I Like It Like That

You're getting lucky this time. I'm working tonight. The kids are already in bed, but I have three hours left before my host parents are home. So that means you get a blog entry! Probably a pretty basic one though, since not much has happened over the last week. Last time I wrote I was getting ready for J's birthday party. Let me tell you, it was awesome. We went to Legoland, which I was completely not prepared for. I had seen it before, because it's in Potsdamer Platz, and from the outside it just looks like this tiny little store where you can buy all sorts of Legos (obviously). But once you go inside, there are stairs down to the two sub-levels, which are enormous. There were a whole bunch of different areas with different themes, such as: the soft block area for small children, the princess themed area, and a place where you could build Lego towers and put them on a sort of earthquake simulator to see how stable they were. There were also two amusement park style rides. One of them, the Drachenbahn or Dragon Train, was a ride where you went through a bunch of tunnels and saw several animatronic Lego statues. I ended up riding it over and over and over because we had ten kids and they couldn't ride the ride without an adult. It was still really awesome. And I didn't even see the whole place. Post Legoland was a little bit more stressful though, because we took ten kids on the S-bahn to get home with only myself and my host parents. We made though! Didn't even lose a single kid!

Speaking of losing people on trains.... Yesterday Martina and I were riding the train to meet Becki after she got off work. As we were sitting at Becki's stop, I suddenly realized where we are and said to Martina, "Hey, this is where we were supposed to get off." Even though the doors had already made the beeping sound to indicate that they were going to close, she took that to mean "Get off the train." She literally leapt through the doors at the last second, leaving me behind on the train. It was a little bit embarrassing, because the train started moving and all of the people in my car were laughing and/or worried for me. But I couldn't stop laughing so I just looked ridiculous. I ended up getting off at the next stop, where Martina and Becki picked me up in the next train. Seriously, never a dull moment with those girls.

But back to last week. I went out last Saturday night after the party with the Toytowners. I don't know if I explained it before, but Toytown is a website for English speakers in Germany. People use it to set up hangouts and answer questions and things. It's really an amazing resource. So I went out with them. Mostly there were people I knew there, but a few fresh faces showed up. And we ended up just having a really great time. Then on Sunday AM's father took Martina and I on a tour of the city. That man is amazing, He knows EVERYTHING about this city, and his love for it is extremely apparent. The tour lasted six hours and ended with döner at what he called the best döner place in the city. It was pretty delicious, but I still maintain the fact that the best döner can be found just down the street from my house at the Zehlendorfer Grille. The tour was great though, and we learned soooo much. Sometimes I forgot how much history is in all the buildings that I so casually walk by on a day-to-day basis.

We had a little going away party for a friend last night. She's actually the au pair that I replaced, but she had come back to work with another family. Unfortunately, they didn't work out and she's headed back to Australia now. I'm kinda sad about it because I feel like we really could have been friends if I had given her a chance sooner rather than foolishly thinking she was just going to dislike me for replacing her. But the going away party was at Istoria (the Italian restaurant that I ate at when I first got here). I got this asparagus and steak salad. Sadly, I was a bit disappointed with it. The thing is, I love asparagus. And the Germans are crazy about it. Everywhere you go right now they are having "asparagus season specials". But the Germans don't eat asparagus like I like. They eat white asparagus, which I honestly find to be disgusting, even though it's supposed to be way fancier. Oh well.

Today we had our second au pair meeting for my agency since my arrival. It was not that great. Mostly it reminded me that a lot of the people that I've built relationships with and come to really care about will be leaving over the next two to three months. That's definitely one of the hardest parts of being an au pair. But I know that at least a few of those friendships will stay strong despite the distance, and now I'll have friends all over the world!

Other than that, not much has happened since my last post. I worked quite a bit. I don't mind though, since I have a lot of time off next week. Tuesday is a holiday, Tag der Arbeit. Essentially, Labor Day. But I've been warned that a lot of people use it as an excuse to riot and fight with the police, so I'll be staying in. This week I've also been able to notice a lot of the progress I've been making with my kids. I don't if it's me, or if they're just growing up. But I'm very proud of them. And it makes life easier, so I like that too :)

The weather here has taken a sudden turn for gorgeousness. I am so ecstatic about that. It's currently 8pm and 86°F. I could not be happier! (Well, maybe if I wasn't working... lol.) I even bought my first pair of flip flops for the season! The birds are chirping like crazy and I can smell barbecue through the open window. A barbecue and a picnic are both definitely in my near future. Berlin has the most amazing array of parks that I am looking forward to enjoying all summer long. Honestly, that's one of the things I love most about this city. It's a city, a big city, but it's also so incredibly green. Everywhere you go there is a beautiful park to be enjoyed. I love it. 


I've been in a really good place mentally these past few days. I had kind of fallen off the new country, new me bandwagon, but I'm now back on and raring to go. Despite everything, I still love this city. And the people I've met here. More than ever, this feels like home.

I did talk to my cousin back home a bit a couple of days ago though. My grandma left me a voicemail and she let Harper talk to me on it. I actually cried when I heard it. She could barely talk when I left and sometimes I forget that the world back home is still spinning on without me. I can't believe I've been gone for four whole months already. So I just want to say that I love all you guys back home and I just want you to know that. All I can hope is that someday every one of you, my friends and family alike, are able to experience your dreams the way I am here. I'm rooting for you all.

Your song (and inspiration for the title) today is I Like It Like That by Hot Chelle Rae. You can watch the video here. It's just a really great upbeat song and I've been enjoying bopping along to it in the beautiful sunshine the last few days. Also, Hot Chelle Rae has another song called Tonight, Tonight, which has this lyric in it "I don't know if I'll make it, but watch how good I fake it". And I really feel like that describes half of my days here. Because when I have no idea how something's going to turn out, a little confidence and a little swagger go a heck of a long way. 


Love ya everyone!