5 Am at Kultfabrik, Kinder Music, Yellow Mustard, and Vampire Love Sagas

It’s been almost a week since I last updated but it feels like a lot longer. Which is weird because time goes by so incredibly fast here. I’ve been here for five weeks already and each week goes by faster than the one before it. Take, for example, the fact that today is Wednesday and I feel like it was just last Wednesday. Does that sound stupid? Does it make sense? Ha. Probably not.

No need to explain why the past week was a blur. I’m in Germany. I’m doing crazy stuff and living a crazy life. Everything is new, everything is different. Why would it be boring? Granted, I do sleep a lot more than I ever did in California and I have absolutely nothing on my agenda. I pretty much just read (working on books 5 and 6 simultaneously), write (letters, blogs, fiction, etc), Facebook, watch Everwood on DVD (so good!), and go out with friends. Oh, and sometimes I work.

I wouldn’t say that I’ve been busy, just active. On Thursday night I went out with my girlfriends and we enjoyed some good German bier, as usual. I’m getting really good at this whole, Munich night life thing, save the problem that I keep missing the last train on weeknights. Helen and I had to pay for a taxi on Thursday night. And on Sunday night, we walked 1.5 hours at 1:30 in the morning to get home. You’d think I would learn my lesson on this one but I haven’t. Not yet. On Friday night I went out with Jessica and her cousin. He was visiting from his army base somewhere in Germany and he’d brought a bunch of friends with him. Overall, the night was a disaster, at least the parts where we had to hang out with the immature, obnoxious army boys. But I did enjoy dancing at clubs in Kultfabrik until 5 am and running in the pouring rain with my friend Ken to get cheeseburgers from the Turkish food stands. Plus, I met the coolest group of Irish guys ever. I really do love Munich nights.

On Saturday I slowed down a bit. After sleeping from only 6 am until about 8:30ish and getting myself home from Jessica’s apartment around 10, I showered, put my pajamas on and curled up in my bed. It was only right. I slept from about 11:30 until almost 4 and then went out into the world again. My friend Catherine and I went to see Eclipse (you know, the Twilight movie?) and oh my God, it was INCREDIBLE. It was my favorite movie thus far which is only to be expected since it was my favorite book as well. I actually liked Bella in this movie which is more than I can say for the first two films. And plus, there was a whole lot of half naked Jacob in this movie. And that is something I definitely agreed with. After the movie, Catherine and I went to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and I had the most delicious hamburger and french fries. Oh, and bier. Of course. It was like home but better because it still had a bit of German style. Like sweet pickles instead of dill. But there was French’s Yellow Mustard on the table and I about had a heart attack of delight. I wanted to steal it. It was pouring rain throughout all of this and it didn’t help that Catherine and I got lost looking for the restaurant. Ha. So we were soaked by the time we got there. After dinner, we went our separate ways and went home. Even though it was a pretty low key Saturday, it was exactly what I needed.

Eclipse at Cinema, the English theater in Munich

Sunday was much of the same. Not a lot going on. I met up with Jessica and we wandered around Munich for a while, checking out the gay pride event in Marienplatz and then randomly stumbled across a Japanfest in the English Gardens. We found this little vendor that sold these AMAZING cheesecakes, oh Lord, they were SO delicious. Way better than in the states. In the evening, after I’d gone home (my feet hurt!), Helen invited me to go out with her and some friends and, of course, we had a lot of bier and that’s when Helen and I ended up walking home. Aside from Friday, it was a great weekend.

Life in the house has been fairly uneventful. The Frau hasn’t been too bad. She still confuses me sometimes with her expectations but it’s nothing to cry home about. Although on Friday I had a rough day. I was with the girls for 8 hours. Good Lord, that’s a long time. And the Frau was there the whole time, too. They had a music recital in the evening so at 1, when they came home from kinderhaus she wanted them to rest. I tried to get them to watch a movie but they didn’t want to (“It’s too long!” Nana said) but  just watched TV for 2 1/2 hours instead. It was a rather pointless afternoon seeing as all that I did was sit with them and read my book.  I went with the Frau to their recital which was so cute. Boring but cute. I had no idea what was going on seeing as it was all in German but they were happy to have me there anyway.

 
After the recital, we went to the sports club to have dinner. I had half a roasted chicken (I forget what it’s called in German) and pommes frits (my favorite!). And then I had to hobble back to the house to get the girls swim suits and bring them back. And then I had to sit at the pool with them in the hot sun for 45 minutes. And when we got home, I had to try to get them to go to bed. Eenie, of course, was sucked into the TV like always. And she wouldn’t budge. And I was so frustrated, I had to go into the kitchen and try not to cry. Eight hours! That was a lot more than I was used to. Eventually, the Frau let me go and then I released my frustrations with bier and club dancing, as previously mentioned.

I don’t mean to complain. I mean, I have every right to but I won’t. Sure, being an au pair has it’s downsides but it’s really not that bad. I have more free time than I know what to do with and my job’s actually not that hard. Besides, I elected to go to the music recital. I didn’t have to. Anyway, I really do like being an au pair. And I’m so blessed to have this opportunity. So don’t think that I’m ungrateful because I’m not. It’s really great getting to know the girls more and more everyday. It’s been a slow process but we’re getting used to each other every day. I’ve been teaching them new games and songs and I love reading to them, even though they know all the books by heart already. And I love going to the pool with them. I just can’t wait until I can jump in again!

Which reminds me, I get my stitches out tomorrow. A fellow au-pair friend of mine is working for a doctor lady and she’s graciously agreed to take them out for me tomorrow morning. I’m going to go over to their house and it’ll be quick and easy. Finally! This thing has been a pain in the ass… er, foot.

This week the girls are taking part in a local neighborhood circus next week, which is set up down the street. It’s a bunch of kids from a circus school putting on a show of acrobatics, balancing, rope walking and stuff like that. Eenie and Vee have cousins in the school so they get to be pretty butterflies and run around in circles. I haven’t been yet – I’m taking them to rehearsals tomorrow. They have shows Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night and I think I’m going to all three. Either as a guest or as a chaperone, not quite sure. And I have to babysit on Saturday night so Friday is the only night that I get to go out this weekend. Which is fine by me. I wore myself out last week!

I hope that I can start traveling soon. I haven’t been very good at budgeting or saving my money and so I haven’t really been thinking about traveling, mostly about how to live off of 70 EUR for a week and a half. It’s actually not that hard, to be honest. I’m just used to my frivolous spending habits of California and so I always think I’m going to be screwed. But really, I don’t buy anything more than a water bottle here or a snack there. And that’s usually only 3 or 4 EUR total. So I’m okay. For now. Hopefully I’ll have some friends visiting me in August and we can go to Austria or something. Haven’t really decided where yet!

That’s all from me now. I have some laundry to finish and some cleaning to be done. Oh, Wednesdays how I loathe thee. Sigh.