The Last Week

Monday June 10

I can't believe this week is here! It always seemed so far away and now I wish in some ways that it would go away. Oh well, can't stop time...

Rain, cold. Solved some big problems: how to return our books and breakables to the US. Which shipping method would be cheapest. Do we buy an extra suitcase and pay the extra baggage fee? J helped me research all the options and we settled on filling two larger boxes and sending them with the Deutsche Post. I also took my wonderful shopping Korb (basket) with some breakables tucked inside to the UPS store because it needed to be shipped in a non-standard size box, plus have extra packing peanuts and so on. UPS took care of it and it might even be waiting for me when I get home! I took several loads of stuff to donation sites and the Sperrmüll center (over-sized and odd trash). I even squeezed in a short trip to the grocery store and returned a bunch of plastic bottles for the Pfand (deposit) return!

GE had a friend come home with her to play and when I took her home around 5, offered her one of our scooters. She was thrilled and I was relieved to be "free" of one more thing.

I made the girls some chicken and potato soup for supper and then J and I went into Bonn to meet his colleague, A, and her daughter for dinner at La Chata, the Spanish tapas restaurant that we'd been to another time. Great food and conversation... but the service last night was atrocious! Oh well, we wrote it off as new student waiters and a busy kitchen (the patio was packed because the evening was so warm).

Tuesday June 11

The sun is out again and the day is supposed to get warm. I needed to get a couple last gifts in Bonn so I asked my friend SL to come along and we had our Kaffee at a cafe' downtown while we waited for the shops to open. Got what I needed and was home late morning in time to get some more organizing and packing done. Brought down more suitcases from the attic. Things are looking good. I think we're going to have room for everything!

HR brought a friend over after school and GE went to one of her Kindergarten friend's house. I made a quick trip over to the Kindergarten to give a Verabschieds gift to one of GE's teachers who will be gone the rest of the week. She gave GE a Glücksstein (Luck Stone) on a braided necklace. When I took HR's friend home at 5, I offered her the other scooter. Yeah, another thing off my list!

Made supper from ingredients in the house: taco lentils with rice, corn chips, lettuce, grated cheese, taco sauce and chopped green onions. Yum!

Wednesday June 12

Well, today did not go quite as planned. Started out well. Sun shining. I took GE to Kindergarten then had to take MK a notebook she'd left at home that she needed for a project due today. Then I went home to get J and we picked up 3 cakes from the Markmann Bäckerei before heading to his office. He was hosting the customary good-bye cake break for his co-workers. Here was the first hiccup. I was anxious to get to the store after dropping J off so I could get some baking done for treats for the girls to take to school tomorrow and Friday. Driving car and riding bicycle have entirely different street routes and I took a convoluted, snake-like route to get J to work--I thought I knew the best way to get there. Turns out it's not so easy with a car! It was later than I'd hoped when I finally got back to the apartment and got started. I planned to make a quick brownie recipe and put that in the oven at my neighbor's house while I made muffins or cookies at our apartment. When I pulled the door closed behind me on my way over to the neighbors, I immediately realized I'd locked myself out! I knew ME's keys were also lying on top of the freezer which meant I couldn't just walk to the school and get hers. J was at the office. MK has school until 3 on Wednesdays... At least I'd stuck my cell phone in my back pocket. J came home on the U-bahn and rescued me, but that set me back another 3/4 hour. To top it off, the brownies turned out too gooey (I always underestimate how long to leave them in and between the pan size being different and the oven temperature not quite the same, my guess was wrong). They're yummy but not presentable. Phooey. So then I thought I'd quick put together my favorite Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake, but when I turned it out to cool, it slipped off the cooling rack and smashed onto the table (serves me right for hurrying...). So, now I had two chocolate disasters. I salvaged what I could (but what was serve-able wasn't enough for the classes) and plan to take them to friends tomorrow night and Saturday night when we're invited out to dinner. In between the disasters I at least got a couple batches of Rice Crispies done. Then I made some molasses cookies for MK, carrot molasses muffins (I had molasses left over from Christmas time!) for GE's Kindergarten group, and finally after dinner I made chocolate chip muffins for ME's class. Whew! In between I squeezed in more of the usual: making lunch and dinner, doing some more laundry and hanging it out (thank goodness for the good weather!), packing, cleaning out closets and cupboards, picking up GE from Kindergarten, wrapping a few gifts for friends and teachers...  In the end, the day turned out OK, but was too harried and stressful.

Thursday June 13
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Here's where the crush of to-do details became more than I could manage to accomplish and still write in the evenings, so weeks later...

June 28, 2013

I'm writing this nearly 2 weeks after our return to Virginia. The last week is hazy and blurred (plus I can hardly write this without getting teary-eyed!), but certain memories are etched in my brain: hearing GE speaking German with her Kindergarten teacher and explaining how we're going back to "Amerika" (with flipped 'r' and bright 'a' vowels), meeting friends for the last time--coffee with SL, dinner with LC and RR, dinner with J's colleague and friend from the Max Planck Institute, gathering many of my dear friends for drinks and Tapas at Club Galacia on Friday night, sending in baked goodies (using up my pantry items!) with the girls to school to say good-bye to their classmates and teachers...

I'm adjusting, slowly and painfully, to being in US again, driving everywhere, going into giant big-box stores, walking across the massive parking lots to get my groceries or household goods. I cried in the Target parking lot.

I'll adjust. It'll just take time. I'm thankful that our home and animals were well cared for. I'm nearly finished unpacking all the stuff we brought or sent home and the many boxes we'd packed for storage. We've seen lots of our family and friends who we missed while we were gone. There's still a long to-do list, but the dust is slowly settling. J is getting back into his work routine.

The girls are up and down. HR is clingy and needs more snuggles and cuddles. GE keeps falling asleep in the afternoon (even after having adjusted to jetlag). ME and MK are busy with summer camps, seeing old friends, and reading lots of English books. Despite their busyness, there are times that both seem more withdrawn, a little sad. ME expresses her wish to see and talk to her German friends again. She has Skyped a few times with some of her classmates, but it's not the same.

Our return trip went as smoothly as one could hope: friends picked up our luggage on Saturday, leaving us two suitcases to stuff our last clothing and toiletries items in, then met us at the Düsseldorf airport early Sunday morning. British Airways gave us a smooth ride and our layover in London was just the right amount of time, not too much waiting, not too hurried. It's wonderful to see our family and friends again. The summer is full of gatherings: my dad's family's reunion in Durango, CO, J's dad's family gathering at his parent's home, his mother's weekend reunion at a camp in VA, a week at the Chesapeake Bay with J's parents, brothers and their families... School will be starting again before we know it!

I'll let the photos tell the rest of the story:

GE holding up the photo of her class, surrounded by her friends and classmates.

Blowing out the "wish you well" candles.

Handing out muffin treats.

On the playground.

Best friends: (from left to right) A, P, GE, and J

ME with her girl friends from school: clockwise starting with the girl in the red shirt, YH, C, JK, A, L.

J's parents and my dad picked us up in DC. My dad took some pictures...

Finally, to all of our dear friends in Germany: how can we begin to express our gratitude? I can hardly believe that our year in Germany has already come and gone. We are so thankful for all the warmth, hospitality, and friendships we experienced. We can't wait for you to visit us in VA!