Now that I have been in Stuttgart for over two months I thought I should do an update on life in general.
Time has gone so fast. When I think about meeting my host family at the airport and driving into the city and then their house for the first time, it seems like it was much longer than nine weeks ago.
In two months I have learnt that what I expected Marie's personality to be from the photos I saw before I came here, was completely wrong. I thought she was going to be shy and quiet, but she is the complete opposite. She is outgoing, loud, friendly, will talk to anyone, will sing anywhere. Melanie always laughs about how I thought Marie she was going to be shy! Now we are set firmly in our daily and weekly routines, things seem to run as smoothly as they could with a three year old. I take Marie to kindergarten everyday and pick her up everyday but Wednesday (which is Oma and Opa day). On Thursdays we go to ballet in the city and to a cafe afterwards for afternoon tea. Our afternoons are normally filled with playing on the playground, visiting the pet shop, the ice cream store, chalk drawing or painting at home.
I have started a German course. It is two times a week, on Monday and Wednesday evenings. We have a class of 18 people, and already in just a couple of weeks we have become quite a close group. There are people from Serbia, Turkey, Italy, Australia, USA, Costa Rica, India, Argentina etc etc, so as well as learning German we get to share our cultures with each other. Our teacher is from Macedonia, and she has studied German for seven years. She is a really good teacher and I enjoy going to these classes, even though they are 3 hours long with just a 10 minute break in the middle.
I have a couple of different groups of friends. Some are german, others are international, and I like having that mix. It's nice to know I have a friend who just lives a couple of houses down the street. Sometimes I will go to family events with Melanie, Thomas and Marie. A couple of nights ago Marie's cousin turned one, so we went to a birthday BBQ for him. His Mum is Italian and his Dad is German so he is a beautiful baby. And of course Oma and Opa live just one street over from us, so often they visit or we visit them for dinner, or brunch in the weekends. I have also been to a walking/jogging group with Opa, but because it is on the same night as my German course I will not be able to go again until July.
I have seen a little bit of Germany apart from Stuttgart, and I hope to see more. In June I am going to Duesseldorf and then to Amsterdam. I would also like to see Berlin and Munich sometime during my year here.
Some things are just so typically German it makes me laugh. Germans really do have a thing about being on time. To them being 10 minutes early is on time..They are really into everything being spotlessly clean and tidy (which I'm not complaining about). Everyone drinks fizzy water and then recycles the plastic bottles because you get some money back for each bottle. They go out in any weather: "There is no bad weather, just wrong clothing" as Melanie always says. AND they really really like beer and sausages.
Time has gone so fast. When I think about meeting my host family at the airport and driving into the city and then their house for the first time, it seems like it was much longer than nine weeks ago.
In two months I have learnt that what I expected Marie's personality to be from the photos I saw before I came here, was completely wrong. I thought she was going to be shy and quiet, but she is the complete opposite. She is outgoing, loud, friendly, will talk to anyone, will sing anywhere. Melanie always laughs about how I thought Marie she was going to be shy! Now we are set firmly in our daily and weekly routines, things seem to run as smoothly as they could with a three year old. I take Marie to kindergarten everyday and pick her up everyday but Wednesday (which is Oma and Opa day). On Thursdays we go to ballet in the city and to a cafe afterwards for afternoon tea. Our afternoons are normally filled with playing on the playground, visiting the pet shop, the ice cream store, chalk drawing or painting at home.
I have started a German course. It is two times a week, on Monday and Wednesday evenings. We have a class of 18 people, and already in just a couple of weeks we have become quite a close group. There are people from Serbia, Turkey, Italy, Australia, USA, Costa Rica, India, Argentina etc etc, so as well as learning German we get to share our cultures with each other. Our teacher is from Macedonia, and she has studied German for seven years. She is a really good teacher and I enjoy going to these classes, even though they are 3 hours long with just a 10 minute break in the middle.
I have a couple of different groups of friends. Some are german, others are international, and I like having that mix. It's nice to know I have a friend who just lives a couple of houses down the street. Sometimes I will go to family events with Melanie, Thomas and Marie. A couple of nights ago Marie's cousin turned one, so we went to a birthday BBQ for him. His Mum is Italian and his Dad is German so he is a beautiful baby. And of course Oma and Opa live just one street over from us, so often they visit or we visit them for dinner, or brunch in the weekends. I have also been to a walking/jogging group with Opa, but because it is on the same night as my German course I will not be able to go again until July.
I have seen a little bit of Germany apart from Stuttgart, and I hope to see more. In June I am going to Duesseldorf and then to Amsterdam. I would also like to see Berlin and Munich sometime during my year here.
Some things are just so typically German it makes me laugh. Germans really do have a thing about being on time. To them being 10 minutes early is on time..They are really into everything being spotlessly clean and tidy (which I'm not complaining about). Everyone drinks fizzy water and then recycles the plastic bottles because you get some money back for each bottle. They go out in any weather: "There is no bad weather, just wrong clothing" as Melanie always says. AND they really really like beer and sausages.