The boys have so much fun playing hide and seek.

Today’s class was really great because we had 10 people in the morning session and then 13 in the afternoon. It makes a huge difference, at least I think so. The kids who didn’t come all went to the stammtisch last night. The stammtisches are meant to be for the students to get together and speak German socially. But it just becomes an outting at a bar and they typically stay out until 3 or 4am. It makes me even more determined now to find an alternative school that has smaller class sizes. It really does make a difference. The reason for this post’s title is that we have class tomorrow, ugh!

After class I met Michael and we went to the Augustiner for lunch. Michael really likes German food, I do not. Because of Michael’s insistence of a particular dish (can’t remember what it’s called now), we ended up both getting the same thing (big mistake) and to me it was like a German version of Macaroni and cheese. Yuck. I couldn’t eat much of it but Michael could eat at least 2/3. He said that it was better at other places. The courtyard where we were sitting was nice though, too bad the food was kind of blah and expensive. I taught him about passive sentences and he was so happy and didn’t realize a whole world of stuff we couldn’t say. It’s kind of confusing because the verbs are like past tense verbs, only it doesn’t use sein or haben. But you probably didn’t care about that.

In the afternoon the boys didn’t take a big nap, so I put them down for another one. There was a lot of construction noise and phone calls that made it so that none of us could really nap. Then I made them macaroni and sat them at the table and they did a really good job of eating and not playing with their food. They are also getting really good at drinking from a cup with a straw.

We went to basic because we are almost completely out of everything. On the way, I stopped by to say hello to Sandhu the bartender at Jeeta’s. And then a woman stopped to talk to me. She was really happy that I spoke English, and she was looking for Isartor. I told her it’s just a couple of blocks away and she asked if there was a bus or something. I told her that it’s really close and not worth the trouble. I think she didn’t like that answer. Anyways, she attached herself to me and we started talking. I was kind of in a rush to meet Michael since talking with Sandhu slowed me down a little. But I didn’t want to be rude. It turns out that she was here for 5 years but doesn’t really speak German. And then she says that she doesn’t really feel integrated into the community. Hmmm…I wonder why…could it be that you need to speak GERMAN??? This is the reason why I would like to speak German, because we need to feel a part of the community. I think Germans like it when you at least attempt to learn the language, and they know it’s hard. It’s the effort.

Turns out I wasn’t late because Michael was running late too. We bought a bunch of stuff and I now realize that I forgot the tofu. DOH! Have to go back tomorrow. The boys love their tofu.

Sorry I have been bad about daily videos. I think after the balloon one, I feel like all others would be a let down. I added a bunch today, so you’ll have to go back to April 27, 29, May 1, 11, and today. I have two videos for today. The first one is of the boys chasing each other in and out of their bedroom and the other is of me playing 52 pickup with them, although I have to pick it up. They love cards, I must get a cheaper deck before they mangle our “German grammer test” flash cards.

This is how it all began. Elijah loved to imitate the monkey noises and now he does it when I say “What sound does a monkey make?” It’s so cute!

Michael ready for his run

Today was a frustrating day in class. A guy that I sat next to (another American) was venting his frustrations on me, telling me that he’s so mad that we’re not doing more. That in turn made me frustrated with the class. I think also there is too many people this time - 18! And you can tell that the teacher is really frustrated with some of us. So this is making me think I should find another smaller-class option. I still haven’t paid for next month, so I will investigate and see what I find.

After class, I came home, spent time with the boys and then I had to leave at 5:30 to meet Michael and his work folks. We are participating in our first-ever German event - the Firmenlauf (company run). It is at the Olympic Park and it’s a 6K+ (about 4 miles) course. I, of course, trained a lot in January and February, then I had my ski class and got sick multiple times and then I stopped exercising. I know, excuses, excuses. So, I was really out of shape for this. Can you believe there were about 20,000 people??? I’ve never seen so many people in one place EVER! I think that’s the cool thing about public transportation, we didn’t have to worry about parking and leaving the place with a billion others. It was also cool to see everyone in their shirts representing their companies. Employees from T-Com was easily recognizeable since they were wearing bright pink t-shirts. And there was a bunch of people from Amway. We made sure to avoid them!

Michael did pretty good at 39 minutes and I did much worse than that. But, in my defense, I did stop about 4 times to take pictures, since I couldn’t let the event pass me by. I’ll post some tonight or tomorrow. After the race, it took awhile to find Michael and I just wanted to take my shoes off and rub my feet. Everyone else has been standing around awhile so they wanted to leave, so I couldn’t rest. I decided not to go with them to the Biergarten but instead go to a restaurant with Michael and his office mate, Stephan. We went to Sitar and had a great time!

We got home past 11pm and of course had to download the latest Lost. Man, what’s up with Michael and his weird “deadpan” stare???? And if Libby was going to die, why didn’t they let her die right away? Why did she have this extension of unconciousness and then die anyway? I didn’t see the purpose in that. If you have ideas, let me know!

Today’s daily video is of Elijah making his monkey noises. He usually will do it for longer, but of course when there are cheerios around as well as a camera, I was lucky to get it at all. And believe me, I tried to get better ones about 15 times without results.

This morning I decided to take my time and not go to the morning session. I didn’t do anything great like sleep in or anything, I just surfed the web and did nothing, sometimes that’s fun too. Anyways, when I left, about a block away, there were lots of cop cars and an ambulance and lots of police activity. I saw a bag on the sidewalk and people looking up at a 6th floor window and the window above the bag was wide open. Ewww. Either someone committed suicide or had an accident. I did see a body in the ambulance but thank god it was covered up. How do you have an accident where you fall out a window? My assumptions were that it was a suicide but later there were flowers and a candle placed there and someone told me that it would be weird to have that if it was a suicide. I don’t think there’s any way to find out about what happened now. Why is it that I don’t want to know yet I am so nosy that I do. It’s like you can’t take your eyes away from a crime scene or car accident.

Anyways, I didn’t miss much in class, we have been going quite slow. After class, Michael and I went to lunch with some other classmates, Stefano and Hirotaka. Stefano is a doctor from Greece who recently moved here and Hirotaka is a music student (baritone singer) from Okinawa, of all places. He was really happy to hear that I am Okinawan as well. It’s so strange that the best way to communicate with him is to speak German. I told him that I know the word “uchinanchu” and he was impressed! He said that the younger generation of Okinawans now only speak Japanese, the Okinawan language is disappearing. We went to a place called “Maredo” and had some fajitas. Not bad, I think it’s probably the best we’ve had here. The atmosphere was really like a Bennigan’s or Chilis. But we all had fun talking German, even though it wasn’t really good, we could communicate, which was the most important thing. I was kind of bummed that I had to leave (I was already 30 minutes late) because we were having a lot of fun. Michael really liked them and stayed after I left.

I signed the boys up for Kindermusik classes in June, I hope they do ok. It’s pretty expensive for the regular sessions, but this teacher has a “summer camp” 5 week session that’s cheaper so that we can see if they like it or not without having to spend an arm and a leg. My parents will have to take them to the first couple of sessions since I will have class (at least that’s the plan for now). It will be fun for them too.

Today after class I stayed home with the boys. The weather was crappy so we couldn’t go to the playground. It was pretty fun, since we have always been going outside, we don’t really spend enough “mommy and boys” time together. We started this new game where I sit in the corner part of our sectional couch and have one boy on either side of me. They bend over so their head is facing me and I flip them over onto my lap, then flip them back over and throw them face down on the couch. Both of them love this! They never got bored of it. I also love Elijah’s kisses, he’s starting to pucker up just a tiny bit. Rowan doesn’t pucker, he just purses his lips or even still has a open mouth kiss (yuck). But it’s great that they know what a kiss is. Rowan is starting to like being comforted after crying. He used to not like it and always push away, but now he’ll let me hold him and he’ll put his head on my chest even after the hurt goes away. Elijah has been bad and bit him twice today, one on each arm. I wish he would stop!

By the way, I have started a new 12 week creative progam called “The Artists Way”. It’s supposed to unblock your creativeness! My assignments right now is to do a 3 page-a-day stream-of-conciousness writing right when I get up every day. It’s actually pretty cool. You’re not supposed to read it, or have anyone else read it. I would explain why this is good but I’m lazy. It turns out that it’s almost exactly like this blog, but it is more critical and complainy, I talk stink about everybody. Just kidding…

Today I signed up for a sprach duo session with a woman named Angelika. There is a website where you sign up for partners - for people to practice their German and for Germans (or whoever) to practice English. We met with Patty a few times but I think because she works so far, it’s not working out. So I took it upon myself to get more people to speak with. I’ve been waiting for people to email me, but that wasn’t working, so I chose some people from the list and emailed them. Angelika seemed like a nice enough person, not too young (most of the people on there are college aged) and she agreed to meet at our house since I explained about our availability.

Anyways, before that, we went to the English Garden with Riki and some of her friends, but it turned out that we didn’t really talk to them because we were preoccupied with the boys. We can never go with other people (just ourselves) because the boys will not let us visit with them. We took them in the backpacks and they were pretty tired. We let them run around, but also are teaching them to hold our hands when not in the play areas. I was assigned to Rowan and he just did not want me around. There was a point where he would stand up and try to get away, but I would grab his hand and he would immediately sit down and scream. I explained to him numerous times that he needs to hold my hand when not playing. I was getting kind of cranky at this point but thought that it would just add to the misery - Michael was also having a lot of problems with Elijah. So, I just waited patiently and every time Rowan got up to walk, I would take his hand, he would sit down and cry and then I would let go and then he would try to get up again. He stood up and sat down about 25 times before I figured that this could go on for a long time. So I picked him up and put him in the grassy area and let him go. But he didn’t want that either, he immediately got up and headed towards the pathway again. We decided that we needed to head back since they were so cranky. At this time it’s so hard since it’s so close to their bedtime.

After cleaning up the house, we met with Angelika. She is really nice and we had a fun time talking (all 3 of us). I think we really will have fun. She said that her English isn’t very good, but of course it’s nearly perfect. Our German is so bad compared to her English. But we both liked her a lot, so I hope we can continue our Sprach Duo sessions. It’s good for both of us. Next week we’re going to meet for lunch since her birthday is next Monday and she’s celebrating with her boyfriend. The only bad thing about a lunch meeting is that it’s so rushed! Michael is setting up another one with another woman so that we have 2 days with other German people. It should really help us get better with speaking. Since then I’m feeling like I’m a tad bit faster when talking. I hope it only gets better from here.

I’m too cool for school

This morning as promised, Michael let me sleep in and took care of the boys in the morning. After that, I decided to go to the Newcomers Festival by myself. It was near our house and I didn’t know if it would be lame or what, plus the boys were napping whenever I left. Michael isn’t interested in going to things like that. I know there will be free stuff, so I almost never pass up a chance for freebies, unless it’s far away or hard to get to.

I am so glad I went, because there was so much information there (in English and in German) about kids stuff and the Volkhochschule (sp?) book, which lists all the courses they have and it’s the size of a phone book. I also got a Switzerland hat for Rowan and lots of pens. There was a drumming group there and it made me think of Taiko. I really wish there was a Taiko group here, it would be cool for the boys to learn it and they can have bang all they want and not get scolded! Also, it would be good for me since it would get me to exercise some without going to the gym. I think it would be quite popular here, a lot of people are into Asian stuff. And they love sushi. I would start one myself, but I don’t know the first thing about Taiko! Maybe one day in the future I will meet a Taiko master who just so happens to live in Munich and just so happens to want to start a group. The drumming group was pretty lame, they just took steps side to side and TRIED to make Taiko type arm movements, but it doesn’t have the same effects. But I do like the loud booming of the drums!

After that, we went out for a drive. Michael chose a place that he thought would be fun, but it turned out to not be fun. It was still under a bit of snow and there were actual snowboarders there. There were no lifts and large patches of grass, but they found a nice stretch of snow that was still snowboard-able. It was too cold for all of us, so we went back down the mountain and found a little playground. It was actually a pretty cool playground, even for us. It had this zip line thing that you could ride. The boys were too small for it but it didn’t stop us from playing with it! Rowan was moody and it was hard to keep him happy, but we muddled through it. Elijah really likes it when we chase him or run towards him. It always puts a smile on his face. Michael was kind of mad that he didn’t choose a good place, but we had fun anyways. The only bad part is that we drive all this way and end up just going to a playground, and then we get lost in Munich on the way home. No matter how many times Michael has driven, he almost always has a hard time getting back to our place. I don’t know what it is.

Here are the boys going up the stairs for the first time by themselves!

Walking around town

Today Michael left early in the morning to go on a hike and I took care of the boys. I couldn’t have my usual sleep in, but Michael promised tomorrow I would. I had fun in the morning, just playing with them. I also noticed that their hair is getting too long that they are starting to look like girls, especially Rown. So I brought out the scissors and made careful snips here and there. I didn’t do too bad of a job, at least it doesn’t look ratty.

Rowan is getting really good at giving kisses now. He no longer opens his mouth, thank goodness! I’m trying to get them to go to sleep without a bottle so I put their milk in cups with a straw and they drank it all. Elijah usually finishes all of his milk and Rowan wants to carry it around and play. But I made him finish. Then I put them down in their beds and let them sleep. They were not happy without their bottle. I had no idea they were that attached to the bottle for naps/sleep. I have to break them of that habit!

Michael came home and we took a nap as well, ahhhh. Then we had ambitious plans to go to the zoo in the afternoon, but ended up staying around the house too long. By the time we were ready to go, it was already 4, and the zoo closes at 6. And we still had to do Saturday grocery shopping and stuff. So, we went out to Basic, got our stuff, then went to the Schrannenhalle for some pasta and ice cream (it is becoming a tradition now). It’s fun to sit as a family and eat ice cream outside. Then we kind of meandered around then went home. We gave them a much needed bath and then put them down to sleep. Michael then went back out to Tenglemann’s to get more groceries that we forgot.

In the evening, I babysat for our neighbor and Michael had to go into work for a little bit. I am also updating the blog. Geez, I get so lazy when school is in session…