Playdough is a universal language

While I have been vaguely considering job hunting since we moved here, I never really put any effort into it until school and college apps calmed down. Now that that's happened (I only really have two more weeks of school before I don't have to go to any of my AP classes!!), I decided making some money might actually be a good idea.

However, the process for a non-citizen to get a job permit in Switzerland is apparently pretty nasty (think a combination of drivers' ed and wisdom teeth removal... or something equally unpleasant), not to mention lengthy. So I decided to turn to my fall back of babysitting, which doesn't require a permit.

Now, I kinda just assumed that babysitting in Switzerland wouldn't be different then babysitting in Menlo Park... kids are kids no matter where you go, right? What I didn't anticipate was that I might find myself babysitting a four year old who is fluent in French and Italian... and not English.

Don't get me wrong, I definitely made sure the mom knew that my French language skills are still minimal, but she didn't seem to care. And to tell the truth, it didn't actually make that much of a difference. The first ten minutes of having a hyperactive toddler yelling in Italian was a little disconcerting, but once he realized that I understood him much better in French, he calmed down and promptly gave me a tour of his house with in depth descriptions of everything.

I managed to get through the night surprisingly easily. He spoke mostly in French, and I used a combination of French, English and random gesturing (which he found pretty amusing). I'm actually really pleased to have this job, because I think it will be really helpful with improving my French!

And luckily for me, when my poor French just doesn't cut it, Playdough is a universal language.

♪♫ leaving on a jet plane ♪♫

Thanks to Iceland, about negative three percent of the planes that usually fly in and out of European airports are currently allowed to fly. I like Iceland, so no hard feelings, but this whole volcano thing is a tad irritating, not to mention devastating to the aviation industry (which has lost almost $1 billion).

Luckily, I haven't been directly impacted by the flight deadlock, but a lot of people around me are. My history teacher couldn't attend a conference in Britain over the weekend (a short, 2 hour flight), and my friend had to take a taxi back from Lugano (Seven hours!). And I know there are people all over the globe who are stranded.

Hopefully this mess of ash will clear up soon. I know some of the airspace above Europe is being opened again, despite the fact that the darn volcano is still erupting. And last time it erupted, it continued for around fifteen months... :/

Paris, je t'aime

While I did feel like an incredibly blatant third wheel, I still had a great time in Paris with my parents. I do believe, however, that one should never be allowed to be single in Paris. My parents were returning almost exactly 22 years after their honeymoon trip--talk about romantic--with one of the products of their marriage unromantically in tow. Being in the third wheel in the city of love was not ideal.

In the grand scheme of things, however, our Paris trip was amazing.


It did rain at least 60% of the time, but if you ask me, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Personally, I will take any excuse to spend another hour sitting in a Parisian patisserie, drinking café au lait and eating pain au chocolate. Plus, the rain gave us a chance to spend large chunks of time in the Musée d'Orsay (which I LOVED), the Louvre (which I didn't love quite as much. Sorry, but why is la Joconde such a big deal again?), and l'Opera Paris (in which I could hardly bring myself to take my classic arabesque picture because I felt so humbled by the idea of all the legendary ballet dancers who have danced there).


And when it wasn't raining, we managed to visit all those cliché tourist-y places--la Tour Eiffel, l'Arc de Triomphe, la Place de la Concorde, Notre Dame, and so on.


Now, however, there is the slight problem that I am utterly in love with that city. Fortunately, I live close enough that it's not too hard to get there. I've already got another trip planned for June :]

À bientôt!