7th of August

It’s August already? Time is flying. I have finished the half of my projekt here in Babenhausen, but it stil feels like I just arrived. Summer still is in control, although there are some rainy days, I love them.

As I told you in my last update my mother and brother visited me in June. I took a whole week vacation so that I could spend time with them and my grandparents. It was helpful to get out of Babenhausen and see something else. Don’t get me wrong, I love this place, but staying here alone all the time can be hard.

In end of July I moved out of my appartment into the bigger one, so that the volunteers will all be living together. There are only two of us left now, and the other one is leaving next week. Then it will be just me, until the beginning of September.

After they left my life went back to the normal routine. In July I helped out with a German-Chinese exchange workshop and it was really interesting. The youngsters were in the age of 14/15. One class from Babenhausen, the other from China. There were big cultural differences, as to be expected, but it was nice seeing them working together as a group.

Later in July I took part in an German coach projekt called: ,,Schule ohne Rassismus-Schule mit Courage” (or in a rough translation; School without racism-school with courage) wich I think should be started in Iceland as well.

More information: http://www.schule-ohne-rassismus.org/startseite/ (in German)

Last weekend, my sister and her friend came to visit me in Babenhausen. We had a lot of fun, I laughed more than I have in months. It was so nice to speak Icelandic again, not having to think how you could get the words out, just doing it.

For the last weeks, we have not had any groups of children in the house, so I have been working along with the house staff in some smaller projects. I took over the night shifts this week and have learned a lot of new, technical stuff.

Yesterday, I went with one of my coworkers to Ulm, to bring the work car to be repaired. We got a rental car to drive back, and I drove, imagine that. I was so sure I would never drive the freeway in Germany, it was just to scary, but I did it. Proud moment for Rakel. I did the same thing today, got the car back from Ulm and drove the freeway again. Nothing is impossible.

The next two weeks I will be working in the kitchen, testing my skills and using the once I already had after my Chef work in Iceland. It will be interesting to see what differences are in Icelandic and German cooking and kitchen work in general.

So as you can see, my work is getting more challenging, I love it. While working in all those different fields I notice where I am strong, and where I have to do better.

Tomorrow is my birthday (yay) and I will go to Würzburg for the weekend and spend it with Max. I took a vacation day on Monday, because I have been spending the entire last month here, I have to get away for just a weekend.

Love from Babenhausen

Until next time

Rakel Ösp Aðalsteinsdóttir.