Goals of an Au Pair

"Travel is about the gorgeous feeling of teetering in the unknown."-Gaby Basora

Many people have asked me about what it is I am doing here in Germany.(They have also asked me a lot more but I'll stick to the basics) I have decided to dedicate this post to explaining; What I am doing, Why I chose Germany, How I like it, What I wish to accomplish, and a bit more. It won't necessarily be in that order though, not really sorry.

What is an Au Pair?
Glad you asked! Whats an Au Pair, I am an Au Pair!! haha. Sorry, I had to. But, an Au Pair is a french term that basically means I am a live-in nanny abroad. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal, right? Well it is, as long as the individual doing it likes working with children and doesn't have a hard time adjusting to foreign cultures. Which I do and I don't, win-win.

I found my Au Pair family through one of many au pair web pages. They are a lot like care.com and are fairly easy to do yourself. I did mine myself. To be safe, ALWAYS be sure to ask A LOT of questions, and skype them multiple times! You're going to be living with them, don't be shy!

My duties are very straight forward. I clean my own things, set the table, and run the dishwasher each night. My main duty is to be ready for breakfast at 7am, go with the kids to school (drop them off), then I attend a language course which my family pays for, I have a bit of free time to explore the city and travel within it. Later I pick the kids up from school and take them home. Often stopping to play or get something at the bakery.

Why Germany?
Why not? Germany has a very rich culture, and history. Many people speak English so I'm not terribly homesick. I can travel to MANY of the other European countries from here. Plus, the German language has always interested me. The best way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in it, and I am diving in head first!

What do I want to accomplish here?
Fluency in the German language. I feel like being from America, or perhaps an English speaking country in general, a second language is not heavily pushed. Many Europeans learn a second, or even a third language. I definitely admire that!

I want to continue my education of the world. I want to travel to many different places and see multiple walks of life. As a traveller I am able to see things not everyone gets to see. The simple task I get to do living abroad become adventures. Such as shopping for food, taking the train, trying to find out where the bathroom is, walking around a park, watching the locals go through their days, figuring out which is trash/recycling, ordering food, washing clothes/dishes, etc... Its the normal things I do without a second thought back home that have become extremely interesting here. A few even funny. (Hold on, I'm about to detour) An example; I was walking around the lake here in Hamburg and I saw a really pretty steeple and wanted to know what it belonged to. I thought I would be able to just follow one street straight to it. Not the case, in Germany the roads grew as the cities grew. In most American cities the roads are planned out for future growth, often in a grid. I managed to make a couple lucky turns and guesses on which direction would get me to the mystery landmark. When I finally got there it was a really old church, and it was quite amazing!

Back on track... simply put, I want to travel. I love moving around and being new. When I am new to a new city, everything is awesome.

How do I like Germany?
I miss people smiling, saying hello, good morning, good day, afternoon, holding doors, and helping out regardless of whether they know you. I also miss taco bell, sweet tea, football, barbecue, and my family. Besides that list, I love it here. The mix of architecture is beautiful, public transit is very effective (once I figured it out), and the German life style is a nice change from what I am used to. I like going to the store every few days for meals, I LOVE the quality of products here (I cant say I'm a fan of how damn expensive stuff is), I like a cash based environment, and I also enjoy all the people from all over that I get the pleasure of meeting.

A bit more...
Yes, Germany is cold. I am on the 53N parallel, that is equivalent to Attu Island, Alaska or Quebec, Canada. So yes, I am very cold here and miss the Texas sun. In Texas I was at the 30th parallel, that was about the same as parts of Egypt. Even in Oregon (the coldest place before here I thought I would ever allow myself to live in) I was only on the 45th parallel, which is equivalent to parts of Italy.

No, I don't hate Germany because of WWII..(seriously someone asked me that) That's a bit ridiculous, it was a part of history and I did enjoy learning about it. But I don't hate Germany because of it. I actually find it very interesting.

Yes, the German language is hard. I have a difficult time pronouncing things and don't get me started about the sentence structure!

Yes, I will post more picture. Get off my case, I have a life and can't spend every minute updating you (You know who you are). I will post them when I have some free time, until then, I will keep exploring Germany =]

Bis Bald!!

"Take the time to put the camera away and gaze in wonder at what's there in front of you."
-Erick Widman