When I sat down with my lovely hostmom last September and agreed on, once again, being her children's English teacher, homework help, and most of all, a big sister, the month of June 2015 seemed so so far away. And now it's June. Time passed in a flash, again, and now I'm finding myself 2 weeks away from stepping on board of that airplane that's taking be back to Germany. This time I do know for sure I'm coming back, that round trip is booked, yet I am also aware that I will be back as a atudent and not as an Aupair. I will be living by myself, finally buying my own food and preparing meals. And I am so looking forward to having the freedom of inviting friends over and coming home late at night opening up the apartment door with a key! Haha. The biggest loss though will be the absence of Amy and Rex in my everyday life. The two of them are like family to me And we also are as close as family should be. So will I miss Amy asking for me to shower her? Yes. And will I miss Rex' random hugs? Of course. But I think it is a good time for us to all start off new, knowing that the other person will still be there, only a phone call away. I need to let go, I know, yet I know it will be hard for me letting someone else take care of my munchkins. Yet I know and tell myself everyday that the two new Aupairs we chose will do great and will love the kids. And after all, I can always come back in my free time to be with the kids or have them over at the new apartment for some quality time. In the end, I want them to know that I am always gonna be there for them, no matter where we all go and eventually end up. Because family never really grows apart.

As the kids' school is sending the kids on summer break next Friday, they reserved the whole yesterday to have kids bring their parents in and show them what they have been doing all year long. Both Amy and Rex were proud to show their parents all their work. Their teachers both made sure to let us know how much they enjoyed having the kids in their class and how much of a role model both have been for their classmates. Ms Grizzle told me how Amy is never the tiniest bit bossy in school (that made me think she must have some electronic switch that gets turned kn as soon as she descends from the school bus). I'm really proud of the two of them for being such good kids and having so much fun and passion learning. I really never heard them say that they don't want to go to school, not even once throughout the year. So as we went to school early in the morning we got back hkme before lunch which gave us time to finish Amy's Chinese homework and Rex' birthday invitations. He has his 9th birthday coming up next Tuesday, but as so many kids will go on holidays or head back home right as school ends we scheduled a Pre birthday party for him this week Saturday. We are planning on a "Running Man" party, where each kid gets a name tag with their name on taped to their back and then try to rip other people's name tag of. Last one standing is the Running Man. As we don't have a printer at home, even though there have been lots of discussion before about getting one, I helped Rex write his invitations. As the kids happened to have no extra classes in the afternoon that day, I had scheduled an art class for them and their friends in the afternoon. I found the school online and they had been really helpful scheduling a clay class. After taking the bus and the subway, we got to the Huaxi Art School and the kids had a great time modeling their own projects. They also had the oportunity to try the pottery wheel. But as we know kids, give them water and dirt and they will try to get ot everywhere, nobody actually got a piece of art made by the pottery wheel, instead they got the stuff all over there clothes. And hair. Literally every possible spot on their body had clay on it. Took us a good 15min and a whole pack of wet wipes to get them cleaned up. But the kids had suCH a good time and I am happy we took them! For dinner we met the kids' former piano teacher who is heading to Germany this summer to study. My hostmom invited him out to Hot Pot to say thank you for three years of teaching and giving the kids a chance to say goodbye. The hot pot was delicious, I would say the best hot pot in town, and we had a great time chatting. Of course the day wouldn't have been the complete without two of the three kids left falling into the little fountain pool outside the restaurant. There would have really been something missing.

It's been over a year since I wrote the last entry. That's pretty embarrassing. Period. And even more embarrassing it the fact, that I didnt even think of this blog during the last year. Not even once. Til now. And I don't even really know why it came back to my mind exactly now.
The good thing about that is that, now, as a year had passed, I have tons of new stories and news to share!
I applied for Sichuan University last week, which assured me during application that they will for sure accept me as a Bachelor Student of Chinese Language. So next week I will be able to pick up my visa application papers and at the end of this month I will be flying back to Germany for 3 weeks to get my visa taken care of. Unfortunately I'm not able to change my Visa from an M visa into a student visa in China, which forced me to book a flight home. Now don't get me wrong, it's not like it's torture to go back home, I just hoped I would get some time off to travel around Asia a bit. I guess that plan has to wait for a bit now.
So what else is new. I got back working for Amy and Rex again, actually almost at the end of my stay as the kids will be out of school by next Friday and then head to Europe over the summer. So I got about 2 weeks left with the kids, which is a good thing. I love those children to death, yet I feel like after being here for so long I need a new challenge and some more pressure myself. As I will stay in Chengdu to study, I will still have the chance to see them as often as I want, tho they will welcome two new Au Pairs in August.
For the last two weeks I invited my mom over to visit, as she has been thinking of visiting for a long time now and insisted of coming as long as I was still living with the family. I have no idea how those 10 days will turn out, having her stay in my room with me. I do look forward to having her over and to showing her my life in China, yet I am keeping my expectations low. Purposefully. No expectations equal no dissapointment. She will be quite shocked, I am excited to see that and to hear what a person coming in new has to say about the lifestyle here.
For now we are getting through the week. I started teaching German in February and have been every day since then. It is very tiring, yet I somehow enjoy it and its good to see how my student is making progress. Rex' birthday party is coming up this Saturday and we are busy writing invitations and planning the party.
I will try to keep up with the entries now. As the blog is back in my head again now, I am excited about sharing more stories with everyone.
Keep your life spiced up people!