Memory Lane

This week, I'm remembering my very first solo trip, the very first time I came to Germany alone - September 2005.  I flew to Cologne and caught the train to Altenburg to take the training course for teaching assistants.  It was a beautiful sunny week. 

New Experiences

This weekend the new Rewe opened over the road from us - it feels like we've been waiting forever!  It's so great to have somewhere to get gluten free goodies on the doorstep.  One of the new opening special offers was a bucket full of fruit for 5 Euros so we went for it and tried persimmon fruit for the first time ever!  

It was delicious!  It's a bit like a melon or a mango but less watery or juicy.  I'll definitely be trying it again!

A Clockwork Orange

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I finished my first November classic in just three days.  After my initial mistake of ordering the novel in German, I realised my German is not all that bad but this book is written in its own language.  Actually, lots of the words are mangled versions of Russian vocabulary so I had half a chance from my days studying Russian, but even without that you do get used to the style and the new words.

The themes of the book itself were also interesting.  It was almost a little big brotherish and and for the time it was written in, it had surprising foresight.  I've heard that the film is quite violent and dramatic but I didn't feel that from the book.  Maybe it's because of the language used but in the book it seemed more distant.

I think it is studied in some schools and I can see why with the focus being on youth and growing up.  I don't want to spoil the story for those who haven't read it yet so I'll say no more but I highly recommend this book.

The Saturday Update

What a week!  I knew it would hit me, going back to work but I hadn't realised quite how much.  Next week will be calmer but this week was manic.

Monday saw our 'training' for Roots of Empathy which turned out to be more of a PR event that some of us were way underdressed for.  Let me start at the beginning.  Roots of Empathy is a programme that started in Canada where they brought babies into the classroom.  The point is for the pupils to develop more empathy by learning about the baby, interpreting the baby's feelings and by developing a relationship with the baby.  The programme is just beginning here in Germany, so much so that we are one of just three schools in the country taking part and it's our year group that is affected.  We've had one visit so far and it's working really well.

Tuesday was another long day with our meetings in the afternoon.  We left school in the dark again, which is something else that is taking some getting used to.  On a different note, it's good to be back on the bike after the holidays.  As I discovered at Weightwatchers on Wednesday, the holidays had had an impact although not as bad as I thought with 1.1kilos on.  I'm back on the waggon now!

Thursday was a shorter day at work but my new evening classes started on the same day.  It's tiring but I love the classes.  Both went well and I'm looking forward to the courses throughout winter.  This week we played Taboo which was fun and I'm coming up with more ideas to develop the courses more than last time too.

Friday was a highlight as I met Loreto for lunch and we hit the shops to start our Christmas crafts - more on that to come.  It was extra Christmassy due to our very first Christmas Starbucks!  Yes, it's dangerous to start in November but I think we walked it off with all that shopping!  Then Nico and I finally had a chance to catch up and watch a film together after a week of hardly seeing each other.

This weekend is obviously going to be a quiet one, catching up on the little things and getting the flat straightened up.  As I said, next week is going to be quieter too with little planned...looking forward to the break and getting some crafting done in between. 

Games Night

At the weekend, we had a lovely end to the holidays with some friends over for what is becoming a pretty regular games night. 

This time we indulged in a game of Siedler von Catan.  Nico has been wanting to play this for a while but it requires at least three players and this was the first chance we had with five players.  At first it seemed overly complicated but we soon got into it.  It's kind of like a medieval version of monopoly.  You build and trade.  We're already looking forward to the next round when we can crack out the extension kit.

Inspiration

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Too true.

Latest Crossstitch

Here's the latest product of a good Autumn holiday.  Hunka Munka from Beatrix Potter to go with Peter, Benjamin and Jemima.  Again, I loved watching this little character come to life on the canvas.