Ooops....

Sorry about the ridiculous break between posts. I was on vacation and I just didn't feel like sitting down and writing. The consequence of this though is that I now have a ridiculously long post to write. So here goes. After my last post we went to the Hard Rock and stuffed our faces with sooo much American food!!! I had been yearning for a good salad, and I finally got one! With ranch dressing! We had a great time watching the music videos there, not to mention the crazy tourists. And then I think we went home after that and watched a movie or something because we were both too busy digesting to do anything else. It was probably a ridiculous calorie-fest, but getting a little taste of home was definitely worth it.

My family left that following Monday, so then I had the rest of the week off. Martina and I decided to catch up on some of the sightseeing in Berlin that we'd been putting off. But we're both cheap, so what we ended up doing was just getting on random buses and riding them from end to end. It's a great way to see the city, especially if you can get the front seats on the double-decker buses. We also spent one whole day on Museum Island. We bought day passes and hit three of the major museums: the Bode Museum, the Pergamon, and either the old or the new gallery. I can't remember which one we were in. We were going to go to both, but whichever one we didn't go to you had to have a time slot to get in to. We had the time slot, we just didn't know which museum it was for. So we ended up missing our chance. We could always go again another time though, since it was only like 7 euro for a day pass with our student IDs (which I still pretend is valid so that I can get discounts even though I graduated ages ago). We saw the Berliner Dome (because it's right next to the museums), but we didn't go inside because they make you pay, which I thought was absolutely ridiculous. We also walked around Alexanderplatz and checked out the Easter market, which was interesting, but pretty standard fare for Germany. I did like that they had live entertainment there though. Two men doing covers of songs. They made me laugh because the singer was not great at English and he would switch back and forth between the languages while singing. Half the time I don't think he was even saying real words, just trying to imitate what he had heard. But he was fun and enthusiastic and I really enjoyed watching him. Oh, and we spent ages in the Galeria Kaufhof, because they have an enormous food section. And you all know how much I love food :) Oh, and I hit up Brandenburger Tor and the Reichstag one day by myself while waiting for another friend to get off work. I'll have to go back though, because I'd really like to go inside the Reichstag, but you have to schedule a timeslot to do so.

Other than that I actually didn't do much with my vacation time. I know, I was super lazy. But I was sick for part of it, so that didn't help. I guess what I really wanted most from my vacation time was some rest and relaxation. I watched a lot of movies, ate a lot of food, and spent a lot of time laughing with friends. A couple of my very good friends had a big party at their house during my vacation, so I went to that. I spent the whole time sitting on the couch talking to my friend and keeping on eye on everyone else because the apartment is tiny (a kitchen/living room and one bedroom/bathroom, that's it) and at one point there were 26 people in there. It was crazy. But also a really good time. Even though we missed the train by mere minutes going home and ended up waiting forever.

Part of the reason it has taken me so long to write is that I was going through a streak of really horrible luck. My iPod quit working and had to be reset to factory settings. I had to have my computer repaired because the fan was acting up. Then I got locked out of my Hotmail account because of suspicious activity and had to spend forever with their tech support to prove it was mine so that they'd let me back in. And then my head phones broke and I had to order new ones. I also had to get a new cell phone, because my buttons quit working. And then yesterday I found out my debit card from home had been frozen due to suspicious overseas charges, even though I warned them before I left home that I would be in Germany for a year. Absolutely ridiculous. I've spent so much time on the phone with various customer services over the last few weeks that I wanted to pull my hair out. I'm so thankful that my mom bought me my Magic Jack before I left home so that I have a US phone that I can call from all the time and not rack up a ton of charges. It's been an absolute lifesaver. Now things are finally all coming back together and I'm hoping everything will calm down now.

One thing I did do a ton of during my vacation was baking. I love to bake. At home, I find it therapeutic. Here, it's not nearly the same. But I've learned to work around most of the issues I come up against, like lack of real vanilla or baking powder. Though the baking powder thing actually nearly caused a fight. I went to the American store here in Zehlendorf to buy baking powder because the stuff that they sell here is not the same as at home. At home we use double acting baking powder, which is heat activated. Here, they use single acting, which is moisture activated. This means that the chemical reaction starts as soon as you mix your wet and dry ingredients. Therefore, if you mix for too long after adding them together, you can lose all the air bubbles that cause your cake to rise. The guy at the American store didn't believe me. He basically told me I didn't know what I was talking about. And then, as I looked around the store, I noticed that he had Ocean Spray cranberry juice on his shelf. Except, you can buy Ocean Spray here. And the containers that were on his shelf were definitely German containers. We don't have those kind back home. So basically, he was buying those here and then charging a huge mark up for them. Him and I are not friends now. I don't like how he does business.

Anyway, the whole reason behind all of my baking was that both of my host kids had birthdays this month. M's was while they were on vacation. J's was Thursday. And that meant I had to make a load of cupcakes. Because here you are required to bring cupcakes for your whole school or Kindergarten class. For M's Kindergarten we also had to provide a breakfast spread for one day. It was kind of a lot to ask, in my opinion. But we made it through. My cupcakes were a hit (as they should be, after I made three test batches first). I tried to do rainbow cupcakes, but I couldn't find the right kind of food coloring here, so they weren't nearly as brightly colored as at home. And, because of the time constraints caused by that stupid German baking powder, I was only able to do two colors for each kids' cupcakes.

With the kids' birthdays, this whole last week has been ridiculously busy. There was a lot of preparing to do, because birthdays are apparently a huge deal here. We had a party on Thursday (J's actual birthday) for M and her friends, as well as for all of the adults. I thought it went over really well, even though the caterer was horrible and showed up an hour and a half late with only half the order. Still, the kids had fun. And they seemed to like their presents (Thanks Mom!). And today, since it's now like 2:00am, we are having J's party for his friends. It's at Legoland and we're taking all the kids on the S-bahn. Should be an adventure!

A lot of stuff is in the works right now. I just bought tickets to go to Istanbul in June and I'm super stoked. The ticket buying did get me in some trouble though, and I'm glad that it's finally starting to blow over. You see, I already had told my host family that I'd be going to Tokyo the first week of July. Well that fell through, and I told them before they left that I now planned to go to Istanbul instead. When Martina and I went to buy tickets, it was considerably cheaper to buy them for the first week of June. So we did. I checked my Google calendar (where my host mom puts my work schedule) and saw that I would be missing two days where she will be gone, but I assumed that this would be ok because that's how many days I'd be missing if I'd gone the first week of July and she had already ok'd that. And there was my mistake. Assuming. I sent my host mom an email to let her know that I'd booked the tickets. She came home a few days later and was extremely upset with me for not asking first. I really truly hate when people are upset or disappointed in me, so I took it pretty hard. I tried to make it right as best as I could, and I hope that she understands that all of my apologies were heartfelt. I really just forgot that while I'm here I am under someone else's rules. I've lived on my own since I was 18, and so sometimes I really struggle with what feels like the loss of my independence here. Don't get me wrong, my host family is really great and not overbearing or anything, but it's definitely hard living in someone else's home and being accountable at all times. If any potential au pairs out their are reading this, just take this bit of advice. Don't assume anything. It is always better to ask.

Besides my tickets to Istanbul, I also got tickets to Tomorrowland in Belgium! Tomorrowland is this huge music festival. You can watch last year's highlights video here. Anyway, we managed to get tickets even though they sold out in the first three hours, I believe it was. We're going to be roadtripping there and staying three nights. I'm ridiculously excited about this!

So just one more thing that I need to tell you, I think. My contract at the Kita has been extended from six months to a full year now. I guess that means I passed the probationary period and they are satisfied with my work! The last few weeks there have been really rough, because we've been really understaffed due to all of the people taking Easter vacations. I haven't got to be with my group in awhile, since I've been filling in with others. I miss my kids there a lot. Hopefully next week things will settle back down to normal.

I really ought to get to bed. Tomorrow is going to be another long day. Today I have a song for you and a question! I need some really good walking shoes. I've walked through everything I brought with me and my feet are aching all the time. I was thinking Adidas. Does anyone else have any suggestions? I'd like them to be something at least kind of cute.

And your song today is Gasolina by Daddy Yankee. Because it's stuck in my head. Because I went to Zumba today. And dealt with the world's worst instructor. Seriously, she just spent the whole time looking at herself in the mirror in her little tiny pants and her bra. It was stupid. She didn't even instruct or tell us how to do anything. And she was doing really advanced "real dancer" moves, so it was obvious that the entire class was struggling. I won't be going to her class again. Anyway, here's the link.

Sorry about the wait again! And I'll post some pictures here pretty soon, for any of you that aren't Facebook friends with me.