Having bicycles changes things! This morning the girls trotted out on their bikes with me to do the big beginning-of-the-week shopping. Usually I head to the Turkish market first to get fresh produce for making things like salsa and beans for the rest of the week, then after I unload those items from my roller-cart, I head to the Aldi or Netto for the discounted items still on my list. This takes a good portion of the morning and having the kids walk with me was tedious and involved a fair amount of complaining, especially given how hot the weather has been. But today, they happily scooted down the sidewalk, waiting for me to catch up at the intersections/corners. ME was happy to fill her bicycle's saddle bags and when we returned from the Turkish market, I realized I wouldn't need the roller wagon if ME came along to the Aldi--we fit everything into my bike basket, a backpack and her saddle bags. In less than 20 mins we were finished with the second half of the shopping. Yeah! I rode my bike to the square to mail our rental agreement to England for our Swiss Chalet over the New Year's holiday and stopped at another grocery for a some fresh blueberries and sparkling water, then home again. So, the kids got their outside time and I got my errands done and all were happy! Wonder what it will be like when it's cold and rainy...
Tonight it's finally cooling off. I have all the windows opened like doors (if you aren't familiar with European windows, they can open as doors or in a tilt-back position) and since there aren't any screens it feels as if we are sitting outside while sitting in our living room. It's one of my favorite things about living here! The girls like to hang out the windows (yes, we are careful about this) and call hello to our neighbors. It's a wonderful feeling of belonging.
August 21
Stayed up until after 1 a.m. last night finishing cutting out the parts for HR's Schultute. Left all the bits out on the table with the glue and when I got out of the shower, found that HR had helped herself and finished gluing all the flowers/butterflies/horseshoes/clouds etc. onto the Tute. When it was dry, we folded it together and finished it. Now just to fill it with lots of goodies! Here she is with the (almost) finished product.
Dropped my bike off at the bike shop for them to install a child's seat on the back and a handlebar basket to replace the rear one. Now I'm all set to take GE on longer trips or to Kindergarten if we ever get her a spot somewhere!
August 22
First day of school! MK and I rode our bikes to her school yesterday for a trial run and to check how long it would take: just around 15 minutes depending on the traffic signals. She needs to be at school today at 7:45 to check in at the office for her school ID card and to find her classroom by 8 a.m., so we left the apartment a little after 7:15 this morning, got out the bikes from the garage and with MK leading the way, rode to her school. J finished getting ME ready for her first day and walked with all the younger girls to the Grundschule to see ME settled into her 4th grade class. When MK and I were finishing up in the school's office, her Klassenlehrer (Homeroom teacher), Herr Dickman, came in and led us out to the entryway where he introduced MK to some other girls from the 6a class. They took her in hand and promised to make sure she got to her classroom, etc. I hurried back on my bike to the Grundschule and had just enough time to stick my head into ME's room, say "Hallo" to her teacher, Frau Siegburg, and squeeze ME one more time.
MK ready to launch. My bike with child's seat in the background.
MK in front of her school (she was not happy about me trying to take a picture with everyone milling about outside).
ME was home soon after 11:30, so we ate a bit of lunch and then headed on our bikes to Bad Godesberg (GE in the child's seat rather than on her Laufrad), finding a nice bike route that took us easily into the pedestrian zone. HR is getting so much better at staying steady on her bike, starting and stopping more easily and maneuvering over curbs and other obstacles without mishaps! We got a few things at the Woolworth and then had a text that MK was finished and on her way home too. 20 minutes later we were all home! It's awfully nice now to bike everywhere but I keep waiting to see what it will be like when the weather isn't as lovely...
Both big girls had good days at school. ME doesn't have her schedule yet--the first few days are sort of weird, short days, rather than jumping straight into instruction time. MK came home with her Stundenplan (Schedule) filled in:
Every day starts at 8 a.m., each period is 45 minutes:
Mondays: Sport, Franzoesisch, Englisch, PAUSE (25 min recess), Deutsch, Musik, Physik (yes, that's physics!), MITTAGSPAUSE (1 hour Lunch break), Deutsch Foerderungsunterricht (extra instruction for non-native speakers). Finished at 3 p.m.
Tuesdays: Mathe, Geschichte (History), Kunst (art), PAUSE, Kunst (more art!!), Deutsch, Deutsch, MITTAGSPAUSE, Englisch, Englisch. Day over at 3:50. (Nice that her longest day involves double periods of art and English!)
Wednesdays: Mathe, Englisch, Biologie, PAUSE, Franzoesisch, Philosophie (instead of a Catholic or Lutheran religion class), Philosophie (whenever there's a double period of a class, they have a 5 min break in the middle for bathroom, drinks, etc.). Day over at 1:15.
Thursdays: Biologie, Musik, Deutsch, PAUSE, Physik, Sport, Geschichte. Day over at 1:15!!
Fridays: Englisch, Franzoesisch, Franzoesisch, PAUSE, Englisch, Mathe, Mathe. Day over a 1:15.
MK had Englisch homework--nice easy start! And had several girls' Handy (cell) numbers already. There is another English-speaking girl in her class which MK finds wonderful but I'm not so thrilled. Hopefully they won't speak English too much at school which could interfere with MK picking up German. On the other hand, MK *loves* her school after the first day despite not being able to read some of the teacher's writing (what did I say about that?!). She also came home with a huge list of supplies that she needed. Teachers here each have their own favorite types of notebooks that are either lined or graph with or without blank borders for writing assignments in. So for every subject she needed a different combination of classroom, vocabulary and homework notebooks as well as a straight ruler, triangle, and compass for Mathe/Physik. Then there's the list of stuff that goes into their Federmaepchen (pencilcase): colored pencils, regular pencils and erasers, fountain pens, ink cartridges, and the erasing pens with special ink to write over the erased ink! So, I got back on my bike, empty backpack in hand, and rode back to Bad Godesberg to the Woolworth and the school supplies store, returning soon after with all of MK's needs fulfilled. Tomorrow or Friday I'll have to go back to get ME's supplies once they send home the 4th grader's supply list (I already got the first grader's). Whew.
Tonight was the first parent meeting for the first grade parents. We met HR's teacher, Frau Henrich (sweet 20-something young woman who seemed painfully young. I have become the middle-aged mother of a grade-schooler. Oi.), listened to a spiel from the principal, then visited the classroom and got more lists and info. If I thought keeping track of all the papers at home was hard, try it in a language in which you are not yet able to scan! I can't tune out for even a few seconds or I completely lose the thread. There will be another meeting next week! Tomorrow a.m. the first graders will arrive 1/2 an hour after the upper grades, form into their class groups, walk across to the church for a little service/ceremony, then have 1 hour of "instruction" before being released to go home. Parents were asked to give out the Schultutes after the students are released (I was wondering about that!) so that the kids aren't full of candy and excitement over the toys in their Schultutes! We met another mother who lives just up the street from us whose son is in the same class, so that will be nice. A parent is supposed to meet the child at release time--11:30 or 12:30!!--every day for the first couple of weeks until we're sure the child knows how to get home safely. There is a heavy emphasis on teaching the kids how to get to and from school on their own, but making sure they are safe and take necessary precautions. We were asked to only bring the child to the classroom on the first day, then the school doors, then just to the edge of the schoolyard, and eventually just wave them out the door. Can you imagine that in the US?!
HR's Stundenplan:
Mondays & Tuesdays 8 until 12:30 with a 30 minute Pause from 9:30-10 and another shorter Pause 11:30-11:45. Wednesdays through Fridays she has school 8-11:30 with the one 30 minute Pause. She has Sport (sometimes that will be swimming) on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. All of her instruction (Mathe, Deutsch, Musik, Kunst, Sachunterricht*, Religion, Englisch) is with Frau Henrich except if they have Schwimmen during Sport (there is an indoor pool at the school).
August 23
Wow. Ok. First day of First Grade is a really big deal: ceremony, worship service, procession of all the First graders (wearing their fancy new Schulranzen) from the church onto the school grounds with the older grades standing on the sides cheering and waving flags, visit from the Bonn Chief of Police, someone from the Mayor's office, and more! HR had a great start. She came out smiling and said that she only used English once! That's our brave girl! She opened her Schultute which we'd been toting around since the beginning of the morning (8:30) on the school playground and then we carried things home to be eaten and played with later.
Waiting for the other classmates to arrive--she's visibly a little worried.
But she put on a brave face (I told her if she smiles she won't start to cry so to just keep trying to smile!)
Her teacher, Frau Henrich, for the Klasse 1a.
HR spots me as she comes in for the procession of 1st graders.
GE playing in the small trees (great for climbing) on the school yard as we wait for HR's 1 hour of instruction time finish.
All smiles and lots to tell!
These shots speak for themselves. :)
ME came home with her schedule today as well:
Tuesdays & Thursdays until 1:15. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays until 12:30. Same recess, "Pausen" as HR. She has Schwimmen first thing on Weds. mornings and a double period of Sport at the end of the day on Thursdays. She has the option of taking French for an additional period at the end of the day on Mondays and she has Englisch for the last period on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. She has Frau Siegburg for all her regular instruction (Deutsch, Mathe, Sachunterricht*, Religion, Musik, Kunst) except for Englisch, Sport, Schwimmen, and Franzoesisch.
*We weren't sure what this Sachunterricht was but after some searching online have figured out that it's sort of an all encompassing General Studies for science/social studies/environment, etc.
We're going to get spoiled having these shorter school days and then less than 5 minute walk home--or we'll all drive each other crazy! At least Grace won't be at home for so long with no one to play with. Both HR and ME will eat a late lunch at home and just take a Pause-Brot (snack sandwich) to eat during the long break.
I'm working on finding something for Grace to do in the morning. There is a transition-to-Kindergarten program that is run by the Evangelische church that meets 2 mornings a week, but so far I haven't heard back from the program directors (filled out the online registration and left a voicemail message). I've filled out the online forms for the Bonn Kindergartens and sent the info to all the schools in our area, including ones that would involve a bit of a bike ride or a bus ride. Everything is filled up. Many are all day Kindergartens (I find this interesting since the first graders don't have long days--why the long Kindergarten days?!). So, we'll just wait and see. In the meantime, at least she'll be able to play sometimes in the afternoons with neighbor, TP or perhaps we'll meet some other families with stay-at-home moms through the Grundschule.
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