Starting Over

Sorry not very exciting stuff to report back on at the moment. I have booked my summer vacation in August to go to Italy for 10 days. The flights were unimaginably cheap. €4 to be precise, yup that’s return from Frankfurt to Rome. Of course taxes and handling fees makes it up to €40 but who’s complaining! The family is going to Austria for summer, not your normal summer holiday destination, but they want to go to a nice lake, and be away from the crowds, which looks as if that’s exactly where I’m heading!! Yay. I have yet to go on a weekend trip yet. Trying to organize a weekend to meet up with Hauke, but we seem to both have clashing schedules.

A short video from the Germany vs. Sweden Match in Mainz.

This week has been my first full week of looking after the boys. Last week was a bit mucked up as Crystal left in the middle and then there was a national holiday for two days. The boys have been pretty good, they’re still a little unsettled with my presence. They are not misbehaving too badly, they’re just trying to test me and see how much I’ll put up with. Just one day at a time. I think it has really helped Nannying before as I knew that it was unlikely the kids would like me straight away, especially since I speak funny, have different rules and they had their previous Au Pair for two years.

I personally am feeling much more settled, for the first week there it was all a bit much. I have now moved into my room, unpacked everything, and put a few personal touches up and around. Now heres something to make those of you who really know me smile, I am the world’s worst sleeper – right? Well moving half way across the planet hasn’t changed that. No siree!! Well for one thing Germans like their beds hard, flat hard rocks to be more precise. Good for the back, or so I’m told. To combat this they have the world’s softest pillows. So soft that they just flatten into non-existent piles. They’re also a weird size, big and square, or long and narrow rectangles. Oh and did I mention that there are no curtains? And don’t forget that the sun goes down at 11pm and up by 5am! All of this has amounted to me being severally sleep deprived, and taking on a more zombieish persona. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining – really I’m not. It’s just meant I have never been as clumsy in my life as I have been this past week. However luckily I have only broken one Austrian Crystal glass, made in a small village at a family owned shop so far.

It looks like I have made friends with the German Housecleaner, who I’ll remind you speaks absolutely no English. She dragged me from the computer yesterday (literally started pulling me by my shirt) took me outside and started pointing at the car. So I got my keys and she directed me out into the country. (I must point out I was getting a little nervous at this point) then we stopped abruptly and got out. She had taken me to her garden, she’d often mentioned it but I thought she meant it was at her house. It is very common for people living in the city to own a small plot of land out in the country that they look after, and usually have a small building, often not bigger than a single room that they have a gas stove in and maybe a small bed. It was pretty nice, and by the sounds of things I’m expected to go there again tomorrow at 2pm.

On Tuesday, René (one of Ro’s old bosses from Russell) picked me up and gave me a tour of his home town. It is the home town of Johannes Gutenberg who those of you who did HIST120 back in first year will remember is the guy that invented the Printing Press. The city is directly opposite my city across the river Rhine. Which I’ve since connected the dots, means I’m in the Rhineland – which I’d studied in 6th Form when doing the ‘Origins of World War II’ with Mr. Shaffer. Who said History was a waste of time? Anyway it was fantastic to have a connection back to NZ if even only briefly. We saw some pretty impressive buildings, which these pictures can’t really do justice, and had a relaxing lunch of Pizza and Coke overlooking the Rhine.

We have had a group of Americans staying this week, here for the World cup. I have watched a few games, but haven’t got caught up in the hype as much as the rest of the country has. Apparently the amount of German flags being waved around at present is unprecedented. The Americans were most impressed with the behaviour of the Australian contingent, who although their team had lost their match, they carried on singing, dancing and generally partying in the streets regardless. They particularly liked the chanting competitions with the Poms. But if I never hear ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi’ ever again I’ll be a very happy wee lass.

Till next time, take care.
Don’t forget if you send personal emails I will definitely email you back.
Niki