Spring!!!

Hey Everybody!

Spring is finally here in Tubingen, and it's great! There have been daffodils and tulips blooming everywhere, trees are blooming, and we can actually go outside without wearing heavy wool coats! It's really nice to be able to go outside for hours in the afternoon inside of being cooped up in the house. I think it'll get a little warmer within the next couple of months, but thankfully, it won't be as bad as Savannah. The humidity in Savannah is horrible, and I don't miss it.

I have been here for 6 months already! It seems a lot longer, but it has been going by fast. I have a few trips planned out and now that I have something to look forward too, time is slowing down.. funny how that works. I was able to see my friend Beka in Heidelberg for Easter, which was great. Her family lived near us on Fort Monroe in Virginia and they have 3 kids, Jake, Jessie and James (JP). I used to babysit them all the time and it was so nice seeing them again. I was pretty much in love with JP while he was still in the womb and it was crazy to see him grown up. He wasn't even a year old before they left and now he's 5! It was a nice visit, but poor Beka was swamped with emergencies at work, so she was pretty busy. I'm sure I'll make more visits to Heidelberg since it's pretty close. We had fun coloring easter eggs and making these birds nests.
**These are just like the ones I saw on your page Stephanie! I thought it was crazy that we did the same thing!

It's going well here with the family. Everyone is back to work/school now so it's pretty busy. Sven is going back to the U.S. for about a week, I'm kind of jealous! We've been working with Charlotte to get her potty trained and it's going very well! We kind of just force her to wear the panties now, she doesn't havw the option of wearing a diaper during the day anymore. She only wears them at night, which is great. She does a good job with it and she only has a few accidents, but most of them are from accidents on the toilet haha. We had an interesting experience a few weeks ago while on a walk. She was wearing her panties and I made her go to the bathroom before we left, but didn't think about how long we'd be gone, so I didn't put a diaper on her and I didn't bring any wipes, extra panties or a back up diaper. Whoops. We were passing the stables and she told me she had to pee, we were too far from the house for her to hold it, so I had to help her squat and all of that without getting her clothes dirty. We were successful and she didn't hit her clothes! At the time, there were still no leaves on the trees and dead leaves on the ground, so wiping with leaves was out. I pretty much had to shake her a lot! People would drive by and laugh and honk, so I guess it was pretty funny to see this frantic lady shaking a half-naked 3 year old around. I know to prepare for next time at least!

I started working out at a new gym, which is nice but really crowded! I am so very thankful for my ipod too! I wouldn't make it there at the gym if I had to listen to the techno the entire time I was there. I don't understand why Germans LOVE techno so much. It's like in their blood.

Well this is all I have for now, I'll try to update more. Have a great weekend everyone

Jess

Tiger Faces and Black Easter Eggs

Hey Everyone!

I'm making an effort to blog more! Last week was the best week I've had in a long, long time! Every day was really great. The weather was beautiful, the kids were happy every day and everyone was just in a good mood! We watched Jurassic Park Friday night, which was awesome. I really loved that movie as a kid (and I still do!). On Saturday, the weather was kind of gross, so we went to a Japanese restaurant for lunch and then came home for a nap. We finally had our time change this weekend, so we're all getting used to it. It's amazing how one hour can make such a huge difference!

I'm starting to get ready for coming home. I still have a little over 6 months, but I guess it's okay to prepare ahead of time. My friend Steve has been helping me search for apartments, well he's actually been doing most of the work haha. It's greatly appreciated though! I'll start the job search in a few months too, so I hope that goes well. I'm worried about keeping a full time job and going to school as well, but I'm sure I'll make it work somehow.

I'm really determined to do all of this without any help from my parents whatsoever. Whenever I talk to them, it seems as though they're just waiting for me to screw up with something and it's really depressing. I know I'm not perfect and made a lot of mistakes at home. I'm not on the path my parents want and my Dad keeps trying to make my decisions for me, or he disapparoves of them when I share my thoughts and ideas with him. The more my parent's divorce progresses, the more ridiculous they both get and I am SO tired of it. I know I'm not the only one and it must be worse for my sisters. It gets old fast and I'm really worried that my relationship with my parents will be even worse over time. I thought that being away from home for a year would help everyone "forgive and forget". My parents, sisters and myself included. I'm still being blamed for a lot that goes on at home, which is funny since I'm not even there. I talked to my Dad a little over a week ago and he said half the problems at home were because of me. It seems like he thinks he does no wrong, well I think he's screwed up the most, so he has no say in it. It's not like he's been around for most of it lthe past few years anyway. I'm not too worried about anyone reading this either, they know how I feel and it's not like they even come here anyway. So, I'll end that little rant :)

Charlotte and I have become really close and I love it! She has finally stopped testing me and I guess she accepts me. Whenever I drop her off at her daycare/pre-school, she always has to run towards me so I pick her up and throw her in the air, and she gives me a HUGE kiss in the cheek and says bye. It's so sweet and I'm happy she feels like she can depend on me when she needs to. Nicholas and I have been getting a long more as well! He talks to me more and it's really nice. He asked how long I was staying and I told him until October, and he got a little sad. I hope I make a good impression on them, so they don't compare me too much with their next au pair haha. I mean, I think things are going well. We have a nice routine set up and we stick to it. I can goof off with them too.

Charlotte is pretty hilarious. I think it's so funny how a 3 year old can come up with the craziest sayings. I can't imagine the thoughts swirling around in her head. At her daycare, they colored easter eggs last week. I was getting everything out of her cubby to take home and I saw this black piece of paper. I glanced at the other cubbies and saw all these cute, colorful easter eggs. Hers was jet black! What kind of demented 3 year old colors an easter egg jet black?! It was pretty hilarious. On Friday, they were having their faces painted when I went to pick her up and all of the girls were made up to look like Princesses. Except for Charlotte. She decided to have a Tiger face like many of the other little boys there. She was growling and crawling all over the place with them. She is so fierce and I think it's hilarious how much she shows it. Okay, so I didn't think her fierceness was so hilarious at first, but now I do. She's a really unique little girl :)

That's about all I have for now. Tomorrow is our last class so I might post a blog with a few pictures! I hope everyone is doing great!

-Jess

March Update

Hey guys!

I guess it's about time for an update. I need to blog more often, I've been slacking a lot lately! Things are going much much better around here! Graziella and I have been getting along well this whole year! We've had a couple iffy days, but for the most part, it's pretty awesome. Charlotte is better too! She listens more and her temper tantrums are short lived. I can't believe I've been here for like 5 months already. I feel comfortable here, so that's nice.

German class is going well, next Thursday is the last day! I'm not sure if I'm going to take a follow-up course or not. I feel pretty content with my German right now, and it'll get better the more I use it. I can understand pretty much everything I hear, or bits and pieces and I can just put it all together. Speaking is still the hard part, but I'll get there.

I am feeling a vacation pretty soon. Things are better, but having a routine like this is getting kind of old. I do like being in a routine, but the weeks just go by so fast when you do the same thing everyday. I'll have to see what I can do. I may have a small break next month if the family goes away for Easter or a short vacation, which would be awesome! I need some alone time! Sorry I have nothing too interesting to report, I'll have more to share next time! Later guys


Jess

Horses!

Guten Tag!

I went on a fun walk with Charlotte on Saturday, the weather was beautiful and we saw several horses. Here are a few I took. It's always so fun to see Charlotte get excited whenever we see them. I was able to get them to come over the fence, and I helped her pet them. It always makes me nervous because they're cautious animals and I don't know how they would react to a 3 year old being too aggressive or something, but she always listens when I tell her to be gentle with them.

Thank God for The Beatles.. Seriously

If it were not for The Beatles.. I would probably be in prison right now. I would have lost my temper several times and maybe even murdered a couple of kids I watch.

30 Minutes of screaming non stop, biting, kicking, dirt throwing, and hitting...
Ticket to Ride saved me!

A 9 year old telling me to shut up and go away after I tell him to turn the TV off after 3 hours of cartoons...
Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da life goes on!

The lady of the house going through my room and getting in my face...
Happiness is a Warm Gun

I'm sure you all get it now. Whether it's John and Paul's soothing voices, or Mr. Harrison's uplifting lyrics, they get me every time. I can listen to

"Little darling the smiles are returning to their faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, Here comes the sun
and I say
It's Alright"


and I feel much better! All of the angry feelings and thoughts escape and I feel calm. I'm pretty happy that it works every time, no matter how bad the day is. I even have lyrics from The Beatles picked out for my tattoo, and I know I won't regret it when I'm older. I think hell would have to freeze over a thousand times before I disliked The Beatles!

It's February!!!

Hey Everyone!

It's finally February! It feels like I've been here way longer than a couple of months. I guess I'm working on 4 now. I keep losing track of time. All of my days are the exact same, kind of boring I guess. I have the same schedule everyday besides Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Tuesdays and Thursdays are my classes, and on Sunday I have the day off, so I just sleep in and read most of the time. I know it may sound mean, but on Sunday, I don't want to see anyone's face! I just want to be alone, no kids arguing no diapers to change. I even skip dinner because I don't feel like pulling through a conversation, it's kind of sad, but when it's my day off I don't want to deal with anyone.

Happy Groundhog Day, by the way! It's not anything special over here, I actually forgot about it until I scanned the news this morning. We'll have an early Spring.. that's nice! It seems like 2009 is going to be a good year. A lot of nice changes have been taking place and most of them are good changes for the most part. I work out a lot now, especially with extra time on my hands. Losing weight kind of sucks though I can only wear a few items of clothing I brought with me, so I need to suck it up and go shopping eventually blah. I'll just hold out until the Spring. There's no point in buying new clothes when it's about to get warmer.

I went back to the Foreigner's Office today and took my little language test. I'm kind of worried, but not too much. I missed a few questions, but overall I think I did alright. It was a verbal test, a woman just sat with me and asked me basic questions, and I was able to answer most of them. She sent the results and a photocopy of my language course enrollment letter to the Employment Office, so once she hears back from them, she'll give us a call. It's pretty simple and it'll go two ways.

1. I know enough German now to have an official "Au Pair" visa and status
2. I do not know enough German, and I can re-take the test once my course is
completed.

I'm hopeful that it's going to be okay!

February seems like a pretty eventful month. There are a few birthdays my cousin's wife is having a baby and there are a few holidays. In the states, I always saw all the Valentine's Day decorations go up as soon as February 1st came around. Here, I have not seen any. The big holiday this month here is very similar to Halloween in the states actually. It's pretty much the same thing. I don't think they go around door to door for candy or anything, but they dress up in scary costumes. The purpose of the holiday is to "chase away Winter." Well.. that's about all I have to share for now. I'll check back in later. Take care everyone


Jess

Finally!!!

Hello Everyone!

I am finally enrolled in a language class! It happened pretty fast, but I feel very comfortable with it. I honestly didn't even think it was going to happen. When we were taking care of my visa at the Foreigner's Office in town, they never mentioned a language test being required. Well a day after we were there, the woman we met with called and told us she checked into it again, and I do have to take one, so Graziella finally started calling a few of the different language institutes. She found one that offered classes at a convenient time in the day for me, so she dropped me off at the institute and I met with the director for a placement test. I was expecting a written test, but I just ended up sitting down with her and chatting. I'm surprised I knew as much as I did. It's easy to pick up and understand the language, but speaking is a different story. She said I was doing great for being here 2 1/2 months, so she placed me in an intermediate class. I feel more confident with my German now and I'm not worried about taking this language test for my visa anymore.

My class is every Dienstag und Donnerstag (Tuesday and Thursday) from 9:15am to 10:45am. Since I missed Tuesday, today was my first day in the class. I was very nervous about it and to make me even more nervous, last night Sven informed me that I would not be able to use the car and I would have to take the bus. I knew where to go, but I was nervous about being on time. This morning before my alarm even went off, I got a knock on the door and I was asked to take Nicholas to the swimming pool, his school goes to the pool every other Thursday for swimming lessons. He said it would only take like 10 mins and he had to be there at 8am. Well, it took 45 mins because the rest of the kids were late. I sped home, turned the hair straightener on and started getting ready as fast as I could. It was 8:20am by the time I got back, and I wanted to be gone by either 8:30am or 8:45am. I missed the 8:30am bus, so I wanted to catch the next one. I had to help with Charlotte, so I missed the 8:45am bus as well... When we realized I miss that one, Graziella just said "Oh well there is no way you will make it there on time.." Thanks a lot! I hate being late, I really do. It was already bad enough that I missed the first day of the class, but being late on my first day?? I was so mad, so I just walked to the bus stop and waited for my bus. I ended up being 15 minutes late for the class, but the teacher (lehrerin) was very nice and welcomed me in. There are 4 other people in the class. I'm the only American!

We have:

Sybille - Teacher (German)
Tizano- Italy
Sergio- Chile
Penlu- Taiwan
Ester- Venezuela

It also amazes me that English is such a universal language. Everybody can speak English in the class. It makes me feel silly in a way. I can speak Spanish decently, but that's about it. If any one could not understand something in German, they asked for help in English!! That's crazy! They all have a hard time learning German too, so I feel better. I got to know Tizano and Penlu a little too as we were all walking to the bus station together. Tiazno is pretty funny. He is a student here, Penlu is as well. I might invite her to lunch next week if she is not busy with a class after our language course. She is pretty nice. I'm glad I am more outgoing there, I think I will be able to make friends easily now. Well that's it for now. I'll have more to write about after the weekend. Take care everyone! Tschuus!

Jess