Ich schlafe heute bei dir!

Friday/February 26 I made my way home by 11am. I cooked, watched some Netflix, and then took a three hour nap.  Once awake and feeling properly motivated, I got ready and made my way out to Ansbach. Adam met me at the train station. We stopped and grabbed a döner on our way over to The 11. I spent the evening hanging out with Adam, Eddie, Eve, Paula, Basti, and Patricia. We mostly just sat around talking and drinking. Adam and I wanted to get everyone out to a bar, but no one seemed interested. We all crashed there. It was one of the more chill evenings we'd had in awhile.

Saturday morning I went to breakfast with Adam and Eddie. We got up and left The 11 around 10am. We got some breakfast sandwiches at a little cafe in Ansbach. We walked around town through the morning markets for a little bit afterwards. I caught a train home and got home around 1pm. I spent the afternoon lazing around and picking up any of my small messes around the house. HM got home with the kids in the early evening. The kids seemed moderately excited to see me, particularly Two. I had enjoyed the peace and quiet of the empty house, but I was starting to miss the kids. I had originally wanted to do something with friends that evening. We had made some tentative plans to party in Ansbach, but no one could come up with anything specific. I was feeling lazy and was not terribly disappointed by this. After three nights of not sleeping in my own bed, not to mention getting very interrupted and little sleep, I was exhausted and eager to do a lot of nothing. I curled up in my bed with some Netflix and was asleep by 11:30pm.

Sunday/today was a blur of doing trivial things. I didn't wake up until close to 11:30am, getting an entire 12 hours of much needed sleep. I did small chores around my room, like writing out some postcards and finishing my homework for my German class. HD got home from his ski trip in the late afternoon. The five of us all ate dinner together. I guess I had missed them all after all, because I was surprised by how pleased I was for us all to be eating together. I spent the rest of the evening relaxing and watching Netflix.

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!

Feburary 22/Monday was my first day of my new German class in Erlangen. I moved myself up a level to take a C1 class. To be fair, I should have been in a C1 class all along. Last time I took a B2 class simply because it best fit my schedule. This time I wanted to take a class that would actually challenge me. Anyways, I made my way to Erlangen in the morning. My class is from 10:15-12:15, which means I have to catch the train at 9:16 to get there on time. The class itself was fine. I already knew three of the other 10 people in the class. Two of them had been at the Au Pair meetings and one was in my previous German class. The rest of them were mostly young mothers or young business professionals. Our teacher seems alright. She made us take a test so she could see if she thinks we could take and pass the C1 Goethe-Institut German Test. I might have mentioned this ranking system before, but I can't remember so I'll clarify again. There are essentially 6 levels of German proficiency here. They range from A1 to C2. It's a little more complicated than that, but basically A1 is beginner and C2 is fluent. Germans are certificate happy. You have to have a certificate to do many things here, from something as simple as teaching swim classes to children up to the complicated technical things associated with engineering. Anyways, in order for me to study at a German university (aka doing my course work in German), I need to have a certificate saying I'm at least C1 certified, though for many universities it's C2. Since I also intend on staying in Germany for a couple of years regardless of if I get my masters or work, I think it's a good idea to have this language certification. So, I'm taking this C1 class with the intention of taking the C1 test in June. On the first day of class, my teacher wanted to evaluate our skills to see if she thought we would be able to pass the test at that moment in time. The test itself was in two parts. The first part was multiple choice. This sounds easy, but I found it incredibly difficult. All the options were either, 1) different words with almost the same meaning (ex. carpet vs rug), or 2) different words but only off by one or two letters (ex. course vs coarse). The second section was a short essay. We spent most of the two hours working on these. HM picked me up from class with the kids in the car. Both kids were sick. One had scarlet fever and Two was still recovering from whatever he was sick with the week before. She walked to work and left me to drive home with the kids. As soon as we got home, I put Two down for his nap. One stayed up and we watched The Jungle Book together. The three of us played together in the afternoon once nap time/quiet time was over. HM got home and the four of us had dinner together. HD had left Sunday night for a work trip and Oma had left Saturday morning to go back to Berlin. After dinner I was relieved of my duties and had the evening free. I spent my free time relaxing and reading.

Tuesday was another busy day. I drove to Erlangen with HM and the kids. We dropped HM off at work, as she had an early morning meeting. I then took the kids to school. I came home and did my chores for the day. I showered, cooked lunch, and made my way into town. I needed to buy the books for my German class. It was cold and rainy, so I opted not to walk around town. I spent a couple of hours reading until I had to head back out to pick up HM and the kids. I worked until HD got back and I was relieved of my duties. I was laying in my bed reading while HD was getting the kids ready for bed. The kids took turns coming into my room and climbing onto my bed to hang out with me and be silly. It was adorable to see them seek me out to hang out with them. They aren't often like that and it warmed my heart.

Wednesday was, surprise!, busy. It was HM's 43rd birthday. I worked an hour in the morning. HD made a quick trip to the bakery to get some cake for breakfast. I had my German class again later that morning (it meets twice a week). We got the tests back and our teacher talked to us about where she thought we were. She told me that my writing was "pretty fluent, but not formal enough." She meant that I don't use fancy enough transitional phrases and such. She also said I have an "excellent base" in grammar and vocabulary and that my accent is "astonishing," because most Americans have horrendous German accents. It was a little disappointing for her to say my writing wasn't formal enough, but that's not anything I can't easily fix. I took the train back to Nürnberg and then stopped at the grocery store on the way back to my house. Once home, I spent a couple of hours doing chores. HD came home early to pack for his ski trip in Austria with his coworkers. HM came home with the kids around 5pm. She grabbed a few things, filled up the car, and then left with the kids for Berlin. I left the house as they were doing all of this. I went to each of them to say goodbye and for them to have fun. HP gave me crap about their suspicions for my upcoming weekend activities. HD asked me if I really liked to celebrate my birthday and HM asked me how many bottles of alcohol I had in my bag. Those goobers! I took the train to Ansbach and Adam met me at the train station. We went over to The 11, where Basti, Patricia, Eddie, and Eve were hanging out. We hung out for a few hours before we went back to Adam's place. I hadn't wanted to wake up in an empty house on my birthday. Adam graciously let me hang out with him.

Thursday was my 24th birthday! I made my way home relatively early, getting back to the house in the late morning. The day was kind of a blur. I skyped with my parents for an hour around lunchtime. I spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch watching some of my favorite televisions shows. I was happy to have some time to myself to relax, though spending so much time alone on my birthday was less than ideal. At 7pm I went for dinner with Adam, Eddie, Ina, Basti, Patricia, and Simon. Once we were finished eating, we went to Molly Malone's, the bar where Meg works. She was working and wanted us to stop by. We spent the next few hours there. Meg told Tony, her boss/the owner, that it was my birthday and he treated me to a free shot of some fancy whiskey. At 10:30pm, Adam, Basti, Eddie, and Patricia all left. They live in Ansbach and had to work the next morning so they couldn't be out too late. I stayed at Molly Malone's with Ina and Simon. We waited for Meg to get off work so we could head to Nano, a night club here. Meg was off around midnight. Simon decided to head home and us three girls continued on to Nano. A couple of our other friends were there, namely Polski. We spent a couple of hours dancing and socializing. We finally left around 3am and went back to Ina's place. We chatted for a bit before we crashed around 5am. Just like that, my birthday was over! To be honest, it didn't feel like my birthday at all. It just felt like any other day. Ina kept telling people that it was my birthday, and every time I was surprised to hear it. I guess I've reached that age where birthdays start to lose their shine? Who knows.

Ina, myself, and Meg on my birthday

Ich wundere mich....

As you have probably noticed, I've been slacking on my posts lately. I wish I could make up for this with a long, detailed, humorous post of my last weekend, but this one is just going to be the bare essentials. Today is my 24th birthday! (Happy birthday and Alles Gute to me!) I don't have the desire to spend hours on my computer, yet I don't want to fall too far behind. So here it goes!

Friday/February 19 was tiring. I had to work from 8am-5pm with Two. He was home sick with something. At this point, I lose track of what illness is afflicting him. Oma was still here, and she helped a little bit, aka I left her alone with her grandson for a little bit every now and again. I thought she might want some one on one time with him. In the late morning, him and I went on a long walk to the grocery store. HM got home as usual and I was off for the night. In the evening I met up with Simon and we went to the Nachtmarkt, a nighttime, indoor flea market. They also had Thai street food there. You bought a bowl for 5€. You could eat as much as you could fit in the bowl from the buffet line. We were there for a few hours chatting. I came home around 11pm.

I didn't have to work on Saturday. I took advantage of this and slept in for the first time in weeks. I hung around the house in the afternoon with the family. I eventually left and met up with Ina. The two of us went to Bjorn's apartment, a friend of Ina's. We hung out there for a bit and waited for a few more people showed up. Bjorn was djing at a club in town. We went with him to the club and got in for free. Ina and I spent a few hours dancing and enjoying the music. We left around 2am to go and meet up with Fiona and Meg at the Shamrock. We hung out there for a couple of hours, drinking and chatting with other friends who were also there, namely Johnny, Fitz, and Matthew. Ina, Fiona, and I eventually left and went back to Ina's place where we all crashed.

Sunday morning I made my way home. I spent the rest of the day relaxing and hanging out with my host family.

Auf Ex oder nie wieder Sex!

Monday/February 15 was my day of recovery. I worked an hour in the morning and then went back to sleep for another four hours. I am not one of those people who can function well on little sleep for days on end. I need roughly 7-9 hours per night to be at optimal level. This is why I often go back to sleep in the mornings for another 2-4 hours, depending on how late I got in bed. It does tend to eat up my free daytime hours, but sometimes the sleep is worth more. I stayed home all day and had a relaxing day of watching Netflix and laying in bed. I eventually showered. HM and the kids got home at their normal time. HD left Sunday night for a week-long business trip so this week was a little more work for me than normal. HM's mom is still in town, though she does not participate much in the childcare. HM left with One for his swim class and I took care of Two. We hung out and colored until it was time to get him ready for bed. HM got home with One and my duties came to an end. Ina had texted me inviting me to come out for drinks with everyone. I left almost immediately and met up with Ina, Fiona, John, Johnny, and Polski. We had a few drinks at a bar and then went to Molly Malone's to see Meg at work. I didn't want to stay out too late since I had to work early the next morning. It was nice to see everyone again and continue to bond. I made it home just after midnight.

Last week there was a rape in our neighborhood. A woman got off the train around 1:30am and was followed by two men. At some point on her walk home, they attacked her. We live on the outskirts of Nürnberg. Our neighborhood does not have a big city feel, it is definitely more of a suburb type of place. I would not expect such violence to happen around our house. The fact that someone was raped so close to my home is equally terrifying and concerning. I often walk to and from the train station when it's dark, especially now that it's winter and it gets dark so early. The woman who was raped could easily have been me. When I got home Sunday night, HM told me about this and told me that I need to be very careful when I come home so late. She said that when it's very late, it might be better if I stayed over at a friends and came home in the morning. I've already adopted this practice on weekends, but on weekdays I try to make my way home and sleep in my own bed since I have to work so early in the mornings. I suggested that I ride my bike to and from the train station when I know I'll be out late or when it's already dark when I leave. It's a seven minute walk, or about a one and a half minute bike ride. I figure the quickness of a bike is safer than walking alone. I also have a tendency to listen to music on my walk. I will no longer be doing that when it's dark. From now on, I intend to be more aware of my surroundings and be more careful when I'm alone.

Tuesday was a longer day of work for me. In the morning I had to drive to school/work with HM and the kids. HM had an appointment early that morning and needed to be at work earlier than normal. I dropped her off at work and then went to drop off the kids. On the way home, I stopped at DM to pick up a few toiletries for myself and then went to get some bread from Ebl. I came home and napped, of course. In the evening, all five of us ate dinner together. HM then left for her dance class and I was in charge of the kids for the rest of the night. The three of us played together until it was time to get them ready for bed. I brought Two into the bathroom first, as it's much easier to get each child ready for bed separately. As I was getting him undressed for his little bath, One came into the room and told me he needed to go poo. When One goes poo, someone has to read to him and then wipe his bum. I had Two down to his diaper at this point, and I had planned on leaving him in it until I finished with One on the toilet. As I began to read the book, Two started taking his diaper off. I didn't think much of it and let him do so. Two then climbed up onto the step stool in front of the sink and I continued to read. A few moments later, Two started to climb down off the stool. I looked over and noticed that Two had peed while standing on the stool. He was naked, which meant that he peed all over the stool and the floor. Life with kids, eh? Two's crib has been in One's room while Oma is here. This makes it incredibly easy to put the kids to sleep because I don't have to do everything twice. We did our nightly ritual and I put both of the kids in bed. Two fell asleep incredibly quick, though it took a little longer with One. As far as bedtimes go, this one was a walk in the park. I spent some time hanging out with Oma while I waited for HM to get home. I hung out with the two of them for a little and then retired to my bedroom for the evening.

Wednesday was busy. I worked in the morning and then went back to sleep. I had to set an alarm because I had to be up and ready by a specific time. I had a haircut at 12:30, making it my second haircut of my time here. I went back to the same place, but a different hair dresser cut my hair. She's apparently the same one who cuts HD, One, and Two's hair. I found it easier to talk to her about what I wanted than the last time I got a cut. She also complimented me on my German. I've always found small talk with a hair dresser to be a bit awkward, and it was even more awkward in German. I'm not so great at small talk in German. I just always find myself to be at a loss for words when there isn't a specific topic to talk about. The haircut lasted about 20 minutes and I was pleased with the result. I then ran some errands before I went home. At home I did some chores and relaxed. I didn't have much time, as I had to go pick up the kids from school. Neither of the cars had been left at home. I had to catch the train to Erlangen and then the bus from the train station to the kids school. The train and bus together took just under an hour. Just for reference, I can drive from my house to the kids school in about 20 minutes. Driving the car is way faster. Anyways, I had some time to waste once I was in Erlangen. I went to the bakery around the corner from the kids school and had a little snack. Technically I could have gotten the kids as soon as I got to the area. However, One gets upset when he has to leave his friends. The later I pick him up, the less friends there are left for him to play with. I took the boys to a playground in the area. HM had to get her car inspected and she wasn't able to pick it up until between 4pm and 5pm, hence why I had to get the kids. There wouldn't have been enough time for her to get the car and the kids before 4:15pm (the latest the kids can be picked up). The three of us went to the playground and waited for HM to be done. HM called just as we got to the playground and said she was on her way to get us. We played while we waited for her. Two's swim class started at 5:35pm. We didn't have enough time to get back to Nürnberg, drop One and I at home, and then HM and Two make it in time for his class. The simple solution was for One and I to come to swim class and watch. The class itself lasted about 45 minutes. It was very similar to the one I went to with HD and One back in September. The building was incredibly warm and I was sweating the whole time we were there. One's cheeks were also very red. We got home at 6:45pm and I was off for the evening. I spent 20 minutes changing clothes and grabbing some things before I headed out the door. I went into town to see Deadpool with Adam. I picked up some sandwiches on the way from the train station to the theater, as neither Adam nor I had eaten dinner. The movie itself was good and I was able to satisfy my craving for movie theater popcorn. I'm glad we went. Adam was kind enough to drive me home once it was over. I was in bed soon after getting home.

Thursday marked one week until my 24th birthday! It was yet another busy day. I worked in the morning, napped, and then finally got up around 11am. I spent 30 minutes doing chores, namely washing the windows downstairs. I finally worked up the motivation and went for a run. I've been wanting to get back into the habit of running, but something always gets in my way. Recently it's been the cold and rainy weather. Thursday I had no excuses. It was sunny and warm, and so I forced myself out the door. My run was as difficult as I'd expected, but it felt good to be back out there. Unfortunately it's supposed to rain every day for the next week, so we'll see if I'll be able to run much in the near future. I ate, showered, and finished my laundry from the day before. HM got home with the kids at her normal time. I then had the kids for the rest of the night. HM left shortly thereafter. She had to run some errands, go back to work, and then got to her dance class. Oma was home with me. I tried to let her enjoy some quality time with the kids but I also wanted to keep to our normal dinner and bedtime routines. Oma and One baked a cake together while Two and I watched. Both kids were in bed and asleep a little earlier than usual. That's what I'd call a successful night!

I don't have anything planned for the weekend yet. Hopefully something fun comes along!

Das habe ich aus dem hohlen Bauch entschieden.

Friday ended up a lot different than I expected, though that seems to be the theme of my weekends now. I worked an hour in the morning, took a nap, and then began my chores. I had to do the kids laundry and vacuum. I spent a decent amount of time watching Netflix in between the laundry cycles. I eventually showered and made my way into town to meet up with Mike. We walked around for a bit while we waited for Simon to join us. Mike had never been up to the castle or over to the Opera House, so I showed him both. It was absolutely freezing, not to mention that it was also incredibly windy. Mike had been craving some traditional Franconian food. Theresa was also supposed to join us, thought she was sick and couldn't make it. Her contribution was suggesting a good restaurant for dinner. Simon met us at the restaurant for dinner. It was indeed a Franconian restaurant with all the specialties of the region. We did not leave disappointed. I was also glad to eat a hot meal for dinner. I never have a hot dinner at home during the week, something which irritates me to no end. Even so, the dinner was delicious. After dinner we went to a few bars in the Altstadt. Around 9pm I got a text from HM saying that I did not have to work on Saturday. I was a bit irritated by this. If I had known that before I went out for the evening, my plans for the night would have been a little different. Since I had thought I would work, I had only planned on staying out with Mike and Simon until 11pm or midnight and then would head home. Some of my friends in Ansbach were having a house party that I would have attended had I known earlier about not working Saturday. It was too late to go to that by the time HM texted me, so I had to adjust my plans. (Sidebar: this is something about being an au pair that I absolutely do not like. My schedule changes almost daily. On Sunday nights, HP write out my work schedule for the week and we talk about it. I can count on one hand the amount of times that we have 100% stuck to the schedule. There are some things that more or less stay the same over the weeks, but these things are few and far between. Variety is the spice of life, yes, but not when it means that my plans with friends are constantly affected. It's nearly impossible to plan something without them being forced to change at some point in time due to my host family's needs. Yes, it is my job and I should be flexible. However, there comes a point where I'm compromising too much to retain my sanity.) I decided to text Meg to see if she was doing anything after she got off work. We agreed to meet up for a drink at the Shamrock, a popular little Irish pub right next door to Finnegan's. When I arrived, Fiona, John, and Johnny were all there. Johnny had went to a wedding earlier that evening and many of the guests and most of the wedding party had gone to the Shamrock afterwards. To say that they were celebrating would be an understatement. I stayed out with all of them until the wee hours of the morning and then went back to Meg and Johnny's apartment. The three of us hung out well into the morning.

Saturday morning I was still lounging around with Meg and Johnny. In fact, I have now been inducted into their "family." This "family" includes: Meg, Ina, Fiona, John, and Johnny. They have told me many things about this monumental event, but the most notable one is, "We don't let in strays often. Good job, you can stay." It appears that I have finally found a group of friends in Nürnberg. I already had a few friends in town, but most of them are random people from here or there, not an already-established group. I'm quite excited about this! In the late morning, John came over and the four of us hung out until we decided to actually get up and do something. I headed home, showered, ate, and then met back up with everyone at Finnegan's in the late afternoon. John wanted to watch some big rugby match that was playing. Once the match was over, five of us (me, Meg, Ina, Fiona, and John) went to dinner and then to Meg's workplace, another Irish pub - Molly Malone's - to watch the cover band that was playing. Meg promised her boss that she'd show up with some of her friends. We weren't expecting much, but the band ended up being much better than we all anticipated. We stayed for a good hour and a half and listened to them play. As we were listening, another friend, Ferdi, showed up to hang out with us. Around midnight we headed back to Ina's place. One of their other friends, Polski, had been sleeping at Ina's. She woke up and hung out with us. Johnny also eventually showed up and hung out with us. It was a good night.

Sunday was more activity than I wanted. I went home in the morning, napped, showered, and then headed out to Ansbach. Adam and I went bowling and then to see a movie. Had I not had to work the next morning, I would have stayed out late with him to go and hang out with Eddie. Since Monday/the next day was President's Day, neither of them had to work. Anyways, I got home around 10pm and spent some time skyping with my parents before I went to bed. I was absolutely exhausted. I'd only slept about five hours between when I woke up Friday morning and when I went to sleep Sunday night. I'm still not sure how I managed to keep my eyes open the whole weekend. Pure determination, I suppose?

Darein, daraus.

Monday/February 8 was a bit disappointing. I had to work my hour in the morning. I was still exhausted and fighting off a cold, so I went back to sleep. I had intended on sleeping another two hours, but ended up sleeping another four. I guess my body was still recovering from the weekend. I then went to the Ordnungsamt. Last Thursday I got the translation of my drivers license in the mail. I had to take the translation to the Ordnungsamt to turn it in so I could get a German drivers license. I didn't make it to the office until around 2:30pm and they closed at 3:30pm. Luckily the wait wasn't long and I only had to wait about 20ish minutes until my number was called. I had no idea what I would need, so I brought a bunch of stuff with me: my proof of registration with the city, my insurance, my au pair contract, my passport/visa, etc. At first, the guy said I needed the proof of registration from the first place I registered in Germany, which would have been in Mainz back in April 2014. Naturally I didn't have it with me and it would be a long time until I could get a hold of it. The guy went and talked to someone and then said, no, that was fine, I didn't need it. Instead, the only things I actually needed were my passport/visa, the translation, 36€, and a passport photo. Of course, I didn't have a spare passport photo with me. I said I'd have to come back later. I then went to the bank to exchange some korunas (currency from the Czech Republic) that my dad had sent me in the mail. It was left over from our trip to Prague and he had no use for it. Lastly, I went to Gravis, the store who was fixing my computer. When I dropped my computer off to get fixed, they told me it would take two weeks. I got an email from them the day I dropped it off with a link to check the status of the repair. Up until the previous Thursday, the link said nothing. On Thursday, it had finally changed and said the computer repair was successful. I should have also gotten an email telling me that I could go and pick up the computer, but no email came. I decided that I would go and ask on Monday. When I got to the store, I explained what happened. The clerk told me that I should have gotten an email about it. He checked in the system for me and saw that my computer was indeed finished. The entire display half had to be replaced. It ended up costing 50€ less than they quoted me, though it was still nearly two months of my salary. I was thrilled to have it back. The last two weeks without it had been frustrating. Yes, I can do mostly everything I need on my phone. However, there are many things I prefer on my computer. I find things like transferring money and watching Netflix much better on the large screen. After running my three errands, I went home. I had dinner with the host family. I was originally supposed to go to a huge Fasching party that night with Johnny and Fiona, but they both cancelled. I spent the night catching up on tv shows and talking on the phone with friends.

Tuesday morning was busy. I worked an hour in the early morning, showered, ate, and then left the house. I went back to the Ordnungsamt, this time with everything I needed, so I could get my drivers license taken care of. The wait was shorter and the whole thing took about 30 minutes. I paid my 36€, handed over the paperwork and my American drivers license, and signed on the dotted line. I have to go back in three to four weeks to pick up my new German drivers license, as well as my American drivers license. I am permitted to drive in Germany for the next two years. After that, I'll have to take a driving test. Not a bad deal, I don't think. I spent the next couple of hours walking around town. I eventually went home when it started to rain. I spent the rest of the afternoon cooking lunch and relaxing. I'd been glued to my computer since getting it back and I had many tv shows to catch up on.  I ate dinner with my host family before heading out to meet up with Simon for a drink. We went to one of the new bars I went to last week and chatted for the next two hours. I came home around 10:30pm.

Wednesday was as lazy as lazy gets. I worked an hour in the morning and then immediately went back to bed. I'd been fighting a cold since Saturday. It was significantly worse on Monday and Tuesday, and only appeared to be getting worse when I woke up on Wednesday. I suppose my body was needing as much rest as possible because I slept another 3.5 hours once everyone left the house. I woke up again at noon. The rest of the day was a blur of Netflix, laying in bed, and eating. I did manage to shower, do my laundry, and skype with my brother, the only three productive things to come out of the day. HM got home with the kids about the normal time and HD followed soon after. Since HP are both home this week and HM's mom is also here, there isn't much need for me in the evenings. Four adults and two children isn't exactly balanced. Wednesday did happen to be HM's mom's birthday. We celebrated with cake for breakfast and had döner for dinner. I wanted to go out and see some friends in the evening, but no one was free. It wasn't such a bad thing, as I was still exhausted and HP instructed me that morning to get healthy.

Thursday wasn't much better than Wednesday. I worked an hour in the morning, went back to sleep, and then got up again around 11. I actually had some chores to do, which I took care of pretty quickly. I then cooked lunch, showered, and made my way into town. I didn't have anything specific to do and I also didn't want to spend money, so I just wandered around downtown. I sat inside one of the cathedrals for awhile. I considered walking up to the castle, but I was too lazy. I eventually went home. I spent the evening being a lazy bum and watching Netflix. I was still fighting a bit of a cold, and I figured being lazy would help me get healthy quicker.

I'm beginning to get quite frustrated about my home and my work being the same. Most days it's tolerable, but some days I just want to pull my hair out. Most people come home from work and are able to take off their "work face" and get comfortable. I do not have such an option. When my host family is at school/work during the day, I'm able to relax without interruption. However, during nights and weekends, even when I'm not technically working, I always have to have my "work face" on. I have to be on my very best behavior. It gets exhausting, physically and mentally, to constantly say and do the right thing at the right time.  It's especially frustrating when one of my host parents is in a bad mood and they have been rude to me. It takes everything in me to just shut up and let it go. It's even worse when I'm in a bad mood and I have to smile and be pleasant. I guess that's why I like spending so much time out of the house. You could say that's when I feel most like myself here, when I'm out with friends or even just walking around alone. I sometimes feel bad for spending so much of my free time away from them, but that's just how I'm going to be able to survive the week without losing it.

Du bist voll frech!

This weekend was not at all what I had expected. I knew I was going to have a great time and meet a lot of new people, but what ended up happening was much, much more.

As stated in my last post, on February 5/Friday I got home around 11am. I was exhausted and went directly to bed.  I wasn't able to sleep as long as I wanted. I had plans for later that evening and didn't want to sleep through them. I finally rejoined the living world around 4pm, took a shower, and went over to M and T's. It was L's 14th birthday and we had all gathered to have some cake. I wasn't able to stay long. I had to catch my train out to Ansbach. Eddie picked me up from the station and we went over to The 11, where Adam and Eve were already hanging out. Another of Eddie's friends showed up and the five of us spent a few hours hanging out, drinking, and playing games. We headed to a bar later on, but only stayed for one drink. We got back to The 11 around midnight and I left shortly thereafter to catch the last train home. I was still exhausted from Thursday night and had to work the next day. I hadn't wanted to miss time hanging out with my friends, but I also wanted to catch up on some sleep. I got the best of both worlds that night.

Saturday was..intense. I worked a few hours in the morning when HP had to run some errands. Technically I was only supposed to work a couple of hours because I was close to my 30 hour/week limit, but I ended up going over. I was not pleased about this, but such is life. I took a nap in the afternoon to get ready for the night. HM's mom arrived in the afternoon from Berlin to stay for the week. I met up with Meg around 7pm and the two of us went to Ina's apartment to meet up with Johnny, John, and some others. We spent a few hours hanging out at the apartment. About 15 people came and went over the course of the next few hours. It was cool to meet yet more people in the city. Late in the evening, Meg and I left with John to pick up Fiona from work. The four of us then went back to Ina's. After being holed up in the apartment for four hours already, I was happy to stretch my legs and get some fresh air. We were originally supposed to go to a club at that point, but no one was in the mood. We hung out at Ina's until the wee hours of the morning. Around 7am, people started to get up and made their way home. By the time I left, it was around 9am or so Sunday morning.

Sunday morning was beautiful. It wasn't too cold and the sun was out, so I decided to go for a walk as I left Ina's apartment. One of the other people who had been at the apartment, Rene, decided to come with me. We spent about two hours walking around the Altstadt. We even went all the way up to the top of the castle. It couldn't have been a more perfect moment with the fresh morning air and the warm sun on my face. I finally caught the train home just before noon. I walked inside the house at 12:15, just as my host parents were finishing cooking lunch. I had lunch with the family before I went to sleep a bit.  I spent the rest of the day relaxing. I ate dinner with the family and then skyped with some people before I called it an early night.

As I said, it was an exciting weekend. I met loads of new people and slept entirely too little. I hope I can continue to meet as many new people and make even more new friends. If I can meet this many new people in just two weeks, I'm interested to see what the next four weeks are like. I also spent a lot of time reflecting on how I've almost been here six months. Where does the time go? In some ways it feels like I've only just arrived, and in some ways it feels like I've been here a lifetime. I guess the reality of the situation is somewhere in between. 

Aus den Augen, aus dem Sinn.

Monday/February 1 was my last German class of this term. The trains were delayed and I ended up arriving to class 15 minutes late, whereas I'm normally there 10 minutes early. After class, my teacher asked us to go grab a coffee with her. It was a cute way to round out the class. I took the train back to Nürnberg and then walked around the city a little before finally heading home. Both kids were home from school with HM. Two was sick and wouldn't have been at school anyways. One was home because too many of the teachers at school were sick and there weren't enough left to staff it throughout the day. I spent the afternoon hanging out with them. After dinner I headed back into town and met Simon for a drink. We only stayed out a few hours, and I called it an early night. 

Tuesday was my first day working for the week. At 7:30am, One came into my room and woke me up. He said, "Farrah, it's morning," and then proceeded to talk to me about a bunch of random things until I got out of bed. Surprisingly, he's never woken me up before. The kids typically don't come into my room if my door is shut. It was a long working day for me, a full nine hours. Two was pretty whiney and was attached to me all day. He didn't like it when I would put him down. I took a short nap while he napped. In the evening I had another date with the guy from last week. His name is Johnny and he is from Scotland. We got dinner and then met up with his two best friends, Fiona (Germany/Ireland) and Meg (Ireland) for drinks. The four of us went to a few bars, most of which I had never been to before. I stayed out entirely too late, much later than I had planned, and had entirely too many drinks. It was not my smarted decision. 

Wednesday was simply exhausting. I was home with Two again all day. I only had four hours of sleep the night before and was so tired I was getting dizzy. Two was just as whiney as the day before. When I was making lunch, he stood with his arms around my legs, wanting me to pick him up. I put him down for a nap and tried to nap myself, but to no avail. Two only slept for an hour. He sleep was quite interrupted due to his constant coughing. I thought he should probably sleep some more, so I brought him back to my room and laid him on my chest. As I had guessed, he fell asleep on my chest for another half an hour or so. My shirt was soaked with his drool. HM got home with One around 5pm and I was finally off for the day. I left shortly after their arrival to hang out with Eddie and Adam. The three of us went bouldering at a new gym in Eddie's village. We were there about an hour and a half. We met some other Americans who knew what they were doing and gave us some pointers and shared their chalk with us. The three of us grabbed a bite to eat afterwards and then I headed home. It was getting difficult to keep my eyes open. 

Thursday ended up being unexpectedly busy for me. I was again at home with Two all day. He still fairly sick and wasn't interested in doing much besides following me around and wanting me to hold him. After his nap, we went to the store. I needed some toiletries and wanted to pick up something from the grocery store. It was raining pretty hard when we finally left. We walked to the bus station and took the bus to the shops. I got what I wanted and we headed home. HM and One got home shortly after we did. I was finally done. Spending three whole days stuck inside during the daylight was starting to wear on me. Even though I had been out every night during the week, I still was getting antsy. Thursday evening I went and met Simon for a drink. The first bar we wanted to go to was completely reserved and we were turned away. We made it to another bar in the area and enjoyed a couple of drinks. I couldn't stay long. I needed to go and meet up with Johnny to pick up something I had forgotten the last time we hung out. Anyways, we ended up chatting for awhile and eventually decided to go out that night. Meg also wanted to go out after she finished working. One of Johnny's favorite DJ's in town was playing at a bar. We all decided to go. We went for a couple of drinks beforehand and then headed to the bar. The music was fantastic. We danced the morning away and finally left when the bar closed at 5am. We headed back to Johnny and Meg's place where we hung out for another five hours before I finally headed home at 10:30am Friday morning when Johnny and Meg went to sleep.

This was perhaps my busiest week to date, working and personal hours included. Though exhausted most of the time, I was grateful to be so busy with such a variety of people. I hope this trend continues!

Bleiben Sie in Bewegung

Friday/January 29 was a day of doing almost nothing. Since I had been fairly busy during the week, I opted to stay home all day and relax. I worked in the morning, later went for a run, and then hung out at the house the rest of the day. Saturday was originally going to be an incredibly busy day for me, so I wanted to be well rested. 

Saturday morning we all went over to M and T's for breakfast. I then worked a couple of hours. HP took the kids to the playground while I went to the grocery store to pick up food for the week. I came home and did some miscellaneous chores while I waited for everyone to get back. I spent the afternoon hanging around the house with the family. HM and I had a long conversation about what I wanted to do after this year and how I was going to accomplish that. I had another date that evening. We met up in town and went around to a bunch of bars I'd never been to. It was cool to see more parts of the city that I hadn't seen before. 

Sunday I went out to Ansbach and hung out with Adam. We went to the commissary on the military base so I could buy some Honey Nut Cheerios. Adam works on base and therefore can bring guests on base. There aren't many American foods that I miss enough to want to purchase on base, but I had recently been craving some Cheerios. We  went bowling afterwards. I love bowling, I'm just not very good at it. We were going to go see a movie too, but we were both too tired and I wanted to head home. I got home around 7 and spent the rest of the evening relaxing.