it's over

Wow! it's finally happened. I am no longer an au pair, and I can not believe it. I am in shock/disbelief/denial. I have been looking forward to this for so long, I don't really know what to do with myself now that the time has actually come... I am kind of excited about what's to come (all my travels) but am really sad to leave my friends here and the family. There is definitely a bond built when you spend as much time as I did with a group of people. It was really unexpected for me to be done already, but as it turns out the kids went to their grandma's houses this week, one to each grandma... I don't know if this was just coincidental, or if they were trying to get me out of the house a little earlier, but either way I am happy to have a little extra time to see things. Though, because it was so last minute, it's a little more surprising. I don't really feel ready to go, yet I have to.

I have been encountering things that make it all the more real how long I have been here. I went to a sort of fest in another little town last weekend, which I went to last year also with the family. I remembered the town, and some of the stalls and locations. It was so weird that when i came i didn't know anything, yet here I am more than a year later and feel totally at home. I think this year has been so great for me. I've learned that I can really do ANYTHING I want to - moving to a foreign country, where I don't speak the language or know anyone; learning a new language, making friends, learning to drive a manual car... I've also developed a great ability to be able to laugh at myself; there were so many times this year, where I just had to stop and laugh because there was nothing else to do, whether it was while stalling the car 10 times going uphill with the car or almost getting lost in the dodgy parts of Budapest, just to see the 'biggest flea market in Europe' (hah, that was a little overstated) being able to step out of the situation and have a good chuckle makes it all worth it. I think I've also grown up a bit, and learned about some things that are important to have in my life, and how I want to live my life. I guess the biggest thing I've gotten while here is perspective... on myself, my life, my country. There's nothing like taking you out of your home and all your comforts to make you think a little harder.

So not that any of my friends here in Germany read this blog... but I just want to say thanks for making this such a great year, full of new experiences, surprises, and most importantly a lot of fun!!

And as far as what's on my plate next... I am taking a little road trip with a friend, and then off to visit some more friends before heading off to Greece with my sister. I hung out around the house today to finish things up, laundry, packing etc... but starting tomorrow evening I will begin my real summer vacation - 5 weeks traveling Europe!!!! (though, really, it's not like this whole year hasn't been a vacation :-)

yay for Sweden

After Berlin I flew to Sweden to visit some friends. I met Ida at an au pair meeting in Stuttgart one of the first weeks I was in Germany, and she met Sara through her au pair family. They are both from Sweden and Super sweet girls. Sara, was au pairing the year after high school, and she started studying at university this week. Ida is a couple of years out of high school, and came to au pair just for the experience. Anyhow, we hung out here in Stuttgart, and went out a bit together, but not nearly enough, because I didn’t discover the later night bus until it was basically too late :-( So a few months ago when I was thinking about these weeks I had off, I thought it would be great to visit them in Stockholm.

Sara lives in a town that is an hour away from Stockholm, but Ida lives in a Stockholm suburb. So Sara came in for the week, to stay with Ida’s family too. Sweden was really pretty, and actually kind of reminded me of the US…. Well, more of the US than Germany. This is based on seeing 7/11, T.G.I. Friday’s, and EB Games. There is also a lot more space in general in Sweden, due to a huge country with few people, so many people live in houses with big yards, and there was even a HUGE grocery store that we went to. Ida had to work during the days, so it was great to have Sara there to tour around with me… here’s a run down of what we did:

day 1 – shopping around a cute up and coming neighborhood; lunch with Ida; boat tour in the afternoon. The boat tour was great because Stockholm is made up of 14 islands, so there is a lot of water to explore. We got to see most of the famous sights from the water, and see many things we wouldn’t have seen by just walking around on our own.

day 2 – Ida called in sick, and her dad and brother came home early from work (they have their own construction business) and they took us sailing on the family boat. The weather forecast said that would be the nicest day that week, and it was. The eastern side of Stockholm is on the Baltic Sea, and there are two locks there in the city, that separate that from the fresh water lake to the west. This freshwater lake goes deep into Sweden, and is where we went out with the boat. We sailed for a few hours, then parked the boat and had lunch, and layed out in the sun a bit. On the way back, we all went swimming behind the boat. It was so beautiful being in the Archipelago. The trees are mainly evergreens, and there are people on all the rocks and beaches just enjoying the nice weather. They were also saying that in the winter the lake freezes over and people go cross country skiing and ice skating out there!

day 3 – got up early and went to Sara’s town for the day. I got to see where she lives with her dad and one of her brothers (she has 4!!) we had lunch in town, and while there wasn’t a whole lot to see, it was great to see another city there, and where she will be for the next three years studying.

day 4 – more walking around Stockholm; saw the huge park in the city, and a couple other neighborhoods; met up with a few of Ida’s friends that night for dinner

It was wonderful and so refreshing to be there there, and to stay with Ida’s family. With three kids, 23, 21 and 16 their family runs much more like what I’m used to at my parents house. We had a chance to tour around, and just veg out and watch movies… it was the perfect way to spend the last week of my vacation. Since I’ve been back, I have met up with friends, and gone out over the weekend. This week is off to a good start, I just am shocked to think that the year is nearly over!

photos at: http://ucdavis.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2177635&l=33547&id=3206990

Berlin, Berlin

Berlin is a city that everyone should visit. There is so much history surrounding the city, and there is a lot to be learned about tolerance and people, I think it’s a worth while trip for anyone. We started out our first day with an open top bus tour of the city. Which, granted is really cheesy, but after a good experience with it in Barcelona, I was able to coax my parents into trying it out. I think we were all impressed with the things that you are able to see in such a short amount of time. With a limited amount of time there, it was a good way to get some of the bigger sights in. We got off and saw things up close later on, like the Brandenburger Tor, the site of the Nazi Book Burnings, and Checkpoint Charlie. The second day, we were out for 12 hours, making the most of our last day together. Highlights included the Jewish Museum, and the very cool and trendy Prenzlaurberg Neighborhood, with great café’s, stores, and many East German buildings that had survived it all.

Mom and Dad left Saturday to drive back to Frankfurt (they flew out of there on Sunday) so I hung out in the city on my own. I did some shopping and while in the Kaa Dee Wee (big department store, like the Harrod’s of Berlin) it started Pouring outside. Buckets, huge buckets… so I hung out there a bit longer, but finally ventured out into the wet. I did have an umbrella, thankfully, but that didn’t do much for my feet, which were only in flip flops. So I ran across the street to the nearest U-Bahn (subway) to catch the train back to my hostel, but really, the station was flooded… water coming down the stairs, big puddles on the ground.. good times :-) My flip flops were leather, so that and the water was not a good combination.. the soles of my feet were black for days. Back at the hostel, I took a nice nap, and ended up hanging out with a bunch of Spaniards that night. It started out as 6 or 7 of us, and turned into me and 20 of them. It got to the point, when new people came the introductions went something like this: Bilbao, Bilbao, Bilbao, Bilbao, Madrid, Madrid, Malaga, Malaga, Bilbao, Bilbao, Califonia… so funny, all the people were pretty surprised. I had a couple of conversations in English, and one in German (with an Italian, who spoke German and Spanish as well, wow, being here me feel so unaccomplished!)

Berlin was so great, I think the pictures will explain a lot more. I am so glad that it all worked out to go and to be there with my parents was even better. I think there is so much to be learned from a visit there. It has a lot more diversity than in other parts of the country, and there are so many things going on still to rebuild the city. The variety of architecture is amazing, and it is a city that is constantly changing and developing. It has grown so much in the past 20 years, and I can only imagine what it will be like in just a little more time.

photos at: http://ucdavis.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2177295&l=fe451&id=3206990

just so you know... the vertical ones aren't right side up :-(

it's all happening

There is so much to report I don’t even know where to begin! My mom and dad came to Europe a couple of weeks ago, and it was amazing. The kindergarten had holidays the first two weeks of August, so while the family went to Denmark, I spent a week with my parents and a about 5 days in Sweden. It was so great to show my parents around Ludwigsburg and Stuttgart. I was able to share things and places I knew in the city, and they even managed to make it to their very first fest :-) The Sommerfest, isn’t really a traditional one, but it was still lots of fun. In the next week together we rented a car in Frankfurt, and spent a couple of nights in towns along the way, while driving to Berlin, rather than give all the details I think a little recap will do:

- I got to drive the first leg of the journey and instill a little confidence that my parents, too, would be able to drive in Europe.

- Saw many castles, and hay fields along the way to Eisenach, where Martin Luther translated the bible into German and where Bach was born.

- Mom drove in a pedestrian zone, after we turned of the navigation system, and none of us saw the signs, really!!

- A night and day in Potsdam, let us see some really pretty palaces, and gardens, as well as a super cute Dutch Quarter (now, just a cute trendy neighborhood, but previously where the Dutch workers lived when they came there)

And then we were in Berlin, a city that deserves an entry all on it’s own. After Sweden I came back to Stuttgart, and was able to enjoy a night and day with the house all to myself. So great, what a freedom!! And now, it’s just the last two weeks of work, then my sister gets here, I can’t believe it!!!!!!

photos at: http://ucdavis.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2177269&l=9211a&id=3206990