he loves me!

(Phipsi and me in the snow!)

So, Phipsi and I have been having some talks lately. (Phipsi is 4, and speaks primarily German to me.)

The other day we started talking because I was on Skype and he wanted to call one of my friends. When I explained to him why we couldn't call him, he started asking me lots of questions. (It was adorable. He's VERY smart and asked some really thoughtful/hilarious questions. He also gave me some relationship advice. ;)) Then, he started asking me about Texas.

I explained to him that in a couple weeks I'm going to go to Texas for a while, but that I would come back after a week or so, to which his response was "WOOOHOOOO!" But then I explained that some time next year I would leave and not come back (to stay anyway), and he goes "oh MAN!" It was soooo cute and it made my day that he was sad about my leaving.

We talked again this morning. I was trying to explain to him how long I would be gone for Christmas (he kept asking... "you're coming back BEFORE Christmas? ON Christmas? AFTER Christmas?" I guess he wasn't paying attention. haha). I told him again I'd be gone for about ten days and he said "Oh crap. That long?! But I want you to stay HERE!"

It made me really happy.

The one thing that's getting me down right now is learning enough German... but Chris has been helping me a LOT and he thinks I've made a lot of progress. Also, I got a SUPER wonderful email from my former German teacher, Dr. Becker, today and it made my week. So it'll be fine. :)

I'm still so in love with life here. This family, my new friends, this amazing country... I love it all. I am also VERY much looking forward to my visit to Texas and catching up with everyone I've been missing. I can't believe how soon it is!

My life is so different right now from what it ever has been and what I ever thought it would be. But, I continue to find myself in love with it.

Also, I've felt like a REAL au pair lately... studying for 5th grade math tests, running kids to and fro their sports in my mini van, cooking, putting kids to sleep, etc. And, Nicklas tried to feed me gum yesterday that he had INJECTED HOT SAUCE into with a SYRINGE. Fortunately for me I know better than to eat ANYTHING he gives me. It was hilarious. These kids are insane.

lots of love.

p.s.
more pictures (SNOW, etc.) here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=163636&id=507878744&l=e7dbfe32c8

p.p.s.
Nicole just got back from the doctor. We have the SWINE FLU!

Thanksgiving? I'm thankful alright.

Today was the best day. I left early this morning with Chris and the two older boys to go to school with Dennis. Today was "Besuchsmorgen" at Dennis's school, which means all of the parents get to come sit in whenever they want. So I went with Chris and it was really fun and interesting to see how everything works. I learned some French! (These ten year old kids are all learning THREE foreign languages, by the way...) Nicole came later and so did "Gomama" (grandma) -- Chris's mom. She's SO nice. She invited me to her house on the lake of Lucerne. They treat me like family, everyone is so wonderful.

After the experience in Dennis's school, I asked Nicole a lot of questions about becoming a Swiss citizen. Just saying... ;)

When everyone was home for lunch this afternoon we got a package from Kathryn! It was a thank-you package for them letting her stay with us, and it was adorable. Scottish shortbread, a beautiful hand towel with all the flowers of Scotland, a postcard from St. Andrew's, and a little Scottish rugby football for the boys. The family absolutely LOVED it. (While Chris was opening it Nicole had some 80s pop song that she loved as a teenager up really loud and she was singing and Chris was dancing. It was awesome.)

After that I worked a little this afternoon, but mostly outside. It was GORGEOUS today -- sunny, in the 60s -- and you could see all of the lake and the alps. Just breathtaking. Thennnnn I went to the post office (I got my residence permit!! It's a legit Swiss ID card, pretty exciting) and grocery shopping for the family all by myself! That was fun, and I made it. :) I love driving here, too.

When I got home I talked with Chris for a long time about all sorts of things. He's so funny, I just love him. I gave them some thank you chocolates and it made Chris really happy, so then I was happy. :)

This evening I spoke some SWISS German in front of Chris for the first time and he got SO excited. It made me really happy. He says I'm on my way to becoming Swiss!

Nicole made a great dinner, as usual, during which Chris and Dennis told me the story of William Tell and the beginning of Swiss independence. (They're going to take me in the spring to where all of the events went down, near Gomama's house.) After dinner Chris and I were still talking, this time about WWII. Then I watched some of a German cartoon (of a Swedish fairy tale!) with Nicole and the kids. I got Phipsi ready for bed in record time, and here I am! (Time for an evening of talking to people and German homework. :))


I am so happy here. I kept thinking that today, over and over. I feel very much at home with this WONDERFUL family, and I could only love them more if they were my own. I am SO INCREDIBLY blessed to be here. Chris and Nicole amaze me more every day, and they boys are so much fun.

I'm particularly glad to feel at home here now, while my "favorite" holiday is tomorrow! It's funny, though. I decided not to try to celebrate Thanksgiving at all, at first because I thought it would just make me homesick (which I truly have not been, even for one minute, since I've been here). But now I just feel Swiss. I know that sounds weird. And don't get me wrong -- I MISS MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS SO MUCH. But I'm not homesick. I am very much at home. And I'm somehow happy not to be celebrating Thanksgiving, because I feel like I'm TRULY here. I feel at home, and in this home there is no Thanksgiving. And although I miss my friends and family dearly, I'm happy here in my new home. I hope that makes sense.

I will take this "thankful" time, however, to note how UNBELIEVABLY grateful I am to be with the Schmid family. They are wonderful.

To MY family, I miss you all dearly. Happy Thanksgiving! I will miss you all, and surely Thanksgiving itself, but know that I am happy here. (Now that it's sinking in, I'm SO happy I'm not trying to do some Thanksgiving thing here... haha. I don't want to be homesick! So this way, I'm not. And that's good.)

I'm very happy here.

:)

ALSO. I forgot to mention the measure of my au pair success thus far. It is as follows:

We've only had ONE black eye. And Phipsi now knows the parts of his face in English, as well as "Piggies" and "Go Fish." Great success.

SWITZERLAND!

My blog is OBVIOUSLY in need of an update... I've been in Switzerland for a month today! And I need to go to sleep now, but suffice it to say that I LOVE IT HERE.

Kathryn came to visit this past week/weekend and it was amazing. I got to show her all the funny little things about Swiss life like how the whole family comes home for a big, home made lunch every day, and how they constantly listen to American pop music. (It's so funny to be sitting around the dinner table eating traditional Swiss German food (which is FANTASTIC, by the way) while everyone speaking Swiss German, and then to have Katy Perry, Rhianna, and Lady GaGa playing in the background. haha.) I've grown to love it, actually.

Speaking of loving it, I love this family more and more all the time. I am in very good hands here. Chris (dad man) got an 80 chf (chf = swiss francs) fine "taken care of" for me (got it deleted from the system), and they were soooo great about Kathryn being here. she stayed with us for five days! Chris picked us up from the train station late Wednesday night and everything. Nicole (the mom) is so amazing and I am learning SO much from her. The kids are great, too, and I think we're definitely getting into a rhythm of things... Phipsi (4) is learning English and teaching me German and loves me -- he's hilarious, we have so much fun. Dennis (10) is so smart and sweet and helps me with my German. Nicklas(9)'s favorite pass times include shooting me with rubber bands, telling me he's not going to do whatever I told him to do, dirtying whatever I'm trying to clean, cheating at the oreo game, and shooting rubber bands at me some more. We've clearly connected.

Like I said, Kathryn and I had the most AMAZING time. I'll need to update on that more soon, but I just wanted to write something now so I don't write the world's longest blog soon. :)

I've been meeting a lot of great people and having a lot of fun. I'm about to start booking some trips and I'm working on planning my trip to Texas for the holidays. ALSO, Matt Jones is coming to visit me and I can't wait!!! :)

I hope all is well in Texas and wherever else people are reading this. lots of love.


ps- PICTURES! I have lots. so far, you can see them here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=153317&id=507878744&l=c5d6e969fa

pps- my German still isn't great, but I'm actually going to class and doing homework and such now, so it's getting better!!

ppps- the picture at the top is from a quick trip to Lucerne with Kathryn. :)

it's going to be a good year.

this is from today -- all the boys (in front of the house where we're staying)! L to R: Dennis (10), Phillip/"Phipsy" (4), Naui (the friend) (9), and Nicklas (9 on Sunday!). aren't they adorable?

I realized something last night as I heard myself say it out loud to Ryan... "it keeps getting better every day." The Schmid family is wonderful, and I can't express how happy I am with this decision.

Today I kept all of the boys by myself for the first time which was interesting... I'm just glad that everyone SURVIVED the pool and the ice cream outing. We had some close calls. Haha. But seriously. Everyone had fun and I learned that little miss nice au pair can't always be around. ;) It was good, though. The kids and I seem to be getting the hang of our relationships and I'm really enjoying it.

I've been talking with Nicole and Christoph (parents) a lot lately too and we're getting to know each other and I'm learning about Switzerland. My visa came today and I can't wait to leave in almost two days!! Thank you all for your love and prayers. I'll keep you posted!

ps- my schwizzerdeutsch is improving!! :)

I'm hereeee!

hiiii everyone! I'm glad I have a chance to write a blog finally. :) I figured this would be a good way to stay in touch while I'm gone.

soooo I'm here and it's... GREAT! the family is really wonderful. Monday was a long day of traveling, but from the moment I met the family I've felt totally at home. the parents are super nice and accommodating and the boys are SO cute. honestly, they can be little brats sometimes... but then they're sweet and it makes up for it! haha. they are definitely little boys.

Monday evening we just hung out at the beach. I have been soooo tired since I got here and it only seems to be getting worse! yesterday (Tues.) I got up early to handle my visa stuff (finally) with dad man, and then we spent the morning out on their neighbor's boat and went shopping in the afternoon. this morning we went deep sea fishing which was reeeaaally fun! I caught FOUR fish! (that's like a miracle for me. the little 8 year olds fishing with me each caught about 15+.) so that was fun.

like I said, everyone in the family is really sweet, and they're fun. there's another little boy here (besides the 3 Schmid boys) with us (a friend from Switzerland) and he's my favorite. he's SUPER sweet and speaks very little English, so we've sorta developed our own little language of english/german/sign language/facial expressions.

the one thing that's been really hard is the language. I can understand a LOT of german... but this is SWISS german. it'll be a lot easier once we get to Switzerland and I'm taking german classes and have gotten used to their accents. (the Schmids except for the youngest, Phillip, all speak very good english but they all speak german to each other.) so I'm kind of an observer right now, but mostly it's working really well. I help them out with the kids and the house and it kind of just happened as soon as I got here. the kids like me, especially Nicklas and Phillip (the younger two) and Naui (the friend). Dennis (the oldest) seems to like me too, but I've spent less time with him.

ANYWAY! that might be way too much information, but that's what's going on in my world. I'll try to keep you posted about life through this site. we leave for Switzerland on Monday -- PLEASE PRAY THAT MY VISA COMES IN TIME!! until then I'll just be hanging out... fishing, falling in love with yorkie puppies, dolphin watching (we've seen a lot!), playing with hellicopters, etc. :)

lots of love to all!

I have a blog!

Look -- I made a blog! more to come :)