My Final Week

My last week in Divonne-les-Bains was actually much better than expected. After my return from camping, Marilie made me a crown with my name on it, so I played along and refused to answer anyone unless they addressed me as 'Queen Sara.' It went very well, I should do it more often. Perhaps she was buttering me up, knowing that it was my last week with her and how much of a demon she's been since Easter. Quite frankly, I was just relieved that the screaming had lessened (I'm not sure it'll ever stop completely).

Marilie went to a friends house for lunch on Tuesday, which meant the older kids and I had free reign on activities. They chose to spend a while at the pool, although Kevin quickly got bored and moaned that he wanted to go home. We went again the following day and were a little more successful. I bribed Kevin, who is afraid of heights, to go on the 3m diving board. Let's just say, that kid never stops thinking of his stomach and any mention of sushi makes him putty in your hands. 

That evening, Jason and went to Charly's to watch the England vs Colombia football match. Anyone who watched the game can sympathise with me, because I was so emotionally exhausted from screaming and sitting on the edge of my seat that I got hangry. But, Divonne being absolutely dead from 8pm onwards, the foodtrucks were closed and I had to just scoff some leftover camping biscuits. It was Jason and I's last evening together and boy was it a memorable one! (Woo go England!)

P.S please go and watch the football song made by George Ezra and Greg James on BBC Radio 1, it will change your life and you'll be singing it for days!

Kevin had a sleepover from Tuesday until Wednesday. His friend, who is completely adorable and so polite, came mainly to play Fortnite (even though they play together every day). They ended up playing football in the absolute pouring rain, as in, it was a literally during a thunderstorm. He's always a pleasure and it means I didn't really see either of them for hours and hours. Perfect!

Wednesday was spent running errands with Mel and lounging about for most of the morning. The cleaning lady didn't show up, so I had to clean the ENTIRE house. Melanie was a champ and helped out with the hoovering, but that left me with all of the bathrooms. *sigh* 

I made Kevin cry hysterically by threatening, AS A JOKE, to throw his stuffed animals in the bin. Mel and I were trying to make the point that, at almost 11 years old, he shouldn't be carrying them around and sniffing them all of the time. That and his technology-induced ticks are a one-way ticket to bullying when he gets to secondary school. We shall see...

Mel made us all pancakes on Thursday morning, although by the time they were ready it was almost afternoon! They didn't turn out quite as she had hoped, but Kevin and I scoffed them down happily. 

Afterwards, we headed to the lake for a picnic and some football. There weren't many people around, as only the Swiss schools were off. We sat munching our pasta salads while listening a variety of different music.

At the request of their mum, I made the kids pick some berries from the garden. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures so had to get them back out in the garden for a photo shoot. Luckily, we managed to get some good ones for them to show their mum.

Later that afternoon, the family basically said their goodbyes. I got some interesting, yet thoughtful gifts, which made me laugh a lot and almost cry. The turkey hat is a personal fav... We made some crafty presents for each other, which actually turned out really great and then headed off to a buffet restaurant in Versoix. 

Buffet + Sara = pushing to the limits and nearly exploding (also, stomach pains - yay!)
We had quite a laugh and I sat that so desperately wishing that the rest of the year had been the same. More laughter, more good times spent together. They thanked me for my hard work and for caring for their children, noting that they really enjoyed having me. Melanie always tries to come across as if she doesn't care, but there were a few little things she said that made me realise just how well we got on. Kevin didn't say much, but he seemed quite upset so nobody pushed him too hard. We did one final rehearsal of 'You Should Take A Shot Son', which turned out to be epic. I think we should release it as a single, we could make millions! There's no image, but here you go...

What I didn't tell many people is that I went paragliding on Saturday. For my last day in France, Brenda, Isa, Guillem and I decided to throw ourselves off a cliff. We were cool, calm and collected beforehand, well for the most part... 

There's not too much to say about it, other than OH MY GOD IT WAS AMAZING! Here's some footage from the flight - excuse my French haha.

After our stomachs settled a little, we went to my favourite place - Annecy. I had my first ever savoury crêpe, with a whole hamburger in it. Let's just say, I absolutely devoured it and it was delicious!

Brenda and I headed to a local pub to watch the Sweden vs England match (IT'S COMING HOME!) After she came out of a dark toilet with a strange, tall man, we joined Isa and Guillem at the beach.

We said a tough goodbye (love you guys) and I went to fill up the car with petrol and sort out the last of my things. I got a bit ambushed by the kids and even got a hug from my host dad. It was a bit of blur, as I was exhausted from the day and knew I had to get to sleep, pronto.

I woke up after about 4 hours sleep and tried to get in gear for my day of driving. I picked up my BlaBlaCar guy at Lausanne and tried (as best I could) to communicate with him on the way to Hannah's house. I genuinely wondered if I was ever going to get there, she lives literally in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by forest and a lake. The journey was easy peasy lemon squeezy, Hannah and I sped through the empty motorways like race car drivers. It meant that we arrived 3 hours early, but the lovely guy at the border told us that we could take the 2pm boat. I'm not sure we had driven far enough away before celebrating... He must have been terrified of us! 
We spent most of our time feeding our bellies and chilling out on deck. It was bit windy, but we just wanted to stand up after being sat for so long. 

I couldn't have asked for a more incredible driving partner. We had such a laugh, singing along to my home coming playlist and spotting different number plates. Thank you Hannah, you're fab and I hope we stay in touch!

Thank god I'm finally home. I crashed on the sofa and was so happy to wake up surrounding by all of my things and favourite people.