This weekend turned out better than expected.
Friday night we all went over to the neighbors. It was warm this weekend (in the 70s), so we did some grilling outside. It's nice to have conversations with people who aren't my host family. It's not that they aren't great, it's just that I've basically only been talking to them for the whole time I've been here. I was needing some contact with other people. I really like the neighbors. They're overall great people who happen to be funny. They'll correct my German or ask me questions about words in English or about life in the USA. HM has been friends with woman, or M, for twenty years, just as HD has been friends with the man, T, for twenty years. It's one of those situations that makes you believe in fate, like these four people were meant to be always in each others lives. HM and M and then also HD and T were friends before either couple was in a relationship. The four of them have lived in the same cities for most of the past 20 years, often just a street or two away. They all also work(ed) for the same company. Anyways, we went over for dinner Friday night and had fun. On the way home, One asked HM if she would carry him because he was tired. She said no, so I said I would (I look for every opportunity to further build on my relationship with the children). He was thrilled, and so I carried him home. While I was carrying him I heard HP saying something about it behind me. I turned and asked and they said. They smiled at me and said that they're glad I'm here. It made my heart happy.
Saturday was more than busy. I "slept in" until 8:30. The five of us went to IKEA for what would become a several hour adventure. I'd never been to an IKEA before. I drove there with HD while HM went in her car with the kids. We first ate breakfast there. I knew you could eat samples at IKEA, but I had no idea they had a whole cafeteria. It was about what I expected from a German breakfast buffet, with a few extras throw in. HP are in the process of furnishing the kid rooms. They've only lived in this house for about a year now and as the kids are getting older, their needs for furnishings are changing. We probably spent about two hours picking out and finding all the stuff they needed. They also told me to get anything I wanted, so I requested a pillow and a mirror. We made it home after an approximate 3 hour adventure. The sim card for my phone finally came in the mail. HD and I spent some time trying to get it all set up. After a month and a half, I finally have a functioning cell phone with a German number! I was stoked. HP had an appointment to get family photos taken that day. They asked me if I'd like to come along and be in some of their pictures. HD said that it just wouldn't be right if I wasn't going to be in a few. I would say I was in about 1/5 of the photos. It was really nice to be included in something of that nature. I wasn't expecting them to ask me to come.
We rushed back home after the pictures because the neighbors were coming over for dinner. They all showed up around 8. We ate and ate and ate, and then drank some too. M and T have a son, L, who's about 14 or so. M's nephew, Fabio, is about my age and is currently doing an internship in the city. He came and brought a friend, Nico, also my age. During dinner, M asked me about where exactly I'm from. This launched a 20 minute conversation about the Marshall Islands, why I was there, what it's like, have I been back, etc. (Sidebar: HM asked me if there was a new American sitcom they could watch. I suggested Modern Family. HP are hooked!) They had told the neighbors about Modern Family and wanted us to all watch an episode together. They all enjoyed it. When everything was winding down, I decided to go out on a limb and ask Fabio and Nico if they had plans for the night and if they wanted to go into town for some drinks. They didn't have plans, but they did want to go have a few drinks. Before we left, I made sure to say goodbye to HP. They both smiled at me, like they were proud of me or something. M drove us into town so we didn't have to wait for the train. We didn't really know where to go, so we kind of wandered around until we found a restaurant with a lot of other people our age. We had a drink, left to do some more wandering around, and eventually made our way into a night club. They're both really cool guys. I enjoyed talking about things that didn't end up back to being about the kids and dancing the night away. They also asked me a good deal about words in English and what they meant or why we said it, plus general things about life in the US. One of them even asked me why I studied German. That's a very common question for people here to ask me. I can't say I'm surprised though. It's far from common for Americans to study languages. I didn't get home until 4:30am. Unfortunately for me, Fabio is only here for a month and Nico was only here for the night. The search for friends continues.
This morning HD told me he was happy I had gone out and had fun. The day was mostly boring. I ended up taking a three hour nap and I'm still exhausted. Tomorrow another week of work begins! I'm going to hopefully do some more exploring. M invited me to go over to her house for lunch a few times a week. She doesn't work anymore and L comes home for lunch. As she said, she's cooking anyways so it's not any sort of inconvenience for me to join. She also says it'd be great if her and I could go do other things together throughout the week, like go to a museum. Her offer is incredibly sweet and I'm going to take her up on it. Free food, people to practice German with, and then some company during some days? Sounds like a win/win/win situation.
This week is when they boys swim classes start back up, and One also plays soccer. I feel like I'll finally be really utilized as an au pair because I may often take the kids to these things while HP have to work. We shall see soon enough.
No comments:
Post a Comment