So Here Is The Story...

Okay so I am finally getting time to tell everyone what happened and why I haven't been posting. I have a lot to write about so it might take a while to catch up. But I might get lazy and just leave out a lot of details. I will try not to.

This story takes place starting on Wednesday, September 21, 2011.

 Anyway, I am not with Karine and Bertrand's family in Saint-Malo anymore. I woke up Wednesday morning, skipped breakfast because I wasn't that hungry, and caught up on emails to my family. My family emails me a lot. Especially when I don't respond or go MIA on Facebook. I love you family. Back to the story. So around ten o'clock in the morning, Bertrand knocked on my door asking if he could come in. Of course I said yes, so he sat down on my bed and started talking. He brought up the bus situation (I started feeling guilty again) and eventually said that he thinks it is best that I leave. Okay! That was definitely not what I wanted to hear. Ever. I think he saw my very shocked expression on my face because he started explaining his decision more. He said that he doesn't think I am ready for the job, and that I don't have the responsibility to get things done. That made me think about all the things that I had to suddenly change in order to do my job here.

For one, waking up the girls. Anyone who knows me knows that I am definitely not a morning person. If I have the chance, I can sleep all the way into the afternoon. Even though it makes me feel groggy and disgusting when I finally get out of bed. I am the type of person that sets their alarm an hour earlier than they intend to wake up because I press snooze every time my alarm makes a peep. But when I wake the girls up for school, I hear the alarm and jump up out of bed to the girls' rooms.

Maybe I am wrong, but doesn't that take responsibility to change yourself so you can do your job? I don't know maybe there were other things that show how 'irresponsible' I am for myself and for others. Okay, the bus thing. Yeah that was big. I got to the bus stop five minutes early, just like any other day. I guess if the bus is earlier than I, then I am still late. After I Monday, I had definitely learned my lesson about busses, so I changed and made sure I was at least ten minutes early for the bus. Enough, I have to stop obsessing about the bus ordeal. I can't change it now.

I asked Bertrand if there was anything I could do to prove to them that I wanted to be here, or if there was anything I could change to please them more. He said no. I couldn't believe that this was it. After all the work, time, and crazy adventures I went through to get myself to France, all of it was over. And I wasn't even getting a second chance to make things right. I didn't even know what I did wrong, other than the bus of course. I asked a number of times what I did wrong, but I never really got an answer besides that it isn't anything personal, they just don't think I am ready. I am still frustrated that they didn't tell me because how am I supposed to change or adjust in order to better myself if I don't know what is wrong. I never had a warning, and the whole thing is very confusing. No one really knows what happened. I am sure part of it is because I am only their second au pair. They had Andrea who, by the time she left, knew the language, knew the family schedules, knew how to do her job the way the family wanted. I was still learning. And I know I am young and I still am learning more about myself and trying to mature, but I still wish that they gave me a warning about this first... I think I am going to email them. I want answers!

Also, when I was talking to Bertrand, I was under the impression that I needed to pack and get on a plane that night or tomorrow. I thought that they were kicking me out on the street! Well at least to their parents' house in Paris, so I could catch my flight the next day. He told me to look at flights, which I did and they were very very expensive. While looking at tickets, I had one big thought. No. I was not going home. They could ask me to leave their home, but they can't make me leave France. I have a visa that lasts until next August! There is no way that I was only going to use it for a month in France. And I haven't even seen any tourist parts of France! No Eiffel Tower or Notre Dame. No Mont St-Michel. No Louvre. No anything! So then I went on the internet to find au pair sites.

I signed up on a free one called aupair-world.net and I also started calling people to find a place to stay. The first person I called was my friend Juliette. I met Juliette my sophomore year of high school during softball season. She was a foreign exchange student from France, and she was the manager of the softball team (a girl from her host family was an athletic trainer for softball). Obviously we became close friends because softball ruled my life both inside and outside of school. She suggested that I try studying at a school instead of the au pair thing. And if I decided to stick with the au pair thing, I should definitely go through an agency. So she gave me a number. I called that number, and they gave me a new number. I called the new number and it was an au pair agency called Solution Au Pair. I talked to a lady named Annie and she told me not to worry or stress and go to Juliette's in Douai while she looked for a family to place me with. I was discovering that it is very easy to find family's to au pair for in France. I was already getting emails from families on the website too.

Despite the crazy circumstances I was under, I was very calm. I felt like France wasn't over for me. There was no way that all the small miracles that happened to get me here were only for a month in France. So instead of blubbering in bed about how I got fired and have to leave France, I searched for other opportunities.

I was packed and ready to go by 2 PM, but I had to wait for my dad and Bertrand to talk about what was going on, and what I was going to do, and things with the contract. That didn't happen until after dinner. It was very awkward for me to be around for dinner. I knew I was fired, and that it was my last night, but I didn't know if the girls knew. If they did, they didn't seem sad. Ever. That is kinda a sad thought. And by this time at night, there were no more trains to Rennes.

Apparently, it was okay for me to stay for a few more days, but since I was packed, and I was fired, I didn't want to stick around. I could've stayed with Brooke, but they were relatives to the family that asked me to leave, so I thought that would be a little awkward too. So the next day, Karine drove me to my bishop's house in Rennes. I was going to stay there for the night until I could get on the train to Douai where Juliette lived. The bishop and his family were very generous and kind for letting me stay. And I was very grateful for that. (P.S. I love that my bishop's family owned South Park glasses. When you think of South Park, you don't really think of the bishop). I stayed there Thursday, and halfway through Friday, and then I was off to Douai to see Juliette!

So that is the basic story of what happened. There is still a lot more to this story, but I cannot handle typing anymore right now. I feel like I am writing a paper for school... But don't worry! I am still in France and I am with my new host family. They are awesome!