Although I am the type of person who will just pack my bags and head off to a foreign country...it takes me a LONG time to finally start to feel comfortable in a new place. As I mentioned in previous posts, it can be rough looking after kids...especially when sometimes there is a language barrier. Have you ever tried baking a cake with two four-year-olds in a kitchen that is fully equipped with every appliance imaginable but you have no idea where to find anything? My conversations kept going like this:
Me: "Do you know where the mixer is?"
Gloria: "What's a mixer?"
Me: *Uses ridiculous hand motions to try and help them understand*
...acting things out usually results in success,haha.
However, yesterday I finally started to feel like Germany is becoming my home. My host family lives a bit outside of the city so I have access to a car. Driving in any new place is a little scary but for me driving in Germany the first few times was TERRIFYING. I couldn't (and still can't 100%) read the signs, didn't know the traffic laws, some roads are SO narrow, and the speed limits disappear on certain highways so all I see are blurs of color flying past me. But I am learning my way around and starting to feel way more independent. Yesterday I did a shopping trip for my host Mom to the butcher and the bakery. Since I'm still in the beginning stages of my German class I couldn't talk completely in German and instead walked in and asked, "Sprechen Sie Englisch?" (Do you speak English?). Thank goodness the guy behind the counter responded with, "a little bit." He was very nice and I handed him the list my host Mom was kind enough to write...because quite frankly I don't know if I will ever be able to pronounce the meats here. This was the list:
300g (read as dreihundert gram) Kalbsfleischwurst
200g (zweihundert gram) Cervelatwurst
15 (fünfzehn) Schleiben Grunland mit Bärlauch
Yeah...so...definitely an adventure! The bakery trip wasn't as successful...I got the right bread but couldn't get the point across that I needed it sliced. Not a major problem though and the lady behind the counter was extremely sweet. I'm finding that if you at least try to speak a tiny bit of German the people here really respond well to it and try to help as much as they can.
Other than helping with the kids and spending free time with Patrick and other Au Pair friends, three days a week I attend German classes in the morning. The class is really a lot of fun because I'm learning a lot and there are some really cool people in the class (especially my teacher). My class is so international...we have students from Latvia, Kenya, Italy, Oman, Canada, USA, Morocco, Domican Republic, and South Africa.
Okay...that's all for now! It's Saturday morning and I'm going to drive to the lake for a long run! I will update again soon with pictures.
Auf Wiedersehen!
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