Phase Two

After the absolute chaos that was Verbier, I was actually pretty happy to touch ground back in boring old Divonne. Obviously, as per usual I was out of the house at the first opportunity I got. 
On Sunday, Krisztina and I decided to take a jaunt to Geneva. It was only short, but I was desperate to escape my host family and I think Kriszti was eager to get out and about again. We most definitely missed each others company during my week in subzero temperatures, so I was keen to see her again.
We parked what felt like a million miles away from anything, but that may have been because I was starving to death (going out without having breakfast was a rookie mistake, I'll do better next time.) The first thing we found was a lovely botanical garden, which I imagine is stunning in the spring or summer. Even in the winter, it has a certain charm about it. We walked and walked and walked. Into the city centre where barely anything was open. The both of us grabbed a little pizza each from Migros and I treated myself to a much needed chocolate muffin. After a while, we made it back to near the car, so we sat and ate our food while staring out at the lake. When our hands got freezing cold and the Sunday afternoon runners got a little depressing, we decided to make a move again.

We ended up back at the botanical gardens, but this time in the multiple greenhouses that they have there. Not only were there beautiful plants from all over the world, it was so lovely and warm, a refreshing change from the weather on the exterior.
I'm going to stop waffling on now and I'll just insert a load of pictures which don't give the place justice.

Unfortunately, I had to get back to Divonne for my two hour tutoring session *yawn*. It was hard to motivate myself after the weeks events, but I just kept looking forward to the extra money. Particularly seeing as I spent an absurd amount of money in Verbier...
David was super hyper, so it was hard to get his attention and make him focus. But, we got there and I managed to achieve some things, if not all of them. His family really is lovely and I even *accidentally* stayed for almost another hour just talking to them.
By this time, Kriszti and Jason thought I had died and were eager for me to pick them up so that we could go and get our Sunday fries. However, when we got there, the van was all dark and locked up, so we had to reevaluate. Thank god Jojo la frite was open or we'd have all starved to death! They weren't as good as the other ones, but at least we got fed.

All three of the kids were off school on Monday. Luckily, I somehow managed to palm Kevin off to one of his friends houses and, although I had to drive, I was glad of one less child to deal with. Mel stayed at home because she still had a lot of homework to do and football training late in the afternoon, so Marilie and I went to the park after dropping Kevin off. Honestly though, the amount of times I ran up and down the zipline there is mad. It completely shattered me.

Child labour

When we picked Kev up, the three of us went back to the park for a bit, until it got cold and I had to go back and cook dinner. Even though they went shopping on the Sunday, they didn't actually buy any real food, just snacks and things. Thankfully, they bought some pizza bases, so I just shoved those in and hoped for the best. Marilie and I created 'Marilie and Sara's Best Restaurant' where we served our guests a salad starter, pizza main and some kind of banana chocolate pudding. Everyone seemed very impressed and appreciative. Kevin even gave me a five-star rating (not Marilie because she dropped his slice of pizza on the floor - whoops.)

Marilie and I had to make an emergency trip to Carrefour on Tuesday. She insisted we bike, even though my bike was still caked in mud and the brakes don't work. Anyway, I brushed as much of the dry dirt off as I could and made do. The way there was fine, not too much moaning and we arrived reasonably quickly. However, on the way back something possessed Marilie to the point where she had to stop every five minutes to moan about how much her leg hurt. Ignoring the fact that I was carry ALL of the shopping... We made it back eventually and soon woofled down some lunch. It's safe to say that my patience wore very thin and my back ached from all of the food weighing me down.

Absolutely cream crackered

Kevin has recently discovered Pokemon Go and, although rather late to the game, it gets him outside which is some kind of miracle. When he got home from school, we took some snacks and wandered around the town trying to find Pokemon. I'm pretty sure he reached level 5 on his first day, pretty impressive. Him playing this game allows me to get some extra steps in on my FitBit, which is rather difficult when you're otherwise stuck inside doing homework all day.

On Wednesday, Marilie and I did some painting. She did a special kind of space-mouse that was floating on a galactic background. I chose a much more boring option: flowers. I literally can't draw or paint anything else, art is most definitely not my strong point.

I let Marilie do some baking on Thursday. She did it completely on her own (obviously I did everything to do with the oven). I was actually impressed with the results and equally flabbergasted that she was totally willing to clean up her mess. As in, she washed up all of the bowls and spoons - everything!

On Thursday, we also picked up the kids favourite au pair from the bus stop because she had a huge, heavy bag. She'd been travelling for seven hours, so I think she was thankful for a lift. 
She took Marilie out on Friday, so I finally got some freedom. Krisztina and I managed to grab some fries, although we were disturbed by the other two coming into the cafe. Later that evening, the two of us (the old au pair and I) completed a codeword from the newspaper she brought with her. It was the first time I've attempted and finished one, I'm well impressed. I'm basically a genius now.

The three kids and the two au pairs played a couple of rounds of Cluedo. Melanie won the first game, but she got tricked the second time and I ended up winning somehow. I swear I haven't won a game of anything since I got here, because the youngest two are always cheating.

By Saturday, I desperately needed some time away from the family. After two whole weeks with at least one child, I was exhausted and crying out for some time to myself. I arranged with Kriszti, Jason and Brenda to drive to Annecy for the 'carnival' there. 
Honestly, it was so bizarre. I've never seen anything like it before. Basically, there was a load of people dressed up in Venetian clothes, walking around to classical music. 
Otherwise, I had a great day. We spent the whole time laughing at each other and being completely stupid. I'm incredibly lucky to have friends like these, even though I can't understand what they're saying most of the time!

That evening, I met up with Ellen for a drink at Charly's. It was so lovely to just have a chat about anything and everything. Although we left at half ten, I didn't get in bed until about half twelve. We just spent the time sitting in my car, talking and talking (with the occasional yawn.)
The following day, we met up again. Our original plan was to go to the market, as it was her last opportunity to go. However, it was far too cold and windy to be outside, so we sought shelter in a cafe. We both ordered tea, in a futile attempt to warm ourselves up. It was totally useless because we had no choice but to sit near the automatic doors. That meant that every time someone came in or out, we were met with an icy blast of air from outside. Nevertheless, we kept nattering until it was time to go, then we reluctantly said our final goodbyes. I'm becoming much better at saying goodbye now, having to do it so often makes it a bit easier. Anyway, I'm sure that I'll see most of these people again. I will miss going to French with Ellen, but our teacher has enlisted me to keep her updated on how she is, so I will make it my personal mission.

Other than tutoring, my Sunday afternoon was uneventful. After seeing David, I had a long phone call with my mum, then headed to McDonald's (shame on me, I know) with Jason. I just needed some crappy food with good company to prepare me for the next week. It has worked so far, but we're only on Monday. Let's see how I survive for the rest of the week!