Below are the 15 most recent journal entries recorded in Julie Estella's LiveJournal:

Sunday, November 27th, 2005
11:47 pm	ANGUS is getting married! I haven't been on here in honestly months. Just to let you know that I haven't forgotten about any of you, and that the people on the "friends" list for this journal aren't getting some secret journal you guys can't see. I don't have the internet at my house and I'm super busy with work, school, and other things. I haven't been on this website in months and I don't plan on ever writing an online journal again. Sometimes I put pictures on my myspace, and you can always write to my email address if you want to see/contact me at all. BUT THERE WAS SOMETHING I JUST HAD TO TELL YOU! GUESS WHO IS ENGAGED?? ANGUS ARMSTRONG! My 92 year old friend I met on the bus five years ago met a lady named Lola at the care home he lives at and they went for dates in the common room where they would eat ice cream and play checkers and hold hands and now they're getting married! She is 89 years old! He proposed to her by saying, "Lola, I love you and I would get down on my knees but I wouldn't be able to get back up again, so I hope you'll let me propose to you sitting on the couch." It just goes with his character. He's so full of life. I love Angus. I'm the ringbearer. And he's letting me play the Kinks at their wedding. (13 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, September 19th, 2005
4:45 pm	If anyone wonders where Aliceflight went, it's here. This is so I can still read your journals. And the "friends list" is only so that I don't forget to add a few people. In a few days, I'll fix it and it will be okay. This journal is not private because there's nothing in it, so you're not missing anything secret by not being on this friends list. Anyone can add me. Please do what you want. (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 13th, 2004
1:46 pm	Last night Aisha and I took a walk around the city because it's my last night in Geneva. We heard some bad music being carried across the lake, so we walked over to where it was coming from. All these tents were set up and it was a free concert. This old blonde lady was singing and there were loads of middleaged people dancing and loving her. I asked a dancing woman "C'est qui, ca?" and she told me it was Bonnie Tyler and sure enough, she breaks out into my favorite song ever: TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART So Aisha and I started laughing and singing total eclipse of the heart and we thought it was hilarious that we just wanted to take a walk and stumbled into a free TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART concert. Oh, Geneva...these things happen here. ONCE UPON A TIME I WAS FALLING IN LOVE NOW I'M ONLY FALLING APART NOTHING SOMETHING SOMETHING TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART! ONE UPON A TIME THERE WAS LOVE IN MY LIFE NOW THERE'S ONLY SOMETHING IN THE DARK SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART AND I NEED YOU NOW TONIGHT AND I NEED YOU SOMETHING EVER AND IF SOMETHING SOMETHING TIGHT SOMETHING SOME THING SOMETHING FOREVER! TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART! yeah. (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, May 3rd, 2004
1:44 pm	i run now So I took up running. I've always liked running but I'd always thought I couldn't run because of my bad knees. But now I realize I'd just had terrible shoes and not terrible knees after all. I bought running shoes. Big, ugly white running shoes that I used to make fun of and call "moon shoes" when I'd see them on other people. Aisha helped me pick them out. They are these turbo things with gel soles and a bunch of shock proof things on the bottom. At first, when I saw how ugly they were, I didn't want to spend my money on them, but finally Aisha convinced me to get them and I'm glad I did because I ran for two hours yesterday and my knees didn't hurt at all. I also swam for two hours yesterday. I also went to bed at 7:30 PM. Aisha wants to start running with me in the mornings. I remember driving home from friend's houses at 5 AM after staying up all night and seeing these silly looking runners waking up early to jog along the streets in the dark and thinking about how absurd it was that they're ready to start the day when I was ready to sleep. And now that will be me. I know at least seven people who are guaranteed to make fun of me for starting this. But I don't care because I love the exercise and I'm wretched at all sports and running is the only thing I can do well besides swimming. And at least my shoes don't have blinking lights on them. At least they're not made my some poor child in a developing country. (13 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, April 8th, 2004
10:50 am	I hate doing laundry I hated it at home and I hate it here, too. I think it's because laundry is something you can't put off for a while and do when you have time, all in one big lump. You have to do it gradually and you have to separate disgusting, dirty things that belong to people you don't know. Why are the pant legs stained brown? Who knows? Do the kids know how to wipe themselves after using the toilet? I didn't want to know, but now I do, and the answer is an obvious NO. I can't do laundry without looking at it, like I do dishes, because I have to check for colors so nothing gets dyed. When I live alone, I'm going to hire someone to do my laundry. I don't care how much that will cost, but I'm not doing it because I hate it. That and taking care of these disgusting cats that vomit and piss all over the house. I like it here but I'd like it more if there were no laundry or cats. And nagging: If I make good food that everyone enjoys eating, why does it matter if I put an extra spice in it or if I cut vegetables into lines, etc? (24 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, March 29th, 2004
2:07 pm	I made a friend. I love going to mass. I snuck into a fancy opera. This weekend this really fantastic girl from my hometown near Vancouver came and stayed with me and I had lots of fun. Yesterday we woke up early and caught the tram to go to mass in this gorgeous protestant cathedral that used to be catholic before the reformation. The organ was massive and went up all along the back of the cathedral to the ceiling, which was vaulted. It was a solid stone cathedral and after the service, we explored the belfrys and looked at the city of Geneve from the top of the turrets. It was so amazing and I think I'll go to mass every sunday while I'm here. Then we went for crepes and drinks (espresso for me and tea for her) in this little cafe nearby. We visited the maison tavel, which is the oldest house in Geneve and goes back to the 1400s. We were both obsessed with buying postcards everywhere. There was this Cleopatra exhibit in a museum and they let us in for free because we could both pass for being under 18 years old. I saw the Cleopatra painting by Waterhouse, which was incredible because I love his ophelia and his nymphs and his cleopatra the best, and now I've seen one of them in real life. There was also a neat section on Claudette Colbert, who I really like. Outside the museum, we sat on the stone slats high above the road on the museum and talked. There was a crowd of people nearby, so we went to see what they were doing and it turns out they were having intermission for a performance at the Grande Theatre De Geneve. Without knowing what was playing, we snuck in and saw a 200 dollar performance of the German opera "Parsifal" by Wagner. Everyone was wearing mink and rubies while we were wearing our regular crazy street clothes and we got started at a bit, but nobody kicked us out. When we were waiting for the bus, we noticed the night service at a Catholic cathedral beginning and rushed in. We were MassAddicts yesterday. Ha. I haven't been that pious in years. Protestant by day and Catholic by night. We even lit a candle for certain people at mass. The night ended with us buying French wine and watching the Sound of Music and singing along to all the songs. Julie Andrews is so great, and that movie is the best musical ever. (The second best musical is singing in the rain.) That girl was so rad and she's in England for the next six months so I'm going to try and visit her soon. I felt really comfortable with her and I would definetly want to be friends when we get back to Canada. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, March 26th, 2004
2:02 pm	learning a lot Here I am in a foreign country with no friends but I'm so busy. Busy gittin' sum lernin. Helping these kids with their homework is making me realize how little I actually retained from what I learned in school, and it's kind of embarassing to have these kids look at me with sympathy because I don't know where smaller countries are on the map. I made flash card of every country in the world, with their respective flag drawn on the front, and their capital city. On the back, there's a list of official languages, currency, and there will be a note of whether or not they owned colonies or were a colony of another country. I am going to carry these with me to look at on the bus because I spend a lot of time either waiting for buses or on the bus. I am also memorizing the periodic table. And each day I spend at least fifteen minutes translating this French book I own (about the Holocaust) into English with my left hand. This is great because it helps me practise French, read the book, and practise being ambidextrous all at the same time. Next week I start my French class and my philosophy class (taught in French--it's really to practise my French more than to learn any philosophy) and my kundalini yoga class. Tomorrow I'm going to the flea market and the library. Today I bought vitamins! (I just re-read this and realized how much of a nerd I really am.) Can anyone send me a link about European colonies? For example, I want to know which countries owned which other countries (how many countries were belgian/german/english/etc colonies and what their names are). (11 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, March 13th, 2004
5:57 pm	I am so glad I'm bilingual My friend wrote me an email and tried to call me 'Hot Stuff' in French but directly translated from English, he ended up with 'Warm Substance'and I am giggling like mad over it. Today I did a lot of exciting things in preparation for SOMEbody's birthday but I can't tell you where I went or what i did because that person reads this. At any rate, I went to FNAC today and bought French books. I am addicted to buying books. I spend over 100 dollars a month on books when I am at home in Vancouver. Usually closer to 200 dollars. +Gabriel Garcia Marquez - De L'amour et autres demons (on love and other demons) +Paul Verlaine - Chansons Pour Elle (poems) +HP Lovecraft - La Quete onirique de Kadath L'inconnue And another book about Jewish children hidden during World War Two. My reading and comprehension of French is far better than my spoken French at this point, but I hope it will even out during my time here. I'll start taking French class every Monday night starting the 29th so my grammar will get better. I think Laotian and Hungarian people are the most physically appealing people in the world. I had a really good cup of coffee today, so I'm very, very happy. Coffee here is death of expensive. Actually, everything is expensive here. I can't wait to travel more. Next week I'm going skiing in the alps. Two days ago, I went grocery shopping in France. (11 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, March 11th, 2004
9:32 am	In Switzerland THINGS THAT I MISS +The time zone I am used to (I still can't sleep between 1 am and 5 am this time zone) +Being able to go out for coffee after 4 PM (they close at 18:00) +Being able to have coffee with skim milk or soy milk (here is is just plain espresso with whole milk) +The Y and the Z keys being in the right place on the keyboard +Mini eggs +Having friends and family! +Neutered cats that do not have loud, sickening sex all day long on the kitchen floor or where ever they can get it +Staying up late +Having AM and PM clocks, not 24 hour time (when is 16:45 again?) +School zone and residential speeding rules (Try walking a six year old boy to school in wild traffic going 80 km per hour on winding brick roads built 100 years ago with no sidewalks) +Traffic that stops at crosswalks +Making a small, healthy dinner for myself and not having to plan a gargantuan meal for an entire family I like to picture my friends doing what I know they do during the day. I know when they wake up (except for the one super erratic sleeper) and which days they work, so I imagine them sleeping while I am awake and starting a work shift while I am getting ready for bed. I am too busy to be lonely, but when the kids are gone and I am by myself, I sure wish I had someone to be with. Orfeo, the six year old boy is so adorable. We watched finding nemo yesterday and he sat on my back and braided my hair the whole time. He kisses me and calls me his belle princesse and I take him to the café for petit fours sucrés. We take walks through the old, crumbling graveyard all the time because he loves it and so do I. He cries about his dead grandfather Raphaéle and alwys wonders if Raphaéle is in Heaven or in Hell. I tell him Raphaéle is simply sleeping in the graveyard and likes it when we visit him and bring him flowers. I love this job, but at the same time, being a full time housewife would be the most wretched job ever. I love this job because it's a new experience and because I know I have the weekends off and can do what I want after six months. I can't begin to imagine doing this for the rest of my life, all the time. But if my children were all as smart and well behaved as Orfeo, I might get used to it. I talk to Orfeo like he is a little adult. He knows six languages and is the weirdest, quirkiest, most precocious child. He is my only friend here so far, but at this point, I don't mind. (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2004
5:04 pm	My New Family Wedding March 2nd 2004 was in Victoria at the church I used to go to when I was two to eight. I found the book about leeches and leprosy that I used to love as a kid. I looked at the sign-out card that was still in the front of the book, and sure enough, I was basically the only person who has ever borrowed it. My name is on there about four times, and my mom's name is on there because she used to sign it out for me before I was old enough to do it myself. I really hate packing. I am starting to get ridiculously sappy about leaving. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 25th, 2004
3:59 pm	"hello" / triplets of belleville / learning Japanese Yesterday, two separate people I ran into mentioned that they had come across this journal and read parts of it. I don't know these people very well, but I have positive feelings towards both of them. So if you're reading this journal, don't be afraid to leave a comment and let me know. It's odd for me to have a public journal like this. I am usually so paranoid about someone finding it and reading it, but this journal has no secrets in it. Last night I saw "the triplets of belleville" and it was the best movie I have ever seen in the theatres, and one of the funniest and oddest films I have ever seen in my life. The music is fabulous, and I want the soundtrack. The way things are drawn is amazing, too. It's exactly the type of little thing Edward Gorey would have probably appreciated. I'm learning Japanese now. I bought some books and cassettes and I'm listening to more Japanese music so that I can get the feel of the accent. It's apparently one of the easiest Asian languages to learn for someone raised speaking English. (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, February 23rd, 2004
5:05 pm	"My new e-mail adress at home is -------- But Pierre finished installing it yesterday and I have not tested it yet. Perhaps wait a couple of days to tell your fiends." I got this email from the woman I will be staying with in Switzerland. I love it because of the typo on the last word. (Comment on this)
Sunday, February 22nd, 2004
6:48 pm	Arrival Dates are Finalized, Finally! Depart - Fri. Mar. 5 2:49 PM Seattle/Tacoma Intl, Seattle, WA, US (SEA) Arrive - Fri. Mar. 5 3:34 PM International, Portland, OR, US (PDX) Depart - Fri. Mar. 5 4:50 PM International, Portland, OR, US (PDX) Arrive - Sat. Mar. 6 12:05 PM Metropolitan Area, Frankfurt, DE (FRA) Depart - Sat. Mar. 6 1:05 PM Metropolitan Area, Frankfurt, DE (FRA) Arrive - Sat. Mar. 6 2:10 PM Geneve-Cointrin, Geneva, CH (GVA) This is one long flight. I really want to buy an excellent pair of headphones so that I can listen to music on the plane. I want headphones that will fully cover my ears like those obnoxiouslooking ear-protectors people wear when hunting deer. There is nothing worse than the miniature earpieces that you have to ram into your ear canals. Jo-seph said the smallest thing that should be inside an ear is an elbow. Basically to say that one should not put things in ones ear at all. Can anyone recommend me a good pair to buy? I am bringing three guides on Switzerland, two books by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (he is my favorite writer), one Nylon magazine, my paper and pens, and probably this book I have about the plague. I'm also bringing gravol, because gravol knocks me out like nothing else. Something neat is that my return date is August 13th, a friday. My dad told me that so few people fly on friday the thirteenth that I might have a whole aisle to myself and can sleep laying down. Nice. I am not superstitious at all. Good things happen to me on friday the 13ths. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, February 9th, 2004
10:54 pm	HERE'S THE EMAIL I FINALLY GOT FROM THE AU PAIR LADY! Hi Julie, An offer is in for you !! Some of the details are missing, so I am trying to get them today - but here is the basic info... Letizia T------ Geneva, Switzerland (divorced) Mom is a doctor Orlando is 13 Maya is 12 Orfeo is 6 The main care is of the youngest and driving the older 2 around. They speak french, Italian and English. They have 2 Persian cats. You need to basically run the household when the mom is gone - the kids go to school of course, so it is getting them up and out and being there when they return, etc. The mom is very busy and therefore wants an independent au pair - there are many au pairs in the area. they have a small house, cozy and close to the lake and in a lovely setting. the older children are competitive skiers - you are welcome to join them when they go skiing!! It looks like your basic hours are in the week and weekends are free. Talk soon!! Current Mood: excited! (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2003
10:20 pm	Au Pair I paid the registration fee of 325 dollars and sent them the registration package containing four photos, my resume, my criminal record, my health certificate, and a detailed description of the experiences I've had with child care. Now I just have to wait and see which country I will be sent to. Ideally I'd like to go to Switzerland since it's a French-speaking country and I want to be able to practice my French. My other options are France (but they pay less there and France is bigger so it has less weekend travel and exploration options) Holland (Ideal except for that they don't speak French there) or Belgium (my dad was born there and it is French, but apparently there's not much to see or do in Belgium.) There are certain things I want to do during these five months: -Learn to be alone without family -Learn to be alone without friends and those I love -Practice my French and get as good as I used to be when I was in immersion -Read more about Judaism and specifically the holocaust -Read about anatomy, specifically memorize all the parts of the human brain -Read my psychology textbook -Take Japanese books and tapes and attempt to teach myself Japanese -Read more classics like Kafka and Doestoevsky -Eat in a healthy way and develop a healthy exercise routine -Read about Taoism and Chinese history -Read two Chomsky books I am a fast reader, so I think I'll be able to do a lot of this. Besides, without friends and family and computer, I think I'll be spending a lot of time in my room. (4 Comments |Comment on this)