Well, it is official; I got another job here, and I am staying in Germany until May! If any of you follow my Facebook page you already know!
The situation was this: apparently an American girl can’t be a nanny/au pair for an American family. It makes sense, as the au pair program in Germany is for a cultural experience, and the visa limit is one year. My friend Jessi was the nanny for the family I now work for, and she is living in Mannheim. She had to quit so she can start focusing on living life there and not worrying about a commute! So when I found out I needed the job, I asked her what I could do… turns out she only works part time for the Klein family. I can work two days a week with Corola and Paula, and spend the rest of the week working with Josh and Emilie still! The best part? The Klein house is a five minute walk from the Patrick house. I will continue to live with Cheryl and the kiddos, helping wherever needed, and living here in this wonderful country legally!
One of the significant reasons my blog has been left unmanned: I have gained so many new friends! I’ll give a quick profile of some of them…
Kelsey:
Scottish and sassy and so much fun!! She and I really connected instantly (from the minute she asked “do you want to come to Munich with us??” two seconds after I met her), and have already walked through some tough times together… I’m so excited to have her as a friend; we are actually going to Prague together in a few weeks! (>> Kelsey and I at a birthday party for our friend Robin, at a Mexican restaurant that had live music and dancing!) My favorite city in Europe…I’m going to show her all the lovely things I know about there. Kels is here on an internship before finishing her last year of University. I’m spending Christmas with her family in Scotland!
Landon:
Landon:
From Arkansas, he leads worship at the International Baptist Church here in Stuttgart! He teaches music classes for kiddos, and is very funny. He is totally helpful and fun to be around, also likes berries in his ice cream! Hahaha. We are learning this whole American-in-Stuttgart thing together. (Landon with his Black Forest cake at the Fusion retreat last month!>>)
Jakob:
Casey:
From North Carolina, she’s also an au pair! She and Kels and I have had some really fun times together, and now I know I get to stay, we are going to be exercise buddies! I am very VERY excited! (from left to right, myself, Kelsey, and Casey at Oktoberfest in Munich!)
There are many, many more! Stefanie, Robin, David, Anki, Rebecca, Florien, Jeff, Abby...the list goes on and on and on...but most are from the International Baptist Church in Stuttgart, where I’ve really gotten connected; the 20s and 30s group is called Fusion! The group is really tight-knit and I love it.
Places I have been so far:
Heidelberg
Munich for Oktoberfest and a tour
Schloss Neuschwanstein
Ireland!
Trips coming up:
Prague
(possibly) Italy for Thanksgiving!
Salzburg
Scotland!!!
On Saturday I went on a biking tour of Stuttgart, courtesy of Johannes, who I met at IBC. Johannes is a med student in Mannheim, about an hour and a half from Stuttgart, and he also has been a volunteer fireman for quite a few years! He is really nice and has been extremely encouraging of me through this rough patch of trying to find peace in God's will, when the path is completely blocked from sight.
Now you have to understand that to get into Stuttgart, one must go down into a basin surrounded by hills. So the first half was nice, lots of downhill with little ups, and more downs…and then the way back up was huffing and puffing (at least for me!) and sweating and fatigue…haha. No, I was actually okay; it was totally worth it!! I had a blast; Stuttgart is absolutely spectacular with all the fall colors, and we went to some pretty obscure places! We went to the former home of the man who invented the very first car (Mercedes-Benz; this “horseless carriage” was from the 1890s! Years before Ford…), Rosenstein Park, the Villa Berg (all of which had lovely gardens surrounding them), and saw quite a few breathtaking views of the city! It was really special. I am falling more and more in love with Germany. If the winter, spring, and summer are anywhere as pretty as the fall has been, I am hooked. I want to know everything! I want to go everywhere!
Thank you SO much, everyone, for your prayers and heartfelt letters, notes, cards, phone calls, emails, you name it! Getting anything from the other side of the pond makes my day!! I really am living a dream right now...I feel so blessed and excited about where God is going to take me in life!!
Jakob:
Él es de México! Jake plays piano and likes the same books that I do..he knows his Lord of the Rings!! Much to his chagrin, he has a ton in common with an AMERICAN. Who knew? He is here going to the Universitat Stuttgart! We all love to go dancing, and Jake definitely has the Latin rhythm. He also has the Force. (Jake, me, and Kelsey at our Halloween party this weekend!)
Casey:
From North Carolina, she’s also an au pair! She and Kels and I have had some really fun times together, and now I know I get to stay, we are going to be exercise buddies! I am very VERY excited! (from left to right, myself, Kelsey, and Casey at Oktoberfest in Munich!)
There are many, many more! Stefanie, Robin, David, Anki, Rebecca, Florien, Jeff, Abby...the list goes on and on and on...but most are from the International Baptist Church in Stuttgart, where I’ve really gotten connected; the 20s and 30s group is called Fusion! The group is really tight-knit and I love it.Places I have been so far:
Heidelberg
Munich for Oktoberfest and a tour
Schloss Neuschwanstein
Ireland!
Trips coming up:
Prague
(possibly) Italy for Thanksgiving!
Salzburg
Scotland!!!
On Saturday I went on a biking tour of Stuttgart, courtesy of Johannes, who I met at IBC. Johannes is a med student in Mannheim, about an hour and a half from Stuttgart, and he also has been a volunteer fireman for quite a few years! He is really nice and has been extremely encouraging of me through this rough patch of trying to find peace in God's will, when the path is completely blocked from sight.
Now you have to understand that to get into Stuttgart, one must go down into a basin surrounded by hills. So the first half was nice, lots of downhill with little ups, and more downs…and then the way back up was huffing and puffing (at least for me!) and sweating and fatigue…haha. No, I was actually okay; it was totally worth it!! I had a blast; Stuttgart is absolutely spectacular with all the fall colors, and we went to some pretty obscure places! We went to the former home of the man who invented the very first car (Mercedes-Benz; this “horseless carriage” was from the 1890s! Years before Ford…), Rosenstein Park, the Villa Berg (all of which had lovely gardens surrounding them), and saw quite a few breathtaking views of the city! It was really special. I am falling more and more in love with Germany. If the winter, spring, and summer are anywhere as pretty as the fall has been, I am hooked. I want to know everything! I want to go everywhere!
Thank you SO much, everyone, for your prayers and heartfelt letters, notes, cards, phone calls, emails, you name it! Getting anything from the other side of the pond makes my day!! I really am living a dream right now...I feel so blessed and excited about where God is going to take me in life!!
If you want to know anything that I left out over the past 2 months (eeshhh I am so sorry about that, again!!!) then just ask me!!
Ich liebe euch alle!
Ciera
Ich liebe euch alle!
Ciera
