Just a Housewife

I don't think the musical "Working" has been on Broadway since the 70's (although apparently there will be a revival in 2011? Who knew?) yet some of it's songs, like Just a Housewife, still ring true.

Apparently I'm "just a housewife" (or eine Hausfrau if you want to get technical). This realization hit me last week when I decided to join Mark on a business trip to Glasgow. While filling out the customs card, I reached the question "occupation" and almost choked on my peanuts when Mark said smugly over my shoulder - "it's housewife you know..."

Not that there is anything wrong with that (so please don't write any nasty comments about the merits of housewifedom!) I think it can be a noble profession, especially if you have kids. But we don't have kids (as much as I may treat Stormy like a baby - I do realize on some level he actually is a cat!) So now that I'm unemployed, as our dear friend Cherrie put it, I seem to have just no place in society.

So in an effort to get back out there (is this how I'll feel when I finally drive Mark to divorce and am again getting back out there?) I've started an intensive German language class. It's a 4 week beginner course with Studio Mondiale in Darmstadt and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for language training. The cost was reasonable (only about 300 Euro compared to Goethe Institute 1000 Euro plus) and there are 8-12 people in each class (9 in mine) from all over the world. Although I naively thought the instructors would have to speak English, they actually exclusively speak German. So after an initial panic because I had no idea what was going on, I realized that everyone else had the same blank stare, so we would all figure it out together. And we have! It's amazing what you begin to understand in a very short period of time.

So, while I doubt this blog will be written in German anytime soon, I'm hoping that in a couple of months I will be able to understand enough German to ....wait for it....actually get a job. Who would have thought I'd actually WANT one of those?

Or maybe I'll just go back to school...I could get used to writing "student" on my customs forms! Either way, I'm slowly finding purpose once again.

Anyway, since Mark will be home from work soon, I really should put dinner on! And he likes to have his Martini at just the right temperature when I meet him at the door...