A Brief November Check-in

I feel like I blinked and here we are at the end of November. The fall has flown by! Life is full of fun new experiences and adventures and the yet the day-to-day feels surprisingly routine—like I’ve lived here forever. That’s why it’s so hard to motivate myself to update this blog. Life feels so… ordinary. But I’ll try to think of a few interesting things to give a little update.

Life as an au pair is fun and challenging. It’s a 24-hour commitment. I love the kids I live with and yet they totally wear me out. They have adorably sweet moments and complete monster moments. Basically… they’re children. For example, I recently told the 4 year old I had a surprise for her. I had brought her favorite cookies to the park for a snack. Her first three guesses, however were, “A drawing? A hug? You’re going to play with me?” How sweet is that??

I had been taking French classes but found it to be rather boring and not very challenging so I embarked on a new adventure…

I’m an assistant again! I still get to be in middle school and I still completely love the experience. It’s challenging and fun and always a different experience. Of course, I’ve been in my school for three weeks and I still can’t log in to the computers and I still don’t have a set schedule (I typically send a text on Sunday night to the English teachers saying “sooo when am I working this week?”). So basically, the organization is incredibly French (read: non-existent) but at least I’m getting used to working in this world of chaos.

What else has been going on?

I recently taught my first hour long Bible class in French and no one fell asleep. It was a huge effort to prepare but seemed to go over well.

I managed my first major water leak in the apartment this weekend. The family was gone and we ended up having water pouring down 7 floors. I had to call the plumber and talk to the neighbors and call the family (who were at a funeral!). I learned a lot of new vocabulary very quickly to solve that crisis.

I visited G’s family in Alsace for two weeks. It was a much needed vacation and I celebrated my 24^th birthday in Germany at EuropaPark. I’ll have to do a whole post on our wonderful vacation.

Thursday marked one year since G and I started dating. His English level is improving and I don’t think he’s laughed at something I’ve said in French in quite a while. Small steps.

So that’s what’s new. I’ll head to the USA in a few weeks for a wedding and to spend Christmas with my family.

I can’t promise updating as faithfully as last year because blogging about being an au pair feels a little invasive for the family I work for. I have some great stories, but I guess I’ll have to save them for my memoir one day.

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