This is What Happens When You're Living Rather than Traveling

Let me apologize for taking AGES to update this.  The problem with traveling all the time is that I usually have more to say than I can fit into one post.  And also that there's not usually any free time (or I'm just too lazy to make time...) for me to go into as great of detail as I could.  But, hey, there has to be some elements left for me to bore you all with once I return to the states.

Anyway, the GOOD thing about traveling all the time (besides, the obvious of, well, traveling all the time), is that it creates very natural, narrative-type entries for this.

Which means that while spending the past month and a half staying put in Stuttgart has been at least as enjoyable as traveling (and sometimes more so), it doesn't necessarily lend itself to neat, tidy, ordered, or even particularly fascinating posts.  I guess it's time for me to recruit those writing skills that I spent four years and thousands of dollars honing.  

But, enough rambling! (see, I'm already losing out on order).  As a result of me spending all my money for the months (and then some...I can only justify so many trips to the ATM pulling money from my American accounts...) in Paris and Strasbourg, I've spent the past month or so exploring Stuttgart.  And by exploring, I mostly mean going out to eat, for coffee, and drinking(this is Germany, after all).  And, to be honest, that stability has been nice.  It's also been great to have finally established a couple of different groups of friends to spend time with.  I adore the family I am living and working for, but, as I've said before, having a group of peers is essential to maintaining sanity.  Especially in the beginning, being here made me long for college, when there was always someone who you could find to give you attention at any time of day (except from between 6-8 am...and sometimes even then).  

But, getting back to business, it's just been lovely to have friends.  There are two groups which I tend to circulate between.  One I've met through Laura, as she's been kind enough to include me in outings with her friends.  They're mostly all other Americans who are also in Germans as au pairs (they all also mostly have, or have had, German boyfriends.  Must have missed the memo on that one...).  And then the other group I also met through a girl named Laura (not confusing at all...).  She's a grad student from the UK, and somehow managed to build up a group of "misfits" (as I so kindly like to describe it...).  There's her, me, a British guy named George, a Croatian girl named Sara, a French guy named Adrien, and a German girl named Martina.  They're all students, aside from George, who teaches English.

I like spending time with both groups, but at the risk of sounding snooty, it can sometimes be a bit more refreshing to not spend all my free time with au pairs.  Because when you get a group of au pairs together, the conversation tends to gravitate toward talk (i.e. complaints) about the family and the hazards of being an au pair.  It devolves into a complaint fest, where everyone tries to one-up the other on who has it worse.  It's really great conversation, and I always come off as snotty since I don't have a reason to complain.  As far as being an au pair goes, I have nothing to complain about.  I am in as ideal of a situation as I possibly could be, and have nothing negative to say about my family.  But that being said, it can be nice to just be silly and hang out with a bunch of girls my own age who are from my country.  No one makes fun of my accent (as George and Laura like to do...because obviously Brits say things "correctly" and Americans are just wrong...), and when I say particularly American things ("This Christmas market isn't as good, it's too small."  "I can't believe they made me give exact change, I'm paying THEM for something."), it doesn't come off as weird.  Though I'm definitely also not on the same page as most of them when it comes to German men.  I will admit that they do tend to be quite nice-looking, but, at the risk of fulfilling stereotypes(but there is some truth in all of them...I frequently am the loud American, particularly once alcohol is involved...), I find their humor to be lacking.  Sarcasm is not a German trait.  Not that ALL of them are not funny; just I personally haven't met a German guy who had me in fits of laughter.

With the other group, the conversation tends to be a bit more varied.  I think between the six of us, we've been to nearly every major city on the globe.  As usual, I tend to bring up the rear when it comes to travel experience, but that's not an issue in my mind.  It gives me an even bigger pool of people from whom I can get insider advice on where to travel, and what to see and do once I'm there.  Plus, Chicago, LA, and New Zealand are usually flashy enough to keep me above water as far as street cred is concerned.

Anyway, I've been having a lot of fun getting to know my way around the city (I probably only get lost every other time now) and checking out the cafes and nightlife.  I still think French coffee is better, but it's also more expensive, so it may balance out.  I've yet to find a club that I enjoy in Stuttgart (but it's hard to find a club I enjoy period...), but the bars are a lot of fun.  My personal favorite is called "Tequila Bar."  You get a free shot of tequila with every beer you order.  It's such a good deal (there's the recent college graduate showing again). 

I hope I didn't bore you all too much!  Here's a few photos of day-to-day life just so you all have some visuals to what has been going on.  I'll be writing another post shortly about the "Weinachtmarkts" that are EVERYWHERE in Germany.  Basically, it looks like Santa Claus vomited all over most of Germany at this time of year.  

This is Lina.  She is a Cocker Spaniel mix.  We go on lots of walks.

One of the randomly pretty spots we go through in Kornwestheim.

And another.

Schlossplatz.  It's the most beautiful spot in Stuttgart.  It's all decked out in Christmas now.

The group out on a Friday night.  

Hedgehogs are all over the place in Germany.  They call them "Eagles".  Which is particularly bizarre considering what an eagle is in English.

German 'spaghetti' ice cream.  It is delicious.  Though strawberry sauce in Germany is more like jam than the syrupy version that we have in the states.

My "Host" Family

Hey!  Sorry for the huge gap between posts; I haven't had a ton of free time, with Oktoberfest and then Paris on back to back weekends (and then in-between some scarlet fever and doctor's visits to keep things interesting...).  I actually have a lot to say and report on, but my tendency to write out everything by hand before posting kind of slows down the process.  So first will be just this general post, then another rather general one, then Oktoberfest, and lastly, Paris.  Like I said, everything except for Paris was written at least a week ago; I just haven't yet taken the time to update here.  But, here we are:

I truly despise the term "host" family; it makes me feel like a parasite, and it feels too formal for a situation in which you're supposed to become a part of the family.  Anyway, everyone keeps asking for more details on what the family is like, and rather than say the same many times, I'm just going to address it here.  Now, keep in mind that I've only known them for two full weeks, so this description is just past a first impression, relatively speaking.

The mom, Nicole, is one of the kindest human beings who I have ever had the privilege of meeting.  She's extremely open, dedicated to her kids, and always willing to help me in anyway with the transition from the states to Germany and her family.  I really feel included as a member of the family rather than just a nanny/chauffeur.  She's also really very tolerant about things that I am admittedly terrible at (AKA...not getting lost and ironing).  Nicole is also one of the hardest-working people I have ever met; she works for two companies, and has her own business AND is working on starting another.  If I ever feel over-scheduled again in my life, I just need to remember what her planner looks like and I will stop feeling sorry for myself.

The oldest child, Caro, is fifteen.  She is the one who I was initially most worried about bonding with.  I assumed that, since she is older, and this family has had a lot of au pairs, that she would be sick of having a full-time babysitter, or rebellious or just not keen on me being there in general.  So naturally, me being me, I basically asked her that straight away, and was pleasantly surprised to find that I was completely wrong.  Caro said she sees how much easier having another adult makes life for Nicole, and also says that it's good for Maja.  Also, she apparently likes practicing her English, and since I like to talk, it's not a problem for me either.  Caro is also super open, and funny, and our mutual love of animals (and boys...) creates a solid foundation and a lot of talking points.

Tim, the middle child and only boy, is thirteen.  I know him the least, as he is the quietest of the bunch (at least around me), but I have absolutely nothing bad to say about him.  He is a very sweet boy, a good older brother to Maja, and not difficult in the slightest.  I'm still working on connecting more with him (without crossing over into being TOO obnoxious and terrifying him) and as the weeks go on I feel better about it.  He tolerates my awkward attempts at conversation, and my interrogation on life as a German teenager (does everyone wear their hair like that?  That jacked is weird, right?).  He also loves Skyfall and James Bond, so we at least have that going for us, and he promised to watch Lord of the Rings with me at some point.  Obviously, there will be no major issues.

And then there's Maja, the baby of the family.  She just turned eight, and is hilarious.  I already adore her, but that's nothing unusual; I'm fairly certain it's impossible to NOT fall in love with this child.  Aside from driving, spending time with her is the biggest part of my day.  Which still really isn't even that much; Maja has a lot of friends and spends most of her time with them, either at this house or theirs.  I'm mostly us the the homework enforcer, and part-time Monopoly and Mamma Mia buddy.  From stories I've heard from family members, Maja is almost a carbon copy of how I was at her age; obsessed with animals, feisty, and just so much fun (not to toot my own horn or anything...).  She has me roped into some game where we alternate meowing and patting each other's head.  I'm pretty sure she made it up (her English always seems to disappear when I ask that...), and I'm not sure if I should be encouraging it but it keeps her occupied in between board games.

And, with me being me, this description of the family would not be complete without a mention of Lina, the resident canine.  She's a very cute, three-year-old Spaniel mix that they rescued from Spain.  She's great with the kids, obedient when it suits her, and a good walking buddy (it looks a lot less weird when I wander aimlessly around town with a dog rather than alone).  If anything, she's probably too cute because people always want to pet her and start asking me questions in German (I just smile and laugh and then start moving again).  LIna was actually a nice bonus for choosing this family; my heart is still a little broken to leave my beautiful Jazz behind (again! I am a terrible dog mother), so it's nice that there is still a dog here to ease me through withdrawal.

Anyway, as you can see, I've landed myself in quite a nice situation so far as the family is concerned.  I read about all the potential pitfalls before coming here, and I've heard about some firsthand since being here (one woman refuses to talk to her au pair...she just texts her what she wants her to do), and experienced none of those.  Part of that may be because I'm the 13th au pair for the family (Nicole gave me a handbook...), so everything runs like a well-oiled machine, but I also think it's also because they're a tight family, and having an au pair doesn't mean that Nicole has any less to do with the kids.  They respect me because they respect her and I think in a lot of other situations that I have heard of, where the kids either refuse to listen at all or blow off the au pair constantly, it's because the parents are absent and the au pair isn't really equipped to be the disciplinarian.  I would hate to be in one of those houses.  The transition was rough enough when my family was amazing so I can only imagine how it was for people who weren't being helped through it all.

And once again, I'm terrible with photos.  Will update this with pictures of everyone when I can!