Stories From A Life Gone Crazy: Market and Kindergarten

Wednesday we walked to the Domplatz for the weekly market. I would call it a farmer's market but it is so much more elaborate than the farmer's markets of home. There are these huge tents, carts, and booths some have awnings or an extended tented area with tables and chairs so you can enjoy the coffees, sodas, teas, sandwiches, breads, and dips you've bought.

The meat stands have steak, sausage, and so many different types of meat hanging from their stands and in their display case, it is like going to a butcher.

The fruit and vegetable stands are abundant with whatever is in season, right now there are the reddest juiciest strawberries I have ever seen or tasted and huge thick white asparagus but don't worry they have the small thin green asparagus too if that is more your speed

The bakery stands are my favorite and there are loaves of fresh baked bread in the back of the booth and at least 15 different cakes and pastries in the display window; I got käsekuchen and Jack got an Amerikaner.

The fish stands have filleted and whole fish with their fishy eyes just staring at you. Pete went to one of these stands and got-I think- a matjes sandwich,raw fish and onion on a roll. Jack and Luke each had bites.

The cheese stands had wheels, blocks, and samples of gouda, tilsiter, butterkäse, steppenkäse, and so many more. We didn't buy any cheese this time, but maybe next time, it all looked so good.

There were stands with spices, scarves, hair dye, belts, pelts, flowers, trees, and candy. It was wonderful and for whatever reason as I walked through the image from the movie, Nottinghill, when Hugh Grant is walking through a market kept flashing through my mind.

Our next adventure was enrolling Jack in kindergarten. Kindergarten in Germany is for ages 3-6 and is more like American preschool. I had been emailing the head lady but she wanted me to call, and while I was so afraid to do this I tried, but realized our guesthouse only let us call within the University and not out- so I emailed again and asked if we could just do it face to face. Luckily, she agreed and said there would be someone around who could speak English. We took the bus to what will be our new little town and just rang the bell not sure what to expect. She answered the door and immediately asked if we were the English speaking American family. I wonder--do we look American? What do Americans look like to other people? Her English was quite good and better than our, or at least my, German will ever be, but she was not confident enough to conduct this meeting alone so she lead us to the playground where immediately I almost started to cry(due to happiness), I won't lie, I have had a hard time adjusting and Jack has too, which of course breaks my heart more, so when the first thing I saw were about 5 boys riding bikes and scooters in a circle (just like when we would drop Jack off at Montessori) I about broke down right there, instead I just smiled. The teacher of this group of children spent a year in New Zealand so she speaks the best English, and since she can speak English well they are going to put Jack in her class. Jack and Luke ran off and began playing with the other kids while they told us about the school, went over the contract, and etc. Luke was keeping up with those kids just fine and loved being there as much as Jack, too bad he has to wait another year. There are two girls, sisters, who speak English and German in this class,their dad is American and his grandmother was from Evansville, IN, which is where I am from, so that is just insane to me. We met him, obviously, and he has been living in Germany for 10 years and still doesn't feel like he can speak German, he said for the first two years he was just totally lost. Oh no-- we are only living here for two years! The school day is also very different than the American school day. Drop-off is anytime from 7am-9am depending on what you, as a family, have going on. The kids bring their breakfast(you know rolls, cheese, meat, and fruit--we were told)and they can eat it at any point in the morning then around noon you pick up your kid so they can eat lunch at home and this lasts until 2:30 when you take them back to school. The school day ends between 4-4:30pm. Jack gets to start in June which makes me very happy. We walked to the Catholic Church and two steps to our left the weekly market in Roxel was happening then 5 steps straight ahead was Jack's school.

Roxel weekly market

St. Pantaleon

Then we walked to our new apartment because the boys and I haven't seen it yet. The walk from the church square to our house is maybe 5 minutes. The inside of the apartment is truly unfurnished. No kitchen, no light fixtures (just wires hanging out where the lights should go), no mirrors, and there are no closets except the hall closet and in there you need to buy the rod that would allow you to hang up your coat. So there is a lot of work to be done but the town is so small and quaint- I think we will end up liking it.

This is the kitchen

In between Roxel and Munster there is the KaufMart which is basically Wal-Mart, and let me tell you no matter how much I dislike what the company of Wal-Mart stands for I love the fact that there is a place where you can get groceries, toys, underwear, gloves, make-up, and etc. Not having a place like this was making me so stressed because I had no idea where to buy stuff like cheap make-up and socks, what about a vacuum, tools, toaster, sheets, and pillows? We won't go all the time because we have to load our haul back into town via bike or bus, but it is nice to know that we can go once a month to load up on stuff we need. Also, it is nice to have when we are trying to stock an apartment. I actually smiled and let out a deep breath when I walked in- perhaps a sad commentary on Americans, but wow I was relieved.

There is still a mountain of stuff to do-a huge mountain- but I am beginning to think that once we've ticked it all off I might be able to relax a little and not want to jump on the next plane home.

Here are a few pictures of us.