There is a great deal of preparation that children and parents need to go through before a child is ready to start grade school in Germany. Formal registration, meetings with the directors, and doctor's examinations round out the top three. At the doctor's visit, a variety of tests are done, pattern recognition, physical assessments, drawing a stick figure, etc.. Claudia fails when it comes to holding a pencil correctly. We've been told no less than three times, on three different occasions, that this needs to be corrected before she starts first grade. Demonstrating hasn't helped, but I found a clip online that offered a handy tip. I'm sharing this in case any one else is struggling with helping their child avoid a childhood of fancy plastic pencil grips. Or stern German Directors. The trick is to fold up a piece of tissue and get them to hold it under their pinkie and ring fingers. Then, when you pass them the pencil, they'll instinctively know how to hold the pencil properly. It's pretty much magic. Try not to zero in on the grubby, sand filled fingernails and instead marvel at that line work.
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Legend goes that a Roman soldier riding through town found a poor peddler dying in the cold. Mr. Martin, being a kind and gentle soul, took his cloak off his back and drew his sword, cutting the cloak in half. He gave the bigger half to the peddler, who survived. Martin then dreamt that the peddler was Jesus, and became a saint. That's all it took, folks. St. Martin's Day is celebrated on November 11th, and is a HUGE deal in this Catholic neck of the woods. The children make paper lanterns and prance through town, bonfires are lit, songs are sung, and a man on a horse makes a "woah nelly!" appearance. The girl's kindergarten held a Lanternfest in St. Martin's honour, and were spoiled with treats and sausages and raisin buns. The buns are meant to be split and shared with another child, in keeping with the sentiment of the evening. Claudia, my dear, quickly shoved the whole thing in her mouth. There are days where we just don't fit in.
Today is the first day this week that I haven't felt like a strange slug/sloth hybrid. This baby is kicking my ass, along with taking all my iron.
One of my first early pregnancy signs was a complete aversion to meat. This hasn't gone away. I need some helpful vegetarian tips as to how I can get more protein and iron into my diet. Throw them at me, please and thanks. A quick synopsis of my week so far: Claudia is registered for a school that she will never attend. They KNOW we're moving, yet you still have to register for the term that starts in August. Thanks to Anna for helping me sort this one out. Aaron is out of town in the middle of the Black Forest. There is literally nothing in this town except for a math centre and a church. He is breathing, eating and sleeping math for 7 straight days. I think this might be his version of heaven. I have the children's song "Laterna, Laterna" stuck in my head. Google it and join me. It was the lanternfest at the kindergarten yesterday, and I will show you some pics shortly of what 30+ kids playing with open flames looks like. Today is Halloween. German tradition is to carve a turnip. I'm leaving now to go search the market for a pumpkin. There are some things I just wont do in the name of cultural integration. Happy trick or treating cool people!! xo Last week, the largest toy store in town shut its doors in preparation for a grand reopening in a newer building down the street. Three floors filled to the brim with toys galore, the new store boasts a multi-story wooden slide and a carousel on the top floor. Münster is now home to Germany's largest toy store, and we brought the girls on opening day to partake in all the festivities.
Parents were presented with champagne upon walking through the door, and kids were given buckets of candy, balloon animals, and the opportunity to have their face painted. So, we stood in line for 1/2 an hour, watching girl after girl become transformed into princesses and butterflies. And then it was Eloise's turn. "What would you like?" asked the exhausted, champagne deprived face painter. "A crocodile!" replied my little one, "and a rainbow." And that's what she got, after a little cock eyed action from the lady. We decided on Sunday that we were done with the material life and headed into the woods to build a new homestead. Primitive LEGO building, Aaron and the girls gathered wood to build the structure, while I was in charge of the beautification of our new home. See that lovely walkway? All me. I've accepted the fact that we've been written off as nerds ages ago, so I have no shame in saying that this was the best way to spend a day in the woods. Fallen leaves and filtered sunlight can get a little boring after a while. Truth be told, you find these sorts of structures throughout the woods. It is THE thing to do, apparently. We played for hours, turning twigs in knots in the trees like they were some mystical doorways. Which is exactly what I used to do as a child with a cherry tree in my backyard. I've been a nerd from the start.
I can see no reasonable excuse to keep a pound of fudge around the house. Torturous and tempting, you know you shouldn't eat it. But those sprinkles, they're so cute. How can sprinkles be bad for you? It turns out they can't be. Scientific fact. I should know 'cause my husband is a doctor. And he ate the whole damn thing. If you dare, click right here.
Out for coffee earlier in the week, I found a little blurb in a local magazine about a flea market on Sunday just outside of town. Except, because my German is still crap, it turns out I had actually found a blurb on a Roman regalia market. Not exactly my cup of tea. Aaron was in charge of plan B. He wanted to go a canal, just outside of town. How could I resist??? I did, but to no avail. This is Kü, or Kanalbrücke. It was nice. Although Eloise spent the majority of the 3 km walk on Aaron's shoulders, we happily walked and climbed and just "naturized" ourselves in the village of Gelmer. AND, we found bone-fide toadstools. So super cool. Since I was only feeling like a half ogre that day, I wanted to have some pictures taken of my burgeoning bump. Whether it's an expanding uterus or just an excuse to stop sucking my belly in, you can decide. Chilly girls.
I took a break from writing while we were visiting family and friends in Canada for the final leg of summer. So much news came our way while we were over, I couldn't have expected it. Here is an update.
Still recovering from my rotten appendix, the nausea didn't cease with a change in scenery. I spent the first week in Canada essentially asleep on my mother's couch. When Gravol, Pepto Bismol, and some high dosage of B vitamins didn't help, I did the next logical step and bought a pregnancy test. Full disclosure* I take a pregnancy test nearly once a month because I don't ovulate and therefore don't menstruate. It's always been slightly heartbreaking each time the test shows up negative and I realize that my body is a wonky mess that doesn't want to change. But since change is the word of the day, and I didn't think my Mom had quite enough grey hairs on her head, the test was positive. Holy fuck, the test was positive. Quick run down of all the thoughts: Holy fuck (again), 3, 3! kids, and a contract in Germany that was soon enough going to expire. Aaron does this cute little thing with his face where he kind of smiles, but not really. It's a puppet smile essentially, a narrow, horizontal line where you don't know if there are any teeth, or emotion behind those lips. He stayed like that for a week. And then! Scotland came calling! Dear Dr. Tikuisis, We heard that you haven't smiled in a week and we would like to put your mind at ease. We would like to offer you a permanent position at the University of Aberdeen. If this pleases you, please give your wife a hug and let us know as soon as possible. The job starts in May. Sincerely, Professor MacMac. And magically, everything was right again in the world. Except that my new position and his new position have identical due dates. Which means that new baby will be born in Scotland and trump us all with EU citizenship. And an adorable accent. p.s. I left our camera cable-do-hickey-thing-a-ma-bob in Canada, so I'm waiting to upload a bunch of pictures from the past month. Will try not to procrastinate too much on that one. Try. It's the little things. Like sitting in the shade while the girls picked flowers for me. A while ago, Ikea mailed out instructions for daisy chains (daisy chains = Swedish furniture?) and I've been holding on to in case the opportunity ever presented itself. Such a fun, simple activity.
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