Today was the last day of my first session of German class (I am signed up for the next session, so this is my half-way mark).  We celebrated with a little party, in which everyone brought food from their home country.

 

I know, right?

Here I am with a couple of my classmates, Mary and Liz.  Mary is from Pakistan, and Liz is from America.  I am sad that Liz won't be continuing with the course, but I have her info so we can get together. 

This class has been so good for me.  I semi-dreaded it, but now that I am half done, I am a little sad that it is passing so quickly.  I have met some absolutely delightful people!

I wish it were possible to photograph a sound, since that is really what this post is about.

This church is up the street from my house, and the thing I love about it is that the church bells ring every hour.  I don't always notice it, but when I do, it makes me smile.

BYU had the bell tower that chimed, and I could also hear church bells from our house in MI.  Something about them just makes me feel grounded and at peace.  I think the soundtrack of my life should always include church bells.

Meine Hausaufgaben

I don't have a ton of homework for my German class, but I do have a little to do everyday.  It's not bad as long as I have a glass of Coke Zero close-at-hand.

Today when Jessica got home from school, she flopped down on the couch and proceeded to tell me all the things I am doing to ruin her life.  It was super fun.

After a while, it got downright comical (but not in a good way), so I grabbed my camera to document the moment.  This only made her more grumpy.

The good thing was that me standing there with my camera waiting for her to move the pillow made her mad enough to get off the couch and storm up to her room.  I didn't miss her.

Today was one of those perfect autumn days, and Pepper and Adam made the most of it by heading to the park for a pick-up soccer game.

Dad's homemade salsa is a Sunday tradition at our house, and everyone gets involved in the Salsa-making Factory.  Brad upped his game today by making fresh guacamole, too.  Me gusta!

Tonight, we went to the musical put on by the YSA's in our stake to commemorate the 50 year anniversary of the Berlin Stake.  It was quite entertaining;  they had a slide show with photos, newspaper clippings, etc for each decade since 1961, then they would do a song and dance number to showcase that decade.  

 This stellar pose was from "Footloose", the number they did to celebrate the 1980's.  It was delightful, but I did take issue with their costumes.  We did not look that dorky in the 80's!  

(Or did we?  Now that I think about it, there were an unfortunate amount of mullets and side-ponies...)

I also have to include a photo of this number showcasing the Stasi.  Apparently before the Berlin Wall fell, church members were occasionally allowed into East Berlin to attend youth events.  However, they were usually accompanied by Stasi, the DDR's secret police.  

I live here and everything seems so normal (for the most part), so I forget that not too long ago Berlin was such a different world.  Amazing.

Adam came home from school very carefully holding this car structure that he made in art class.  He told me that some other kids made cars, too, but that his car was the most "epic".

I bought this shirt for Lukie yesterday, and he loves it!  All day, he talked about his Monster Shirt and how his friends at school were so impressed.  I think this was 7€ well spent!

(The face he is pulling is his "monster smile". Apparently, monsters smile when they're constipated.)

I am posting this photo for two reasons:

1.  Because Lukie and his little friend R are so dang cute playing x-box like big boys.

and 

2.  To remind myself, in 20 years when I am lamenting my empty-nester status, that sometimes having the kids at home meant living in a pig sty.

Yeah, I get that it is totally lame to post about watching TV.  But, I have been anxiously waiting for weeks for DWTS to start, not only because it is my favorite show, but also because it marks the beginning of the new season for all TV shows. 

So I like TV.  Don't judge me.

If I were to ever join a 12 Step Program, my introduction to group therapy would go something like this:

"Hello.  My name is Jill, and I am a slipper junkie."

I literally cannot pass a store display of slippers without buying a pair.

 These are my latest slipper fix.  I saw them at a shoe store the other night when I was with Jess and Pep buying soccer shoes, and I knew I had to have them as soon as I saw them.

Sadly, I feel no remorse, nor do I have any desire to offer restitution.  I have every intention of keeping this addiction and plan to unabashedly enjoy it.

By far, the hardest thing about living in Germany has been feeling so disconnected at church.  At no time is this more keenly felt than at stake conference twice a year. Unfortunately, today was no exception.

Here is headset provided so we can hear English translation.  You will notice that it is in my lap, because it was maddening to wear it on my ear.  The signal was not good, so I would only hear about every fifth word being said.  This really bugged me today, because our stake presidency was reorganized and I really wanted to hear the testimonies of the men being released.  I think I have mentioned before that I adore our former stake president, and it was a little heart-breaking to not hear his farewell testimony.

Because I was obviously at my wits' end, my awesome husband rounded up the kids and we left during the intermediate hymn (sshhh...don't tell my parents).  When we got home, I got busy making myself a Consolation Chocolate Cake.

I made it from scratch (that's how desperate I was), and it was delicious. 

Tomorrow is the German Election Day, so there are campaign posters everywhere.  The way I understand it, German people vote for a party, and then the number of votes a party wins determines how many seats it gets in parliament.  There are are more parties than I can keep track of, and some of them are pretty wacky.

Here is one that I find particularly disturbing:

The NPD is the modern Nazi party (oh yes, it's still around).  Their slogan "Guten Heim Flug"  means "Good Flight Home."  If you look closely at the picture, you can see that it depicts people of Middle Eastern descent flying on a magic carpet.  The sentiment behind it is "We will send all Middle Easterners home because they aren't welcome here."  Charming, isn't it?

I just had to get a photo of this, because I can't believe stuff like this is still out there.  And the scary thing is, some people are going to vote for this.

Pepper is very close to his 13th birthday, and in a moment of weakness I let him set up his own Facebook account.  Everyone knows that your Facebook profile picture has to be perfect (especially when you're 13), so Pepper had me take some soccer action shots in the backyard to post on Facebook.

Here is a sample of the many, MANY pictures I took of Pepper blocking soccer shots.  What you don't see are Brad and Jessica kicking/throwing the ball at Pepper over and over again. 

Good times, good times. . .

This is cutie-patootie Beatrice.  She is one of my institute friends, and she is living with us this year.  It's nice, because with her around, Jess and I aren't so outnumbered anymore!

I think I'm having an I-Like-Germany-Week.  Whenever I drive around lately, I am swooning at the pre-war architecture. 

Snack time!  As soon as they get home from school, the kids always make a bee-line for the kitchen.

This building is near Brad's office, and I always sit and stare at it while I am stuck at this stoplight.  Isn't it just cool?  I love houses like this - they seem so full of stories.

Today for his High Council assignment, Brad went to a small branch in our stake.  After their meeting block, they all went to a lake for a baptism (the building where they hold meetings doesn't have a baptismal font).

 Here is the sister who got baptized with the branch president.

How's that for an idyllic baptism scene?

This afternoon, Jess and I went to see a movie downtown.  We saw Midnight in Paris, the latest Woody Allen film.  It was cute, in a very stiff, Woody Allen sort of way.  What we are really excited about are the two movies advertised behind Jess.  We will definitely be seeing those when they are released here!

Tonight was Girls Night Out, which was a welcome diversion after two days at home with my sick kids.

My Girls:  Antje, Rachel, Denise, and Wendy

We went to a good Mexican restaurant - no small feat in Berlin - and had a lovely night.  Denise is the instigator of GNO, and she is my hero because of it.  I don't know what I would do if I didn't have these sassy, intelligent women to bond with.

  My steak fajitas were so good that I had to get dessert, too.  This brownie sundae was To Die For, but I kind of wish I'd gotten what Wendy had - deep fried bananas in chocolate sauce.  She certainly looks happy about her choice!

All four of my kids were home sick today with a sore throat and congestion, so I was basically stuck home all day with them.  I couldn't go to my German class, so I did the work at home, but I learned that it is MUCH easier to learn the material in class than to try to figure it out from the book.

My reward for doing my German studies was a 99 cent book on Kindle.  While it wasn't great, it still entertained me for the bulk of the afternoon.

Lukie snuck up on me with the camera and took this photo of me in my 

Happy Place.

This picture is something of a miracle.

Since we moved here, Jess has found going to Young Women activities a struggle - to say the least.  All the YW have made huge efforts to include her and be nice to her, but the language barrier is always there and Jess has had a really hard time with that.  Every Wednesday, we have the same fight - Jess doesn't want to go to YW, and I make her, then she is mad at me for the rest of the night.

So, you can imagine my surprise when she informed me last Sunday that she'd invited the YW to our house for their Wednesday night activity.  I tried not to break into my Happy Dance, but it was hard.  I've been playing it cool all week, but I am delighted that she felt comfortable enough to ask these girls over.  

I know this doesn't necessarily mean that our Wednesday night fights are over, but hey - Baby Steps!

It's Thai Tuesday, baby!

This is a serious highlight in my week - meeting these fantastic women for an hour or so of sparkling conversation and delicious food.  I cannot think of a better combination!

These three boys fought ALL AFTERNOON, until I was ready to throw in the towel.  After dinner, they finally settled down and were friends long enough to play this game.

It is now 7:00 p.m., and they are back to fighting.  Brad is gone, and I think we are going to forgo FHE tonight in favor of early bedtime.  I'm pretty sure putting them all to bed will promote more family harmony than trying to corral them for a lesson.

Like all Mormon mothers everywhere, I have a notebook in my scripture bag that I can whip out during sacrament meeting so my kid can draw and hopefully sit still and be quiet for a few minutes.

And, like all Mormon five-year-olds everywhere, Lukie entertained himself by drawing a picture of his family.

I'm not sure, however, if it is normal for said Mormon five-year-old to draw his family with "vampire eyes", masks, and swords.  

Sometimes I don't think those church messages are getting through.

Tonight we had a little barbeque with a family from another ward in our stake.  I'd heard about this family from our stake president, and he encouraged us to get together because the mom is also American and facing the same challenges that I am. (Have I ever mentioned that our stake president is seriously the best man on earth?  Well, he is.)

Their little girl E has personality to spare, and she decided that Jess was her BFF.  The two of them disappeared for a while, and when we went to check on them, we found them upstairs in the bathroom, where E was putting make-up on Jess.  Luckily, Jess got most of it off before I snapped this photo.

This little boy gave us a scare this afternoon!

At 3:30, Jessica burst into the house and told me that Luke had not gotten off the bus after school.  Just then, the bus company called to tell me the same thing, then paused for a minute when the bus driver called the other line.  The bus driver said that Luke had fallen asleep on the bus, so he missed getting off with Jess and Pep.  

We were talking, trying to figure out where I could meet the bus to collect my boy, when the driver interjected again with the news that Pepper had run all the way to the next bus stop to get his brother.  I should mention that Jess had dumped all her stuff on Pep so she could run home to tell me that Luke was still on the bus, so Pep ran all that way with his backpack, Jess's book bag, and Jess's gym bag all in tow.  Pepper was the hero today!

Today, I walked out of McDonalds (where I was getting an emergency burger after my class), and when I looked over at my car, I just had to laugh.  

My silver car looks like an absolute ELEPHANT next to the sleek little red car in front.  Is it any wonder I feel like a mammoth whenever I drive on these narrow German roads?