Auction

On Thursday of Marty's spring break we got all dressed up and attended our first fundraising auction here in Germany.  It is a novel thing here - to raise funds for something or someone.  It is rare that when our friend Juli was setting it up she had some people look at her funny.  Why would I spend my money and time on something like this?  I pay my taxes.  The government takes care of all of that with my taxes.  Which is technically correct. This is her 2nd annual fundraiser for a great organization that helps very young mothers and their children called The Agape Tree.  Mostly all of their basics are covered by government programs - smart policy, right??- so she raises funds to do something special for them.  Last year it was to send the mothers and their children on a mini vacation, by train to the Baltic Sea.  One week without the stresses of life to bond together as little families.  This year she helped raise funds for a special program they are starting at this organization. 
It is so interesting how auctions and fundraisers from public education to helping with medical costs is SO incredibly common in the states and relatively unheard of in Germany. 
Other than raising a lot of money for a good cause, it was a fabulous night with great food and drink surrounded by some of our very favorite people here in Berlin.

Tech Start Up Field Trip

Marty also took advantage of his "free week" to attend a huge renewable energy, start up, Tech conference.  He is doing small little program segments for the local, public radio here in Berlin and he was able to interview a few people at this conference.
Of course his favorite part was the free food!  What is not to love about that?

Field Trip to the Waldschule

Marty started his "Spring Break" today.  Since Seattle Public Schools calendar is different than ours sadly his vacation days do not align with the kids.  VERY frustrating. Especially when they have TWO full weeks of spring break the weeks after he has his week of vacation.   

But it does allow him to be involved in the kids school those weeks.  Benjamin just so happened to have a field trip on the first day of Marty's vacation so he signed up to chaperone. 
It is always fun to attend one of the kids field trips and when we were in Seattle I did it all the time and Marty never was able to.  Since moving to Germany he has chaperoned a few of Josie's and this was the first for Benjamin's.
The day trip started with a walk of about half a mile down to the Sbahn train.  All the kids either have their own transportation pass or are part of the class train ticket.  Every kid in Berlin (ours included) know how to "do" the

public transportation.  It is one of the big things we are gifting our kids by living here.  I know it may seem small but knowing how to navigate a city is a big gift.
They arrived at the Waldschule "Forest School" in English.  The entire day was conducted in German and the only three people who were not fluent in German were Benjamin, his buddy, Zeke, and their teacher who comes from Wisconsin. 
Next year Benjamin will go on a 4 night (!?!?!) trip to a Forest school where they learn how to build fires and survive in the wild.  So this is in a way a preparation. 

The were supposed to see animals and learn things about nature.  In the end Marty said that they saw one dog with one human.  Some birds too I suppose but that was the end of the animals sightings. 
Both boys had a great time on their field trip.

Spring is Coming

The weather is turning from Winter and Spring and I love it.  Spring really is the season that Berlin shines the most.  Last Spring we had sunny skies and temps in the high 70's from the second week of April until the end of September.  I know that encompasses Summer as well and actually during the summer months (when we were here as we spent the month of July in

Seattle) the weather was HOT.  But anyway, Spring is lovely here and I hope we aren't hoping for too much in that we would love a repeat of last years weather.
This Sunday dinner was hard to get the kids motivated to get out of Zehlendorf but we ended up at our favorite Vietnamese Restaurant and even sat outside.  And then headed to our favorite ice cream place.  Everyone in town had the same idea as the line was OUT THE DOOR and into the plaza.
Nice Spring Summer Evening. Benjamin always finds a minute here or there to get in some reading.  The kid is on fire with his reading!!

Hertha - Berlin Soccer

 It is funny that we hadn't been to a Berlin Soccer game until today.  Soccer, or as it is called here, Futball, is a big deal.  Every city has their team and people are just more generally into it here.
Both kids play on the school soccer team this year.  Even though both are a bit bored by it.  Josie much more so than Benjamin. 

Sports aren't really a big deal in schools here and are played mostly in clubs instead.  Especially soccer where the really talented kids have already moved on to elite or superior teams by grade 3.  Since schools don't really play soccer they only do scrimmages with other members of their team.  For Benjamin it is still a full kind of like a full on game but for Josie it isn't the same as what she was used to at all in Seattle.  Partly because they have fewer girls participating so her team is all the girls from grades 4 to 12!!  And even then there are only maybe 15 kids.

The Hertha tickets were organized by Benjamin's soccer coach so we went along with nearly Benjamin's entire team and their families.  The trains were so full that you had to wait for a train or two to find space to squeeze in.  Still so much better than having to deal with traffic and parking in a car. It was a beautifully sunny Saturday and we all had a great time. 

Deutschkurse

My 10 weeks of intensive German classes are coming to an end.  I have really appreciated the fact that I have the luxury of time and money to take these classes.  I know people who either want to take classes but have full time jobs and not enough time or those without the resources to pay. 
For me, it seemed relatively inexpensive for what I got.  Classes were held from 9am until 1PM Tuesday-Friday.  So, 16 hours a week for 5 weeks = 80 hours of instruction for 205 €.  Other than just a handful of days I rode my bike the 3 miles there and back which took about 20 minutes each way combined with nightly homework had me at a 25+ hour a week commitment. 
I really did learn a lot but am so painfully aware of how incredibly far I have to go really feel even somewhat confident in this incredibly difficult language.
The way the school I attended did it was they have 2 teachers who alternate days.  One teacher for Tuesdays and Thursdays and another teacher for Wednesdays and Fridays.  They both had their strengths and weaknesses but I realized very quickly that I was an 80% student with one teacher and maybe on a good day a 50% student with the other teacher.  As a former Spanish teacher this was very interesting to me.  I learned a lot of what NOT to do as a teacher.  Not sure if I will ever teach again in the formal sense but taking these classes did more for my ability to empathize with my students than nearly anything else I have ever done. 

This was the testing day
schedule:
30 minutes of listening
45-50 minutes of reading
30-35 minutes of writing

On a particularly hard day with the 50% Teacher I was riding home and really truly appreciating how amazing our kids are.  This is hard for me to do as a 50 year old woman who has not one thing to lose and I can only imagine how hard it was particularly for Josie who was thrown into a pretty intense German class (because her teachers saw potential even if she didn't quite have the skills yet) within just a few weeks of our arrival here. When I got home that day I told Josie how hard my day at school was and how disappointed my teacher seemed in me and that I felt like crying and she said, "Oh, I felt like crying every day for a couple of months when I first started!"  Of course, she never told us that at the time but I can imagine.  At a time in her life where she feels she have everything to lose to be stuck in a very difficult language class where she feels extra unsure of herself.
Anyway, we had an end of term test.  I did remarkably well in the areas of listening and reading but not so well in the writing part.  The speaking I did OK but didn't get a formal grade for it. 
I'm really happy to be nearly done with my German classes for the school year.  I plan to take a break until next winter where I will likely take another 10 weeks.  I know this is not the most efficient way to learn.  If I were really serious about learning I wouldn't take such long breaks but because I just cannot sit inside a classroom for 4+ hours when the weather in Spring, Summer and Fall are so lovely, I will look forward to more classes come Winter.
From the picture you can see that I scored 17 out of 20 for reading and 19 out of 25 for reading for a combined score of 36.  If you go back up to the first photo you can see the graph the teacher wrote.  To be considered a B1 student ( I was completing the B1 sequence of classes) I needed to be between 33 and 45.  A score of 36 was pretty solid.  Sadly my writing was not so good and I only scored 12 out of 20 and was a solid A2 student.  I guess the testing proves what I already knew in that I am weakest in production (speaking and writing) and stronger in the passive learning. 

Sunday Dinner

 We really like to get out of our little corner of Berlin on the weekends.  At least one day over the weekend we like to eat in an area that is at least a train ride away. 
This Sunday we trekked to Prenzlauer Berg, one of the trendier areas of Berlin.  This is also where our good friends Hollis and family lived while they were living in Berlin and where our favorite Greek restaurant is. 
Asteria rivals the delicious food we ate while in Athens and always served with a smile and excellent service.  The portions are SO enormous we only need two.

Benjamin listened to a podcast (through Marty's Christmas gift of a stocking cap with blue tooth speakers inside) the entire journey

there and read his book for the return trip.  He is the type of kid who constantly needs his brain engaged in something.  Some kids need that kind of thing physically but his need is with his brain.  And to be honest would do well to move a bit more.  Josie was in a NO PHOTOS!!  mood.