Goodbye

188 days USA. 

Six months.

I am home again. At home in Germany. For good.

I had such a great time in the US, really. I enjoyed the last six months. I love my host family. 

But, for whatever reason, I wasn't happy there.

Actually I already typed this post about a month ago. I am sitting here right now, in Ithaca, while my boy is sleeping and outside it's snowing. I'm waiting for my friend to come here with her babies. And I actually really want to go home. I'm only posting this when I am at home, so when you're reading this, right now, I am at home.

To be honest, I thought about quitting my Aupair job for weeks, even months. I always thought "Maybe it's getting better, maybe I'll be happier in a few weeks, maybe these feelings will pass".

So I decided to make my decision after Christmas, when I'm back in Ithaca.

I had such a great time during Christmas - at home, with my friends and family. 

And I spoke with them about my thoughts and feelings - oh Lord, we talked so much about it. And we were always turning around in circles. At the end, everybody said that I have to listen to my heart and do what's best for me.

But how was I supposed to know what's best for me?

How was I supposed to know if - maybe - it will get better? Or if it won't get better?

Believe me, I thought so much about this. 

At one point, I noticed that I only searched for arguments why I should stay there. Like, I tried to convince myself that it's okay to stay in the US. And when I was back there, after Christmas, after New Year's Eve in NYC, I recognized that it wouldn't be okay. Not for me.

It took me so long to make that decision because I always wanted to go to the US. It was my biggest dream. I was so excited and happy when I finally left Germany!

And then, I had to admit to myself that ... This American adventure doesn't make me happy. You have to understand that I am kind of disappointed in myself. I'm asking myself if I'm not strong enough to stay a year away from home. But then, it's not a challenge. I should WANT to stay here and not convince myself. And I am not homesick. I am unhappy here.

Why?

I don't even really know. I have my friends here (in the US) and this great host family and our weekend trips ... But still.

I feel like the work with the kids doesn't fulfill me. I love them, I really do. But this work is not suitable for me. I am not happy (reminder: I typed this when there was still a month in the US ahead of me). Period.

So my decision was not logical. I mean, when you see it from a logical point of view, it's actually really stupid. I earn quite a lot of money here, I have this really nice host family, great friends and I am in the freakin USA!

But: I am not happy. So, probably for the first time in my life, I made a decision that was really egoistical. I am following my heart ... I strongly believe that I will feel better at home. I know that.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not sitting here every day crying because I'm so sad. It's just the overall situation. I enjoyed my time in the US. But six months is okay. It's enough. For now. Who know's, maybe I'm coming back in a few years ;)

Thank you to my host family. I know that I will always have friends in them.

Thank you to my fellow Ithaca AuPairs. You made this time so much more fun. I'm so gonna visit you in your home countries !!

Thank you to my family and friends at home, for your support and love. For welcoming me back way earlier than expected.

And to all future AuPairs: The AuPair job is great. The US is great. You will have a great time, like I did. Probably even a greater time, because you will stay longer than I did :p

But I believe that it's better for me to be at home. 

"I don't know where I'm going from here, but I promise it won't be boring." - David Bowie

Montreal !

184 days!

Last Friday, Anni and I drove to Montreal!

It took us 5 and a half hours to get there. Fortunately there was no snow or traffic jam or whatever, so it was easy to get there.

Canada is soooo beautiful!

And Canadians are so nice, I can't get over that. When we drove around to search a parking lot, a Canadian stopped next to us and asked us if we need help. Like - we didn't even have to ask for help, he just offered it to us! And at another point, we stood around on the sidewalk and looked at a map to figure out where to go next and a Canadian came up to us and also asked if we need help. Unbelievable!

Friday

We left early from Ithaca and arrived in Montreal around noon.

It's so funny and weird that they speak English and French there, even more French than English.

We walked around Vieux Montreal - they have an old part of the city! Old! A word that Americans usually don't know! It's beautiful there. Montreal is kind of more European than cities in the US.

Quiche

 We went to the cathedral which is beautiful but not really a church ... A church for me has to be cold inside and it has that certain church smell ... Do you know what I mean? I guess it's not old enough for that.

After that, we searched the Underground City - it's like a city underneath the real city. A lot of shops and restaurants, pretty cool. We just couldn't find an entrance! Several Canadians had to help us, but finally we found it.

Fun fact: The drinking age in Montreal is 18 ! So guess what we did in the evening ... :p

We went to a club which was kind of fun. We also found out that uber is illegal in Canada (but not a problem for the customer, only for the driver).

Saturday

It snowed during the night soooo there was SNOW !! And it was so cold. We still decided to go to a park from where you have a fantastic view over Montreal. Well. It was so foggy that we didn't really see anything, but it was still nice. The only problem was there underneath the snow, there was ice. So it wasn't really walking, it was more like ice skating ... :D But fun.

chocolate croissant <3

In the evening, we went to a festival that was called igloofest. They played electro music there and you practically HAD to dance to not freeze to death. When we were back in our room, we were so cold that we blow dryed our legs to get warm again. Hell it was cold.

Sunday

We drove back to Ithaca! It's always more complicated to get over the border back to the US. They're like "Why were you in Canada, For how long, What are you doing in the US, Do you have drugs" blablabla. No, we are not criminals, thank you very much.

In the evening, there was a Superbowl Party at Anni's house. Football madness! So much food. I still don't know the football rules so the most interesting part was the halftime show and the advertisements ^^

But it was a really great weekend and it was so exhausting, but fuuuuun

xoxo

Christin

Winter in Ithaca

159 days!

Soooo my daily routine is back. In other words: nothing exciting happened.

BUT: We have snow now! It's cold! 

People warned me about the winter in Ithaca. They really did. I even saw somebody walking around with a shirt that said "I survived the Ithaca winter 2015". Not kidding.

So I mentally prepared for the worst. 

Like 2 meters of snow.

Like we can't leave the house cause it's so cold outside.

And now?

Not even 10cm of snow. And there is always one day when it's warmer so the snow always melts.

Really, Ithaca? I was looking forward to this. Well, you still got some time.

In the meantime, here are some not-so-hardcore (but still beautiful) winter photos:

With Anni xo

"Bridge ahead"

 

... and frozen black - eyed peas

                                                                                                                                                      xD

Happy New Year !

147 days ! (still ^^)

Sooo when I arrived in NYC again, I met an aupair friend from Ithaca. Fortunately, we were allowed to stay in apartements from friends of her hostparents, so we didn't have to pay for that!

Our plan was to spend New Year's Eve on Times Square, watching the famous ball drop.

We went there around 2.30pm. There were so many people who wanted to go there! It was crazy. The police already closed several streets so it was a challenge to even get on Times Square. We went back to 50th street and had to wait there with a lot of other people. Then, the police told us to move to 51 street and it looked like a mass invasion. So many people. And we weren't even on Times Square yet!

 After another waiting period they finally let us in. But we were standing extremely far away from where everything happened. It was so crowded that it was sometimes hard to breathe. Also, you didn't even have to stand. There were so many people that the crowd somehow kept you upright. It was crazy. 

After waiting and waiting and waiting, we moved forward. After two security checks and even more waiting, we reached our final position. Now we were so close that we were able to see the ball when it was lifted to its position at 6pm. Nevertheless we noticed quickly that we couldn't see the stage or hear anything that was said there. You'd think that NYC is able to install a few monitors and speakers on TIMES SQUARE (which kinda consists of monitors), but nope. We stayed there till something after 7pm, but then we decided that it's not worth it to stay there. In the cold. Surrounded by a million people. Without seeing anything except from a ball. 

the blue thing in front of the red monitor is the ball

So we went back to the apartement to warm up, eat chocolate and chips and to drink to New Year's Eve! (being underage in the US really sucks)

As midnight was approaching, we walked to Central Park to see the free fireworks there. It was spectacular! Great fireworks. And there were also quite a lot of people.

Afterwards, we went to the apartement again, ate pizza (yay pizza delivery at 1am xD) and went to bed.

Although we didn't spend New Year's Eve on Times Square as planned, it was a lot of fun!

On January first, we went to the Guggenheim museum which was really interesting. We also walked through Central Park and went to see the 9/11 memorial.

The next day, we took the bus back to Ithaca and here I am now, typing this while my boy is taking his nap. But we have finally snow! Yay !!

Happy New Year,

take care,

Christin xo

Flying Home for Christmas

Day 147 !!

On December 19th, I flew home to Germany to spend Christmas there. I was so extremely excited !!

I couldn't really believe that I'm really going home. When the plane landed in Berlin, I was so relieved. That everything worked (bus to NYC, bus to JFK, plane to Berlin). That I was in Germany again.

JFK airport

My parents picked me up from the airport and for me, it was like I was dreaming. Everything looked the same! At home too and I felt as if I never went to the US. Of course, it was only 4 months, but it felt like so much more.

The plane left on Saturday at 6pm and arrived on Sunday at 7am. Yay time zones! Of course I wasn't able to sleep during the flight so I was tired as hell all day long. But I went to bed at a normal time and I didn't have jetlag at all. I slept SO good in my own bed.

During my time at home, I met a lot of my friends and I spent Christmas with my family. The fun thing was that my family (except from my parents) didn't know that I was coming. SURPRISE! There was a lot of hugging and crying going on.

 It was perfect. I had so much fun. My friends, my family, the food, my own bed, Germany. How much I missed everything and everybody.

Of course the 10 days were over way too fast. 

Going back to the US was more difficult than going there for the first time ...

But I was looking forward to spending New Year's Eve in New York City !