An Update for Those Who Have Been Sitting on the Edge of their Seats

I have to admit that I am disappointed that I did not do any posts for the entire month of April. And April is one of my favorite months! But I do have good reasons for the lack of posts: 1. I was traveling Europe for the first two weeks and 2. The last two weeks I didn't have internet access in my place of living. And of course you are all asking the big question, "Where the heck ARE you living?" I am still in Switzerland and I have been staying with one of the nicest families I have ever met in my life. With that said, of course you all know that they are not actually Swiss. The mother is Latvian (Ieva-pronounced Yay-vah) and the father is English (Robin). They heard that I was looking for a place to stay and they offered up their basement, practically with no strings attached. And the first 10 days I was there, they were on holiday so I had the house to myself and the cat, Simba. Oh and Amanda stayed there with me the first week because she left her family and is now back in the U.S.
Anyways, this family has 4 children and they are quite lovely. They speak English at home so I feel so much more comfortable there and I don't feel like such an intrusion, even though I really am, whereas at the previous family whom I actually worked for I felt completely out of place. I did have to watch the kids one night and they were quite rambunctious, especially 4 year old Raymond, the only boy and youngest child. Florence, Anastasia, and Rebecca range in age from 9 to 6.

However! I am not living with them anymore. I moved to a city just outside of Lucerne, to stay with another Swiss family for a week. The mom broke her foot last week and she has a 1 year old boy and 8 year old girl and another on the way. They have a typical old Swiss house with narrow and very steep stairs that she can't really maneuver on her casted foot. They are friends of Ieva and Robin's and Ieva asked me if I wanted to help them out for a little while. Having nothing else to do, I agreed and I am now stuck out in the country about an hour away from where I was previously. The parents are both wonderful but the little girl, Yara, does not speak any English. We have been getting along ok though. Pippin is a little more work and I worked about 13 hours today so I am pretty exhausted. However, I prefer them to my first Swiss family.

Next Tuesday I leave for a four day trip to Sweden with Heidi and my friend Jill. After that, I will hang out for another week or two and then fly to South Korea where I will stay with Cody and Erin and Isaac for a few weeks. AND THEN I COME HOME! Although I am disappointed that there are still countries that I have yet to visit here, I am so ready to come home. I have lived in 4 different households since I have been here and have had to put up with a lot of kids.

I will have to comment later on my trip with my parents and Abbi. Greece was great and sunny and very beautiful. Austria involved a lot of driving but we were able to see several really amazing places. Barcelona was a little disappointing because it was rainy and fairly cold but still great. Pictures will be posted later, too.