A Day in the Life, Holly the Au Pair - Today, Tuesday, January 31st

She wakes up suddenly.

It is 5:10am. Another nightmare. This is the fourth strange or bad dream in five nights. Dreams that range from almost drowning, to almost being shot in the head, to wanting so badly to be with someone very important to her, and lastly, to having an unresponsive baby. Very vivid dreams. Nights are not going well for this au pair. She tries to sleep again, but it is hard.

The alarm finally startles her awake at 7:00am. The au pair is exhausted. She struggles to wake up and eventually makes it to her computer. A crippling pain shoots through her lower stomach. Ow, ow, she thinks. She sits at her computer a while, talking to someone who makes her feel a little better, and the sitting upright seems to be helping. Around 7:25am or so, she knows she needs to make her bed. She stands, the pain flaring again slightly, but not as bad as it was before. She makes her bed, then gathers her clothes to take a shower. Looking through her clothes, she knows she needs to do laundry.

After her shower, the au pair gathers her empty mug which held tea the night before, as well as some recyclables, and makes her way down the stairs, feeling a little better. She first notices that there is an extra voice in the house. One of the children must have stayed home from school today, she thinks. She walks into the two youngest children's room and begins her daily chores of fluffing the blankets and pillows, and opening the windows. She also looks for extra clothes that the children sometimes leave scattered about. Finds some, and puts them away properly. On to the next room.

She says good morning to her host mother. The au pair and her host parents had a long discussion the night before, making sure she felt comfortable and happy here. It is not always easy for the au pair to explain why she is very quiet at first.

Downstairs to the kitchen. Sigh. The kitchen is always a mess. She begins to clean up the children's breakfast remnants. Hmm. The boy doesn't seem to have had breakfast. He must be the one sick today. The dishwasher gets emptied and dirty dishes are placed inside. The kitchen is cleaned. Time to sweep. She sweeps the kitchen and dining room before moving on to the walkway. She walks to the door and opens it. Brr... it is bitter cold today. She shakes out all the rugs and puts them outside before sweeping. She sweeps the walkway which extends around a wall near the laundry room. Peeks inside. Sure enough, there is laundry to be folded. She finishes her sweeping, then talks to her host mother.

Sure enough, the little boy is sick today with a fever. The mother very pointedly says not to bother dusting, vacuuming and mopping the children's rooms today because she doesn't want to wake him. However, the au pair is more than welcome to do the playroom and third floor area. The au pair asks if that is what the mother wants her to do today. The mother responds, "yes, why not?" Very subtle, the au pair thinks.

So into the laundry room she goes to gather dusting materials. Then up to the third floor to do the dusting of the playroom, as well as her own room. Then she pulls the vacuum cleaner out and very thoroughly vacuums. Then back to the laundry room to gather the soapy water and mop. The whole third floor is mopped, then the stairs all the way down. Back to the laundry room to empty the dirty bucket. On to the laundry.

The laundry is folded, then placed in a basket and up to the second floor she goes to put everything where it belongs. Back downstairs. She finds the host mother to ask what else she would like done for the day besides taking the recycling to the bins (in Germany, plastic, metal, and glass needs to be brought to recycling bins that are placed around the area). The host mother would like her to pick up the youngest child and her friend from school. Okay. That gives the au pair about a twenty minute break to get her winter gear on and prepare herself to go out into the cold.

At about 11:20am, she leaves to go to the school down the street and around the corner. She makes it to the school, then waits for the children. The children are picked up then brought home.

Upon arrival at home, the mother has a question for the au pair. Since the au pair has expressed liking to cook, and since the mother prepares crepe-like pancakes which are similar to a recipe that the au pair has mentioned before, the mother would like to know if the au pair would prepare lunch for the children. The au pair asks when the lunch preparation needs to begin. 12:30pm. A half-hour. Sigh. This gives the au pair just enough time to make her own lunch, eat, find the recipe, then find the ingredients. Lunch for the au pair: salad. Lunch for the children: crepes with a variety of sugar, chocolate spreads, and jams. Lunch for the mother: juice.

The au pair cleans up after lunch. She asks if she can do her laundry later. Yes, that is fine. The children liked the crepes, and the mother has them thank her. They are welcome. The mother tells the au pair she is free to go out to Munich to buy more yarn for more teddy bears, as the previous yarn was not suitable. However, the au pair needs to take the recycling as well as pick up two containers of milk, one of 1.5% fat and the other of 3.5% fat, as those are the percentages here.

Before the au pair leaves, the oldest girl wants her to be a horse. The girl jumps on the au pair's back and bounce and leans and twists in many ways which tests the au pair's balance. But she has fun. Then the au pair gets dressed again to go out into the cold. She is very tired. To the recycling bins first, then to the Solln train station. The S7 train picks her up then drops her off at Karlsplatz. The store she needs to go into happens to be right in that station, so in she goes. The yarn section is found. She looks up. There are so many choices. What do I pick that will be perfect for the bear, she thinks. After about twenty minutes or so, she has made her decision. Nine euros later, she is out of the store and back on a train to Solln.

When she arrives at the station, she knows she must go to the Halong Bay restaurant to pick up what she would like for dinner: sushi. After she makes her selection, she goes across the street to the Reformhaus organic store for a roll and the newest version of the "natürlich" magazine (Natuerlich Magazin). Ooo, recipes inside, the magazine cover says. I love recipes, she thinks.

Now to pick up the milk. She walks down the street, past the recycling station, and into Tengelmann. Milk is located and purchased. Into the ubiquitous "Nothing on Me is Plastic" bag it goes, which she carries with her always to prevent unwanted and eco-unfriendly plastic bags from accumulating.

She walks home. Into the house she goes and asks the mother if she would like the milk placed directly into the fridge. Yes. The au pair also puts her sushi away, but brings everything else, including the roll, upstairs with her. Pre-dinner snack.

Teddy bear time. Let's see if this yarn works, unlike the last two different kinds. It does, and looks nice, in fact. About 45 minutes later she goes downstairs to see if anything help is needed. No. Laundry is able to be started, but the family's laundry needs to be moved around first.

About an hour later, the au pair returns downstairs to see if anything's needed. The table can be set. The au pair sets the table, then returns to her crocheting. A half hour later, she returns downstairs and asks for an estimated time of dinner. The mother states that because the father is running late, and the kids really need to eat, that it would be served for the children momentarily and she is welcome to eat with them if she chooses. She chooses.

The two girls eat lasagna for dinner, the boy picks at his chicken and rice soup, and the au pair enjoys her sushi, although it isn't the best she has ever had. The father arrives home just as the children finish eating, and the au pair cleans up. She also makes her evening cup of tea, which she decides would be a cocoa based tea tonight, and heads to her room.

At about 21:00 or 9:00pm, the laundry is checked. Hmm, the dryer is open. Looks like everything is dry. The au pair flattens the laundry on the table then moved her own laundry to the dryer. There are some damp sheets on the laundry room table which the au pair figures can be moved after her laundry is dry, as she doesn't have enough clothing for the morning.

The au pair does her German homework. Later, she check on the laundry. To her dismay, the mother had moved her wet laundry from the dryer, put it in a basket on the floor, and put the damp sheets inside. Irritated, the au pair takes the now dry sheets out of the dryer, puts her wet clothing inside, and folds the sheets. It is about 10:30pm. By the time her laundry is done now it will be very late. The au pair isn't sleeping very well as it is.

About midnight, the au pair finally gathers her laundry, folds it, then puts it away. Time to finish up the blog post. A few pictures and it's good to go. School tomorrow. She must get some rest.

Crepes for lunch.

Recycling from left: metal, plastic, brown glass, green glass, and white/clear glass.

This month's magazine. I am trying to learn how to read it.

My non-plastic bag for carrying virtually anything.

My lilies bloomed. They are lovely.