Second day

So, I'm completely over my jet lag! It's amazing what no sleep one night plus 14 hrs the next night can do. It was really nice to sleep in, especially since it will be my last time on a weekday for a while. I start every day at 7:30 AM. Good thing I can get ready fast--I'll definitely be getting up at 7:15 every day. Good thing my commute is short!

OK. Today I went with Stephanie to pick up Johanna from kindergarten (I think kindergarten here is pretty much like daycare in the US?). It's really close, which is nice. But, even so, I still have no idea how to get there. Fortunately Dominick does and he doesn't have school next week so he'll be able to show me how to get there.

After that we had lunch, which was "zwiebelkuchen", directly translated "garlic cake". It's a little bit hard to describe. I guess the closest thing would be a pot pie. It had egg and garlic in it. It was actually pretty good. But later, Stefan asked me if I had felt what the garlic does to the stomach, and I said no....then he said it makes "Luft" (air)...!!!! I guess here it's not taboo to ask someone if they have gas!!

After lunch I walked around Heuchlingen a little bit, just to see what it's like. It is REALLY small, but very cute. Imagine a German village. It's exactly like what you're picturing. The only weird thing was there was no one else walking around. The people that I saw when I was out all stopped and stared at me, it was a little unnerving.

Then when I got back, we all went into Heidenheim, where Stephanie's dental practice is. Her office is really nice. Everything looked so new. And then we walked around the pedestrian mall for a little bit and ate some (extremely cheap) ice cream. I love that ice cream is so cheap here and so much better than at home! And Stefan gave me my first months' pay, so now I have some money. Apparently very few places in Germany take credit cards, so it looks like I'll have to use cash for pretty much everything.

After we got back we had dinner, then I watched Stefan put the kids to bed (since I'll have to do that every Thursday) and now I am done. I might even attempt to watch some German TV later!

Made it in one piece

So, I made it! I'm in Germany! And fortunately, Stefan showed me how to change the keyboard from German to English, so I don't have to type Zs where my Ys would be. (Especially annoying: where is the @ sign on a German keyboard?)

Fortunately none of my flights were delayed. I left JFK at 5:40 (after sitting in the airport for about 4 hours) and got into Dublin at 5:10 AM. Left for Munich at 7:10 AM and arrived at 10:45 (yet another time change). Stefan and Dominick were waiting at the airport for me, but for some reason the baggage claim was inside the security area instead of outside. It was like that in Dublin, too. I guess it's some European thing? Also, security in Ireland is not the strict. I only had to show them my boarding pass to get through the security check point.

Anyway, I'm here. My room is in the basement, but it is FREEZING down here! It's actually not bad outside, maybe 75 or 80 degrees, but I'm wearing pants and a sweatshirt down here and still cold! I'm too tired to actually take pictures and post them, so I'll do that later. It's nice though--I have my own TV and computer and my own bathroom. And other aupairs have left stuff through the years, like books and maps and ski pants. It's so weird that this is going to be my room for 11 months.

Well, one good thing is I can tell that my German is really going to improve. I was doing pretty well earlier, but I've gotten really tired over the past few hours and I'm having trouble concentrating when they talk, which I have to do constantly to be able to understand what they're saying. Esp. the little kids. Dominick isn't too bad (he's 6), but Johanna (she's 3) I can only understand when she speaks very slowly and says only a few words at a time. Hopefully tomorrow will be better when I'm more awake.

Oh yeah: I asked if there are any other aupairs in the town, but there aren't. Which kinda sucks. But Stefan said there's other girls my age and if I go to the aerobics classes I'll prob meet some of them.

Leaving Tomorrow

So, I'm leaving tomorrow. Flying from JFK to Munich! Not direct, thank goodness. Not sure how I feel about it....I'm pretty nervous, but mostly I'm dreading the really long flight, plus still slightly in denial that I'm leaving so soon. The only thing that I am actually nervous about is meeting people my age to be friends with. Since I'm not doing this through an aupair agency, I don't have a built-in way to meet other aupairs. Hopefully the family knows some that I can be introduced to.

My suitcases are huge. I thought my black one was big, but then Julie lent me hers--that thing could eat my suitcase for breakfast. And I keep walking around my room trying to see if I'm forgetting something, and I'll see my Chapstick and think, "What if they don't have Chapstick in Germany??? I better bring these extra ones just to be safe." Or I think, "I HAVE to bring this shirt with me. I haven't worn it once in the past three years, but what if I want to wear it in Germany?? Better pack it."

OK, I plan on taking pics once I get there, so maybe I'll even be not lazy and post them.