Japunzel

I thought this blog needed a fresh face and made it pink. My apologies for any inconvenience.

Sitting home, very frustrated. Mom brought home her laptop from her job and I've totally abused it.
But I need a computer for EVERYTHING. Applying for jobs, checking my schedule for school or to find numbers to working places where I'll apply.

I don't know how many jobs I've looked up and applied for. Not a single word. I'm frustrated cause the point of me coming back to Sweden was partly to get enough money to be able to prepare for a life in Amsterdam. The housing difficulties may have improved, Diederik is set on that task while I look for jobs.
I feel rather isolated from the things I used to know, and what I generally feel is rootless.
I have been drawing a bit, again I feel hopeful concerning the Comic art school, but I feel so.. Not only out of place, but out of time. Like I have to make a great deal of critical decisions right now. I don't know where I am or where I'm going. But do I have to know? Cause I do know WHO I am and what I want. The question is merely if I can have it all.

I got anonomous advice the other day. It said: "For god's sake, move! You're being too comfortable. You'll make it work out. And if it doesn't, you'll have a great memory of how you went mad for love in your youth to look back on when you're old and grey."
 This and the feeling of being just a tiny step closer to a flat in Amsterdam is veeery comforting.

And meeting Sandra always cheers me up!

Today's songs:
Lily Allen - The fear
Sahara Hotnight - In private

I don't have a computer and it sucks.
I've been leeching off Oswald's alot and I'm greatful for that.

I got in on a physics course, and for the first time since 9th grade I'll be in the same class as Oswald.
So I'll stay here for another 10 weeks, and hopefully I'll move to Amsterdam after that. I'm in need of money, like everyone else.
Otherwise I'm doing fine.
Went on a stroll with Sandra today and I really missed her.
This will be a quick update, am busy applying for jobs, both here and in Amsterdam :)

I'm in Sweden again. It hasn't been the relaxed visit I had hoped for. Neither a very social one. Most of my closest friends are unavailable during the days or even for months.
I applied for a physics class to complete the education I need for studying biology, but still don't know if I got in or not.
 There are so many things I want to tell you - like that the toilets are backwards in Amsterdamian homes, what I got for christmas, and the list goes on - but I don't have the time and I generally feel unhappy in my situation. The lack of a working computer isn't helping either. I want back to Amsterdam.
But this requires a place to sleep and a job.

I did not enjoy coming back and realize that everything was just as when I left or worse. And that my sister has been using and borrowing all my stuff when I was gone, despite my harsh threats before I left. Sigh.
I just want out.
My inspriration in drawing and writing is improving though. Filled up with inspiration in Amsterdam but didn't channel it to something. Drawing like mad now.
I guess today's song is Merry Happy by Kate Nash.

I know some of you are a bit disappointed that I left Brussels, for the simple reason that you wanted to visit me there.
But I have happy news for you. I am trying to look into the possability of getting a job and a place to live in Amsterdam. Then you can visit me here, and I promise you that this town is funnier to be in than Brussels.

I'm also glad that you still read my blog, despite the fact that I'm not really a Mademoiselle Bruxelles anymore.
I guess I could be AmsterDamsel or something else. But for now I'm just a very tired teenager who wishes she had a laptop of her own. Cause when I return to Sweden (on the 7th january) I will have a router but no computer. So I'll be leeching off friends a bit, I guess.
I'm not sure how long I'll stay in Sweden. Long enough to clean out my room, and get rid of a thing or two. The more I think of it the smaller seems my future in Malmo. It would be if I got into the School of Graphic Novels/Comics, but I'm not sure how big those chances are.

I had a great new year, and I hope you had too. I'll update later, time to cook the nowadays traditional dish that I introduced to Diederik, the oh so fancy Chicken In Oven With Pesto Smeared On It And Cheese Sprinkled On Top, served with pasta : >

For all of those not sure where I am, I'm back in Amsterdam.
I don't have much time to write, we're busy all the time, entertaining and maintaining ourselves.

I ate something very dutch yesterday, it was some sort of pastry or bakery product. It looked like fried cookie doughand I'm guessing that's what it is, but with raisins in it. And you sprinkle icing sugar on it. Very tasty. Called oliebol. Apparantly something everyone eats for New Years Eve.

I had a great Christmas in Sweden, met many of my friends, celebrated the holiday in a rented house with 24 other people inkluding my mom, my sister and Diederik. He liked the swedish christmas food by the way. Especially my mom's meatballs. I agree. Tasty stuff. Need to eat something now and I'll update whenever a possability shows up.

Oh and one thing. I'm considering playing World of Warcraft again :O Am currently playing on a trial account. Haven't touched the game for three years, at least.
*shivers*
Laters!

I'm back again. I'm back in Sweden and back in the blog.  Me and Diederik has been here for 2 days now, and we've been quite busy. Friday we visited Oswald, went to Retro, drinking an dancing to genres we had never heard of. Yesterday we watched a movie with Dunér and later we decided to go to KB. We did, met some people from Kirsebergsskolan, met Sebastian and his working colleages and finally went home.
Today we've been walking around town and I've been buying christmas gifts.
Tomorrow we're going to my favourite café for breakfast with Sandra, Cornelia and of course Diederik.
On tuesday we'll head out to the christmas house, all in all 18 people. Big families, with boyfriends, ex-husbands and dogs. Until christmas day when there'll be 25 of us.
And right now I'm in the mood for homemade sweets.
Nighty!

SO, FINALLY.

Louise has left the country.
Today I took my bags (6 of them, another two bags I dropped off at Diederik's place last weekend) and rushed off to the train to Amsterdam, with the intention of not returning for at least some time.
Now I'm sitting comfortably in Diederik's room and the story got a happy ending ...for now *cliffhanger*

I'll update again when I'm in Sweden (family reunions and holidays are usually more dramatic than my days in Brussels ; >)

I'm pissed again.
Got both kids now, this entire week. That's not a problem, as long as either one or both parents are home.
But tomorrow they're going to Cirque du Soleil (yes, AGAIN. The mom wanted to take the dad since last time his step son banned him.)
I was supposed to go out with the au pairs tomorrow. In stead, I'm looking towards working first 3 hours in the morning, and later between 15.30 and 23.00. This means 7h 30 mins of work.
Please keep in mind that when they asked me to come here, the deal was 3-4 hours of work each day.
I know that tomorrow is an extreme case. But today is an ordinary day and that means I worked between 7.15 - 10.00 and will work again between 16.30 and 19.30. If all goes well. Sometimes I work until 20.00 or later. Either way, that's at least 5h 45 mins. And they imply they want more tasks done, like taking out the glass to the recycling bins at the busstation. It's not very far, but in the wrong direction for any of my errands.
I feel used and lied to.

I'm gonna comfort myself by packing my bag (going to Amsterdam this friday to drop one out of two heavy bags there), and a cup of hot chocolate.

You know I hate whining blogs, so I'm gonna compensate this with some of the things I'm glad to have experienced here.

• My visit at Cirque du Soleil. Awesome and I was speechless.
• That I met Diederik again. The proximity that made it possible that we'd be together again.
• The fleamarkets. Very interesting mix of really old stuff (this is the kind of country where they save a lot of weird things for ages and then sell them) but also brand new (creative people selling jewelries and other tiny things) and stolen of course.
• The bakery products! This is, like France, a country where fresh bread is more important than fresh milk. And they take it seriously. If it says "chocolate muffins", someone didn't just add a spoon of cacoa. No, they double the weight by actually putting chocolate in it. Even if it's bought at the supermarket.
• Having so close to everything. I mean, this is a very small country :P The forest is a 15 mins walk from here. The weird cities aren't far either and this might be the reason why trains are so cheap. Going to Antwerpen back and forth during the weekend is 7 euros. Same as a taxi home a saturday night if I share it.
• Discovering that places like Celtica exists. Thought they were all in my fantasies.
• As much as I miss Malmo, it was nice to get some distance.
• See Amsterdam again.
• Having Diederik here (I won over him in beer drinking, I feel so awesome.)
• Despite my complaining: Studying french. Interesting language (I'm not saying I understand it or speak it, but I am fascinated.)
• Getting more acquainted with the dutch language (same here, can't talk it, but to be honest, reading, I understand more of it than french)
• Despite my complaints: Learning how kids function. Including how to change their napkins.


Ok, this should suffice for now. I'll write more if I need to keep complaining. Like tomorrow for example -_-

The family is ok now. Very friendly even.

But it's been a weekend and the weekends are always better. Friday was au pair meeting and afterwards we ended up having no place to go, so we went to a restaurant and had a beer. Me and Sanna went home early since we were planning to take an early train to Antwerpen. She did, with Felicia, but I took a later train with Emelie. That was fortunate, I hadn't slept too much during this crucial week. Me and Emelie walked around Antwerpen and the endless huge shopping street, determined not to enter any store until we get to the far end of the street (H&M was banned in our minds).

But suddenly I see it. That neon sign looks so familliar and it takes me seconds to realize what I'm looking at.
The sign to a New Look store. The store I've only so far have come across in England. Who won't deliever outside U.K.
I grab Emelie by the arm and drag her in. We spent  hours in there. And I spent my entire Antwerpen budget in there. I'm so happy! ♥
Feels like I'd need an entire week to discover the city. One day was far from enough.

I did it.

I resigned.
I'm not coming back. I feel good about this. Feels like I did the right thing.

But it was not a smooth talk. The son was here as well cause his real dad was sick. Considering that, I didn't think they were gonna follow their weekly tradition, to eat alone in a restaurant every thursday. That means I babysit thursdays, but that's just Elin, and they put her to bed before they leave. Now there was Carl too, which I was told to bathe and put to bed.
And suddenly I realise that I'm not gonna get my talk. They're gonna head for the restaurant, be gone for 2-3 hours and then get back laughing and tipsy.
My knees turned week and my heart started racing from fury. "How can the dad put me through this? I've been waiting nervously for two days for this talk. And now I'm not going to get it?" I thought.
So I told the mom simply that I wanted to talk about that cursed tuesday. She said a bit careful: "Whell I wasn't here and I haven't heard much either so... I don't know alot about it." I replied: "That's why I think it's important we talk about it."
She said fine and went to see her husband. I overheard. She explained that I wanted to talk about it, and he answered her: "Well I wanna eat, so, sorry." in a tone that suggested that the conversation was over.
She pleaded a bit and said something along the lines of her being hungry too, but that this was (at least somewhat) important. He followed her into the dining room and they sat down. I hesitated but sat down too.
Nobody spoke, everyone expected someone else to begin. I could tell that the dad was grumpy and stubborn, and that this could get nasty. Probably to be diplomatic the mom started saying that she didn't have enough information and maybe both me and the dad should tell our experiences. The dad replied before I had a chance to: "I don't see a point in telling anything, I thought that we had already talked about this." and he gave me a bitter look.
I said: "You were the one who said that we needed to talk because you didn't trust me and... I'm gonna say this in swedish," I said and turned to the mom. "That tuesday everything was fine. Elin complained in the morning of having pains in her bottom, but I didn't pay much notice, I thought she was just faking (she does that alot).
I picked them up, the kindergarten teacher changed Elin just before we left, everthing was normal. We got home, and I cooked for the kids (cause the dad was coming later due to some meeting). When we finally sat down and ate the dad came home. He takes Elin to bathe her. Afterwards he comes down and asks me: 'Did you hear Elin scream just now? It's cause she has a terrible rash on her bottom caused by a very dirty nappy that she's been wearing far too long.' And I tried to tell him about the teacher changing very recently and that I had no reason to check her again. And the day after I spoke to the teacher, she said that Elin had had a sick stomach and been pooping alot during the day."
The mom interrupted and said that the teacher told her this as well when she picked them up yesterday (thursday). And I said that I felt far too insulted by the grave accusations (that they didn't trust me as a caretaker and that I would have ignored Elin's need and let her go with a dirty nappy for hours and therefor caused Elin's rash) and that this made me finally decide to resign.
The mom nodded and turned to her husband, I wasn't sure how much he understood of my swedish.
The dad said: "Well?"
"She's leaving us."
His reply was: "So?" And he shrugged his shoulders. He reminds me of someone.

The mom asked me if I should stay until the 16th like plannned, which I intended, but after seeing the indifference in that man I just wanted to leave. She asked me to sleep on it. But my own mom helped me choose.
She told me to inform the mom that unless things (read: the dad) change, I will leave as soon as possible.
And this morning I did. I didn't think it would work. I thought she would say that getting some remorse from him would be impossible. But she told me that the man had confessed to her that maybe he had jumped into conclusions. I won't settle with that, but she promised she'd talk to him again. So the deal is now that he behaves and I stay until the 16th.
Then I flee to Amsterdam, to collect my boyfriend before we take the train to Copenhagen, and there change train to my hometown.


But tonight is friday (TGIF, really!) and we're going ice skating tonight. I really do need this weekend. And tomorrow we (the au pairs, or, well, four or five of us) are going to Antwerpen! Feels really exciting, we're going christmas shopping and exploring etc. They say it's a much "cooler" town than Brussels. The opposite seems impossible.
But I arrive to Sweden alot poorer than I expected. The question now is really: "What do I do now?"
Please comment on things, I like your opinions.

What I forgot to mention yesterday is that the dad said he wanted to have a TALK when his wife got back. All three of us.
A talk.
She's coming come today. Tonight we're gonna have our talk. Tonight I will quit.
It's not only about the accusations from tuesday. I've  been feeling bad here. Like I'm in they way. And more of a burden than useful.
I know that's not the case. I am important and I know I treat the kids great. I ease them, take care of them and make them behave, without spoiling them. No candy, cookies or soda bribes. But it's what I've been feeling. And they don't realise what their critisism means to me.

I should stop whining now though :P

I've had plenty of good times too. Me and Sanna's been up to many things, especially entertaining eachother during the days. And the family's brought me to some really fantastic places.

Let you know later how the talk went. I'm off to Sanna now.

Week from hell.
I really don't like it here anymore. The dad gave me a cold shower of unfair accusations. I tried to tell him the truth, that I hadn't done anything wrong, but I can tell he didn't believe me.

I later tried once again to tell him what happened, when I no longer was upset.
He was still indifferent and rude. And said that he and his wife are having doubts as to if I can truly take care of their kids. And that I should take that "into careful consideration".

I feel like a lot more than a should. That extra mile stopped being extra months ago. And yet I have a feeling of never being enough. So if the parents aren't satisfied (they should have said so) I'm out of here. As soon as possible. But if they want me to I'll stay until the 16th dec, like we agreed on. And then I just won't come back.

I'm gonna quit before these lunatics fire me.

I'll update with the details of what happened when I got time, probably tomorrow.

So, I had a case of the mondays yesterday.
The wine delivery never came so I sat at home all day. But the kids were obedient and didn't slow me down too much, and we got home before the mom did. And the ravioli was done and they could eat with their mom. I was somewhat annoyed at that point for thinking I work many more hours than I'm supposed to. I heard that there's a rule that au pairs never should work more than 4 hours each day. I worked 13 hours yesterday, if working is considered the time when I'm not free.Then the mom asks me to cook. I was even more annoyed but said sure. Made basically the same thing as last time I cooked, chicken with pesto and pasta. And a fresh salad with that.
I hadn't slept too much cause at nights it gets freezing in my room. I shudder for an hour before I fall asleep, and wake up an hour before I'm supposed to, when the heating comes on. And I was hungry too, and I felt very much that life's unfair.
I hurried with all my kitchen tasks and finished around 8. And went straight to the computer and started my whining.

I open my mail and see that even more politicians have answered my letter. A few seems wellread in the issue (the proposal IPRED1) but most of them are just saying that they think that "I'm sure we will have a very balanced proposal once it reaches my desk." "I'm very optimistic about this" "I'm not buying this talk about integrity being threatned, at all." Those saying that, proving they know nothing in the matter (or have no respect for integrity), are sadly those from the two major parties, Socialdemokraterna and Moderaterna. They both try to make me trust in their good judgement. But those two parties were the ones who voted for FRA and I will never forget that. I didn't think that law would pass through, I really didn't. But S and M agreed to vote for it. I'm glad I voted for a different party.
So all this made me even more annoyed. Before going to bed, the dad came up to me sat down and just asked me "What's is it?" I told him parts of the things and he said that he couldn't do anything about the politiciansm but I got a heater in my room now :) Whining does pay off.
What I'm doing now? I'm home waiting for the wine delivery again.
Gonna cook tonight again, but I feel uninspired. In alot better mood today though.
Oh and I got a new hobby, papercrafting! I'm folding two paper strips into a heart shaped basket. It's a common christmas decoration in Sweden but it's alot harder than it looks.

(Yes, i hate the song where I stole today's blog title from, but it's on the music channel at the moment and it's fitting)

Shortly I can say that durings the days here I get so tired, frustrated and sometimes downright angry or sad, that I really consider leaving. Going back home. Maybe retake an exam and get higher grades or take a class or something else.

But then the weekend comes and I'm either out wit the au pairs or with my beloved Diederik. In Sweden it would be alot more difficult and expensive to see him. But I am glad this isn't Sweden, for many reasons. Sweden is too small for me in some way. The country is too narrowminded, claustrophobic in mind (but obviously not in space).

But then monday comes along (without competition the worst day of the week). At 13.30 I got french class (unless I skip it, which I've done a few times now), and directly after that I'm off to pick up the kids. Mondays mean I pick up both kids, Elin first and then her brother, we can call him Carl. And he is about the slowest kid I've heard of. And do keep in mind I wasn't Speedy Gonzales when I was a kid either. So if I manage to pick up Elin at 5 (means leaving the house or french class at 4.30 latest), I'll be at Carl's school at 5.15 or 5.20. Then he runs around, refuses to come with me cause he wants to be picked up at the same time as his best friend (which is alot later), he fetches his jacket which he left on a different floor and then he needs to go pee, etc. So on a good day I manage to get both kids to the metro station at around 5.45, meaning we'll be home about 20-30 mins later (if everything works out). So that's two hours just picking them up. The only good thing about mondays is that making dinner for the kids means heating up a can of ravioli.
And today is monday. I'm told to stay in and wait for a wine delievery. Not sure this counts as work time. In that case I'm on overtime now.
If I go to french or not isn't clear yet. But I have tried translating french songs and I learn like 5 times as much in a lot less time. I learn both spelling and pronounciation by looking it up in my dictionary and listening to the song.


So, this past weekend.
I couldn't visit Diederik this weekend cause I was supposed to babysit Elin during sunday afternoon while the rest of the family went to Cirque du Soleil. But then the dad had an argument with Carl (the dad isn't Carl's real dad) and that lead to the mom deciding that they would go withoutthe dad. But then they had one ticket left and they asked me. So for 2 hours I sat in a big tent on the front row, with people in spandex swinging literally above my head.

Friday evening started with an au pair meeting for the upcoming Christmas Bazaar in the swedish church. After that, 5 of us girls went out to find somewhere to sit and chat, but it was rather late and we didn't wanna go to Cheescake again.
After walking around for a while we ended up in a really cosy place, a mediterranian restaurant, and we had something to drink and sat there for an hour. Really nice. I've been absent (from au pair activities) so much that I want to get to know them better now.

Saturday was the Bazaar, and I was supposed to work between 10.30 and 14.00 with paper handcrafting together with kids. Folding paper hearts in different colors, christmas cards etc.
This was rewarded with one free snack at the cafeteria.
The children's activities were held in a cellar, for some brilliant reason. Small rooms, no ventilation, no isolation and tons of kids screeming. It was a cute version of Hell down there.
At 13.00 I had my lunch which I by part coincidence and part sneakyness managed to get on top of a snack (those who worked 14-18 aswell got both a snack and lunch). That meant one hot dog and a julmust. A snack proved to be equal to a cup of tea/coffee and one cookie. This is what they expected people to work almost 8 hours on.
After my shift was done I started making a smällkaramell for my own pleasure, and a kid asked me how to do it. I showed and helped, being the kind human that I am. And then another one came, and another. This is where I realise that I'm the only one working in the room, and i wasn't even supposed to work. I couldn't leave and abandon the kids either, so half an hour later when a few of the au pairs found me there they sent me home right away, saying I looked exhausted. But now I got a smällkaramell hanging in my window. In the colors of my hero ♥

I went shopping today. Properly.
I told myself that I should save more. And what do I do?

I buy:
a pair of shoes (high heeled boots O_O)
two pens (and almost a third)
et un sachet avec pralines de Leonidas.
Go me!

And to complete the picture I ate lunch at the worl's most famous burger restaurant.
I'm becoming my sister! (No offense, she's not wrong or stupid, we're just ...very different).

And about time.
I got oceans of time, and yet I feel like I never have enough. I waste it, sitting in my room, getting cold. Or looking around, thinking about unimportant matters. But I don't own my time. Feel like I am partly wasting my time here.
But what I like here is that it isn't Sweden. It isn't modest. The buildings and the fashion is alot more fun. And we have very interesting discussions. About internet, about integrity, immegration and human rights. But yeah. I don't know what to do or where to go.

And in other news, Sweden plays against Holland tonight. And Diederik might spend Christmas with me and my family in Sweden, depending on how things turn out.

Oh, and I finally finished that bloody book Lolita. Took discipline to get through it. Too many words and too many french words.
Goodnight.

I got sick yesterday.
Some people may argue that it was my own fault, sharing a mudcake with Sanna. The recipe was intended for 8 people. We took it out long before it was done ande smeared a molten chocolate bar over it. The most perfect cake I ever ate. Crispy at the outer parts, then chewy and in the middle almost liquid. Both me and Sanna were struck by it. One piece was enough. But it would be a real shame to leave it there, I mean.. They didn't have much space in their freeze, and no jar would fit it. We ate the whole thing.
But that wouldn't explain it all.
I also had fever. Stayed in this morning, but worked as usual this evening.
Business as usual.

I hate beeing sick here.

This place ages me. I don't like that.

I'm in a really good mood today. Have been a bit low all week, not sure why.
But today I feel really good, thanks to several things. But mostly because Diederik is coming tomorrow. He'll stay for the weekend. I didn't dare to invite him cause Owain and his 5 friends from the European School are going to have a baking day on sunday, where all the cookies and sweets for christmas will be made.
But the mother said it was okay if Diederik helped with the cookies.

Speaking of multilingual meetings, a guy tried to pick me up at the metro the other day. He spoke french of course (and I really don't, apart from a few sentences :P), so we tried english. But he didn't speak that all that good. After mixing a little bit with dutch, we ended up speaking german, which for some reason, seemed to work out better than any other language.

When I got home this morning, after leaving Elin at kindergarten, I noticed something weird as soon as I got above ground.
I couldn't put my finger on it.
The sun shone and nothing seemed abnormal.
But then I noticed.
Things were moving. At first I thought it was just an optic illusion but then I felt it. A quiet rain fell. Tiny drops on almost the entire way home.
Now rain in Brussels is certainly nothing unusual. The catch was that the sky was blue.
Not a cloud for several miles in each direction. They were far away, almost on the horizon.
I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason for this, that the rain had a source.
But i don't know it. I couldn't see it.

That was an extraordinary weekend.

Friday
Me and the family went to an exclusive hotel not far from Liege.
We took the car, and drove off. On the way I fell asleep until we stopped at a Highway restaurant where me and Elin ate (the dad had other plans for him and his wife). It got really dark, and the time was maybe 20-something when the car rolled up in the parking outside a very impressive little hotel.
When we entered the family's room, jaws hit the floor. I felt like I was on MTV. So pretty, so luxurious and yet simple furniture. And then I was shown into my own (separate) room and my jaw hit the floor again. And the parents got jealous. My room was even nicer than theirs.
My bed was one massive big black hole of softness. Seemed like they just stacked 7 madrasses in a pile and put sheets on. And the products waiting in the bathroom part..! Everything from showercap and shoepolish to individually packed tops where from the perfume brand BVLGARI, and you could tell from how everything was perfumed. Even the bathrobe smelled fantastic. I didn't sniff on the slippers but I guess they did too.
After inspecting my room we drank champagne in the family's room. The dad confessed to me later that it was the most expensive bottle he had ever bought.
Then I put Elin to bed and the parents had dinner downstairs in the restaurant. Elin fell asleep and I sneaked in to my room (but left the doors open so I'd hear if she'd wake up). Then I took pictures of my room and when I sat there with my camera, a lady knocked on the door. She came in with a tiny package and a plate with 6 tiny pastries. I unwrapped the package which contained two chocolate pralines.
While indulging these I made myself a cup of tea (I had a waterboiler, teabags with rare flavours and 4 sets of teacups in my room). Then I turned on the tv and watched Hellsing (in french, but still, I'm not watching for the dialogue and I know the story anyway...).

Saturday
After a delicious breakfast (there's few things I enjoy more than a tasty hotel breakfast) we went to tha car. We drove past some post-industrial suburbs and that was really something to see. Shabby, dirty and some of them total wrecks. But still they were prettier than many buildings made today. My favourite was a former fabric factory, which looked like a prison. We went to the city Spa (where all spas and the drink Spa originates from). The spa was full so we walked around the city instead. It's a really pretty town, weird buildings everywhere. There was a market where they sold foodm clothes and local products.
After walking around we ended up drinking really good warm red wine on the local firestation. Just when I had lost the feeling of a christmas approaching. We're not as reminded of christmas here as in Sweden. Probably cause it's not as dark and gloomy here.
Then we went up on the surrounding mountains. So beautiful, everything was green, yellow, orange and red. And the view was really something too. When we came down again, we found a nice restaurant where we had pasta.
Since the parents had decided to make their own spa, we went back to the hotel and I babysat for a few hours. We watched some tv and she turned my room upside down (but she turned most of it back afterwards).
When the parents got back we went to a chinese restaurant and again, only me and Elin ate. After returning to the hotel we had a drink and a snack in the "cigar room" downstairs. I drank Kir Royal and then put Elin to bed, while the parents had dinner. I watched some more Hellsing (yes I was alone and bored, despite my Kir and mightly pastries). The pralines this evening were fudge and caramel. Also a reminder of the christmas I had forgot.

I'll make a new post about sunday cause this is getting way too long and takes way to much time.