loneliness vs self improvement

As much as I like having no stress to deal with and no work to think about even when I'm 'at work' I'm struggling a little. 

I don't know what to do with my time. Considering how much I value that elusive thing 'time', I'm worried by my desire to let it pass. The people I have met are all good people but as I said to N, I think they will get a little boring after a while. They are all only slightly grown up skaters. 

I know with every minute I spend with the family my language skills are improving. 

I know that I appreciate the time in the valley in it's beautiful streets, but there's only so much I can do there. 

I know there must be some very interesting people here, I'm just waiting and trying to find them. 

Each day I have at least 3 hours which feel like I'm in a waiting room letting time pass. 

With time comes opportunities. So far these opportunities grasped are language improvement and ukulele playing. The next thing on my list is to learn a few character songs from victorian music halls. I think there are some long forgotten greats of the 1890s-1930s that I would like to revive with the help of P in Prague if he's up for it. 

3 weeks later

I'm still here. 

I've been here 3 weeks now and it seems like no time at all. At first the days were going really slowly and I was trying to work out what to do with my time. Now there resort it open, I have skis and have had a couple of refresher lessons it's all flying by. Today is Christmas Eve and the family is up in Lille with the grandparents with G the youngest will be staying for 15 days. 

I've been hanging around in the resort loads and have made a fair few friends, mainly with those that are working here for the season in the bars or the chalets. They all work long hours and all want my job with only 20/25 hours a week at most. It's certainly an easy one. Though I'm finding it a little difficult to get used to the children. After Newham where all the kids are a little bruised by life and tend to need me for something or other, these kids are completely different. I definitely get the impression that they just put up with me until their parents come home. 

I am getting on really well with the middle child A because I think he is a little lonely sometimes and just wants someone to play games with. Yesterday we were playing with their darts board (oh my am I bad at that). 

I'm confused by my lack of Christmas spirit. I finally have a guarenteed white Christmas with Christmas trees and lights all over the place but all I'm set to do is sit around in the bar that I've found with wifi and good people. I never really have been much for the whole obligatory celebration stuff so I'll just meet up have a few drinks and a few friends and take the night from there. 

The skiing is good at the moment and after a few more lessons I'll feel like I'm back into it properly. With all this spare time on my hands I feel like I should be doing something constructive but right now I'm just fannying around. Give it a month and I'll actually start doing stuff, honestly. 

bourg-saint-maurice

First of all I am using a french keyboard and have a 2 year old playing on the sofa, so bare with me.

Well guess what, I have arrived in the strange new world which is b-s-m. I am now the aupair to 3 small children called G aged 2, A aged 7 and T aged 10. As I predicted from the photos T is a very serious boy and spends a lot of his time minding G and only laughed when he plays with him. A was instantly affectionate with me and bath time was very amusing. His mother looked a little embarrased, aparently she wasn't expecting him to run around the house naked 30 mins after I arrived.

The father Ch is a doctor at the hospital so I have not seen much off him, it also makes my hours a little different each day. The mother Cl is very nice but also quite serious. Hopefully once my french emproves I will get them all laughing a bit more.

I'm not actually living in the town: the family house is 10 minutes dive from the strip of shops which constitutes the town, and my apartment is even further away, further up the valley. Because I'm an idiot, I bought my camera but have no means to take the photos off it! Let me just say the village is stunning and very old. No cars are allowed in the village so you must leave it in a little car park outside. All the buildings are squashed in together to conserve the heat.

My appartment is in the back of a house owned by a family friend S. She has wifi, so soon I will be back to the land of the internet and an English keyboard, where it doesn't take me for ever to type. The apartment is all new so very warm with the best invention of them all, underfloor heating, though I'm yet to achieve hot water. This morning I managed to wash by heating some water in the microwave and using a little saucepan to tip water over my head.

It will be time soon for my friends to come and visit me and bring me all the things I forgot to pack. (I have beds free for 5 extra people in my apartment)

Oh also, I haven't seen a mountain yet as it has been snowing since I arrived and has been very foggy. The locals are starting to sound like the english, remarking on the weather at every given oportunity!