Over the last couple weeks the idea that I would be coming home soon seemed very surreal. I assumed that it would start to feel more real the closer I got to leaving. However, it just seemed to grow more and more surreal. It wasn't until Kelsey, the girl who replaced me, arrived on Tuesday, June 15th that I was hit by reality. And even then it was still only a small amount of reality. Even though she was standing there in front of me waiting for me to help her and show her around, I still had a hard time believing it.
It was really interesting for me to see her and see how tired, nervous, and culture-shocked she was, because I can remember exactly what that felt like. When I first started I didn't think I'd ever get used to the family or the big city. But seeing her like that and being able to relate made me realize just how much I really did adjust and how attached I had become.
My last week with the family was not much different than any other week except that Kelsey was there, which was actually really great! (2 people for one job!) :) Isabelle's parents and two sisters Catherine and Thesi, came over on Thursday night to have one last dinner all together before I leave. Catherine cooked, so of course it was amazing and it was really fun to visit with them all one last time. After dinner however, the boys were fixed on the world cup and had it really loud. The only thing running through my mind while they were all enjoying their soccer, was "tonight, lakers vs. celtics, game 7, NBA finals.... and I'm watching this crap". But it was still definitely an experience watching people get excited about soccer... I didn't know that was possible.
My plans for the weekend were to take Kelsey to Ana's house and then into the city to show her around and introduce her to some people. On the way there she kept telling me how overwhelmed she was by everything. She mentioned that she didn't think she'd ever be able to get used to it. But guess what... that is exactly what I thought but I was able to get a pretty good feel for the city and the public transportation. Or so I thought...
Friday afternoon we set out to take the kids to Kinderstunde as always. Things were going great as I showed Kelsey the correct bus routes and U-bahn stops. After dropping off Timon and Fanny I tried to give Kelsey a fairly quick tour of some of my favorite places in the city. The entire time I was just talking nonstop, answering her questions and trying to give her all the information she could possibly need. I loved the feeling of knowing all the answers to her questions which were the same questions I had not to long before. One of my comments was, "I promise Kelsey, if I can get used to the public transportation and big city you certainly can too... I can navigate my around the city with my eyes closed." Aaaannndd... that was the beginning of my train ride to humble-town. We went to the train station, Praterstern, to get on the train to Baden to see Ana, and as soon as we got there I saw, on the departure screen, that the train we wanted would be leaving in just a few minutes. I thought I knew the train schedules so well that I just glanced at the screen and was confident I had found the right one. But about 20 minutes into the train ride I stopped talking for a minute to look out the window and noticed that the hills that Baden sits at bottom of were getting farther and farther away instead of closer. I though for sure that I was just making it up and that perhaps they were different hills seeing as I often traveled to Baden at night so I may have missed those hills. But as time passed and the hills continued to get farther away I was becoming less and less confident. I stood to look at the map that have above every door and at the same time an announcement was made stating the final destination of the train... which was nowhere close to Baden. My heart sank as I finally faced the fact that we had boarded the wrong train... and paid for it! Embarrassed, I grabbed Kelsey and we got off at the very next stop, figure that we could just catch a train back to where we started and and start over. Only, of course, to find out that the stop consisted of a tiny shack and the closest town was about mile away. Also, there were no more trains coming through there for the night. So... we high-tailed into to town to try and catch a bus. We literally had to run over the river and through the woods to get to this little town and once we arrived it was only to discover that the next bus wasn't coming for at least an hour. There we sat at a tiny, sketchy little bus stop, just the two of us, waiting. By this point I was beyond embarrassed at my previous over-confident attitude about knowing my way around. Eventually the bus finally came and a couple of hours later we were back on track. We made it to Ana's around 11 pm, only 5 hours later than originally planned... but the rest of the evening was filled with reminiscing our adventures and preparing Kelsey for hers.
Moral of this story is... humility is key. Don't embarrass yourself with your pride because you just might end up in a tiny, foreign town, with little money, eating your words.
Friday afternoon we set out to take the kids to Kinderstunde as always. Things were going great as I showed Kelsey the correct bus routes and U-bahn stops. After dropping off Timon and Fanny I tried to give Kelsey a fairly quick tour of some of my favorite places in the city. The entire time I was just talking nonstop, answering her questions and trying to give her all the information she could possibly need. I loved the feeling of knowing all the answers to her questions which were the same questions I had not to long before. One of my comments was, "I promise Kelsey, if I can get used to the public transportation and big city you certainly can too... I can navigate my around the city with my eyes closed." Aaaannndd... that was the beginning of my train ride to humble-town. We went to the train station, Praterstern, to get on the train to Baden to see Ana, and as soon as we got there I saw, on the departure screen, that the train we wanted would be leaving in just a few minutes. I thought I knew the train schedules so well that I just glanced at the screen and was confident I had found the right one. But about 20 minutes into the train ride I stopped talking for a minute to look out the window and noticed that the hills that Baden sits at bottom of were getting farther and farther away instead of closer. I though for sure that I was just making it up and that perhaps they were different hills seeing as I often traveled to Baden at night so I may have missed those hills. But as time passed and the hills continued to get farther away I was becoming less and less confident. I stood to look at the map that have above every door and at the same time an announcement was made stating the final destination of the train... which was nowhere close to Baden. My heart sank as I finally faced the fact that we had boarded the wrong train... and paid for it! Embarrassed, I grabbed Kelsey and we got off at the very next stop, figure that we could just catch a train back to where we started and and start over. Only, of course, to find out that the stop consisted of a tiny shack and the closest town was about mile away. Also, there were no more trains coming through there for the night. So... we high-tailed into to town to try and catch a bus. We literally had to run over the river and through the woods to get to this little town and once we arrived it was only to discover that the next bus wasn't coming for at least an hour. There we sat at a tiny, sketchy little bus stop, just the two of us, waiting. By this point I was beyond embarrassed at my previous over-confident attitude about knowing my way around. Eventually the bus finally came and a couple of hours later we were back on track. We made it to Ana's around 11 pm, only 5 hours later than originally planned... but the rest of the evening was filled with reminiscing our adventures and preparing Kelsey for hers.
Moral of this story is... humility is key. Don't embarrass yourself with your pride because you just might end up in a tiny, foreign town, with little money, eating your words.
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