Baby It's Cold Outside!

Winter is Definitely Still Here!

So far, we have enjoyed a relatively mild winter. It hovered near freezing since November, that is until about two weeks ago.

At the very end of January, right when we thought we might be lucky enough to have the bitter cold bypass Münster, the cold hit us like a brick.

We have been riding our bikes to school, the gym, the office, and the grocery store with temperatures around 6 degrees Fahrenheit (-15 Celsius). Apparently, this is the normal temperature for winter.

The lovely lake we ran around during the Autumn froze hard enough that people dusted off their ice skates, sleds and other toys and hit the ice.

The day we went to play on the ice, it was frozen to about 10 inches thick. Here is a picture that shows a deep crack in the ice to give you an idea of how thick it is.

We don't have any ice skates, so we had to settle with just walking around on the ice and people watching. It was just as well because there was plenty to look at.

The lake is pretty long and somewhat narrow. We started out just walking across the narrow expanse first. After adjusting scarves and coats, of course. It was so cold.

As we walked along we kept seeing interesting bubbles in the ice. Maybe this is trite for a lot of you, but I grew up in Houston where it is not uncommon to not really even need a coat or jacket for going to your Christmas or New Year parties

I told Pr that I thought the bubbles in the picture below looked like an old fashioned tug boat. He did not agree and let me know in a way that reminded me again that he is becoming a teenager.

I could only think of the Charlie Brown Christmas Movie when I saw the figure eight.

We saw several people on bikes.

Without a sled, I suppose pushing your baby in the stroller while ice skating is the next best thing.

This is one of the two pedal cars we saw on the ice. You can just see the person sitting inside while another person is catching a ride on the back.

Eisrettungsstation means Ice Rescue Station. We didn't see any broken ice, but there were several stories in the news about people or animals falling through when the freezing weather first hit. People had been on the lake for about two weeks, but the locals warned us not to go out "until the fire department says that they can't guarantee anyone's safety." Then it is okay.

Some enterprising people set up a Bratwurst and Glüwein booth just outside a restaurant and business was hopping! 

Pa was thrilled to be able to jump on the ice.

While we were walking we kept hearing this spooky sound that reminded me of sounds you would hear in an aquarium. I assume it was the sound of ice as it shifted and people walked on it. We enjoyed our little frozen lake outing, but I will be so happy when warmer weather arrives. I think the next week is supposed to be around freezing again. That is practically balmy compared to the last few weeks.

Settling In

Every day that goes by seems like we should be one day closer to feeling more settled in, but it hasn't seemed to happen yet. We have just been so busy that we haven't had much time to slow down. Just getting the boys set up in school has been exhausting.

We have had a little time to start running again. I have been spoiled by the YMCA in Norfolk. It was just so easy to jump onto a treadmill and pound out some miles watching Supernatural, my version of brain candy. Since we are really trying to keep an eye on our budget till we have a better grasp of what our day to day living expenses will be, I haven't even looked at a Gym here. I have resorted to running outside - I had forgotten how enjoyable it can be. We live very close to the Aasee, which has miles of trails around it besides just being lovely.

On the bridges around here we see these locks called "love locks". I can't find out much about them, just that they have been around for a while. Some of the locks have been scratched with something and some have been professionally engraved. Most of the locks are colorful and some look like they have been there a really long time. Here is a small example of what we see.

School started for the boys last Wednesday. I know I mentioned this in last weeks post, but I didn't really go into any details. I knew Preston would be fine because we had dropped by his school the day before and had spoken with one of his teachers.  The teachers said they didn't really have a school supplies list, but he would be told what he needed as they year went by. To start, all he needed was a pen, pencil and a Heft (notebook). They showed us where his class was and that was that.

I was much more apprehensive about Paton. When we dropped him off I had my own moment of panic. I looked at him, him sitting at his table with a his eyes wide with his own apprehension, and I felt like I was throwing him off a bridge.  Luckily, Russell gave us both a look of confidence and we left Paton to do his own thing. He was paired up with a boy who is American by birth and speaks English, but has lived in Münster for several years.

At Preston's school the new students came to school a bit later than the rest of the students allowing Russell and I to both go with him. After getting him set with his new class, the parents of new students and international students met for coffee and cake. This is where we found out that Preston's class was leaving for a class trip on the following Monday - in 5 days!

Apparently, a letter was sent out in July to all the German residents. It took a couple of days to find out exactly what Preston needed for his trip. One item he needed was a little tricky to find - Gummi Siefel, (Rubber Boots). Even though it rains about every 30 seconds here, we saw very few rain boots in the stores. I decided we were just not looking in the right places and remembered a shoe store from when we explored during our first week. Of course, it is about a 30 minute walk from our apartment. Success none the less.

The class was traveling to an Island on the North Sea called Wangerooge. You can read about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wangerooge.

I think there are about 100 kids in the 6th class and their teachers (maybe 8 teachers in all)  going on the trip. They will stay in a Youth Hostel from Monday the 12th till Friday the 16th. A few of the kids do speak English, but I hope this will be a good immersion experience for Preston. His class is very friendly and one boy in particular has taken Preston under his wing. Last year Christian was the new kid who didn't speak any Deutsch.

Both boys had a great start to the school year. Of course, after a day or so of going to school the boys found out that some of their supplies were not like the others. So we spent most of the weekend looking for the "right kind" of school supplies (and Gummi Stiefel). No one uses a pencil bag or box. This is an example of what all the kids have to hold their markers and pencils.

You can see a cardboard fountain pen towards the right side. Children in Germany really do use fountain pens. Paton was given one a few years ago when Paulina came to stay with us, but we took it away from him because it made a mess. However, we brought it with us for some reason, and now Paton uses it at school. Of course, that also means the notebooks the kids use come with a sheet of blotting paper. Weird!

By Sunday we were ready for the coming week and had a chance for some fun. On Sunday afternoon one of our exchange daughters, Paulina, came to visit us from the nearby town Ronnenberg.

It has been wonderful to see her grow over the past 2 years. She met us at our apartment and then we dragged her around our new neighborhood through drizzle and a marathon. The boys showed Paulina their new schools and then we stopped at a cafe on the Aasee for a pick me up treat.

Later, we met her very sweet and dapper grandfather for dinner at a little Italian Restaurant about a block away from our apartment.

I keep thinking that soon we will have more time to really settle in, but I suspect that we will remain busy and will just have to settle in anyway. There is so much to do here and to see. I can't wait to share more next week!