An American Au Pair: Week 3

Tuesday (8/26/14) - Back to School!

Tonight was my first night of German language school!
At first, I was a little frustrated because the instructor was speaking to us only in Deutsch, but I remembered teachers using similar methods during my high school Spanish classes (although, with Spanish I already understood what they were saying, so it was easy for me). "So this is what that feels like" I thought. Regardless, I started to grab on to what was going on rather quickly. I'm no stranger to language learning. It got to a point where I was actually craving a bit more of a challenge, and then I'd hit a wall haha. Walk before running, Rebecca. Good grief :P

On the walk home from the bus stop, I found myself gazing up at the sky in awe and these words and thoughts came to me:

Thursday (8/28/14)
Today I went with Tamara and Svenja to the house Tamara owns from before she and Peter got married. It's been vacant and needed some cleaning - It's also for sale if you're interested ;)

Back view

OBSESSED with these circle windows.

me w/ Svenja. so perplexed haha

I don't think there's such a thing as a "bad view" here...

Tamara's mom ended up coming over and insisted on doing the cleaning - cause this lady is freaking Super Woman (seriously, I found her and her secret identity!) So Tamara, Svenja, and I wandered next door to where her friends/ex-business partner are building a house. No, wait, not house... it's a mansion. Literally the fanciest house I have EVER been in, and it's still under construction! It's 3 stories, NOT including the underground EIGHT CAR garage. There's a huge swimming pool, 2 nurseries/kids rooms, a cigar/smoking parlor, 2 garages (the underground one and the "outside" one - what?!), plans for a gym/spa, separate attached quarters for a nanny or guests (complete with bedroom and kitchen) an insane master bedroom... and there's an elevator. In the house. I can't even imagine how many millions of dollars it's gotta be worth. Craaaazy!

Sunday (8/31/14)

Shoutout to my bestie Laura and my niece Josie who both have birthdays today! :D HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEAUTIFULS! I love you!

I didn't go to church today. But have no fear! My host family invited me to go out with them and I thought it was a good idea to be able to bond with the whole family together. Their original plans fell through because of poor weather (going up a mountain in a cable-car), but Tamara came up with a new plan that ended up being great! All of us, plus their friends (a couple and their son) took the ferry from our village down to Stein am Rhein, then hiked up to a castle and had lunch, hiked back down in the rain, and then had dessert and drinks at a restaurant in town while we waited for our ferry to get back.