October 7th 2011
Have you ever been taught "first you finish this job before you start the next"? I q u i c k l y wanted to post some pictures of our last big vacation in the States, write a little about the great time we had on the West Coast and then report about our new old life in Germany. As you can see below I'm almost half through our 5 weeks vacation... and some of you still haven't heard from us since we are back in Germany. I'm really sorry and I promise to make up for that. The reason is we have been very busy and it has not been so easy adjusting to our old home. Here's the last year in a nutshell (for pictures and more you can scroll down the blog):
THE START
Ina had to go to 6th grade in "highschool"(our elementary school is from 6yrs to 10 yrs, and then there are 3 different levels of secondary schools). She was very well prepared for secondary school at our Cary elementary school Oak Grove and adjusted very well academically and socially.
Wiebke had to go to 4th grade in elementary school. It was a little stressful because she had to perform very well to be accepted at "highschool" and she had never been to a German school before! But she did very well, too although sometimes some of her classmates were not very welcoming. Fortunately, she had a very nice and supporting teacher.
Nils' start was much more complicated. As Nils started school (kindergarten) a year earlier in Cary than he would have in Germany and as Nils had no problems reading in German neither with the other subjects we put him in 3rd grade instead of 2nd according to his age because he would have been so much advanced there. Unfortunately, the teachers did not support that. In most of the subjects Nils was at level but there was no real encouragement in the few things where he had to catch up, and what was worst: the classmates did not include him in their midst although he knew many from preschool. Thinking back to the time when we came to Cary and the kids didn't even know a word in English but everybody was sooo welcoming and encouraging made us very unhappy and missing Cary very very much....
Katrin however had a good start. She went to the preschool where all the others have been. It was quite an adjustment to much more liberty in how to spend the day: running around all 4 groups they have, in the whole house or outside, weaving in one group or painting in another etc., and we were glad that after 3 years of the very structured American preschool she also got to know this.
Dietrich got back to his old job which wasn't quite as sad as he had expected because he was pushed into quite interesting projects and finally even got promoted. Still, he is missing his American work environment a lot.
And I was busy getting everybody and everything started. Nevertheless I got to know to a French family and I started teaching their girl twice a week to help her improving her german.
HOMESICK
Not everything was bad (of course, and we were happy to catch up with old friends) but we were (and are) missing Cary a ton!!! That's why we observed all the holidays that we loved so much: we had a spooky Halloween Party and the funniest Saint Patrick's day with a lot of "mischief". The best way however to cure us a little was.... to visit us. We were so glad that Max and Tristan stopped by when they where visiting their German family and we had the best time with the Dexter family here on Easter and another great week with Sofia!
MEANWHILE
Ina is in 7th grade and is doing very well. She does Geography in English (the bilingual branch) and loves it as well as French that she just started.
Wiebke is totally excited to finally go to "highschool", loves all the new subjects and all of her teachers. She also made new friends in the new class.
Katrin started first grade and loves to go to school. She has great teachers and a very nice class. Only getting up at 6:20 is a little bit hard...
In spite of all the difficulties, Nils finished the last school year well. After 6 weeks summer break he needs to readjust to working but in general he is doing o.k., still being quite slow with his homework what he still has to improve because it blocks the afternoon for the whole family. He made some friends in his class, too.
And there is a life outside school, yes. All four kids play the piano and go to a year round swim team, and the three oldest also sing in our church's chorus. Coming home between 1 and 2 p.m., they love to have playdates (homework permitting...) or just playing outsides in the bushes in our cul de sack where they built a fort and a maze. They enjoy strolling around by bike, going to the ice creme place or to the village's tiny school supply (and candy) shop.
At the end of May Dietrich's father suddenly passed away and we spent a lot of time in the north of Germany to support his mother. This, a lot of stress at work and a big new private project (we are going to build a new house in our cul de sack) was especially hard on Dietrich and he ended up having a tinitus. He's not completely recovered yet but doing much better with the help of a stress relief therapy and we are trying to work off one "constructions site" after the other.
At the same time I increased my workload by accepting some teaching jobs (3 french evening classes for adults). But I love to be in my old job and it is very rewarding for me.
O.k. - this was a big nutshell. But now you are a little bit better informed and I promise that from now on I will post more regularly to avoid such a mass ;-)
