der Löwestadt - the lion city

This weekend, I traveled in Europe for the first time. I went to visit April, who is another American living in Germany for this school year while she is a teacher’s English assistant in German Gymnasium. She is living in Braunschweig, which is one German state away and a much, much larger city then Rheda-Wiedenbrück. I took me three different trains to get there. I didn’t realize that I was going to be switching trains at all until about 5 minutes before I got on my first one, which really made Sandra worried for me, I think. On two of the three trains I had to sit on the floor (once right in front of the WC) but I could still see out of the window which was good enough for me!

The weekend was so great! We rode the bus all over, which was more complicated than  it should have been since the schedule were different every day I was there! We walked around so much and I got to see all of the old buildings (we’re talking 1000 years old, old) including a church tour that I almost kind of understood! On Friday night we went to a game night at a bar with some of her teacher colleagues which was really fun, and we didn’t lose every German game like we predicted we would. 

There was a cool light art exhibit happening near the water in the city, so even though it was rainy the whole weekend, we braved the storm on Saturday to go see some of the really neat art. Afterwords, we went to the first night of Braunschweig’s little Oktoberfest and it was so hilarious. Downside: you had to pay to go to the bathroom and the best was expensive. Upside: everything else! Everyone was singing and banging their glasses and dressing up in costumes for reasons April and I couldn’t really understand. We accepted that we would probably never know the reasoning, and joined in singing remixes of songs like “Hey Baby” and “Take Me Home Country Roads”.

On the way home, my very last train was just cancelled out of the blue while I was standing on the platform. I saw there was another one in an hour so I went to get some Subway downstairs (which has very strange tasting turkey, by the way) and to ask someone what exactly was going on. But literally right as I was ordering my sandwich, a German marching band stomped right into the center of the terminal with their tubas, guitars, accordions, and a snare drum. I couldn’t stop laughing when I was ordering, and the loud German folk music ended up being to my advantage because I don’t think the Subway guy could tell I was American. 

I wove through the band to go ask information what to do about my disappeared train and was informed that the next one was leaving in 3 minutes! I thanked them quickly, made it miraculously around the marching band, and successfully caught the train, ending my first European traveling experience. I can’t wait until Oktoberfest! 

really cool Pop Art building, next to religious art

the Castle in Braunschweig that is now a shopping mall

part of the Light Art Exhibition. so cool!

center of town

at Braunschweig's Oktoberfest!

die Kartoffeln - potatoes

I have found something (the only thing) that people in Germany eat all the time and I find not tasty. Gnocchi. This is not even a German food, but they eat it all the time, I think it's made of potatoes, and I don’t like it. I can honestly say, though, that every other food I’ve eaten has been absolutely delicious.

This weekend Sandra and I went on a tour of Schloss Rheda, which is an over 1000 year old castle that is only about a mile away from my house. The tour guide looked like she was related to the Queen of English, with her overly blushed cheeks and her powder blue trench coat, but she spoke pretty slow and I thought that I could understand a lot for only being in Germany for 3 weeks! The definition of what is old here blows my mind, and we sat on a couch that was about 200 years old (and looked brand new compared to everything else) in small prayer room that was built around 1200. A prince still lives there, but he is already married to a British princess and they have little royal babies. 

In other news, I was nervous all day for my first class. I even put on a pre-picked first day of school outfit. Sandra drove me to school and walked me into my class(hilarious) to make sure she knew what time to pick me up. But no one was in the classroom. It was still early so we waited, and waited, and then the German teacher came and she was nice so Sandra left. And then we waited ,and waited, and then one other guy walked in.

So this is my German class. The teacher, this guy, and me. The teacher was great and really nice, so that’s good. Of course it was a little difficult to understand each other, since both of us students are not from Germany and both can not exactly speak German, but no worries, I learned we had a lot in common.

He is also 22. He’s lived in Germany for ten months. He is from Turkey. He’s married. I think I found out that his wife refuses to speak German with him, even though she is half German. He works in a potato factory. He cleans, sorts, and packs I think. He works every day for 11 hours except one Sunday a month. He has house pets: 41 turtle doves that he breeds and sells. There is a shortage of turtle doves in Germany, so sometimes people buy them for 200 Euros. They are not for eating.

It being the first day, and it being a new class, and it being only two of us, naturally we spoke when prompted for 3 hours about our chosen professions. The conversation kind of flowed like this:

Me: Is your work stressful?

Him: Yes

Me: Is your work boring?

Him: Yes.

Me: Do you like your work?

Him: No.

Me: Do you like potatoes?

Him: No.

Hurray for a friend!

Bratwurst, Rotkohl, and White Bread 

Part of Schloss Rheda

My school!

Mathis not crying.

Routine - routine

The Germans, I've noticed, enjoy a good routine and I think that I am starting to get into one myself. I feel much more comfortable in every day life, and can tell what's going on and where we are going and all sorts of important things now. I've even been into a grocery store and bought things BY MYSELF. 

This week I had Mathis alone while he was awake for the first time, and it wasn't bad at all! I got to play what music I wanted and, even though he woke up one time when he normally wakes up zero times, I felt pretty confident. He laughs now, smiles more, and doesn't just whine all of the time, so I think I came at a great time! 

After many tests and confusing talks with the Language Center, I will finally start my German Class on Tuesday. I am going to go two times a week for 3 hours, and I am hopeful that through this I can a) be able to speak German like a pro! and b) meet people. I am still absolutely loving Rheda-Wiedenbrück and seeing all of the sights. I can't walk around without smiling and it's so hard to believe how old everything is. I don't think that is going to go away for awhile.

I got a cell phone yesterday! My number is 11 digits long, so that different. I love it though! I was getting tired of my Blackberry and this is as far from that as you can get. 

Just a quick list of German things I've noticed:

The ambulances make a very different and even worse sound in Germany. They don't eat mustard on bread and laugh when you do. There is a mean prickly bush here that makes me break out in little white bumps when it catches me while I'm running. They have the best chocolate bar with mint I've ever had here. Hedgehogs are all over the place here and the dog likes to eat them. They say "Bon Appetite" before every meal, and once I beat them to it. Fall is very bipolar here and will go from raining and black outside, to sunny and breezy in a half hour. They have Mathis likes it when I say "Hi!"They liked the hamburgers and tacos that I made, and the brownies that I baked.

The part that connects the two old city centers.

Flowers in the park

View of the Catholic Church from the river.
Note the ducks!

One of the newer buildings in the town.

Langestraße, the main street in Wiedenbrück

An art exhibit. These large people are all over the city!

I'm really there!

eine Junge Junge - a young boy

Just more pictures for now! But here's Mathis!

Mathis!

His favorite book.

Mathis and my Macbook

His swing that he just started liking yesterday.

Bilder - Pictures!

Sandra and Cristof's church in Wiedenbrück,
and the Saturday farmers market.

The view from my window!

The flowers and the book
that the Niemeier's gave me!

The waterwheel in Wiedenbrück!

Castle Rheda - which is over 1000 years old!

Rheda during Altstadtfest - Old City Festival

I finally had time to let all of these pictures load! This weekend there were a lot of festivals happening in the city, so there was a lot for me to see! On Saturday Christof and I rode bikes into the city to see Altstadtfest. That sounds easy enough, but riding bikes here is a whole new ballpark. They go so fast and they are all street bikes, not the leisurely one speed light yellow bike I had in Charleston! You have to abide by all of the road signs religiously, or you'll get a ticket for a lot of Euros. I did pretty good, except I was wearing a dress. That's the worst part about living in a place where you can only understand about half of what is going on (I'm getting better now!). You end up standing out even more because you are trying to ride a bike in a dress.

The festival was cool and I got to see a lot of German people. I have a feeling the same type of people that go to the SC State Fair are the same type that frequent all of the German festivals. They had unstable rides, just like in the US, and had all types of German food for sale. I had just eaten, because, big surprise, I hadn't been aware that we were about to go to Altstadtfest, but it still smelled good. After explaining how much he loved hotdogs, and eating a hotdog, Christof and I walked around all of the Kindermarkts, which are basically flea markets where children try to sell their chewed on old Barbies and baby books with important pages ripped out. 

We had a beer, of course, and on the way back home we made a stop at a soccer pub (for only men over 80, from what I could see) to meet the one younger guy that was in there, Christof's friend Patrick. We kind of stood behind the bar and watched soccer because Patrick's favorite club was playing. He explained to me that he was focused because it was soccer time, but I've come to realize that it is never not soccer time here. Christof asked permission to have another beer and I said, in pretty good German I might add, that "of course he could. I was not his Mom." Which made all the old men laugh. Yes!

Sunday it was Sandra's turn to go to Altstadtfest and this time we took the car. We were trying to go on a tour inside the castle, but we were too late. Sandra kept apologizing until we saw that it was pretty much every Sunday. We went into a cool working art studio to look an exhibit, and Sandra asked about art classes that I could take. They are always so good about thinking of things I can do. It's really great. 

Back at the festival, we ran into their neighbor, a really large woman with a course voice, and the only neighbor Sandra had warned me about. Within two seconds of talking to me she was telling me all about when she was breastfeeding her kids, and taking inches from my face while patting my lower back and somehow holding my hands at the same time. I could hear her tell Sandra that I was sweet though, so I guess that was nice of her. 

Last night we had out first German meal of Rotkohl, Bratwurst, and some sort of potato dumplings. It was good, and even though Christof can still not stand to see me drink water out of the faucet("What is wrong with Mineralwasser, Ginny?") I think we pretty much like the same types of food. Which is not saying much because I like all foods.

Speaking of that, to the grocery store!

Au Pair Baby - I have no idea what it means

Rheda-Wiedenbruck was two small towns that had to combine recently because of government reasons, and I can sense there is some hostility between the people of Rheda and the people of Wiedenbruck. While waiting for my pictures to be developed after taking them for my visa (which is also annoying in Germany), Christof and I went on a long walk around the city center of Wiedenbruck, which is the closer city, and it was wonderfully German. The streets are winding, narrow, and confusing, and there are so many white buildings with dark brown supports that remind me of Gnome homes or something. I got to walk around in the stunningly huge Catholic church that they got married in which is almost 800 years old. There is even a castle with a real Prince and his English Princess, but I don’t get to go there until this weekend. 

A few days ago we went to the “supermarkt” for the first time. They have a separate store for drinks, which is insane, but the main food store kind of reminded me of a smaller Walmart, or the Bi-Lo in Clemson that sells Clemson gear and food, because they had EVERYTHING, even most American foods. (I noticed a Mexican section, yay!) Oh and also, they asked if I could cook some American food once a week and I have no idea what to make. Any ideas? Twice we had spaghetti bolognese for dinner, which I’m pretty sure is just regular spaghetti, but it had celery root and carrots in it which was extra good. Christof says Sandra makes spaghetti better than the Italians, but I’ll just have to go there and judge that myself. 

I think I got really lucky with my family. Christof and Sandra are both really funny, down to earth people and are always making jokes about the baby. They are both really interested in learning English, which helps me feel not as annoying when I can’t say something, or anything, in German. I love Cara, the dog, who thinks that I am her Au Pair and is always laying her head on me or throwing hissy fits when I can’t throw her ball to her every second of the day.

Wednesday was Sandra’s first day back to teaching since she left to have the baby, which meant she couldn’t stay home all day, obviously. Marta, the grandmother, was supposed to come over and help me all day, but Sandra’s brother and sister-in-law, who  also live down the street with Sandra’s parents(see, it could be worse, E!), came back from their Italian vacation early because of bad weather. This meant that instead of a calm day at home with a two month old infant and the non-English speaking grandma, Mathis and I, and the Doberman, were going to be heading to Sandra’s family home. Awaiting us there were Ben and Tom. Tom is 9 months, and Ben is 3. I found out later that he was briefed that I couldn’t understand him and not to get frustrated, but he still believed I was there to entertain him. I could understand him sometimes, barely. His mom told me in broken English that she can’t ever understand him either, so not to worry. If I wasn’t picking up what he was putting down, he just got louder and louder which is probably how he ended up screaming “Au Pair baby! Au Pair baby!” at Mathis for close to five minutes. 

That day was pretty hard because no one really spoke English, but I mostly hung out with the two people who didn’t know what was going on either, Mathis and Tom. Tom won’t scream at me in German like Ben does, so we get along great. That is what I’ll be doing Thursday, and actually a lot of the time I think, so I better get used to it! Marko and Julia were both very nice and could speak a little English, and I found out that Julia is a nurse, which makes me feel better about having a job where I’m alone with a baby I know nothing about most of the time. I mostly sat around with the Grandpa and we watched Ben act like a maniac and laughed about it. Marta made really good soup for lunch that had some kind of meatballs, gnocchi, peas, and potatoes. It’s been rainy and cold, so the soup tasted good. Sandra has class in the evenings on Wednesdays and Thursday, so I’m pretty sure Christof and I will eat frozen pizza on those days. 

I am leaving out the parts about how every single day I can only understand about every 50th word, and the parts about all of the awkward hand gestures I’ve been doing. Also, there is so much corn here, this must be what Nebraska is like? Oh! The blinds on the windows are so cool! The metal blinds are on the outside and you have to use this rope pulley device to lower them. It is a lot of work but it is well worth it because it literally cuts out 100% of the light. 

I also forgot to mention how sweet Mathis is. We are good friends now, but I spoil him I think. Sometimes he will only sleep when I’m holding him and instead of making him lay down, I just let him snooze and drool all over me. He is so tiny! Sometimes I just look at him and can’t believe he is a little baby person. 

I lied about the pictures, because I haven’t had time to take any. This weekend, I’m getting an internet stick so the updating process (and talking on skype) will be much smoother. This weekend we are going to a lot of festivals, so those are the good pictures you’ll want to see anyways!

meine Freundin - a girl that is your friend

I am here! It still doesn't feel real at all, but that could be just the jetlag or the time difference or the fact that everyone around me speaks really fast in a language I can barely understand. There is so much to say! My flight was long but fine, and I got an upgrade to business class for free on my long flight from Dallas to London. I think it was because I told the flight attendent I liked his British accent. I was a little worried when I got to Germany that I couldn't find Christof, so worried that I got in the wrong line for customs, but the German customs guy just laughed at me and let me go. They didn't stamp my passport though! What's up with that? (By the way, I'm typing this on a German keyboard because my computer won't connect to the internet yet, and the z and the y keys are switched and I can't use the at sign and the apostophe and enter key are all misplaced, so this is dedication you guzs!) Christof was easy to find though and after treking around the second largest airport in Europe, we drove home on the same side of the road as we do in America, to my surprise.

This is where I had my first German Autobahn experience and it was not really as out of control as I had thought, or hoped. On the busier places you can only go 120km which is like 80mph and not that fast. But where it isn't marked you can go insanely fast, but Christof didn't want to scare me so we didn't. It was 3 hours from Frankfurt to Rheda-Wiedenbrück, and Christof and I did a pretty good job of getting through the language barrier. (He is really nice and super funny, and if definitely the best at speaking English. He teaches politics and gym, so he is always updating me on the news and then going to table tennis practice.) Apparently, there is no word in German for just a plain old friend; it has to be either a girl that's your friend or a boyfriend basically. My constand mistake must have been pretty disturbing to Christof because he stopped me to explain the difference. I guess I kept saying over and over "I have a boyfriend in Italy. I have a boyfriend an hour away in Germany. My boyfriends like soccer." Whoops. When we got home Sandra seemed nervous, but she and the baby are so cute also. They seem like people I would be friends with anyways, especially Mathis.

We ate pork and went on a walk around the neighborhood and the corn fields with Cara, who is a giant Doberman and the most well-trained dog I've ever seen. They tried to teach me the commands for her, but I wasn't loud enough or mean enough with my German, they told me. I went to sleep almost at the same time as the baby because I had been up for over 24 hours and I am never up for over 24 hours.

I set my alarm that was still on Eastern Standard time for 2AM, because I remembered that Sandra had said something about something happening with someone or something at nine in the morning and I had said "Ja, 9 ist gut" but had no idea what I was agreeing to. But I knew I should be up and so after passing out for thirteen hours I debated sleepilyfor half an hour wheather to go downstairs in pj's or to take a shower first. I decided to take a shower and later regretted it because we didn't go anywhere until almost 11AM. I guess I missed what was happening or it didn't happen or the most accurate guess would be that I completely misunderstood and nothing was happening at nine.

None the less, we bundled up Mathis and ourselves a couple of hours past nine and walked voer to Sandra's parents house, which is less than one kilometer away. It was rainy and 15°C, meaning not good weather. I was informed that this is more than likely what my whole stay will be like in the Fall. Lucky for the Niemeier family that I happen to love rain. Sandra's parents are so sweet and cute, and didn't know a word of English. The grandma, Marta, gave me lots of cookies though and told me all about her family. Mathis was screaming at the top of his lungs so we came back home and ate my first German "cold cuts" aka bologna for lunch.

I still need to obtain the correct visa so I can stay here for longer than 6 months, so when Christof came back from school, Sandra and I went to the "Rathaus" which I think is a mixture of the DMV, the courthouse, and the police. I had no idea what was happening but I do understand that I should have brought a picture and when the clerk said to sign somewhere, I would sign there. I don't think I'm legal quite yet. Maybe one day.

All and all, everything is great and Mathis is so cute and small, and will be really great to take care of. Sandra and Christof are really fun and nice, and the house and my room are perfect. I'm going to be really happy here I think. Now if I only knew what everyone was saying...

 I will post more tomorrow with some pictures!

entfernen - to take off

Well today's the day! I am about 5 hours away from officially starting my job as an Au Pair in Germany and to commence my year in Europe. I will be living with Sandra and Christof, and taking care of their almost 2 month old son, Mathis. So far I know he enjoys soft things, colorful lights, and stuffed giraffes, which means we have a lot in common. I have never been to Europe, never been in a country where everyone doesn't speak English, and never lived 4457 miles away from my family, but I'm optimistic. 


My flight plan is a little ascu, and consists of me leaving from Greenville, SC then on to Dallas, TX which will take me across the pond to London, UK who will shove me over to Frankfurt. Good-bye to the days of excitement and wonderment when it came to flying! I'm leaving SC at 2:30pm and getting to Germany at 7:30am the next day our time, which happens to be 1:30pm German time. I'm a little uneasy about going at full fast-forward force towards Germany and losing all those valuable hours of time I could spend worrying blindly about things I forgot to do or that are still to come. Or maybe it's a good thing? If all goes well I will make it through customs - do they check for parking tickets? - and meet Christof, the baby daddy and my employer, on the other side and he will drive us two and a half hours to Rheda-Wiedenbruck. That seems to me like along time for two strangers with a language barrier to be side by side, but I'm optimistic. 


Packing for a year was more difficult than I thought it would be, but thanks to suitcase circa 1968 from Helping Hands and my dad's disturbingly meticulous yet extremely useful packing skills, I am officially ready to go with: two huge checked bags, one carry on suitcase, and one new backpack. I told Christof the colors of bags I have in hopes he can use it to recognize me. I am very excited and nervous and happy and worried, but I am optimistic. 


Oh, and this is my first blog.


On to Germany!