JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE MAMAN!

To my darling mother,

You have the heart of an angel and the smile of a Saint!
You mean the world to me and my list of things to thank
you for in my life has no end.

I love you so much. I know you know this already
because I tell you every time we talk but I don't
believe you should ever stop telling someone how much
you love them and how much they mean to you.
Life is too short.

You are everything to me and I am nothing without you.

I love you from the bottom of this mountain to the very very top!

Saint Hilaire du Touvet

Before I continue with Christmas festivities I must give you a peak out my window!

La Maison

After travelling for two months, discovering what this wonderful world has to offer, I have arrived in Saint Hilaire du Touvet, a tiny village on a mountain above the city of Grenoble in the French Alps. Strangely enough it was in Ireland on the internet that I found the opportunity to live here with this lovely family as an aupair girl for their children. After one skype date, many hand gestures and several incorrectly translated emails back and forth, together the family and I decided it would work. I took a train from Paris to Grenoble, the closest city to my new home for six months. I live in an attic, in a house surrounded by snow and alps. On the weekends we ski and by day, during the week, I practise my French. At night I play with the children and help with homework, baths and dinner. The first week has been hard. I found it hard emotionally, being so far away from everything so familiar to me - people, language and my surroundings. However after a beautiful weekend with the family who have been so welcoming to me, I begin to acclimatise to this amazing part of the world and the incredible lifestyle they live.

My bus stop

There are three shops found in Saint Hilaire du Touvet: a Pharmacie, a Boulangerie and a Tabac.

There is a bus that travels down the mountain twice daily. I take this on a Friday to go to the university I study French at once a week. Being late for the bus at home and being late for the bus in Saint Hilaire du Touvet is very different. At home I can catch the next one that will usually take 15 or 20 minutes to come. In Saint Hilaire du Touvet I could pop across the road to the tabac, buy a packet of cigarettes and smoke the lot before the bus arrives.
I am always on time.