Week 11

October 1

I'm trying a new food strategy! Making a hot meal mid-day and then just leaving the pots sit out on the stovetop for whichever child comes home at whatever time... At 4:30 or 5 I put that away and between 6:30 and 7 I set out Abendbrot and anyone can eat as much or as little as they need depending on when they had lunch or whatever. No snacks--if the kids get hungry between their "lunch" and when I put the hot food away, I just warm up some more for them. I want them to have real food around. Felt like there were too many snacks or grabbing a piece of toast and then not being hungry later for dinner. We'll how this works.

This morning I rode to the U-bahn station after dropping GE off at KG and took the train to the Stadthaus. Needed to find out what we must do about our driver's licenses. I got a number and sat down with my Kindle to wait. I brought all the papers I could think of that might be applicable and the kitchen sink and a purple pig's tail just to be sure. Thankfully all they needed were our birthdays to confirm with the city's computer system and the letter from the Max Planck showing the start and end dates of J's work there. Was told that we can drive on our current licenses for up to 6 months and then can get 6 month extension which will take us past our departure date. We can come in again after our trip to France and pay the fee and pick up the extension permits (as long as we remember to bring the same letter, our passports, our driver's licenses, and the washing machine).

ME had a friend home after school. They rode their scooters down to the Klufterplatz for Eis. Only a few more weeks before the Eis Cafe closes for the winter! MK rode her bike to her tutoring. HR and GE and I went out around the neighborhood so that they could collect colorful leaves. HR has to take some to school for a project of some kind. GE just wanted to stop and pick up leaves too! HR scooted around on her scooter and GE ran along with her Laufrad. Around 6 p.m. ME and I accompanied her friend home (the two girls on scooters and me on my bike). In between all the activity I sorted through the papers that had come from the city transportation department regarding MK's SchulerTicket (a follow up to the one we had before that turned her down of the reduced price ticket) and the form from the Jugendamt for calculating what portion of the Kindergarten fee we are obligated to pay. Translate.google to the rescue again! One curious thing that I noticed as I was typing in the German was that as I typed it, it started to make sense. Still can't scan it for pertinent info, but in the end I didn't really need to translate it all with google, just needed to process it slowly.

Now the Wohnung (apartment) is quiet except for the sounds of the washing machine and dishwasher running...

October 2

Full day: coffee date with a friend, V (mom of another 1st grader). She picked me up at home after I'd dropped GE off at KG and we drove to the Altstadt to her favorite coffee shop. We chatted for a good hour or so and then she dropped me off at the Hauptbahnhof (train station) where we both picked up a few groceries from the organic market and then I took the train back to Friesdorf. Dropped my stuff off and grabbed my bike to go down to Bad Godesberg to pick up a few other necessities (the stores are closed tomorrow to celebrate Der Tag des Deutschen Einheit, Day of German Reunification) and a small birthday present for V's daughter, N.

In the p.m. HR rode bike with me to pick up GE. The three of us took the U-bahn and bus to a small farm in one of the outlying villages for N's birthday party. From 3:30-nearly 7 p.m. the kids rode donkeys, walked through the countryside, groomed the donkeys, petted the sheep and goats, helped build a fire in the fire pit, then "baked" Stockbrot (pizza dough wrapped around a stick) over the coals. My kind of birthday party!  I basically spoke German all day long--even with HR! Whew. My brain is tired tonight. One of the other parents gave us a lift back to Friesdorf where we tucked some very tired girls directly into bed (well, after a quick bath what with the goats and donkeys and all!) and then J and I walked back to the U-bahn station to pick up our bikes. Tomorrow there is no school due to the holiday. We'll see what we manage to pull off...

A quiet little Bauernhof Markt... on the walk from the bus stop to the farm where the party was.

The farm

The party was hosted by the friendly gent in the hat. Cake was served in one of the greenhouses. Birthday girl's parents are pictured along with the passel of girl-guests.

The birthday girl!

Feeding the donkeys to butter them up so they'll behave themselves on the walk!

HR could hardly wait for her turn!

GE too!

A falcon was hovering over the field we walked along. Super cool that my camera could capture the detail--my own eyesight couldn't see it this clearly!

Cheese!

Building the fire for the Stockbrot.

Visiting the sheep.

.... and the pigs.

Taking a break on the hay bales...

Finally, the Stockbrot!

October 3

We had a quiet morning at home. I went for a run. The girls played. J got some work done. After lunch we loaded up and took the train into Bonn. We had considered going to one of the other museums, but decided to just walk around the pedestrian zone and explore the streets we hadn't already walked through. Lots of window shopping since the stores were closed. The cafes were still open and despite the cloud cover, it was actually warmer than it has been, so ice cream was involved. :) We poked our heads into a few more churches and I let ME be the photographer for a while...

Getting myself oriented in the old Marktplatz with the Rathaus in the background.

The Rathaus

Inside the Gothic church, Minoritekirche, St. Remigius where the young Beethoven practiced on the organ.

Grandma, we lit a candle for you!

(The blue strapped bag is full of umbrellas and a couple of tightly rolled up raincoats, just in case!)

Inside one of the Catholic churches. Beautiful blue detailing.

Münster Kirche peeking between the shopping buildings.

ME listening to a street musician (notice her reflection in the glass window).

Sharing fries with Daddy!

Walking home with the fall colors and row houses near our apartment.

October 5

Only thing of note from yesterday: GE ate the warm lunch at school! But today, she didn't. Well, guess she's still picky, but at least sometimes she's trying it. The teachers said she was so proud of herself. So cute!

Dinner this evening at a new friends' house. We're all invited. Their two kids are MK's and ME's age. She's American and he's Brit.
Note: turns out they're Quaker and familiar with Mennonites and MCC. He works for a company that produces and sells fair trade food products in Germany, so he has contacts with 10,000 Villages and she has worked for the U.N. over the years in war-torn countries and has had contact with MCC. Great conversation, kids had a good time...
 
October 6

Tomorrow we leave for France for our Herbstferien trip! Picked up the rental car from the airport this morning and then we drove about 30 minutes to Ahrweiler in the Ahrtal, a red wine region just south of the Bonn area. Followed the Rhein until Remagen and then turned west up the valley. Steep vineyards marked the hillsides. Parked outside the old stone wall of Ahrweiler--a town within the city, Bad Neuenahr--and then walked into the Altstadt and wandered around. Unfortunately the threatening rain finally let loose and despite wanting to stay and explore longer, we decided to head home before we were completely sodden. Still a nice little outing and a beautiful little town. Will have to make a second trip there at some point.

Spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready for our trip...

Which leads me to the next thing: no posts for a little while because I don't know how much internet/computer time I'll have while we're in France. I'll just have to keep up a running photo log and keep some written notes.