Schnitzel Thursday

Thursday evening is by far my favorite night of the week. I think just the idea that Thursday is coming, helps to sustain me through the earlier part of the week. Thursday is the lone evening, when we have no other activities. Our calendar is blank on that evening, and back in September, our tradition began. We don't really watch random TV over here, but we have found 2 shows that our family LOVES to watch. They must come on in the US on Wednesday, and we are able to watch them on Thursday (on our computer). We always pick up schnitzel sandwiches from a local "imbiss", and then we gather in the living room to watch "Modern Family" and "The Middle." We LOVE these shows, and the continuity kind of reminds me of watching "the Cosby Show" as a kid. It is a monstrous disappointment when the previous night (Wednesday) in the US,. was a Presidential Debate or State of the Union - our special evening ends up being not so special. I adore Thursday evenings, and I hope we always remember Schnitzel Thursdays.... 

Mia's school

I am really impressed with how quickly Mia has learned to write. Her penmanship is better than mine :-)  *this is her letter to the Christkind

I thought this was funny.... Mia had to memorize this entire poem (sorry that it is sideways :-)) The poem is about a boy who falls through the ice, and when he gets home he gets a spanking from his father - too funny - I don't think our kids be reading that in American school books :-). It was also kind of neat because she has learned the exact depth that the ice has to be frozen in order to skate, as well as many other rules pertaining to ice.

 
I am always amazed at Mia's school. She only goes to school until 11 or 12 each day, and I am so impressed at what her teacher does with them in such a short time. If you equate it in terms of hours in school, she would be the equivalent of 3/4 of her way through the American kindergarten year right now with the short time that she has had in the classroom. I really have been pleased, and more than anything, I love the fact that she is learning so much, while also having so much time to play and be a kid. *as you probably can tell, I am particularly fond of the idea of the shorter school day :-). The stress of being in school ALL day, and having tons of "busywork" / homework at night was a huge factor in deciding to home school Camden again. To me, the German system proves that you can have both a great education, while also enjoying "life" as well.

Sledding

Happy Camper

A few leaves with the snow - it still worked fine though...

Another happy Camper...

Our favorite sledding field... (Cam and his friend down below..)

View of the Dom (Cathedral) from the field

We haven't had very much snow this year, but we were able to get in a little sledding. Bailey was at a friends' house, but Mia, Camden, Camden's friend and I had a fun afternoon sledding together.

Wise words

We just heard about a friend of ours from college who died suddenly from a massive heart attack (a 39 year old female). It was/ and is shocking news - so unbelievably sad.... Camden and I came across this studying about Mark Twain. I couldn't resist sharing, as I found it a comforting reminder to live life to its fullest!

The Taste Test

The American Coke (purchased at the base, bottled in Atlanta)

The German Coke (bottled in Berlin)

One of the cute taste testers...

The results (o.k. this gives it away :-))

I read something recently that surprised me. I very rarely drink soda, so I never noticed this before, but apparently there is a BIG difference between the German "Coke" and the American "Coke". Both of the "Cokes" are owned by the Coca Cola Company, but I read that the German Coke uses real Sugar, while the American Coke uses High Fructose Corn Syrup. I thought it would be fun to see which one my family liked better, so we had a blind taste test (just something fun/silly to do with the kids). Since we informally have adopted Camden's friend into our family - he participated too. It is very interesting, as a side note too - Camden never used to be able to drink Coke when he was younger (he would become quite hyper and just really out of sorts), but every once in a while now (at a biergarten, as a special treat) he will have a German Coke, and it has not been a problem - I never realized it, but maybe it has something to do with the High Fructose Corn Syrup???? (or maybe he is just older) - Very interesting though.... Maybe a good thesis for a future Science Project (that is just the nerdy home school Mom speaking :-))

The results were overwhelmingly in favor of the German Coke. 5 out of 6 of us chose the German Coke, while one of us (not naming any names :-)) chose the American Coke. Who would have thought that Coke would be that different???

My German Girl....

Mia at Breakfast:  "Why do Bailey and Daddy not have school or work today?"

Me: "It is Martin Luther King Jr Day".... "Do you know who MLK jr was?"

Mia: "yes, we learned about him in our school." (I have to say, I was quite surprised that she would have learned about him in German school)

Mia: "We even had to draw a picture of him in Religion"

My reaction  ???????????? .... and then it hit me - she was talking about Martin Luther - big difference :-)

Me: You have MLK jr confused with Martin Luther.  MLK jr. was a black man who fought for equality

Mia: "Oh yes - I know him - he was one of the 3 Kings" (one of the 3 Kings was supposedly Black)

Me: Huge smile - trying not to laugh

* Such a sweet, innocent, and funny conversation at the breakfast table ....

Snow Rules

They have sidewalks everywhere here. I don't think I have ever seen a house that didn't have a sidewalk in front of it. Even in the smallest towns, they have sidewalks to walk on. When we first moved here, and it snowed, we had no idea that it was our legal responsibility to keep the sidewalk in front of our house clear .We also are required to put salt or dirt down to prevent people from slipping. Today, it just seems normal, but as I was out shoveling the sidewalk this morning, I thought about this law. It would be almost impossible to have the side walks cleared by the city. There are sooo many sidewalks, and there is no way the job could be done before the commuters (bikers, walkers, students etc) started their trek in the morning on the sidewalks. It makes sense to require the citizens to perform this task. The problem though, comes from the situations that don't make it so easy to clean the sidewalks from snow. Examples being; elderly people, when you are on vacation, if you are at work all day and the snow is accumulating outside your house. The nice thing is that neighbors help neighbors, and it all seems to work out. I think it is a nice thing to require citizens to do simple things for the common good - not a bad idea at all (in my opinion :-))