Friends

The computer is my apartment is amazingly slow as of late, so I've been lazy about posting to the blog . . . Munich was great and the kids had a nice 2nd weekend with the daymother. We have started our last two weeks left in Weimar- amazing how the time has flown by! The Director of SMU Abroad has been visiting our program so I have been busy with her. My friends Julie and Dorothy arrived Monday evening and it's been fun having them here. I never realized how completely and totally obsessed Weimar is about Goethe until they arrived and took a tour, which apparently focused almost exclusively on him. Now, whenever we walk anywhere I feel like I am always pointing out things about Goethe- where he lived, worked, swam, studied etc. etc.

Tonight after we all took a long walk in the park, the two of them cooked the kids and me a great dinner and then I went to an opera with the students and they watched the kids for me, which was great. Tomorrow after class we are meeting up and renting bikes for a bike ride. Since the two of them are avid bikers, or at least much more so than me, I suspect that Thursday I will have some trouble getting out of bed. . .

Here comes the sun . . . and with no AC it is HOT!!!

The way tea is served at my favorite place to hang out in Weimar.
Grocery shopping with Austin. He's so excited because for each 10 Euro you spend they give you a soccer card for the German team. Everyone is so amazingly excited about the games starting!


Picking up Maddie Sue from Kita. The school's outside play area is down a cobblestone alley from the school right across from the Music University. So, as the kids play they hear the music students practicing their instruments. Ginko trees, one supposedly 400(?) years old shade street.

Dancing after dinner.

Home Again

Maddie Sue had trouble not eating the stale bread we were feeding the ducks.

Feeding ducks down by the river than runs through the park. In the back you see a building. This area used to be where the townspeople would swim in the summers.

Austin and I like to go to the Back Factory for hot chocolate and a snack afterschool every day.


The kids had a great weekend with the Day Mother and her family. The daughter Salome celebrated her 12th birthday- each year the kids happen to be there on her birthday weekend and get to attend her party. This year we gave Salome a dress that I had also bought Maddie Sue so that they could match (purple dress in picture above). Austin's favorite part of the weekend was taking two buses to and two buses home when he went to the outdoor swimming pool with Salome and her friend.

I got home very late last night after walking home from the train station and it was fun waking the kids up this morning and hearing them talk about their weekend. On our way to school, Maddie Sue kept singing a song she made up called: "My Mommy is the best Mommy in the whole wide world." Gotta love that song. Of course, I'm going to Munich this weekend with students and I wonder if she'll be singing that once I leave her alone again for another weekend . . .

Berlin Weekend

Late dinner at Dada Falafel
Komische Opera- Tales of Hoffman

taking a break from our walking tour at the Soviet Memorial in Berlin

Concert Friday night at the Berlin Philharmonic.
Brandenburger Tor

Arrival at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof

When the sun shines life moves outside . . .

Tomorrow morning I leave for Berlin with the SMU students. Maddie Sue and Austin will spend the long weekend with the Day Mother that has taken care of the kids for the past three years whenever I take these weekend trips. Today the sun came out and sunny warm weather is predicted for all of Germany for the next few days. The deserted town of Weimar came to life today and everyone escaped from being cooped up in their apartments. The kids and I went to the park and played lots of tag, soccer, and our usual Germany staple- badmitton.

Today the kids and I intended to go swimming. We packed up our bags and walked the 2 miles to the swimming pool only to find that the indoor pool, as of yesterday, was closed as the outdoor pool was now open for use. Since we had a high of fifty something today, somehow swimming outside didn't sound particularly appealing, although there were a group of young girls waiting to change and swim. So, instead we walked to the mall and went bowling. That was Maddie Sue's first time bowling and it was lots of fun.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

My beginning German class which meets every day from 9-11.

Cooking dinner.



At the public library taking refuge from the rain.

At Maddie Sue's pre-school when we picked her up today.

Some days are just plain unfriendly here. The gloomy cold weather coupled with the non-stop rain made me long for an indoor McDonalds play area. Instead, after picking up Maddie Sue at school this afternoon we walked in the pouring rain to the public library to spend a few hours reading books and playing board games.

Once we returned home we all took baths, got in our PJs, made and ate dinner and I just finished painting Maddie Sue's toe and fingernails. I am completely out of ideas and therefore the two of them are watching iCarly in German until bedtime. Austin has turned into our family historian and has chosen to document our entire day with photographs. Here are some of the ones he has chosen to share. I had to veto the bathtub ones he snuck in to take!