Americanized

This past week and especially the weekend was pretty hectic. The mother went to the Netherlands for 6 days, leaving Thursday and coming back this coming Tuesday. That means I really played mom, from waking them up in the morning to putting them to bed at night. The father was here to help at night and on the weekend, but he doesn't get home from work until about 6:30 or 7. So, this weekend I schooled the kids on American culture. We carved pumpkins on Saturday and they were so excited. The father had never seen the inside of a pumpkin before in his entire life. We baked the seeds and made pumpkin soup too. Then the next morning I made what they call American pancakes. They are use to really thin crepe like pancakes and they put powdered sugar on theirs. They ate like 7 each. In the last few days I have done more puzzles, board games, and pretending than I have in a long time.










At nights, after the kids are in bed and stuff, Katie and I go for runs a few nights a week in the countryside close to my house. It is starting to get cold so we have to bundle up, as you can see from the pictures. The last picture is of me posing on big roles of hay that are along the trails. They are fun to jump on.












Over the past week or so Romee has starting calling me something other than mama, which I think the parents were kind of annoyed with the fact she was calling me mama. Anyways, I took this video of her like the second day she started calling me am-bel-ing. She has gotten even better at it since when I took this. She yells my name all around the house, and I like it for now at least. I couldn't figure out how to get the video the right direction, so sorry you have to watch it sideways. We are still working on her saying her own name, but hopefully soon. I've also taught her to say "bless you" whenever someone sneezes. It is the cutest thing, so I often fake sneeze just so I can hear her say it. It's fun teaching kids new words!

Freiburg, Germany and friends

This past Saturday Katie and I went back to Freiburg, Germany. Last time we went we only ended up having about an hour to walk around, so we went back for another visit. I really love that town a lot. We walked around to some different shops and just looked for a few hours. We would have had more time again, but it took us 3 hours to get there and only 45 minutes to get back. We aren't the best at reading maps, but the road signs there are horrible! We made it and it was worth it.



































The first picture is of a Native music group playing on the streets. My first reaction was that they were Native Americans, but then I realized I was in Germany, so.... The second picture is just walking down the street. The next is of me giving a thumbs up for my new boots. I've never lived in a place cold enough to need boots, but now I do! It is getting really cold already. The next one is more beautiful fall colors; I can't get enough! Then the next is the sunset on the ride home. And the last photo is of some of my other au pair friends. We met up to watch the rugby finals Saturday night. I think there is some unspoken requirement that you have to have blondish hair to be an au pair here.

Prague!!

Well, I suppose this was my first big trip since I've been here, and it as a lot of fun. I took lots of pictures, so here are some of them.


In Prague, I stayed with my friend Natalie that I know from UF. She is living in Prague teaching English. I got there on Wednesday and on Thursday and Friday she had to work, so I did a lot of the sight seeing while she was busy. The first and second pictures are of Wenceslas Square, a big boulevard that draws lots of people and that's known for its protests, especially from the Communist days. The third is me in front of big coo-coo clock in the Old Town Square. There is a huge crowd every hour. The last is St. Vitus's Cathedral.















These next set of pictures are of cool stuff I saw that I thought were picture worthy. The first is a graffiti tunnel near Natalie's flat. They had some really great work. The second I don't even know what it is, I just looked up and saw it and thought it was funny. The third is from outside the Prague Castle. These little men are the parking spaces. The fourth is on the Charles Bridge. There were lots of acts, but the one-man-band was probably my favorite. The last is actually not in Prague, but in Cesky Krumlov. On Saturday Natalie and I rode a train to Cesky Kromlov, a small town in the south of the Czech Republic, to spend the day. It is a really picturesque town and it was a great place to just stroll.














These 4 pictures are from an outing Natalie and I went on in Prague up to St. Martin's Rotunda. It had great views of the city and it was such perfect weather that day.

These last 3 are to show how beautiful autumn is here. I never knew leaves could turn the colors they do. The weather is starting to really get cool, but the colors are totally worth it.

Geneva/ Saint-Genis-Pouilly

Last weekend I went to see my friend Chelsea that I studied abroad with in France a few years ago. She's living just outside of Geneva, in a small French town called Saint-Genis-Pouilly. It is a really cute town and only 10 or 15 minutes from the big city of Geneva. It was really great to see Chelsea again. I bought this train pass that lets me travel anywhere in Switzerland after 7pm for free and any other time for half price. I just had to pay the one time fee and it lasts or a year. So, I put it to use and went to Geneva after 7pm on Friday and came back after 7pm on Sunday. It was a great weekend and nice to get out of the house a bit. My host family went on holiday for 10 days and they also left on Friday night. So, it worked out great because I went to Geneva for the weekend, came back to Basel Monday and Tuesday, and then headed to Prague on Wednesday and came back Monday. These pictures are from my weekend in Geneva. Chelsea had made a few friends already, one being her new roommate and also a friend from home who is teaching English there as well, so we hung out with them in Geneva and then during the day walked around Saint-Genis-Pouilly. And now that I have this train pass, I can pretty much go to visit any free weekend!

Tinguely Museum and co.

I took Romee to the Tinguely Museum last week during the day, just to get out of the house for a bit. It is a museum in Basel that has lots of artwork/sculptures done by John Tinguely. The fountain in downtown Basel that I posted a few weeks ago is also by him. The first photo is Romee sitting on some real cool serpent chairs. The next 2 are of some of the sculptures. They all have these foot petals you step on and then they move. The second went really fast when you pressed it and Romee freaked out and started screaming and then fell down as she was running away. It was hilarious.




I just got back from a weekend in Geneva where my friend Chelsea is living, and I will hopefully get some pictures from that soon. I leave in 2 days for Prague, so I will be sure to post when I get back!






This picture is from Sterre's school musical. They did Jack and the Beanstalk. She was a sheep and just baaed and sang the songs. I'm glad this thing is finally over so maybe she'll stop singing all the time. I sang along to all the songs during the performance because Sterre sings them 24/7 and I've learned all the words.

A Video!!! and glass factory trip

Sterre and Constantijn go to the International School of Basel (ISB), which is a private school and everyone is taught in English. There are people from all over the world that go there. Anyways, the school organizes trips for the parents to discover the stuff in and around Basel because there are always new people to the area. So, last Friday I went on the trip to the Hergiswil Glass Factory, just outside of Luzern. The tour itself was ok, but watching them make the stuff was really cool. Everything was super expensive! The lunch was even so expensive that Katie and I skipped out on it and walked around. That's when we took the last two photos. It was especially cold that day; the first time I've had to bring my big coat out. It has warmed up since then, don't worry.

This is a short video of Romee I took while we were on a walk. Because she's being raised bilingual, she doesn't talk as much as most kids her age. But, she understands a lot. I can tell her pretty much anything in English and she understands me, and she know Dutch even better than English.

Pro Landskron

I made it to the castle that I see from my backyard. It takes only about 20 or 30 minutes to walk there, though it gets pretty steep. The castle, Pro Landskron, is actually in France, just over the Swiss border. I don't know much of the history about it; I really need to learn some new languages. These are all pictures of the castle except the last picture is a water fountain just down the street from my house on the way to the castle. There are water fountains like these all over, in every town and city I've been to so far, and you can drink from them. This one had rose petals in it for some reason and I thought I looked really pretty. The water is really good, so I bring my Nalgene where ever I go and fill it up.