Seventh Week in Germany

This week was nice because it was really the first week we have our furniture set up and the girls got to sleep in pretty much every morning. We spent the first couple days waiting for repair people and service people to come over. So, we were stuck inside quite a bit. We finally got our internet and phone up and running which is so nice to have ties to the outside world again. The girls have been so patient and understanding of the fact that we needed to spend quite a bit of time getting things put together and set up.

On Thursday I had an opportunity to go out with some girls to a movie, "Harry Potter." It was really nice to get out. We planned on a playdate at the park down the street for Friday morning with our kids but as luck would have it, it was pouring down rain. So, we went to an indoor playplace in Troisdorf instead. It was great. The girls had a blast and it was well deserved after all of the days being stuck inside the house. Afterwards, we went to McDonalds for lunch. You can't really beat that.

Saturday was a great day as well. It was 80 degrees and beautiful. Greg took the girls and their scooters down to the Rhein river to ride along the boardwalk. Then we went up to Koln to see Shrek der Dritte, in English of course. We went to the Lights over Koln after the movie, which was a really cool fireworks display and 800,000 people along the Rhein.

At 10:15pm everybody lit their sparklers and held them up on both sides of the River. Then, there was a boat parade complete with sparklers on the boats. The fireworks started really late, around 11:00pm so our poor children had a little trouble making it that late. We decided to go around 11:30pm when Avery had a complete meltdown. We we got back to the parking structure that had our car, it was locked. So, we hurried to the nearest train station and took the DB back to Bonn. We were so lucky to catch a train right away but we still didn't get home until after midnight.

On Sunday, I gave my first talk in Germany. I said a couple sentences in German, but I had a great translator who said my talk for me in German. What a process. I can't wait until we know enough to be able to give our talks in German.

All in all, many happy experiences this week and some good stories we will never forget.