Everything has changed in a week. As it happens, yesterday was the anniversary of the birth of champagne, which is rather perfect considering that I am living in France for the summer. It’s my day off today, so I will gladly toast to that! My staff has almost completely changed. Over the weekend, most of my co-workers took off for home and by Monday evening I had several new staff members to get to know.
By some stroke of luck they are all really nice and friendly, and though we’ve only worked together for a few days, I think the rest of the summer is going to be great. Their nicknames are Sequoia, God, Shelby, Scarlet, Paddy, Heebie Jeebies and Buddy, the director. They’re a very energetic bunch which is just what we need at this point in the summer, more than halfway through our contracts.
Today we took the regular field trip to the Mont St. Michel, the beautiful monument that I have had the pleasure of seeing twice now. My day off is with ‘God’ from Michigan, and we blissfully slept in, rode the bus with the kids to the MSM and then went our seperate ways, finding an adorable restaurant right on the Mont St. Michel where I had delicious quatre fromages pizza and hard cider. Afterward we walked off-site to a supermarché (supermarket) where I found food for dinner and a few essentials like shampoo and conditioner.
It was great to have a relaxing, relatively kid-free day today. I got to act like a grown up! I still didn’t go by Kayla, which was very strange. It will be nice but odd to go home and have people call me by my given name. I wonder if it will take any transitioning.
There are only 21 days left of this wild French adventure for me. It has been an unbelievable roller coaster ride, and despite ups and downs I would not change a thing about my experience thus far, except maybe not having gotten lost on my way back from the Eiffel Tower alone at night.
I have been taking pictures like mad, penning postcards and taking in as much sun as I can while I’m still here in this beautiful place. It was sad to see my friends go, but with a new session and new counselors comes new possibilities, so I have no doubts that these next few weeks will be just as memorable. I got a care package from my sister including Sour Patch Kids, Lindt chocolates, a note and hair dye (a blessing since I’m having quite the roots situation out here). I love how snail mail lifts my spirts! Thanks, sis!
I’ll be sure to have some juicy stories for you next time! Until next week, Clem.
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