It's a small world after all

Today I met someone who graduated from Price Lab School with my dad!! Isn't that crazy??? Her daughter is classmates with D. D had her tenth birthday today and 15 kids came. We went ice skating and then took the tram downtown and had tarte flambee which is a traditional Alsatian dish that is like very very thin pizza with no marinara sauce. It was good and then we had a different type of tarte flambee that was sweet with apples and some type of sauce. The birthday cake was in the shape of a horse and unlike our cakes in America it was layered and more like a thick chocolate mousse with thick frosting. For those of you who know me well, of course I LOVED it so deliscious and really rich and wanted a big glass of milk afterward but settled for some Orangina instead. I don't think that E and S (the parents) were quite prepared for the craziness that 15 9 and 10 year old kids can create. The ice skating rink was fine. Getting the kids on and off the tram was a chore and the restaurant well as you can imagine was hilarious, well hilarious to me because I know how crazy kids can be.
We had made a reservation but it was in a room with two other parties and the kids were going crazy, it was a busy night so there was a lot of time in between courses in which the kids proceeded to rip the tablecloths spill drinks, break dishes, etc. Keep in mind these aren't bad kids just normal. How amusing :) Either way the night ended peacefully with a nice tip for the restaurant from S and many new and exciting breakable toys for D!

I am adjusting well I think. Everything is still very new but I am learning the routine. I am so grateful that everything with the family is going well so far. Both parents are open and honest with me and I never feel overworked (thank you X, the Russian housekeeper)! Some of the funny things that I have noticed
-I was waiting for X to come and show me how to get to the girls school and one of the ladies that lives in the apartment came down to get her mail we exchanged a few words in my limited French and she went on her way...this was an older lady I'd say mid 60's and she was wearing a MINI SKIRT with a mesh see through black shirt with a blue bra on and that was it. I wanted to take a picture soooooooo badly, don't worry common decency held me back :)
-Everyone smokes, not too surprising I knew this from my last visit. But kids smoke and it's no big deal. The family I am living with doesn't at all which is wonderful for me but everytime I see someone who looks like they are 12 puffing away I want to yell at them like I would if I saw my 12 year old brother smoking, oh well.
-PDA is huge here. I saw two high schoolers engaged in a very intimate embrace on a bench in front of the school...I am assuming they were in high school could be younger who knows. I really don't have any problem with affection in public, kissing hugging holding hands, but this really was extreme
-Everyone budges, E (the mother) is a sweetheart but no lines for her and thank goodness because if she didn't budge she wouldn't get served or helped.