Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
DAYS 16-20
DAY 16: January, 16th 2014
(Notice how I put the date because my mom told me to)
GREAT DAY!
Sum up of the day:
*Explored the city and went into the stores. Found Dove soap & basically cried with joy over this.
*Took Nico to the park
*Made a meal with Marian
*Played with Alvaro (their English speaking cousin)
*Talked on the phone with an au pair here in Guadalajara named Meghan
*Jumped for joy because tomorrow is Germany!
DAY 17: January 17th, 2014
HEADACHE.
That can describe my day with no other words. I'm in Germany, which is exciting, but I don't feel super stoked. (Please refer to the first word) The plane ride was horrid, with screaming children. Children screaming in Spanish, which is 40 billion times worse.
My first step into Germany was smoked-filled. Lots of people smoking, so that's all I can really say about Germany rigt now! I feel sick and tired, and for a moment I wished I was home and then had to laugh at that, and remember how grateful I am that I get to have all of these experiences. Right now I just want to sleep more than anything else.
DAY 18: January, 18th 2014
Freakin', freezing cold day today in the streets of Berlin. Anyone deciding whether or not you should plan your trip to Germany in January, let me give you some advice, DON'T DO IT!! It's a trip between planning if you want to die or not, and luckily, I barely made it out alive. Lol, jk it's not that cold. LOL, jk about THAT, it's FREEZING. But...I loved it! Absolutely loved it!
I decided that I am a so-called "city girl." I fell in love with NYC, Madrid and now Berlin. So if I go to the University of Utah, it's probably for the city feel. Lots of shops and supermarkets. I live in a smaller city here in Guadalajara, and I love it! I definitely prefer bigger, but here in Guad, it's very quiet, so I like it. :)
We began our journey about 9am. It was with the family I'm staying with, a second couple and their 5-year-old twins, and a third couple with their 5-year-old son. Too many 5-year-olds! The first thing I got to see was the Holocaust memorial. It was a wide area of cement blocks, representing the lives lost, and all the undiscovered bodies during the Holocaust. Even with screaming 5-year-olds, jumping all over the memorial blocks (which I found to be disrespectful) it was peaceful to walk through.
Next, we saw the Brandenburg door (& again at night all lit up) Next to it, there is a line where the Berlin wall once stood. I thought it was cool to keep a line going, even through the streets! Finally, we got out of the cold and into our tour bus! Normally I would think this is a lame thing to do. But I was very wrong about that! Here is why: 1) umm, the cold? No thank you. and 2) they give you headphones to learn about the history of the city! That was pretty dope. The bus was a good idea for a big group with children. At one point we got off, and I swear, it felt like we walked for like 4 hours. (It was probably only one) I kept sayig to myself, "This is it. This is it: say goodbye to my fingers and toes." It really was THAT cold. HOW DID THE PIONEERS DO IT?!?! That question will never be answered.
Most of the time, hmm, more like 99% of the time, I have no idea what's going on. They speak Spanish, so I just go with the flow and follow along, helping with the children where I can. I'm surprised at how patient I've been not understanding most of the time. When I used to hang out with my Latino homies, I would get stressed out after 15 minutes of Spanish! I'm now on day 18, and my stress level is chill.
Anyway, we walked to a typical German restaurant. I was excited about this because I'm thinking WOW MORE CULTURAL EXPERIENCES. Chechu reserved our table in front of live German music. Martin loved it, and I took him on the dance floor to get our German groove on, and the older kids jumped in. Imagine the singers, waiters and waitress's in overalls, shorts, long socks, and big, lacey dresses. It had to be German culture attire and I LOVED it.
Sausages are popular to have in Germany. It's like our hamburgers in America. Normally I wouldn't eat this, but I ordered a plate with a variety of sausages and sauces & then with delicious mashed potatoes and some kind of chopped veggie covered in vinegar (which I gave to someone else cause blehhh) Other than that, I loved that I ordered and doubled up on my digestion pills. Chechu turned to me and said "Now all you're missing is the beer." Apparently Germany has a variety of beers that you can't get in Spain. They told me that the taste is much better. So besides the beer, I had a typical German meal.
In Berlin, I was so impressed by the buildings and cathedrals. They were gorgeous and some even looked like just a painting up against a blue sky. On Alexander Platz (plaza/square) there were a lot of interesting things to see. Chalk art, which is SO impressive. People who have artistic abilities are really blessed, because all I can draw is a stick figure, and even that is sometimes a challenge. There was also live music and this man had a HUGE crowd around him. His voice was like an angel. He sang "Let Her Go" by The Passenger and "With or Without You" by U2. I don't know why, but I started to get emotional, like I was tearing up! How embarrassing.
Later that night, all the adults wanted to go out for food and drinks. I knew this was a big reason for them wanting to have me come to Germany with them. Babysitter. I was okay with this, especially because I don't drink, so I didn't have to feel left out. I was also nervous because all the children speak Spanish. Nico, Martin, and Gonzalo (one of the twins) fell asleep almost instentaneously. So it was only Lola (the other twin) and Mario up. It was funny because in Spanish, I was explaining to them that I speak English, and tat when they talk to me, they need to speak slowly. I'm finding out that kids don't catch onto this. They get excited about something, and start talking really fast! For me, it's hard because I love kids and I want to fully understand them and respond in a way that makes sense. I would not tell anyone becoming an au pair for children speaking a different language is easy.
It was cute because Lola and Mario were trying to help me learn Spanish. For example, Lola said, "Como se dice, 'Hola?'" and before I could answered, she shouted "Hello!" Lol. That is one of the very few words she knows in English. I'm noticing that I'm starting to understand better. When one of the parents asks me a question, or if I'm listening to conversations, I can pick out words I know, and put it in a way where I understand what is being said! What frustrates me is trying to respond. Then I look confused and they give up on me. I want to scream "DON'T GIVE UP ON ME!! Just wait while I process what I'm trying to say!!" That's the difficult part. People need to speak slower, and wait a second for me to process and respond. I love hanging out with Melisa from my church because she speaks slowly, and not only waits for me to respond but HELPS me. Then I learn new words. But I realize not everyone is going to do this, so I just need to learn.
Martin fell asleep on one of the mattress's wehre the older kids sleep. and guess what? He threw up. Why, Martin, why? Why do you have to do this now? Oh yeah, did I mention that Nico was also fast asleep on that same mattress? Siiiiiiiigggghhhh. I moved the baby out of the bed, cleaned him, changed his pajamas (all while he was sleeping) washed his pajamas, washed off the vomit that got on my pants, carried Nico to a new bed, took off the sheets, put on new ones, moved Nico back, carried Gonzalo to he bed-and all the while, Lola and Mario are jumping up and down, and trying to tell me what to do, Lola kept trying to put the vomit sheet back on the bed. "Lola, no!" "Lola! No!" "Lola!! NO!!" "This has vomit on it." Trying to show and explain to her. And during all of THAT, Gonzalo wakes up crying. Just imagine a crying circus on fire that got thrown up on, and that about describes my night. During this whole fiasco, Nico and Martin are fast asleep. I had to smile that "my" two boys are the only well-behaved ones.
After everything was cleaned up, it was hard getting Lola and Mario into bed because they kept saying things I didn't understand. Finally I said "AHORA." (Now) "I'm turning off the light." I turned it off, and everyone fell asleep very quickly, even me.
All the adults came home about 1am, and they were so happy with how well I handled 5 Spanish-speaking children. I felt pretty proud of myself. Long day! zzzzzz.
Earlier in the day, (after we returned back to our apartment), I noticed there is one thing I would teach the Germans. Privacy. I would teach them what it is, and the importance of it. Our apartment had 2 showers, and I was anxious to take a shower. So I went to the upstairs shower. First of all, there's a window in the bathroom, and not to the outside, but to the outside of the bathroom. Like, the house. Why? Next to the bathroom is a bedroom (where one of the couples were staying in) with HUGE windows seeing into the bathroom. I was thinking, what if the man was to go into his bedroom? That would be awkward. So you think, just close the shower curtain! Oh yeah, there is no shower curtain. Everything is glass. Finally I decided, I'm not showering in here.
So I went to the one downstairs...
Same shower with glass, no shower curtain, but at least there weren't any windows. The mistake made here though? No lock on the door. So then I thought, if I'm showering, and someone were to walk in, it'd be the same situation as the upstairs one. Whatever, it's been a long day and I needed a shower. You'd think I'd be just fine, but no, I got walked in on by 2 of the 5-year-old boys. It is what it is. At least it wasn't anyone else.
DAY 19: January 19th, 2014
Today was another day of touring and TOO MUCH BEING OUTSIDE. ahhh. It was SO much colder today than yesterday. It was windy with no sun. We toured the older part of Belin, and saw the Berlin Wall where it had not been torn down. It was covered in art work and graffiti. The art work was beautiful, but all the graffiti with people's dumb comments and swears made this historical figure less appealing to me. Today was basically a day of being freezing cold and traveling home.
Even though it was muy frio, I loved this fun little weekend vacation!
I'm so tired now. GOODNIGHT.
DAY 20: January 20th, 2014
This morning I was woken up by knocking on my door at 7:45am. It was Chechu and he was there to tell me that he had taken Marian and Martin to the hospital earlier this morning. Martin had another weird break out, but this time his skin was inflammed and he was having trouble breathing. Chechu said he had to hurry off to work, so it'd just be me and Nicolas this morning. Awh, poor little Martin and poor Marian! She is running on hardly any sleep. ALL THE TIME.
Getting Nicolas ready for school is always ridiculous. He is SO SLOW. ahh, it drives me nuts. This morning he was eating food off the ground like a chicken saying "bock, bock." haha, I was laughing but at the same time saying "Nico! School starts in 2 minutes!" and we have a 5 minute walk. Brushing teeth always takes like 10 minutes because his toothbrush has a suction bottom and he walks around the bathroom sticking it to everything. Trying to get him up and out of bed is a whole other story. I can't even imagine what he'll be like as a teenager if he's already like a teenager when it's time to wake up. Oyy. the snail pace is really what gets to me.
Marian returned from the hospital around 11. The doctor keeps saying that everything is fine. Medicine must be different here from the US because clearly everything is NOT fine. Marian had to get to work, so I stayed here with Martin, adn grandma came over. It's been a boring day. When I went to pick up Nico, I walked with Carmen (their neighbor) and practiced Spanish. Yayy.
Marian had to go to parent-teacher conference and Nico is at a class. So I'm once again here with Martin, and he's fast asleep on my bed. With all the time he spends with me, he will be speaking English in no time. That's a typical day of my boring days here in Spain. I'm so anxious to get started on some Spanish classes. Marian said we're looking into it on Wednesday, so I hope it really happens and all goes well.
- comments
Shauna Rypien It's so fun to read about your adventures! I can't believe what you are doing. You're amazing! It sounds like Martin is having an allergic reaction. They should have him allergy tested and buy Benadryl in the meantime.
Trisha Smith Lyndi I am still so very impressed with your adventurous nature! I could never do what you are doing. I had a good laugh at the "crying circus" and vomit story. That is nightmarish enough when you know the language! You need "miracle music" to help Nicolas get ready for school. Basically you have 1 or 2 short songs to eat breakfast, brush teeth, get dressed etc...kids that age love it and they get ready fast! I agree with Shauna...Martin is having an allergic reaction to something he is eating I bet. Benadryl and an EPi Pen!! Poor guy and mom. You will be so prepared when you become a mom!
Steve Burns All that practice with taking care of the old people at the care center and the often messy kids over at Stacey's home is really paying off. Nice work. Love, Dad