Auf Wiedersehen Germany!

Countdown to the end of our Germany adventure: 17 days!  As we get closer to our return to the US, it is a bittersweet feeling.  Our excitement is growing to be back home-to see our family, to have some simple conveniences...and to visit Target!  But we are leaving our home here in Hirschberg, which means we will miss all the wonderful people, the delicious breads, the beautiful mountains, the church bells, and the healthy lifestyle. The one thing we all most appreciated was the international community at Heidelberg International School. To know and befriend people of all religions, cultures, and ethnicities has been such a great experience and we learned so much from them. They were supportive, welcoming, and shared the frustrations and joys of living as an expat.  "My own eyes are not enough for me; I will see through those of others." -C.S. Lewis "

So as we prepare to go home, we are becoming reminiscent and these are some of our favorite memories from the last eighteen months.

Michele's favorite was the Alps…the majesty and beauty of creation was amazing.

Nick's favorite: Berlin and the Wall Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie and Brandenburg Gate

Kayla's Favorite: Rome! She loved the Colosseum and it was really pretty at night.

Brenna's favorite: Phantasialand, an amusement park with totally fun rides

Below are some photos from our last two trips to Dublin, Ireland and Barcelona, Spain.  Both cities surprised us in different ways. Dublin was a compact, walkable city with warm, friendly people.  Barcelona was a clean, efficient city with wonderful beaches and unique architecture.

Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin (year 1028)

The Brazen Head Pub est. 1198

The girls learning about hops in the museum

Guinness Brewery, founded by Arthur Guinness in 1759
The highlight of the trip for Nick :)

Flamenco Dance in Barcelona!

Beautiful view of Barcelona and Mount Tibadabo

Architecture by Gaudi in Park Gull

That's all for now... until our next adventure! We are so very blessed with this opportunity and so thankful that we experienced it together.  Auf Wiedersehen!

Driving on the Sidewalk (And other Highlights from our One Year in Germany)

Next week marks ONE YEAR in our Germany adventure!  With our limited Deutsche language and simple understanding of German culture, we can now almost be undetected as foreigners.  Here are some highlights from the year.  (There are several "lowlights" such as being yelled at by a German gentleman for playing basketball in a park on Sunday during quiet hours, but we will focus only on the positives!)

1.  Driving on the Sidewalk.  I am quite proud that I (Michele) have improved my driving ability, including driving safely at 160 kph and also avoiding bikes, scooters, pedestrians, trams, dogs, etc.  The most enjoyable thing is the thrill of driving on the sidewalk.  Germany is slightly larger in size than New Mexico, but New Mexico has 2 million people and Germany has 80 million.  Needless to say, there is not much room for cars on streets and many times you have to play Russian roulette on the sidewalks with other cars.

2.  Delicious, short-lived food.  Everything that we have eaten here has been amazing.  It's a good thing that we have to do so much walking to burn calories because the bakery breads, coffee, and pies are so tempting.  Nicholas is a big fan of the Dunkelweizen (dark wheat) beer, which he says is just too easy to drink. The food is healthy, too, which means little or no preservatives.  So although Brenna's applesauce only last a few days in the fridge, I am sure she is better off without those preservatives.

3.  No Games.  We have found that most Germans are honest and direct in their communication.  Sometimes that means you get an earful from someone who disagrees with you, but I love how there are no facades or lies to "be nice".  They mean what they say, and say what they mean.  To have a German call you his or her friend is an awesome thing.  That means you are not one of their 1,490 Facebook friends, but you are a true and devoted friend.

4.  Playgrounds.  In our little village we have at least 6 parks, three of which are in a 4 minute walk.  Both girls love the playgrounds, which are all unique.  Many have some equipment which would not be up to American safety standards (aka- avoiding lawsuit standards)!  We love the lifestyle of all the physical activity outdoors.

5.  International friends.  When we return to the US, it will be hard to leave all the friends we have made.  Through the international school, we have met so many wonderful people from all over the world: Israel, India, Australia, Netherlands.  We have learned so much from them and made so many good memories.  Kayla's world has been opened to other cultures and beliefs. Because of that, I think she has a better understanding of who she is and what she believes.

6.  Seeing the World.  The greatest thing about our German adventure is all the traveling we have done.  We are so blessed to be able to see so many places in Europe.  Nick's favorite was our recent trip to Rome at Christmas, where we got to see different layers of history.  In the last 6 months we have also visited busy, cultured London and beautiful Bavaria. Enjoy our photos below!

Big Ben and Westminster Abbey

Wicked Musical in London (Michele's Favorite!)

Diagon Alley at Harry Potter Studios

The girls' favorite of the London trip!

Rolling hills of Bavaria, including cows with bells roaming the countryside

Trampoline and the Alps (girls chose the trampoline!)

                                  

Neuschwanstein Castle

Vatican City at Night

We were able to see one of the coolest guys on Earth: Pope Francis!

Lots of pomp and circumstance with the Pope

More remains of the ancient city- the Emperor's Palace

The Colosseum, one word: wow

The 2,000 year old Pantheon

Nana was able to visit Rome with us!

Busy Times in Germany

Yikes. It has been 5 months since our last post!  So to our faithful blog followers: yes, we are still alive and doing well in Germany!  Here are some photos to show what has been going on these last months.  Beware, there are many!

In May we traveled to Berlin, a very neat city which has so much history, and also lots of new construction.  The girls are posing with a street performer (a human sculpture) in a park.  They were even able to touch the bullet holes in the columns of the Brandenburg Gate!  

The greatest place we visited was the Berlin Wall Memorial.  It was more immense and amazing that we ever thought.  The length of the division was so long and affected so many.  The girls are sitting on one of the markers that showed where the wall stood.

To Michele's request, after Berlin we stopped in Leipzig to see St. Thomas Church where Johann Sebastian Bach was buried.  We also saw St. Nicholas Church, where several significant events occurred to end communism.

In June we celebrated the 10th birthday of our sweet and creative girl, Brenna.  She had a rock star party with friends.

This is where Brenna is found everyday at recess-high up in the tree.  They had their last day of school June 27th.

The school had a family picnic on the last day of school.  The small school has such a great community feeling and the girls are thriving there.

In July we were able to travel home to see friends and family.  Such a great trip!  We traveled to Michigan for a family reunion and were able to swim, do archery, and even take a ride on the zip line.  

The girls love spending time with their cousins.  And as much as we love Germany, we are looking forward to being back at home near our family.

 

Almost every weekend we try to take a mini-trip to see areas in the Southern Germany.  It is beautiful everywhere we go.  This photo was taken on top of castle ruins in Neckargumund, looking over the Neckar River.

In August the girls started their first day of Grade 5 and Grade 3!  Brenna's first unit of inquiry was Forestation and she was able to take a field trip to a forest with her German class.  So she learned many new German words!  She is the best Deutsche speaker of all four of us.  She even translates when we are "stuck"!   Kayla's first unit was Water and her class visited the Klärwerk, and discovered what happens to water in the "cleaning pools".

I also had my first day of school- my first day as Performing Arts teacher at Heidelberg International School.  It is only a part time position, but it keeps me busier than just part of my week.  But I enjoy it and some days I can't believe I am getting paid for something that I find so much fun. 

Nicholas and I celebrated our anniversary by eating at the Stralenburg Castle restaurant.  The view was amazing (of the valley, not the view of Nick!).  We also finished our driving training and passed our test (well, we passed the 2nd time) to receive our German driving license.  That was quite a process!  But now we are official drivers.

One of our favorite things here: cafes on the street!  We stopped for some delicious cappuccinos and hot chocolate.

Another of our favorite things:  hikes in the mountains with Benji.  He loves to run and run.

Our latest travel was to Bavaria and it was so pretty.  We stayed at a family inn with the lake and Alps in the background.  We almost got lost while driving through the countryside, but we were able to see many cows grazing in the hills.  And yes, they had bells around their necks!

We also stopped in Ulm to see the largest church in the world, with amazing Gothic characteristics.

One last picture of our trip to Bavaria. Stunning, right?!

Feels Like Years!

The five month mark of our time in Germany will be next week.  And although it is not a great length of time, it seems like we have lived several years here!  So many life experiences have been had already, some totally amazing and some very frustrating.

After the last four months of German language classes, I now know how to order at the meat counter! "Ich möchte sechs Stück Schweinekotelett."  I can also ask for the bill "die Rechnung bitte!" But that is about my limit.  I can understand so much more than I can speak.  Many times I give a blank stare to the German-speaker and have to pull out my "do you speak English" card.  It causes me to be more aware of how my previous ESL students felt when they could not speak English at school.  The frustration comes when you know what you want to communicate, but have no idea how to even start.  Smiles become a necessity I have found! For example, one afternoon I told a cashier that I did not want her co-worker to step in to buy a coffee.  After several glares from the women behind me, I smiled and revealed that my Deutsche is not good, and a laugh was had by everyone.

Just this week, Brenna learned a life lesson.  She has the great opportunity to take bicycle safety courses from German police officers.  Every German student in 4th grade does this so that they are prepared for biking on the road, and the International School also requires the 4th grade to do the same.  At her lesson this week, some German teenage boys began throwing rocks and yelling foul language to the International school students. (In front of the police, which shows their brazenness!)  After the police talked with the boys, Brenna's German teacher called the boys over to have them apologize while she translated.  As much as I do not want my child to be the subject of prejudice or mistreatment, I know she now has a small idea of how you feel when mistreated.  It is easy to love those who love you, but another thing to love your enemies.

Kayla's recent life experience was during a field trip to a blind school.  For those of you who know Kayla, she is full of joy.  But the evening after her field trip, she was about to bust with excitement.  During her trip she connected with a girl named Zoe, who taught Kayla how Braille is typed and also typed a message in Braille to Kayla.  So if anyone knows how to read Braille, message me because she has no idea what it says! They are now email pen pals.  This is how I know she experienced something I could never teach her myself:  when she talked about Zoe, she only spoke of how Zoe was funny and kind, and told me everything she did and said.  It was not until later that night when I found out she was a German girl and was blind. I assumed she was blind, but Kayla never used that word to describe her.  I love Kayla's "blindness" to Zoe's disability and hope she will always see others the same.

Our world is being opened up and we are so thankful to have these opportunities.  Here are some other photos of the past month!

 One Saturday evening we visited a town called Ladenburg, which is about 10 minutes away by car.  The girls (above) are playing on a modern swing in front of ruins of a Roman settlement dating back to 400 AD!  

One of my favorite cities is Weinheim where you can walk through Schloss (castle) park and grab an ice cream cone.  On my birthday I discovered my favorite flavor here: Sahne-Kirsche, which is cherry with cream.  

Brenna competed in a competition at school called Game 24.  A card is placed down which has four numbers.  Using any operation, you have to make the number 24. A few students from her class when on to compete in the Germany tournament and won!  In a couple weeks she goes on an overnight field trip to a camp to practice team-building skills and encourage risk-taking.  They will be canoeing, raft-building, and doing archery (she says she might return as an expert archer!)

We celebrated the 8th birthday of our "Krazy Kayla".  She had a blast with friends from the International School- over 6 counties represented!  We also learned that with concrete walls and tile floor, the screaming of nine little girls echoes and reverberates!  She is looking forward to going back to Indiana in July so she can celebrate again with her family and friends there!

Spring Break in The Netherlands

Easter is an important holiday here in Germany- complete with eggs, bunnies, and chocolate.  And there is a focus on family time.  No stores or businesses are open on Good Friday and the Monday after Easter (thanks to a friend we knew to stock up on groceries before the long weekend!).  Many of our German neighbors sit outside with their family, or take a bike rides together.

The girls have two weeks off for Spring Break, which is great.  We have a whole list of activities to do during the long break so that we stay busy- and Mom doesn't lose her mind!  Nick also had two days off for the holiday, which we spent in The Netherlands.  It's hard to believe that within a 5 hour drive is another country, people, and culture. We stayed in IJmuiden, which is on the North Sea.  Both girls loved watching the ships come in and playing in the sand.  Although it was very chilly, they still hiked up their pants to get in the waves!

We traveled to Amsterdam and saw all the neat canals... and bicycles everywhere! We also visited the Anne Frank Haus.  It was a highlight of the trip, as we were able to walk through the rooms where Anne and her family hid during the Second World War.  The girls are learning so much about the past and its effect on the future.  We hope that each experience gives them life lessons of forgiveness, hope, love, and change.

Our next stop was the tulip fields in Keukenhof.  It was one of the most beautiful things we have seen-almost surreal with all the colors and variety of flowers.

My neatest experience lately occured on Easter Sunday during the church service. I was standing beside an older German man.  We were saying the Lord's Prayer, and I was speaking English and he was speaking German at the same time.  Faith knows no boundaries, including national boundaries.  We wish all our family and friends a belated Happy Easter!