Went to Führersteinstelle again and finally got our 6 month driver's license extensions put in place. Our regular licenses are good through January and then the extension will take us to the end of our stay in Germany. Yeah! I think that's the last sort of "foreigners" thing we had to do.
Did a little Christmas shopping in the Bonn pedestrian zone--mostly looking for non-kitschy Advents calendars for the girls and a few things to send home to family. I also finally found a tourist shop that sells the girls' collectibles! Those will make great stocking stuffers.
In the evening I went for the first time to a rehearsal for the CityProjektChor with Marcus Karas. The group is performing Mozart's "Waisenhaus Messe" KV139 the day after Christmas. It's open to any interested singers but tends to be a pretty strong self-selecting group because there are only a few rehearsals and Herr Karas really zips through the material. We sang everything except the last movement. Quite fun!
Wednesday, November 14
GE had a hard time leaving for KG yesterday so I promised her today we could have a mommy-GE day. She went shopping with me and then our neighbor saw us out on the sidewalk and invited us into her play group. So GE got to play with some younger kids and have some treats while the moms shared some tea and baked goodies. Then it was time to head home and get lunch on for the bigger girls!
Went to my running group again tonight. Awesome workout. I find it hard to speak in German while I'm exercising though! What a strange thing. Still, had a chance to talk to some of the women who live nearest to us in Friesdorf and who have young girls in school with mine. Tentative plans for playdates are in place for HR and ME. Yeah! Anytime they spend outside of school speaking German, the better!
Thursday, November 15
It's gray and feels and smells like snow--or maybe it's that everyone is burning fires in the wood stoves?! In any case, today seemed more winter-like than fall. Layered up for the bike ride to Kindergarten this morning!
Did some grocery shopping after dropping GE off (with no protests this time, so I'm glad I let her spend yesterday with me), then settled in at home for some tea and relaxation! Haven't had a morning like this in a while. Then after HR got home, I made a couple of fresh kale dishes (adapted an East Indian lentil and spinach dish using zucchini instead of potatoes and kale instead of spinach and made my favorite green lentil salad w/chopped kale and a mustard dressing) for later. Then after I picked GE up from KG, I made an adaptation of a homemade granola bar combining two recipes: the Yummy Oat Bars from Dr. Fuhrman's Eat to Live book and my friend's "Flapjack" recipe from the UK. The end result:
Homemade Granola Bar
1/4 c. coconut oil
1 mashed ripe banana
1 T. maple syrup
1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
3/4 c. whole oats
1 c. quick oats (could use all whole oats, but I didn't have quite enough on hand)
1/4 c. shredded coconut
1/4 c. dried fruit (raisins, chopped dates, currants, tart cherries, cranberries or combination)
1/4 c. mixed seeds or chopped nuts (I got a bag of mixed seeds at the organic market with raw pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, roasted buckwheat kernels, and whole and ground flax seeds)
Heat the first 4 ingredients in a pan over medium heat until the coconut oil is liquid, stir to combine thoroughly. Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, pour warm liquid mix over dry and mix well. Press into square baking pan lined with parchment paper. Bake at 325 for about 20 mins or until lightly browned and crispy.
**These didn't hold together very well when I tried to cut them. I think I need to increase the whole recipe a bit so the bars are thicker and stay a little chewy in the middle. Also may need to increase the syrup and applesauce so that it all sticks together a bit better. I also want to add some sweet spices like cinnamon or nutmeg and see how that goes over. Next time! I was planning to take these to the monthly social time after choir tonight, but now I'm not sure I will since they're so crumbly. (Note: I made a second batch because they were so easy and used a little more banana and syrup. Still pretty crumbly but I took them anyway and they were a hit!)
Friday, November 16
After picking up GE from KG I rode the bus with MK into Bad Godesberg to the Tanz Schule (dance school). Her friend from school met us at the door and took MK to the changing room. I sat and watched from the cafe area and tried to read my Kindle from time to time--the music was loud and I was distracted! MK clearly had fun and so we signed her up to officially start next week. Her school friend only just started a few weeks ago as well, so they'll both be at about the same level. There were 2 other girls in the class that rode the same bus to and from our neighborhood, so maybe she'll get to know them as well! http://www.tanzschule-koltermann.de/
While I was out with MK, ME got herself to the children's choir rehearsal at the Pauluskirche and J was at home with the 2 little girls. After we got home, I set out Abendbrot and by 7:30 everyone was settled for bed. J and I took off for the bus and went to Bad Godesberg to see the new James Bond movie in German. Quite a throng of people but we found a ticket kiosk so we didn't have to stand in line. I had no trouble following the story and J thought he did pretty well too although we both missed some of the Bond references to previous movies and I was occasionally distracted by what the actors mouths were saying in English while I was hearing it in German!
Saturday, November 17
I left this morning a little before 9 to go to my running group. This time we went for a long run. Goal: as far as possible in 1 hour 10 mins. That's the longest time I've ever run so I figured it would likely be the longest distance too. I wasn't worried though. Last week we ran just under 8 km and I could have gone further. Today's tally: 9.22 km (5.73 miles!). That's nearly 1/2 of the half-marathon which I hope to run in April.
(http://www.deutschepost-marathonbonn.de/)
Afterwards, I stopped at the Leyenhof (organic farm shop) and got some more fresh food (kale!) for the weekend. At home the little girls were playing happily together and the big girls had walked to a friend's house to play for the day. The rest of the day was quiet, at home, and restful!
Sunday, November 18
MK and I rode our bikes to the train station in Bad Godesberg this morning to meet up with other families from her class for a Familienausflug (Family outing) in the Ahrtal. We visited the Regierungsbunker in Ahrweiler. http://www.regbu.de/Fremdsprachen/GB1.html This is the bunker that was built between 1956 and 1961 that would have housed the German government and top personnel in the event there was a 3rd World War. An old train tunnel was converted into a 2 story bunker with living quarters above and offices below for some 2000 people! Elaborate heavy doors, air and water purification systems and communication centers, emergency exit tunnels and escape hatches were put in place to protect Germany's top decision makers. Quite a history of the Cold War era there. I translated as much as I could to MK from the German tour guide. After the tour we ate a few snacks outside and then marched the troops up into the hills to a restaurant, Försterhof (http://www.foersterhof.de/), for a late lunch. The plan was to hike a bit further to another train station before heading back, but because of the fog and cloud cover it was getting dark fast (plus the tour ran longer than expected and we arrived at the "lunch" place after 2 p.m.!), so we took the same path back to Ahrweiler to catch the train before it got too dark to see. I enjoyed getting to know several of the other parents and MK's Klassenlehrer (homeroom teacher), Herr D (he reminds me a bit of my Klassenlehrer from Martin Luther Schule in Marburg!) and his wife who had also come along. The mother who organized the outing is the mother of MK's friend, C. They were the only girls from the class to come along (there are 9 girls and 20 boys in their class!!!) so they kept pretty snug.
 |
| Dirty look because I brought the camera along! |
 |
| Trying to figure out which direction to take on the Rotweinweg (Redwine trail). The signs for the bunker were not very clear and everyone who had already been to the bunker before had arrived by car so no one knew exactly where to go after we got off the train! |
 |
| Heading up into the vineyards to the trail up... and up... |
 |
| View back down into Ahrweil. Too bad it was so foggy since this valley view would be stunning! |
 |
| Arriving at the Bunker parking area |
 |
| Herr D, MK's Klassenlehrer (homeroom teacher and Deutsch teacher) |
 |
| Tour guide in bright yellow. She's explaining how big and thick the main entrance doors were and how they could be sealed off in a matter of seconds in the event that the air detectors above ground detected anything unusual (radioactive). |
 |
| Something like 3 meters thick and made of special materials (lead and something else?) that repel radiation. |
 |
| Watching the doors close! Felt a little like I was in a zombie horror movie--loud blaring warning beeps and flashing lights = "Quick! Get in before the door closes!" |
 |
| Sealed off!! |
 |
| Door and other systems room (there were tons of keys and codes for opening and closing hatches and the many many heavy security doors throughout the bunker. |
 |
| Suit for going above ground with air tanks, etc. |
 |
| One of the other large security doors. |
 |
| A typical office for support staff. |
 |
| A model of the Bundeskanslers room--he was one of the few who had a private room rather than shared. |
 |
| The pink (!) furniture from the Bundeskanslers sitting room. |
 |
| Most of the bunker was dismantled in the 90's after the Wall came down. Here they left the train tunnel visible to visitors so you could see what it looked like before they converted it. |
 |
| Boys, boys and more boys... every tween girl's dream? Not. Apparently they are too rambunctious and drive the 9 girls crazy rather than inspiring crushes and romance! (Um, that's good, I think?!) |
 |
| Same room, looking back toward the bunker portion that remains. You can see the floor division sticking out in the middle. |
 |
| The Atom-Powers: Yellow/Iran is suspected of having a nuclear weapons program. Red countries have confirmed atomic weapons. |
 |
| The clinic. Boys wanted to know what the arm restraints were for! |
 |
| A typical bedroom for personnel. |
 |
| The curved ceiling of the second floor living quarters. |
 |
| Many of the boys and some parents and younger siblings from MK's class. MK and her friend, C, are in the middle of the second row. |
 |
| Walking on the Rotweinweg (Red wine traiil) to the restaurant, Försterhof. |
 |
| View of the valley with the mist. Gray weather but not too cold and it never actually rained hard, just spit at us and made everything damp.Typisch Deutsch! |
 |
| Playing outside after lunch. |
 |
| Dark enough that the lamps were starting to come on! |
 |
| Must. Come. Back. |
No comments:
Post a Comment