The Story of a Basic Week

This week I have plenty of time to write this blog, but because of that, I don’t feel like I did anything noteworthy to write about. I babysat a lot this week, quite a bit more than usual, but the kids were really well behaved for me and I always appreciate that. I worked about 35 hours this week, which is pretty unusual for me to work so much, but I honestly don’t mind. Because we’re currently in the semester break for university, most of the student are away at home and not much is really happening in Bamberg, so if I wasn’t babysitting, I’d probably just be sitting in my room watching Netflix. One of the most important things about all the students being gone is that I haven’t really been staying out very late, so I am on a much healthier sleep schedule. That’s been really helpful for my brain and body, especially when I’m babysitting so much. Also, since I’m not so tired, I feel like speaking and retaining German is coming much easier to me. I don’t make as many of the stupid mistakes that I usually do and that’s really cool.

This week was a typical rainy week in Bamberg, with occasional sunny spells. On Friday, I rode my bike with the trailer attached to the back with the younger boy inside for 4 miles in the rain (thankfully no strong wind) to his English speaking story time. The story time is very painful for me to attend because the kids all lack the attention spans to pay attention to the stories or really anything regarding the actual class. The younger boy tries to engage, but struggles when all the other kids run away from the circle or scream and cry. I feel bad for the teacher because it’s clear she puts a lot of effort into the class, but the kids really fail to pay attention and become interested in her.

I spent a lot of time with the baby this week, I think my favorite thing that happened while babysitting her is that she said “Avery” for the first time! It’s so cute and makes me so happy. She’s kind of boring sometimes because she’s still a 10 month old baby, but most of the time she’s really giggly and cute and makes me want to snuggle her so much! We went on a walk everyday for her morning nap and even if it was in the rain, I don’t really mind because I think the places to walk that are right by my house are really beautiful. I also taught her to say turtle and I am very proud of this bilingual baby in the making.

I also hung out with a few friends this week. On Monday, I hung out with my friend Mark from Ireland and we went for a walk to try and figure out what we wanted to eat for lunch and then settled on pizza. It was really tasty pizza and he gave me lots of tips and suggestions of things to do in Ireland when I’m there next week with my mom. That evening I also hung out with my friend Katja from my theater group. She is one of those people that I met and was instantly friends with. We relate to each other because she was an au pair in Canada for 6 months, so I always have a good time exchanging au pair stories with her. We went to Café Müller which is the typical place for people from the theater group to meet for a tasty hot chocolate. On Wednesday, I had the day off and so I did my laundry and then rode my bike to Katja’s apartment. I met Katja and my friend Laura (also from theater group) there. We skyped our friend Liza (also from theater group) who is back home in Ukraine for a few weeks visiting her family. Together, we planned a trip to Slovenia over Easter weekend that I could not be more excited about! We will be there for three days and we’re staying in a really cool jazz music themed hostel. The hostel is connected to a jazz club and all of the bedrooms are named and decorated after a famous jazz musician. I know it’s going to be a great weekend getaway. On Saturday morning, I also had some free time, so I met my friend Jolene for a few hours. We got coffee at one of my favorite coffee shops in Bamberg, then we did a little thrift shopping at the only thrift store in Bamberg, and then we got lunch at a Chinese buffet. I had so much fun.

Other than that, nothing too interesting happened. I stayed in Bamberg all week and I will most likely do the same this week because next week I am going to Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day and to meet my mom! Today I have lunch and dinner plans, so I am keeping myself occupied on this cloudy Sunday. It has felt so nice to relax a little after having such a busy and eventful February and I am so excited for the weeks to come.