Peek inside Kita

Kita going well

The kids are adjusting to the kita life. Though Cody is still nervous to be left there and cries a bit during the time I'm gone, I think it's going well. Jasper looks forward to attending and doesn't want to leave when I arrive after lunchtime (the last two days). The other kids were getting ready for nap today and he was looking longingly into the nap room to see what they were doing. He too wanted to carry a big fluffy mat and duvet (yes! duvet) in to lie down in the other room.
 
They are loving the lunch menu too which surprises me since they are serving things they never eat at home -- like mashed potatoes and fish stew. Jasper exclaimed as we were walking to the u-bahn on our way home, "Mom, you'd never guess the delicious dessert I had -- carrots with pineapple juice. Have you ever had that? You should find out how to make it. I loved it." Cody was delighted to share that he had enjoyed the same dish.
 
We will do two more half-days and then hopefully by Tuesday they'll be comfortable staying through nap and afterward. Good thing because we go to the flat to sign the lease, get the keys and find out how everything works and that'd really be much easier without the kids underfoot.
 
On the way home, Jasper was singing (and then shouting at the top of his lungs) -

Wie heißt du?

which means "what's your name?" so I guess there's some German getting stuck in their little heads. :)

First day of Kita

u-bahn ride to kita (one stop)

 

(walk 2 blocks - right by the flat we will be staying in)

 

Jasper tries to read Lion King to Cody

 

Jasper works on a puzzle with the other boys all crowding around to help.

 

Cody loves snack the best!

 

Rode the U-bahn to Kita this morning. When we arrived at 9:03am there was free play - some kids were coloring (mostly girls), others playing with legos (the boys). The first thing we did was to take off our shoes from outside and put on slippers (they call them haus schue).  At about 9:30 they had circle time and each child sang a little rhyme to introduce themselves.

 

The boys in Jasper's class we so excited to meet him. Luckily, I guess, there's another boy named Jasper and he seemed to have taken our Jasper under his wing. They got out a big Planes movie puzzle each with different scenes from the movie. Jasper was helping Jasper with his puzzle. All in German! 

 

After that each kid drew a picture of an animal and colored it in. They had special eye stickers for the eyes. Jasper drew a cat (katze in German). Then each child cut out his/her drawing and pasted it onto a bigger drawing. It will hang up in the classroom.

 

In Cody's class at about 9:45 they had circle time and each child sang a little rhyme to introduce themselves with their names: Ella, Vincent, Nando, Martha, Teo... after that each child shared a bit about what they had done over the weekend. Since it was hot most kids had gone swimming somewhere or had eaten ice cream. Cody shared that he had eaten a rainbow color popsicle and been swimming at Schlacktensee (Schlackten Lake). Many other children were excited about that because they knew Schlacktensee too.

                     

At snack-time, the teacher put a plate of cut-up fruit in the center of each little table for four children. NONE of the kids touched the plate it 'til the teacher said "Bon Apetite." The teachers served fruit tea, milk or water to the kids as well. And then they all sat in their seats until they were told to get up and go wash hands. (I couldn't believe it.) Cody wouldn't let me leave his side the whole time. We stayed til 10:30. Tomorrow they'll go in with Jay and he'll stay with them 'til about 10am and then they'll stay by themselves til 11:30 and get to play on the playground. They're both looking forward to that.

Weekend Warriors part 2: The Spree Stadtkennfahrt

The next thing that you do as a recently-arrived immigrant is the Spree Boat Tour. The way the rivers (Spree and Havel) course through the city make for easy boat rides that can hit almost all of the big sites. Also affords a different view angle than the street. For that reason boats run up and down the rivers every half hour, their roofs packed with squinting sight-seers. Today it was 95 F and we had to get out of the apartment so this seemed like a cool thing to go do. We'd stay in the enclosed section of the boat to avoid the sunburn.

First things, first, take the U-Bahn to the Berlin Hauptbahnhof. Built in 2006 just in time for the World Cup they hosted (potentially there were other reasons too), the main Hbf is a monument of glass, steel, and curry wurst. It services 350,000 passengers a day. Here, we saw our first bullet trains and the kids were super excited to catch a glimpse.

Then we find a boat (easy). Next, find some churches and stuff for pics (easier).

Reichstag - the big bad government building. Free to tour but you have to sign up in advance. This was the final battleground of WWII in Europe as the Russians and Germans went at it room by room in the Battle of Berlin. Apparently they kept lots of the damage from the battle "on display" as a reminder to legislators who have to walk by the bullet holes every day on their way to the main chamber. The reminder being, "don't f*ck it up like this again."

We sat on top for a short bit, but were soon driven back underneath. 95 degrees and all.

Just barely keeping it together in the heat.

Kaiser Wilhelm Kirche: This is the one that was gutted during a bombing raid in 1943 and was never rebuilt but left as a reminder of the catastrophe of war. Lots of pockmarks on this building, plus the top of the main steeple spire has been shorn in half. 

Daddy got some crusty bread salami and cheese bagette sandwiches so we sat on the stairs of the kirche in the shade and chomped our lunch.

Schlactensee Day Trip!

Weekend #2 in Berlin. 92 degrees F and the only thing to do is flee the city to one of the many lakes nearby to cool off. So we sunscreened-up, packed a lunch, identified our lake "The Schlactensee" and hit the trains to get out there.

The train stop dumps you within about 100 yards of the See. We unloaded with about 200 other people and paraded in packed procession down from the platform to a couple large, open grassy areas already packed with bodies. Lots of trash in overflowing containers, rare for Germans. A screen of trees separates you from the water. No beach in evidence yet, so we find a wide trail through the forest (that everyone else is funneling towards) and join the tide of humanity. 

In the forest people lay out their towels and blankets and braziers, skipping across the trail to climb down through tree roots to the water. In some places you have wide dirt openings to the water, but the trees go right up to the shoreline so there's not really any large designated area to lay your stuff down. This works fine for me, since it means you can be near the water without sitting out getting fried in the sun. But it also means you're sharing space with many many other people. We keep walking, expecting to find something bigger. People on bikes weave in and out of the line of beach-goers.

We walk until finally deciding that it is better to grab some dirt and jump in, since it is way too hot to continue exploring. The constant stream of people walking up the path makes for incredible people watching. Nearby, PDA rules the day as couples all but copulate in the shade next to us. In our little "section" we spy a couple hookahs (hookahs! Apparently worth the effort!) and weed smell wafts around fairly consistently. Kind of like Seattle.

One thing we don't see is nekkid people, which completely blew our expectation of what happens in Europe in the summertimes. In fact, we've been here almost two weeks and neither one of us has yet to see a furry calf on a woman. Either Berlin got the memo or our world is really much more homogeneous than we'd like to admit. We told the kids to be prepared for naked people and then there's no naked people. One guy was wearing a speedo and Cody pointed at him and asked aloud why he was wearing his underpants. But beyond that, no visual shockers for anyone.

After about 3 hours of frolicking (the water felt amazing good) we made our way back down the trail and had smoothies at a cafe. Again, another moment of "homogeniety": menu in English, frappuccinos on offer, all coffee products are "Fair Trade" certified, baristas speak English, etc.

And then, after finishing our highly-exotic peanut butter smothies, its back over to the S-Bahn for the long ride back home.

Counterbalance swing

Super-fun swing at "The Rubber Park"

Bureaucratic errands

Today was kicked off at 9:30am by a quick (1-stop) ride on the u-bahn to a lovely Platz and a short walk to a state doctor's office. There the kids got medical check-ups so they can start "kita" or preschool. The check-up was exceptionally brief, mostly paperwork including transferring their immunization records from their Seattle doc onto their paper form (which is handwritten) and telling me that Cody needs some vaccines. (I'll put that on my "non-urgent" to do list.) She listened to their heartbeat (didn't take a pulse though), lungs and checked to make sure they didn't have a major rash on their trunk, arms or legs. Before they had cleaned up all the toys they got out, we got the signed paperwork stating that both kids are healthy and could leave.

During the brief wait, I got a mail from Jay saying he'd forgotten the very important registration paper that the bank needs (we had engaged our relo agent to obtain this form and received it in hand yesterday at 6pm). This registration paper is very basic. It states our address, all four of our names and features a very official looking seal and the date. SIMPLE but so very important, for without this paper you cannot open a bank account or even get a visa. I think you might even need it to get a cell phone (though we haven't started that process yet). 

So, the kids and I took the u-bahn 1 stop back to our place, picked up the registration paper, then turned right around again and took the u-bahn one more stop. There we made a copy of the kids health record (just in case) and then walked to the kita to drop it off. Whew! They're all set to start on Monday! Yay! (if you're keeping track, that's taken us about 2 hours so far)

Then, we walk back to the u-bahn (3 blocks from the kita) and take the train 3 stops, switch to take another u-bahn train 2 stops then walk 1 block to meet Jay at the Bank. He's not there. We go use the restroom (cuz a bank must have clean bathrooms, right?), wash hands, dole out a snack of carrot sticks and kohlrabi slices. Jay's there now so we join him, hand over the registration paper for the banker, Dirk, at the int'l counter to read - literally, he reads it and hands it back to me and says, "Ok, your account is now open." REALLY?? That's it? We couldn't have scanned/emailed that to you?! 

Now it's 1pm. We walk to the end of the block, grab three sandwiches at a cafe and a couple of drinks (9 euros) and eat to celebrate completing the two biggest run-arounds of the past 10 days: the kids are set for preschool and we have a bank account. Thank goodness. 

Jay heads back to work and the kids and I run into Woolworths (yes!) to browse and ultimately buy a couple sand toys, a mini pinball machine for Jasper and a "magic" wand for Cody. We take the two u-bahns back, and crash for naptime.