The Circus, the Flu and New Friends

Ugh - I have been sick all week with the flu. I will admit that it was kind of great to read in bed for days and let all three boys fend for themselves. The bed I sleep in here is really quite cozy with the personal duvet that I can cocoon myself in. Although I am not sure the body aches, chills and head aches are worth it.

Of course, this also means that there was no way I was getting on my bike to trek out to the several grocery stores and markets for this weeks blog post, but that is ok since interesting things just keep happening.

Tuesday was the monthly meeting for the Internationaler Elternkreis (international parents circle) for the parents of students at Preston's School, Paulinum. We met in a very chic cafe called Faun. Being a cafe, it served a variety of coffee drinks and treats, as well as the ever present sparkling water and many versions of beer. One of the popular beers drinks here is something called a Radler, which is a mixture of Beer and lemonade or a citrus soda like Sprite. I know, it sounds bizarre, but many people here love it. The cafe also had some really interesting teas and hot chocolates. Next time I am definitely going to try the chile hot chocolate. Another part of the cafe had an area where you could buy higher end cooking items and ingredients as well as jewelry and other nicknacks.

The parents group discussed issues and challenges our kids are facing. At this months meeting, we talked about whether the kids are feeling integrated at the school or not. All the kids but one are having a positive experience and together we were able to come up with some ideas to help the family of the student who is having a difficult time.

The group itself is an interesting mix of nationalities. There is one other US family as well as a Canadian family. There are families from Brasil, Spain, Mexico, Hungry, Denmark, Afghanistan, Russia, Poland, China and a few others I can't think of right now. All in all, about 30 parents showed up. No matter where we are from, we all have the same concerns - is our child happy, what do we do if they are sick, how are their grades effected by missing regular classes for German as a second language classes - Preston misses biology.

A few days after the meeting, I noticed my parsley plant had some flies. I thought that if I walked to the front door some of the flies would veer off and stay in the room, so I opened the window and proceeded to brush them off the plant and out of the room. Alas, I had not watered the plant in a few days, so as I was brushing the leaves, it fell down, right onto my neighbors porch. I did not intend to brush the plant right out of the pot! A few moments later a teenage boy picked it up and peered up at me with a puzzled look on his face. Red-faced, I went downstairs to retrieve plant and when the door opened, I realized I recognized the mom from the parents meeting the previous Tuesday. Twenty minutes later I went back upstairs having gained a new friend.

This is also the last week till fall break starts here, so the kids have been working hard to finish up testing and the like. The other particularly exciting thing happening this week is the circus! The Sperlich circus has set up shop at Paton's school. As a reward for the kids, they get to spend this week learning circus tricks and then participating in performances. Sunday, many of  the parents met at the school to help raise the circus tent and set up the bleacher seats.

Russell was really excited to use the biggest sledge hammer he had ever seen to help put this up. Of course, he is still paying for it.

It is hard to appreciate the scale of the tent, but this is the inside of the tent pictured above. 

This is where the circus family lives while they are traveling.

Paton was my photographer for these pictures and I think he did a fabulous job!

The school kids are divided into 7 groups. Acrobats, clowns, magicians, Ponies, rope dancers, glass and fire feats and mimes. Paton has been practicing his upcoming performance with the Fakir/Feuer group. They are performing on a glass carpet, laying on a bed of nails and wiping fire across their hands. He thinks it is awesome. We, the proud parents, get to watch the show on Friday! I will post some more pictures after the performance.