Ouch.

The yogurt and cheese finally caught up with me today. As Emily would say : owwwwa.

Today I got up with the children, as I do every morning, at 7AM, got the table set and the breakfast ready to go so that after Andrea finished dressing them they could run down, eat a yummy breakfast of corn flakes with a stripe of chocolate and a stripe of vanilla yogurt on top for Oscar and all chocolate yogurt on top for Emily. Then they both have a ring of milk around the edge of the bowl. I have joined in in this weird way of eating breakfast. But I do vanilla and blueberry yogurt currently! And no stomach issues yet! WOO WHOOO!! I love yogurt. Then the kids were off to school and I made a vegetable thingymagingy for dinner tonight. It had a dough bottom and then you put sauteed garlic and onions with some corn, and tomatoes and then through in some cooked green beans and carrots. Very interesting. It looks pretty but I wonder how it will taste. . As it cooked I hung the laundry on the laundry table/line thingys which we just don't really use in the state but it is quite effective and I think then clothes last longer. Then I went for a nice run. I ran on a path this way and that and then around THE german bank and then found my way back to the big park that is very close to the house and ran around that. You can see it on google maps if you look up my address - Frauenlobstrasse 23, 60487 Frankfurt am Main Germany. It's the big park to the right of my house. I love it!! Now I just ate some bread with a bit of butter and veggiemite on it and then also a piece of bread with that yummy cheese that granny used to make her artichoke dip and some tomatoes on top. And I think soon I shall bake something. Something chocolatey. And then I'm picking up just Emily at school at 4 because Oscar has Judo practice. Then Em and I are going shopping for some new tennis shoes for her before going to the doctor to get her hearing checked? Busy day! :) Was that a good enough of an explanation of my day?? phew.

My first lessons.

Mom you'll be proud - I taught a piano lesson today. Emily and I began our piano lessons! With her piano "map" we learned how to play the c chord and she can find middle c and she is getting better and figuring out which key is which. WOO! And then we had a concert tonight where she played for the family. So cute. She is very excited about playing - we'll see how long that lasts!

I think I will bake something tomorrow. This not baking thing has gone on long enough! It's been. . . over a week since that last time I baked. Just not okay.

Rain rain go away.

Here is a picture of Oscar and friend Clara rowing away on this lake where the family has friends who have a cabin. Andrea, the kids, and I went up there for afternoon cake. I was a bit surprised that the kids were allowed to go out there all alone. Really no one was watching them but I mean they did have life jackets on but they just rowed themselves around the lake. Quiet impressive I thought for six year-olds!! He later took me around the lake - so romantic. :)


Today I played Candyland and lost. I mean lost bad. Oh well. The kids and I then read a lot of Disney stories. Weird to think that they don't know them all like we do. So we read Sleeping Beauty, The Rescuers, and Alice in Wonderland. I love that they can be so enraptured with a book for so long! The rain is raining on my parade! Yep I said it. There was a huge thunderclap today. Just one though. Today I went on a walking tour of the city. It coast 10 Euros (really cheap I would say!) and this woman originally from Ohio took a group of five of us on a tour around Frankfurt am Main. One girl was from Sydney - just finishing up her 9 week long tour or Europe, two girls from Chicago going to school in Spain, and a Primary school teacher from Spain who spoke very little English but I appreciated his enthusiasm! The tour was supposed to be from 1030-130 but we actually went on till about 3! The rain stuck us inside a bit but no worries - we just had a bit to nibble on and then continued on our way. I learned a lot about the city - most which I will not remember except for that it is a really old city. One really cool thing I got to see was this wall that surrounds a Jewish graveyard and on the wall are all the names of Jewish Frankfurter's who died during WWII.
One of which was Ann Frank! We also saw lots of cool churches but most of the middle of the city was destroyed when us Americans bombed the heck out of it one night. Lovely. The lady who led the tour was a bit odd I thought. lol. She's been in Frankfurt for 23 years now and her newest husband she found on classmates.com. Yeah. And her teeth were gross and I am such a teeth person. It was either from smoking or coffee. Not sure.
Last night the Dad, Phillip, made me an amazing thick smoothie. Just thought you should know. Oh and today at snack time Emily and I ate these rice cakes things we have in the US but with chocolate all over one side. Yumm!!
Talked to Johanna today and she is going to come up and visit me in the next couple of weeks and I might get a ride down with some friends of friends to go to the Oktoberfest and meet up with people there. Woo whoo!! The weekends with the family are pretty booked until halloween-ish so it will be nice to have Johanna and whoever come up and visit me. :) There is an airline company called ryanair and you can get flights for only 5 euros to all over Europe. Of course they are really good at having these sneaky extra costs - like if you don't check in online it costs an extra 20 euros. And of course getting to the airport and back and into the city costs something and then if you have a bag more then 8lbs or something you have to pay 20 euros. So maybe if I want to go somewhere just for a night that is the way to go. I still have to plan my visits to Kim in Copenhagen and Libby in Italy! I have two weeks to travel after Christmas so I'm trying to figure out where I want to go. Johanna mentioned Amsterdam so maybe there?
Hopefully the sun clears up tomorrow! I'm going to go to the store and pick up some ingredients to make a vegetarian dish - which actually the family VERY much appreciates because they don't eat a lot of meat, make something, and then go meet Meika downtown to hang out before picking up the kids at 4.

Now I'm off to read a bit about the undercover economist and then watch a little bit of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire :) SWEET!

And it's the weekend.

I can't believe that I have only been here 5 days. I feel like it's been much longer - in a postive way. I love Frankfurt! I love that I can bike all over the place in so short a time. And I'm really good at finding my way back. Good thing I have a good sense of direction. So we started the process for my visa and I went and took my test to find out what German class level I'll get into. I had to take part of a multiple choice test and then bring it back to have it graded and then I was given a prompt for writing an e-mail to a friend and then after they looked at that I had to go back and take the rest of the multiple choice test and then after that I had to tell the guy what I had done the previous day and then finally he decided to put me into level six German. After you finish this level you get some special certificate and then it is four more classes or so until you get to the point where you have to be in order to get into the universities here so I think I'm doing pretty well. Their previous au pair didn't know any German before she came and she finished up to the class where I am starting so if I can complete six levels too I think I'll be set!!

The kids have been great. Typical siblings and loud so it's a good thing I come from a loud family. :) We've been playing a lot on the trampoline, building forts, reading, playing with friends, etc. Today I rode around town without my map and then got it out to find my way up to Oscar's soccer game. Adorable seven year olds playing and just like in the states there are the crazy mom's screaming so loud to get their kid running faster. Then we went back to the house for some lunch and then I met up with another aupair named maike who is absolutely adorable - sadly she is leaving in a month having already been here for a year. And the crazy thing is that she is from Newberg!! Small world. Anyways she is fabulous and is going to show me around a bit. She's my new friend. :) She also informed me that she has found the police men here to be quite attractive so now I have to keep my eye out right? lol.

I went running in the park yesterday and there was a woman I swear was like 60 years old and she was running faster and longer then me. Oh dear. Maike is running the the marathon here next month and when she first got here she ran at most 3 miles so that is some inspiration. Not that I am going to run a marathon or anything. Yuck. But she says the weather is pretty good so I'm happy. This big park is like a two second bike ride from the house and when I run around the perimeter of it all it takes about 15minutes. It's wonderful to have it right there! So great. Sorry guys - not coming home! Just kidding. I think.

I put some pictures up on facebook and I haven't quite figured out how to do it on here/haven't really tried/to lazy at this point to do it. Soon though!

The weather has been perfect, the family is great - I'm loving it. I've talked with johanna and maria a couple times already, I've gotten mail already (love you steph!), and all is well at home. Right?? No one is getting engaged that I need to know about?!

Also, Ich bin schon sehr mueder. Guten Nacht!

Guten Morgen!

So I am rested and well. :) I woke up at 9:30 this morning - 12 hours of sleep! - in my quaint little room, had some jogurt for breakfast - no stomach ache yet! - and then got on my bike and rode around to get a sense of the area on my own. I rode through the nearby park which is really pretty and then into the near town - Bockenheim - and then back the the house. Then Andrea - the Momma - took me down to the school again so that I will be able to find it on my own this afternoon when I pick up Emily and take her to a Birthday party. I really like that there are bikes everywhere and everything really is accessible by foot, biking, or the train. Now I am eating some of my favorite chocolate - thanks hil!!! Yesterday went really well. The Dad - Phillip - has decided that when with him we will converse in German and then with the kids of course I will speak english. Although I sometimes sneak in a few German sentences and ask them how to say things in German. :) Their english is perfect and they are completely adorable! Yesterday I played some soccer with Oscar - he's really good! - and Emily and I played on the trampoline. We also played with a harry potter sticker book, which naturally I loved.

The only problem so far - the big spider in the corner of my room. Ah! And I need to work on the whole showering without a curtain and spraying water all over the ground. There must be a trick to this. Please let me know if you know the secret!

That's all for now folks!

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born." Anais Nin

New Beginnings

I love falling back into step with my aussie family. Crazy how after not seeing each other for so long it is as if we never went a day without seeing each other. I love you girls so much! After an AMAZING trip in Chicago I have made it to my new home town - Frankfurt. The sun is shining. I am a bit sleepy but I am not allowed to fall asleep until after 7PM :) The house is super cute and my room is adorable. The backyard has a trampoline - backflips to happen soon. It is slowly hitting me that I will be here for a year. I cannot actually think straight right now because of my delirium but I am so excited for what is to come. More to come soon. . .