Word to the wise: Don't underestimate the effects of any class called Bauch, Beine, Po (translation: Stomach, Legs, Butt). I have been trying to make use of the fitness studio membership that I bought, so when AM invited me to go to class with her on Sunday I thought "Sure, it'll be fun to try something new." Unfortunately, I was the most out of shape person there and it kicked my butt. Now, two days later, I can barely move. Stairs are my worst enemy right now. It probably didn't help that I went to Zumba the next morning too.
But let's back up a little to the weekend. Nothing really happened on Friday. I slept in, watched some movies, cared for the kids for a couple of hours, and that was it. Saturday morning M and I took the bus to the fitness studio for her Kinder Sport class. That went really well, minus the fact that the bus apparently doesn't run as far on Saturdays and we were sitting on the bus waiting for him to keep going, not understanding that the driver was telling us to get off. But we went to sport, and then I went and bought house shoes (which are required in the Kita I'm working in) and stopped at a larger grocery store where I had been promised that I could find peanut butter. And I did! I also located a Funyun-like bag of chips, which I proceeded to eat all in one night.
I got done working around noon on Saturday and was in a really bad mood because the person I was supposed to hang out with on Sunday had to cancel which meant I would be spending my whole weekend alone in my room. So I watched Push and Ocean's 11. I was all good and ready to have a complete Ocean's marathon with 12 and 13 when I got a text message from someone that I had only talked to online. She is also an au pair nearby and she invited me to hang out with them, if I was up for an adventure. I'll admit, I did a super dorky happy dance because I was so excited. So I went into the city center with her and another au pair. We ended up meeting with three Australians at this super shady bar. You had to walk down a little alley way and then up some stairs that looked like they weren't meant to be permanent. But the bar itself was way cool. They were playing older rock/soul/blues type music and the bartender was wearing a top hat. Enough said. We ended up leaving there around midnight because the smoke got to be too much for us. We tried a couple of other places, one being a bar called Bahamas where the floor is all sand. It was really cool. We finally settled at a cocktail bar and had coladas, which I thought were delicious. They were a really cool group to hang out with and it was so interesting to learn why all of these random people ended up in Berlin. And since half of our group was Australian and the three Americans were from completely different areas (Washington, Texas, and Minnesota), we had a lot of fun making fun of each other's stereotypes. I was really lucky to meet such open and fun people and I am looking forward to going out with them again next weekend. After an hour on/waiting for the S-Bahn and my first ride on the "night bus" I made it home around 3:30am. I had a seriously great time and I'm so glad that they took a chance on me and invited me along. It's amazing how one little thing can make you feel so different. Just knowing anybody in this town made it feel much more like home.
Sunday night was an interesting night for me too. A was super excited because it's playoffs time for American football. He's a NY Giants fan. Big time. So he gets the games on his computer and hooks it up to the TV. I'm not usually a football fan but it was a lot of fun to watch the game and to see all of the American commercials for the places that we don't have here.
On Sunday Martina, one of my new friends, also asked if I would like to go to Dresden with her. And of course I said yes! So now I'm going to see my first non-Berlin German city on January 27th. We are taking the train and staying in a hostel. I'm really stoked!
And then we come to last night. I only had to watch the kids for a few hours in the afternoon, but I was tired so I stayed in all day. During the football game the night before I told A that I loved mashed potatoes, so we had them with dinner. I freaking love mashed potatoes! And then they wanted me to try this jar of stuff they had picked up over the weekend. You spread it on a cracker and eat it. It's super salty, but otherwise not bad. They kept calling it schmaltz, but they didn't want to tell me what it was until after I tried it. It took me awhile to figure out why I knew the word. But then I remembered that Ben's mom had told me about it. Schmaltz is made from goose or pork fat and sometimes mixed with apples or onions. Very German I am told!
The last thing I want to tell you about is something that frustrates me a bit. My German is not great, but when I try really hard I can understand the general gist of most conversations. The only thing is that people assume that I don't understand, either because it takes me too long to figure it out in my head or because I just can't come up with a response. Then they automatically switch to English or translate for me. I so badly want to speak German. I know people are just trying to be helpful. I can't wait for my language classes to start though so that I can really begin to improve. On the other hand, I did answer a statement today that was in German. I mean, I answered in English, but I replied to something that was said in German. So that's a start!
Also, the blog title is from a song called The Dog Days Are Over by Florence + and the Machine. It's one of my absolute favorite songs and she has an amazing voice. Check out the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWOyfLBYtuU.
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