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?
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