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!