"I want to talk to you before you leave for the weekend."

....said Sonja on Thursday while baking our Christmas cookies. And actually she said it in German. But in any language those words always make me a little anxious. However, she only wanted to talk about how things were going for me.
Thursday night I sat down in the leaving room with Sonja and Rolf. They asked me what I thought about my experience here so far and how I felt. I didn't really know how to respond to such a broad question. I said overall really liked here then tried to get into specifics of matters. They proceeded to tell me how they felt since that was really what I needed to know so I could know how to respond. They observed several points about me that they had questions about. First of all was that sometimes I looked sad or upset while working and they were concerned about that. I think I figured out that my facial expressions don't always reflect how I'm feeling. I think when I'm not smiling I just look upset or angry. I've been told so before. Maybe if I am upset it is something else going on or that perhaps I am sometimes frustrated with the work itself, but that is kept to a minimum.
They also thought that sometimes I looked like I was in my own little world and I don't live in the moment. I had to think about that and was a little surprised over this observation especially because I do feel that I'm soaking things in here. I do tend to space out and distance myself sometimes since I feel like sometimes I should give them space and as comfortable as I do feel with them I guess there is still a part of me that is unsure of how much I should involve myself in their lives. The second reason for this is because of the language. It's hard to always try to listen to the conversation when I am only picking up half of it. It often much easier to just not pay attention altogether. And what can I say-I'm a daydreamer. I think they don't completely understand how that is with the language and tuning out of it sometimes. I work very hard at trying to listen and learn but I need a break sometime from German. We were able to talk about all of this and I'm really happy that we had the talk. I learned a lot about myself that I could only get from another person's observation. It's not as if things were bad before but now I feel much better about my work and my relationship with them and feel much more comfortable knowing where I stand with them. I also told Sonja and Rolf that they have to tell me next time they think I'm too much "in my own world."
Thursday night we had this talk and Friday night I left for Hamburg. I decided to use the rest of my Eurail pass to meet with 4 other trainees who were going there mainly for a concert Saturday night. It was an enjoyable weekend with the others at the concert, as well as seeing the other sights of the city such as the Harbour, Weinachtmarkts (Christmas Markets), and the infamous Reeperbahn.
Yesterday and today's work was pretty tiresome as far as work is concerned. We are getting the extra rooms cleaned for Christmas and the family that is coming then. This house has tons of space. Not only do they have a whole 2 bedroom apartment between their house and the parents house, but they have an attic with 4 beds as well as a huge basement with a room-a room that hadn't been slept in or cleaned for 10 years. Needless to mention, there was a lot of dust which was not cool for the allergies. But I must say it looks really good now. Monday, Sonja's brother dropped off his 6 year old son and 4 year old daughter to stay here for the next ten days. I enjoy them being around, makes things a little more interesting.