Plans can change!

Upon on barking onto my travels, I had plans of actually travelling. Au pairing my way through the world was the idea. But things have completely changed now, and for the better. For those of you who do not know, I'm no longer an au pair in Hamburg, in fact since 6 months now! SAG WAAASSSSS! Although, I haven't strayed too far  from the beautiful city that is Hamburg. Berlin is now my location of choice, and perhaps for the next two years.

I've gained myself a standard 20 something fresh out of uni job as an office assistant in a tech start up. Not bad for an arts graduate if you ask me. I have somewhere to live, although it took me 3 months to find it. Turns out, getting a job is the easy part in Berlin, actually finding somewhere to live is another story. I have theories that the reason people are homeless here isn't because they don't have job, but the fact there isn't enough space for all the people who live here. My flat is in the heart of Berlin which I share with a wonderful lady whom I've had the great fortune of meeting. The flat is old, quirky, small and on the top floor of an apartment block without a lift. You'd think after about 4 months of climbing the stairs I'd be fit as a fiddle, but no. I still have to take a puff of my inhaler when I reach the top. We also have no internet and no washing machine. In fact as I write this I'm in a Waschsalon cafe enjoying some internet and getting my panties cleaned. TWO IN ONE WOOP WOOP! A part from all those draw backs, I do enjoy living there and it has provided some great socialising due to the fact we have more chairs than space. No seriously! It's scary how many chairs we've ended up with!

The flats location is very central, which has its pluses and minuses. My street is beautiful with a lot of character and history, but turn at the conner at the end of the street and you can witness the herds of tourist cattle everywhere! And after 9 o'clock, weather it be raining, snowing, or in the middle of a thunder storm, I'm all the sudden in Berlin's Red light district. BUT SERIOUSLY it is a nice place to live.


Well anyway, here are the highlights of the last 6 months

1. Moved to Berlin (duh)
2. Got a new job
3. Lived with 2 cats for while (I won't lie, I really didn't like them)
4. Did ALOT of moving both in personal life and work!
5. Got a flat and a flatmate
6. learned more German words
7. Have had serval wonderful visitors
8. Master tourist of Berlin!
9. There was lots of snow, then summer arrived and there was lots of mossy bites!
10. Swam in a lake, got a tick bite
11. Water boiler broke = No hot water for a week!
12. Bought a bike (not as beautiful as my university bike though)
13. Didn't get burnt once during summer.
14. Drank a lot of beer
15. Learned how to open a beer with a lighter, yet to master it though.
16. Started drinking tea
17. Learned how to cook falafel!
18. Gained some friends
19. Said goodbye to some friends :(
20. Did karaoke in German
21. Went to the Dentist and got my teeth cleaned (first time in 4 years FYI)
22. Wrote a new blog.
23. And of course, given into the Berlin Hipster Fad.

the mid way report

So I’m nearly half way through my au pairing and am going home in less than 2 weeks, I think this is a good time to write a review of my failed goals! I’m not going to badger on too much about my hoped and expectations blah blah blah so let’s just get on with the list

1)      Keep a blog

This was one of my main ideas to keep on top of for my time here, since this is my first post in over 2 months, I think it’s safe to say I’m not very good at this whole keeping a blog malarkey! To keep a blog one needs time, motivation and effort. I feel these three qualities of mines (although very little in quantity) get used up a fair bit when running after 4 kids. Any free time alone in the house I do have I spend it sleeping because I always seem to be tired! For example, I get up at half 6 during the week and I usually finish my morning duties around 9ish after cleaning and tidying. I go back to bed as soon as I finish, even though I have to leave for my German classes at 10. 15/20 mins of snoozing is better than none right? So when it comes to the end of the night and I’m free, I really do not have the brain power to put words together in functioning sentences and I’d rather eat my bar of milka and watch the latest episode of the walking dead. I know you all live for my blogs, so I am very sorry for depriving you of that little part of me that you can’t have.

2)      Write letters

Soooooooooo, yeah ammmm awkward. I had this very romantic idea of keeping in contact with some of you with letter writing as there is something a bit more personal about a letter. And I believe I had made many a promise to some of you for some sort of letter or post card from my time here. I had the full intention of buying an address book and when I got here I seen soo many pretty letter writing kits that I wanted. So far since being here I have sent 1 post card home written in a blue felt tip marker and close to impossible to read (but it had a pretty picture so it’s ok) and 1 letter to a friend as he made the first move to send me one, feel privilege friend! To do anymore there’s three things again that are needed; time, motivation and effort. Read above and replace the final sentence with “Sorry everyone for the lack of letter writing I promised”

3)      Read more books

Spending the last three years only really reading academic writings makes you want some more simple fictional readings, just to help you not feel as dumb as you really are! Before I came to Hamburg I had a fair try at this, reading close to 4/5 books within the space of a month and a half, since coming to Hamburg I have failed to finish one! Look again at point 1 for my reasoning!

4)      Be fluent in German

Ok, I know this one is a little bit ambitious for 4 months, but hey you gotta think big to do big or how ever that phrase goes. So my German is coming along ok, and I believe I’ve made fast progress given I arrived here with none what so ever (apart from the 5 words my father taught me). I can do introductions and tell someone if my head is sore or if I’m tired, but I’m an expert in describe how bad my German is in German and how far my limitations are and the reasoning, shame I couldn’t put the same effort to hold an interesting conversation rather than finding my German to English escape goat.

5)      Do more art

3 drawings so far and two of them aren't finished. Blah, I'm just too lazy!

6)      Start running again

Again I’m lazy and like my sleep too much. I cycle every day so I feel this makes up for it to a certain extent perhaps maybe?

7)      Join a choir

It costs money to join a choir here! Like 50 Euros in some case, f**k that shite!

8)      Save money

In order to save money, one must have money. No more to add to that.

9)      Travel

I’ve been to Berlin 3 times now. That doesn't really count too much as travelling though considering its only a 3 hour bus journey.

10)   Do some real horn practice

HA!

Hopefully the new year will give me the desperately needed time effort and motivation, well at least the later two. Watch this space, but I wouldn’t hold your breath; it might be another four months till I post another blog.

P.s Don’t let this blog fool you I’m still enjoying it, want details ask me yourself you lazy people!

Ich habe Freunde

So I’m coming to the realisation that my life in Germany so far has turned into that Carly Ray Jenson, Call me maybe, with every person I’ve met who has any English on them, I am literally quoting the lyrics to the chorus! Although, in saying that I have gained a social life beyond the family and have somehow manage to make a friend who lives a 5 min bike ride from me! YES, SUCCESS, A FRIEND IN VOLKSDORF!! She is from Karliningrad, Russia, she can speak English but prefers to speak Deutsch. This has both its advantages and disadvantages  Yay I’m learning Deutsch and now have to use it which means I will improve! Boooo I’ve just started learning Deutsch and have very limited vocabulary and don’t understand half of the conversation! With her help and tolerance I’ll hopefully be able to contribute to a conversation in Deutsch that won’t involve me saying “Ich möchte” (I want), “Ich mag” (I like) or “Ich Kann” (I can) and hopefully there will come a time that when I say aber (but) it won’t come out sounding like A BEER! Another word fulfilling my Irish stereotype.

 

look, there's two beers not one! and the other isn't even mines!

                                    

In regards to my social life I have been to the Reeperbahn twice now, it is claimed to be the largest red light district in Germany! I haven’t had any experiences of red light districts before (shocking , I know) but this one seem bright and crazy enough to me. Hopefully many more fun filled experiences to be had there. Then there is the Sternschanze, it’s more a bar atmosphere with less of the glitz (aka strip bars) of the Reeperbahn and according to one of my friends, “it’s where all the cool indie kids hang out”. My first time at the Sternchanze and was a test of how poor my Irish drinking stamina has become! The Lack of time spent in bars over the past 5 weeks has brought me down to getting very drunk after only just 4/5 bottles!

Perhaps the biggest event that has happened since my last blog involves me and my bike. Every Saturday morning at half 8, I have to go to the bakery and buy some bread rolls for breakfast (German’s love their bread!!!). Admittedly I was out the previous night and had little sleep on me, but I did not think much of it as the bakery is not far away and the road rarely sees any cars. BOY WAS I WRONG! Whilst cycling home still chuffed by ordering the bread rolls in German, I got slightly distracted by a hole that was being pierced into the bag of rolls by my bike’s breaks, the next thing I knew I was on the ground! Although there were no moving cars, there were plenty of parked cars and me being me found a way to stupidly crash into a parked car without even knowing it! I gained a few ugly bruises on my legs but I was more concerned about the car. Luckily the owner was very nice and did not mind new additional scratches as there were already quite a few scratches on the car. PRAISE THE LORD!

 Other things have happened but I feel this is getting too long now and I don’t want to bore you too much (that’s if you have gotten this far in reading it) so here is the short form list of other things I have done; 

Celebrated Ella’s (the eldest daughter) and steffi’s (the mother) birthday on the same day, broke an A string on a cello (whoops), slept in till 2:30pm (a beautiful day indeed!!), watched the sunset at the Alster (the lake in the centre of the city), got stalked by a man who kept persisting in trying to get me back to his place (it’s the ginger hair I think that brings the creeps out!) lost weight, gained too many holes in my jeans from playing with the boys, watched a movie in an open air cinema on the Alster, went to Miniatur Wunderland; a mini model city thing which was FREAKING AWESOME! (got to see a mini plane take off!!!) made my famous lasagne twice (because it is just that good) HAD MY FIRST PINT OF GUINESS IN HAMBURG! (it wasn’t as bad as it could have been) and wrote this blog which took nearly two weeks to complete. There is other things but I’m too lazy to remember and I’m sure you probably don’t care that much. 

From Miniatur Wunderland, out all the pictures, I chose this one,
can anyone see why?

the cinema on the Alster, because I'm a cultured mofo!

    

My first pint of the good stuff in Hamburg,
because you have never seen one of these right?

the friend hunt

I have never really had any shortage of friends when growing up and have never found it too difficult to make new friends (my three years in Newcastle are proof of this at least) but when you put a language barrier and a lack of social club/study meetings in there, turns out meeting peers is a fairly difficult thing to do. Don’t get me wrong, I have met many a wonderful person during my first three weeks just, usually that person is between the age of 6 and 12 or is a parent of a person between the age of 6 and 12. Acknowledging this problem of mines has made me do some stranger things to help me make friends, one of the main and probably least success is the getting lost method. I have done this about three times now, each time a failure. Basically I take my bike and go exploring with the goal to get lost so I have to talk to someone to find my way back (and maybe invite for coffee to be my friend). The main flaw in this plan is that fact that I am on my bike, cycling past people doesn’t make it so easy to talk to them. The first time I attempted this I missed an opportunity, a guy was lost and was asking me for directions IN ENGLISH. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to help him as I don’t know my way around the city that well. Although I did come away with a “friend” at the end of the day, whilst reading my book and listening to my ipod on my way home on the hochbahn (the metro/tube/train thingy) a 2 year old decided he wanted my bracelet and tried to mug me off it, and then to prove his street skills even further, after his mother put him into his pram he decided to pick pocket my ipod from me. Possible fagin’s gang member, I do have my suspicions.

The second method for making friends (take note all future au pairs) is facebook. As it turns out there is a facebook group for au pairs in Hamburg!! How amazing, more desperate people looking for friends like me! So far I have gained a few numbers, but yet to meet anyone due to working hours and how skint I am, but that’s soon to change. (it’s like online dating but with an au pair twist).

The third method is accepting any offers of “play dates” from nieces, cousins of the family or any of their friends. FRIENDS ARE NEEDED! I’m slowly forgetting how to communicate with adults who actually understand me. 

The goal is to have less pictures like this

and this (my fake friends)

and more pictures like this

                                                                                    and this

and maybe even this

In saying that, I have been lucky to have already known one person here from orchestra and through her I've been able to play in an orchestra this week! Must say, I had nearly forgotten just how much I love playing in ensembles. Afterwards there was of course, orchestra drinks but slightly more upmarket than we are use to. It took place in an Italian restaurant! The most successful evening making friends yet, just need to keep going back now to maintain their friendship. 

Quick Break down of activities ( I know this is the part you want to know really)

Went to a garden party, went to the park with the boys and their friend, tried to get lost on bike and busted my back wheel, started German lessons (close to making friends there) bought some wool, made a friendship bracelet with Fabi (because we are tots bessies now!) seen some amazing fireworks, went to orchestra, went to football practice, played some cello, played some horn, played some violin, played some guitar, played lots of football and last but not least GOT PAID!!

Hello Volksdorf

After a full nights worth of travel and a bottle of white wine I’ve arrived here and have been here a week now but it only feels like a few days. So much yet so little has happened. I’ve spent most of the time around the house finding my place in the family and adjusting myself to fit my new job. The parents speak fluent English, the two girls, Ella (12) and Fabi (10) speak enough for us to understand each other and the boys, Theo (8) and Max (6) speak none what so ever. At the moment I feel very much like Penelope Cruz in Spanglish (minus the whole husband affair side) in the middle of what sounds like complete jibberish, although I have now learned the appropriate time to laugh in a conversation in the hope that it looks like I know what is going on, even though I don’t have clue. There’s a lot of sign language being used to communicate with the boys, especially when it comes to dinner time, a lot of mouth actions or hands slicing things, by the end of this I think we will make a pretty good charades team.  So far I have celebrated Theo’s 8^th birthday, played lots of badminton and football, gone to sea and sailed a boat (I even got to steer it!), practice cello with Theo, practice German/English with fabi, went shopping with Ella and her friend Savinia, went to Theo’s cello lesson, had a water fight with Theo and Max where I lost severely, went for a swim in a lake surrounded by naked 80 year olds, got lost on my bike twice, learned how to order coffee and a sandwich (a very proud moment indeed!) tried to open a bank account but failed as I had no proof of address, went to the government to say I am in residence to get proof of address,  eaten lots of yummy food and have had less sleep than I am use to. The kids and I are getting on well together, to my surprise, despite my lack of child experience I am not that bad with children AND I have been informed by one of them and their friend that I am much better than their previous Au Pair. SCORE!! Just hope it keeps up (I most likely jinx it with that comment). The family and I seem to be moulding well together, a highly creative and energetic family with a great love for music and the outdoors. I’m ok with the music side of things and I always wanted to think of myself as an outdoors person who was just a bit too lazy to go outdoors, (I suppose most of us lazy people like to think of ourselves like that!). The language barrier is slowly breaking down at a snail’s pace, but it is breaking down which is the main point! In all, week one has been a success and hopefully this success will continue. Watch this space!

The exposition!

My role model Marie Von Trapp

Today I have finally booked my one-way plane ticket to Hamburg Germany where I plan to begin my next chapter. One of the things on my list of stuff to this summer and whilst I’m away was to start a blog and hopefully keep it up to date with my “going ons”. For those of you who are not aware of my plans, I have decided to spend the next 9-12months being an au pair to 4 children becoming their very own Irish Maria Von Trapp. One of my main duties whilst there is to improve their English; this is a task I am aware will come at great amusement to most of you as my dialect is hard to understand at the best of times. I’ve only just purchased a German dictionary and some audio cds in the hope to learn some phrases to help me there (I’m sure some of you will be saying I should be buying the new Oxford English Dictionary). For the mean time I have less than 4 weeks to learn some basic German words such as “stop doing that”, “don’t run with scissors” and “where can I get a good pint of Guinness?” This blog will be of no real meaning in the sense of media or political or even musical awareness but simply an easy way to keep those of you who are interested updated with what I am doing in my year of learning German and their culture and learning how to look after 4 pre-teen kids. I hope it will be an interesting year and maybe provide some funny antidotes for your reading pleasure, if not, ah well. In the word of a current meme YOLO!