Settling in

Just passed the 2 week mark since I've been here. Good news is, I have not had any conflict or confrontations with the mum whatsoever. She is totally fair with my work hours and I in return do my job to the best of my ability and try to take initiative. Semi bad news is, I hate Ale, one of the twins. He is a freaking annoying thing. He is so, so rude and a total bully. What freaks me out is I used to think rude kids were a reflection of their parents and upbringing, but his twin isn't half as bad, and their older 11 year old sister An is a total angel. It's just Ale that seems to be the black sheep in this family. Day before yesterday, I asked him to get his swim bag after school and he was like, 'no'. So I went to get it for him, and by then I was already a bit pissed at him (after all, his twin Alb went and got his without drama). Then we go to the grocery store because I needed to get a few things, and the kids begged for a snack. There were 2 doughnuts left at the store and 3 kids, so I bought 2 doughnuts and a muffin. I offer Ale half a doughnut and he full on flips out at me, telling me he wants a full one. I say he can't have a full one because it's not fair, as there are 3 kids and 2 doughnuts, so if 2 kids each got a full doughnut then one would miss out. Then he flips out even more and screams at the U-bahn station that there is something wrong with my brain. By then I am totally pissed too and threaten to cancel his tv time that night. Then he goes home and hides in his sister's bed while I'm looking for him and semi freaking out that he left the house without telling me. When his mum comes home he also complains to her about me. Luckily she understands and is used to his horrible behaviour and rude attitude, and just tells me not to be too hard on him to begin with because he takes after his dad (who apparently also goes crazy when slightly aggravated). It's not just that but also little things, like if I give him a glass of milk he might yell at me in a totally rude tone of voice that it's not warm enough, or complain to me really obnoxiously if I hand him a box of cereal that is not the one he prefers (like I am a total mind reader). 

Yesterday he also burst into crocodile tears as soon as he walked out the school door, saying he couldn't walk at all because he was sore all over??? So then I had to call his mum at his insistence, and she had to leave work early to pick him up. And today he faked being sick so he got to stay at home (but was apparently well enough to play on his tablet and watch TV all day). And guess who had to stay home for the whole day to supervise him? That's right, yours truly. Although I was pretty sneaky and asked the mum whether it was ok to leave him at home alone when I went to pick up his siblings from school. She said that was fine as long as I left my phone number for him in case of an emergency. So I figured since it didn't seem to be much of a big deal leaving a 8 year old home alone to pick up the other 2 from school, I'd go to my scheduled riding lesson today after all. And thank god nothing bad happened. The little twit stealing caramel waffle cookies and his sister's chocolate was all that happened, and neither him or his mum seemed to realise that I was gone from the house for 3 hours. 

The riding lesson was pretty crap. I found an english speaking riding instructor, but it seemed dodgy from the start. I was told it was 40 euros for a 45 minute lesson (which is semi expensive by German standards), but was only charged 20 euros by the person at the office. Which is a good thing, but still a bit dodgy because why would the instructor say it was 40 not 20. And then I was told to arrive 30 minutes before my lesson in order to groom and tack up my horse? Anyhow, that's pretty strange because I'm the one paying for a service and I expect my horse to be ready to go, I shouldn't have to waste my time tacking him up. In my opinion that job totally belongs to the instructor/stable hands who are paid for their time. That's kind of like saying you should arrive 30 minutes before your restaurant reservation so you can cook your own food or something. Or that someone who has booked a spa treatment should arrive 30 minutes beforehand to collect the products needed for the treatment and set up equipment. Plus, the annoying thing is I'm not confident tacking up a horse by myself yet. Sure, I could do it if I tried, but there are so many bits and pieces and I've only been showed a couple of times. Plus the teacher knew I only had very basic riding skills, so as someone who is not that confident yet around horses, it isn't easy for me to do things like get the horse to take the bit. Because I'm not that keen on sticking my finger around a horse's lips to get it to open its mouth. Neither am I too keen on picking a horse's hooves or accidentally poking it in the sensitive part of its hoof. Getting bitten by a horse or getting my hand trampled over by one in a foreign country would not be an ideal scenario. Not to mention the instructor herself was absolute crap. She basically had a social conversation with these 3 other people for the entire lesson. I warmed up the horse by myself, trotted him around half the arena with virtually no direction/pointers from the teacher, and then cooled him down to the sound of the instructor still chatting away. She actually gave me zero pointers on my posture/feet and leg position/seat. The only thing I got from her was 'give him a harder kick' and 'hold your reins lower'. She then suggested I take lunge lessons instead (which sure would require much more effort on the teacher's part, which is maybe why she referred me to a colleague instead). I don't understand why there is such thing as separate lunge and riding lessons anyway. Every other place I have been to, the instructor combines the two depending on what your skill level is or what you need to work on. And I've been to like 5 places where I received at least a bit of riding instruction. I guess you really do get what you pay for. 20 euros for 45 minutes cannot compare to the $100/hour lessons I had back in Sydney. Anyhow, I'm checking out another 25 euros for 45 minutes riding place next Tuesday, which is hopefully better.