Au Pairing, Germany
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Nosh on This

There isn’t a lot to report on at the moment.

Still trying to find economical, yet chic accommodations for the Paris trip. ( An African national with a thick accent received our call about the apartment…I mean really, money transfers to a bank account? That’s the oldest scheme in the book!) I’ve come to the realization that we are either going to stay in a ghetto, no frills hostel in which a Random may be placed in our room (most are 3 person rooms) OR we put out a little more cash and splurge. Splurging would deflate our shopping budget and perhaps oblige us to spend more time in our accommodations in order to justify the expense. Hmm.

I traveled into Hanover on Sunday to meet P, the Australian au pair I ‘met’ on facebook. It was lovely to unabashedly speak English for an afternoon. She’s very nice, and at the likely possibility of her reading this, I feel it’s a little too premature to exploit this relationship via blog and potentially scare her off (PLEASEKEEPTALKINGTOME!!) Hahah, bugging.  We had lunch at a place called Jack the Rippers. Yup, you guessed it, it’s a British pub. Def check this  link > [http://www.jack-the-rippers.de/] It’s slightly below ground and just looks like the type of place where a secret society once meet in hushed whispers, fearing political exile if discovered. Though we had the place largely to ourselves on a Sunday afternoon, apparently it’s Bee’s Knees on a weekend evening. Thus, a subsequent visit is necessary.

I’ve temporarily lost interest in speaking German. If I wasn’t spending so much time studying my online course I would probably be honing my language skills but they have largely fallen to the wayside. Given that HostMom speaks English to me 100% of the time I’m hardly challenged, but don’t be mistaken -I don’t intend on asking her to speak to me in German any time soon. I know, I know. Lazy North American! But for all of you who make comments about the exchange students at UNBC who travel in hoards, keep to themselves whilst speaking Cantonese or Mandarin, I bet that you would do the same!*  I can vouch for this because I’m falling into this pattern, and many ex-patriots live in international cities, working at English speaking institutions and fail to ever pick up the language. I feel superior at least to those. Hah!

*Refer back to my ‘And Then I failed to Care’ entry. I think this exemplifies how this comes about.

In further news, Hostfamily is taking a trip to Northern Germany this weekend (Friday through Monday) to attend a reunion of sorts. Naturally I was invited, but politely declined after having some second-thoughts. Largely, I was afraid of an experience comparable to the Sunday when HostMom’s family visited. Except, this would be three entire days with 40+ year-olds, speaking technical Deutsch and reminiscing about their college years. Plus, this is all occurring on a farmhouse (read: rural) property with less beds than bodies. So, I will stay in Celle, study my heart out, perhaps venturing into Hanover for a night of social activity, lazing about having Skype dates with family and walking in Celle’s French Garden.

I’m also very much looking forward to Wednesday. My language class is going bowling. We’re the oddest bunch of people to convening in public. Bier trinken and bowling, anyone?

Guten Nacht!

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