"Not-so-good-body"

I contemplated long and hard a title for this blog. Maybe my stories are laced with a comprehensive theme? Well as I'm contemplating, Gabriella comes in after coming home from seeing the new Anubis film with Susan. I ask her, "How was the film?" and rather than a simple "good" she takes the opportunity to tell me the entire plot accompanied by props, animated expressions and demonstrative gestures. She keeps referring to the antagonist of the film as the "not-so-good-body." I correct her each time, "You mean, the bad guy?" "Yeah!" she responds and then continues, "So, the not-so-good-body..." Cute. So that's the irrelevant title of my blog. I like it.

I can't let too much time pass between blogs. Too many significant events worth reporting occur and I start to forget details. I passed my one month mark as an au pair and am now about to begin week seven. The fall palette is beginning to appear on the tree leaves, mostly canvased by a gray sky with occasional appearences of the sun. Days are shorter and the air is cooler. **This sunshine state girl realizes she has taken sunny days for granted**

I started my Dutch language courses. It's an advanced beginners course so I am quite a bit behind. Only Dutch is spoken in the classroom so it's impossible for me to understand the instructor, therefore I need to do a lot of homework in order to catch up. Unfortunately I'm unmotivated to do any extra work. I had a study session with another au pair from Bolivia who lives nearby which was nice. On my first day of class 16 women showed up, no men. Now we have one older Turkish fella in the class, but it's basically a women's zone. A few au pairs are in my class. One is Romanian and is possibly the most miserable person I've ever met. She absolutely hates her job as an au pair and is extremely vocal about it. I find it funny, kind of sad and also encouraging that I am working in a much better situation than she. Another Canadian girl in class also goes to the Bikram Yoga studio I practice at and I also ran into one of my German classmates at the hockey pitch with her sons. I guess The Hague is smaller than I thought.

The highlights of my past few weeks are the weekends. Here are my last three weekends at a glance:

The last weekend of September we celebrated Susan's 40th birthday. She had a party for her girlfriends at her brother's beach restaurant. A diabolo expert with a sweet mullet (for you older generations that would be the hairstyle, not the fish) surprised us with an interactive exhibition. I've never seen so many middle-aged women so involved with a children's toy at once. At first I refused to participate in order to play photographer, but mostly with fear of lacking enough skill to keep the bolo rolling. Eventually I joined in and couldn't put the sticks down.









The diabolo [dia-BO-lo] is a kind of juggling prop derived from the ancient Chinese Yo-yo. The modern diabolo was developed by the French in the early 20th century but has recently made a comeback in schoolyards across the Netherlands. Greetje and Gabriella love practicing their diabolo tricks and are much better the rest of us adults.


Some of the family. Susan, the girls, sister Lizet and her husband Peterjan, and Susan's parents.



October came so quickly... and it's almost half October. Geeze.


The first weekend of October I spent in Utrecht. I stayed with my sweet friend Jojanneke at her flat. She is a very kind host. Saturday we met up with Tiffany and her boyfriend Ghaith.
Tiffany is the one who introduced me to this whole au pair business. We met at L'abri in March when she was visiting from Portland, OR her hometown. Now she works as an au pair in Woerden and we try to meet up often to vent to each other about our misbehaving children. Saturday the four of us strolled the beautiful streets of Utrecht and bounced from cafe to cafe to avoid the cold, damp weather. In the evening Jojanneke prepared a delicious vegetarian meal accompanied by Wieckse rosé (canned white beer with fruity wine... and it's quite tasty!).
Dinner was followed by a movie, Bridget Jones Diary, and a large bag of M&Ms mixed with popcorn. STOMACH ACHE. Sunday Jojanneke and I visited the Anglican church in Utrecht. Very nice liturgical service with a harvest time theme. Enjoyed a nice lunch afterwards with Rike, a friend from L'abri we happen to run into. The afternoon we went to the cinema to see another chick flick, The Accidental Husband. Strange title, since there was nothing accidental about it.

And the weekend that just passed was quite nice also. Friday I babysat the children, but I had Ammeret over for dinner. After we ate the girls surprised us with an additional course of sea shells, cookies, granola, and wine-flavored water. Very cute and imaginative. I sincerely enjoyed my visit from Ammeret. My day was quite stressful and emotional and I was starving for some peer-to-peer interaction. On Saturday after yoga I took off to see Tiffany in Woerden. Her host family prepared a wonderful Asian meal before we headed to the town center for some drinks and chit-chat. After some au pair ventilation and a couple rum and diets we transitioned to a "club" for young adults in the community, arranged by a volunteer committee which her host father is involved with. The small room included no more than 20 young people, a small bar, a DJ mixing crappy techno, strobe lights and a smoke machine which provided nice effects for our photosession (the wonderful photos will be posted later!!!). The bartender looked about 15, and so it was quite comical to see him pouring beer from the tap and serving. But even moreso when he started slamming beer behind the bar. After we finished our drinks we called it a night. We got up early to catch our trains and go our separate ways to church. I went to the American Protestant Church I've been attending in The Hague. I am also getting involved with the young adult group which meets on Wednesdays and Sundays after the service for Bible discussion. After discussion a group of us went to lunch in the center. I suggested Scallywags, a "gezelig" (overused Dutch word meaning cozy) little British lunchroom with a delicious menu, friendly wait-staff, and ecclectic Princess Diana inspired motif. A lovely way to end my week and prepare for a new week as an au pair.

So.........

In the weekends my au pair hat is off. When I look inside this hat of mine I analyze my life how I see it. Mostly fun and interesting, but lately stressful and wearing. I try to put all I see into a healthy perspective that will encourage sanity, inspire me to persevere through the difficult times and help build a fun, trusting and orderly environment in the household. This weekend in particular I've spent a lot of time gushing about my life to others, myself, to God and have received various insights. I feel strengthened for a new week. Wiser. A little less defeated. A little more fit to breathe properly when my lack of control suffocates me. Enough for one week, at least. I forsee daily trials in this job from here on out. But all trials triggered by outside events reflect the inner battles against myself. I say this not to be cynical, but realistic about importance of my job, which inevitably invites struggle... to eventually produce something good and useful.

I'm thankful. Thankful for this safe and loving environment I live in. The privileges at my fingertips. The great friendships I see evolving. The air I breathe. May I continue to see the world through grateful lenses.