Lernen

I feel like kids bring people to life because they always want to do something and never just sit around. It's a wonderful thing to constantly think of entertainment and excitement. Yesterday evening, I stayed up late on Skype again and had to get up early to take Benji to gymnastics. The confusing thing is that a high school here is called a Gymnasium, so what do you call the place where you do gymnastics? Turnhalle. CLEARLY. Gymnastics mostly consisted of children's songs in German that I could neither sing along to nor keep the beat. Then we set up an obstacle course that was actually pretty intense. It was this huge scene on a piece of paper that all the moms worked together to build. There were probably 8 kids around Benji's age, and they all seemed to be having a pretty super time. One of the kids found the light switch and continued to turn off all the lights in the room time after time! When gymnastics was over, we went to Sib's weingut and got a map of the city for me. I had some postcards to send, so Benji and I went on a search for the post office. It should have taken 5 minutes, but it took me 15 instead. I'm sure I was standing in front of it for half the time, as well, so I definitely felt like the silly tourist. We then made our way home in time for Opa to come again. Normally, he wouldn't come two days in a row, but I started German school yesterday afternoon at the last minute, so he saved the day. Mira came home for lunch and ate with me and Klaus, and I asked her if she was heading back to school after lunch, and she said she was done. What?! I wish we were done at lunch time when we were 15 years old. That would have been awesome. So then we were trying to figure out some kind of sport for her to do since she doesn't have a regular activity. That got us on the topic of whether I'm going to row or do soccer here, which then led to the idea of horseback riding. I never even thought that one! But there are horses just across the street from my house, although they're not the ones I'd be riding. So then I got my things together, and Klaus drove me into town to show me the bus stops, train station, and then finally to Volkshochschule, where I'll be taking my German lessons. I went inside and decided to take a placement test instead of just going to the level 5 class I was signed up for because I thought this was too advanced. I ended up placing in that level anyway, so I'll be going back to the class tomorrow and for the next 9/10 weeks. After this, I'll take level 6, and when I'm done with that, I can get a certification for "b1" German skills that I can present with me if I ever need a real job in this country, so that's pretty cool. After my exam, I found my way to the train station after stopping by Sib's weingut again to ask her how to get there. Robert was coming over to help me read the cook books, so I picked him up there, and we walked back to my house. We searched the kitchen for things to make since it was my night to cook dinner and I was completely clueless. He suggested gnocchis, and so we ran with that. While we were beginning to prepare the food, I got on Skype with Valaree, and Robert and Klaus talked to her! Klaus seemed pretty amazed by this. I mean, it is really cool, so I can see why. Then I made a salad and prepared the house dressing from Hopkin's...don't tell Jen! Everyone seemed to like it, so that was comforting since I had no idea what to expect. Robert made the gnocchis and a parmesan cream sauce, and I threw broccoli in there because broccoli makes everything better. We attempting to bake a cake called Schoko Schock (Schokolade is the German word for chocolate), but it was kind of like an epic failure. BUT it was the first time I've ever cooked with these ingredients, a gas oven, this altitude, etc. So that's my excuse. With dinner, Klaus brought in some wine straight from the barrel. I mean, really? Who gets to do that? I thought it was pretty neat. Then Benji went to bed, and Robert and I cleaned up the kitchen. We eat late here, so it was time for bed by then. More Skype-ing ensued. Right now, Benji is upstairs with Opa, but I'm headed to get him for snack and to go outside and play in the snow.

Tschuss!