So I have been vlogging a lot and I really enjoy it! So, here are recent vlogs! Some are travel vlogs, some are just my Au Pair experience! Enjoy and subscribe to my YouTube Channel for more vlogs!
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Here is my Vlog about my experience in Cologne! Enjoy and subscribe to my YouTube Channel for more vlogs! This week, my host mom told me that her son is being bullied at school. She told me he was so upset he was crying. It is breaking our hearts. These kids aren't mine, but I genuinely love them! I've known them now for over a year (I babysat for them in America before coming to Germany) and I feel so bad for him!! He is such a sweet and empathetic kid! He is very smart and often spends his free time reading. He loves to be outside, and playing but he doesn't really play sports. I guess some of the boys in his class are making fun of him because he's not good at sports! This breaks my heart!
My host mom talked to me about it yesterday and I encouraged her to reach out to his teacher and ask her to address it with the whole class! I shared my thoughts as if I were a parent or an educator. I told her that if she and he doesn't speak up, it will just continue. But in the end, nothing felt like a solution. This morning when I woke up, I processed it more and realized that what was missing was Jesus! I thought about what I would tell my kids. I would do all the things I told my host mom, but I would have also pulled out my Bible and we would have talked about how Jesus was hated and despised! We would have talked about his death and how people wanted him killed! And we would have talked about how when we accept Jesus into our hearts, it doesn't matter what other people think of us, because Jesus thinks the world of us. It breaks my heart that so many kids are suffering from bullying and don't know that the God of the universe loves them and sees the pain they are going through! When I was a kid, people used to make fun of my finger. I was born with only half of my index finger on my right hand due to some complications during pregnancy. In light of this, I always remember my mom telling me that Jesus made me special. That I am like no one else and he chose me to be special. Kids can be so cruel, but I would just tell the kids who would make fun of me, that I am special. As I got older, people stopped noticing, but I never let the kids make fun of me for it! I just wish that he knew this in his heart. I wish he knew that he is special in other ways and that God created him just the way he wanted him. I wish he knew that he doesn't need to change and that he doesn't have to be good at sports. Please see Part 1 about the beginning of our trip! The next morning we woke up early to catch our train to Salzburg!! I think this was everyone's favorite part of the trip. The city was beautiful and we really enjoyed being in the mountains. We also really love the Sound of Music, so we were excited to see some of those sights in the city too! First we headed straight into the center of the city to Mozartplatz and the main square. We started our Rick Steve's audioguide and toured through the residence and saw the Salzburg Dom. Mozart even played on of the organs in the church. Then we walked over to St. Peter's Church. The cemetery is really neat, and the inspiration for the Hollywood film set where the Von Trapp family were chase by Ralph and hid. Next we headed to the old shopping street, The Getreidegasse, and found a unique feel of old traditions mixed with new contemporary style. It is on the street that Mozart's family lived, and the house he was born in. At our time in Salzburg, we stayed at the Salzburg Meininger Hostel/hotel. We had a very nice room that felt more like a hotel room than a hostel. It was really clean and a nice size room for four people! We would recommend anyone stay there. We took the S-Bahn to get there our first night, and that was a mistake! It would have been much easier with just the city bus! The hotel is just around the corner from the bus stop! They also offered a lovely breakfast buffet that you pay extra for 9 about 6 EUR per person), but it was nice with plenty of food choices! The next day we got up and headed back into town and went straight to Mirabell Gardens! I was excited to see the gardens since they are in so many scenes in the Sound of Music! After we frolicked in the gardens (that were mostly closed because it was winter), we headed to Mozart's Residence, where he and his family lived from the time he was 16. Then we headed to the Hohensalzburg Fortress! This was the best view of the surrounding mountains and city!! We took the Fortress funicular up to the top and ended up walking the path along the ridge to the Modern Art Museum so we could see more spots from the Sound of Music! It was a long walk, but refreshing and beautiful. We ended our time in Salzburg with some shopping and then we ate at a great restaurant called Zwettler's. They had delicious food and I had read about it on someone's blog, but we were also pointed to eat there by some locals! It's next to Mozart's statue and was delicious! On Sunday, we got up early, like 4:30am early, to catch a 6am train to Füssen to go to Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau! We arrived in Füssen with all our luggage, to a completely torn down train station. Thankfully a hotel up the street had luggage storage so we left our bags there and headed to Hohenschwangau by taxi! We headed to the ticket counter, where we picked up our reserved tickets! Well we learned that the online reservation system was a little confusing because we reserved our tickets later than my mom expected, but it ended up being fine, because we had plenty of time to get lunch and walk through some chachkie shops (as my mom calls them). We finally started our tour at Hohenschwangau and we had a really lovely tour guide. She was super knowledgeable and knew a lot about the history and the people. She even let us sneak a picture out the amazing views out one of the windows! Finally, it was time to head up to Newschwanstein! At this point in the trip, my feet hurt so much that I was not about to hike up the steep hill! So dad and I rode in the bus (it cost about 3 EUR for both of us, and it was only running one way)! Thank goodness we rode the bus, it is a long way up that hill! The castle was really amazing, although it could have been much more spectacular if it has been finished! None the less, it was really cool seeing both castles! Unfortunately they don't allow photos in either castles, but it was cool to take pictures outside! I would suggest going to both castles! Finally, it was time to head back to Stuttgart! We had to take a taxi back to Füssen to catch our train back to Stuttgart! Our last day together was a little bit crazy. It was Monday, and I was back to work. I had a typical morning, and then my family came to have lunch with me and to go to the Porsche Museum. Before my parents came, I realized that museums are closed on Mondays! I was so mad because my dad was really looking forward to going to the museum! I was so mad that I didn't realize! We could have gone to the museum when we were in town before. Grr! We headed to lunch at this great Italian place that my host family goes to all the time. Then we walked down to the Porsche area to show them the huge statue and go into the Porsche dealership. Dad has fun looking at some cars and then we headed home to pick-up the kids. It was really fun having my mom and Dad and brother see a typical afternoon in my life. My mom and dad and I picked up Awa at school and Yannis from the bus! Mom even went with me to take Awa to Gymnastics and my dad and Ben stayed with Yannis. Finally we headed to my friends house, where my parents were staying, for dinner! It was really nice to just eat with them and enjoy our last night together! Our time went way too fast, but I am so thankful they got to come!!
Just a few weeks ago, my parents and older brother traveled for their first times to Europe! I am so thankful that they got to come visit me while I am in Germany! It was so good to be with them and travel together. Since Paris is just a short train ride away, we decided to meet in Paris and start our trip there. They flew into Paris and we met in the lobby of out Hostel. We got all checked in and then headed off to The Palace of Versailles! Our first stop of the day and beginning of a day filled with adventure. Versailles was beautiful! There was so much to see and explore! We all bought the Paris City Pass, so all of our museum entrances were free! We still had to pay for traveling, but it was great to have one cost for all the museums! We got to Versailles in the early afternoon and headed straight in for our tour. We probably spent 15 minutes total waiting to get through the security line and walked right in. We got audio guides with the tour, but I found it really dry and boring. My mom and I ended up listening to the Rick Steve's Audioguide! It was much better and gives more interesting information. Unfortunately, since its winter, the gardens were all closed! That was a bummer since they are supposed to be so beautiful. We could see them out the windows, and even in the winter, they looked amazing. The day got really interesting when Ben and I, and our parents got separated! To make a long story short, Ben and I had my parents paged by security, were taken through the chateau on a private tour and finally decided to leave the Palace when it made no sense that they could be there any longer. It was a crazy 2 hour debacle! Ben finally convinced me to head back to our hostel, and hope that they also headed there. Thankfully, they were waiting in our room when we got back and it turns out that we were just all confused. From then on, we determined a meeting point in each place and did a better job of communicating with each other. Unfortunately, it was a rainy evening in Paris so it wasn't super enjoyable, but after a delicious dinner at the recommendation of a worker at the Hostel, we headed to the Arc de Triomphe for a great evening view of Paris! We also stopped at the Paris Opera on the way! Climbing up the Arc was a workout, but it was really cool at the top. In case you didn't know, at the top of the hour, the Eiffel Tower sparkles. So we got to the top and had about 15 minutes to wait! Unfortunately the rain and wind was pretty strong and it wasn't very fun to wait up there. I wish we could have seen the city on a clear night. But, none the less the view was great!! I really recommend it for a great overall view of the city! Again, the Arc was included in the city pass, so it didn't cost anything extra for us to go up! We were supposed to finish the night off at the Eiffel Tower, but with the rain, we decided to skip it. Instead, Mom and I made plans to go there early in the morning together and meet the boys later at Saint Chapelle. I am so glad that we did! Seeing the Eiffel Tower in person was crazy!! I couldn't believe my eyes. Also, I knew it was big, but man, was it BIG! We made it back to Notre Dame/ Saint Chapelle. We got off the subway and my mom realized that she had lost her iPhone! We hopelessly headed down into the subway again to ask for help and were told the chances of it being turned in were very slim. We decided to not worry too much, but would try to come back later and ask again. We headed to meet the boys at Saint Chapelle. I didn't even know what Saint Chapelle was, but it was incredible! I suggest that you go see it if you go to Notre Dame! It about a 5 minute walk and really neat! It holds one of the oldest frescos in Europe! The stained glass windows are also really neat. It was fun to look through the chapel windows and try to figure out each bible story depicted! Next, we headed to Notre Dame. I wasn't wowed by Notre Dame, but it was cool to see. I would have been happy just to see the outside! After Notre Dame, we walked along the Seine and headed to the Louvre! I felt like I was back in the Vatican Museums in Rome! There is so much to see and take in there. But I think the kind of art that continues to impress me are sculptures! They never cease to amaze me! My favorite on this trip was Winged Victory. It was massive and beautiful. We also saw the Mona Lisa, rooms styled like when Napoleon lived in the Palace and other famous works! It was incredible! After the Louvre, we unfortunately didn't have enough time to go anywhere else, and be back in time to catch our train to Stuttgart! So we headed back to our hostel and stopped at a lovely bakery for dinner. Then we picked up our bags at the hostel, and headed for the train station and hopped on our train to Stuttgart. We had a very relaxed morning at my house and then headed for Schlossplatz for lunch and a walk around the old town. We got some German food for lunch and then headed to Rubble Hill, or Birkenkopf, one of my favorite places in Stuttgart! After Rubble Hill, we went to the Schweine Museum. They have over 50,000 pigs on display in the museum. Since my dad collects pigs, we thought it would be fun! Our trip continues in Salzburg. Check back soon for the second part of our trip in Part 2!
One thing that I get asked a lot, and something that I think would have been helpful for me to read, was the average, daily routine of another Au Pair. Remember that I am responsible for 2 school aged children, so depending on your family, it could be different. So here is a look at my day,
Wake Up: 6:45am - I usually start waking up about 6:45a. (I take showers at night, so I don't have to wake up as early. ;)) Be Downstairs: 7:15-7:20am- This can vary each day, but most of the time, I am downstairs just before Yannis heads off to school with his dad. Then I get sometime with Awa before I take her to school. Sometimes she needs to get dressed or have her hair done, or help me empty the clean dishwasher. Take Awa to school: 7:50am-8:00am- Her school is open at 8 and since she loves school, I taker her there at 8. Some days are later than others, but most days its 8am! Morning Routine: 8:15am-12:00pm- I'm responsible to clean up after breakfast (which is usually cereal or toast), empty the dishwasher and get myself breakfast. I usually do all those things in the morning to get them out of the way. Once those are done, I have free time. Usually from 9-12, I have free time. Lunch: 12:00-1:00pm- Usually around noon I start thinking about lunch and what I want. In Germany, most people have a hot lunch served at their workplace, so we eat sandwiches for dinner in the evening. So I make myself a hot lunch too! Somedays its leftovers, it just depends. Afternoon Routine: 1:00pm-3:00pm- Usually my daily work is laundry. I do some process of getting laundry done, weather its hanging things to dry, or folding dry clothes and putting them away. I am also responsible to take out the trash, sweep the floors (not all the time, just if its really bad), pick up the kids rooms, help them organize their rooms, and even wash their bedding once a month. So those things I tend to do in the afternoon. Once they are done, I have more free time. Pick-Up Kids: 3:15-4:00pm- When I first got here, this was crazy. Unfortunately for me, Yannis' school is in another neighborhood and his parents weren't comfortable with him walking home on heavy traffic roads or taking the bus alone. So I used to have to drag Awa along to pick him up. It was crazy, when we could ride bikes, it wasn't so bad, but days we had to walk, would take us an hour round trip. Since just before Christmas, he is riding the bus home all by himself, which saves me so much time and energy. I call his school and ask for them to send him to the bus and he heads on his way. I go get Awa and we meet him at the bus stop and head home. Late Afternoons: 4:00pm-6:00??- Once we get home, I am with the kids until their parents come home. Usually this is around 6pm, but can be as late as 7:00pm. We just hangout and play. They also must practice their recorders since they take lessons on Tuesday afternoons. Sometimes they also help me fold or put away laundry or other light house chores. Dinner: 6:00-7:00pm- Usually I eat dinner with the family when ever my host parents get home. Most nights, like I said before, we just eat sandwiches, but sometimes we cook something quickly, or eat leftovers. Free Time: 7:00pm-??- After dinner, I am free to do what ever I want. I can go out, or I can just go to my room and hangout, its my time completely. So, thats a typical day in my life. As you can see, I can have up to 5-6 hours of free time per day. I only work 25-30 hours a week, unless we have a sick kid on our hands, so its pretty relaxed. I also have weekends completely free, unless my host parents need me. But that hasn't really happened yet. I can tell you though, that I have a friend who has Tuesdays off, and works most Saturdays, since her host father is a musician and they need help on the weekends. But if she asks in advance, they will let her have Saturday off most of the time. I also have friends who work in the mornings and then late afternoons and evenings, it just depends. All situations are different, but this is what my days look like! Thanks for reading! Check back soon about my recent visit with my family and trip to Paris and Salzburg! So I have been struggling with feeling alone and somewhat homesick, so I decided to do some research and find a grocery store with American products. I have been here for almost 3 months and so far I am doing well, but some days I just want a Peanut butter and Jelly sandwich or a quesadilla. Those are two things I ate a lot in America and I miss so much. Luckily for both you and I, through another blog, I found a store with American products. Now, I didn't want to go crazy and buy everything, but tortillas and Peanut butter were at the top of my list to buy today. Here's all the details for the rest of you American's looking for a taste of home. Galeria Kaufhof is your new best friend. Its located on Königstr very close to Hauptbahnhof (main train station). Its directly across from McDonald's and looks like a department store. The funny thing is, that it actually is a department store. More on that later. Head straight in and go down the escalator to the bottom floor. You will be surrounded buy kitchen stuff, bath stuff, office supplies etc. Keep heading towards the back of the store, away from the escalator and you will find the market, or heaven. ;) Since peanut butter and tortillas were first on my list, I set out in search of them. Thankfully for me, they were next to each other, towards the back of the market, near the frozen foods or fish. (There was an aisle of asian food items as well, if you are looking for those things.) As you can see, they have an array of Tex Mex/Mexican food and cake mixes and hot chocolate. Word of advice, the guacamole in the jars is gross. You're better off making your own or buying a more fresh kind. I actually saw some in a cooler in the store that looked pretty good. They actually had corn tortillas (called Mexican tortillas) and flour tortillas. There were also a variety of Salsas, cheese sauces, fajita, and taco seasonings, refried beans, chillies and tortilla chips. There were also taco (hard), enchilada and burrito kits and hot sauces. Peanut butter was found with the baking stuff. They also had marshmallow fluff, baking powder, hot chocolate, maple syrup, and a variety of cake mixes. They also had other baking items like crisco. (I didn't end up buying the Peanut Butter from here, because it was like 5 Euros. I found another kind with the jams and jellies, and it came in a small size, so I opted for that.) As I continued to walk around the store, I found more and more familiar items. I found Tabasco sauce, as well as Heinz ketchup, BBQ sauces and Miracle Whip. I almost cried when I came to this aisle. Everything was a bit more expensive than I was willing to pay, but it looked so yummy! (I'll post the prices at the end of the blog) Poptarts, Kellog's Cereals, Clif bars, and Nature Vally Granola bars. In the pasta section, I found Barilla pasta and pasta sauce. They also had Uncle Ben's Rice there too! I also found Oreos, Jelly Belly jelly beans, and Werther's Candies. Overall, I was super excited to have found all that I did. I also saw Twinnings and Celestial Seasonings tea, ramen noodles, Campbell's Tomato Soup, white bread, and a variety of items with the title "American ...". For example, there was a salad dressing called American Dressing. I would really like to know what that is. I also saw some American white bread and hamburger buns. Here's a breakdown of the prices that I saw. Most things were reasonably priced, and I think that I could shop there again. Tortilla's (8)- 2,99 Crisco- 4,99 (small jar) Peanut Butter- 1,99 Clif Bar- 2,49 each Nature Vally Granola Bars (5 pack)- 2,99 Heniz Ketchup- 1,79-2,49 Miracle Whip- 3,29 (large jar) Ramen noodle- ,50 (one packet) Guacamole -2,99 (found in the coolers, not with mexican food) Twinnings/Celestial Seasons Tea - 4,99 per box Kellogg's Cereal- 3,39 Poptarts- 6,29 (8 pastries) Barilla Pasta Sauce-2,69-3,30 Barilla Pasta- 1,69-2,49 Uncle Ben's Rice- 2,99-3,79 Uncle Ben's Express Rice 1,49-3,29 Oreos- 2,49 Overall, I don't think that some of the prices are too bad for the products. I think probably the most outrageous ones are the poptarts and clif bars. In the end, this is what I bought. I am happy with it. It will help me get through the next few weeks/months here. You don't know what you miss until its gone. If you're not just looking for American food, the store also has lots of clothing, makeup and other items from the US. Its your typical department store with women's, men's and children's clothing, accessories, and housewares. Think Macy's, or Nordstrom. They had Clinique, Lancome, Estee Lauter, Chanel, Dior and even Burt's bees. Some of these can also be found at other stores around town too.
Well I hope the post has been helpful. If I find anymore places with American Food, I'll let you know! Loneliness. How quickly you've swept in...
Gray skies, you make it so easy to be lazy... As I am sinking back into a more normal routine and figuring out how to spend my time here, I am feeling lonely. I am in my house all day, mostly alone. The kids are gone from 8 in the morning until 3 or 4 in the afternoon, and I am here alone. Although, part of me really enjoys this, I also really hate it! I don't have enough to do here and I am wishing I could use the time to really do things I enjoy, like scrapbooking or sewing. Unfortunately, I can't do either, since they require money that I don't have to spend on supplies. I am limited in the things that I can do, so most days I just watch movies or tv shows on Netflix. Reading is also an option, but I find it makes me tired and I even get bored reading for long amounts of time. I know, I shouldn't complain. I'm living in Europe for free and getting paid to help take care of kids and a house. Sounds awesome, right? Well it is, but its not like I can really go anywhere everyday, or take trips every weekend. People don't understand that I'm really not making that much money. It costs about 5 euros to take the train to and from downtown, and if I want to save money for trips, I can't exactly go places everyday. So, I am stuck inside, alone most days. I would say I have about 5-6 hours of free time during the day that I try to fill everyday. And that doesn't even include the 3-4 hours I have in the evening. Unfortunately, I live away from the city, and there aren't many places to hangout or go in my town. Life just feels very slow and boring, which I am not used to. I was a college student for 6 years, always rushing from one thing to the next. There was always class, work, homework, friends or church activities to fill my time. Now, I have so much free time, I don't know what to do with myself. For an introvert, this might sound like heaven. But for an introvert, I can tell you, it sucks and I'm lonely. I believe that one of the reasons God brought me here, and is keeping me here is to take a break and relax after 6 years of craziness, but right now, it's hard. Adjusting to this new life is hard. Slowing down is hard... After 75 days, 10 and a half weeks, and a four week intensive German course, I FINALLY HAVE MY VISA!! I am so happy to know that everything is final and I am staying for the year. I feel like a new person. I feel like I can finally relax and just enjoy my time here instead of stressing about my Visa. And, making it even sweeter by celebrating today with Starbucks and buying some flowers. Sounds strange, right?! Well my whole life, my mom and Grandmothers always had flowers around. The houses were always teeming with flowers outside and inside. To me, it's comforting. Just one more thing to make my space feel more like my room. And to top off the celebrating, in just a few weeks, I'm heading to Italy! This is a dream come true and I am so excited to be in places that hold so much history. Bon voyage!
Check back soon for info about my experience in Italy! Thanks for your prayers and support. They mean so much to me. Here's a look at the past week.
Sunday, I began feeling anxious about my exam that I would take on Thursday. The only way I would be staying in Germany is if I passed this exam. I had begun studying a few days before, but I was nervous still. I went to church that evening, hoping for a chance to take my mind off things and worship. Worship started and I was pleased that it was one I knew well. I closed my eyes and began singing. The song was one that we sang often at my church in Michigan, so I was feeling very at home. I was even imagining standing in that sanctuary that I’ve stood is so many times, singing this very song. In that moment, I thought “This feels like home.” Before my human brain could think something else, I heard from the Lord, “This is home for a while. You will pass your test.” I know it was Him, because the response came too quickly. There is no way my brain would process something that fast. After those words were uttered in my ears, I began crying and a weight was lifted off my chest. I felt like I could breathe. The rest of the week was totally different. I had this confidence I hadn’t had with German before. I was confident that I would pass, because the Lord spoke to me. Thursday arrived, and to my surprise, I was calm and dependant on the Lord. Numerous times over the last few weeks, I have prayed and uttered the words, “Lord, if this isn’t what you have for me, that’s ok, I’ll go home. I don’t want to, but I will if You tell me to.” I was still saying those things, in an effort to try and handle all the emotions that could result as the outcome of the test was revealed. Thursday on my way to school I plugged in my headphones, needed the presence of the Holy Spirit on my mind. I listened to “You Make Me Brave” by Bethel Music, and “I am Not Alone” by Kari Jobe. If you need two songs to give you confidence, I’d choose those. I was confident in the Lord’s words to me and in my preparation for the exam. After the exam was another story. I was a mess. The speaking section of the exam didn’t go as well as I’d hoped and I was really worried I wouldn’t pass. The listening sections had also been more difficult than I had expected, and I was just unsure of the outcome. My classmates and I went to lunch to celebrate the end of the class. It was fun and I enjoyed being with them. All afternoon and evening, I was plagued by doubt and fear. I believed that the Lord had spoke to me, but I just didn’t believe that I had passed. I kept thinking, “what if I didn’t pass? Does that mean God didn’t speak to me?” And yet even as I would think those things, I believed that he had spoken to me. But I was worried what I would say to Him, if somehow I didn’t pass. My human mind just couldn’t commit to the idea that I had passed. I didn’t sleep well either, knowing I would find out the results the next morning. Friday morning, I got up and the wait began. At points, I felt like I was going to throw up. FINALLY, class began and she gave us our grades. And just as The Lord promised, I passed. When she said my grade, I exclaimed “I’m staying in Germany, ya’ll!!” Some of the people around me that knew passing would mean I got to stay, gave me high fives or big smiles from across the room. I guess the thing I learned this week, is even when the Lord speaks, and I honestly believe He has spoken to me, my human flesh will always fail and doubt His words. I honestly believe that He spoke to me, to give me the confidence I needed going into the test. I also think He hoped it would help calm me down after, and maybe it did some, I’ll never know. I’m just thankful the Lord chose to speak, and that I was able to hear His voice. Please continue to pray for me. On Monday I will head to the Visa office with my certificate of completion in the course, with the hopes that I will finally get my Visa. Honestly, if they decline me again, I don’t know if I will get the Visa. Pray that the woman would be gracious and that I can speak to her what little German I know to impress her. Below are links to the songs I shared above. “You Make Me Brave” by Bethel Music “I am Not Alone” by Kari Jobe |
AuthorMy name is Lindsey. I graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a degree in Early Childhood Education in 2015 and moved to Germany as an Au Pair for a year! I love my Savior and my relationship with Him is most important. I also love traveling. I have been to the UK and Ireland, South Korea, China, Bosnia, Montenegro, and now Germany, Italy, Austria and France. I started this blog to chronicle my life as an Au Pair in Germany and my European Travels. My hope is that future Au Pairs would find my blog helpful and informative as they decide if they would like to be an Au Pair. Lindsey's Instagram:
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