one week. two weeks.

one week.

it has officially been one week since i last set foot on american soil. today i took it fairly easy. i've been feeling a little under the weather (i hate that expression). i think it's a combination of changes, a new environment, different weather (it's a solid 30 degrees cooler here than at home. definitely rainy, fall weather), lack of sleep, etc. i took E for another walk today around the neighborhood. a few houses down, i found a nc state flag. bizarre! the family went for an outing this afternoon. i opted to stay home. i watched a movie and took a nap to end all naps. i woke up in time for dinner. after dinner i ventured into the city for the first time in the evening. i met an au pair, from brazil, who has been here for 11 months. although she is leaving next month, she has a replacement au pair coming. it was nice to spend time with someone my age. i didn't realize how lonely i've been. we met at a cafe called deseo. they even serve tapas! i successfully caught the night bus as well. quite a feat considering it doesn't run frequently, and the schedule is confusing to read. i waited less than 10 minutes each time. (the bus only runs every 30 minutes). beginners luck i suppose. the bus is quite expensive. about 2 euros per ride. my bike is going to be the only mode of transportation i can afford. that is until it gets too cold for me!

two weeks.

in the morning we leave for haffkrug, a town at the baltic sea, for two weeks. L and i are taking the 3 kids by train. C gets to be the luggage boy. he will drive and meet us. it's about a 4 hour trip. i anticipate the beach will be quite different. its supposed to be cooler than here. i don't think i will be spending much time in the water. i really won't have internet access. maybe once or twice if you are lucky.

more roses, rain, and really old churches

today--- some work, some play. this morning consisted of 'au pair' duties. i walked E around the neighborhood. i am fascinated by all the german houses. some friends of the family, from vancouver, came in for the day. after lunch we took them to all the hotspots of hildesheim. all eight of us traveled via vw van. i must say, the old streets of europe make me very nervous when traveling by car. even two way streets are much too narrow for even one car. i revisited many of the churches and sights from yesterday. it was nice to connect the dots and have a better lay of the land. yesterday i visited the hildesheimerdom after hours and did not get to see the thousand year old rose. today i was able to see it with my own two eyes. (in case any of you are wondering what a thousand year old rosebush looks like see the picture below.) after the sightseeing we stopped into this cute cafe. it is located on the corner of the alley just below the old city gate tower. the old half timbered house conceals a quaint tea room, owned by an old greek lady, who makes all of the cakes and drinks. her hot chocolate was satiating on the rainy afternoon. anyone who comes to visit, will have the pleasure of experiencing the kaffenion!

the thousand year old rosebush in the courtyard of hildesheimerdom

roses, rain, and really old churches

today i took it easy-ish. i woke up late and prepared to conquer the city by foot. it took me about 2 hours to walk to marktplatz (center of downtown). if you know where you are going and don't stop to take pictures it should take about 4o minutes. i took a few back streets through other neighborhoods to get to the main pedestrian street (hoher weg). i stopped to get some coffee at coffee and beans (a cafe recommended to me). afterwards i set out to do the rosenroute, which is a walking tour of old places and monuments in and around the marktplatz. here were a few of the highlights:

marktplatz

andreaskirche

st. michael's

hildesheimer dom

kehrwieder tower

i walked around for about 6 hours. needless to say i am pretty tired. i managed not to get too lost, and i took the bus on my own for the first time. baby steps! it was nice to be out on my own and exploring the city. i had two different old ladies ask me something in german today. i guess i look like i speak german/know what i'm doing?!? i, of course, am of no assistance. even saying i don't speak german (ich spreche kein deutsch) doesn't come to me fast enough yet. i basically just stand there and look dumb. when i ordered coffee (i got a chai latte) it is the same in german on the menu. apparently even when i ordered it was obvious i don't speak german because the waitress spoke in english to me the rest of the time. hopefully the german will come soon, after much, much practice. i also need some friends...

oh and a little history about the pictures:

the marktplatz

it contains the town hall, old butchers guild, the temple house, and roland fountain. many of the buildings were bombed during wwII and were reconstructed just like the originals

andreaskirsch

st. andrew's church has the highest steeple in lower saxony (the state hildesheim is in)

st. michael's

during wwII the ceiling was taken down to prevent damage if it were to be bombed. the church was in fact bombed and after the war the ceiling was put back up. (it's wooden boards)

hildesheimerdom

this was the first chapel in hildesheim. according to legend a visiting bishop got something stuck in a rosebush and took it as a sign to erect a chapel. the rosebush still lives and is over 1000 years old.

kehrwieder tower

this is the only surviving town from the original city gates. the entire neighborhood is very old timber buildings

the newest resident of hildesheim.

today was my first official day of work. here goes...

i got up at 7 to eat breakfast and help D and A get ready for the day. around 8:30 L and i took D to kindergarten by bike. when we got home, C and i biked downtown. i learned that C bikes very fast! i managed to keep up (somewhat). there are also many laws when it comes to biking in the city, and breaking them incurs a fine. i think i broke most of them. luckily no police were in sight and i had someone to correct me. it is a little daunting when you aren't familiar with the routes, laws, and language. getting to the city center takes only about 15 minutes or so. i don't think i am quite comfortable enough to do it on my own just yet. once in market square, we went to the city office where i registered as an official citizen of hildesheim. post-registration, we went to the bank were i opened my german bank account. then we biked back home. as soon as we got home, L and i left, on bikes, to pick D up from kindergarten. all before 12:30! the afternoon was spent around the house. one of D's friends from kindergarten came over. they moved here from britain, so they have great british accents. we talked over tea and biscuits. (those of you who will appreciate that know who you are.) we had the same evening routine...dinner, cleaning up, getting the kids ready for bed, and watching a little bit of german tv! tonight we also went over my contract, so i am an official au pair. all that is left is obtaining my visa (which won't be until the end of my 3 months on my tourist visa). i also put pictures up in my room today. now it looks more home-y :) well as i have heard a lot of people say in the past few days...cheers! (it is said very quickly almost like cheairs and with a german accent)

blackberries.

today i spent a lot of time at the house and helping with the kids.  this afternoon i went for my first excursion via bike. we rode about 15 minutes to C's mom's land.  there we had a picnic and picked lots of blackberries. they were delicious! the way there was mostly up hill. i have a feeling i will be getting into shape while i am here! the roads were very quiet, no cars. it was beautiful. there were views of hildesheim, the entire way was surrounded by quiet hills.  unfortunately, it was quite hazy.  tuesday is my day off. i will explore the city on my own.  pictures soon...i promise!

day 2

today i got to experience some of hildesheim.  L and i took the kids by bus to the main pedestrian street downtown.  the downtown area is fairly busy, but by no means a large city.  it reminds me somewhat of the size and scale of greenville. the city was bombed during WWII so many of the buildings are reconstructions of the old, or new buildings. we visited C's pharmacy and ate some ice cream at an italian place.  we also went into the old butcher's guild building for an exhibit with 3D pictures of hildesheim.  it was interesting to see the old photos and the 3D aspect was cool. afterwards we took the bus home and had dinner where i tasted my first german white wine. D, who is 5, speaks really good english.  he tends to only speak it when he is only with me. he usually prefaces everything with 'shall i tell you something.' it's funny. i gave him where the wild things are. we read it twice tonight. A, who is 2, babbles in english.  she understands a lot though.  she loves her baby doll, also called A. baby E mostly sleeps and is a fairly quiet baby.  L speaks to the kids in french and C speaks to the kids in german.  they all speak in english to me, for the time being.  needless to say, i've heard a lot of different languages. many french words are beginning to come back to me.  i keep wanting to speak in spanish because it's the language i associate with being in europe. ok, that's it for now. i'm still quite tired from the trip and the jetlag hasn't worn off. until tomorrow!

willkommen

hello all.  yesterday i left the great us of a for a year as an au pair.  i traveled to charlotte, newark, stockholm, hannover, and lastly to hildesheim all in the span of a few hours.  after a few minor mishaps in security, many check-ins, and way too much carry-on luggage later, i managed to survive all of my flights.  L, D, and E were waiting at the airport when i got there. my luggage also arrived (to my relief).  we then drove from the hannover airport to the house hildesheim, where i met the rest of the family.  i have managed to unpack some, eat my first meal since i left, and get a feel for how the household works.  currently i am exhausted and ready for some good shut eye. that's all for now, but there's still 364 days of stories left...