(Half) A Milestone

Six months ago today I arrived, fresh off the plane, wired on nerves and excitement in Germany. It's hard to believe so much time has past; sometimes I feel like I just got here. It's also just as hard to believe that I have reached the exact middle point of my trip, the tip of this journey's mountain, and I am now on a downward descent. I figured today would be a great opportunity to take a look back at the last 6 months. I'll try to keep the sentimentality to a minimum, but seeing as I am a girl and we are by nature emotional beings, I can't make any promises.

September

i left houston after (quite a few) tears and (tons of) hugs

i explored my new home

and it's cute german buildings

i spent time with other au pairs

at an intercultural festival

i sat where the dalai lama sat. nbd.

My first month was spent intensely learning the language so I could communicate with the people here. I was also adjusting to my first time living so far from home and from everyone I knew. Let's also not forget my epic first day of work.

October

i explored frankfurt

i enjoyed some german beer

i fell in love with churches in mainz

they are so historic, it's crazy

i spent a week in berlin

and saw everything i could hope to see

j & l carved a pumpkin

which became an awesome jack-o-lantern

we dressed up

and went trick or treating

i even let them do my makeup

(you, as my reader, are lucky i have no shame, 

otherwise you would have never seen this photo.)

October was a good month for me. I was getting accustomed to German life, my school was going well, and I was all in all enjoying myself. 

November

we celebrated opa's birthday at a cute german restaurant 

but we mostly played video games

and played with coasters

i visited some family friends in bavaria

it was a great weekend

i made my own thanksgiving dinner in germany

and i apparently went home for thanksgiving too.

see if you can guess which one is(n't) me..

i saw my first weihnachtsmarkt!

it was a grand old time!

November was a fun for me. It was filled with spending time with my host family and my au pair friends too. I was starting to get homesick, but I was able to quickly remedy that with a trip to Bavaria to see some family friends who are stationed a few hours away. It was great to have a little taste of home!

December

i went to london

and i drank a beer at an english pub

i saw my first german snow

it was the most snow i've ever seen

i celebrated christmas with b's side of the family

we built lots of legos!

then we went to see d's family

and we of course played with our toys

December was a bit hard for me; probably because of the holidays and the distance from my family. I spent a lot of free time Skyping or on the phone with my family. I missed them so much and I wished I could spend the holidays with them. Lucky for me I was able to break up the bouts of homesickness with a trip to London and holiday celebrations with both sides of my host family!

January

went into nürnberg for new years. 

it was rainy and i didn't get many pictures, but it was a good time.

then i got to ring in the new year with some american friends!

i visited my first concentration camp in germany.

it was all very humbling. 

For New Years I went back to Bavaria to visit my friends from home. It was great. A week filled with friends, American food, and American TV. Whoop! But, January was also a lot like December. There was a lot of homesickness. At this point, I had my ticket to come home in February and I was counting down the days. Then one day, I woke up and smelled the coffee. I realized how much time had passed since I got to Germany; and therefore, how much time I had remaining. So I vowed to change my ways. And change them I did.

February

i went home for 10 GREAT days!!!

i spent time with my beautiful sisters!

and my handsome brother!

we rocked our onesie pj's

back in germany i celebrated karneval with my cousin

where i dressed up as america, duh!

February was such a great month, maybe the best one yet. I started it off by spending a week at home. When I returned to Germany, I spent time with my cousin in Bonn for Karneval. After that, I kept my word and began trying new things. My favorite one? I went to a bar in Wiesbaden. What bar? Can't tell you, because I promised the manager I wouldn't disclose it IF he let me be an honorary bartender for a bit. I totally didn't expect him to go for it, but I guess I was more persuasive than I thought. Score one for America!

March

That second time I almost got deported...

Last year I went to London and wrote about how I almost got deported here. Well let me tell you something, that may have been scary at the time, but it looks like nothing compared to the story I am about to tell you. Buckle up, it's a wild one.

First, let me start off from the very, very beginning; September 6th, the day I got to Germany. I came here as a tourist to live with a German family, learn the language and make sure it would be a good fit for me. It is very common for American au pairs to do this, and it is the easiest way to get your visa, or so I was told. Americans can stay as a tourist for up to 90 days, I just had to start the visa process before then. To get a one year work visa for Germany, you have to pass an A1 language test (we had taken several practice tests in school and I was averaging 85-95) as well as file the appropriate paperwork with the ausländerbehörde (immigration office).

So I researched where the nearest ausländerbehörde is and found one in Frankfurt, the nearest big city. So I went there one (very cold, rainy) day in November and waited in a long line for them to tell me I must first register at a different government building. When I explained that I had already registered with the government in Groß-Gerau, the city where I live, I was told I must go there to file my paperwork for my visa. So back to Groß-Gerau I went and the next week I went to the ausländerbehörde in Groß-Gerau to pick up and turn in the visa forms. 

Then I waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, about 3 weeks before my flight home, I got a letter from the German government saying more or less:


Dear Rachel,


Please come see us and bring international identification. 
Thanks a bunch, 


Deutschland


P.S. You're super cool.


I said more or less, which means I might have condensed it and then added a little something, but it's my blog and I can do that if I want to. My passport and I headed back to the ausländerbehörde and I waited my turn to get called into what will from here on be referred to as the dragon's lair. The dragon lady (I'm just doing my part to help her remain anonymous in this ever increasing world of the decrease of personal space) wasn't a dragon, technically speaking, but I definitely wanted to burn her acrylic pink sweater that was straight out of 1992. I'm getting sidetracked--the point of this story is getting lost. So the dragon lady asked for my passport, which I gave her, and after looking me up in her computer, she informed me that I was in big trouble. 


Turns out my visa paperwork was never filed; which meant I was living in Germany past my 90 day window, which meant I had been working as an au pair illegally, which meant that my host family could get in serious trouble for and I would too. The dragon no-so-polietly informed me that I would be receiving a letter from the government telling me the date by which I must vacate the country. At least the Germans were being cordial about deporting me, it could be worse, right?


So I head home and promptly enter freak out mode. Up until this point I was growing more and more homesick by the day. I had been so looking forward to my trip back to Texas that my mind didn't really have time to think about much else. But now? Now that I was leaving and not coming back? I was so sad. I wasn't ready for my time in Germany to be over yet. I had a lot I wanted to do and I knew if I left and didn't come back I might never have the chance to live in Europe again. Unfortunately it was a Friday and nothing could be done until Monday.


So I spent my weekend talking to B about the situation, then we spoke with my au pair agent, and I talked to my parents about it, and then we waited. I was so stressed by all of this, but I knew that all weekend, and even on Monday there was nothing I could really do. It was out of my hands and I had to accept that and be ready to accept whatever would happen. Lucky for me, on Monday morning I realized I brought the big guns with me when I brought B. Man, it was awesome. She totally had my back, she stuck up for me to dragon lady (something I totally could have done in English, but in German, not so much), and she was an all around badass. 


B got the problem solved relatively quickly, it took just over 2 hours which might seem like a long time, but I've waited in DPS lines for longer, so I call it a win. The dragon lady ended up sending us down the hall to her colleague, a dead ringer for Mr. Clean, and he was very polite, kind, and helpful. Polar opposites, to say the least. I got a tourist visa extension that is good until April and we re-filed my work visa. I had to get passport photos taken (you can't grin in German passport photos, showing your teeth is a big no-no, so my picture is less than flattering, to say the least) and then they scanned my finger prints. So there go my hopes and dreams of being an international criminal. Damn.


Morals of this somewhat comical, entirely true story: 
1. Follow proper procedure for obtaining visas.
2. If you find yourself in a less than desirable situation in which you are about to be deported, bring the big guns.
3. Keep calm, because you never know what kind of crazy, stressful events will end up being the best "That time(s) I almost got deported..."

Baby, All I want for Christmas is You..

...and snow. Mostly snow. I was trying not to keep my hopes up for getting snow before the new year; B & D both told me it was pretty rare for them to get snow before mid-January. Being the tragic optimist that I am, I refused to give up hope. I checked the weather daily and became more and more discouraged as the chances of snow dwindled down to 10%.

So imagine my surprise when I woke up to J& L screaming right outside my window. I went upstairs to investigate and was greeted with the first snow of the winter!!! I was so excited that I literally ran back down to my room to bundle up and go outside and play! J and I had a snowball fight and made snow angels. It was so unbelievably cool!

Picture time:

our house!

ah! i was just so excited, 

i took pictures of ridiculous things just because they were covered in snow.

why have i never noticed this awesome bench?!

statues = boring

snow on statues = awesome

how does it stay up there?! 

seriously, i want to know.

sometimes i wish i lived in a bigger city, 

but i love how german out town looks.

snow, snow, snow!

yay!

snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes

the front yard

the garden

yes. i really was this excited.

snow :D

What a great day it has been (and it's only 4:00 p.m.)!! With less than a week until Christmas, I've been a little bummed that I can't spend it with my family but this snow definitely perked my mood right up. Plus, now I will get to spend a German Christmas with my German family. It's crazy to think how different my life is now from my life six months ago. Crazy awesome, that is.