Hallo hallo!
So far I have been to the job office, the city hall building, the bank, the pharmacy, and Spar, which is like a Super Walmart (do they even make non-Super Walmarts anymore?), and the park/woods in Hollabrunn . A fine start I should like to think. I think the language barrier is still inhibiting me a bit from just walking into any old shop, not to mention that I really have not had time for it yet. Alas, I know I eventually will :)
On Monday I started getting all the official things taken care of, so that was good. Legal buildings are as stuffy and hot here as they usually are in the states, haha. For the rest of the morning I was home with Elisabeth and Elena while Kristina was at Kindergarten. I started to get acclimated to the kitchen and the different recipes and ways of cooking that they have here, which was really interesting. I was shown how to make dumplings with lard and grits and some other ingredients, a very simple soup with the soup cubes, and fried bread crumbs with butter and sugar. I'll be making the girls' and my lunch most of the days, which appears to be the largest meal here.
Pause here to make a note of something: The eating patterns are quite different here than back home. Breakfast is average sized but still on the smaller side; lunch, or the mid-day meal, is the largest and heaviest of the meals. Finally dinner, so far anyway, has been fairly light consisting of bread, deli meat and cheeses, vegetables, and possibly cake afterwards. This is probably a lot healthier than in the States, but it's probably going to take a bit to get used to. However, hopefully after this I'll have developed some healthier habits. Keep your fingers crossed ;)
Un-pause.
The rest of Monday was filled with browsing the girls' rooms, the kitchen, and the rest of the house, which has not ceased to continue. And I cannot forget to mention Barbie. She, Ken and all her friends, have been constant playmates for us as well:) Also, the girls have been quite intrigued with all my shoes. I brought my pair of black sequinned Toms, which they refer to as the "disco shoes." I also have a few pairs of high-heeled sandals, which they both tried on that night before they went up to bed. Oh my, what a sight to see them walking around in those! Kristina especially; I was holding her hands just to make sure she wouldn't fall and break an ankle. There is a rack I have for all of them, but I turned my back for a few minutes to talk to Elisabeth, and the next thing I know is all me shoes are lined up in pairs all over my carpet...I guess they just wanted to get a clearer look at them. Haha. Now I'm really glad I brought them all :)
Yesterday, was my first day having the girls on my own. Elisabeth has been so kind and thoughtful of my jet-lag, so I got to sleep in a little bit the past couple of days. I woke up (later than I had planned - story of my LIFE!) and walked down to the pharmacy (first time going somewhere on my own!) to pick up Elena for the rest of the day. She loves to talk and tell me stories and adventures that she wants to have. Hopefully we'll get to indulge in some of those soon ;) On the way home she showed my their school, which they will start attending on Monday, at which point my actual routine will start.
After we picked up Kristina from Kindergarten, I made spaghetti for lunch, which was a simple and quick thing to start with. Not to mention delicious and was finished without a problem. I even had to cook more noodles--good thing the water was still pretty hot!!
These ladies are very creative and love to draw and color and make things! It's so great to see their creative minds at work and always wanting to make new things! I have a book of 365 different craft ideas, so they were thumbing through that and found toothpick dolls. They both ran to find the yarn and toothpicks and had a blast doing it, especially Elena; Kristina still needed a bit of help with hers. Once the craft corner was done, we headed out for our first adventure: the Wasserpark (water park). It is a park that's basically a bunch of woods with a little creak and trails the run through it. I'm not totally sure how big it actually is, because we have stayed in one primary area: our house. Elena had been back there at one time with some friends and they had built a little house with fallen limbs and branches; however, it had since collapsed or was knocked over. Slightly upset, she declared that we had to build it again! And boy, oh boy, have we built it again! It was honestly so fun to be outside with them exploring the woods and learning some "survival" skills, haha.
I was the same sort of thing this morning, except I woke up when I wanted to (yay!) and picked both girls up from the pharmacy. We had craft time, during which we were making cards and I was drawing roses, my signature creation when it comes to drawing anything. Elena was being very secretive about what she was doing, and I realized at the end why. She runs out of the room for a few minutes and comes back with two envelopes, containing more than just paper, with my name on them. She tells me, "Pick one." So I do and inside is a very sweet card and a necklace, quite reminiscent of the ones I made as a little girl. I love it!
After lunch we headed back to the Wasserpark to keep working on our house. I must tell you, I feel most special as I am the only adult who has ever been back there with them and have seen the house. We said it would be our little secret, so I'll have to ask special permission to post pictures of it ;) Elena even built a little gate a few meters from the entrance because she really doesn't want anybody to find it. Sooo cute! Kristina like taking the sticks and sweeping the dirt and I'm usually the one the brings up the big branches for us to use for the walls and the benches that we've managed to put together. We even have a pet snail named Nessie who will live in an orange container we found up there too. Oh my word, it is so great. What kid, or adult for that matter, doesn't enjoy a good hide-out in the woods? I know not one. The amusing part came at the end of the time in the woods today. Elena wanted to make a special passage across the creak that would be our special bridge to get up to the house quicker. She brought two thick logs down, about a meter or so in length, to lay across the water. They didn't make it all the way to the other side, but far enough across that it looked like she'd be able to reach the other side by one long step off the edge of the branch. She wanted to try really quickly before we started back home for the afternoon, so I let her. Well...she didn't quite make it. What made it even worse/funnier was that the ground was pretty soft from the rain last night. You can probably guess. One foot sank all the way down into the mud; it literally covered her foot all the way up to her ankle. The other one just got wet all the way through with only a bit of mud. She's oh-no-ing and starting to get a bit upset, about to cry really, and I'm laughing at her but trying to contain myself. But failing, really. I tell her it's really okay and that we'll just wash them off once we're home. Haha...I haven't seen that muddy of a foot/shoe in a while, not to mention on a cute little girl! She says, "One foot is squishy and one is heavy!" Haha. I can only imagine!
We have another 'foot/hand/knee washing party' in the shower, and then I get to work on the shoes outside in the garden. Ha...wow. It was a lot of mud, but I got it all off and set them to dry in the sun. Her yellow socks on the other hand...yeah, I don't think those will be yellow again anytime soon :/ I told her she was very brave for trying it out, and not to feel bad about it. I've told them the last couple days not to feel badly about getting little scrapes and scratches or getting dirty when playing because it's a sign that you've played hard and had a good time! There's always the tub for washing and ointment and Band-aids for quick fixes.
Well, those have been the extent of my adventures so far. I am understanding more German each day and am feeling more confident in my speaking, which still isn't very much, but still...it's a start. The girls tell me I'm doing well anyway, so that makes me feel good :) I've been talking with friends from Dundee to try and start planning some trips and things, so I hope I can find so cheap deals and the best routes and ways of traveling! Ahh, exciting stuff!
Thanks for all your continued support and prayers as this new experience unfolds itself!
God bless!
~Sarah
No comments:
Post a Comment