Gianna in her natural habitat, after school. I think she is celebrating that the sun came out for the first time in months...or the stack of birthday presents on top of the wardrobe. Click the photo for better resolution.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
One little monkey...
...jumping on the bed!
Gianna in her natural habitat, after school. I think she is celebrating that the sun came out for the first time in months...or the stack of birthday presents on top of the wardrobe. Click the photo for better resolution.
Gianna in her natural habitat, after school. I think she is celebrating that the sun came out for the first time in months...or the stack of birthday presents on top of the wardrobe. Click the photo for better resolution.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
H1N1
For the first part of this week, Gianna's school is closed due to parent-teacher conferences and Veteran's Day tomorrow. Dan met with Gianna's teachers on Monday to discuss her pre-school progress:
-Gianna is not afraid to say "no!" to the boys when they want to start rough play. She doesn't ask for help from the teachers to make them leave her and her friends alone.
-Although she is the youngest in the class, she is amongst the brightest.
-She is behind in English, but is on track with other ESL students.
-She is very eager to start activities and learn; she often understands concepts that the other children can't grasp.
I am not sure if I will send her back for the remaining two school days this week. One of her classmates is down with suspected H1N1. It will take 3 days to get results back, as Germany does not seem to stock in-office tests.
In fact, their whole attitude towards the disease has been rather arrogant. They received one batch of quality vaccine from Baxter last month and inoculated their military and politicians (um, are they planning to take over the world again?). Later this month, a batch of lower quality vaccine will arrive to vaccinate high risk patients including pregnant women and children. I've spoken with several doctors including Gianna's pediatrician, asking where we can go to get her inoculated and their answer is they won't be getting any vaccine in because they "don't expect it will get as bad here as in the States". And that conclusion is based on what scientific logic? Americans are going around coughing on each other and licking door handles whilst the German superstitions of wearing scarves year-round and opening all the windows in the morning to let the stale air out are going to keep them protected? Once I hear batches of the vaccine have arrived, I am going to call around, see who has it, get both Gianna and myself vaccinated. Until then, my ears are finely tuned to any child that's down with H1N1. Schweinegrippe raus!
-Gianna is not afraid to say "no!" to the boys when they want to start rough play. She doesn't ask for help from the teachers to make them leave her and her friends alone.
-Although she is the youngest in the class, she is amongst the brightest.
-She is behind in English, but is on track with other ESL students.
-She is very eager to start activities and learn; she often understands concepts that the other children can't grasp.
I am not sure if I will send her back for the remaining two school days this week. One of her classmates is down with suspected H1N1. It will take 3 days to get results back, as Germany does not seem to stock in-office tests.
In fact, their whole attitude towards the disease has been rather arrogant. They received one batch of quality vaccine from Baxter last month and inoculated their military and politicians (um, are they planning to take over the world again?). Later this month, a batch of lower quality vaccine will arrive to vaccinate high risk patients including pregnant women and children. I've spoken with several doctors including Gianna's pediatrician, asking where we can go to get her inoculated and their answer is they won't be getting any vaccine in because they "don't expect it will get as bad here as in the States". And that conclusion is based on what scientific logic? Americans are going around coughing on each other and licking door handles whilst the German superstitions of wearing scarves year-round and opening all the windows in the morning to let the stale air out are going to keep them protected? Once I hear batches of the vaccine have arrived, I am going to call around, see who has it, get both Gianna and myself vaccinated. Until then, my ears are finely tuned to any child that's down with H1N1. Schweinegrippe raus!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Swedish festival
Despite the rain, people are out at the Swedish festival on the Hauptwache drinking glögg and dancing to the ABBA cover band. It's not very large, just a few stands selling meatballs (including Ikea), glögg, smoked salmon, reindeer and elk burgers, and Swedish handicrafts. We drank some glögg, listened and danced to faux ABBA (they couldn't get the real ABBA?) then headed off to dinner with friends at Mai Viên, which has quickly become our favorite Vietnamese restaurant in Frankfurt. Today is a rare "Sunday shopping" day, where the stores are allowed to be open. On other Sundays, retails stores are to remain closed, as per German law. Perhaps we will window shop on the Zeil and go back to the Swedish festival for more glögg.
The viking ship selling glögg and other Swedish beverages.
Enjoying said glög.
Listening to ABBA "Dancing Queen"
Gianna and a wooden reindeer reading the menu.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Laufräder
It's a bike without pedals for young children to learn balance and agility before moving up to the big kid bikes. They drive it the same way Fred Flintstone drives his car, using their feet as gas and brake. Once they learn to balance on two wheels, they lift their feet off the ground and coast when they get up to speed. Laufräders are incredibly popular in Germany, especially the wooden ones. Yes, bikes made of wood! Germans would make their kids out of wood if it was possible; they love anything wooden. Gianna's friend rides a wood bike, but I have not yet been able to snap a photo, so a website pic will have to do. And here are a few photos of Gianna riding her new bike home in the rain.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Street Girl is toast
Gianna's intrepid pink and purple Laufrad named "Street Girl" has bit the dust. The ball bearings and band brake in the rear axel are damaged. Sure, there's a chance we may be able to find some suitable replacement parts and repair the old girl, but for the money we spent on the bike to begin with, it's probably not worth the time and effort. The snooty chain smoking bike repair man gave me an earful about buying cheap bikes for kids in the first place. He almost swallowed his cigarette when I told him we bought it at Toys-R-Us. 
*Wednesday morning edit: I let the bike guy's lecture get to me and we decided to buy a premium bike (although it was still much less than €250 and I didn't buy it from that jerk). It's German, but not made of wood like the most expensive models. I don't see why people spend more money to risk getting splinters in your arse. Photos are forthcoming once we get some decent weather...so April.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Halloween
"Chicken Treat!" Gianna was skeptical of this holiday from the beginning. She did not want to wear her costume and "chicken treating" didn't sound like fun either...until we got to the US consulate housing, she saw all the tables set up and realized, they were giving out free candy!! The people were grilling, drinking beer, wearing spooky costumes, it was an all-American celebration. We ran into a lot of people we knew; it was fun to hang out with other Americans on this great holiday. Gianna filled her Hello Kitty bag and we made one last trick-or-treat stop at neighbor Niall's house before calling it a night. She got a variety of candy, including several American treats that are not sold in the stores here. Thanks for a great night, US Consulate!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
