Getting Social

Moving means having to find new friends.
When you work as a nanny, finding friends on the job isn't really an option.

So, I've become good friends with the internet. And as good friends often do, the internet has helped me find more new friends, everywhere I go.

When you mention meeting people online, people tend to snicker or stare at you as if you as if you were some kind of sick daredevil.
But the fact is, that if you're not completely simple, you can probably gather more information on a person from a profile they've written themselves, than from a single outfit and some body language seen on the street.

Let's see, if I count it up. A good 95% of the friends that I'm still in contact with today, are either people that I met online, or friends of people that I met online.

Paris, it turns out, is a particularly good location for meeting people online.
It's an international city, and quite big. So the options are vast.
I've been writing with quite a few people, and have met six of them. Most of them are other girls, also working as au pairs.
Au pairs are good friends to have because they've got more or less the same schedule and more or less the same disposable income.
I do need to be careful, though, to not let au pairs become my only friends here. As great, and convenient as they are. They're not the real France, and if you hang out with expats, that's all you'll ever be. I can't feel local when I hang out with people who don't know the city any better than I do.

But anyway, they're lovely people, and I've had a great time meeting up with them, and showing each other our new neighborhood hotspots.


So far I've met (in abc order):

Becky, from "somewhere in England that is not London". She's probably the closest I've ever seen a human to becoming cotton candy, complete with dimples and matching sister.

Caitlin, a funny, friendly cosmotologist, turned au pair from Kansas. She speak French impressively well, and has 3 tattoes; all of which are Tolkein themed. I find this extremely endearing.

Clement, the friendly Parisian I mentioned once before, who made me drink wine instead of beer, and introduced me to the amazing Luxembourg Gardens.

Élisa, an au pair from Vancouver. She's outgoing and engaging, and seems ready for anything.
She's also born blessed with a French mom, French tongue, and French Passport.

Kimberly, a self described "bogan" from Australia. I have a feeling that she is an undercover badass.

Madison, a spunky girl from the praries of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada ("Holla!"). I liked her from the moment I heard her say "That is way too girly, I am not doing that."

I haven't known this many girls since high school.
But I guess everybody needs balance, right?
And these don't seem like your average girls.