Hi :)
So a few weeks ago I wrote saying that I had finished the official requirements of my year abroad and was looking for a job in Berlin. Well, by now, I have indeed managed to find a job, but I'm not in Berlin and not really doing what I'd originally planned! Almost four weeks ago now, I moved down to the south of Germany to a town called Heidenheim in Baden-Württemberg (Between Stuttgart and Ulm). I'm going to be staying here until September and am working as an au pair for a German family. I decided to find an au pair position after sending countless applications to hotels, cafes, shops etc. in Berlin and not hearing very much back. The lack of response made me rethink about what I wanted to gain out of spending the summer in Germany. Although the social life and cultural opportunities may well have been a little better in Berlin, I ultimately wanted an opportunity to improve my German language skills this summer. I worked as an au pair in the summer of 2011 (between my 1st and 2nd year at uni) and I really do believe that my German language skills, as well as my knowledge of daily life and culture in Germany, improved shed-loads during my time with the family. So it seemed that being an au pair again would be a good option to make sure my German is as good as it can be ready for my final year at Bangor.
Everything happened really quickly! The family contacted me on the Tuesday and they needed an au pair asap because their then current au pair's granddad was ill and he needed to return to Spain. So, I ended up moving here on the Saturday- just 4 days after getting in touch with the family! I had loads to sort out in Plauen before leaving such as sorting out my bank account, packing my stuff and sending quite a lot if it back to Wales in boxes, returning library books to Chemnitz (which was an hour train journey away!) and lots of other little things. The thing that caused me most trouble was the fact that my furniture belonged to me and not the flat I was living in, and as my housemate and I didn't really get on during my time in Plauen, I wasn't sure that I'd be able to just leave it there. To make it more difficult, my housemate hadn't been home for a week, so as well as not being able to find anyone who could buy or just take away my furniture, I also had no way of telling her that I was actually leaving. Everything actually worked out quite well in the end. She came back on the Friday night before I was due to leave, and was really nice about the whole situation (which is bizarre seeing as she'd been horrid for most of my time there!). She said I could leave the furniture in the flat and she would sell them and send me the money- whether she will or not, I don't know, but I'm not too bothered to be honest- I was just glad to be leaving!
I've settled in really well over here! I was a little nervous before coming as I hadn't really had a massive amount of time to get to know the family before moving here. I was soooo lucky to find a lovely family in 2011, but I was also aware that some of my friends hadn't had such good experiences with au pair families. Fortunately, I've been really lucky once again. The family's lovely and has been really, really welcoming. I'm looking after 3 childen- a 10-year-old boy called Lucas, and 4-year-old twins (a boy and a girl) called Leon and Neela. Before I arrived, I didn't think I'd be getting much free time based on the description the family gave me. However, that's not at all true and up to now, I've had loads of free time. Even if I do have to get up at 5.30 every morning, I generally have time to myself once I've dropped the twins off at Kindergarten at 8. The kids are generally well-behaved, although recently, Neela has taken to having massive tantrums- she's lucky I'm a fairly patient person! As Lucas is quite a bit older than the twins, he can be a massive help at times! In general, they all play quite nice together and the twins love going to the park across the road which is lovely seeing as the weather's so nice at the moment!
So a few weeks ago I wrote saying that I had finished the official requirements of my year abroad and was looking for a job in Berlin. Well, by now, I have indeed managed to find a job, but I'm not in Berlin and not really doing what I'd originally planned! Almost four weeks ago now, I moved down to the south of Germany to a town called Heidenheim in Baden-Württemberg (Between Stuttgart and Ulm). I'm going to be staying here until September and am working as an au pair for a German family. I decided to find an au pair position after sending countless applications to hotels, cafes, shops etc. in Berlin and not hearing very much back. The lack of response made me rethink about what I wanted to gain out of spending the summer in Germany. Although the social life and cultural opportunities may well have been a little better in Berlin, I ultimately wanted an opportunity to improve my German language skills this summer. I worked as an au pair in the summer of 2011 (between my 1st and 2nd year at uni) and I really do believe that my German language skills, as well as my knowledge of daily life and culture in Germany, improved shed-loads during my time with the family. So it seemed that being an au pair again would be a good option to make sure my German is as good as it can be ready for my final year at Bangor.
Everything happened really quickly! The family contacted me on the Tuesday and they needed an au pair asap because their then current au pair's granddad was ill and he needed to return to Spain. So, I ended up moving here on the Saturday- just 4 days after getting in touch with the family! I had loads to sort out in Plauen before leaving such as sorting out my bank account, packing my stuff and sending quite a lot if it back to Wales in boxes, returning library books to Chemnitz (which was an hour train journey away!) and lots of other little things. The thing that caused me most trouble was the fact that my furniture belonged to me and not the flat I was living in, and as my housemate and I didn't really get on during my time in Plauen, I wasn't sure that I'd be able to just leave it there. To make it more difficult, my housemate hadn't been home for a week, so as well as not being able to find anyone who could buy or just take away my furniture, I also had no way of telling her that I was actually leaving. Everything actually worked out quite well in the end. She came back on the Friday night before I was due to leave, and was really nice about the whole situation (which is bizarre seeing as she'd been horrid for most of my time there!). She said I could leave the furniture in the flat and she would sell them and send me the money- whether she will or not, I don't know, but I'm not too bothered to be honest- I was just glad to be leaving!
I've settled in really well over here! I was a little nervous before coming as I hadn't really had a massive amount of time to get to know the family before moving here. I was soooo lucky to find a lovely family in 2011, but I was also aware that some of my friends hadn't had such good experiences with au pair families. Fortunately, I've been really lucky once again. The family's lovely and has been really, really welcoming. I'm looking after 3 childen- a 10-year-old boy called Lucas, and 4-year-old twins (a boy and a girl) called Leon and Neela. Before I arrived, I didn't think I'd be getting much free time based on the description the family gave me. However, that's not at all true and up to now, I've had loads of free time. Even if I do have to get up at 5.30 every morning, I generally have time to myself once I've dropped the twins off at Kindergarten at 8. The kids are generally well-behaved, although recently, Neela has taken to having massive tantrums- she's lucky I'm a fairly patient person! As Lucas is quite a bit older than the twins, he can be a massive help at times! In general, they all play quite nice together and the twins love going to the park across the road which is lovely seeing as the weather's so nice at the moment!
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| My new room- Klein aber fein! |
I generally work Monday-Friday and have the weekends free because Johannes (the father) is home from work. I do tend to spend the majority of my weekends with the family too though as they usually go on nice days out and I'm always invited. Anja and Johannes are really flexible with me though and will try to change their schedule if I need to go somewhere. e.g. Last Friday they let me have the day off to go to the uni library in Stuttgart to get some more books for my dissertation. On my first day here, we went to LegoLand together. The family is obsessed with lego- it's everywhere in the house! We will definitely be returning to LegoLand very soon- especially as they bought me an annual pass for the park (even though I'm only here for 2/3 months!)We've also been to the cinema to watch the new Monster Uni film. It was the twins' first time at the cinema but I'm not sure who was more excited- me or them!
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| LegoLand! |
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| Schloss Neuschwanstein made of Lego! |
So, I think that's it for now! We have a few more trips planned for the summer, including another trip to LegoLand this weekend and a trip to another theme park in August that we had to reschedule as the kids were poorly last weekend. I also plan on visiting a friend in Munich before leaving and fortunately for me, the family I was an au pair for two years ago only live half an hour away from Heidenheim, so I'm hoping to be able to see them a few times too :)
Bis Bald :)
