September 3-9

Monday, September 3

So over the weekend in Heidelberg, I received an email invoice from the rental car company we used. Remember that they'd already sort of screwed up the booking--when we arrived at the Munich airport, they didn't have the right size car available to fulfill the reservation. We ended up shortening the reservation time and returning the car earlier than we'd originally planned in order to get a bigger car. Thankfully, we were flexible with the return date and it wasn't tied to a flight back to the US (can you imagine?!).

When I opened the email invoice, I couldn't believe my eyes. The invoice was for over 3,000 Euros! What?! I scanned the details trying to figure out where the huge charge was coming from (I'd expected it to be about $385 for the 2 weeks if we returned it with a full tank, stayed under the mileage limit, and didn't have any damage to the car). The invoice stated that we had excess mileage. Still my brain didn't compute! I was sure we hadn't gone over the limit, but if we had, it couldn't have been that much... I started calculating and figured out that the "mileage/in" had a typo: someone typed 27,420 km instead of 17,420! So the invoice was calculating an excess of 10,000 km travel!! Thus began a series of phone calls to customer service (not open on Sundays), our Visa card company (collect international; wade through phone tree; wait for a person to come to the line only to be told they couldn't dispute it until it posted in a couple of days)... Furious! Finally had to just let it go for the time being so we could try to cheerfully hang out with AS and her family a little more, but J and I both brooded over how to proceed and who to yell at first on Monday morning.

This morning we got someone to answer the customer service line who needed to speak with her supervisor about how to proceed. She eventually called me back to ask: was I able to provide copies of our gas receipts in order to establish the correct mileage record? (Umm, excuse me?! This was YOUR mistake, not mine!) Luckily, I'm anal that way and had saved *every*single*receipt* from our first couple of weeks and our travel and quickly located the three gas station purchases. I used the very handy CamScanner app on my phone to make PDF copies and emailed them to the customer service email. Waited until noon and then called again. This time I got a guy who said immediately, "Oh my goodness! This is definitely an error. I'm fixing this right now and you will get a new invoice in just a few minutes and then I'm also going to send you a 100 lb voucher for any future rentals from us. Your refund will take 5-7 days to process. Please call us back if you do not receive the refund in that time."
So... lessons:
1. NEVER using Flizzr again.
2. Always take a picture of your starting and ending mileage when you rent a car.
3. Always have the person checking you in when you return the car, turn the vehicle on and clearly state what the mileage is to confirm.

In between calls, emails, and digging through receipts, I also called the schools to set up appointments with the administrators. After getting confirmation about the resolution of the mileage disaster, the girls and I walked to the DM Drogerie to get some toiletries for ME and then walked home. I got some groceries and work on the blog. In the evening, J wanted to explore a little, so since we hadn't had our weekend date night, we fed the girls and then headed towards Lindwurmstraße for supper at the Lindwurmstuberle, a quaint local eatery with very traditional food (and the waiters were all wearing Lederhosen). J got a chicken entree and I had a salad with goat cheese. From there we walked over to the Theresienwiese where the grounds for the Oktoberfest are already being set up. It's HUGE. Not much of a Wiese (meadow)--more concrete and plastic, than a meadow--but it's clear they take this event extremely seriously.

As we walked we brainstormed ways to network and meet people and we each committed to making some efforts to make contacts (J for his work and conferences; me for singing). After we got home I watched Tatort, my favorite German Krimi (police procedural/crime drama) on the Das Erste YouTube channel because I'd missed the actual episode which airs every Sunday night.

Tuesday, September 4

Slept in a little. I'm having a hard time shifting out of vacation mode! But that will have to happen next week when school starts... At 10:30 GE and I had an appointment to meet with the Tumblinger Grundschule (TGS) Direktorin and the Sekretariat. TGS offers both half day, Halbtagsschule, and full day, Ganztagsschule, classes for first through fourth grades. In my previous conversations with Frau H, the Direktorin, she had indicated that there was room for GE in one of the half day classes, but I advocated for the full day. In the half day classes the kids are given pretty intense, constant instruction without a lot of wiggle room for helping kids at different stages, plus there's very little time to socialize with the other kids. I worried that GE would just go to school and come home, do her homework and not really know anyone well enough to go play with. Plus, half her day would be in English with me at home instead of in German at school. The Direktorin was very open to my arguments, so she and the secretary examined the class sizes of the full day classes and decided it could work for GE to be in one of them.

A rough translation via translate.google from the description of the Ganztagsschule at the Tumblinger Grundschule website.

So GE will go to school from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday-Thursday and get out at noon on Fridays. There is no homework for the full day kids. She'll eat a hot lunch with her classmates on the long days and come home for lunch on Fridays. While I filled out paperwork, Frau H asked GE questions in German: Hast du Geschwister? Sind sie älter oder jünger als du? Was machst du gerne? Was für Hobbies hast du? Spielst du ein Instrument? (Do you have siblings? Are they older or younger than you? What do you like to do especially? Do you have any hobbies? Do you play an instrument?)... GE was able to answer some in German with single words or short phrases. I think it went well... She's nervous, but also seems happy to embark on the adventure. We went to her classroom to get a glimpse--clean and neat with just a little decoration on the walls, typisch Deutsch (typical German).

On the way home, the two of us tried out another café we've been walking past: Café le Chat. It's a sweet tiny shop with just a few tables inside and outside, run by a French guy (apparently) and has cat pillows. GE had a croissant and I had an espresso macchiato with soy milk. From there we swung by the library because I wanted to look for more books to read aloud to the kids. Got a bunch plus a couple of Asterix und Obelisk comics that J loves reading aloud to the girls. The pictures help get the story across without so much translating...

All morning and early afternoon it was raining--pouring, really. But as with most parts of Germany, it doesn't stick around long. By 2 p.m. it had stopped and by 3:30 it was pretty dry and the sun was out. The big girls and I took our bikes for another practice ride to their school, swinging by the huge Edeka and Aldi shopping center on our way back. It's getting easier! After putting away the groceries, the little girls and I went out to search out a playground close to us. There's a cool one just over the canal bridge--basically a minute's walk and if they yelled loud enough, we could hear them from the balcony.

Back at home I made a phone call to one of the contacts given to me by some JMU profs I sometimes perform with. She answered and we chatted for a while. She wants to hear me before she recommends me to anyone or decides how to advise me. So I got her email and sent her a link to the Scarlatti performance in January 2017. I'm supposed to call again next week if she forgets to email me back. :)

After supper GE wanted to play Kniffel, the dice game we played with AS's family over the weekend (we found a set of dice and the Kniffel score sheets at a large grocery store), so we rolled and wooped and hollered...

Wednesday, September 5

I've been trying to make an appointment with one of the administrators at the big girls' school. In an email from Herr B, he had said to call the week before school starts since that's when they are back at work after the summer break, but on Monday, when I spoke to someone in the office, she said he wouldn't be in until Wednesday because of the construction happening in their building. So I called again this morning and this time, he's there, but was in another meeting and would call me back. [He returned my call while we were biking into town and we set up an appointment for tomorrow morning.]

ME wanted to go downtown to H&M and J wanted me to meet him for lunch at the Viktualienmarkt (although with packed lunches--just a fun space to eat in), so we left the younger ones at home and rode our bikes to the Marienplatz to meet him. Gorgeous, sunny weather in the low 70's! After we ate, we split off from J and poked our heads into shops and shoe stores, following our curiosity... H&M had what we needed, so after checking out, we headed home.

Later in the afternoon I had an appointment to check out some rental keyboards. I need a piano/keyboard at home to practice with and rather than buying something, I thought, there must be someplace where I can rent one from, like we will rent HR's cello. Sure enough, two different piano retailers also lease pianos, synthesizers, and digital keyboards. For a really reasonable monthly fee, plus deposit and delivery fee, I will have a basic standard digital piano keyboard with a stand in my bedroom as of tomorrow noon! Cool beans.

Thursday, September 6

This morning we biked to the Klenze Gymnasium to meet with one of the administrators. Herr B was very warm and friendly. The girls were nervous, but polite. We filled out paperwork and decided that ME would take 1st year Chinese instead of attempting to join in with 6th year French! School starts Tuesday but only goes until 11:20 the first day, then 1:10 the rest of the week. They "ease into it", so to speak. He wasn't sure which sections they would be in yet--lots of things still shifting--so they should arrive no later than 7:45 a.m. on Tuesday and look for the lists of class sections posted in the central gathering area. That will tell them who their teachers are and which classrooms to go to to start their day. The school is very neatly organized with three levels. He showed us around a bit and gave each of them a Hausaufgabenheft (homework planner) from the school that includes a map of the building, so they shouldn't have too much trouble finding where they need to go on the first day. It sounds like their days will be pretty packed--rehearsals for the music groups and some other "extra-curriculars" happen during certain periods of the day, not just after school. He had no supplies lists, but explained that the first few days of school is mostly giving out info and helping kids get ready, so they should just come with a notebook or two and something to write with and the teachers will tell them what they need to get for those specific classes. I sort of remember this from when MK was in the Gymnasium in Bonn, but funny, how it's not a clear memory that stands out.

The big girls will have classes following this schedule, but each day will be a little different as not every course meets every day--core classes meet 4 or 5 times a week, sometimes with a double period, while electives and other courses meet once or twice a week. Courses don't meet in the same order every day either--keeps things interesting, for sure! Some days HR will finish after 6. Std. (6th period) and once or twice a week she'll go until 9. or 10. Std. (9th or 10th period). ME will probably go until 8., 9., or 10. Std. every day since she is in the first year of the Oberstufe (upper level) when the instruction gets super serious for German Gymnasium students.

Went home from there to await the digital piano delivery... And now I have a piano--no more excuses! Time to starting practicing every day.

After lunch, we (the girls and I) rode our bikes into the Altstadt to try to find the supplies on GE's school list. I had checked out prices on Amazon.de, but was so confused by the different notebook variations, that I felt like I needed to *see* it in person. In the end a helpful salesperson found most of it for us. Now I should be able to sort out what the big girls need when they come home with lists from their teachers at the Gymnasium, but to start out, they'll each go to school with one lined paper notebook, one graph paper notebook, and some erasable ink pens.

We took the supplies home and I still needed to get some groceries. It's been a couple of days, so I walked and took the rolling cart instead of my bike, knowing I'd need more room. I'm thoroughly enjoying that my options for grocery shopping are: bike? walk? That little shop or the bigger discount grocery store? Oh look, there are fresh berries in the Marienplatz! Did I mention there's a way through our apartment building's cellar and garage to get to the closest store without going outside (so if it's raining for days, I can still get out for basics!).

<Sigh> Reverse culture shock is going to be brutal when we come home to Virginia and I have to go back to driving at least 8 miles for anything...

Each evening J or I read to the girls. Now that we have some German books from the library, I've started to include at least a few pages from one book or another that they've picked out. Tonight, GE and HR took turns reading short sentences--they are going to catch on so fast! Already, they can both pick out short words and sound out longer ones. *Mind blown*

Friday, September 7

Rainy weather moved in again overnight, so the morning has been largely spent at home. I practiced! J went in to the MPI to print out some letters we need for starting the visa application process and then took those to the KVR to make an appointment to start that process. In the afternoon the rain cleared off and J, ME, and I took our work with us to gangundgäbe. ME got a Kakao and was tickled that it came with a leaf in the milk foam.

My "work" is studying the Hadyn Die Schöpfung (Creation) score which I haven't sung before and should have under my belt.

Saturday, September 8

We slept in. J went to a nearby bakery for fresh Semmeln (Bayerisch for Brötchen, traditional German "rolls") for the girls' breakfast. I took my bike to the Lidl (discount grocery store similar to Aldi) for groceries and then stopped at the REWE City by our apartment building for the few things the Lidl didn't have.

Our apartment is the little blue dot along the Westermühlbach canal. The Dreimühlenstraße turns out to be a sweet cobblestone street with cafés and Bäkereien (Bakeries), restaurants and gorgeous stucco apartment buildings. I hadn't ridden this way before and now will probably always ride this way!

When I got back, I packed a lovely picnic and we loaded up on our bikes to go explore the Isar river park. Today and tomorrow the weather is going to be absolutely exquisite: sunny, mid-70's. Herrlich! We took a picnic basket, blanket, books, cameras, and water bottles.

The approximate route we followed. We actually looped back up following where the gray alternate route joins at the bottom and found a spot right along the river to have our picnic.

After we ate, we lounged in the sun, read aloud to the girls, and then packed up to look for some place to have an afternoon coffee or treat. Having discovered the Dreimühlenstraße this morning, we decided to try out one of the Café Conditoreien (coffee shop/ bakery). There are multiple ones, so we just went with one at an intersection where the sun was shining and the view was, well, just very Deutsch. The girls ordered a chocolate layer cake with an orange flavored cream cheese filling while J and I got simple black coffee.

From there we went home. Expedition enjoy-the-beautiful-day-outside success!


Sunday, September 9

Can't believe tomorrow will already be into double digits in September! We are trying to stay present and sink into the moments, but boy the time is flying...

I set my shoes and running clothes out last night. I have had the itch to run again for some time and with the weather as herrlich as it has been the last couple of days, I just couldn't let another morning go by. I scoped some trails while we were biking on Saturday and set out early this morning just as the city was starting to wake up. Quiet, cool, just other runners or dog-walkers. I timed it so I'd end up at one of the local Bäkerei right as it opened its doors. Fresh Semmeln for the girls for breakfast and lunch.

A back street with beautiful stucco apartment buildings.

The path along the canal which leads over to the river and then across to one of the many Inseln in the Isar river.

A path directly along the river.

The path broadened after it crossed onto the Insel.

Camper van. Just thought it was funny/cool.

Someone built a makeshift squirrel house (there's a plate inside for food).

Window flowers and open windows. Need I say more?

Notice the blankets stacked on the tables--so you can sit outside with your coffee and breakfast even if it's still a little chilly. Might just have to do that sometime... This is a sweet little street corner.

After breakfast and showers, we all got on our bikes a little after 10 a.m. to head to church: Liberale Mennonitengemeinde München. J's cousin, who used to live in München, suggested we look them up as a possible congregation that would sync with our theology (rather than the other Munich Mennonite church which is pretty conservative and has become more Evangelical). The bike ride was a bit long for the kids (more than 30 minutes on the way there since we had to stop and consult the map every once in a while), however the weather was absolutely perfect for it. There is an U-bahn option that is fairly direct, so when the weather is crappy, we'll have that to fall back on. The pastor, Anna Janzen, was very welcoming and remembers J's cousin and husband from their years in München. We had emailed back and forth a bit, so she knew we were coming. Anna and her husband have one son, ME's age. Her niece comes with her family from Stuttgart every month for the service (first Sunday of the month) since there is no Mennonite congregation in Stuttgart. They have 2 boys and 2 girls--the oldest are roughly the same age as ME, HR, and GE plus one younger. They were glad for our voices and we even knew one of the songs from our year in Bonn, attending the Pauluskirche in Friesdorf. It's a very tiny congregation--anywhere from 8-15 might show up on a Sunday morning. Everyone introduced themselves and spoke with us or with ME--instead of smiling and walking away, which was our experience at first at the church in Bonn. On the way back, we stopped in the park along the Isar and had Currywurst at a Kiosk, and then stopped at Choco Lab for coffee and Eis.

Now we're home and plan to have a relaxing Sonntag nachmittag. One more day of summer vacation tomorrow and then Los!

And... I practiced.