Well I finished my first week of work!  Now I know I have absolutely no experience teaching 4th grade, don't speak a word of german, and am a relative pushover when it comes to kids but I thought this job was going to be easy.  WRONG:)  It's going to be a really fun crazy challenge and I am determined to fake it til' I make it.  The teachers are awesome and come from everywhere for every different reason (husbands, boyfriends, study abroads that never left etc.) so I will have friends!!  woohoo!   The actual work part is going to be an ongoing struggle involving alot of internal screaming.

As for German, it's the most agressive, angry sounding language I have ever heard.  Little kids will ask me questions and it sounds like they're yelling.  And everyone, and I mean everyone speaks english.  It's pretty amazing but a little defeating when you practice- try out your german and they answer you in near perfect english.  A quote I like that I heard today is:  Tell someone you love them today, because life is short. But shout it at them in German, because life is also terrifying and confusing.  That pretty much sums it up.

I've convinced Chris he wants to drive me to work every morning but am left to my own devices to navigate the train and subway home.  This has resulted in various hilarious (for Chris)/humiliating (for me) experiences.  The most recent is that for the past week ALL the escalators in the train stations have been broken.  I ride at relatively unpopular times and thought that maybe they just shut them down during the less busy times (Germans are eco-conscious nuts but more on that later).  So today I see a girl going to walk up the broken elevator instead of the staircase I was headed towards and she started moving.  The thing is on a sensor.  &%#*!  That little anecdote pretty much sums up life here right now- a feeling like you are constantly just not getting it.  But such is the expat experience and we are slowly but surely getting it. 

When you move out of an apartment in Germany you take your light fixtures, closets, kitchen appliances, and even kitchen appliances with you (don't ask me why).  We (meaning Chris) have figured out the electrical system to the extent that we now have overhead lighting in MOST rooms.  It's not pretty but oh so functional.   What little cooking I am capable of revolves around a microwave and we finally journeyed out to get the essentials in the way of appliances.  look famaliar? 

Well I hope everyone has a great weekend, my parents and brother are coming tomorrow and we are off on a European Roadtrip Adventure!!  I know what you're thinking- "you've been working for 8 days, surely you're due for a vacation"?  When you're right, you're right:)  LOVE