This week we've had a record number of children home sick. Yesterday we had 10 of 23 children in my class attend in the morning, and only eight came back for the afternoon. This morning we had nine children. No child has had perfect attendence this week except (guess who?) Allessandro! When I get to heaven, the first question on my list for God is why on earth he gave Allessandro the strongest immune system of the entire class. Nevertheless, some child gave me the sniffles and replace-the-brains-with-marshmallows disease. My nose has run more in the past 72 hours than my legs have in the past three months, which actually leads to a bit of a problem. Remember those massive boxs of tissues in every classroom in school? Well those don't exist here (at least not that I've seen). All tissues come in those cute little travel packs, prompting sick people to reuse their tissues until the poor tissue is soaked with green and yellow snot and has effectively transferred all bacteria to the lining of the user's pocket. I mean, when there are only twenty tissues in the entire house you can't exactly have a one-per-sneeze policy.
That being said, life did exist before I was given the gift of snot and mucus. Here's what happened:
Saturday: I woke up early and went with my house brother, J, to his Big Band rehersal. For all my band geek friends: be thankful for that fourth period class. J's band meets at 9 am every Saturday morning until noon-ish. We then stopped back home to pick up the rest of my family and we went to Bonn again, to the Haribo store! Let me tell you, that place is heaven on earth. And the best part? It's reasonably priced! I got a lifetime supply (which I efficiently ate in a week) of gummies for only 11 Euros. We then went to my house father's mother's house. Oma (grandma) lives near Koln (Cologne). I like Oma. She seems nice, although I couldn't understand anything she said. After Kaffetrinken (cookie dinner) with her we went to Koln to look at the city at night from a panorama building across the river. Here's the view (pardon my awful photography skills):
The bridge to the bottom right is a pretty cool bridge. It's open only to train and foot traffic and on the gate separating the two there are millions of locks. People write or engrave their names or initials on the lock, hook it to the gate, and throw the key into the Rhine (which is still flooded, by the way). And guess what? I have a lock on that gate! I was pretty uncreative with it, though. It simply says "Gabbie Jan 15, 2011" and has a butterfly stick figure. But still, I have a lock on the bridge :)
After that we just walked around Cologne and saw some parties for Karneval, a big festival here in the spring. We also looked at some statues that are supposed to have some significace, but considering that I can't remember their names or what their significance was, they probably aren't actually too important. We went inside the Dom, but we couldn't go too far inside or up in the Dom due to the fact that Saturday Night Mass was happening at that time. We'll probably go back next weekend. At least, I think that's what my house mother said.
Sunday: My house brother and I made chocolate chip cookies! Guess how hard that is when you only have the recipe in American measurments, there's no Crisco, and they don't use Vanilla Extract? Um, really hard. But we finally mastered the recipe and I have to say, they're pretty good. Here they are:
And guess what else happened on Sunday? The flowers on my desk bloomed! This is incredibly significant because I NEVER notice the growth or morphing of plants or flowers. Ever. But Sunday I noticed that the flowers had bloomed because they hadn't opened Saturday night when I went to bed.
This afternoon my house mother and I made brownie-muffins for the Kinders tomorrow, since it is my last day. But, if I'm lucky, this illness will have spread to every child and I can just bring them back home and eat them myself :) After evaluation of the children, I have come up with the Mausgruppe superlatives. They are:
Gabbie's favorite to talk to: Tim. Tim's parents are teaching him English and Deutsch as he grows up, so he can understand some of what I say. He also speaks clearly, unlike the other Kinder, whose conversations sound like remakes of WWI radio communications. His vocabulary also includes the words Bitte (please), Entshuldigung (excuse me), and Danke (thank you). I told him in English that he needed to teach the other children those words. He didn't understand that :(
Most chill: David. David's from Cameroon, Africa. He's pretty chill, and is like, Hey, if I can't have the purple crayon I'm not gonna sweat it. I'll just use a red one. David also rocks at musical chairs.
Most attention seeking: It's a three way tie between Jamilla, Kiara, and Allessandro. Luckily Kiara hasn't been there this week. Pehaps she won't get a brownie-muffin. Too bad.
Most likely to beat someone up and/or kill someone: Jamie. Jamie almost strangled me the other day. Like, the other teacher had to pull him off and call his parents. Jamie was sick yesterday :)
Most likely to become a world class criminal: Maurice. Maurice has tried to steal my sunglasses, and I know he has gotten away with my chapstick, plastic water bottle (thank goodness not my Nalgene), my banana, and my flower craft I made on Tuesday.
Most likely to become an engineer: Helgar. He makes the coolest Lego contraptions. He made a working train lift for the Thomas trains last week. I was pretty impressed.
Most likely to become a literary major: Anne. Anne has read every book in the classroom three times. She's four.
Most likely to become a desperate housewife: Jamilla.
Most likely to live until 101: Allessandro. That kid has an immune system of steel.
Most likely to join an insane assylum before 30: Onja. Read last Monday's post.
There are other children, but they don't matter too much. I barely remember their names. Oops.
But here's the major stories of the week (there are only two):
Monday: I made 133 clay snakes. I counted. It's not like I can make anything else out of clay, and obviously the Kinders can't make their own snakes. They would want a snake, I would make it for them, they'd then roll it up into a ball and want another. 133. Remember that.
Tuesday: We went to the Krank House! I'm not actually too sure how it's spelled, but in English it's hospital. We took a field trip to learn about hospital things, like IV's, babies, and X-rays. It was pretty fun, I have to admit.
Before I bore you to death I'm going to go pack for this weekend's adventure. We're visiting my House mother's brother! He has a stepson named Phelix. I can't wait to meet someone named Phelix. I'm serious about that. Phelix is an awesome name. And I know this trip will be the perfect way to end two wonderful weeks of kindergarten. It's been a blast!
Until next time,
Gabbie
I think you got the Germ Cooties when you were strangled! MOM
ReplyDeleteYour photo of the bridge is awesome!
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