I wanted to post a little update on what's going on on our side of the pond, since it's been a while. We are in the midst of the Karneval/Fasching/Fasnet season here, which means parades and school parties. Much to AJ's dismay, his dog costume from last year still fits, so he'll be a dog again (but I promised a new one next year).
Alessandro is doing decently in his new kindergarten. His German skills have definitely improved since beginning there; I think it's because he's in an older class now (3-6), so they are speaking on a higher level. His social skills are still rough, unfortunately. Two days this week (out of the three days I picked him up), little girls have run up to me complaining of AJ hitting or biting them. In his defense, these girls do seem really annoying and bossy, but of course there isn't an excuse. We're working on it. The good news from him is that he is officially completely potty trained, including nights! Nights took a good while longer, but it suddenly just clicked, almost overnight. He still is completely obsessed with animals; it's all he talks about, but it makes him happy. As I type this, he is sitting in the bathtub, with a bunch of animals who are speaking German to each other. I know I mention it a lot, but his ability to speak all these languages is totally fascinating to me. He has three mother tongues now; that's incredible! I would really encourage anyone who's thinking about teaching their child an extra language; do it! It has to be natural though, I think, not just a here and there class. He even recognizes now when he hears people speaking a language he recognizes ("Mommy, she's speaking English!").
I, on the other hand, am stilllllll in German class. It's hard as an old person to learn a language. I am now in a B2 level class, meaning I can understand well, and communicate decently. Fluent is still a long way away, it seems. Yesterday (Thursday) I had my first job interview in German. Well, it started in German. It went to English for a while, and then back again. As if an interview isn't nerve-racking enough, do it in another language. However, the good news is that on Wednesday I was officially offered another job, so that eased my nerves. Now I have to decide which job I want to do, but that is a difficult choice that I am happy to have after a year and a half of not working. Honestly, other than the beginning of my time here, and the past couple months, I haven't put tons of effort into finding a job other than sending my CV every once in a while. But once I made some changes to my CV to make it "more European", with picture and all, I finally started getting responses. So that's the big news in my life. I'm still waiting on the contract to arrive, so I'll give details later.
For the record, I am really enjoying living in Germany. I've had several people ask me lately when I'm moving back to the US... I don't know? Maybe never? Not because I don't love my country, but I also really like it here. I always give the excuse that Paolo doesn't want to move to the US, but that's really only one reason. I also made the conscious decision to move here, and have spent a year in an integration course, so it's kind of a lifestyle thing. Since my first international trip at the age of 12 (to Egypt), I've said I wanted to live abroad. Thank goodness we didn't end up in Egypt, like I used to want. I can't say I'll never move back, because it may happen some day. Hopefully it would be after my child-bearing years; I'm not giving up my one year paid maternity leave (per child!! And up to 3 years unpaid!). Also, not sure I want to give up 6 weeks paid vacation per year. Yeah, we pay high taxes, but in my opinion, quality of life is worth it. I also really enjoy how international the area we live in is; it's not uncommon to sit on the subway and hear four languages simultaneously. But despite having a very high foreign born population, Stuttgart is very safe. This is partly because people are very well integrated, and partly because there are lots of jobs, therefore, money. And most "authentic" Germans I've met have been very nice and welcoming. Of course, there are times when I get frustrated, but that's true with life in general. The best case scenario would be bringing all my loved ones here, but I guess that's having my cake and eating it, too (who came up with that phrase? Everyone eats cake if they have it!). Hopefully teleporting is not too far off in our future :)
Ciao for now,
Kathleen
