Post Vacation Recovery Week

The short version of what you’re about to read: just pretty standard week in the life of Avery. If that’s something you find interesting, read on! I hope you find it to be exciting.

12 November: I had spent the night at my friend Megan’s house so I woke up there at about 9:30. Then I rode my bike to Aldi and bought groceries. I bought a lot of healthier stuff because the chocolate diet isn’t really good for my health or my wallet. After Aldi, I came home, ate breakfast, and then I took a very long nap because I was still tired from Prague. I picked the older boy up from kindergarten at 3 and I think I really missed that guy. He is a lot of fun and we get along well. When we got home, we played for a while and we read some books and I went with my host mom, both boys, and the baby to “kinderturnen” which is basically children’s gymnastic time with their parents. It’s actually quite fun and really cute to see the little kids running around, I enjoyed it a lot and the boys behaved themselves very much. When we got back home, I read to the older boy and then it was time for dinner. We ate bread and cheese and now it’s 7:35 pm and I think I am going to go to sleep soon. I must still be tired from Prague! That is a great first world problem to have though.

13 November: I went to bed really early Tuesday night, but I still struggled to find the motivation to wake up today. I pressed the snooze button so many times! I finally woke up and got myself ready after about ten 2 minute snoozes (which really isn’t good for my health). Then, I rode my bike to my German creative writing and free speech class and it went by very quickly. I talked to my friend from the Czech Republic about my trip to Prague and we also did a lot of partner work together. I don’t think he knows he’s my friend, but he is. After class, I rushed to my lecture that’s entirely in German, but I didn’t really pay attention because it’s entirely in German. We watched some segments of the Three Musketeers movie which was fun and it was in English so even better. Something interesting about my city, Bamberg, is that many scenes from the Three Musketeers were filmed there, so that was also cool to see. After class, I went to subway and got a sandwich for lunch and then I walked to my Bamberg culture class. That class also went by so fast for me! It has a very interesting dynamic because there’s about 30 students made up of 28 girls and 2 boys, I honestly don’t know how that happens. After my class, I went to a cafe and had a cappuccino and then I rode my bike back to the “villiage” to pick up the older boy from kindergarten. We read a few books when we got home and then it was time for him to go to music school, so we rode our bikes to the local elementary school for his class. I had to wait for an hour, but I didn’t really mind, it was easy babysitting. When I brought him back home, I almost immediately had to ride my bike back to the city for my choir rehearsal. The rehearsal went really well and I love being a part of such a large ensemble. My only problem is that the rehearsal lasts for 3 hours, which is a little long for my attention span, but it usually goes by pretty quickly. After my choir rehearsal I had falafel for dinner and I went to Megan’s apart and me, Megan, Vera, Phillip and I had a movie night which was really fun. They are my best friends in Germany and I’m very lucky to already have some best friends in Germany because it doesn’t always happen so quickly for people. I would definitely call this a good day.

14 November: I woke up early and rode my bike to the city for my german grammar class. This class is still lacking some umfph, but I don’t really mind so much because I think everybody in the class feels that way. After my grammar class, I rode my bike to my American cultural studies class and I made it there in record time, I was really quite impressed with myself! This class went really well because I am actually able to give good insight and add further information to the group discussions because I am American, of course. Also, my professor learned the names of the people in the class which I appreciate. After class, I rode my bike so fast back home to start babysitting at 12:30. At 1:30, my host mom had to leave, so I was alone with all three kids (even though the younger boy was sleeping). The older boy, the baby and I listened to music from a cassette tape which is pretty ancient but fun. Then, Oma Inga and Opa Gunther came over and I went for a walk with the baby and she slept for 2 hours, which was such a long time! After that I came back home and played with the boys and the baby. We ate dinner together and then my host parents and host grandparents went to a comedy show together and I had to put the boys to bed. The younger one didn’t really behave for me, but eventually he obliged, so all was right in the world. Once the boys were finally in bed, the baby started screaming and crying for 15 minutes and I could not for the life of me figure out what was wrong, I finally figured out she just needed her diaper changed and once I did that she was fine. I FaceTimed with my friend Alaina for an hour or so while I waited for my host parents to come back home and it was really really great talking to her. I’m honestly so exhausted after my 11 hour workday so I will end it here with a big fat goodnight.

15 November: I’m gonna be honest, I don’t really know what I did all morning. Nothing really productive except for eating breakfast and lunch and taking a shower, but I didn’t leave the house so it was a pretty chill morning. At 2:30 we all left to Oma and Opas house in Wipfeld for Opa’s birthday party. Oma baked delicious cheesecake and chocolate cake and we ate so much of it. Then I played so nicely with the boys for a few hours until it was time for dinner. For dinner we ate bread and cheese. Then we drove 15 minutes away to Oma Edith and Opa Kalli’s house and I read to the boys and babysat once they were asleep and my host parents went out to meet some friends. This was a good day. Also, all four of the grandparents said they can tell my german is improving!

16 November: The older boy woke me up at about 9 and we all ate breakfast as a family. Then, I went with my host mom and dad to the city center of Schweinfurt, the town where they both grew up. They went shopping and I had some time to explore the city in all it’s glory so I went to 2 different churches as well as an interesting very small cemetery. We went back home for lunch and we ate soup and pizza which Oma Edith cooked for us. It was very delicious. When the younger boy went down for his nap, I played with the older boy and I also hung out with my host dad’s sisters (Anne and Fransiska) which was really nice. In the late afternoon we went to my host dad’s family reunion and there was so much cake I couldn’t believe it! It was really funny because when everyone met me, they couldn’t seem to figure out who I was or how I was related to them, so every time I told them I’m an au pair, they sighed a huge sigh of relief knowing they hadn’t forgotten one of their relatives. I ate 5 pieces of cake and I talked to Opa Kalli and Anne and I also played Uno with the older boy, my host dad, and Anne’s boyfriend and that was really fun. We ate dinner at Oma Edith and Opa Kalli’s house and we had pizza again which was delicious. This was a good day and I was very happy to have a large family gathering so close to thanksgiving because this really felt just like an early thanksgiving to me.

17 November: Now it’s Sunday and I spent all morning reading to the boys. I’m at Dunkin’ Donuts using their free WiFi and I’m kind of sad because the guy who works here (who is also American) told me that they’re closing in 1 month :(, but I think I will manage. I’ve found another coffee shop here in Bamberg that I really like that has specialty coffees like a gingerbread latte. Also, I am very very excited because they are already setting up the Christmas market here in Bamberg!! It makes me so happy to see decorations everywhere.