Wednesday June 16th was my first day meeting the children that I will be looking after. (I call them Die Kinder here in this blog for purposes of privacy. Individually, they are “Eenie” and “Vee” should I need to elaborate between the two.) They are two wonderful little girls, twins, and they are so cute. They were “hiding” from me when I first came downstairs to meet them and each of them warmed up to me slowly in their own way. Eenie was first to talk to me and be sweet and slowly, Vee came around. Towards the end of the evening, it switched as Eenie was not in the best of moods. She threw herself into a classic five-year-old tantrum and Vee and I managed to make friends. We did activities in their school books and then went into their room to color pictures. At dinner, Eenie was still not in the mood to make friends and watched TV instead. Eventually, Vee ventured off to join her but near 7:30, Vee picked out a few books and we read Thomas the Train and Curious George. Eenie was still at the TV so my host-mom (I call her the Frau in this blog) let me off and I went upstairs for the rest of the evening.
Ultimately, I am very impressed with the girls and I look forward to getting closer to them. When I first arrived, it was a little intimidating and I was slightly nervous for what I was expected to do. But Helen eased me in and gave me some tips and information that would be helpful. And, of course, once I met the girls, everything was much better and I felt much more competent. Most of my responsibilities include getting them up in the mornings (a few days a week) and preparing their breakfast, getting them off to kindergarten (elementary school in the fall), picking them up and getting them ready for their activities, entertaining and playing with them in the evenings, helping with dinner and/or preparing dinner, putting them to bed, and babysitting in the evenings, mostly on the weekends. Nothing I haven’t done before!
I went exploring in Munich today, seeing as the girls were at the kinderhaus from 9 until 6 today. I had to be back by 5 to start making dinner so I had most of the day to explore. I walked around in central Munich for about three hours. It was so beautiful! I loved every second of it. I ended up getting “lost” a few times but it was worth it. One “lost” turn and I ended up paying 3 Euros to go to the top of the tower of the Frauenkirche and was able to see the WHOLE city from 360 degrees. It was AMAZING. There is still so much to do! This adventure was only the beginning. And here are a few pictures to highlight my adventures…
New Town Hall in Marienplatz
Marienplatz from the top of the Frauenkirche tower (trum)
A sexy lion! RAWR!!
This is the Frauenkirche, that I ventured through! And away!
Biergarten! In the market. Famous!
Headstones in the cemetery by my new home. :)
Today (er, Thursday?) was a much better experience with the girls. I made pancakes and both the girls loved them! The recipe was only a tiny bit hijacked by the Frau but it turned out pretty good regardless! I did pretty much the same schedule as the night before but this time I was able to read to both of the girls, individually. Vee, at first, and then she got bored and Eenie was interested. She didn’t want to stop! So that was nice. After a while, the Frau let me upstairs to get ready for my first night out!
There was a ToyTown meet up at a bar called Substanz somewhere in Munich. I don’t know where. But it was exciting for me because I would finally be meeting some English speaking Munchens? Helen and I agreed to meet at an UBahn station somewhere down the line that was near to the club. I was a little fearful as my earlier experience with the UBahn left me stranded on a STOPPED UBahn because I didn’t realize that it stopped to change directions and that the labeled stop was actually the LAST stop. Dumb America. Anyway, I rode the UBahn to the Piccistrasse (WHATEVER) station and Helen and I met up there. Fortunately, Substanz was right there when we got out of the station.
I met some really great people and even made a new friend, Jessica, who is in Munich working for BMW. We’re going to the biergarten tomorrow night (Friday night) which is really exciting as I”ll meet more new people and will be decidedly less drunk than I was at Substanz. Ha. My bad.
HEY! I LOVE MUNICH! <3 <3 <3
Okay, it’s 3 am and I really must go to bed. I love you all! Good night!
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1 comments:
Heather, as I read through this blog I try to imagine uprooting my life and moving to another part of the world. I don't know if I could do it. I guess I could, if what was calling me was big enough. Still, it's a gutsy thing to do and I commend you for it.
Munich was beautiful. I was there when I was 22 and I loved it. The architecture, the people. I know it's a generalization but so many young European men and women have this almost intangible quality that makes them so attractive. (I had met a German girl on the train and we had a quasi long-distance relationship).
But that was a lifetime ago.
I'll be following along, these photos bring back some great memories. :) Glad you seem to be settling in.
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