I was born on 13th of October in 1989 in Germany. These dates have very different meanings for many people. First 1989, I would say a good year for Germany, when east and west Germany were bend together again, when Germany could feel as one nation again.
Then the 13th. I have to admit that the 13th of October in 1989 was a Friday which makes it even worse. It is the day something horrible might happen.
I would like to add a little story at this point: One of my parents best friend and my first best friend really had a horrible day when I was born. She wanted to start her vacation trip, went outside to get her luggage in the car and the door closed itself while she was outside. Of course, her key was inside.And she could not get in again.Her neighbors, who had an additional key, were not at home, too and so she had feeling to be lost. It took here forever too had the change to call the person who had the additional key of her neighbors and finally she could get in again. For her it was a horrible day and did not seem like a good start for us. But this is just an example.
Different meanings for different people, but I think this did not mean anything to my parents at 8.10 p.m. in a hospital in Witten when I (18,9 inch and 6,17 pounds) saw the light of the earth the first time.
They decided to give me the name Laura Verena.
I already had a sister – Sophia Mareike – who is two years older than me.
Two years after me my brother was born. His name is Alexander Christian. He completed our five heads family.
My parents Andrea and Klaus work as civil servants for our home town but my mom had a long break during our childhood, so that she had time for her children and the house.
I would describe mine and my siblings childhood as very peace – and loveful. After a few ages everyone had his own room and space for privacy but we also had each other as friends which does not mean that we did not have huge fights sometimes. I would describe our live, education and development as quite normal with rules and the opportunity to gain experiences.
Our parents also wanted us to learn what responsibility means. We got a rabbit for which we should care – but I have to admit that most of the time it was my dad’s task.
A few years later we got a cat. She is black. I remember the day we got her as if it was yesterday. We were all sitting at our kitchen table and were waiting for her to get out of her cage. Finally she got out –very slow and cautious. She looked like a panther. That is why my mother had the idea to call her Baghira – the panther’s name of the movie The Junglebook.
My siblings and I got the feeling to be loved – not only from our parents, also from our other relatives.
My father’s parents lived in the same house we still live in and we had the chance to spend much time with them.
It is very sad, because my grandfather died when I was 10 years old and my grandmother when I was 11 years old. It was a very bad time for all of us. But I think we can just be lucky that we had the chance to met them and get them to know so that we have the chance to remember them.
Also my father’s sister, his husband and her daughter, my cousin who is 20 years elder than me came often to visit us and we loved to visit them.
They live in another city, about 45 minutes away from us, close to a forest.
We loved playing outside and even inside, our aunt allowed us to do everything we wanted and played many different games with us.
Now, my cousin is married and they have such a cute son. Right now he is 1 and a half year old, I am very sad that I cannot join seeing him growing.
My mother’s parents are divorced since a very long time and so I just know them apart from each other.
My grandfather is a biker. He has a Harley Davidson and has been on the Route 66 one and a half year ago. He was 69 at this time. He does not visit us so often, but all the time he comes he tells us how beautiful we are and just what a grandfather has to do.
My grandmother always wants everyone to be happy. Therefore she spends most of the time in the kitchen to help and to make cookies.
Further more she is the best Christmas Cook I know and everyone loves her dishes. Especially her children and grandchildren which includes my mother’s sister and her brother who both are still kind of young.
My uncle is more like his father, so I do not see him that often. He likes to make jokes and enjoys to bring is apartment to perfection.
My aunt and her husbands are also very funny persons. They say whatever they want to say and are crazy in a positive way. During the summer they like to have barbecues with their friends and family.
That is already my family, the ones I love and miss while I am here in the United States of America.
Now, I would like to introduce you to the place I grew up:
As already mentioned I am German.
My whole life I lived in the same, I would say little town but is now known as a big town called Witten with 99.126 habitants (in December 2008), but I would like to start with the country I live in and end with the street.
Germany – one nation more or less in the middle of Europe with 82 million habitants has many different landscapes.
The north of Germany borders on the North Sea and also on the Baltic Sea. That means that there are a beaches and the land is flat. There are lots of fish and sea companies in this area.
East Germany, the part that has been apart from the rest of Germany till 1989 is still a little bit different than the other parts. There are more people living in buildings made with precast concrete slabs and skyscrapers (not to compare with the ones in New York City). Germany’s capital Berlin is also placed in this area.
The south of Germany has many mountains where you can go hiking and biking during the summer and skiing and snowboarding during the winter. It is the most agrarian part of Germany, I guess, where are lots of farms and small towns.
Here lives the stereotype German – wearing a dirndl, the Bavarian dress who is drinking beer and eats sauerkraut. Sure not everyone does, but it completes the picture.
And at last the west part of Germany where I live. It is the industry part of Germany where most people in the past gained money in mines. That is why today there are many mine museums and stuff like that.
In this part is my home town Witten. It is a smaller town in between the bigger towns Bochum and Dortmund where you can go shopping (besides the fact that there is a mall since September2009 in Witten, but I haven’t seen it yet) or dancing in the evening. That is why Witten seems to be dead on weekends.
Since last year there is a huge festival in the part of Witten where I live close to a pretty artificial lake called tent festival which makes Witten more and more popular. There are many tents where you can buy handmade things and food and in the evening there are small shows and concerts. It is very nice.
It is very close to my street. I like my street. Our family has an own house there since my dad was born and so I lived there my entire life. It is a street which ends in a circle, kind of a dead end which means that there is not so much traffic. When I was younger there were many children and we always had the chance to play outside in the backyard and on the street no matter if the sun was shining, it was rainy or there was snow which we did not have that often and if there was snow it has not been there for a long time. But for sure we always enjoyed ourselves.
In the last few years the picture of our street changed. There always has been an old not used school which they pulled down and there are new buildings for more families. Furthermore some of our neighbors and my family changed their houses into different kinds of yellow which makes our street even more pretty.
Our house in particularly is in a light yellow and blue windowsills. The front door has the same blue as the sills. Even the bottom of the house has this color.
We have a garden around the half of our house (on the other half is our neighbor’s house) in which my father loves to put little things. Most of the things are blue now, so that everything fits.
There are lots of flowers in the summer because my dad usually works hard for it in the spring.
Reading this, makes me wonder what leads a girl, 18 years old, to the decision to leave this place where she feels home and safe - a place she likes?
I made the final decision that I would like to become an AuPair in America during 2009/2010 in August 2008.
It was during the summer holidays and I had to think about what I want to do after finishing school. It was just before my last year started and I got my A-level.
I was not that sure what I want to do after school and I wanted to live an adventure.
I heard from different people who graduated one year before me that they spend a year in another country and they really enjoyed it. I also thought about this before but never took it serious – then I started to check on the internet which organization exists and so on. I ended on the Cultural Care Au Page. The page seems very welcoming and I figured out that there are information days all over the country. The next one close to my town was soon and I decided to go there with my dad.
The person telling us about her experiences and her life in America did a very good job: she made my father and me very enthusiastic to apply and to go to the US.
Right after the meeting we went to a book store to buy a map of America to see where everything is and to have the possibility to mark every place I have been.
I really love children and always worked with them but it did not give me as much work hours as needed to become an AuPair. So I made a two week internship in a kindergarten during fall holidays.
Finally I could apply for the job as an AuPair and got an account on the internet where I could see if a family is interested in me. It was very frustrating because I had to wait two month till the first family was in there, but they did not call. This happened several times and I was all the time very excited and checked where the live and so on.
Then the first family called. They live in New York City but I was too nervous and the whole conversation was a mess.
Finally my host mum Julie called me and we had a nice conversation and got along with each other. I had a very good feeling. Especially after the talk with the former AuPair of the family who told me my schedule and how nice it is to work for the family.
Julie and I wrote several Emails and I got so excited when she told me that they want me to become their AuPair.
I could not wait for the day of my departure to a country I have never been before.
My wish and hope was and still is to grow during this year and to become more and more independent.
On the 6th of July I arrived in the United States and after 5 days in the AuPair School I arrived at my host family in Ridgewood, Bergen County, New Jersey.
Ridgewood itself is a very very pretty village. It has a one street center with many different cafes, restaurants and stores.
I have to admit, that I spend most of the time – typical for an AuPair at Starbucks.
Here in Ridgewood are many AuPairs and we decided to meet every Wednesday at Starbucks to talk about weekend plans and just what is going on. It is very interesting because most weeks you meet someone new from another country.
Especially during the summer I liked walking to the town, it takes me 20 Minutes and to eat ice cream and just walk through the stores.
The prettiest part of Ridgewood is the Pool Graydons. It is not like a typical pool, because it looks like a small lake. But it is also separated in different part for children and grown up. There are diving boards, too. You also can decide whether you prefer lying in the sand or on the grass.
I had a nice time there.
The family I live in has a house in a nice, calm street.
With the family I mean my host parents Julie and Paul, their children Samantha und Natasha and Paul’s father Seymour, simply called Poppa by everyone.
Julie is the real mother of everyone here. She always cares for all of us and wants everyone happy.
She has to work hard every day (at a bank), so that she is the first one in the morning who leaves the house and the last one gettingback when it is time for dinner.
During this she finds time to support her children and too exercise a lot. The whole family is very sportive which I like a lot because I want to do more sport and they courage me to do it, too.
Especially Paul who really is fanatic about exercising is the one encouraging me. He spends most time of the evening in the home gym in the basement. He really is crazy about that.
He also likes watching sports, preferring Baseball. He always makes fun and what I like most about him is that he still is like a child in many ways but that you can have great serious conversations with him.
His favorite hobby is internet shopping, nearly every day he gets a package.
Poppa, who lives in the basement, really fulfills his role as grandfather. He loves his grandchildren more than everything else and even seems to be more proud of them as their parents are.
He enjoys – like older people –talking. Here fore he has different topics: his wife, their animals, his live and especially the girls, the girls, the girls. I enjoy listening to him. It is nice to see how positive he thinks about live and how much he adores his grandchildren.
The girls – Samantha und Natasha – are identical twins and 14 years old.
They both go to Ridgewood High School. They take school very serious and never copy homework from each other even if they have exactly the same thing to do. This really surprised me.
Like every teenager they like to meet their friends and as female teenager they like to go shopping (something we have in common).
Their biggest hobby is gymnastics. The word hobby is not even strong enough to describe what they are doing. They both are really amazing!!! They have high school gymnastic every day of the week and Saturdays, where they also go to another gym. Everything they do is serious.
Sometimes they are too hard to themselves and work till late at the night to get everything done for school and do not want to miss any gymnastic lesson.
On the first day I thought they really look alike but after a few days I already could tell them apart. Even if they have so much in common they both are – and of course want to point it out – two persons with different identities. I really enjoy spending time with them!
I am here in America since nearly four month now and it feels like time is moving too fast.
At the moment I cannot imagine to get back home and to start another live there.
I always wanted to become an elementary school teacher. It was my dream for many years and when we finished school we also had to answer the question where we see ourselves in five years. At this time I still was sure to become an elementary school teacher.
Now I am here and things begin to change. I am not sure anymore if being a normal school teacher is enough to make me happy. Improving my English and speak it every day makes me so happy that I am sure I want to have a job dealing with English. I thought about becoming a teacher at an English school. I am really unsure about all this at the moment.
It is such a hard decision – which leads the way to the rest of my life. I still hope that I have THAT idea in the next two months because I have to decide than if I would like to extend or not.
Till then I try to see and experience as much as possible.
Just enjoying the time here!
The time with my siblings:
I am in the United States, to be more certain in north New Jersey, since the 6th July 2009.
Of course I have never been so long apart from my family and my friends that I miss them a lot, even if I feel very good here and love to be here.
That is why I could not wait for the day someone would come and visit me.
Luckily my host family loves to welcome visitors!
On the 11th of October my brother and my sister arrived at Newark International Airport which is about 40 minutes away from my village Ridgewood in Bergen County.
As surprise I bought three balloons for them in the colors of the United States. A blue ball, a red heart and a whit star – like on the flags of America.
I have been so nervous the whole time (the clock ran too slow at this day) till I could see them and finally hug them after three months.
It is really great to see some of your family members after such a long time.
They can see how you live and get to know what you are talking about. They have just a good picture of how you live as an Apiary and get to know your host family.
First we drove back that they had time to see the house and to rest for a little while. A nine hours flight can be very long and they were tired, but they did not want to close their eyes because here a so many new things to see – beginning with the American houses and the streets itself.
We went to the middle of Ridgewood.
The stores were closed because it was a Sunday. This did not matter because there are so many little cafes and restaurants that the village is “alive”.
Afterwards we had Dinner and my brother and sister felt asleep immediately they have been in the bed.
On the 12th of October was “Columbus Day”, which means that my host children did not have to go to school. So we stayed at home in the morning, had breakfast and relaxed.
My host children do a lot of gymnastics and had a meet on this day. Before that I went together with my siblings to Ridgewood again were be bought Ridgewood support clothes.
They wanted to have pizza, because they think it is the typical American food and wanted to try it.
There really is a difference between German and American pizza – the ones here are much larger and it is more often that you just buy slices.
So we shared one Pizza and after finishing it we went to my host children’s meet.
They are already at High School and as usual there was a lot going on. This time there was a Rugby game. This is something we do not know from Germany. The game is not very popular and most schools do not have sport teams like her. My brother who loves sports was very impressed, especially that every school or town has his flag and color. Ridgewood has maroon.
It is really nice to see how close a town can be.
We all enjoyed watching “my girls” doing there gymnastic. It is again very uncommon in Germany and they both are really good.
After the meet we decided to go to a small Mall in Paramus located 12 minutes away from Ridgewood. I like it there because it is so close and pretty and they have most of the stores which are in bigger Malls.
We spent our evening with some of my friends at Starbucks. It exists in Germany, too but is not as popular as here. We do not have one in my home town.
I liked to introduce my friends to my siblings because they are more interested in hearing what I did with whom if they know the person.
Starbucks closes at 11p.m. and we have been there till they told us to go out. We went to my house because the next day was my birthday and we wanted to celebrate a little bit.
As I said the 13th of October is my birthday and we started the day with presents. I do not think that there is a better way to start a day.
I took a really long time till we could do something else because there were so many people who gave presents for me to my sister to give it to me.
Because of the fact we did not have time to go to New York City we decided to go to a mall again.
We went to the Garden State Plaza Mall in New Jersey.
The New York Times describes it “as perhaps the single most influential retail destination in the U.S., Westfield Garden State Plaza combines designer brands with the ultimate shopping experience.”
It has 300 stores and you can spend hours there.
If you get hungry there is the section with so many stores that every taste gets satisfied because you can just get everything there!
Further more in the mall is an AMC movie theater located. We did not go there on my birthday but I have been there very often since I am here.
What I like most about going to the movies is the Chinese guy – he is very old – who checks if you got a ticket. He is so fun. He does not look happy at all but wears a button which says “I love my job”. Every time someone hands him a ticket he says something that fast that no one ever understands what he is saying.
So, as I said we went to the Mall to go shopping and we all found something. We had a good time in the mall and used the food area for a little snack before we went home, because my host family wanted to celebrate my birthday with me.
We had a nice evening with a typical large American Pizza and I got a birthday cake.
The kind of cake is also different from the ones in Germany, but just a little bit. This one was definitely sweeter.
The 14th of October, the third day in America for my brother and sister and the next day shopping.
I have to admit that our schedule was a little bit boring and not very creative but because I had to work it was the only way possible.
It is really amazing how cheap everything here is in comparison to Germany. That is why shopping is not that boring for visitor – or AuPairs, I really can do it every week without getting bored.
We went to the Jersey Gardens Mall in Elizabeth New Jersey.
It is an outlet mall, which means that there are a lot of things even cheaper than my siblings thought it is possible.
We were planning to go to New York City on the next day and that is why we decided to spend less time at the mall.
It is hard to handle the time difference of sixhours and my brother and sister had a little jetlag.
We went to Applees, one of my favorite restaurants here.
I have never seen an Applebees before but I figured out that Applebee's is the largest casual dining chain in the world, with locations throughout the U.S. and many countries worldwide.
It is my favorite because it serves so many different things for a good price.
I also like its layout. It seems so friendly. Most of the time I am there it is so crowded that you have to wait to get seated.
We have been in New York City on the 15th of October the first time.
It really was not the best day to see the City first because it was raining all the time, which makes everything grey and cold.
The first thing we did was taking a Subway; this system does not exist like this in Germany.
It really gives the feeling of being in a movie.
So, as I said we went to the Times Square Subway Station to go downtown in the direction of the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty is THAT sign of New York City, of America.
It should represent the friendship between the United States and France but it also stands for the idea America is founded by. Liberty – that people have the right to become whatever they want, to say what they want, to be what they want. That if you are going to the United States you can get whatever you dream of – you just have to work for it!
Of course my siblings wanted to see that sign and we took the Staten Island Ferry, which is for free to have a great look to the Statue. The good thing is that you can see the Statue of Liberty and the skyline of Manhattan which is know by everyone from the TV, but seeing it with you own eyes gives you such a different feeling. It is totally amazing!
After our river trip we took again the Subway to have a ride to the Union Square.
We wanted to walk up the Park Avenue. I have not been there before so I could enjoy seeing new things, too.
We walked the whole Park Avenue up, but made a short trip to see the flatiron building, which is very popular, too.
Even if it was so cold and wet there were as many people as usual in the city. It is really unbelievable.
After a Starbucks break, when we reached the 42nd street we decided to visit Madame Tussaud.
This was not just good because we have finally been at a dry place it was much fun.
It is a wax museum where you can find “over 200 life-life wax creations where you can interact, take pictures and get close with some of the greatest celebrities and musicians, political and historical icons, sports figures and more!”
We really had much fun to take the pictures with us and the celebrities. Sometimes you really could not be sure if it is a wax figure or a real person.
There is also a “horror” section: It is very small, but it is dark and scary. There are a few wax figures alive and run after you.
We spend a long time in the museum and took a bus back to Ridgewood afterwards.
My siblings and me really had a good time and decided to go to bed as soon as possible to spend the next day in New York City again.
On the 16th of October we really spend the day in the City. We were lucky because even if it was supposed to rain it was dry the whole day but it was horrible cold!
Because it was raining the day before so hard we did not care about the cold, we just were happy to stay dry.
We decided to spend the day on the 5th and 7th Avenue. During a break of walking in and out of the stores like M&M, NBA, Disney store and so on, we had a “lunch” brake on the street.
A hotdog from a New Yorker street is really a highlight. This is what you always see in the movies and you have to be able to say you did it.
I have to admit that it was not that great, but I am glad that I tried it.
We also visited the Rockefeller Center. You cannot get a better view over Manhattan than from the Top of the Rock. It is so amazing. It has 70 floors high and experiences the exhilarating joy of unobstructed 360º city views from the Top of the Rock Observation Deck. From the sweeping green of Central Park to the thrilling city skyline, nowhere else can you see New York so spectacularly.
We really enjoyed taking lots of pictures and just to be so high about the City.
It is really hard to walk through New York, so we could not do it without a Starbucks break.
We also went into the souvenir shops, so that my siblings could get post cards and other small stuff for their friends and for themselves. You do not want to go home without having something to remember the time in the United States of America.
In my host family are two “we order food” days. On Wednesdays we have Pizza and on Fridays we have Chinese food.
This day was a Friday and we ordered from our favorite Chinese Restaurant. It is really good.
It never was so hard for me to get to the center of New York City as at the 17th of October.
There are several buses to New York City from Ridgewood and there is one which does not drive to 42nd Street. We took this one. We ended up somewhere uptown the City. The subway there was out of order for that time and we had to take another Shuttle and it took as like forever to get finally back to the Times Square.
My sister wanted to do a bus tour through the City. It was not hard to find one because there are people trying to sell it everywhere.
It is a really good way to explore New York, because you can hop-on and hop-off as often as you like to. (Buses come every twenty minutes.)
You also could combine various attractions, shopping, a harbor cruise or even a helicopter tour with your double decker bus tours for even more value and enjoyment.
My brother is not interested in spending time in a bus, so wanted to go to see another side of New York.
We walked the 9th Avenue down and later up again. There were several small stores were you can get unusual stuff. We also have been at the Hell’s Kitchen market where you can buy old things.
It was so interesting to be there without all the lights which are so typical for the City it did not really feel like being in New York City, we really enjoyed ourselves there.
My brother and I went back to the red stairs at Times Square. We wanted to meet my sister, but she was late (45 minutes because the bus did not drop her off where it was planned) and so we got the chance to see the different people in New York City.
It is really amazing to see so many different people on the same spot. This is what I like most – it is okay to be different and you can wear whatever you want to.
I got interviewed by a Chinese Girl who wanted to tape what I just described – the people in New York and what they do there, where they are from and so on.
We walked to the Central Park and went back to Ridgewood to eat Pizza again.
Sunday, the 18th of October was my sister’s birthday.
I got her tickets for the Lion King Musical as a surprise. That means that we had to go another time to the City. We went to Chinatown and Little Italy. The weather was really bad and it was empty on the streets there. As far as it can be empty there.
We did not stay long there and walked to Ground Zero. The place itself is not very impressing because you cannot see something. It is just a work area. More impressive is the memorial center.
I have been there before and it really makes you stop talking.It is so hard to see how many people died and how many families lost one of their members. Incredible!
From there we took the subway to get to Central Park, walked down the 5th Avenue and were glad when we have finally been in the Minskoff Theatre in New York City.
Over 200 craftsmen and artisans worked nearly six months to extensively refurbish the Minskoff Theatre to welcome Disney's The Lion King. You really could FEEL it.
Right at the beginning we all got goose bumps because it was so unbelievable beautiful!
We knew all the songs from our childhood and the costumes where so creative and it was just great!!!
The time with my siblings was nearly over at this time and we just had one day left.
We wanted to spend the last time together.
So we spend most of the time in Ridgewood again. It is such a beautiful Village and the weather was that nice that we walked from store to store.
We had breakfast at a Pancake House, so I got the chance to show them a last time a real American thing. They enjoyed it pretty much.
Then it was time to drive them to the Airport in Newark. We tried to say goodbye as quick as possible to make it easy.
I really enjoyed the time with them and to show them where I live.
I am glad that they have been here and I am not too sad, that I had to say goodbye again.
We had a good week in New York City but for sure it is not enough to see everything.
Write about your first weekend at Silver Bay:
I took part at the Silver Bay weekend course from Friday the 23rd of October to Sunday the 25th.
Two of my friends and me decided to go to Silver Bay because it seemed good to get three credit points for one weekend and it is not as expensive as the Colleges.
Before the weekend started we had problems to find a way to get there. Our host parents were not sure if they should let us drive there because it is a four hours way. We tried to find someone to give us a ride, but it did not work out to find the right place to meet and so on. (After the weekend we were really lucky not to drive with one of the girls because she got a ticket on her way back home because she drove to fast.) Too late we decided that there is no other way than taking the train and in the end the (very expensive) shuttle.
All this and just the idea to spend a weekend at a school made us unhappy to go. We just thought that we will be there, get the credits and get back.
It started to chance when one of my friends got finally the permission to drive.
My other friend and me had to drive to her house first and then changed the car. Already on our way to my friend we had so much fun in the car – singing as loud as we could.
It did not change with my other friend. Everyone was in a good mood and we had much fun.
Also the way to get there was very nice. The streets were empty and we drove up and down the hills all the time so we had a great view over the landscape.
All three of us had to work in the morning and so we arrived late at Silver Bay. It was already dark and we could just see that there is a (small or big – we did not know at night) lake and that the houses looked very pretty.
It was easy to find were we had to go because there were some Au Pair signs. We went to the check in, made our name tags and signed in for different classes.
In our letter we got before the classes were already mentioned and so we knew where we wanted to take part.
We had our three bed room in “The Inn” and so we just had to walk up the stairs to find a comfortable room, which smelled a little bit. It was better as soon as the windows were open and we felt very good.
We put all our stuff in an order and studied the map of Silver Bay Campus we got at the Conference Desk and our weekend schedule.
Friday was a very relaxed day. We were so late that we did not get the chance to do some of the self guided tours of Silver Bay and it was already time for dinner in the Dining Room.
The food at Silver Bay was quite good. I just wished that it would have been warmer most of the times.
Besides that I really liked the times to eat because you had the chance to talk to other Au Pairs.
I have to add that I am from Germany and here are so many German Au Pairs and most of my friends here are from Germany, too.
So, we end most time speaking German. I do not like that. At Silver Bay we spoke English all the time, because we did not want to be rude.
Even in our room, where just my two German speaking friends and I were, we spoke English.
I enjoyed that a lot!
After dinner there was the “opening session and orientation”, were we were introduced one again to the weekend. The Au Pairs got the chance to get to know their teachers and helpers for the next days.
It just took an hour and afterwards we spend some time at the arm chairs at the open fire in “the Inn”, were we talked to the other Au Pairs again. It is very comfortable there and we had a nice evening.
On Saturday morning everyone has half an hour for breakfast. Actually you could stay there for one hour till the first of eight class session.
Although the weather was not that nice – it was raining the whole day – we could see where we were now. It was the end of October and every tree around the huge Lake George had a different fall color.
We were a little bit sad because we just could imagine how wonderful would everything look like in the sunlight.
Then our first session started. We had chosen “American Holidays” at Watson.
At first everyone introduced themselves so that we got the chance to get a picture of the different country composition.
We talked about the most important holidays in the United States of America and compared in which countries they also exist or if our countries have holidays which are uncommon in the States.
It was interesting to see how much every country has in common.
It was the last weekend before Halloween and so it became to one of our main topics.
The best thing of this class was a list with a holiday for every day of the year. Especially for Au Pairs who take care for younger children it was helpful to find every day a different activity.
My favorite holiday from this day on is the “National Pink Day” on the 23rd of June.
Subsequent we had “American Sign Language” at the Store. In my opinion it was the most interesting class of the weekend and I wish there would have been a chance to learn more and not to have just on session. We had to rush through everything and so it was not easy to remember everything.
I know it was just an introduction but I really would like to have to chance to have it as maybe to sessions.
It made me think about the question if I want to do something later with it, but I think I might be already too old to learn all the different things in a short time
After these two sessions it was time for lunch and to talk about what we have learned before.
Everyone who took American Sign Language was fascinated and tried to show the others what they remember.
We had planned to do the guided “Nature Hike” after Lunch.
The idea to do this was in our mind before we arrived at the school and after I have seen Lakes Georges’ landscape I was really looking forward to see more.
Unluckily it really rained the whole day without a break and we did not get the chance to do it.
Instead we made kites.
It was much fun to paint the kite itself in your personal color and design. All Au Pairs were very creative and you could see something of each ones personality in it.
Another good thing was again to have the chance to get to know new people.
The work was fast done and because it was a double session we had more free time than we would have had usually.
Our paper said that there is an archery place on the campus, but again the weather changed the plans and we could not do it.
It was another thing I really looked forward because it is something I had not done before.
Hopefully I get the chance to go hiking to “Sunrise Mountain” and to the archery place this weekend. I already checked the weather forecast and the chance to be able to do this seems luckily to be really high.
So we had our free time which was really good because we did not have that much sleep the last night.
Of course not – girls always talk when they are together and we also started to watch a movie on one of my friends’ laptop and had dinner afterwards.
“Class session five” was thousand times more fun than the other ones. It was the “Spontaneous Melodrama”.
Some Au Pairs got flash cards when they entered the room and ended up playing a person, an animal or furniture. They all did a great job and it was funny.
Even the ones who did not have flash cards got the chance to take part in it. They had to applause, to scream or to say things like ‘ouch’ during the play.
The girls who should give the advices to that messed up and made it even more ridiculous with this.
I do not know if it is every weekend like this, but the funniest parts were the changes on the script (I will get to know this weekend. I am so much looking forward this evening!).
People who have been there know what I am talking about. It was so much fun that I had to cry while I laughed and I was definitive not the only person.
As already mentioned it was the weekend before Halloween.
That is why we had the chance to go on a “Haunted House Tour” and the atmosphere changed from damn funny into very scary.
To make it scarier we went to the haunted house in small groups guided by one stuff member.
It was very amazing how the haunted house looked like. There were spider webs everywhere, strange noises, moving furniture, door which closed automatically and two ghosts.
Typical for girls some Au Pairs were screaming and everything and everyone was frightened.
After this shock the promised “Ice Cream Break” was the best thing. There were different flavors for every taste and different topics and especially it was enough for everyone.
At night there was a “Club Disco” and again because of Halloween there was the possibility to wear a costume.
I would say half of the ones who were there did it. So you could see a vampire, a hippie, and fairies and so on.
Everyone was dancing. The bad thing was that there was just one hour and fifteen minutes time till the quite hour started to it was just a short amusement.
My friends and me went to bed very tired anyway, but excited for the next day.
On Sunday we woke up and the heaven was brilliant blue. The sun was shining and showed us all the different colors of the grass, the water and especially the color of the trees. It was very amazing and we took a lot of pictures that day.
Because it was already the end of the weekend the Sunday was a short day with the last two class sessions before lunch.
Our seventh class session was “Communication Skills”.
During this session we talked about how many differences one language can have. In every country of the United States of America the first language is English.
Because of the fact that America is such a huge country there are many places with other words for one thing.
This session was very funny because the teacher told us about his own experiences.
Here is one example which can lead to a lot of confusion:
In most parts of the country there is a drink called: coke. Everyone knows it, but there is also a part which calls just lemonade as coke. So you can order a coke with orange flavor.
The last session we took part in was “Differences in Parenting”.
It was the session where every Au Pair could find a situation of their own host family, although I have to admit that it is a class more for Au Pairs taking care for young children.
My host children are already fourteen, they are twins, and I do not have the task to educate them.
I have to support them and be more like a friend (and cab driver).
To bring the weekend to an end we had the chance to have lunch and to make a snack for our trip home.
My friends and I decided not to drive straight home, because we wanted to do something on such a sun shiny day.
We drove to Albany and walked around the City.
Altogether I have to say that each session was very entertaining.
We were all surprised to find out that the teachers are real teachers because they were so young, funny and friendly.
Not quite the same picture most of people have of a teacher.
There was no class session I did not enjoy and I am glad that we already signed in for this second weekend in November.
As an advice I have to say something we talked about with the one who was doing the American History Class.
First, most people are not that interested in history itself, but we are Au Pairs in America which (should) means that we are interested in the country.
The maximum of Au Pairs is from Germany and most of the just finished school. We talk about the Second World War every year of school in history – so we are just done with this topic and are not interested in talking about it again at such a weekend.
I would be interested in the live and development of living of the Native Americans for example.
The weekend was very informative, but I am not sure if there is something I learned for life I could use again in the future.
I think that the tasks we have to do are something we really could learn something from.
Most of us just talk in English but do not write it. (I write some of my emails in English)
This is a very good practice, besides the fact to write five pages about a short two day weekend is very hard, although I liked the challenge.
I think it would be nice to get a feedback from you about the tasks.
For my two tasks of my first weekend at Silver Bay I worked really hard and tried to make it interesting, not getting a feedback from you makes you feel like you did it for nothing – and that you just could have had copied something from the internet.
I know it is really hard to read (if you do it) so many pages of so many different Au Pairs but I would really welcome two or three sentences.
So I would get to know what I am good in and where I could improve myself.
Luckily I have a homepage to let my family and friends know what is going on in my life in the United States.
I decided to put my papers on it and some of them read it and that makes me feel good in a way.
The thing is that they all are not very good in English and cannot tell me if I had many mistakes or not.
I am looking forward the upcoming weekend and hope that it will be as much fun as last time and especially that we can go to “Sunrise Mountain”.
I already thought about which classes I could chose this time and it is a really good thing that there are some more different sessions offered then last time because I already took part in the one I was interested in.
I like it that you have the chance to chose in between practical and brain work, like doing a kite – this time I will do a wreath and the American Sign Language.
As mentioned at the beginning I did not expect that much of the weekend. I could not imagine talking over an hour about holidays, for example, but the time went by very fast in every session.
Everything was make for a young – Au Pair – generation.
It is also good to have the chance to get out of your all day environment.
To spend a whole weekend at a different place.
We really enjoyed our weekend at Silver Bay!
Texel:
“Texel is my favorite place on earth.
It is not just the beauty of its nature or the friendliness of its residents that makes me feel very special when I stay there, but particularly there are my very personal memories I associate with this little island!
I passed the luckiest days of my life with my family and friends there, so it’s no surprise that it is my desire to settle down at Texel someday.
Every time I return to Texel, I get the feeling to be at home, because everything is familiar, exactly like I left it the last time!
I am nowhere else this able to relax like when I am on Texel.
All along the years I gained friends there and I love nothing more than the beach, the dunes and above all Texel’s lighthouse.”
Rebecca, 22 years old.
Rebecca is one of my best friends.
I know her my entire life and I know her and her favor for Texel very well.
That is why I asked her to tell me something about her personal vision on the island when I decided to write about it.
I know that she loves Texel and I can totally understand that. Most times I have been there I spend the time with Rebecca and our families.
We always enjoyed our time there and had some routine things we always did.
I want to tell you about them, so you know what you can do there.
One time, Rebecca and me have been there on our own for two weeks.
I just realized, that this is already four years ago, and as Rebecca said, we can go back there and nothing has changed.
Arriving there makes you always feel like coming back home.
Arriving. As Texel is an island you can just arrive there either via a plane or helicopter, which is a very uncommon way, or use the way over water, which is more popular: the ferry.
The ferry crossing is provided by the TESO Ferry Company which organizes that the services takes place on set time.
During the main season Teso provides extra ferry services.
It is crossing from Den Helder to Texel and it takes about half an hour.
So, Rebecca and me spend our vacation without supervision on Texel.
As you may know Texel, it is a small island which belongs to the Netherlands.
Although it is the biggest and most populated of the Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea it is still very small.
Texel has a surface of 16.000 acres and measures 25 km by 8.
That means that you can go around Texel on one day on your bike.
That is why you do not really need a car when you are there because you can reach everything with your bike.
Rebecca and me have been there without a car and that was such a great experience (and also good for the environment and our bodies). I am looking forward to do this again because in our time you are used to have a car for nearly every way.
In the past you would never have used the car for a fifteen minutes walk, but now everyone does.
Being just able to use the bike is a good and healthy way of live or in our case: vacation.
I do not think that there is any person living on this beautiful island who does not have a bike.
Texel has a varied landscape, like dunes, woods and polders and grazing lands which is beautiful in all seasons.
It is departed in seven towns and the outside areas, where the population of approximately 14,000 people live.
Rebecca and I stayed in a very cute one room apartment in De Cocksdorp.
You will find this small village with a population of four hundred people in the north of Texel, pretty close to the light house.
This is one reason why we like it there.
It is so pretty everyone knows each other and you do not have a long way to the lighthouse.
Of course we did not want to stay in De Cocksdorp the whole time.
The weather has been very good –most of the time – during our vacation and we did not have problems to use the bike to go shopping, to go to the beach, the other villages or just on a ride.
At this point I would like to tell you a story Rebecca and me always like to tell and especially like to laugh again.
One day Rebecca and me decided to go on a ride to visit the village Den Burg.
We wanted to go to a very popular market there.
You can get everything there from food to souvenirs and so on.
There is one jewelry store which we cannot pass without going inside. We never buy something at the first time, because you can make a circle around or in Den Burg to see everything first.
We always made at least two circles.
The first one to see what is new, what we would like to have and enjoy walking around.
The second one is to spend money.
I think there has not been one time where we did not buy anything at the jewelry store.
Between going around the first and the second time it is always good to make a lunch break, especially because your hands are still empty and you can hold your food.
Many people might think that all you can find there is cheese, which is not SO untrue, but one other typical and one of my favorite dishes is “Poffertjes”.
Some kind of pancake but very small, much thicker and have a light spongy texture.
Typically, poffertjes are serves with butter and powdered sugar.
Afterwards I would suggest everyone to eat “Swirl” as dessert.
It is my favorite ice cream and very popular in the Netherlands.
So far, there are also several locations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, India, Israel and my home country Germany.
(Although I have to admit that I have not seen it anywhere else than in the Netherlands)
As I said it is ice cream, which is swirled with different things like several ice cream flavors and fruits or chocolate and caramel syrup and all this stuff.
My suggestion is to take vanilla flavor with caramel syrup, brittle and waffles.
It is so unbelievable good.
I would say:
“A day on Texel without eating a swirl is a lost day.”
I was so much talking about what you can do in pretty Den Burg that I nearly forgot to tell one of Rebecca and mine favorite stories of our vacation:
the trip with our bikes to Den Burg.
When we packed our things in the morning the weather was not that good, so we thought it is a good plan to visit a city instead of going to the beach.
But we kind of forgot that we are on an island and the weather can change very fast!
Usually the bike ride from De Cocksdorp takes about one hour without rushing.
On this special day it started to rain after ten minutes and we had to make a first brake to take our rain suits on. While we did that, the rain got harder and harder and the wind stronger.
Of course the wind was coming from the front which made it harder for us to ride, but we decided to go on.
After a very exhausting time we finally arrived in Den Burg. We got soaked to the skin!
It was really unbelievable, but we felt good and were proud of ourselves that we did that.
But this was not even the worst part, because we also had to go back.
It took us around four hours or something – it felt like forever.
As I said the weather on an island changes very quickly – the wind direction does that, too…
The wind was unbelievable strong and blew in our wet faces. The rain lashed against our soft skin so hard that it hurt.
We passed one building – like a small kind of airport, for example – after the other and told ourselves that the way is not so long anymore…but we were wrong.
It took all our energy to come back home. We were so exhausted that we nearly started to cry!
This was an experience indescribable!
And you may not believe me: but I would do it again without any hesitation and I am pretty sure Rebecca would agree with me at this point!
Texel just gives you the feeling to be able to do whatever you want to!
Of course Texel has more attractions than visiting “just” a village.
There are several museums and I would like to tell you about two of them:
The “Maritiem & Jutters Museum” is located in Oudeschild.
Oudeschild is very attractive to tourists because it is the home harbor of the Texel fishing fleet.
You can see there as much modern fishing boats and old ones, especially at the weekend.
There are many different activities, for example taking a boat journey on the Wadden Sea, take pictures sitting on an old cannon (That is what we need to do every time we are there. We have plenty of pictures, especially old ones and on every picture is one more child sitting on the cannon. ) or going to the “Maritiem & Jutters Museum”.
This museum is interesting for people either young or old.
It is departed into four different themes: Wind, sea, beach and land.
The wind section tells you something about the storm history of Texel.
Once there was such a big storm that ships were thrown out of there anchors, flying into other boats and finally sank.
Although there is not always such a big storm, there is of course a lot of wind coming from the sea.
That is why you can find many (energy saver) windmills on Texel.
One is right at the museum, which can be visited.
You can find something about the sea rescue of Texel in the wind and the sea section.
I think the sea section is more interesting for children, because there is one U-boat you can climb in and there is a paddle boat on a very small kind of river or creek, which you can use to go from one side to the other.
More over you can get information about the already mentioned TESO and fishery.
Of course fishes are not the only things the fishers catch with their flues.
Some very weird or interesting jetsam and flotsam are exposed in the museum.
Visitors also have the chance to write their own messages in a bottle which are thrown out in the sea by some fishers in the beach section.
They let you know everything which is interesting about the beach and dunes of Texel.
The last section – the land section is intersting for history interested people.
It shows the development of Texel and its small villages.
All around this museum is so interesting that I have been in there so many times, I can not remember it.
It really is something you should do during your vacation!
The second museum is the “Ecomare”:
The EcoMare is one of the main attractions of Texel. About 250.000 visitors go there in a year.
It is a Museum, a center of information and an initiative for nature conservation at once.
The Museum shows Texel’s development from Stone Age until now, for example you can gaze an incredible big mammoth and other historical animals but you also learn a lot about the topical flora and fauna of Texel.
The most liked animals are the about 25 sea-dogs which live there in pools.
They get feeded at 11a.m. and 3p.m. and this is an exciting spectacle for young and old. The sea-dogs live there, because the EcoMare is also a rescue center for sick animals and about twelve baby-seadogs get born there in a year - three months later they get released.
This rescue center was established by a married couple, Mr. and Mrs. de Haan, in 1952, it is the oldest rescue center for seadogs in Europe.
In the 1970’s the center got opened for tourists.
Between 1980 and 1990 the sea-dogs were threatened by extinction, but now the species is saved.
Furthermore, there are lots of aquariums with hundreds of beautiful fishes, seashells and other maritime animals and cages with birds.
In every holiday stay, Rebecca and I visit this museum on a rainy day, and although we know every exhibit by heart it is never boring.
A terrific fun for us is a special game: There are several pictures of various animals, and the same number of different excrements and you have to assign the right animal to the right feace by pushing buttons, when you are right, a light starts to blink.
The museum has a garden where the typically plants of the North Sea coast are introduced. In the garden you can also regard a small sleazy hut which shows how the inhabitants lived some hundred years ago. For Rebecca and me it was tradition to take a photo of this hut, back home we showed it our friends and we told them that this was our vacation cottage!
In its function as a center of information, the EcoMare offers leaded rambles through Texel’s natural refuges. Our preferred ramble was the one through the “Slufter”, a special conservating area with lots of birds, sheep, rabbits and plants.
The Slufter is open to the north sea since 1851 because there was a hard storm tide and the dyke was broken by the sea, so the animals and plants have to be able to stand the saltwater, because it is coming in by nearly every flood.
That is why the Slufter is this special, only a definite population of animals and plants fulfill the necessity to live with the high salt content and are able to stay alive there.
The EcoMare shows the tourists how to live with Texel its nature, how to behave in the right way and it teaches us to love the landscape. This is why the island is in fact very clean, there is no rubbish in the forest or at the beach, everyone tries to protect the beautiful island.
At my last words the only thing I can say is that I would not have been able to write all this without the help of my friend Rebecca.
We discovered this beautiful island through the years and I am so much looking forward to go back there!
