I had a dream. Brexit viewed by a Brit in France.

Last week I had a dream

I dreamt that the UK voted to leave EU. I dreamt that the French Police National came to my house, demanded I pack my things, and escorted me to Gare du Nord where I was held with other "illegal immigrants" who had come to France under EU free movement. We were kept in pens as we waited for more and more British people to arrive from across France, and were guarded by Police 24/7 until the British Gov't could arrange for us to be deported back. It took forever because the system was backed up with all the retired Brits coming back from Spain, as well as the other 2 million british people living across the EU. We were not allowed out of the pens to buy food, and our bank accounts were suspended. All our employment had been terminated because we were now "illegal immigrants." Some were sick and pregnant and couldn't get treatment because we no longer qualified for French medical benefits and our EHICs were void. We were hungry, cold, and mocked or pitied by the French passing by.

Then I woke up, and realised it perhaps wasn't a dream...

European Flags Fly High

I know (/hope)that is not how it would go down if we left EU, but as an expat it was genuinely gut wrenching, and I woke up clammy and nauseous.

Full Warning - This blog is goign to get long, and involve discussions of EU law and politics. Not for the faint hearted. I promise a blog about face cream or museums soon. I'm so sorry.

I'm an au pair, not a mother in training

What I am about to say may surprise you. It may even offend some of you. But I think it's worth being honest about, as it perhaps goes against many of the stereotypes of being an au pair.

I'm not really interested in being a mother. I'm not even that interested in children.

Ok, I can almost hear the gasps and angry comments being thrashed out on poor unsuspecting keyboards - let me explain.

I'm just looking forward to the day when my handbag isn't full of compote.

When things go wrong

If you read a lot of au pair blogs you may well have the impression that working as an au pair in France involves a lot of sitting in cafes, drinking cafés noisettes and occasionally swanning around a museum looking profound. Certainly, this is true to an extent, we do get to do this. But we also work really hard and, as far as jobs go, it can vary wildly from life enriching experience to a living nightmare. Just like any other job, how bad it gets will vary depending on your office (the house), your boss (the Host Parents), your coworkers (the kids), and your contract. However, suffice to say, when it gets bad it can get really bad.

You may have noticed that the blog has not been updated much recently. That is because my experience has been going through one of these difficult times. Consequently I have not felt motivated enough to write much and I have felt even less motivated to go out and experience things in a worth writing about. But this blog is meant to be an honest account of my time as an au pair, and I guess the best and most honest thing to do is tell you about how bad things have been.

Champs Elysées Christmas Market

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Or if, like me, you loathe crowded spaces and shopping its time to get your game face on and reluctantly trudge around desperately trying to find something to take home for Christmas. This is made all the more difficult by the fact that your whole family wants something "from Paris", a city famed for luxury and chic, and your au pair wages just won't cover a Chanel coat for everyone.

The one upside to this time of year is that is more or less acceptable to consume hot alcoholic beverages in public at anytime after midday under the ruse of 'being festive". This helps to take the edge off the dreaded christmas shopping stress to the point where elbowing strangers in the stomach to get to the last box of macarons is almost bearable.

So in the spirit of christmas, and drunken public disorder, have you checked out the Christmas Market on Champs Elysées?

Turning 26 - I'm an old au pair.

So yesterday I turned 26. Yes, the slow descent to 30 has begun. With the vast majority of au pairs being in their late teens and early 20s, I find myself firmly in the category of older au pairs. There's not much in life that you can be 'too old for' at 26, but au pairing can sometimes feel like one of them.

I have no sarcastic comment - this was a genuinely nice cake made for me by the kids.

Fortnight of au pair hell begins

This Monday morning I got up, dressed and went to breakfast. Unlike most mornings, I was not greeted with the sound of fighting over cereal, or the microwave pinging as it churns out porridge. The kitchen was dark, and the dad was getting ready for work without being harassed for apple juice or goodbye kisses. But do not be fooled by this illusion of calm, dear reader. The children were asleep, and as I write this are STILL asleep, but they are merely resting in preservation of the two weeks of hell that is about to descend on all the au pairs in Paris today.

A beautiful sunrise to start the week

An Au Pair Out & About: Père Lachaise Cemetery

Ok, so for this edition of An Au Pair Out & About we are going with a classic Parisian tourist spot - Cimetière du Père-Lachaise (Père Lachaise Cemetery). If you aren't afraid of graveyards and have excellent map reading skills, this can be a fun and interesting way to spend an afternoon.

My first month as an au pair - What I have learnt.

So my first month with the family is up. It's been a mad month, and I have learned a lot. To recap what has happened, here is a list of the 30 things I have learned during my first 30 days as an au pair

Coffee is BAE

An Au Pair Out & About: Les Jardins Albert Khan.

Last weekend was les Journées du Patrimonie. These heritage days allow Parisians, and those in the many small villages outside of Paris the opportunity to go behind the scenes of buildings that are normally off limits or to enter local landmarks for free. I took the opportunity to visit Musée Albert-Kahn. I was joined by fellow British au pair Lucie for a free look at this unusual and beautiful place.

Beware: This is an image heavy post.

So you've come down with the Au Pair Rhume...

1 month into your stay with the family, and you feel a bit tired. The initial adrenaline rush of living in a new city and a new country is starting wear off. Every morning you get up early to prepare breakfast. You hate rushing to school, and the weather has been changeable so you've been caught in more rain showers than you can count. The kids have been at school and mixing with other children, and have had a few sniffles or tousse. You've been running yourself ragged trying to pick up toys and get out to see Paris through the day. You must be feeling pretty tired right now, like you could go to bed and sleep for a full 24hrs... and is that a tickle in your throat?

You might have caught le rhume d'au pair!

Sources (i.e. facebook, Whatsapp, twitter, and word of mouth) reveal that several au pairs in Paris have succumbed to the condition and so here is your guide to surviving this unfortunate (but almost unavoidable) condition.

Where did the time go?

Alors! Bonjour! Ça fait longtemps!

Well I'm sorry for the lack of updates. It turns out that looking after children is incredibly time consuming. So is trying to adjust to a new country.

So what has happened since I last checked in?

Well, I've stepped on this about 100 times for a start....

La Vie est Belle - Nuxe rêve de miel lip balm

Bonjour! It's time for another French beauty post. This time I'm looking at a cult beauty classic by Nuxe - rêve de miel lip balm.

La Rentrée

Bonjour from Paris! I am finally here! I hope you understand the lack of updates over the last fortnight - you can probably guess I was very busy!

I arrived last Friday at Charles de Gaulle airport just outside Paris where my new family was waiting to meet me (with a home-made banner - how cute). Despite a horribly early start, there were no problems during travel, and I managed to unpack a year's worth of clothes in one afternoon. I immediately took photographs of the Kitchen, because you can see la tour Eiffel from the window. After 3 nights the light show late at night is still beautiful to me.

La tour Eiffel from the kitchen

I have spent my time here so far out in Paris with the family, enjoying the last few days of the summer holiday. This has been accompanied by a heatwave in Paris - temperatures reaching above 30 degrees celsius. Considering I mostly packed for the upcoming Autumn, I not only found myself short on chic floaty dresses, but have also treated the Parisians to the sight of a very red-faced, overheated Brit who has spent the summer in Wales and the English countryside where the temperature barely made it over 20 degrees. How nice for them.

Hiding from the heat on the balcony - not a bad view.

However, last night it rained and this morning there are grey clouds over la tour Eiffel. There is a slight chill in the air, and the streets that had been mostly deserted except for some very tanned teenagers and a few old ladies with dogs are now filled with business men in suits and chic women with portfolios and silk scarves. This is the beginning of La Rentrée.

La Rentrée is the name given to the 'back to school period' in France, though it is much more than that. In August, many parts of France shut down almost entirely. Not only are the schools and government AWOL (as they are in the UK), but many shops, businesses and restaurants close as well. This means that some parts of Paris can feel a little bit dead, as not only are the businesses closed but many families leave the oppressive heat of the city for family homes in the countryside. Paris si mostly left to a few families, some pigeons, and a lot of hot and sweaty tourists.

This morning, my family's mum and dad (Teresa & Marc) have left for work. However, the children do not start back at school until tomorrow, so my first official day of work is going to be pretty intense! The eldest (Nina) has a music exam at 18:00, but the rest of the day I have to entertain them without giving in to their demands to watch the television.

Wish me luck!

x

Allons-y!

By the time you are reading this I will be boarding a plane from London Heathrow to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.

Packing

This was going to be a joke about how little you can fit in a suitcase -
then I became REALLY worried

I hate packing. I've always been somewhat 'scatter-brained', and I can guarantee that I will forget something. This has led to me making lists upon lists of things to pack. The result is that I have lots of lists, and not much time left to actually do the packing, let alone go out and buy anything I've forgotten. If there's one talent that I possess above all others it is procrastination.

But that's just regular packing, the sort one does for a holiday or long weekend. If you are off as an au pair (or any long term stay) packing is a whole other ball game.

Au Pair Reads: Almost French: A New Life In Paris - Sarah Turnbull

I hope this will become a recurring feature. I want to review books that may be helpful or insightful for an au pair in Paris (or France more generally).

There are no shortage of books for people who have the desire to up sticks and make a home for themselves in France. Yet these books tend to focus on those who have both the means, and the luxury of time, to renovate quaint farm houses in the south of France. They know that they have years of warmth and sunshine in which to make their mistakes. This is not the case for au pairs. Au pairs have a maximum stay of 12 months on the stagiaire aide familial étranger and every minute not spent speaking French or trying to absorb chic by osmosis is a minute wasted. The easiest way to get around this is by reading the tales of those who have gone before you.

So I will be highlighting books which may be the most useful for you as an au pair on your placement. I am not looking at any particular genre - travel guides, travel writing, language books, poetry, and prose. If it will help you make sense of French life, I will read it and review it. So, let's start with:

Almost French: A New Life In Paris - Sarah Turnbull.

So you want to be an au pair?

Look. I am no expert on the matter. I have not yet been an au pair. I am, if you like, an au pair in waiting. That being said, I have already had several people reach out to me via twitter and tumblr with questions about how to go about finding your au pair placement, and I think I have a few insights which may be worthwhile considering. So let me take you through the stages I went through when selecting my au pair position, and how to avoid the pitfalls and problems that can crop up. Get ready for a long post...

Expectations

Reality