Made a change...you should be able to leave comments now. Including using the Anonymous feature, but please write your name in the comment.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
First Day of School
Benjamin is attending an International School, which is available for children the age of 3 until the 8th grade (8 Klasse). The children spend half of their day immersed in English and the second half of their day in a second language. This school has been around for 45 years and although it has always been small...approx. 100 students total...they are now REALLY small...20 students total! This is great for personal attention, but I hope the school is able to survive.
Benjamin (4.5 years) attends only the German portion of the preschool/kindergarten, which is held in the afternoons. He is in there with 2 other boys...talk about personal attention!! One boy just moved from Germany this summer. The other is the son of the teacher. The teacher is German and has been in the US over 10 years. He really loves it. His favorite is "Show & Tell" on Fridays. He spends a lot of time deciding which one of his toys/books he wants to take in to show his classmates. So far, they have mostly fallen in the dinosaur & dragon category.
Benjamin's German is improving daily. He is currently impressing us with the days of the week, months, and seasons - all in German! And he is very excited to speak German with Rene. It is amazing how he can speaking German with Rene and without missing a beat, turn to me and speak English. Also, as a family, we are trying to make German our language, which can be frustrating for me, but I am doing my best to play along.
Benjamin has never truly given up his afternoon nap. Since school is in the afternoon, he is being forced to give it up. This will take a while to get used to. He is tired before I even drop him off at school and running on fumes when I pick him up. Trying to keep him awake on the less than 15 minute drive home is challenging. "Mommy, may I fall asleep?" "NO". If he sleeps that late in the afternoon...even for only 15 minutes...getting him to sleep at night is really tricky.
To brush up on my old work skills, I am the treasurer for the Parents Association. Judging by the records I was handed, I don't think this position was ever held by anyone with a financial background. I am also one of the driver / chaperones for the first field trip of the year, this coming Friday to the Renaissance Festival.
Here are some photos from the first day of school.
Benjamin (4.5 years) attends only the German portion of the preschool/kindergarten, which is held in the afternoons. He is in there with 2 other boys...talk about personal attention!! One boy just moved from Germany this summer. The other is the son of the teacher. The teacher is German and has been in the US over 10 years. He really loves it. His favorite is "Show & Tell" on Fridays. He spends a lot of time deciding which one of his toys/books he wants to take in to show his classmates. So far, they have mostly fallen in the dinosaur & dragon category.
Benjamin's German is improving daily. He is currently impressing us with the days of the week, months, and seasons - all in German! And he is very excited to speak German with Rene. It is amazing how he can speaking German with Rene and without missing a beat, turn to me and speak English. Also, as a family, we are trying to make German our language, which can be frustrating for me, but I am doing my best to play along.
Benjamin has never truly given up his afternoon nap. Since school is in the afternoon, he is being forced to give it up. This will take a while to get used to. He is tired before I even drop him off at school and running on fumes when I pick him up. Trying to keep him awake on the less than 15 minute drive home is challenging. "Mommy, may I fall asleep?" "NO". If he sleeps that late in the afternoon...even for only 15 minutes...getting him to sleep at night is really tricky.
To brush up on my old work skills, I am the treasurer for the Parents Association. Judging by the records I was handed, I don't think this position was ever held by anyone with a financial background. I am also one of the driver / chaperones for the first field trip of the year, this coming Friday to the Renaissance Festival.
Here are some photos from the first day of school.
Friday, September 20, 2013
A Moment to Breathe
Hello Family & Friends!
Moving is work! International Moves are WORK! a lot of WORK! It is hard to find a moment to breathe, but I think we are getting closer. After spending 8+ hours working with the cable/internet provider (notice: that is a full days worth of work)...our services are finally functioning. And tomorrow, we should finish our shopping for car #2. Those have been the biggest headaches lately...not to mention the task of finding an acceptable house to rent, which took 2+ weeks upon our arrival in the US. In case you don't know my definition of "acceptable"...it is a house under $4000 a month without dog poop on the carpet. I know, I am picky.
In the back of my head, I have never failed to remember my blog audience that is sitting patiently waiting. I finally decided to start a new blog for this new chapter in our lives. Welcome to "In a Michigan Moment." I hope you enjoy!
For my international followers (and some of my US followers), her is a little geography lesson.
Moving is work! International Moves are WORK! a lot of WORK! It is hard to find a moment to breathe, but I think we are getting closer. After spending 8+ hours working with the cable/internet provider (notice: that is a full days worth of work)...our services are finally functioning. And tomorrow, we should finish our shopping for car #2. Those have been the biggest headaches lately...not to mention the task of finding an acceptable house to rent, which took 2+ weeks upon our arrival in the US. In case you don't know my definition of "acceptable"...it is a house under $4000 a month without dog poop on the carpet. I know, I am picky.
In the back of my head, I have never failed to remember my blog audience that is sitting patiently waiting. I finally decided to start a new blog for this new chapter in our lives. Welcome to "In a Michigan Moment." I hope you enjoy!
For my international followers (and some of my US followers), her is a little geography lesson.
| Michigan is shown above in red. It consists of the "Mitten" (Handschuhe) and the "Upper Peninsula" |
 |
People from Michigan use their hands like this to describe locations in Michigan...they really do! We live Northwest of Detroit in the Southeast of Michigan - where the thumb meets the hand. |
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