I arrived in Stuttgart and was delighted to see my host family waving cheerily at me. I am very lucky, my host family is extremely attentive and within the first two days they had set up a bank account for me, and helped me order a German SIM card.
I arrived in the evening, so all that was left to do that day was to unpack and get settled in. After a tour of the flat we ate supper, and then I played with Ben. The next day we all went to Ben's Kindergarten, and once we had dropped him off we had a little walking tour of the town. We stopped at the town hall so I could register that I was living here. My host family had booked a meeting in the bank for 10am, in which my bank account was set up and my first month's pocket money paid into it in advance, so I could pay for my German course and my SIM card.
Over the next few days we picked up the brochure for the German classes, as well as one for a dance school. Now I had my bank account set up I could apply for classes. I did an online test to help me work out which level I am in German. I was between A2 and B1, so we looked for classes at those levels. Naturally I chose the two cheapest. Mostly, the evening classes are cheaper than those during the morning, but I would rather save money and be a bit tired the next day instead of spending more money.
I continued to accompany the parents as they took Ben to Kindergarten and picked him up. He also does a few activities afterwards, but as it was the end of August none of the classes had started yet. My host family were very kind, and always asked me to help them with things, like the laundry, which meant I could see how the washing machine and dryer worked and so forth.
As I got the hang of things I started doing little things on my own, and then gradually the bigger things. Time passed incredibly quickly, and even though by the end of the week I was still finding my feet I felt settled.
Is anyone considering au pairing?
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