I went to Albania and all I got was this lousy...

-a pounding migraine
-12 very itchy huge red mosquito bites
-a very widespread heat rash
-diarrhea
-my period
-seasickness
-two stolen bags

We went to Albania for the weekend and it was a disaster. One of the family's old babysitters is Albanian and her sister's daughter was getting christened and D and Ir were the godmothers. We left Saturday morning and came back Sunday evening but it seemed like so much longer. E's parents came with us; we all got to the port of Corfu and were looking for passport control for our specific boat. We found it and there were about 200 people in front of us, they were mostly a tour group and they were loud and smelly. The smell was actually incredible and merits it's own specific sentence, I thought I was going to pass out from it and Ir puked because of it. No I am not kidding.
We made it through passport control, the boat was supposed to leave at 9 but it didn't leave until 10. This boat is called a dolphin it's very fast very small and gross. In front of us sat two prisoners being exported back to Albania. All very exciting. Ir threw up again (the smell combined with the rocking). We got to Albania in a half hour. We then discovered that the grandparents had taken a bag that wasn't ours. They thought it belonged to us so they just brought it along. So we had to go to the the port authorities in Albania and fill out forms which took forever so they could send it back to whomever. The old babysitter, Z, met us along with her brother in law and so we piled into that car and a taxi, not airconditioned. The heat was so oppressive I wanted to cry; D and Ir actually did cry, well cry and scream and fight the whole hour and a half it took to get to our destination. OOO yes that's also when my period came... oh mother nature, you're so funny.
We made it to our destination Gjyrokastra (I know I spelled that wrong) we stayed in the nicest hotel the city had. The electricity was out when we got there so the air conditioner was broken. Not that it really mattered at this point. We were basically fried anyway. After we found our rooms and everything we then discovered that the grandparents had taken ANOTHER bag from Corfu that wasn't ours. Why they didn't say anything at the Albanian port when we were taking care of the other bag is beyond me. Then Ir started to cry again, I guess it's more like she just continued to cry, because she thought her grandma was going to go to jail for stealing two bags.
At this point my body was breaking out in little red spots everywhere. We went somewhere for lunch which turned into a big mistake because almost immediately all of us got diarrhea. So we returned to our boiling hotel rooms. The rest of the weekend passed in a hazy furnace like blur. We left on Sunday and the boat ride back was not on a dolphin but on the oldest boat allowed to sail the seas. It was terrible and it took 2 hours and I was sick the whole time, well the whole boat was sick. It was pretty disgusting.

So yeah, I can't really tell you anything about Albania except that if I ever go back I will be carrying an airconditioner with me

Days go by

My days are as follows:
10am wake up eat breakfast on the balcony with the family. Go to the beach. Eat lunch at a beachside restaurant. Lay on the beach. Come home rest for two hours. Dinner with friends of the family or at home. Sleep.

Yes that's right it's a hard life :) Well now that I am done making it sound like candy and roses the girls are driving me up the wall. I never ever get to be by myself and I am a person who values private time or at least I do now. There is an American family here, they come every summer, they have two girls that are D and Ir's age and they are spoiled rotten. D and Ir have a pretty easy time of things but E and S make a concentrated effort to raise them in a certain way which I find highly commendable given how easy it would be for them to just let the girls get everything they want all the time. Anyway, these American girls are brats. Yep, there is no nicer way to put it, several worse ways of course but you get the picture.
I was playing with all of them on the beach and we had an air mattress and one of the girls said "ok you can be my valet, feed me grapes" I said no ovbiously she said "you have to do what I say" and then I said no I don't and she said "you work for us, yes you do". I got out of the water before I slapped her. I feel sorry for their au pair. Really sorry. Thank god I picked the family that I did.
Also the American dad is a sleezy tool. We saw him in town with some hot girl about my age clearly not his wife clearly doing innappropriate things. Yep, thank you Americans for representing how nice. Call me oldfashioned, midwestern, naive, whatever you like but that's not ok by me.

We are going to Albania on Saturday for a family friend's christening. It should be interesting with plenty of food and merrymaking. I miss my family and I wish you were all here with me :/

Corfu the beginning

Well I made it to Corfu. Our flight left from Baden Baden, Germany at 6am so we left the house in Strasbourg at 4 am which means we woke up at 3am and I went to bed at 1am...so yes I was exhausted. I was delighted to discover that when the wheels of the plane hit the ground Greek people clap! You know Kudos to the pilot. Well we got all of our luggage and found taxis and finally made it to the country house. S has been teaching me all about the different categories of homes on Greece. The "country house" in literally on the side of a mountain with a view of the island of Corfu, Corfu Town, outher mountains, and the Sea which is breathtaking. The house has three bedrooms two bathrooms a big open kitchen and living room two balconies and a wrap around patio all facing the sea. It's beautiful. The yars has lemon trees, actual lemon trees. When I was little My auntie Keeka and Uncle Bruce would play Peter Paul and Mary's song, Lemon Tree and I would wonder what one actually looked like. Well they are everywhere here. For dinner we just pick some off the tree and squirt the juice over the salad.
The beach near the house is like the beach in Nice. It has smooth rocks and the water is clear. I can look down and see my toes. The heat is strong and the water is cool. We went to a beach in the south yesterday which was sandy with big waves.
The Greek people are so different from the French. The French are reserved and oftentimes considered very rude. The Greek people are loud and open and inviting, the contrast is striking. I love it here. The food is very good as well. Lots of oil and garlic, olives from the trees that are everywhere. S and E know so many people that wherever we go we are constantly being invited here and there.
The Greek women are stunning, olive skinned long dark hair and confident. I have never seen women so confident. They way they walk and speak, dress it's awesome.
Out of all the places I have been this is where I could see myself buying a home. A summer "country" home perhaps. I love it here!

On a side note the girls are driving me crazy. I don't have a moments peace they are constantly annoying me. Next summer I will drag Alex back here with me.
I would love to post pictures but I am at a dirty smoky internet cafe where the computers don't allow you to put your own information on it, or something like that.

And again

France and I have a special relationship. The kind in which I love so many things about it, but it chooses to constantly humiliate me. If I had a friend in a relationship with a guy similar to this I would advise her to run in the other direction. It seems that because my time here is short these lovely little moments have increased in frequency.
Next door to our apartment is a typical enormous French house. Three stories with lace blue curtains fluttering in and out of big open windows a lovely garden with hollyhocks and roses. Vines that spiral skyward crawling along the walls, piano music floating on the breeze and a little old French lady who resides as queen over this fairytale place. We talk almost everyday, in English (she overheard me and the girls once and even responds to me in English when I try out my French). Today she clipped off a rose for me, a lovely red rose (my favorite flower, am I predictable or what) and told me to smell it on my way to the grocery store. France in the summer is no picnic for the nose let me tell you, especially in the city.
So I was smelling this lovely flower walking along past other gardens stopping every once in a while to admire. At one particularly lovely scene that I was lingering over I stumbled into a sticky situation. A man, presumably the owner, came out of the house and saw me "suspiciously" eyeing his garden with a big old rose in my hand identical to his. He flipped out started yelling at me, about how selfish it is to destroy his handiwork, was I really stupid enough to think that he slaved over this garden for my singular pleasure and demanded that I give him back his rose. Well at this point I was struggling to understand everything he's saying, but I honestly got the gist pretty quickly. Then I tried to explain in horrible French that I hadn't plucked a rose from his garden and it had been a gift from a friend and of course he couldn't understand me. He just continued on his little tirade with me getting more flustered by the moment. In the end I just walked away with him STILL yelling.

Oh France why do you treat me so?

Karambolage

Karambolage is a television show that highlights the various differences and similarities between both French culture and German culture. It is 12 minutes long and shown every Sunday evening. The girls get very excited to watch it and I've seen it the past two weeks and it is very interesting and it's great because the girls get excited about it as well. The following is a link to the show's website. http://www.arte.tv/fr/connaissance-decouverte/karambolage/104016.html

love/hate

Saturday we leave for the Greek islands!! This of course means I only have a little less than a week left in Strasbourg. With my time here coming to an end I thought I would share some things that I love about France and hate about France.

Dislike
1. The sirens, wherever I have been in France and I suppose Europe in general at night I hear sirens. All hours all pitches and all volumes it's obnoxious.
2. All the stores close early. I know that my "American obsessed consumer" side is to blame for this dislike, but really it's annoying. I get off work between 6:30 and 7. ALL the stores close somewhere between 7-8. Which means that when I want to grocery shop it has to be on Saturday when all of France is shopping because all the stores are closed on Sunday.
3. French red tape. I have had to deal with a ton of prefecture stuff the entire time I have been here. Getting my Carte de sejour was a nightmare, going to various tests, dealing with the French police, blah blah blah.
4. The air is filled with smoke, less so than it was a couple of years ago but it's still a lot more than home and it makes my eyes water and my throat itch.
5. Snobby French women.
6. French cat calls, pick up lines, once overs etc. I know that guys in the US are stupid when it comes to women but in my own personal experience they have nothing on French guys. I once had a guy come up to me in a restaurant while I was with E and the girls and tell me he loved my ass, just some average normal looking thirty yr old guy. He wasn't being egged on by friends or anything. Yuck, thank you American guys for keeping those thoughts to yourself.

Love
1. Pastries of any kind, fruit chocolate, nuts they are all amazing and they simply aren't made as good anywhere else in the world.
2. Croissants. Yes this is a separate category worthy of it's own praise. They are delicious inexpensive bites of heaven. Flaky, melt-in-your-mouth goodness.
3. Wearing white all year round and mixing blacks and browns. The French are famous for their fashion sense and I love looking at the outfits put together and dreaming that yes I could pull that off.
4. Public transportation is amazing here. I know in big cities in the US they have subways and all of that but they are nothing like here in Strasbourg at least. The tram is very clean relatively inexpensive and easily accessible. The bus system is all encompassing same price as the tram and everyone uses it. It negates the need for a car, which means no gas prices, no oil checks...although if it weren't for the kind yet constant watch of my mom and grandpa back home I would probably forget those as well.
5. From Strasbourg I have easy access to four different countries all within two hours away. Germany, I can walk to Germany from where I live. It is literally right across the river. An entirely different language, a different set of customs deriving from a unique cultural history ten minutes away from my home. Belgium and Luxembourg are easily accessible as well. I have been to both countries once an separate occasions. Switzerland is an hour away by train and the train ride there and back again is breathtaking. Majestic mountains protecting lazy rivers, exactly how one would picture Switzerland to be!
6. The easygoing mentality of the French. The work week is 35 hours as opposed to 40 back home. E and S arrive at work at 9 have a two hour lunch break from noon to 2 and leave the office at 6. They have five weeks of paid vacation every summer in addition to other holiday leave as well.

That one time I was naive, charming, and super embarrassed

*edit*

It occurred to me after I wrote this post that some of the people mentioned might read this blog and with that in mind I deleted this post in an attempt to be polite. If you didn't read the story, trust me it was humiliating :)

Soldes and Summer

The girls last day of school was on Thursday, the schoolyard rang out with screams and "bon vacance" have a good vacation. The girls of course are super excited and also stir crazy. We don't leave for Greece until the 18th which means that I have two weeks of entire days with the girls in the beautiful summer heat.
We went to the pool yesterday where I succesfully navigated our way through gates and tickets and weird changing cabins. When the girls are with me out in public they seem to completely forget their French and change into shy and timid kids while I stutter and stammer in broken French. At this point I find it more amusing than anything else. The general idea of the public pool is the same here in France but standards of modesty are completely different. It's no secret that the US likes to cover it up compared to Europe and I have seen this in many situations while I have been here. I just wasn't expecting it at the pool, the beach of course. Well apparently pool, beach, park it makes no difference. This doesn't bug me in fact after five weeks (I am getting really excited!!) in Greece I probably won't notice but I was just surprised.
France has two periods of sales throughout the year. After Christmas and right now. There aren't any sale periods in between these two times so it's a little bit crazy at the moment. Every store is having incredible sales on everything that's left since February. I saw two women in Galleries Lafayette (a huge famous department store) scream and fight over a heavily discounted Burberry purse. Now I'd like to say I would never do that, but then again if I had 400-700 euros to blow who knows what I'd do :) My sale purchases are much more modest a 12 euros watch I've wanted since January and a cute 4 euro shirt. There are still two weeks left of soldes, I have my camera ready for the next catfight.