The trees are changing colors.

Sometimes I think I am having deja vu. Other times it is just the strange feeling that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. We have an outbreak of lice. Not the deja vu that I want to have.

3 years ago.... Unreal.

Monday I hung out with the women after school. We went and had a picnic snack on the river embankment. Ning had brought us a lot of goodies from China and Adriana sweets from Mexico. Yummy yummy. Then we went out for dinner with the husbands as well. It is the season for fresh pressed apple juice and it is soooooo yummy. Tomorrow I am going on a school trip with the my second grade class and Sarah's class  to make apple juice ourselves. YIPEEE! Shall be fun. Friday I am off to Belgium, after the dance party with my second graders. Got to love Friday's.

No gluten day three. Only chocolate w/ no milk day 3. This weekend is going to ruin me. Then I will be back on it. Promise!

I needed a hug today from Germs. Sarah was telling me about hugs and it made me homesick for my friends and family. There you go guys - it does happen sometimes. So better come visit soon.

lovelovelove
--
live simply.

Ouch

Had a get together with The Women this week to celebrate Charlotte's new baby and also to visit with Ning (who got back from China the same day) and Adriana (got back from Mexico the same day). I saw Marlene for the first time in a long time with her 4 month old too. Husbands were also in tow. Got to get me one of those... Just kidding! :)

I fell off my bike yesterday on my way home from school. One sure does feel funny as an adult getting an "owie" from falling off their bike. I woke up super early today (hence the blog) and I think it's bc of my owie adrenaline. Oh dear.

It's Thursday! How the weeks do fly! Today I'm going to do some shopping after school. Yipeeeeee! I might even by some pretty expensive boots. Who am I eh??

Tomorrow there will be a Soccer game rematch. Should be funnnnnnn, if I participate that is.

The famous Frankfurt car show maybe afterwards? Who knows...

different country, different rules.

View into the city from my bike ride to school

I'm having so much fun. SO much fun! Had a great week at school. Need to start writing down all the cute things the kiddos say to me. They are just darling. Had a hard core soccer game with my colleagues after school Friday. My whole body is sore from the 90minutes that we played. Afterword we had "girls night" and 12 of us met up and had dinner at a super cute trendy place that I want to go back to for drinks. I have my kiddos this weekend so we have been playing in between play dates. I made it to brunch this morning with friends - delicious, and then went over to see Charlotte and her new baby!!! So small! He is a week old now and I made sure to give Leanne lots of attention. :) My suitcase is full of chocolate. I am just really happy.  :) Don't worry - I sill miss you fam and friends! There are a few I am anxious to talk to in fact..... For now here are some fun things I would like to share with you.

Interesting things about Germany/Germans
- windows open like doors or tilt inwards and only the top part opens
- door handles are not round
- bathroom doors are always closed regardless if someone is in them or not
- staple food - bread, cheese, meat
- they (most Germans) don't like Peanut butter and don't know what a PB&J sandwich is, or s'mores for that matter
- LOVE soccer
- use bikes and trains as their main modes of transportation
- many cannot communicate in what we would think of as "friendly" English, so therefore what they say in English often comes out sounding a bit harsh/rough
- All shopping stores are closed on Sundays except for 3 or 4 times a year when there is a "shopping sunday"
- they have no problems with nudity - pretty much no big deal seeing your parents, grandparents, brothers, or sisters naked. Or anyone else for that matter i.e. naked spas, naked people in parks, etc.
- you can drink alcohol in public (on the street), starting at the age of 16 (alcohol under 10%)
- Germany is one of the top beer consuming countries (although, contrary to belief, Heineken is not from Germany people)
- windows don't just have curtains - they have these sheets of something that come down to block out all light - it is truly fabulous
- don't get their driving license till 18 (they think it is crazy that we start driving at 15 but can't drink until 21)
- there are a ton of English words used in the German vocabulary (all with a fabulous German accent) such as hi, happy, swear words, cool, and my personal favorite: sorry.
- they think that if you don't wear socks you will get sick
- don't know how big the US is - one person didn't believe me when I said you could drive all day and be in the same State. They also didn't believe me when I said I owned a bike in the States...

Bike ride to school

lovelovelove

Bis Tomorrow!

One of my darling little students has almost got the hang of saying see you tomorrow. In German you say Bis Morgen. First she said Bis Morning and now we are on to Bis Tomorrow or Bis Later. So darn cute. Today I got to take half the reception class on an adventure (read walk) in the forest behind the school. We collected stones, tree bark, leaves, and acorns. Oh the English words they can say now.... I'm almost done organizing the library with my friend - we are supposed to have it up and pretty by the opening day, when everyone and anyone can come walk through the school, in a couple weeks. Rooted out some garbage books that I don't even feel old enough to read. So we are left with two bookshelves full of books. It's a start.

Just bought a ticket to Amsterdam for the weekend after Belgium. Woot! Johanna is coming too! Yipeeeee!!!!

Saw a dead hedgehog yesterday. Or maybe it was a porcupine. What is the difference? It had spikes.

I talk a lot. Did you know this? Not as much as Kayleen and Kristin though. My "new best friend" Sarah reminds me of them because often times she just fades out and stops listening to me. And she reminds me that I mumble and she can't understand me. Which makes me think of my Mom. Oh dear.  She is also going to be my stylist. Or I will just buy lots of scarves, leggings and dresses and more toms. Red ones. :)

I was thinking how I wish I had chopped my hair off before I came here. My friend Jess has short hair and it just looks so easy. I was also thinking of straightning my hair tomorrow. Wouldn't that just shock everyone since they are already used to the "I don't brush my hair or wear a lot of make up or normal shoes" and not the "I can dress up and try and look cute also" girl that I am. We'll see.

Thank you to everyone who sent me a present for my birthday or snail mail - I love you all!!!!

Birthday Celebrations!

I had a fabulous birthday weekend! On Friday my friend Will made a huge bowl of guacamole so I was kind of in heaven. I do miss the "mexican" food aka Casa del Matador. If anyone goes there, they are always so kind as to inform me. Meanies. :) Sarah and Jess gave me a giant bday card and chocolate and Seb also got me some schoko and a gift card to my favorite Alnatura where I shop for all my delicious organic goods i.e. chocolate and almond butter. Love that store.
Woke up Saturday morning and had a huge breakfast with the fam - Andrea cooked some delicious goods and Philipp made a giant fruit salad. And I got chocolate. :) The kids and Brit had made me super cute bday cards and I got lots of great presents. After the filling breakfast I biked to the Hauptbahnhof to meet up with friends for a day trip to Heidelberg. Susanne showed up with a bag full of chocolate for me and Marcin brought me yummy Alnatura chocolate as well. And I brought some chocolate, so I was set for the day. We found the others and got on the train. In Heidelberg we walked around the shops, had some food, drank some wine, ate some Frozen Yogurt (I can't believe we found some and it was SO YUMMY!), and then headed back to the train station to meet Katja and Steffan. We then drove to Steffan's parents house and had a really nice BBQ there. I ate lots of food. So much. They are so darn cute and had bought the chocolate covered rice cakes that I love and put candles in them and sang me happy birthday. So funny. Since I can't have gluten/dairy/corn they knew that I would be just fine with these dandy treats that I eat quite often.... Had some prosecco and more food/chocolate before heading back into the city (after the boys purposely sped off to leave us to fend for ourselves with getting back to the city.. typical). Back in the city we found our way to the old bridge to watch the firework show! My wonderful new friends had invited hundreds of people to come watch fireworks with us that were shot off of the bridge. ;) And the castle was all lit up with red light. It was a celebration for something about it being burnt down?? Or for my birthday. The fireworks were pretty fabulous. Made it back to Frankfurt just after midnight.

Sunday morning was pretty lazy. I finished that dreadfully creepy Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, had a delicious Omelet, practiced Clair de Lune (will take me ten years to learn), and then was picked up by Ning in her darling hoodless Mini to go to a Bath house for the day. We picked up Charlotte - who is going to pop any days this week! - and I drove us to Bad Homberg, which is famous for it's bath houses. Something about the qualities of the Spring water... Ning gifted me a day pass to the spa. She is just so darn sweet. We swam around the warm pools. The bath house has many different pools, all of different temperatures. There are also a dozen or so different saunas, sun lamps, tanning beds, water beds, massage tables, massage chairs, beds to pass out on if you need a rest after the sauna, a restaurant, and, of course, a movie theater! So strange. It was raining outside so it was fun to be in the "warm" water and have the rain falling. After trying a few of the pools and "whirlpools" aka hot tubs, Ning and I went to go check out the saunas, while Charlotte went to absorb some Vitamin D. We tested out the Feng Shui sauna first, which was pretty empty. It was a huge sauna room and had a door that went directly outside for one to cool off. Then things went wrong. You go to a certain sauna room at a certain time for the "infusion" aka when an employee of the bath house puts water on the hot stones and fans the hot air over you. The room that Ning and I chose ended up being much smaller than the Feng Shui one and was completely packed full of bodies. We parked ourselves up on the higher steps and waited for the "Aufguss" to begin. It was SO HOT. I was DRIPPING. They make people put towels underneath their feet as well since it gets so darn hot in there. I was dying. One guy left before the "Aufguss" was finished. Ning should have left as well. By the time we got out of the sauna she immediately laid down on the ground. I quickly went back to where we had left our water and bags and grabbed some water. When I got back to her she was still on the ground, people were watching her, and she was being talked to by two people. I gave her some water and then we went and sat on the side. One of the workers left to get her a cola. She then perceeded to seizure on me - she just tipped over on me on the bench, eyes rolling back in her head, and started shaking. AWESOME. I freak out and start patting her on the cheek and about ten seconds later she stops and tells me she thought she was sleeping and had even had two dreams. Uhhhh not really chickadee! The guy comes back, gives her a cola and I tell him what happened and he said she passed out when I was getting her water too! He got pretty upset and said if she did it again he would have to call the hospital. Oh geez. He lectured her about eating and drinking enough and then we went outside and cooled out in the fresh air. Things got calm after that. Once she had regained her energy we went and found Charlotte, they got some ice cream, and then we went and watched a movie about the start of soccer in Germany and then headed home. It's so strange that there is a movie theater there. Sadly Harry Potter was only playing during the week. Lame. So basically I had a great birthday weekend that was very entertaining and... amusing?

Owie-Reports

One child hit another today. The other pushed another one down. Another one got stung by a bee on his chest. Another fell and scratched up their knee. Another ran into another and got a huge welt on his eyebrow the size of a golf ball. I got home from work at 9:30. Today is a day filled with "owie-reports."

Mainufersfest

Excited for tomorrow! Working on organizing the library and then relaxing with the family in the afternoon. Saturday - birthday breakfast with the fam and then off to Heidelberg for the day. Sunday brunch and who knows what else. Week 4 of school is almost through. I'm tired. :)