So busy, so busy

It has been forever since I have posted. Things have been really crazy here, and today is the first day in 3 weeks that I could take time to collect my thoughts and post.
I guess I´ll start with work. I love it!! The kids are adorable. I am enjoying learning how the 4 year old mind works, and having tons of fun with all our little ones. One boy is determined to teach me German, and another little girl is teaching me Japanese. The kids amaze me. One little girl can write in Japanese - she is 4. Another little German boy can speak Chinese because he lived in China for 3 years and attended a Chinese pre-school last year. They mostly all speak at least 2 languages. The little ones who don't speak any English truly inspire me with their bravery in facing such a scary world every day!
Unfortunately, I also had to take my first sick day last Tuesday. The fun of working with little ones! There was a stomach bug going around, and coupled with some stresses (like visitors,) my stomach couldn't take it anymore!
On Thursday the 20th, my mother and stepfather came in to visit us and to go to Rome for a few days. The visit was pleasant, although any visit can be stressful. We did some very nice things though. Last week Saturday, we went to the Maerklin Museum (model trains,) and to the Steiff Museum (the teddy bears.) Sunday, we went to Heidelberg, a very old and charming city about an hour from here. We rode on a funicular up a mountain to a restaurant at the top. The views were spectacular. On the way down, we stopped at the Heidelberg Castle. Because Heidelberg suffered little damage during wars, it still retains much Old-World architecture. We had a spectacular time!

My mom, Joern, and me standing high above Heidlberg


My mother and stepfather returned from Rome on Friday night, and we had a very pleasant, very large, dinner with friends and my mother-in-law. My mother's flight out was Saturday afternoon, so we spent a leisurely morning together before bringing them to the airport.
It was very nice to have my family here, and great to do things. Now, I am looking forward to getting back to our routine, and excited for Wednesday, my first German holiday!!

My week

Last week was my first whole week of work. It all went really well, and I am excited for the rest of the year.
Monday through Wednesday were teacher work days, filled with tons of meetings, and lots of work getting the classroom ready. Our classroom is really small, only for 10 kids maximum, so we didn´t have that much work to get the room ready. I was really pleased that they treat classroom assistants as part of the functioning school. At my old job, assistants were always very hidden, and I barely knew 1/3 of my colleagues. Here at ISS, I have already met all of the people working in the elementary school!

We had our first day with the kids on Thursday, and everything went really well! Our first student arrived at 8:10, and it took us 15 minutes to realize that he was in the wrong class- out he went! He was a real cutie, but he was already 5 (our class is mainly 4 year olds,) and he could count, knew how to spell and write his name, and had excellent speaking skills! Our official class count right now is 8 kids. Hopefully, two will move in during the year, because 8 is very small! But the ones I´ve met so far are adorable! We have 2 German kids, two English, and two Japanese. Two more kids will start this week.

It was a fun two days with the kids, learning about each other. They are all so small, and so sweet! And boy, do they make us laugh! It will be wonderful to get the classroom really rolling in the next few weeks, all of our shyness will disipate, and I am so excited to start seeing relationships form between the kids!