St. Martin’s Tag (aka—Lantern Fest)

November 11, 2011 was my first St. Martins Day in Berlin, Germany (and of course Alani’s).   Traditionally there is a horse rider dressed up as a Roman Soldier that children holding lanterns follow around singing songs.  At the end of the walk everyone enjoys pretzels.   Afterwards families and friends also have a wonderful meal of roast goose. 

So why all the celebration??  According to the story St. Martin, who was a Roman Soldier, cut is cloak in half and gave one half to a beggar in a snow storm.  A while after this event he had a dream where Jesus spoke to him and thanked him for keeping him warm when He was cold.   St. Martin was so moved by this that he was baptized and became Christian.  A later story from his life (and the reason for eating goose perhaps?) was that he hid in a barn of geese when the local villagers were trying to find him and make him a bishop.  Apparently the geese gave away his location and he was found and made bishop after all. 

Since I work in a Kita (preschool) we had to help the children make their lanterns for St. Martins Day.  This is a really fun process that the kids are excited about for a couple weeks before the big day.  The lanterns are traditionally made out of paper and lit with a candle; and since my co-teacher is a traditional German kind of girl we made our lanterns the old fashioned way.   I have to admit I was a bit nervous about the idea, especially since we have 11 super-active boys in our class.   They did a great job though and were very carful with their lanterns. 

Alani’s class also made lanterns, although battery powered lights.  Alani was very proud of her lantern that she colored, but refused to carry it.  Consequently Valentin ended up carrying her and the lantern for most of the walk.  Lantern I did take a picture of the lantern.  I also tried to get Alani to hold it for a picture, but the best I could get was her kicking it.  However, it has been sitting on the table and every time she sees it she points and says “Alani’s Lantern” very proudly.  

Happy Halloween 2011

It has been just over a year since we moved to Berlin from Brooklyn, NY.  So much has changed in our lives!  This year Alani is not only walking, but running everywhere.  She is talking and singing constantly.  It is official, she is no longer a baby but a crazy little toddler.  She brings us so much joy and laughter.

This year Alani mostly observed me carving her pumpkin.  She stuck her hand in once and said "dirty" and refused to do anymore.  However, she was interested in the process and when it was on the table she kept pointing to it and saying "Alani pumpkin".  We had a party for her friends on Sunday the 30th, she however refused to wear her costume so we have no pictures of her dressed up.  It was a cute puppy dog costume that Valentin got when he was NYC, instead she ran around in black leggings and a black t-shirt like a cat burglar.

She has also started Kita (like preschool).  She loves her school and especially her teachers and friends in her class.  She knows all of their names and if you come into her class she will point at everyone and tell you their name so you will know too.  The first couple weeks taking her and leaving her for the day were rough, but now she is in the routine full swing.  At the end of the day when she sees me on the playground she usually runs up, gives me a hug and then says "Alani play" and runs for the slide.  

Another big change is that I am no longer a stay-at-home mom.  Instead I am working at Alani’s Kita with the 4 year olds as their English speaking teacher.  The concept for the school is built around raising children in a multi-lingual environment so each classroom has a dedicated English and German teacher.  Both teachers are native speakers so the kids really absorb a lot throughout the day.  I’m amazed at how much Alani says in both German and English.  She also has no problem understanding if someone speaks to her in German or English. 

Speaking of learning languages…this is one I am still working on.  It is nice to be a small child learning a language as you grow up, but I am not a small child.  I am getting much better now, especially working with so many kids that come from German speaking homes.  However, I still have a long way to go.  Since my schedule is so busy now a couple friends and I have joined together and hired a private teacher to help us once a week.  I’m hoping this will get me motivated to speak more. 

Valentin is also working hard here and taking care of so many things that we are still trying to figure out after a year of living here.  There is so much he has to deal with primarily, such as insurance, taxes, paying bills, etc., since my German is not the best.  Luckily he seems to keep it all balanced out along with his huge work load so I really appreciate not needing to worry about that stuff. 

I will continue blogging now that I have settled into a much calmer routine with work, taking care of Alani, and still paying attention to Valentin.  Upcoming highlights include…St. Martins Day, Thanksgiving, and me attempting to get my drivers license!  

Springtime in Berlin

I know it has been awhile.  Many of my friends and family have been asking me what happened to my blog and when I was going to start it up again.  I really will to continue to post when I can, this winter just got busy and Alani figured out how fun it is to sit on my lap and mash the buttons while I’m trying to type so blogging has gotten significantly harder.  I will do my best to catch you up on what has been happening the last few months here in Berlin. 

First of all, Alani turned one in February and has been growing and doing new things every day.   It is really amazing to remember what a little butterball she was this time last year not really doing much.  Now she is walking and trying to talk.  Currently she has really hit her toddler stride and gives the occasional temper-tantrum.  She has is also very sweet though and loves to give kisses all the time.  Her favorite thing to do right now is run after Schnuckel and boss the poor dog around.   Alani is also obsessed with shoes and books.  She is currently also carrying a little suitcase everywhere.  Not sure why or where she is planning on going, but it is pretty funny (pictures of Alani with suitcase). 

I’m in the process of getting geared up to teach preschool in the fall.  It will be a big change from teaching high school biology, but I’m really looking forward to it.  The place where I am going to be is a bilingual Kita (German word for preschool) so I will be working with a German teacher all day.  I’m really hoping this helps improve my German as well.  Alani will also be going to one of their schools which makes things less stressful for us.

Valentin is working hard currently and is under a lot of pressure at work.  However, he still loves to spend time with Alani.  Every Saturday morning they go out for daddy/daughter breakfast at the hotel down the street from us.  I usually join them at the end and have a coffee.  It is so cute to sneak in before Alani sees me and watch them enjoying their food together.   We also try to get out and see something with her every weekend like a park or the zoo or whatever occurs to us.

We have also made some wonderful friends here in Berlin which makes life much richer (picture of Alani holding hands with her friend Olivia).  We are currently enjoying the beautiful spring weather and grilling on our porch every weekend with them.   There are many wonderful playgrounds in the area for Alani as well.  She loves to swing and slide.  If she gets sand on her hands she holds them in my face until I wipe them off, which makes playing in the sand a very slow event.

That is it for this little update.  I will try to post something about Germany again very soon.

Happy New Year!

2010 was an exciting year for our family to say the least.  We started the year welcoming our daughter into the world and moved half-way around the world to Berlin, Germany.  These have been some big changes for us and very exciting. 

We celebrated Christmas in Texas with my family at my sister’s house.  She and her husband were so generous opening up their home for us for the holidays.  Alani and I flew in on December 18^th and Valentin came in on the 23^rd.  Alani had so much fun playing with all of her family, she was truly the star.  Her favorite though, Shannon’s dog Oxley.  That poor pup was so sweet and let Alani literally pull clumps of hair out without a peep.   Alani was very spoiled for her first Christmas and received many wonderful gifts from the entire family.  Her favorite, of course, was all the boxes and bags and paper and ribbons. 

We had planned to leave Houston on the 27^th to fly up to NYC, however the weather changed those plans.  A huge snow storm closed all the airports around NYC, so we spent a couple extra days in Houston.  Alani also caught a cold from her Daddy during this time so it was good to have a couple more days in the milder weather.  We finally made it up to NYC in time for New Year’s which we spent at our friend Liz and Lino’s wonderful home in Connecticut.  After that we headed down to the city for a couple days in our old neighborhood in Brooklyn and catching up with all of our friends around New York.  After that we flew from NYC to Frankfurt where we spent a few days at Valentin’s parents’ home.  We had such a wonderful time, but after so much traveling it was really nice to get back to Berlin.

Since we have been back here we have just been getting back into our usual routine.  Valentin is back at work and is trying to spend as much time with Alani as possible in the mornings and evenings.  Alani and I are back to our classes and having play-dates.  I am also starting to meet with people about possible jobs beginning next August when Alani starts preschool. 

We are looking to spending more time exploring our new city in 2011.  It is hard to believe we have been here since September and have not even covered a quarter of all there is to see.  We are hoping friends and family will visit us soon to make us get out and explore!