It is What it is!!!

          

           “It is what it is” is one of Team Thomas’s favorite expressions.  It comes out when we are discussing anything that we may not like, may think inconvenient, or deem “unfair.” But we also know we can’t change it, so we may as well acknowledge it and make the best of it.  Even, dare I say, learn something from it!!  This was one of those weeks.

            Todd left on Monday afternoon (Sept 22^nd) to do a seminar at Resort Schwielosee, which is about 45 minutes outside of Berlin.  Neither one of us was particularly wild about him going for the week, but we also understood it is all part of the package.  We tried to keep a stiff upper lip, as they say, and off he went.  But then Tuesday arrived.  It was COLD and WINDY and WET!!  It poured from early morning through the middle of the afternoon!  Bryce and Emily tackled their schoolwork and I monitored their progress and the never-ending laundry pile.  By early afternoon, schoolwork was complete, laundry was complete and the rains still came down.  The children got a bit stir crazy and the walls of the already small apartment seemed to close in further as each moment passed.  I tried to come up with some creative options, but I wasn’t particularly creative and the children weren’t particularly eager to let me off the hook!  Finally, the rains stopped…just in time for us to make the trek to German class – which, as you might have guessed, was not the break the children were looking for!!  And it was still COLD and GLOOMY and DARK!  We survived German and managed to get home before it rained on us again…dinner was uneventful and the walls to the apartment, it seemed, had not expanded while we were off trying to speak German!!

            Todd and I texted each other late in the evening.  It seemed that his program didn’t go a whole lot better than our day!  But “It is what it is!”  While I couldn’t change the reality, it didn’t mean I couldn’t change MY ATTITUDE about my reality, right???  So I started to think about what I might do to “change things up” for the next day!  Immediately, I felt blessed all over again by our decision to homeschool.  If nothing else, it can be flexible!!  It did get me thinking though…we are here in Germany homeschooling where it is illegal to homeschool!  In fact, though there are probably more families like us in this country, we could be the only family in the whole country homeschooling legally!!  It made me realize what a privilege it is, but also that it is not easy to do something that no one (at least no one we know) around us is doing.  I realized how important our homeschool co-op really is because it provides support, encouragement, and a feeling that we are not alone as we educate our children.  Homeschooling is not easy, with its daily ups and downs, and our co-op gives us a sense of common purpose, as well as a place for children and mothers alike to share and refuel!  I hadn’t realized just how important that sense of community is.  Another lesson learned!!

            OK…but there is still tomorrow (Wednesday Sept 24^th).  What am I going to do to change things up?  Here’s what I came up with:  We do not live far, it turns out, from where we lived when we were here in 2000.  S0, on this new day that brought with it a new attitude and crisp air but bright SUNSHINE, I took Bryce and Emily to their “old stomping grounds”.  Bryce was only 2 and Emily only a few months old in 2000, so they had to trust me!  As we walked, I told them that we were going to the playground that contained Bryce’s first slide.  And it was HUGE!  I told them how, because it was Bryce’s first slide, I, of course, had taken LOTS of pictures of him whizzing down it at full speed!  We walked and I reminisced…we had one of those strollers for 2 children, a place for Baby Emily to lay and a platform for Big Brother Bryce to stand on in the back (or sit down if he was tired).  I would push the stroller and Bryce would either ride or he would hop off and run on his little two-year old legs hither and yon.  I told them how we would pass the time walking on these paths…I would be singing to Emily and Bryce would be checking out every rock, leaf, worm, and stick he found interesting (which was most of them!!)  It was a difficult stay in Germany last time around, but those walks were the highlight! 

So…we made our way to this playground and, to my amazement, when we saw the slide, it was still HUGE!  (I thought maybe it would seem tiny because Bryce had grown so much).  The children thought so too!  They started scampering up the ladder to get to the tower that held the slide’s entrance and I, of course, grabbed my camera.   The children spent the better part of an hour racing up to, and sliding down, the slide.  As we walked back toward home, we talked about seeing these new pictures side by side with those of Bryce taken 8 years ago!!

            In the same park area there is a big pond, with lots of ducks.  We decided to walk along the shore (I dubbed it the “coastal route”) to see what we could see.  I wished I had brought along some bread to feed them, but alas, I can’t think of everything!!!  But God can!!  I looked around and saw a plastic bag.  When I looked closer there was almost 2 whole slices of bread still in it!!  So we were able to spend a few minutes feeding the ducks.  What fun!! 

            After the ducks had their lunch, we made a quick trip to the grocery store for essentials before extracting our clean laundry from the dryer and heading up to the apartment for our lunch.  After lunch, we had an exceedingly productive school time before heading to German class!!  Imagine that!!

            It has turned out to be a fantastic week.  Todd returned earlier this evening and Team Thomas strolled down the street to our local (and favorite) Italian restaurant.  The owners, two brothers who speak Italian and German, know us well and are always glad to see us.  While we waited for our meal, we talked about the things we are looking forward to back in the States and the things that we are going to really going to miss.  We realized, the four of us, that life is really about the good and the bad, the ups and the downs, the ebbs and the flows.

      “It is [always] what it is” but it is better with a loving family, great friends, new experiences, and memories that will last a lifetime.   

Karen Explains Bryce and Emily’s Assignment

 

         As part of our writing program in the last couple of weeks, we were working with merging the idea of a research paper with personal experience.  So I had Bryce and Emily research a couple of  Berlin sights and then add some of their personal reflections along with it.  Here’s what they come up with:

Bryce Speaks on Berlin Sights He Finds Interesting

 

Berlin’s Best and Worst

          Out of all the monuments in Berlin, there are two that I will write about today.  A phenomenal sports complex, called the Olympic Stadium has had a perplexing past.  It was assembled for the 1936 Summer Olympic Games, but also as a way for Germany to convince the world it should be seen more positively .  The competition ring (which is in the middle of the stadium) is set 12 meters (around 35 feet) into the ground.  When we went and saw the stadium, I was surprised at how short it was … now I know!!  In 1936, there was amazingly enough seating to fit 110,000 fans.  The Waldbuhne Stage is set a lengthy 30 meters into the earth which is an area where they hold open-air concerts and movies.  It is right next to a large bell tower.  In 2004 they modernized the stadium, but it can now only hold about 75,000 people. 

Now I will talk about a structure built for an even sadder purpose: the Berlin Wall.  The Berlin Wall may have been the most heart-rending structure in Berlin.  The Berlin Wall was constructed in 1961.  It fashioned a 155 kilometer ring around West Berlin.  The people used their vivid imaginations of dangerous and scary ways of boldly escaping.  Some tried to climb over it; others tried to knock it down with a battering ram.  Still others tried to get through by stowing away in a tiny part of a reengineered car or fly over it in a hot air balloon!  The protests became so strong that they finally destroyed the Wall on November 9, 1989.  I have seen the parts of the Wall that are still up, and I even have a little piece of it, but I find it hard to imagine a separated Berlin now.

Emily Speaks on Her Favorites

 

Berlin Itself

          I am going to tell you a bit about two of my favorite places in Berlin.  The Berlin Zoo is the oldest zoo in Germany.  It is 160 years old!!  The gracious and generous king of Germany contributed the first few animals as a gift.  The Berlin Zoo housed 4,000 animals but only 91 survived the last World War.  Now the Berlin Zoo has more than 14,000 species, including those in the aquarium.  When we visited the zoo, the animals were very active!!  I liked seeing all the great animals and playing in an extraordinary playground that was right near Knut the polar bear!

          I also really love the Brandenburg Gate. The beautiful and grand Brandenburg Gate, which was built from 1788-1791, used to be one of Berlin’s 14 gates.  It’s named the Brandenburg Gate because it once separated Berlin from the city of Brandenburg.  King Frederick William II had it erected as a sign of peace.  It has been a symbol of Berlin ever since.  I had seen lots of wonderful pictures of this gate before I came to Berlin.  It was neat to finally see the real thing.  I liked its size and shape.  And it has nice columns and arches.  I hope you liked my favorite things in Berlin.  Maybe you’ll get to visit them one day!!

Emily Speaks on German Lessons

 

Hello people!!!  I’m going to talk about my German lessons.  Three times a week we go to Berlitz, the language teachers!!!!!  We walk up to floor one and practically run in because I want to meet my teacher, Mrs. claudia.  We check to see which room we’re in. We’re usually in Room 2, the fun room!!!  Tingo comes in and so does Mrs. Claudia.  You’re probably wondering who Tingo is.  Tingo is the puppet whom I love!!!!  Mrs. Claudia, Bryce and I sit down at the big table.  She gives us flash cards and says “frag mal” which means say it again or do it to him/her.  She also talks to us and writes stuff on the board.  But!  The trick is … SHE ONLY SPEAKS GERMAN TO US DURING THE CLASS!!!!!!!!  But at pausa (break time) she speaks English to us.  If you’re trying to learn a new language I have to recommend Berlitz.  AUFWIEDERSEHEN!!

Bryce Speaks on German Lessons

 

To get to German class, we use the U-Bahn, which is the subway.  Then we take a walk, about three blocks, to get to Berlitz.  German lessons are very fun.  Our teacher, Mrs. Claudia, is very nice and she is a good teacher.  She shows us flashcards and she writes words on the white board in the classroom and she makes it fun!  A couple of classes ago she even brought her daughter (she’s 10!) to class with her.  We had fun because we got to play with Morea and we got to teach her a little English!  The hardest part about German is the pronunciations, but the hardest part about class is that not one word of English is usually spoken!!  Sometimes Mrs. Claudia sometimes speaks a little English by accident though!  After class, we usually go back home, but sometimes we get to have an ice cream! 

Bryce Speaks on the Berlin Zoo!

 

Our visit to the Berlin Zoo was spectacular!!  The animals were very active!!  We saw monkeys that were running around like mad carrying their babies on their backs.  Sometimes the babies fell off and the mom kept going.  But then the mom would figure out something was missing and go back!  It was great seeing the little babies jump back on their mom’s backs!  The apes were super active!  One of them, the biggest ape out there, first was sitting down in a corner and it looked like he was thinking very hard about something.  He didn’t look very big down there, but when he climbed up the side of the hill, he was huge!!  Then he started to tackle another ape!  One of the apes, after the big ape tackled him, ran toward us.  He couldn’t get to us because there was a big pit between us and the ape, but he was pounding his chest like crazy!  It made a strange sound, like he was hollow.

  There was also a very cool Spielplatz (playground) there.  There was three parts: there was a little town, a normal structure with ladders, bridges and trampolines, and there was also a pirate ship with secret rooms!  Emily and I were in the pirate ship one for almost the whole time.  There were four secret rooms.  We were trying to find all of them, but we only ended up finding one!  We can’t wait to go back to the zoo so we can find the others!!

Emily Speaks on the Berlin Zoo!

 

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!! Don’t you love zoos??!!  I may use exclamation points this whole time!!!!!!  The Berlin Zoo is the oldest zoo in all of Germany!!!!!  It is awesome!!!  There are over 14,000 animals in the Berlin Zoo.   And have you heard of the story of Knut the polar bear??? We saw him!!!!  The Berlin Zoo is my favorite zoo in the world because………………… THERE’S AN AWESOME SPIELPLATZ  (PLAYGROUND) AND THERE ARE MANY MANY MANY ANIMALS!!!!!!  And at the time we went all the animals were soooooooooooooo active!!!!  My favorite probably was the apes.  They were mean apes though. The daddy ape ran around pushing the children off the side of their mountain thing!!  And the ape got really mad and ran right towards me punching his chest like the myths say!!!!! OH NO –  IT IS NOT A MYTH!!!  We also saw the aquarium but I didn’t want to go because I wanted to stay at the Spielplatz.  Then we went to the elephant gate to leave and I sat on the elephant’s lap. That was my favorite trip to any zoo!!! Aufwiedersehen!!

Last Few Days with a Visitor

 

We had only a few more days with Kelley and there were still many things on her list!!  On Saturday (September 6^th) we decided to combine

 her desire to see more sights with her desire to find a few more gifts and souvenirs for her to bring home to friends and family!  We decided to head to Potsdamer Platz, where we could do a bit of both!  Our first stop was The Topography of Terror.  The Topography of Terror is an outdoor museum located on the site of buildings which during the Nazi Regime, from 1933 to 1945, were the headquarters of the Gestapo and the SS, the principal instruments of repression during the Nazi era.

The buildings that housed the Gestapo and SS headquarters were largely destroyed by Allied bombing during early 1945 and the ruins demolished after the war. The boundary between the American and Soviet zones of occupation in Berlin ran along the Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse, so the street soon became a fortified boundary, and the Berlin Wall ran along the south side of the street, renamed Niederkirchnerstrasse, from 1961 to 1989. The wall itself was never removed from the site, and the section adjacent to the Topography of Terror site is the second-longest segment still in place.

The first exhibitions of the site took place in 1987, as part of Berlin’s 750th anniversary. The cellars of the Gestapo headquarters, where many political prisoners were tortured and executed, were found and excavated. The site was then turned into a memorial and museum, in the open air but protected from the elements by a canopy, detailing the history of repression under the Nazis. (Wickipedia)

Karen and the kids didn’t peruse the Topography of Terror because of the rather graphic representations but we did find a few ways to amuse ourselves while Kelley walked through the exhibit. 

After Kelley was done getting her culture fix, we headed to the Arkaden, a super modern mall with lots of variety!  We shopped and browsed until hunger overtook us and then settled in for a nice lunch.

On Sunday, Kelley headed to Palace Charlottenburg while Karen and the kids had a pleasant day at the apartment.  We want to go to Palace Charlottenburg when Todd can come with us!  Kelley enjoyed her time there and we enjoyed our day working a little and playing a lot!

On Monday (September 8^th) we all went to the Berlin Zoo.  It was just an

incredible day.  It was partly cloudy, cool, and the animals were all very active!  We saw things none of us have ever seen before (and Kelley is the self-proclaimed zoo aficionado!!!)!  We saw little monkeys tearing around their space with little tiny baby monkeys on their backs.  They were doing serious laps!  And when a little monkey fell off the mom would go back and get them.  But sometimes she didn’t notice for a few feet (or they were going so fast, it just took her that long to stop!!).  Then the little baby would hop back on and off they would go.  I couldn’t help but think of when our kids were little they would say “Again momma, again!!!” when they were completely enjoying a shared activity.  We saw wolves with their noses high in the air howling back and forth in response to one another.  We saw Knut, the famous polar bear born in Berlin a year and a half ago pacing and entertaining the crowd.  Then there were the apes acting like apes – chest pounding and all!!  Just as we were on our way out, we heard this strange guttural sound… it was a tiger roaring as it surveyed its perimeter!  It was just amazing!  Area after area was alive with activity! 

Kelley left on Wednesday morning (September 10^th) in the morning.  Karen and the kids spent some time cleaning up and reorganizing the apartment.  After a month of having visitors, we are finding the apartment is strangely large!!  Still, we all enjoyed the opportunity to share our little adventure personally with Granny and Kelley…just like we like to share it electronically with all of you!! 

The Days Since Prague

    

     Ok…so we returned from Prague late on a Sunday evening.  We scrounged around in the apartment for some food and were able to come up with a fairly satisfying dinner, all things being relative!  A little pasta and a little fruit go a long way after you have been traveling for a few days.

On Monday (September 1^st) we all stayed pretty close to home, except for Todd who had a couple of trips to the airport to pick people up and a couple of other meetings.  The kids and Karen took Kelley around to the various parks we frequent.  Kelley was a bit ambitious with the zip lines and the horizontal bars (trying to impart to Emily some of her gymnastic prowess from days gone by – way by!), but all the kids had fun!!  (Kelley paid the price, though, for the next day or so)!!  In the afternoon, Karen and the kids had German class.  Kelley came with an explored the Ku’damm while we worked hard on our second language.  After class, Karen and Todd had an Impact Consulting meeting, so Kelley and Granny took over the household and childcare duties.  They managed to stay out of trouble (speaking of Kelley and Granny, of course) and all was well when Karen and Todd returned!!

On Tuesday, September 2^nd, Todd began one of his programs, so the rest of us were on our own.  We went on a bus tour, something that both Kelley and Granny wanted to do.  We chose a 3 hour tour (for all your Gilligan Island fans) that included two stops: one at Checkpoint Charlie and one at the Brandenburg Gate.  It was a great tour with much better information and geographical coverage than the tour we took when we first arrived in Berlin.  But it was a closed in bus, instead of an open one, so when we got to Checkpoint Charlie, we were glad to get off because it had been so incredibly hot on the top floor of the bus.  After a brief visit to Checkpoint Charlie, Karen spoke IN GERMAN to the Tour Guide about the possibility of moving downstairs…you can hear it now, “my mother in law, who is 90, is too hot, etc etc”).  Well, she said moving downstairs was no problem…of course she didn’t tell those who had been sitting downstairs!  After some Germans, who are very protective of their seats, shooed us out of theirs, we all found seats.  No harm no foul.  EXCEPT, the tour guide apparently took all this in and quickly walked up to Marie and invited her to sit in the privileged, special spot right behind her—way up front.  So for the rest of the tour, Granny was Princess for a Day!!  Karen then heard the Germans who were very protective of their seats wonder aloud (in German of course) why SHE got to sit up there.  Hilarious!!  Needless to say, Granny enjoyed the special treatment thoroughly. 

On Wednesday, Sept 3^rd, Kelley had had enough of the rest of us clowns, so took off on her own to the Pergammon Musuem  (and nearby sights).  She tackled the U-Bahn with relative ease, found the Pergammon and negotiated her way through that, and even found a great place to find lunch ALL BY HERSELF.  Her greatest difficulty came at the end of her outing, when she tried to get back into our apartment.  She buzzed our apartment.  Karen pushed the unlock button.  A few seconds later, Kelley buzzed the apartment again.  Karen pushed the unlock button again.  A few seconds later, Kelley buzzed the apartment once again.  Feeling something was obviously awry, Karen ran down the stairs to let Kelley back in manually.  When she opened the door, Kelley was on the sidewalk explaining, rather frantically, “The door just wouldn’t release!  I was pulling and pulling and it just wouldn’t release!”  Karen replied, rather dryly, “Umm…it’s push.”  Up the stairs we went, with Kelley having to own her blunder just as Granny had to own hers when she walked into a glass door!!

Not to be intimidated by yesterday’s blunder, Kelley headed out to the nearby town of Potsdam on Thursday, September 4^th.  She took a bus tour from the Ku’Damm and had a bus tour in Potsdam and a walking tour of Sanssouci.  She would have rather had a bit more time to explore downtown Potsdam but really enjoyed the palace and the gardens of Sanssouci.  And today, thankfully, she didn’t have the additional challenge of getting back into the apartment building because the door was propped open all day due to construction going on on the floor below us.  By the way, because of said construction, school was aborted due to noise vibrating in our heads!  We went shopping and played ping pong in the park for a couple of hours!!  On Thursday night, after German class, we (Todd, Nicole, and Rachel too having completed the seminar) gathered at the Italian Restaurant down the block.  We had a lovely dinner only slightly interrupted by the moving of our table because of a downpour!  Impact’s Business Manager, Nicole Washington, provided her own blunder as part of this evening’s entertainment.  As she ordered her meal (at a restaurant where the waiters speak only German and Italian, by the way) she was trying to figure out how to order a vegetarian pasta dish.  She was really trying to get into the spirit of it too, by ordering in German (auf Deutsch).  After a few attempts, she and the waiter were going back and forth with “Und (and)…und…und.” And then Nicole ends the rally with “Hund.”  For those of you who speak a bit of German, what she tried to order at this upstanding Italian restaurant in the middle of Berlin, was pasta and dog!!  Needless to say, it will be awhile before she lives that one down.  Even the kids got into the teasing.  When they were walking home after dinner, a dog went by.  Emily was quick to say, “Tell Nicole we just saw dessert.”  And Bryce, not to be outdone, said “I think it is more of an after dinner mint!”  Todd, Karen, Nicole and Rachel stayed at the restaurant for a meeting while Granny and Kelley ushered the kids home.  We haven’t really talked about just exactly what went on that night, but when Todd and Karen returned, Granny and Kelley were in bed, but Bryce and Emily were wide awake!  Hmmm…I guess you really do get what you pay for!!

On Friday, September 5^th, Granny and Todd left for the United States.  So, that morning, basically chaos reigned, as bags were packed and last minute errands were run, etc.  Karen managed to escape a bit of the chaos by going to get her hair cut.  It was a little nerve-wracking because no one spoke English, but Karen managed to negotiate her way through the process with her limited speaking ability, but growing understanding!  At the very end (Karen was quite pleased with the cut, by the way) Todd came in and we were speaking English, so the woman at the front desk to whom I was giving the money, said “All is Ok” (referring to the haircut).  Well, I was racking my brain trying to figure out what she said when I realized she was speaking English!!  Yes, all was great…and I am really not a total idiot!!!

After Granny and Todd were off, Karen, Kelley and the kids headed to the museum at Checkpoint Charlie.  It was a nice visit, although the organization of that museum leaves quite a bit to be desired.  It was very interesting and learning about the methods people used to try to escape was fascinating to all.  Karen had an interesting discussion with the kids about the desperation those people must have felt in order to drive them to folding themselves up in a hollowed out stereo or squishing  themselves in a hollowed out surfboard or a re-engineered tiny car.  The thing to remember is that when this wall went up (on August 13, 1961) families and friends were divided one from another in basically the blink of an eye.  What would you do to reunite your family???  I am guessing a hot air balloon or a passport of someone who didn’t really look like you at all might not seem as far-fetched then.