Swim Try Outs and Sand Delivery

In this photo he is actually half way up the rope
tower in black pants and blue shirt.
But normally he is over digging like the boys
on the right. 

On Tuesday Benjamin was very excited to tell us that there was a large sand delivery at the school playground.  This has been his go to activity since starting school - digging in the huge sand pit.  He has a couple buddies he digs with and he comes home each day with two shoes full of sand and his pants are filthy.  I would always asked him what are the names of the friends he digs with and he always told me "I don't know, mom.  I just dig with them I don't ask them their names!"  Duh, I should have known better.  At the beginning of school he would play soccer but I think it got too intense and after he saw a few kids bite it super hard on the "field" which is just a huge blacktop area.  He would come home and say "there was a man down today playing soccer"  Or "one kid had a bloody lip from getting hit with the soccer ball" Or "one kid fell down and didn't get up for a long time" 

The guy with the wheel barrow is
putting out the new sand. 

Soccer is much more intense here.  Even for 2nd graders on the playground.  And as mentioned many times before there isn't really any recess monitors.  So... he has found his niche and his peeps in the sand pit.  So, when the sand delivery showed up he was thrilled!  After school on Tuesdays he now does chess club which he is really liking so I go and stay with him until chess starts.  It was gorgeous so I sat outside by the sand pit while he climbed and played while the workers piled in more sand. 
Benjamin has been practicing what he calls his "Berlin Face"  Just a little grumpy and self righteous.  Haha!!

Tuesday was also the day that Josie was to have her swim try outs.  She has decided that she doesn't want to do soccer here.  I can't really figure out how to sign them up for anything other than the school team which basically just practices on Saturday and for the 2nd half of practice they have a team scrimmage.  Neither of my children are up for a sport where you don't actually get to play in games.  I'm sure there is a city league or some other team they could join but I haven't found it yet.  Things like this are hard for me as I felt I was an expert in schools, sports or anything to do with kids back in West Seattle.  The learning curve here is HUGE.
Anyway, so Tuesday after school Josie was set to have her try outs.  After chess club - which runs for the last hour Josie is in school- Benjamin and I meet up with Josie.  She has her backpack, her violin and now her swim bag.  Benjamin has his backpack, I have a bag of snacks and water and we are all carrying our coats because it was really warm outside.  We hop on the bus and take it for about 20 minutes to the swimming pool.  She is getting really nervous and not sure she will be able to do it well.  We get there a bit early so we have to wait.  Benjamin is nearly unbearable because he was tired and hot and hungry and, and, and is complaining about anything and everything..... in his defense, it was SUPER hot in the pool lobby and I was tired and hungry too so I understood to a degree.  Josie does her try outs for about an hour while we have to sit in the hot entrance to the pool. She comes out and is tears.  She felt like she did really poorly and didn't fully understand what the coach was telling her (he basically only speaks German) She had to dive from the starting blocks and did a belly flop.  We had a long heart to heart on the top of the double decker bus on the way home about not always assuming you will be good at something you have never tried.  And about giving yourself a little grace and being more gentle with yourself.  In the end she seemed much better.
Honestly, none of us are even sure we want her to be on the swim team.  It is a huge time commitment.  They have practices 4 times per week and numerous swim meets throughout the year.  She wants to be on Team 2 which is the only competitive team she could be on given her age.  Apparently Team 3 is non competitive and only practices 2 per week.  So... we shall see if swim team is in her future.  They are called the Berlin Bear-a-cudas and they are a huge team - over 100 members. 

None of her new friends are on the swim team so this was an idea completely on her own.  She went to bed much less sad and with a pretty good perspective of if she makes it it will be fun and if she doesn't it it will allow her to do other fun activities.  There was also a special card in the day's mail from Oma.  It really made her night.  Thanks, Oma!!  She received a sweet letter from her friend Nadia a few weeks ago and was so excited by that one too.  Mail here really does mean more than in Seattle.  Keep the letters coming!!