Lux-urious

Hello there!

Well, already another week on the books. The past four days have been alright, but they've gone by ridiculously slowly because it is week 2/2 of the girls final exams at school. If you've read my last few posts, you know how stressful this has been for me. Studying with them has been a nonstop everyday task for the past few weeks, but now it's done, hooray! Now we just have to wait for the results and hope that they pass...

On Monday, I was dragging a little bit, like I normally am after a weekend of traveling. But I had to kick myself into gear right away to begin studying with the girls. After school, we were hitting the books right away. Like last week, they were not happy with this or with me. Math is definitely not their favorite subject, and I had to push them to study with me. Other than studying, Monday was mostly Uneventful.

On Tuesday, thankfully we didn't have too much to study because Wednesday is always a half day so they only had one subject each to study for. This didn't take too long, thank goodness, because I had the second part of my French exam, the oral exam, at 6. I had to pull a topic from a hat and then speak with the professor about what the topic well. I had to talk about my passions and what I would like to do in the future. Piece of cake. I also got to look at my written exam and I passed! Combined with the score from the oral and I did pretty well! I'm proud of myself and what I have been able to learn in such a short time.

After the exam, my friends Lora and Simon and I went to the plaza in town to watch the World Cup math of Belgium Versus Algeria. There was a huge projector screen set up and the whole plaza was covered in a sea of red and yellow and black. People were waving Belgian flags and screaming and cheering and yelling and of course, drinking beer and eating waffles, how else would the Belgians do a soccer match?

After the first half, we left the square to watch the rest of the game at a favorite bar of Simon and his wife. Thankfully, the game picked up from here with two incredible goals and Belgium won! The town was in hysteria. I've never seen that many people out and about in the town and wild and screaming with flags painted on their faces and colors in their hair, eyes wild and bright, cheering loud and whooping in delight.

I walked home and had dinner and then headed to bed shortly after. The weeks events were already wearing on me!

Wednesday, the girls had a half day of school, as always. So after we has lunch, we began studying right away. But Elise had gotten a 100% on her math exam that morning, so I was super proud of her and also happy that all the studying had paid off! It was a gratifying moment.

After studying, Elise had a friend over so Emma and I played princesses in the garden and I made flower crowns for us our of ivy branches and flowers. She loved it, and paraded around declaring she was the flower queen, and her cat, Romeo, was the flower prince. I have turned these children over to the hippie side. They don't seem to be complaining about it ;) After having a princess tea party and doing our princess makeup, we did what all princesses do on hot days and had ice cream sundaes. After dinner, and reading bedtime stories, Emma whispered "I really like you" in my ear as I was kissing her goodnight. I think I teared up. I'm leaving already so soon, and then we may never see each other again.

Thursday, I met Michelle for breakfast and a walk in town. We spent a few hours together, and then I came home to start making lunch. After taking the girls back to school, I spent the afternoon sunbathing by the pool in the sunshine. After I picked the girls up from school, we had our final day of studying, which went just as poorly as all the other days, and there were tears shed. Since the parents were gone, I made crepes for dinner and put the girls to bed.

Friday morning, I went for an hour walk around town with Michelle, and then came home and made chicken parmesan for lunch. After taking the girls back to school I did some reading before picking them up again in the afternoon. After school was go go go go, because we went straight from the school to the arts and crafts store in town to buy a birthday gift for Emma's friend who was having a birthday party on Saturday. After finding a gift, I dropped Elise off at her friends house so they could go to boxing together, and then Emma and I went straight to Michelle's house for English class. It was super fun, we made peanut butter cups, which don't really exist in Europe because Europeans don't love peanut butter like Americans do. And the kids also were introduced to "Flat Stanley" and they got to make one and pick someone to send it to. Emma is going to send hers to one of her former au pairs who lives in London. After coming home at about 7, I relaxed for a little bit and watched part of a World Cup game with Sebastien. Then we all went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant in town to celebrate the end of the girls exams. I am so relieved that they are over! Two weeks of studying and tears and anxiety are finally finished! Dinner was delicious, and we were home in time to watch the second half of the French-Swiss game, and watched France dominate 2-6.

Saturday, I slept in which was amazing and much needed. I spent most of the morning lounging by the pool and we had a nice fresh salad for lunch. After lunch, the girls had their friends over the play, and having my fill of the sun, I sat under the large umbrella in the shade and watched them splash around in the pool, and at their request I made them more ivy/willow/flower crowns so they could play as mermaid princesses in the pool. They are so hippie and I so know it's my fault. In the late afternoon, I went over to my friend Lora's house and we took a walk through town and into the small park, and then we came back to her house and had ice cream and watched a movie with her daughter and just talked for hours. It was very nice to hang out with her. After I left her house, I stopped at the bank and then got some frites to eat on the walk home. It was a balmy evening, the first of summer, and light was still glowing on the horizon as I came home at 11pm. Happy solstice!

Sunday, I slept in again, and after breakfast, I played on the the trampoline with the girls and we also worked on some art projects. For lunch, we had a barbecue and ate outside, which was nice and the weather was great. At 4, Michelle and her husband Bert came over to pick me up and after a drink with Sebastien and Catherine, we headed to Luxembourg to celebrate their national holiday!

We drove into the city and parked at a garage and took the bus into the city center. We grabbed some sausages and set off walking around the city just so I could see the sites. Luxembourg is nestled into this valley amongst the hills and the old walls of the city fortress are still standing around most of it, giving it this secluded, fairy tale like feeling. The views standing on the bridges were beautiful; lush green hills and forests surrounded by ancient gray brown stone walls and aqueducts. It was a view to behold. After sight seeing a bit, we headed towards a parliament building where the duke and duchess of Luxembourg and the Royal family would assemble to sit on high and watch the parade. It is interesting to me how close we were to them, just across the street, yet there seemed to be such limited security for the heads of their country. It goes to show how in America the president would never be able to do this because of how powerful our president is to the entire world, not just our nation.

The parade was fun to see, with the military band and baton twirlers and people carrying torches and playing accordions. They each got the chance to stand in front of the royal family and perform their talents. It must have been nice but nerve wracking for them, I'm sure.

After the parade, we walked back towards one of the plazas and spent a while watching a good band play, with a very good female singer, and huge white balloons were being bounced around amongst the crowd. After they finished, we watched the fireworks from a park, and man were they good. Michelle and I agreed it was our Fourth of July celebration, since neither of us would be in the states at that time. I will be in Croatia on the Fourth of July, which is actually quite soon!

After the fireworks were finished, we headed back to the car and Bert and Michelle dropped me off at home after a jam session to Lana Del Ray in the car. They are so kind and I truly enjoy their company.

So tomorrow is my final full week here. I leave on July 1st, just one week from Tuesday. The end is near.

Goodnight, all
XOXO