I got ready for the day and fifty minutes later, the machine was done. I put the wet clothes in a recyclable bag and headed down the street to a laundromat. This was the first time I had used a public laundromat since I was a kid, and back then, mom took care of the technical stuff. There was no one in there so I couldn't ask questions, and the instructions on the wall were only for the washers.

I walked to the dryers (at least I started at the right place :-P). I saw that each dryer had a lock on it so I thought that I had to somehow get the dryer door "unlocked." I stopped at a machine that had all of the units numbered on it. I put money into it, pushed the number for a dryer that was open, and went to the unit and chose a setting. I thought at this moment that the dryer door would just pop open for me but no, it started going without any clothes in it!!! I freak out and pulled on the dryer door--expecting a fight, mais alors...it opens, ha haha. I throw my clothes in, close the door and the dryer resumes. I see that there are only 5 minutes on the timer but my neighbor has 20 minutes on hers. There's no indication of how to add more time to a dryer so I just go to the machine, put in 1 euro and hit the "high" setting on the dryer, it added 5 more minutes. I decided to hit it again since each time interval costs 50 centimes. Finally, I have 15 minutes on the clock. I decided that was enough time since the clothes felt pretty dry after checking on them at the end of the 5 minute interval. 

Since I had 10 minutes to kill, I walked across the street to La Goulette City to see my Tunisian friend who makes awesome fat truck sandwiches. If you haven't read my previous blog posts, this guy really likes America and Americans! As soon as I walked up, he greeted me in english and showed off all of the american apparel he had on for the day. He had an american flag on his hat and was carrying an American Eagle wallet, ha haha. He then reminded me that he had american flags all over his food stand which is beyond obvious. He had his cook make me a "Chicken Howie" which was named after one of his friends in New York. This sandwich consisted of scrambled eggs, grilled chicken, grilled onions, mayo, a tapenade, a type of pico de gallo, green marinated olives, and swiss cheese topped with a handful of french fries. It was the perfect lunch for me!!! Filling and flavorful but not overdone. The other half is hidden in Dani's fridge :-)

After I finished I sandwich, I went back to the laverie to collect my clothes. They were completely dry! It's strange...In the states it takes me nearly 2 hours to get dry clothes from a machine. I went back to the apartment, folded my clothes while talking to Molly, and went upstairs for a nap. When 16h30 came around, I packed all of the clothes away and threw 53 kg suitcase down 8 flights of stairs. With a full backpack on, I dragged the heavy suitcase behind me. I met Céline at Les Deux Garçons expecting her to be in her car. Nope, sans voiture. That's when I realized we would be walking to her car with my bags. Good thing they already have one of my bags at the house. A 5 minute walk took about 10 minutes with my luggage. Céline offered to pull my suitcase for awhile, I took a minute long break before I asked for it back. She's already doing so much for me! Plus, it was her birthday on Sunday. 

A short while after, we arrived at her car. The plan today was to show me where to pick the kids up. Once we were off, we headed towards Gregoire's day care. At the creche I was taught a lot of protocol. First, I was taught the key pad code, then I had to put on "socks" over my shoes for sanitation reasons. After being buzzed into about 3 doors, we finally got to Gregoire. One of the caretakers gave us notes on Greg's nap time and meals while Céline taught me how to sign him out using a swipe card. I also had to sign some paperwork and let them copy my ID because I would be picking Gregoire up from now on. 

Our next stop was Céline's ex-husband's house who lives just a block away. He's the father of the triplets. (Backtrack, he is also Romy's brother--the guy I was originally supposed to au pair for). We picked up the two girls, Léa and Camille then headed off toward Le Tholonet to pick up Baptiste who had soccer practice. After meeting Baptiste's coaches, Céline decided she wanted to show me the new house. During the scenic drive there, the kids and I decided to work on some english lessons. They started by asking me questions in english, which I would then answer in english, and would have to explain in french with Céline's help. We learned a lot about each other during that short drive. I think it kind of solidified our relationship because the kids haven't left my side since.

When we got back to the house, Céline handed me the keys to Didier's spare car, a house key, and a remote for the gate. I had tickets to a performance tonight at the Pavillon Noir and she wasn't able to take me. The hair dresser had just gotten started on Camille's haircut. After a farewell, she put me in the car and apologized for not being able to take me out on french roads for my first time but assured me that she had confidence in me. 

I got in the car which has manual drive (YESSS!!! I've been missing this!!!) Céline was outside smoking a cigarette while I was pulled out. I had trouble getting the car in reverse because the gears are placed differently here. Because of that, there is an extra lever you have to pull when you want to go in reverse. When I finally figured out how it worked, Céline says "Ah! Trés bien! You've got it!" and steps back. I turn back to her and said "I feel like you're my mom and this is the first time I'm driving alone" which she replied with "This is exactly the same thing" and smiles at me. 

Since this was my first time driving in Europe, I drove extremely slow and used the GPS on my smartphone. I was constantly getting cut off so I guess that means I need to be more aggressive when I drive. I finally find a parking spot by the Palais de Justice. I didn't see anyone else pay the parking meter when exiting their cars so I assumed parking was free at night. According to Google, I was right. 

I walked to the famous king fountain on the Cours Mirabeau to meet Donata and Vctora but didn't find them. I was also 15 minutes late because I drove like a snail. I ended up going to a gelatto stand to wait for Liza who was running a bit late. I ordered a lavender and honey gelatto. It was wonderful!!! I wonder what else you can make with lavender. 

I eventually found Liza and we hauled @$$ to the Pavillon Noir. We made it there on time. The show was Charles Dunn. The program said something about contemporary dance and how he used to be a member of the Riverdancers. I assumed it was going to be like the wonderful shows I experienced at BSU back when I was in school there. I saw Lord of the Dance on several occasions and was left mesmerized. This experience was not so memorable--except for being bad. It was a one-man show that featured the Riverdance style and old dance scenes on a projector. I was completely disappointed. The guy even changed his clothes on stage...I told Liza that if there weren't dancers added by 21h30 that I wanted to leave. When she told me she was falling asleep, I knew that we would be leaving sooner than that. We ended up leaving 10 minutes early...

When I got back in my car I realized that I needed gas. Fortunately, I have the "Places" application on my phone which helps you find any type of location. There's one particular feature that I enjoy the most, the tab for cheap gas! I saw that there was reasonably priced gas about 1 km away so I set my GPS on that location and headed there. At this station I learned that gas is much more expensive in Europe than it is in the states. For 15 euro, I only got about a fifth a tank of gas. I also had to turn the car around because the gas cap was on the opposite side of the car. After getting a meager amount of fuel in the tank, I took off towards home. I decided I wanted to test myself and leave the GPS off. I knew the area somewhat well because it was where my school is located. Once I reached Rue Carnot, I was on my own and had to work from memory. I turned whenever it felt right and before I knew it, I was home. I never even got lost. Can you believe it?