Why Don't You Just Hop In

This is what my good friend, Fionnuala, said to me after the JFK Verein meeting.  If I could only find a way to type it out in a way that you could hear her cute Irish accent.

The Verein is much like the American PTA and I went to my first meeting on Wednesday night.  A friend was running for the new Verein President position and she asked me to come to vote.  She's actually invited me to come for the past 4 or 5 monthly meetings as they all go out for drinks afterward but every time the meeting comes up there is something else on the calendar so I've never been able to go before.
This time I had it marked and highlighted on the calendar and I made sure I was there.  My friend was voted in as PTA president, but she shouldn't have worried as she ran unopposed.  The next several positions all were voted in unopposed.  Then comes the position of Members at Large.  Apparently the people that hold these office positions come to the meetings and vote on the important (or not so important) issues that come up with the school.  There  10 or 12 Members at Large.
When this position comes up for vote several friends in the room looked at me and said "you should do this"  or  "can I nominate you?"  I finally caved and said sure.  Of course this was the ONLY position the entire night where there was an actual vote! But, after a close vote, I was one of the new Members at Large for the JFK Verein for the 2018-2019 school year.  Yay, me! I actually have been wanting to get more involved and this will be a great way.

This is kind of what her bike looks like.
She reasoned that she takes her 6 year old twin boys
along with groceries.  I could be no heavier than that!!

After the meeting a bunch of the parents head to a local restaurant for food and drinks.  As a new Member at Large I took my position seriously and of course joined in on the fun.  As we were leaving, me on foot and Fionnaula with her kid carrying bike contraption.  We walked side by side out of the school gates and then she looked at me and said with her adorable Irish accent, "Why don' you just hop in, Karrie?"  Haha!  She has offered me a ride in the kid carrier in front of her bike before but I have always refused.  This time I thought what the heck.  We laughed so hard we almost wet our pants.  Imagine two small women - one pedaling an enormous bike/child carrying contraption and the other woman inside the kid seat laughing LOUDLY, hysterically really down the streets.  The Germans, as mentioned before, are not at all demonstrative.  They don't talk, let alone laugh on the streets, or on the bus or in the store.  Here we were laughing so hard we were crying down the street toward the restaurant.  Drinks and lively conversation ended the night at one of our favorite Indonesian restaurants.  Fionnaula even gave me a "lift" home on her bike.