Ich bin umgezogen!

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!

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! 

LegoLand!

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 :) 

Update!

So yeah...it would appear I haven't been so good at keeping this blog up to date! I can't actually believe that February was the last time I wrote a post! Time has gone so fast here and a lot has happened in the past few months! I'm not going to bore you with every tiny detail, but I will try to give you an idea of what I've  been up to!

So, I think I'll start with the places I've been and the people I've visited. The first trip to mention is our trip to Berlin for Charlotte's 21st all the way back in March! Seven of us Bangor students met up in the capital to celebrate Charlotte's birthday and we had a lovely time. It was so nice to spend the weekend with friends and the visit definitely confirmed that I would like to be in Berlin for the summer if possible! The weekend after, I decided to travel to Saarbrücken, where Charlotte is spending her year abroad. Phil, Ryan and I were all staying with Charlotte for the weekend and, again, we had a wonderful time. We spent the Friday evening cooking and baking a cake, then on Saturday we decided to travel to the Saarschleife. It was a bit of a mission getting to the Saarschleife because after getting the train, we found out that the bus we had planned to take didn't run on a Saturday (despite it saying it does on the website!) So...we started to walk. When the pavement ran out and we were walking up a steep, winding road, I got a little dubious! We decided to walk a little further, but eventually stopped at the side of a road and decided to call a taxi (which isn't so easy when you don't know where you are!). We did eventually get to the Saarschleife and the view made the journey absolutely worth it! We spent the evening celebrating Charlotte's birthday again with her friends from Saarbrücken and I made the nine hour journey back to Plauen the following day!

Six of us (plus Idris the dragon) by
the Brandenburg Gate

Four of us (and Idris!) at the Saarschleife

Shortly after my trip to Saarland, it was time for the Easter holidays. As Sachsen had already had a 2 week holiday in February, we only had 1 week for Easter (whereas most of the other states had 2) I managed to convince my family that I was going to be spending the week with Jon in Scotland, however this wasn't the plan at all! I landed in Edinburgh on Saturday evening, and after spending a day in Scotland with Jon, we both made the journey home on Monday morning. Needless to say, my family were surprised to see me turn up on the doorstep later that afternoon! I had a lovely few days at home and spent the week visiting friends and family. Jon and I also went to Chester Zoo with my Cousin Sam, her partner Kyle and their baby and we had lots of fun before I had to come back to Germany the following day!

Chester Zoo. Still kids at heart!

The next trip I went on was to Passau to visit Amy, Rach and Ellie. It's so nice to have Bangor students dotted around the country- it means I get to explore more of Germany and see friends at the same time! Again, we had a really good weekend. The Passauer Dult was taking place the weekend I got there (this was a festival with a fairground, beer tents and bands etc). The atmosphere was fantastic and having everyone dressed in Dirndls and Lederhosen, dancing on benches whilst drinking their Maß of beer really conformed to Bavarian stereotypes! Whilst in Bavaria, we also went on a day trip to Munich where we went shopping, visited some churches and went to the olympic village. The weather took a turn for the worst when we arrived at the olympic village, so we took shelter in the olympic tower and although the weather wasn't so good, we got some nice views of the olympic village and BMW World. After a nice day of exploring Passau, it was time for me to return to Plauen after yet another lovely weekend with friends.

I think they're the main trips that I've been on. At the beginning of May, I had to go back to London for the second half of the UK-German connection conference, but it was a whistle-stop, one-day trip so there's not much exciting to say about it! I also went back to Cologne and spent a lovely weekend with Phil and Rebecca for Phil's 21st. Other than that, I've not been up to a huge amount apart from going to the theatre a few times and also to the cinema. I'm now finished at my school, but I am still in Plauen at the moment. Life without school is a little on the dull side! I had a really good nine months at the school and was a little sad to be leaving! I am hoping to spend the summer in Berlin, but have had no luck finding a job there up to now. I think I'll give it a few more weeks, and if nothing turns up, I'll go to Scotland to spend some time with Jon.

I think I've rambled enough now. If I do manage to find a job in Berlin, I will keep you updated on my year-abroad adventures!

Tschüss! :)

A (very!) belated Frohes Neues Jahr!

Hi!

So, I haven’t written a post for a while mainly because I keep forgetting! But also because time seems to be flying by! Although it doesn’t feel as though I’ve been doing much, when I look back, I have actually been quite busy!

February was the start of our two-week winter half term. Even though we had only been back in school for four weeks, it was lovely to have another break! Christmas didn’t seem half long enough! I had such a good time at home with my family and friends, and it was lovely to finally meet my cousin’s beautiful little baby, who was born in November, so it was really difficult having to leave everyone to travel back to Germany on the 2^nd of January ready to start term again on the 3^rd. Anyway, February half term was lovely! Jon came to visit in the first week and in the second week my parents came over to Germany. Jon and I spent the first few days in Plauen, then we managed to visit Dresden and Leipzig before spending the last two days in Berlin. Dresden was lovely. It’s such a pretty city with so much history. We started the day in the military museum, which was absolutely HUGE! We would have needed much more time to be able to see and read every detail, but we managed to see the majority of the exhibition and it was very interesting. Definitely worth a visit if you’re ever in Dresden. After spending quite a few hours in the museum, we decided to take a walk around the city and we went to visit the Frauenkirche. It’s such an impressive building! Again, worth a visit!

Dresden

In Leipzig, we met up with Mike. It’s always nice to catch up with friends from Bangor :) The three of us decided to visit the Völkerschlachtdenkmal, which is a monument to the battle of the nations, which (I think!) took place in Leipzig in 1813. On our second day in Leipzig, Jon and I visited the Stasi museum. I’m really, really interested in GDR history etc. and have been told that the Stasi museum in Leipzig is really good. It was very interesting, but we were a little short of time, so I may have to go back again to visit properly!

Jon and I in front of the Völkerschlachtdenkmal 

After our two days in Leipzig, Jon and I made our way to Berlin. This is the second time we’ve been to Berlin now. In October we went to lots of museums (mostly GDR-related!) so this time, Jon wanted to go somewhere that he would be more interested in- the technology museum. Again, the place was massive and we didn’t actually manage to see the whole exhibition. What we did see was very interesting, though- especially if you are interested in the whole development of computers etc.

 After two days in Berlin, I swapped Jon for my parents at the airport! We were originally supposed to spend a couple of days in Berlin and then make our way to Plauen. However, I’ve been having some housemate troubles, so I decided it would probably be best to spend the whole week in Berlin.

We had an absolutely wonderful week. My Mam and Dad had never been to Berlin before, so I showed them all the famous, ‘touristy’ sights such as the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, Eastside Gallery, Checkpoint Charlie and the TV tower. We also went to the GDR museum (my 2^nd time!) and to the museum at the Jewish memorial site. I had been to the Jewish memorial before, but the museum was closed, so it was good to have the chance to be able to go again. Some of the personal stories were really sad, but overall the museum was very interesting. We also went to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, along with Andrew, who is spending his year abroad in Berlin. It was a really strange feeling being there. I wasn’t quite sure how I was supposed to feel. It was definitely eerie and bitterly cold! Being there sort of made the history seem more real, I suppose. In a strange way, I actually enjoyed it (for want of a better word). As well as visiting all the historical sights, we decided to go to Madame Tussauds and we also spent a fair bit of time shopping! I really did have a fabulous time with my Mam and Dad and I was very sad to see them leave at the end of the week and having to return to Plauen by myself after a wonderful two weeks! But I soon settled back in to life in Plauen!

Mam, Dad and I in front of the Brandenburg Gate

Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp

Since being back I’ve been fairly busy. I’ve met up with a few friends for lunch and went to the cinema with Moreen. I’m hoping that we’ll go to the cinema again soon ‘cause I really want to see Les Mis and Til Schweiger’s new film Kokowääh 2! I also have a new timetable at school. I still get Fridays off, which is good! But now I see some classes more than once a week. I find that I get to know the students better this way, and I get a better idea of what they’re doing and how they’re developing. I’m still really enjoying teaching. Although receiving praise from the other teachers about my lessons is always good, nothing beats the students themselves telling me that they enjoy learning English in my lessons. A few weeks ago we had an open day at my school. In Germany, parents are allowed to choose which school their children go to. There’s more than one school in Plauen, so they basically compete against each other to try and make their school look the best. I never realised how competitive the whole process is! After deciding on a school, parents then have to apply for a place. Very different to my experience of school back in Wales. Anyway, for the open day, I was asked to prepare a short sketch with a group of 8 students from class 5, which we then performed at the open day. The aim was to show how much English the students have learnt in less than a year at the school. The students did very well, so well, that we then decided to enter them into a talent competition! We continued practising the sketch and last week, the students performed at the talent contest. We are still waiting on the result, but I think they did very, very well! I was very proud of them!

Outside of school, I have joined a step-aerobics class and a gospel choir! I’ve never really sung gospel before, but they were the only choir I could find that didn’t consist of only older men! The choir only meet once a month, but it’s a good opportunity to meet some new people. I’ve also been trying to work on my dissertation. It’s not going as well as I would like at the moment, but it’s getting there slowly!

So, I’ve just realised that this post has ended up being really long!! Tomorrow morning, I am going back to Berlin for the weekend to celebrate Charlotte’s 21^st birthday. I am so, so excited! There’s going to be 7 other Bangor students there, so it’ll be so nice to spend some time with friends! I think that is all I had to say so I will leave it here!

Bis Bald!

Fast Weihnachten!

Hi!

I can’t believe how fast time is going! I haven’t written a post since the start of November, even though it feels like yesterday! I have no idea where time’s going to be honest with you, but not having written for such a long time means that I now have lots to tell you! I will try and condense it as much as possible so as not to bore you too much!

At the end of November, I went to London for a weekend for the UK-German Connection conference. The aim of the conference was for us to find German partners, who are working as Foreign Language Assistants in the UK, so that we can work on a bilateral project in our schools, as well as also learning how to run a successful project. In order to find the right partner, we had a kind of ‘speed dating’ session on Saturday morning. We had 2 minutes (per person, obviously) to talk to 21 Germans about our project ideas which, on the one hand was a lot of fun, but on the other hand it was exhausting having to take in so much information at once! I did, eventually, find a partner called Anke, who’s working in a school in Lichfield. We are planning to run a project with the sixth form, even though this wasn’t originally my plan! We will be setting up pen pals, showing films and reading literature with the aim of making English (and German) more fun, and to set up more contacts with native speakers. I am also planning to run a similar sort of English Club with years 7,8&9, where we will also play games etc. Hopefully both projects will be successful! As well as my project with Anke, I have also paired up with a girl called Veronika and we will be running a Christmas project. Her year 9 and one of my Klasse 7 will be sending each other a parcel containing typical German and British Christmas gifts, decorations and food. The kids are all very excited, and I think it’s a lovely way for them to learn about Christmas traditions in the UK (and Germany). We are looking forward to sending receiving the parcells!

Whilst we were in London, we also had some spare time, which can only mean that we shopped a lot, and we also did some sightseeing and visited a ‘German’ Christmas Market on the Thames (how ironic!). I had a lovely weekend until it came time to come back to Germany! The journey back was an absolute nightmare! I had a three-hour delay in Heathrow, which meant that I arrived in Berlin just before midnight, only to find that my luggage wasn’t there. After reporting my luggage missing, I was told that there was nothing that the could do until morning, as the airport has to shut at midnight, however it was likely that someone else had taken my suitcase by mistake, as there was one case left on the belt that looked similar to mine. So, off I went to the train station, hoping that my suitcase would show up in the morning. I then found out that as it was midnight, there was no train going in Plauen’s direction until 6am the following morning! I was less than impressed! Thankfully, after a few hours of sitting in the train station, I managed to get hold of Andrew, who came to rescue me! I am very, very grateful! The following morning, my suitcase had been found and was delivered to Andrew’s flat, and I eventually got back to Plauen at 8.30 PM- more than 24 hours after I had left London! I have never been so happy to see my bed!!

London Sightseeing!

So, over the past week or so, I have met lots of new people! I found that Zwickau has a university, and after looking at their language department’s website, I found that they also have a tandem programme, which means that you find a partner and help each other with your langauges. (i.e. I offer help with English in exchange for help with my German). I thought this would be a good way to meet some new people who are a similar age to me, and so far it has proved to be a success! I have been in contact with three people, and on Sunday I met up with one of my tandem partners called Linda. We had a lovely afternoon looking around the Christmas market in Zwickau and I’m looking forward to meeting up with her again soon :) I will also be meeting two other girls, Sina and Jeannine, but probably after Christmas because the run up to Christmas is so busy! It’s nice to finally be meeting some new people, though!

Last week, I also taught at the private school here in Plauen. I taught three classes (one of which my flatmate was in- very strange!), and I spoke about the British school system and the NHS (as most of them are studying to work in the medical profession). I actually really enjoyed teaching there, and all the staff were very welcoming. Bärbel, the English teacher, invited me round for a traditional German meal last Saturday and I was also able to meet her daughter, Daria. We had a lovely day of walking through the snowy countryside, visiting the Christmas museum and market in Rodewisch and watching the GDR’s production of Cinderella before returning to Plauen, where we also payed a quick visit to our Christmas market here! :) I really did have a lovely day with Daria, and I was feeling extremely Christmassy by the end of the day!

The Vogtland looks beautiful in the snow :)

As well as meeting Bärbel and her family at the private school, I also met the school’s secetary, Moreen. Apparently, she was quite excited to hear that I was going to the school, so she invited me round to her house that afternoon to spend time with her and her family. She’s 31 years old (even though she looks like she could be one of my students- I didn’t believe her when she told me she was married with 2 kids!) and also lives in Plauen. We had a lovely afternoon together, and tomorrow evening, we’re going to the cinema together. We get on really well, and again, it’s really nice to spend some time with new people!

You may have already gathered from this post that I am now feeling very Christmassy! I’ve already been to the Christmas markets here in Plauen, and in Zwickau, Rodewisch and Lengenfeld. They are all really small, so I’m really looking forward to going to visit the market in Nuremberg this weekend with Sarah, the Australian assistant. I have also bought some typical christmas decorations that originate here in the Vogtland and the Erzgebirge to try and make my room look as Christmassy as the streets and shops do! I really like the traditional decorations made of wood- I think they look much nicer than plastic decorations :) 

  

 Plauen's Christmas market

         Our pretty Tree in front of the old Rathaus

My traditional decorations :)

I genuinely can’t believe how close Christmas is now! I will be home two weeks tomorrow! I haven’t been this excited for Christmas since I was a little girl! It will be so nice to spend some time with my family and friends, especially now that we have a new edition to our family! My cousin (who also happens to be one of my best friends!) had a little baby girl last week and I cannot wait to meet her! I was a little bit sad that I wasn’t home when she was born, but it just gives me more reason to look forward to going home!

Well, that is all I have to tell you for now! These last two weeks before Christmas are looking very busy already. I will try and post again before Christmas to let you all know what I’ve been up to (for those who actually read this!) :)

Bis Bald :)