Today is a big day. We drive the kids to the International School where they are to be tested for grade placement. There are definitely spots for Micaela and Emilie, but no spot yet for James. I'm working under the assumption that they will see the wisdom of making a spot become available as we will eventually have four kids enrolled there. We have decided on this school, called ISF, because we were already familiar with it (our American friend's kids went there) and they stress learning German more than the other international school did.
It's my first time driving and I'm OK once we get going, but now that I'm behind the wheel, I realize that there are tons of traffic signs and I have absolutely no idea what they mean. I need to get to that driving school fast! We not taking the highway and make a few wrong turns, but arrive safely.
We need to go through a manned security gate to get into the school and while there, Micaela and James get tested in math and English. It turns out Emilie will need to come back another day.
David leaves to go to work and I take the little ones onto the playground. I meet another American mom there whose son is being tested as well. She has been here for several weeks and said that things are going OK. She's not overly enthusiastic, but she also has four kids and is still getting adjusted. Her son did not pass the school's math test on his first try -- and he was in honors math back home in the U.S. This was his second try, so now I am a bit nervous about how my own the kids will fare.
She tells me that she has "Slingbox"--where they kept their house in the U.S. and hooked their TV back home through the computer to their TV here. She can watch her American TV here, though it's at real time, which means The Office is on at 3:00am here. No, problem, though. She has Tivo so she just tapes everything and watches it later.
We are getting more used to our house. Compared to most German homes, our kitchen is big and we have a full-sized fridge (much to my relief). Other homes I have been in have a fridge that is 2/3 the size of ours and then the freezer is 1/4 the size of the typical American one. You can probably fit 2 gallons of ice cream in there and that's it. On the other hand, the microwave oven and regular oven are much, much smaller and have no clocks nor timers. I use a little plastic timer if I'm baking.
Penny, our relocation agent, told me a funny story about how her family hosted some others for Thanksgiving, to show their German friends how we celebrate it. She got a big turkey ready for roasting, opened the door of the oven and then realized that it wouldn't fit! Her husband had to saw the handles off the roasting pan and it just barely fit.
We have a 1/2 bath on the first floor and a family room that is like a solarium -- lots of glass for me to clean. At night we lower the electric metal blinds and feel quite sheltered.
The kids have their own floor with a full bathroom and their bedrooms are much bigger than their old ones in Atlanta. Rebecca and Emilie share a room which frees up the smallest one as a playroom.
Go up a wooden spiral staircase and you're in the penthouse suite. We have our bedroom, a large bathroom, an office and then a dressing room where we will put shränke. The first few times I had to venture back down the spiral staircase, I got a little dizzy, plus you look down 1-1/2 stories. Poor Guinness, he's still not comfortable either. He sort of surfs down the stairs. All you hear is him slipping and sliding down.
The basement is divided into three small rooms and we hope to put our fußball table in one of them.
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