Folk Music is Rock n’ Roll!

Last week I didn’t write a blog post because I was so busy with my theater rehearsals! We spent the entire weekend rehearsing for our show and I had so much fun with my friends and even made a few new ones. Our show is really starting to come together and I am excited for this coming weekend because we will be performing! Other than that, the week with no blog, was fairly uneventful. It was the standard babysit, go to school, hang with friends, babysit some more, so I don’t think you missed out on much, my dear readers. This past week was a lot of fun and consisted of a lot more action and adventure. I babysat, of course, but I also went to a folk music festival and a short day trip with my friend, Jolene, who is also an au pair.

My week had a standard beginning, on Monday I went to a really cute café called “Café Zuckerstück”which in English means “Café Sugar Piece” and they had many yummy looking cakes in addition to their coffee. I went with Jolene and we had a nice time talking about au-pair life and sipping on our drinks. Afterwards, we also did some shopping and just had a really nice time together! In the evening, I went to my drama group rehearsal and we worked very intensively on my scene, Pride and Prejudice, which was very necessary. Thankfully, we were able to improve our scene and I feel like it’s almost ready for our premier this weekend.

On Tuesday, Oma Inge and Oma Günther came to our house, so I spent some time with them as well as the kids. I spent a lot of time playing with the older boy which was really sweet and I really enjoyed, of course. We get along really well together and, even though I’m supposed to be an authority figure, I still tell him he’s my friend. After I was done babysitting for the evening, I went out with some friends to one of our favorite places in town called “Aposto”. We ate some delicious pizza and just had a really great time together.

On Wednesday, I went to my first language class and really enjoyed it of course. I am going to be so sad during the semester break when I have no school. In between classes, I went for breakfast with two friends from Korea and one from China. We ate DELICIOUS pancakes! Mine were with blueberries, cream cheese, and a scoop of ice cream and of course, I drank a pumpkin spice latte to compliment the pancakes. The four of us walked together to our Bamberg culture class and that class was also so much fun! We spent the class period reviewing for the exam which I will not be taking, so it was a very stress free review time. After class, I bought some new jeans and then babysat for three hours and then rode my bike back to Bamberg for my choir rehearsal. The rehearsal went really well and I actually had enough energy to talk to my two friends in German which sometimes I am just too exhausted to do.

Thursday was a pretty standard day, I went to my classes all morning and then babysat from 12:30 PM-11 PM. My host mom’s music class went really well and the kids are very well behaved and are nice to me now even though they ask me all the time why my German is so bad. My host parents had date night and afterwards, we were able to have some time to talk to each other which I always appreciate because it gives us the opportunity to touch base about everything. Communication is key and I am glad we are able to do so.

Friday was great because it started my free weekend with no parents or kids in the house. I spent all morning doing laundry, cleaning, and re-decorating my room. Then in the afternoon, I ate waffles with one of my friends from drama group. The waffles put me in a sugar coma, but it was no big deal. After waffles, I met my culture class at the train station and we all took the train to Erlangen which is a town about 30 minutes away by train. I spent most of time with my friend Mara from Italy. Our teacher took us on a small tour through the city and then we went to a folk music festival. I am pretty sure our group consisted of the youngest people in the room by a landslide, but that wasn’t such a big deal. The night was so much fun! We heard traditional music from our region of Bavaria, as well as heard different dialects of German. We line danced, circle danced, and also just did some straight-up jamming. There was also a really cool group called “Mars Men” and they did some super weird German covers of “Barbie Girl” and “Take on Me”. It was really awesome. I had such a wonderful evening with friends and I was so happy to have gone to the event.

On Saturday, I woke up early and met my friend Jolene at the train station. We wanted to take the train to Rothenburg ob der Tauber which is a town about 2 and a half hours away from Bamberg. We knew we had two changes and the first one went fine with no problems, but for the second change, we were dropped off in this middle-of-nowhere village. The train station had one platform and we couldn’t exactly figure out if our next means of transportation was a bus or train. We asked the driver of the only bus we could find and he told us that our correct bus would probably be there soon, so we should wait. We waited about 10 minutes and finally deduced that we must of missed our bus, so we would need to wait for one hour for the next one. We ended up walking to the only restaurant in this tiny village that was open. It was a döner place and we shared some delicious fries with mayo and ketchup because that’s how the Europeans do it. Afterwards, we walked back to the train station to see if our bus was there and sure enough it was, but it wasn’t exactly a bus. Our vehicle was more like a clanky old van with 9 seats made for a quick and cheap journey between the little village and Rothenburg ob Der Tauber. The ride made both Jolene and I a little car sick, but nonetheless, we persisted and survived. We spent an hour or two exploring cute, little Rothenburg. We ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant and then took the train back towards Bamberg, specifically avoiding the 9-seater van of course. We made a quick stop in Nuremberg and did some shopping and I also went to Starbucks and got my fix of Starbucks deliciousness. When we got back to Bamberg, we came back to my house, made pumpkin muffins, and spent a lot fo time laughing and having a good time, you know the standard sleepover stuff.

Now it’s Sunday and I have had a very productive day, thus far. I went for a jog, took out all the trash in the house, and cleaned my areas outside of my bedroom. Most importantly though, I wrote my blog! I am excited for the coming week because I will spend time with friends and perform my show with my theater group!