brave new world

Much has happened since my last post. Friday was a very discouraging and stressful morning and afternoon. The children absolutely would not mind me at all. I tried everything! I adore them, but they can be so aggravating when they don´t listen (And now all of you who are parents are nodding with a knowing smile)! It makes me feel so helpless. Perhaps it was just a bad day, and things will look up on Monday. Either way, I have much to learn in the field of child-minding. Apparently all those years of babysitting simply don´t apply to these children... It was perfect timing, nonetheless, for the much deserved weekend. Last night Oma Jutta and her husband (I keep forgetting his name) picked me up to go to the art festival in Neumünster, where we met Harry, some of his friends, and Kristina´s brother and parents (whom I also now adore, and who´s names I have forgotten). Harry set up his graffiti project wall at the manor, and painted a couple buildings to get it started. This is the 10 year anniversary of this festival, and people were supposed to add their own interpretations of what the festival has meant to them. It was so awesome later to see what people had added, and all who were getting involved. My favorite was this older prim woman in a chic suit who knelt and painted a grotesquely wobbly square with something written that I didn´t understand. It was so raw and unexpected! Harry convinced me to add something, even though I have no previous memories of the Neumünster festival, but I painted a simple scene from that night, of 5 silhouettes wandering along a sidewalk. We spent hours earlier walking from gallery to gallery, so that was basically the only memory I had so far! It was fun, though. I miss painting, I realized. I think sometime this week I´ll ask Harry where I can go to buy some supplies. I think it would be good for me to start painting again. I´m becoming a bit too comfortable with my routine of going to the Röhl house during the morning and afternoon, returning to the gartenhaus in the evening and spending my time on the computer writing blogs and listening to music. I need something more productive to which I can commit my time. Anyways, I left the festival late last night with Claudia and Harry´s father (also forgot his name... I need to work on this!), though I was a bit bummed because we left before the live music started. However, I did get to witness an awesome accordian, violin, and guitar/vocal trio at one gallery who performed everything from Bob Marley to bistro to Klezmer music! Loved them.
Today I slept in a bit, then Claudia called to tell me that the first au pair meeting was today in Kiel. I´m not sure how I feel about these au pair meetings, but I was happy to finally get to go to Kiel and figure it out before I start classes there on Monday. The Röhls drove me there and showed me around a bit before dropping me off at the meeting at the Nikolaskirche, a church in the old center of town. There were about a dozen other au pairs there, who came from Russia, Peru, Bulgaria, Finland, everywhere. Only one, Hanna from Finland, also didn´t speak German well yet, so I of course bonded quickly with her. Oops... :) Her German is much better than mine, though, so she was better able to talk with the others. Our leaders guided us around town, and were pretty adament to only speak German to us so we would learn. They seemed to disapprove a bit when they saw Hanna and I walking together speaking English. Little did they know that I have been completely immersing myself in German already, and had been hoping this might be a place where I could actually speak English with someone my age without guilt! Oh well. Hanna and I exchanged email addresses, and hopefully might meet up sometime soon in Kiel to eat or go shopping. She´s only been here a week, so we´re anxious to learn our way around. She will also be taking German classes the same time as me, but will be in the 2nd, more advanced class, rather than my 1st easy level! Perhaps if I study hard, I can work my way up to joining her in the 2nd. The au pair leaders walked us along the Baltic sea side, where we saw some huge Scandinavian cruise ships. We also went through a small aquarium and botanical garden. After we finished, a few of us walked together to the train station and ate supper. My 1st döner since arriving! About time. :) I then said my goodbyes and successfully found the right train to take back to Bordesholm. Success!! Claudia bought a month-long train pass this morning for us to share, since she works in Kiel during the day and I will take classes in the evenings. Works out well! I´m looking forward to spending more time in Kiel. It is a nice size - not too overwhelming, but still plenty to keep myself occupied.

I don´t think I´m doing anything exciting tonight. I haven´t heard of anything going on, anyways. Perhaps it is just as well to take it easy. Maybe clean my room, and zone out in front of German satellite TV for a bit! Tomorrow morning I´ll meet the family for brunch, then who knows? Probably bike or something if the weather is nice. So long!