Not all is bad

I guess I'm becoming more German than I've realized. I have been complaining so much lately! (There certainly has been a fair amount to complain about in my defense.) When I was a teenager I loved to comment on "things that annoy me." My mom would always say: Add it to your list! But to get away from that, I'm going to share some of the more pleasant news that come from Deutschland.

First thing. I got the chance to meet up with my uncle here in Germany! He is an international airline pilot and we arranged the time to meet him in Wiesbaden for a weekend. And what a weekend it was. Due to all the stress, we really needed to get away as they often say and my uncle helped to make for a very relaxing retreat.

I have always adored my uncle. I rarely get to see him because of the industry he works in. The last time I had seen him was two years back at my going away party when I escaped to Thailand. Needless to say, we had a lot to catch up on.



(We had just come back from our run in this photo....We don't wear this gear out and about...Just to clarify.)

The conversation lasted seven hours. Seven! It's not that I was counting or anything but I only realized after when we were going to bed that the dialoge was steady to say the least. We started with coffee and then traveled to another coffee place and then ended up at a very classically German restaurant. Since my uncle often flies to Germany, we were able to share our cultural impressions of the culture with one another and how they differ from what we're used to in the States. One thing that we both agreed on was the fact that Germans are so quick to take off their clothes! Not in any sexual way, but just to casually change clothes in public or catch a tan during lunch break. From suit to nude.

I thought that I've always "known" my uncle; who he is and what he does, where he lives. But talking to him personally I began to learn things that I never knew and vice versa. First off, he has been practically everywhere on this planet except for Prague. He would continuouslly ask Rolf: Have you been to...? I was amazed at how much of the globe he had covered and with stories to share also! It made me think about how your life is really your own and you make of it what you want. If you want certain things or desire to have things, they really are there for the taking. You just have to have the courage to step out and seize opportunities. I love you Uncle Pete! Thanks for such a great weekend!

It was esspecially nice to have that quality time with him that I had never really had before and also I was thrilled to have him meet Rolf. At one point, Rolf had left for a bathroom break and my uncle leaned in to let me know how much he approved of him. It was the last family member of mine that Rolf had not yet met.

It's my turn now to meet his family now that we are in Germany. I already have had the pleasure of meeting his sister and spending time with her. Next month in April for Easter we will be going to Rolf's hometown to meet the rents! I'm anxious to show off my newly acquired German skills and see the home that Rolf grew up in. They both don't speak English (his dad really tries and knows some vocabulary)but, I think it will be better for me to communicate in their language. This is surely a new ballgame for me. (Rolf too.)

This past weekend in Erlangen, my friend Kuba who I had met while I was living in Thailand, came to stay with us for a night. I had not seen him obviously since I had left the Kingdom of Thailand and he by chance was working temporarily in Germany. We went salsa dancing and out to a couple of bars to witness Germans getting drunk. How unusual.......It was quite a struggle for him to arrive in Erlangen because he accidently forgot the directions and instead of a 3 hour drive, it took him just about 6. He was happy to finally arrive and take a beer back.




We also got the chance that same weekend to take the high speed train up to Bamberg to visit Rolf's friend, Yvonne. I had actually met her before when she visited us in the States back in November. Bamberg was a great little city. Just what you would imagine a typical German city to be like. Old buildings and restaurants that date back to the 1500's, a river that runs through the city and the castle up on top of the hill. The weather was nice and not too cold, so we spent our time walking around and window shopping. Which is actually fun here and what people typically do. In the States, you don't often see people walking around just to stand in front of windows and point to things that catch their eye.


Even though the move across the Atlantic didn't prove to be as smooth as one would hope, we are still managing to fit in all the things that we want to do. Seeing friends, going out and visiting new places. I have to say that I'm lucky and fortunate to have this opportunity. Although, I could never have done this or gotten through this without the help of my man...Rolf. Thanks, sweetie! You're the best!

Some things happen for a reason

Everytime I sit down to write this blog, there seems to more and more happening. I guess that's life, but personally, I am waiting for things to even out or slow down.


My last blog was more about my cultural impressions of the big D, but this one will be more about what has been happening in this little thing called, "my life".


So I was working for a family in Germany as an au pair. For those of you who know, I was pretty excited to be working with this particular family because of what they were willing to offer and because they seemed like very pleasant people. I started work with a lot of enthusiam to do things to the best of my ability. It wasn't that I was so stoked with the idea that I was using a BA degree and international experience to serve other people who have the money to hire servants...BUT, Rolf and I were able to live in the apartment that they furnished for us for free, I was getting paid, and it was a sure way for me to be able to stay in Germany with Rolf. It seemed too good to be true and that's exactly how it turned out to be, just worse.


Things with the family did not go well from the beginning. They pretty much handed me their car keys and told me to go. They never sat down with me once to explain what they needed from me, when and where I supposed to take the kids and from where I was supposed to pick them up. I guess they assumed I would just know their life as well as they did.


The only communication I ever had with them was through SMS or text. I would learn what I was supposed to do each day only moments, literally, before I was to begin with my tasks.


Everyone wants to know, how were the kids????


What do you think?! They were awful! Sure, they are just kiddos, but I have had a decent amount of exposure to the youth and I have never come across such spoild brats. It's really a shame to see them having no friends and demanding things the way they did with me. It was a shame to see them hardly ever laugh or have fun and to ask every night, "who will bring me to bed tonight?"


I'm a pretty likable person....I have friends and I get along with people. I was never able to make a connection with these people as much as I tried.


That's fine though. Not everyone becomes best friends and I began to accept that. But everyday I was becoming increasingly more frustrated with the last minute demands from the parents and staying at their home until late into the night several times a week. Something which was never agreed upon and something that was told differently to me from the get-go.


I was coming home every night, late, more upset than the day before.


After already 2 months, they told me that my "probationary" period was over and I was to begin the real work. I was shocked. I was already working for them and we had already agreed that I would be their au pair. They became more discourteous to me and I became more disinterested in doing anything to help them. The "real" work included me driving to Austria every Friday to drop the kids off and their weekend house and wait for their au pair in Austria to relieve me or wait for the parents to arrive in Austria. With the track record that they had shown me in regards to being "on-time", I was sure that I wouldn't even see my weekend. Instead, I would be on standby in Austria.


I was furious. I didn't even have my visa through them yet and I didn't have proper insurance that would cover me for driving either. Besides the legal and safety factors, in principal they were taking advantage of me and my dependence upon them.



It all came to a screeching halt when the parents left for Thailand. I was to juggle the responsibilities with the grandmother who also happened to be our landlord and a total bitch. She would toss the keys at me, never make any eye contact, just as though I had done something terrible to her in a past life.



I had just returned home from my language class and was using the restroom. I was home alone and I didn't shut the door. Then I heard a knock. I didn't answer because I was busy, obviously. Then moments later after the knock, the door lock clicked and the front door was opening........(The bathroom door is directly facing the front door by the way).....I yelled: Excuse me, I'm using the restroom!!!! Guess who it was??? Right! The damn grandmother! I quickly shut the door and told her that I would be out in a moment. I was shocked (again). Once I finished washing my hands, I opened the bathroom door to see the front door wide open and the grandmother was standing there waiting for me! She began to scold me. I didn't buy one of the kids a pretzel in the morning for him to take to school because the parents left for Thailand without leaving me any money for their kids. They had expected me to pay and I wasn't for that. She was upset because he "didn't have anything to eat alllllllllday."

Mind you that he goes to school from 8am to 12pm. A whole four hours.

She was shaking in anger and intentionally had brought the kid with her so that she could yell at me in front of him. Real appropriate. Everytime I tried to interject, I was ran over with her lecture. So I said sorry and then she threw the keys at me, demanded I leave to pick up the other kid and stormed out.

I was, again, furious.



Then I found out that I was to drive the kids to Austria on Friday which I had to tried to explain to them would not be a wise idea nor was it something that I was willing to do. I sent an email professionally explaining my reasoning.



I never heard anything back, but then received a SMS that wasn't meant to be sent to me. It was meant to be sent to the grandmother from the mother. It said that she wanted to kick me out.



And that's what happened.



About thirty minutes after I got that message, the father called me and told me that I was fired. He was actually yelling and saying things like: I never want to see you again. I never want to have anything to do with you. You're MY au pair. I'll call the police and have your things thrown out.



It really sounded as though he was foaming at the mouth. I had actually planned on quitting anyways, but I was irrate when he said that I have 48 hours to leave the apartment.



There certainly was no reason for that.....No matter what. After several minutes of him yelling through the phone and me not being able to get a single word in, I just hung up. That's when I broke down. I was shaking with anger and I was scared. I never could have expected this and never experienced such hostility from someone I barely knew. Like I said, I was going to quit anyways. Rolf and I were doing everything we could to prepare for that too. We already had scheduled to look at apartments that week and we went ahead and got a visa without the help of the family. Everything was prepared for me to quit, except the apartment.



So, I started packing. Rolf came home to console me and he finished packing. This happened on a Wednesday night and we somehow managed to:

1. Pack all our things

2. Pack all our things into the rental car

3. Find a fabulous apartment, twice as big, in a better area, in the city center, with a brand new kitchen, a huge patio, high ceilings, brand new bathroom, and two bedrooms

4. Drive to Erlangen to spend the weekend before the move in date

By Friday at 3pm.



We make a great team, Rolf and I.



So, in reality those assholes did us a favor even though it was their clear intent to screw us over as much as possible.



We spent Friday night watching The Office and drinking champagne. Doesn't get much better than that.



After I had hung up on the father, I haven't heard a single word from them. Surprise, surprise.



And just so you know...We intentionally left the apartment in better condition than when we had moved in. I'm positive they'll get what they deserve, but it won't come from me.



I'll post pictures as soon as we move into our first, real apartment. We're both very excited.