The first week of school is finally over! I think we're all breathing a sigh of relief. We worried and worried that first day, but when I went to school to pick the boys up on Monday, they were in the recreation room above the lunchroom, playing legos, on the computer and fussball. Sam saw me and said "No!!!" He didn't want to go home yet. What a good sign. Jacob said that the first day they each went around his class and everyone said what their favorite sport was. Jacob said he had said soccer but everyone else had said football (football or fussball is the German word for soccer!).
This picture shows the "playground" for the kids, complete with soccer goals and cement ping-pong tables in the back for recess and after school. We were so grateful for the good day they had, even when they didn't finish until 5 p.m. that when I picked Mason up from his class on Tuesday at 12:00 and he burst into tears, I was disappointed. I guess that hoping they truly had been blessed with the gift of tongues and would immediately fit in was probably a little too much to ask for in 2 days. The boys come home from school completely exhausted and don't want to wake up. On Thursday they have swimming each week at a pool right there at the school. We wondered if we needed to buy them speedos for the pool but they said about half the boys wore swim trunks. The boys bring a snack which has to be healthy for their first recess and then they have school lunch on the days they have class after noon. I asked the people in the office if they could bring a sack lunch and they all just stared at me like I was from Mars. Germans are people of routine--if that's the way it's done then you don't change. No one else brings sack lunch so they just couldn't even understand why we would do it. For atleast the first few months we'll play their game until the boys get adjusted.
These pictures are also part of their playground--a pond, a pile of logs and snake and alligator balancing beams. Shopping for school supplies
was exhausting. Every grade uses differently spaced lined paper, plus there are about 5 different sizes of notebooks for each grade with plastic covers you buy separately to put on each one. From first grade on they use fountain pens, which is definitely a skill, I've discovered. It's not so easy to write with those. It was so overwhelming to be at the store with a school supply list, all in German, trying to figure out what to buy. We've continued to have tears through the week, but I'm hoping that they will start to pick things up soon. One of the Laurels in our ward started German school in 4th grade and she said that by Christmas you know what's going on around you.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday we got a key to the garage of the place we'll be moving into and so I've been trying to bring the junk that we've rapidly accumulated over here plus our 45 day shipment into the garage. We bought a trampoline and I used my scrawny muscles to move the heavy box from the apartment basement, into the van and then into our new garage. Tomorrow we get the keys to the house and Monday we're going to get all of our stuff. I'm so excited! It feels like we've been camping out for the past few months and I just crave some permanence and stability. We won't have a phone or internet for a week, but I'll be sure to post some more pix once we get internet again.
The highlight of our week was definitely our new Star Wars t-shirts (thanks Grandma!) there aren't too many world-wide catastrophes that a Star Wars t-shirt can't solve when you're one of our boys. May the Force be with You!
So let's not get all caught up in minor details, like our pool hasn't worked since the '70s and has no water in it. The important thing is, it's a pool and you can do lots of things in an empty pool, like pretend to do water aerobics or see how long you can lay on the bottom of the pool. We got the keys to our rental home today and did the walk through for scratches and dents with the realtor and the home owner which only took about four hours to take pictures of all the areas and mark every crooked switch plate or ding in the doors. They are thorough in Germany! Take a look at the boys' bathroom--am I seeing spots? Each of those red circles is an individual circle tile and they cover the walls and floor. The red color doesn't look nearly as bright in the pictures, but let me assure you when you leave this bathroom you see little dark spots everywhere, like you just looked at the sun. Don't be jealous--someday maybe you'll have a a retro European bathroom too.
This picture is our family room. Not much to say except there's a fireplace in the corner. This is definitely the best feature of our new place--the backyard with a grapevine arbor, patio and ourdoor built in grill and fireplace. It's really nice. We're so excited about our arbor and patio I'm sure I'll be blogging pictures of all of us in December, sitting on patio furniture eating burgers in our swimsuits, snowboots and scarves.
