We drove to their hometown of Mietenkam and had a tour of the house. From talking to them via email before we arrived it seemed that Holger and Jessica are busy people and work a lot. This was confirmed shortly after we arrived when we were told Jessica would not be home from work until around 10pm. So our main job while we are here will be cooking dinner, as well as a few other bits and pieces, so that they have less to do when they get in from work. Jessica keeps horses and does trail rides into the mountains. There are normally one or two horses kept at the house and three or four more kept at some stables nearby. We were introduced to Tomatin and Tomillo, who were at the house stable when we arrived, and shown how to feed and clean them out, as this will also mostly be our job. The view from the back garden is a pretty good one- it's hard to escape glorious mountain views around here!
On Friday I woke up to find I had an abscess on my gum from my wisdom tooth! I ignored this while we cleaned out Tomatin and Tomillo and had some breakfast, however, it started oozing pus (in case you wanted to know) and we figured it might be best to have it checked out. Holger helped us ring a dentist within cycling distance and they said to come straight down. So me and Craig got the bikes out of the shed and cycled off to Grassau. I was seen by the dentist within 5 minutes of arriving and he cleaned up my gum and gave me some antibiotic gel to keep applying. The trip cost me €27 as the dental practise didn't know how to accept my EHIC card, and our travel insurance has a £50 excess so wasn't worth claiming. But I'm happy to pay this for peace of mind! I asked Craig to come in with me incase I had any issues translating (not that Craig speaks German!), but the dentist spoke very good English.
On Saturday Holger was going white water kayaking just over the border in Austria and said we could go with him and walk their dog Linda while he kayaked. After driving for about an hour we arrived at Tiefenbachklamm gorge at 11am. Holger said to meet back at the car at 8pm; we weren't quite expecting to have such a long time to fill. We walked for 18km: along the gorge, coming out at a clearing, and then climbing the hills up to Brandenberg where we stopped and ate our packed lunch. On the way back down we stopped at a small cafe/bar along the gorge and killed some time with a couple of pints before heading back to the car. It made for a really nice walk, and the water was really light blue- no filter in the pics below!
On the way home we called in at the Chiemsee Lake, about a 20 minute cycle from our hosts house, and we just got to the beach bar and grabbed a beer in time for sunset over the lake. A great end to a great day!
On Sunday we went for another walk, this time in the mountains on the German side of the border. We walked with Holger and Joshua up to a lodge where Jessica and Amina had been out riding the horses and had lunch. Just before setting back off I discovered a tick attached to my neck that Craig kindly pulled out for me. Gross. Unfortunately the mouth parts have remained embedded in my skin, so I am waiting for those to fall out. Even more gross.
On Monday it was Amina's 12th Birthday. We cycled to Aldi and got some food shopping, including stuff to make pizzas for the evening. In the afternoon both of Amina's Grandmas came over and brought cake. We were invited to join the family for a drink and cake, before getting started on the pizzas. We made two veggie, one tuna, and one meat. They looked and tasted pretty good!
So that has been our 7th week! Travelling from Poitiers-Salzburg-Grassau and starting to settle in. Holger and Jessica are very trusting and fair in terms of work, we are generally home alone through the day and they just like having someone to do general housework, clean out the horses, and cook dinner for when they get home. They are also enjoying the opportunity to improve their and the kids' English. Since the family is often out ~8am to anywhere between 6-9pm, we have time to ourselves through the day and they seem pretty happy for us to go exploring, with or without Linda.
Total amount spent between two: €540
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