Ich komme aus Swottiland

Hello, and how are you? I am just writing up my usual blog entry, which have become as frequent as one every two days, don't I spoil you? You should see me, out and about making memories, and thinking 'I'd better write this down for the blog' because I want you all to be able to laugh at what I go through as well, in the most detailed way I can remember.

Just an aside, before getting down to the crux of things, I'm ever so grateful to any of you that are frequent readers, it's incredibly nice to have people who continue to read my posts even when I write an absolute dud (ha, as if I ever do that!) and still find something to enjoy. Thank you for reading, it's nice to know you're there somewhere in the world.

Anywho, there have been a few funny little things that have happened since Tuesday. First of all, there's been a polite desire by the family for me to try and make some friends my own age. As you know, the pursuit for a man for me has already started but now the friends situation as escalated too. I've been told to apply to expat websites, to join amateur dramatics, to go to special centres for lonely expats...oh Lordie! Unfortunately, as I posted a chirpy comment on most of the websites (seriously it sounded like an online dating profile '21 year old Irish girl- talkative, fun and wanting some friends ;) ), hardly nobody replied to my pleas for some company! Now THAT'S embarassing!! So now I don't know what to do...I did join the Basel Irish club (I know, who knew right?) so they've invited me to a BBQ next Sunday which I've said I'll attend although it appears to be in the middle of a forest in the back end of nowhere so I'll need the luck of the Irish to find it... or a car.

Also, a few kind people have been in touch and said I can go along with them for things this weekend but ALAS, I have to go away to the Lake of Thun this weekend so I've had to say, maybe next weekend instead...hmm...not ideal! Bet nobody gets back to me again now! Stupid plans...

See, if SOTPM had just bothered to show any interest in me, I wouldn't have to do any of this!!1 *sigh*                                                                 

Barbie :)

 In other news, I did make a friend. Her name is Barbie and she is a llama. We really get each other. She's also a beautiful misunderstood creature (haha I'm INCORRIGIBLE!) Jokes, we're both just pale loners!

What the surroundings of my house look like

Unfortunately it's so frigging hut here at the minute that all the animals were hiding in the shade. I even managed to say to the farmer as he drank a midday beer 'Es ist zu heiss fur alles?' and he said 'Ja'. It was beautiful! I brought some children with me so it was a good cover story for me wanting to talk to some animals. People don't except me as I am. I'm sure Dr. Dolittle  went through the same thing!  Us creative sorts always do!

The goats came over for a quick perusal as usual and the ostriches were just LOVING being the only animals accustomed to the heat and were lounging all over the field.  

In other news,  there was a completely adorable moment with the little boy. Lately he's taken to kissing my arms when I don't expect it. So yesterday he was having a cuddle and kissing my arms and then said 'Do you know why I always kiss you?' and iI said 'No, why's that?' And he said 'Because I love you.' Wow. That just made my job worthwhile! Of course, he also loves dressing up like a fairy princess and complimenting my clothes so it's probably more akin to Gokk Wan saying 'You. Are. Fabulous' which he uses pretty liberally with all kinds of women so it doesn't mean Jack!  

In another bizarre children incident, they were having their usual argument over who was the smallest baby and therefore got to cuddle with me. Instead of the plaintive whine of 'I is the baby' that I was expecting, I heard 'I is the Baby Jesus, the littlest baby in the world' and then the other chipped in with 'I am also the Baby Jesus.' I just had to laugh. And sing Eminem. Bursting into a rendition of 'Slim Shady' I was singing 'Well, I'm the real Jesus, no I'm the real Jesus, would the real Baby Jesus please stand up, please stand up!' They didn't get it. But by George I had fun.

In other news, I successfully put them to bed for the first time. Had them bathed, fed, read three stories to, and asleep by 7.30- think I did pretty well! I did choke up a bit when reading Cinderella though...that bit with the instant falling in love of Cinders and the Prince gets me every time...

Today I was heading back into the city for my next German lesson. On the tram today, an old couple were sitting in front of me, having an enthusiastic debate about, I'm assuming, whether fat women or skinny young ones were more offensive to them. Judging by their frantic whispeing and staring when viewing such specimen!
I was getting paranoid about having to get off the tram before them in case the whispering escalated again. I would have had to decide whether to take their whispering as a compliment or an insult...either that or I just had my knickers on display. Luckily they got off first.

I also got royally lost. One minute I was browsing city centre clothes shops, one wrong turn and a misjudged flight of stairs and I was somewhere I'd never been before, walking in circles near a bridge which seemed to lead into France...so I hopped on the first tram I seen...hoping to get to the city centre...but he was leaving the city so I had to jump off again in some random suburbs. Got on another tram, this one stopping in the centre and got off again at the right stop but took another wrong turn and got completely lost again....dear goodness! I had to run towards my class in the end! So that was fun...it was a shame it got me so frazzled because I had been planning to go out for a drink in Paddy Reillys after class but was just too stressed out to want to anymore.

I have a confession. I am a massive swotty knickers. I mean it. I'm revoltingly swotty. I sit there with a smug grin as I answer everything right the first time round on listening activities and sit there with my hands folded while the others have a second listen. I leap up to WRITE ON THE BOARD! Who does that??? Every time I pronounce everything, I make sure to make it as accurate as possible. I counted the numbers backwards. I keep my book really neat (not like me) I don't know why I need to be a swot so badly. I just love it though! I miss it from school, because I could rarely do it at uni because it's hard to be top of class. I love learning. Let the records show. I'm sorry, other two class members, bet you want to strangle me. But it'd be worth it to always be right for a while first! Hey, you gotta give me this, I have very few other things that make me feel like a success here!

So that's it, I'm off to the lake house tomorrow, I'm hoping to run into Keanu Reaves- then again, I might just miss him...(oh that was AWFUL Lake house humourrr!!!) so hopefully I'll return alive and not do to many stupid things to get me fired!

Lovely readers, I bid you adieu

QOTR

 

Son of a (gun)preacherman

Hello, my dear readers, known and unknown. First and the most foremost in all our minds, I'm sure, is that I got an adaptor! I'd like to apologise for my dramatics the other night as the next day I managed to procure a new charger in the next village over.

The last few days have been jam-packed (literally, they love jam here) and I have recovered a few lovely anecdotes from the recesses of my frankly terrifying mind which I thought I'd share with you.

First off the bat, everybody meet my new sometimes roomate, sometimes jogging companion: she looks like Lassie and acts like Nana from Peter Pan, barking the children into obedience, it's incredible to see her in action!

Now, let me think, anecdote wise. Well, of course, there's the incident for which this blog entry is named...that's probably a very interesting anecdote so we'll leave that to the end for y'all to sink your wee teeth into!

Something I forgot to mention in my first night's arrival, we stopped off at a farm for DRIVE THROUGH MILK!!!! You literally pulled up, filled up this huge milk containers from a machine of freshly milked milk and just paid in your coins. There were signs nearby with all of the cows' actual names included, it was AMAZING!!

In other news, I have now been on my first tram ride. Trams are pretty big over here and they are handy, they're like the snazzy hybrid between trains and buses. Now I have my very own tram pass so I can go go go when I like. Unfortunately, the first time I tried to get on one, with only a five year old for company, we saw a tram approaching and went to push the button to get on. Unfortunately a really haggish woman on a zimmer frame was getting off so we stepped aside. She then proceeded to shout at me in German. I smiled blankly and proceeded to push the button, only for her to yell again. Then she turned to the poor little five year old and said 'Does she not speak the language?' He was like 'No, she speaks English' and I was thinking 'Give me a chance, ya old hag, I'm trying to learn it!' then she proceeded to tell me what the problem was, apparently we weren't allowed on that one...who knew!

I had a truly magnifying moment, which I think has drawn the path for a new stage in my journey of womanhood...I sound like a queeratron... I heard the dreaded words after a 3 year old went to the toilet, 'I'm Fiiiiinished!' This being the first time I'd been alone in the house with them, I froze at the dishwasher. Uh-oh, time to face up to this. Luckily, circling through my head was the amazing song 'I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar!' and I felt like I really earned my stripes when I managed to get through the whole butt wiping thing without so much as a flinch...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGMESM8JKOg I was thinking by the end 'I am strong STRONG, I am invincible INVINCIBLE, I am WOMAN!

Oh yeah, I've been making a lot of indoor tents these days. Every morning I hear 'Today we make another tent?' The words were filling me with dread but I had a really nice time in our tent this morning so pegging all the quilts, towels and broom handles together ended up being all right. There's something to be said for the simple pleasure of cuddling a child in an indoor tent. Bliss. We also had story time in the tent, a three time rendition of 'The Princess and the Pea' because the pea part proved popular. After the story, I proved the rumours once and for all correct: I am in fact a real princess. I lay on lego and it dug right into my back, I was informed by the children in an awed whisper 'You arrrre a princess'. You betcha I am! I've only been waiting 21 years to hear those words! It was nice for a change that their arguments were only who got to lie on top of me and cuddle closest- either way I was a winner!

Another little game we were playing today was having smoke breaks all the time using the long lego pieces as fake cigarettes. It was really fun, particularly after a hard morning of getting towed around on a toy tractor by a child in a toy BMW...one point I will make, wearing a skirt on a toy tractor is NOT a good idea! There's no ladylike ways to fit longer legs! Even of a practical midget like me. Jokes...I'm not really per say a midget...I hope...

Anyway, the crux of this blog title was the hilarious little incident that I roped myself into. Last night at dinner, I'd been having lots of laughs with the mother and father here, plus some wacky Alsation region wine- stroooong stuff- so I was in a good mood. We all were. Plus, we were eating raspberries- practically heroine for me... so, he was talking about having to leave back a car he'd fixed to the priest in the next village who had married them and christened the children. He happened to mention a son of the priest and I was suddenly possessed by Dusty Springfield and sung out 'Was the son of a preacher man!' like an IMBECILE! Anyway, it came to pass that he was like 'Ohh, he's a very attractive boy, about your age' and a plan was formulated that I would just happen to be with him for the car delivery, as preacher's son was home alone. So, today, trying to look decent after a day of jam, paint and food debris being rubbed on me, but also having to dress for our long walk home from the next village afterwards, I went out in trainers and shorts like Sporty Spice.

He was lovely. Imagine someone tall and tanned and looking like he's just stepped off a snowboard...and add a really nice smile. Why??

I was a little bit mortified to be there but he was really friendly! It was said of me, as he firmly shook my hand (shame they're not cheek kissers here...), 'She's new here and from Ireland'. I wondered if maybe I should whip out a guinness or do a leprachaun jig or something to prove the point. I was hoping against hope that he might have wanted to hang out with me because it is a bit strange to hang around with toddlers constantly. I said in my most winning way (if I have one) 'You're the only person my age I've met here' and the dad, who tried his best to talk about me said 'She needs someone to show her around Basel' It was such an obvious invitation that I almost thought I'd have to wink at him just to finish the invite. Anyway, he smiled politely. It must have been a no.

Talking about it later, the dad was like 'Well, he didn't say no, did he?' and the mum said 'Guess we're going to church on Sunday so you can see him again.' Oh, my life, who'd have it, eh? Still, I wouldn't say no to him...