Last Day Of 3rd and 6th

We took our last walk to school for the 2018-2019 school year.  Both kids did such a remarkable job in school this year.  Benjamin tore through more books than most people do in 5 years.  It was hard to believe the rate at which he was reading through not only books but series of books.  It was difficult to keep enough books in the house.  We counted and he read more than 52 books this school year. Not young kid books either, he read the Harry Potter Series, the Artemis Fowl Series,

Ranger's Apprentice, Spirit Animals and more. It was crazy how he could just plow through the books.  Next year he will be in 4th grade and starts the year straight away with a 4 night sleep away camp in the woods about 3 hours away from Berlin.  He is excited.  I am nervous. 

Josie ended the year with flying colors.  As mentioned in the previous post this was her year to shine.  With the 6th grade dance and bridge ceremony she had so many fun events to close out the year.

Benjamin didn't have any big end of the school year events but he did have fun at his 3rd grade picnic.  It was a 100 degree day so instead of walking to a park about a 30 minute walk away they just went next door to Hort (childcare) and played with the hoses and water and really it is something that you would never seen in the states.  An entire school day for just free play.  No pre-planned activities, just a few tables set up with food that the kids can just graze at their leisure, some hoses, some water guns a football field, some balls and then 125 kids and their imaginations.  The teachers were there but they just mingled with the kids and chilled.  It is always a bit Lord of the Flies- ish but the kids love it and really do just entertain themselves.

Happy End of School!! I was a bit worn out from all of the running around, packing, cleaning, walking, picking Benjamin up, etc , etc.  It is amazing how much we walk here.  Too may have been a bit too much. 

6th Grade Dance and Bridge Ceremony

 At JFK they make a really big deal about 6th grade graduation.  Here they just have one transition from 6th grade which is elementary into 7th grade which is high school and goes from 7th until 12th.  No middle school here.
The entire month of June they had things leading up to the final two big events. The 6th Grade Dance and the Bridge Ceremony.
I was on the committee to help plan for this big events.  I hadn't specifically signed up to work a station at the dance but just assumed I'd go to lend a hand.  A few days before the dance I asked Josie if she thought she would have a bit better time if I weren't there. She thought for a minute and said, "yeah, I think I would have a bit better time."  It was nice, it wasn't mean.  She

knew I was a little sad.  She said she wanted us (me, her and Mogli) to walk to the dance together and that I could chaperone field trips and things in the future but this she wanted to do solo. It was a mature conversation and I knew the time was coming.... She is nearly a teenager!!
Per her request we all walked to the dance together.  She said she didn't know what to expect.  She figured she would just hang out with her friends by the food table.  Haha!!
A few hours later her friend dropped her off at our house and she was BEAMING.  She had the "best time EVER!!"  We asked if she danced and she said, "yeah, everyone just jumped and shook"  Haha!  She couldn't stop talking about the music and the food and the photo booth and the blacklights and the glow in the dark face paints and decorations. 

So, event #1 a huge success.
The following week on the last day of school was the talent show (she sang in an acapella group) and then the big Bridge Ceremony.  At the school there is a symbolic glass bridge that connects the

Elementary school with the High School.  No one is allowed to use it during the year.  The 5 classes of 5th grade took turns and by class with their homeroom teacher mid bridge started out with their elementary teachers on the elementary side speaking to each student individually as they passed from one teacher to the next, finally at the start of the bridge, the elementary school principal, mid bridge (so that the parents could see who were watching from below) and then onto the high school side where they were greeted and welcomed by the German and American High school principals.  I have to say, it was extremely

well done and very fun to be part of such a long standing tradition at the school.  They were each handed a large sunflower and their report card mid bridge.  Each student then exited the high school building to their waiting parents.  Josie came out beaming again.  What a year! What a future for this one! 

She tested into German level D2 which means she is just one level below a double mother tongue speaker of German.  She really amazes me.  Because of her testing into D2 next year any of her academic classes could be taught in German.  Social Studies or Math or Physics.  To get to this level of academic language in a second language normally takes 3-5 years (from what I have studied) and she has done it (beautifully but not without tears) in less than 2!

We are SO SO proud.  After the ceremony Marty, Mogli, Josie and I (Benjamin was at a friend's house) walked to her favorite restaurant for some yummy Vietnamese food. 
On to High School!!

Hitzefrei!!

 Growing up, teaching and sending my kids to school all in Washington State we had a snow day here and there and more often than anything else we would get a 2 hour late start.  This way the morning temperatures had time to melt the usually nearly non existent snowfall from the previous night.  I would often go to bed (as a student, as a teacher and as a parent) with a bit of excitement wondering if there would be a snow day or a late start.  Normally the call/email came in the early hours of the morning so you couldn't stay up late knowing you could sleep in.  You always had to set your alarm and get up as usual and then find out once you were already fully awake.  Which really takes half the fun out of a two hour late start. 

Here in Berlin, they do not have snow days - Ever.  We haven't seen much snow since we have been living here the past couple of years but I remember when snow was predicted and I asked some moms here if they thought school would be canceled or start late if it snowed and they looked at me as if I asked them they thought a pig could fly.  Unheard of they said.   I had the same look when they started called "Hitzefrei" when things started heating up last spring.  Hitzefrei is a term they use when they let kids out of school early because it is too warm.  Last year we had 2 or 3 Hitzefrei days.  This year we have already had 4 or 5 Hitzefrei days and just today there was an email that declared the next three days to be early release due to extreme heat.  Sadly, it all points to the planet just heating up!!  It is really hot here... it is much more humid than Seattle, we have big glass doors and windows along the entire west side of our apartment.  We are on the 4th floor (heat rises) The sun doesn't set up around 10PM and it does not cool off here at night like in Seattle. Yes, we are HOT!!  This Wednesday it is predicted to be 99 degrees. Sadly, on Sunday, the day of our big move it is predicted to be 97!!  UGH.  

** GERMAN Translation below **

Dear parents, 

due to the hot weather for the next THREE days, classes and after-school activities after 13:30 will be canceled as follows.  Please note the text below has changed from last week! Please refer to the policy on early release due to hot weather on our website for more details.

Tuesday, June 25

Wednesday, June 26

Thursday, June 27

Elementary School

Grades EC-2: 

Release at 13:05 as usual (Hort, Late Birds, bus, pick-up). Children who would have attended a 13:10 after-school activity sponsored by JFKS must be picked up or enrolled in an after-school program (Hort or Late Birds). 

Grades 3-6: 

Release at 13:30 by their homeroom teacher following 10 minute homeroom. 

Please note: 

Elementary School students who are not enrolled in Hort/Late Birds and who go home on school buses at 15:00 will be supervised in the ES Office until the bus leaves. There will be no supervision on campus and all other students who are not in Hort/Late Birds must leave the school grounds when they are released even if they have an activity (on campus or nearby) later in the afternoon. For more information regarding activities organized by the JFK Sports Club (gymnastics, swimming, taekwondo, etc.), other sport clubs or outside coaches (ballet, robotics, etc.) please contact the organizers directly to find out whether the activity takes place. 

Please check with your child's homeroom teacher regarding any changes to field trips and picnics (locations, dismissal times, etc.)  

The ES talent show rehearsal will go on as planned on Thurs. 27.06.2019 in the large Aula from 12:00 - 15:00 hours.

High School

Grade 7-11 on June 25: 

release at 13:05.

Grade 7-11 on June 26: 

release at 13:05.

Grade 7-11 on June 27:  

Wandertag takes place as scheduled

MSA takes place as scheduled; 10th grade students should be in the large Aula by 16:00

___________________

Liebe Eltern, 

Auf Grund der heißen Temperaturen in den nächsten DREI Tagen fallen der Unterricht sowie alle schulischen Aktivitäten nach der Schule ab 13:30 wie folgt aus. Bitte lesen Sie weiter, denn der folgende Text hat sich geändert. Bitte beachten Sie auch die Richtlinien auf unserer Webseite für Unterrichtsschluss auf Grund von heißem Wetter.

Dienstag, den 25.06.2019

Mittwoch, den 26.06.2019

Donnerstag den 27.06.2019

Grundschule:

Klassen EK-2:

werden wie gewohnt um 13:05 Uhr entlassen (Hort, Late Birds, bus, oder abgeholt). Schüler, die ansonsten um 13:10 Uhr an JFKS-Aktivitäten teilnehmen, müssen abgeholt werden oder im Hort/Late Birds angemeldet werden. 

Klassen 3-6: 

werden frühzeitig um 13:30 (nach 10-minute homeroom) vom Klassenlehrer entlassen. 

Bitte beachten: Grundschüler/innen, die nicht im Hort/Late Birds sind und mit dem 15:00 Bus nach Hause fahren, werden bis zur Abfahrt im Sekretariat der Grundschule beaufsichtigt. Alle anderen Schüler*innen, die nicht im Hort/Late Birds angemeldet sind, müssen die Schule nach Schulschluss verlassen, auch wenn sie eine Aktivität am späten Nachmittag ab (auf dem Schulgelände oder in der Nähe), denn es gibt keine Aufsicht auf dem Schulgelände! Für Information, ob andere Aktivitäten stattfinden, wenden Sie sich bitte direkt an die nicht-schulischen Organisatoren: JFKS Sports Club (Turnen, Schwimmen, Taekwondo, usw.), andere Sportvereine und Trainer für Ballett, Robotics, usw.

Bitte wenden Sie sich an die Klassenlehrer Ihrer Kinder, um Änderungen von Ausflügen und Picknicks zu erfahren (Ort, Entlassungszeiten, usw.)   

Die Probe des "Talent Show" der Grundschule findet am 27.06.2019 vom 12:00 bis 15:00 Uhr in der Aula wie geplant statt. 

Oberschule:  

Klassen 7-11 am 25.06.: 

werden um 13:05 Uhr entlassen

Klassen 7-11 am 26.06.: 

werden um 13:05 Uhr entlassen  

Klassen 7-11 am 27.06.:  

Wandertag findet wie geplant statt

MSA findet wie geplant statt; 10. Klässler kommen bitte bis 16:00 Uhr in die Aula.

Our Life In Boxes... Again

It is interesting that we will have moved 3 times in less than 2 years and I had only moved one time in the previous 13 years before our move to Germany.
You would think that I had gotten better at this.  You would think that by now I could do this in my sleep.  Well, no.  When we were leaving Seattle we packed very little, I purged A LOT, and I was able to leave all of my furniture, my linens, my entire kitchen so that our renters could use our stuff.  And when we moved out of our first house in Berlin it was fully furnished, so everything but our small amount of personal stuff stayed in the house and we could use it right up until the last day.   All of that is really important when you think about the question of WHEN do you pack up your kitchen and things that you use on the daily when you

still need to use them on the daily?!?  It has been hard. 
I started in early May with all of our winter clothes.  Then I started "skimming the top" A box or a cupboard or a closet every day... OK, maybe not every day but often and just slowly dwindling our stuff down to the basics.  I have NO idea how we accumulated SOO much stuff when we flew here less than 2 years ago with a suitcase and a carry on each!!!  It is times like this where I want to live with less.  MUCH much less.
It is now SO messy, so disorganized, so overwhelming.  But on I go.  Box by box.
When we return from Seattle we will be moving into a new (to us) house that has a

yard and a proper guest room and we are building out the attic floor (which hasn't been touched since 1930's - it is a bit like a museum up there) and turning into a rental or an Airbnb.  Lots of work and lots of stress and hopefully it will all be worth it in the end.  But for now...chaos.

Mogli

We have talked about getting a dog for years.  The timing has never been right though so we keep putting it off.  Over Spring Break we fostered a sweet rescue dog from Crete.  His name was Siggi and he really was just so sweet.  He was part Rottweiller and part Sharpei.  We all fell in love with him and got a very small taste of what it would be like to have a dog. 

The fabulous woman from JFK that connected us with the rescue person on Crete asked me to make up a wish list for a dog and if she came across one she would let me know.  We both agreed that after we return from Seattle in August would be a good time to start looking for a dog.  But I knew we have a trip to Portugal scheduled in October so maybe we wait until after that.. but then we might want to travel at Christmas so maybe after that.  You see how it goes.  It has gone like this for years.  And the kids, especially Josie, has been pining for a dog for YEARS.  And apparently I said that when Benjamin was in Kindergarten we would get one.  Ooops.  Never ever promise anything!

Well, all that to say Marchel, the JFK connection to the rescue people emailed me a couple weeks back saying she thought she found "our dog."   To be honest I ignored her email.  Clearly, this would be the WORST time to get a dog.  We are moving out of our apartment at the end of June, we are in Seattle for nearly 6 weeks, we move into a new (to us) house upon our return from Seattle but that house is under construction.  NO!  Not a good time.  But then  I told myself that if the dog looks like a golden I might consider.  Well, not only did he look like a golden but he ticked every single box in what I said we were looking for in a dog.  But.. we were leaving and moving and just no!
I showed the family and they knew and really I guess I knew.  This was our dog.  And after a series of emails and video chats with the family that rescued him we figured out that he really would be our dog.  He was to fly to Berlin on June 19th.  Again, terrible timing but when it is the perfect dog you deal.  Marchel even put me in touch with a FABULOUS woman how lives in Berlin and wants to try dogs to be seeing eye dogs but her German isn't good enough so she is taking the summer off of work to learn German and really wanted to take our dog while we are in Seattle.  She is lovely and so excited to have him.  I asked her how much she charged and she said that she doesn't want money, she just wants the chance to have a dog for the summer.  Oh, she said, maybe you could bring me back some Trader Joe's peanut butter pretzels.  Haha!!  What a find.  Of course we will pay her but clearly she is not doing it for the money.

Josie and Benjamin created paper chain countdowns and chore charts and we went shopping for supplies and Josie had a count down calendar on the fridge.  Now all we needed was the DOG!!
Before we knew about Mogli we had all agreed that our dog would be named Banjo.  Agreeing on anything in our family is a big deal so we were fairly certain this would be our dog name.  But Mogli looked like such a Mogli we all agreed that this should remain his name.