My day out alone ...

Charming clear blue sky in Paris, originally uploaded by L'Aubergine Grillée.

Yes, I was in Paris today and took the metro everywhere. I went to register for the French course in La Sorbonne. I managed to find the way to the building that I used to visit everyday a few years back. I got off Metro Jardin du Luxembourg and went all the way up to rue de L'Estrapade. It was such a nice feeling I have! Especially when I was alone and had a good long walk.

Noelia was with her grandma for half-day. She is very kind to volunteer herself to do it among her busy schedule. We had tried to call La Halte Garderie in the neighbourhood to keep Noelia for a day or two in a week. But they are full until September 09!

In France, La Halte-Garderie is a children daycare for non-working mother. This is to give the moms a break for a couple of hours or a day without having the children around. This service is completely free of charge. La Creche is for the day care that is permanent for working parent to leave their children for a full day in a week.

Early before I left the house, I became a little bit nervous to leave ma poulet with her grandmere. I am worry that she will cry and break something in the house full of everything. I used to leave her at home with her nounou for half day, but now we are staying at my parent-in-law. Although they themselves have take care of other grandchildren, but I am still worry. So, I quickly ran back home after I finished my pita bread lunch in boulevard St. Michel.

How my life has changed since I have a little girl. Those clear blue sky to watch, sitting in the bench of the park or window shopping around town and even enjoying a cup of coffee are seldom in my agenda right now. I choose to quickly run back to kiss my little poulet. Sometimes I feel like I'd like to go back to my singlehood. But I said No, my life has been so colourful and rich right now by building a family.

I always thinking that if I am single, I would probably be the fashion conscious woman who wears Prada shoes, Louis Vuitton bag (like rich Indonesian ladies), twice a week to hair salon, drinking a cup of coffee and smoke Marlboro Light. My nights would be full of pretentious friends in the clubs or bars who wants to get recognized around the community. I am not sure if I could be happy, but I will be shortsighted to just live for a day.

I am still enjoying those clear blue sky now ...

The Winter in France

The green and the blue sky, originally uploaded by L'Aubergine Grillée.

We have decided to come to France for a long holiday from Winter to Spring. I am not sure why I choose to come and stay for long in these snowy and cold season in Europe. Of all the beautiful seasons of Spring, Summer and Autumn in France, I chosed to freezed my butts off over here.

This is the slowest period I feel of all the other seasons. I needed a break from overhectic season in Singapore. It is the city which never sleeps, even coming in to holiday season in this economy crisis they are still busy shopping for everybody. The heat of the sun of the day has forced me to keep on running to meet a deadline.

Don't get me wrong, we love the sun. It's a source of the energy but we needed some moment to reflect. I see winter as the season to slow down and reflect what I've been doing, I'd like to restore my energy for the coming few months.

I like the tingle sensation of coldness into my skin when the cold breezes blows me. I like observing how the day light passes quickly and the dark night is appearing faster. It is telling me the time to get ready for Noelia to prepare her dinner and bedtime story. The cold weekend just right for baking and sleeping on the couch listening Noelia singing strange song. The afternoon for hot ginger tea and a piece of chocolate. It's quiet evening to read and teaching Noelia another song...

Every morning I have 4 pieces of tartine marmalade after my morning duties with Noelia. In this slow winter, the morning activities could be a real hectic if I do not organise it really well. Since a couple of days ago, she starts the day a couple of hours later than she was in Singapore. I have to wake her up at 8 am by opening up the big shutter which darkened the room all day. Every evening we close the shutter of the big sliding windows to prevent the cold outside creeping inside the room even with the window closed.

We are so lucky, Noelia's body has a good system to defend the cold. Thanks God, she hasn't feel sick although the viruses from children have been all around her. Maybe I give her enough vitamin C from Kiwi and Orange Juice every morning and Iron on her green legumes. After breakfast, we are out for a walk about 1 hour in the cold winter. Yes, it's a little bit troublesome to put on layers of winter clothes and take them off again when we got home. But life goes on even in this period.

Snow, Snow in Paris

First night in Paris, originally uploaded by L'Aubergine Grillée.

It's been such a long time for me to write again. We arrived in Paris on the 12 Dec and moved to South West of France, Lot-et-Garonne area for a few weeks. There wasn't any good internet connection in the countryside. Furthermore, it was christmas holiday. It's totally different from Singapore, we found empty streets, boulangeries, markets and cafes.

We're back in Paris and just re-connect my computer to available networks for internet. Yayy!

I'll write more now...