Week 9

September 21

ME and HR both had play dates after school yesterday. HR with another 1st grader whose family just returned from 2 years in Australia and so she speaks some English. ME with a classmate. Both had a good time! When I picked HR up from school today, there were two more girls from ME's class who wanted to have her over to their house too. Perfect--more German for ME!  MK had her first Deutsch test yesterday and was not completely lost. She was allowed to use her pocket dictionary and said that she felt like she actually was able to complete it--we'll see what kind of grade they give her on Monday. The important thing was that she came out of it feeling empowered and confident and not worn down! She called me on her cell phone, she was so excited. :)  Today she is at a friend of a friends' house to play with their daughter--they met at my friend's birthday party a couple of weeks ago.

I have a Termin to meet with the voice teacher here in Friesdorf next Thursday! A little nervous, especially since I'm so vocally out of shape--need to work on that between now and then. Carving out the time is trickier than I thought even with everyone in school. Between getting shopping done, taking kids to school/kindergarten and picking them up again, putting meals on the table, helping with homework,  managing the on-going laundry needs, plus fitting in some exercise for myself, somehow the days just don't leave much room leftover! My biggest frustration at the moment is that we haven't found an easy rhythm for meals. I feel like I'm feeding someone all day long! Everyone gets home at different times, is hungry for lunch at different times, then hungry for dinner either too early or too late! Yesterday I gave up on trying to get GE to eat dinner sitting down. She just couldn't keep her body still any longer after 4 full days of Kindergarten and no naps! So I let her eat while circling the apartment--she'd stop and take a bite from her plate, then roam, then come back and take a bite. At least it mostly ended up inside her and not on the floor.

September 23

What makes a culture hospitable? We are finding it difficult to understand how a family with four children can be living here and yet have so few invitations to share a dinner or an afternoon Kaffee, meet at the local Eis Cafe or even just share a short conversation after church during the fellowship time.  I would think folks would at least be curious about what we are doing here, but beyond a few introductions, we have had more interactions with the local ex-pats and Brits than Germans! Maybe it's just a slower process than we are used to. I had expected a little more interaction from the folks in the choir, but even those that we've spoken to before don't initiate conversations with us on Sunday mornings. Any tips for how to break the ice further?! We'd welcome them...

Yesterday we stayed home for the a.m. then left shortly after lunch to catch the train from Bad Godesberg Bahnhof to Köln Dom. The weather was clear, but quite cool (low 50's), so we dressed warmly.

GE wearing her little Mütze (stocking cap) and Halstuch (neck scarf).

ME engrossed in a book on the Kindle while waiting for the train to arrive.

Ever catch a glimpse of what your child might look like when she grows up? This one makes HR look so grown up somehow.

In Köln we met up with my old friend, VM, and took the Bimmelbahn http://www.bimmelbahnen.de/stadtfuehrungen-koeln.html to the Schokolademuseum http://www.bimmelbahnen.de/stadtfuehrungen-koeln.html situated along the Rhein river. The Bimmelbahn took us on a 20 min little tour through parts of the Altstadt and then along the Rhein. The museum was not quite as exciting as we had expected--at least not at first. Then we got to the demonstration section!

 

We could watch where the cocoa beans were crushed into powder, formed into a chocolate "mass" (sort of like chocolate butter!), poured into the moulds (lots of different mould types were shown--including antique ones and huge Easter bunnies and such), then cooled and popped out onto the conveyor belts where they got wrapped up in the little gold papers and boxed up. The kids realized that they were watching the little chocolates being made that they had eaten when we bought our tickets!   

AND THEN THE SAMPLES!!

My friend, VM

Don't you wonder how much she gets paid to smile and hand out chocolate all day?

The giant moulds.

 At the end of this level you could also select toppings and flavors for your very own special order chocolate bar. The girls picked marshmallows, extra chocolate powder and crushed dark chocolate. I had slivered almonds, black currants, and vanilla. J's was crushed coffee beans, pistachios, and black pepper! We picked them up about an hour later and ate them all (well, almost all, the girls couldn't finish theirs then, but had the rest after dinner). I think the museum was worth the entrance fee just to get the customized chocolate. Man was it good!

A peek into an antique shop in the Altstadt.

 Then we had to walk off some of that chocolate energy! VM took us through the Altstadt where we stopped at a souvenir shop and bought "Köln" trinkets to go into their collections (the girls are each collecting one type of item: MK-Schnapps glasses, ME-spoons, HR-thimbles, GE-mini plates). We met VM's husband, C, at a favorite wurst restaurant and sat outside on the cobblestone courtyard to eat dinner: currywurst, pommes (French fries), and salad. And beer, of course.

 The Dom tower peeking between buildings.

 

Jacked up on chocolate and no nap, GE climbs into the fountain (thankfully dry!)

... while HR climbs a tree!

VM points out an unusual decoration on the side of the old Radhaus... Apparently Konrad wasn't well liked!

The Radhaus where VM and C were married last spring.

Walking all afternoon makes for tired girls!

Conversing with V & C (J really hit it off with C while for V and me it's like meeting up with a long-lost sister!) while we wait for the food to arrive.

PROST!

A wonderful day, all told! We were lucky with the weather again--it was cool, but not raining, then gorgeous by the time we came out of the museum and warm enough to sit outside to eat (a necessity for GE who could no longer hold still after no nap and 1/2 a chocolate bar!)

Thanks VM for the wonderful suggestion!



September 24

Rained on and off today and was very windy. Still got my shopping done, just got a little wetter doing it! GE went cheerfully to Kindergarten and when I picked her up they said she hadn't cried at lunchtime--an improvement--but still hadn't eaten the food. They don't put any pressure on her to eat it. She's allowed to just push it away. Not sure if she has to stay sitting at the table or what, but last week she would get upset too. We talked about it several times over the weekend, so I guess something stuck! The teachers said it has happened before--there was another boy who didn't eat the lunches for several months and then just up and started. That'll probably be GE! I'm just trying to make sure she has good stuff in her Frühstuck box and then I put out a plate of good "snacks" when we get home.

MK had her first session with the German tutor. Went great! The tutor, S, immediately began in German and said, "Nur auf Deutsch hier. Kein Englisch!" She used a poster with pictures of buildings in a typical town and started simply pointing and saying what they were called, encouraging MK to repeat after her and then gradually adding in "Ich gehe zum/zur..." (I'm going to...) or "Hier ist die..." (Here is the...). Then she worked on stating time from a clock (using the pieces from a children's game) which also incorporated numbers. At first she just had MK use the numbers, then incorporated "Wieviel Uhr ist es?" (What time is is?) and "Es ist... Uhr." (It is ... o'clock.) MK slowly loosened up and began to speak out a little more! She was chipper and said it was fun, so Weds. she'll be back for another 45 min session.

HR's homework book came home with a note from her teacher that HR was joining the Deutschförderung (concentrated German instruction at her level) class in the last period on Mondays. ME also goes to this. ME went home with a different classmate this afternoon. They did their homework together and then played and played--she came home spouting German (lots of mistakes, but I'm not complaining!). Tomorrow her friend, C, is coming here and another school friend wants to know if she can go to her house next Tuesday. So fun to watch all this develop. HR's best school friend called this afternoon and we now have plans for the girls to play together after school on Friday. The more playdates, the more German immersion, I say!

I managed to get a run in through the woods between rain showers and some practicing before having to pick up HR. This week we are practicing her walking home alone. So instead of meeting her on the playground, I agreed to meet her at the first street corner. Tomorrow we'll meet on the other side of the cross walk, then it's just a straight shot home, so we'll see how's she's feeling about it after that. Our brave HR!