This morning was awful. I didn’t sleep very well last night
because I was worrying about the journey, medicine etc. (mainly just because no
one actually gave me any information so I didn’t know what was going on!)
I must have only got around 4-5 hours sleep, which was
interrupted by a lot of banging at 4:30am – the german uncle (finally found out
his name was Albrecht) and Benoit were leaving (I think going to Ireland, but
who knows).
I got up at about 7am. I had some hot chocolate and then went to take my medicine. At 7:30am I asked if it was ok to use the shower to which Helene told me ‘No no no, there is no time’ so I just had a quick wash in the sink instead and then got dressed. I helped all the children finish getting dressed and have breakfast and we were ready to leave at about 8am. I was feeling very sick and the children wanted to play in the garden so I sat with them and had a drink of water. 5 minutes later Helene started shouting at me telling me that there was so much to do because we were about to leave and to go and help in the kitchen. I went to the kitchen only to be told by Anne and Grandmaman that it would be easier for me to wait in the garden with the children because there wasn't enough space (they were just emptying the fridge, getting the food together). There really wasn’t much to do – they had paid for the cleaning service at the villa so they didn’t have to wash bedding or towels or vacuum or anything.
Helene told me to put the children in the car because we had to leave very soon so I started getting the children into the car with all their things at about 8:30 and they were all inside, ready to go by about 8:45. At 9:15 I was getting annoyed. All the children had been sat in a boiling hot car for half an hour but Helene was just talking to the other adults. At about 9:30 we FINALLY left and by 9:40 all the children were fed up with their toys and games (obviously). At 9:45 we made our first stop at the side of the road because one of the kids was feeling carsick. I kept telling them to look ahead out of the window, and to open their window and let in some fresh air but for some crazy reason Helene told them to look out of the side windows and to put a jumper on – what?! Consequently we stopped another 2 times in that first hour… We also stopped after about 40 minutes to have a coffee at a little café – something else that made no sense to me. She didn’t even ask the children to go to the toilet if they needed to when they were there and so 5 minutes later they were all crying because they needed to go.
 |
| Helene told me to order a 'small hot chocolate' at the cafe. Tiniest hot choc I've ever seen (this cup was barely bigger than an espresso cup) |
There was hardly any room in the car, but Helene made me sit
in the smallest seat in the whole car (the middle seat) – despite being bigger
than all the other children. Apparently Hillaire gets carsick – so put him in
the middle so he can look out of the windscreen!? Idiot.
We arrived at Ajaccio at about 11:30am and then drived
around all over the place, the wrong way down one-way streets etc. looking for
a Boulangerie. Crazy. At about 12:30 (yes, almost a whole hour was spent driving
around aimlessly) we stopped in the ferry carpark. The grandparents were coming
on the same ferry so they found a shop and bought croissants, pain au chocolat
and baguettes which we then stood in a car park and ate. I wasn’t able to put
on suncream this morning either – they had made me pack it up in the car the
day before so I now have slightly burnt shoulders because the only shade was
one bench under a tree and there wasn’t room under it for me.
We then drove to the boarding area for the ferry. Helene
told me that she didn’t have a ticket in my name so if anyone asked my name was
Bethany Amis (perhaps this is an au pair that cancelled on her which would
explain the late notice for hiring me!). We then had to sit in a very hot car
for almost an hour while we waited to board which was very difficult with bored
and uncomfortable children (and me).
Eventually we boarded the ferry where everything was a big
rush to find a seat. Helene then told me that she needed to spend time with her
parents away from children because her mother was ill and was very exhausted so
needed quiet time. She told me that she would sit with her mother for an hour
or so, and then come back to spend time with the children before dinner, after
which she would go to have dinner with her parents and Alienor, and then give
me some free time.
However, that, as always with Helene, wasn’t how it happened. She appeared 3 hours later, at which point the kids were all huddled around a French film and I’d stuck on a film for me on my laptop. She came up behind me saying ‘is that a film for the children?’ When I said no, they’re watching a film on their dvd player, she got really angry and started telling me that this was time for the children, not for me. Trying to explain that the children were watching their own French film right next to me didn’t make any difference – she just huffed and then shouted, ‘I am really fed up of you!’ and stomped off. Her 17yr old daughter Alienor then gave me a dirty look and followed her mother… I was pretty confused at this point, in my opinion it was pretty nice of me to look after the children at all as she’d told me that she was hiring me to be an English tutor and to edit her courses. 10 mins later she came back with 5 plates of steak hache (basically a burger that’s not in a bun) with chips, throws them all on the table and then stamps off again. I wasn’t sure if one was for me or if they were just for the children inc. Alienor, and when I asked Alienor what they wanted me to do she just said ‘eat and watch the children like you’ve been told to’.
I had just sat down to eat when Helene reappeared to tell me that she had to speak with me immediately. I got up and followed her off to some stairs somewhere (ridiculous place to decide to sit – loads of people kept trying to walk past with their bags etc.). I don’t remember exactly what she said but the gist of it was that she wasn’t very happy with me because I hadn’t done anything at all in Corsica (oh, only look after the children, and help in the kitchen or with cleaning, washing…) I told her that she’d never actually told me that I was going to be looking after children so to now tell me that was the main reason she had hired me was pretty ridiculous. She then tried telling me that she had been very clear – I was hired to help with English, edit her courses and look after the children (she didn’t). She then told me that I had to keep the children with me until she had finished dinner with her parents because her mother wasn’t very well. I tried to explain that at any given time at least 1 of her children (usually Hermine) didn’t want to stay with me and would run off to find her. She just told me she didn’t care, that she needed to keep the children safe etc. When I asked her to tell the children that so they knew they had to stay with me as they didn’t understand/listen to me, she told me that she didn’t hire me to tell her how to be a parent… Not sure quite what that had to do with it.
Typically, she then didn’t come back. One by one the children
disappeared to go and find her. I tried following and keeping track of them but
once I realised their mother wasn’t actually so far away, I gave up. She was
supposed to have come to take them away after she’d finished dinner anyway…
 |
| Final view of Corsica from the Ferry |
The hostel was super basic – much worse than those Formula1
hotels we used to stay at. Worst part was that the bathroom was like a train
toilet, except they’d squashed a shower in there too… I felt hot and sweaty and
generally dirty after the travelling and ferry so had a very hot shower before
I went to bed. It was a good move as I definitely wouldn’t have got one the
next morning. Helene told me that we’d be leaving at 6am (to be honest I don’t
know why you’d bother stopping for just 4 hours – probably would have been
better to upgrade to a cabin and sleep on the ferry…). I probably asleep at
around 3am in the end…
No comments:
Post a Comment