BBS Craft Fair

Each year the PTA hold a craft fair at the school for Year 1 and 2. 

They kids buy tickets for different craft activities. 

 They can paint, stamp, colour, etc...and make all the mess at school, and not have to do it at home! Perfect! 

The boys took a liking to the ceramic placemats. You draw a picture on them with special textas, then bake in a slow oven for 90 minutes to set the colour. Cameron did one "I leov Mum" with a giraffe. Alexander did 3, Qantas plane, Mallorca scene and a space scene.

They had a great time.

1st Snow for the Winter

Our first snow of the year! 

We woke up to lots of it, and it was so exciting to see! 

After the boys were ready for school, we stood out on the balcony catching snowflakes and making snowballs to throw off the balcony! Everyone seems to be surprised that there is snow so early, but the weather forecast has been saying snow for a few weeks. Until now we have only seen a little bit, it melts as soon as it hits the ground. 

Some people are not as pleased with it as us. Most people change their winter tyres over on the 1st of December, so people were caught out! Here is a picture of our street (our fence is on the left side with the terracotta bricks and dark wooden fence rails, and the second photo is at our local park up the street!

Let's walk to Poland!

Sounds crazy I know....but when Phoebe suggested a trip to Poland, I thought it would be a great idea...then I heard "walking", and thought twice! 

But in the end I decided to do it....a weekend away and what a great time we had! There were 9 parents from school. It was a fast pace walk, as we needed to hit our nightly spot by about 4pm, as it gets dark here early at this time of the year, and we were walking through the woods with no lamp posts! The woods are all marked with walking tracks, and it was easy to follow! Our first night we got to Cottbus, and stayed the night in a Youth hostel! It was like being a 16 year old again, with a lot of giggling in our hostel room, and some nude runs in the corridors....some of it alcohol induced!

Here are 8 of us (Tom took the photo) Faye, Christoph, Me, Elli, Sonia, Phoebe, Luke and Giselle in Cottbus...1/2 way!

Up early the following day to walk the rest of the way to Poland. At about 9.30 it began to snow, which was great. Although the weather warmed up and then it just drizzled on and off all day! By the time we got to Poland we were looking rather damp! 

We got to border control around 4pm. We showed our passports to the border attendants, (both German and Polish attendants gave my Australian passport a really good look, and it took longer to process than everyone else's, the look on their face said "What on earth is she doing here!"). Then we stepped into Poland! 

Right on the border is a large market. Interesting, but I didn't buy anything. If you smoke you would be able to buy cartons of cigarettes at every second stall....and DVD's, CD's and ots of clothing stalls.

A couple of bottles of Buffalo Grass Vodka were purchased for the trip home on the train! That helped warm us up on our trip back...some of us were warmer than others! We got back to Berlin around 9pm, and I think we all slept well that night! 

Overall a great trip, feeling sore today, but really glad I decided to do it!  You can see how quickly it gets dark..it was about 4.10pm! 

Thanks Phoebe, that was terrific!!!!

Change of hair colour again!

Out to buy new hair dye, as the orange/red colour is fading away. 

I took Alexander with me. "It's my turn to chose Mum" 

Yes, I guess that was right! Cameron chose the last one. 

Alexander chose this bright purple/red colour! What the hell, it is only hair, and it washes out after 40 washes!

I picked the boys up from school. The kids in both classes know me, their jaws dropped as they saw my hair 

"What happened to your hair Mrs Owens?" says Julian

Mrs Jackson quickly replies..."Julian, it is not nice to comment like that when a lady has her hair done!"

Bradley, wants to chose the colour for his mum. Sonia says "No Way". So I told Bradley he can choose my next colour...he is thinking about blue/black! Interesting! 

Autumn in Berlin

What a difference a week makes. 

After a week in Mallorca, we come back to Berlin and most of the leaves have fallen from the trees. It looks spectacular! From our bedroom window we can see our neighbours garden. It is covered in a bed of coloured leaves. It looks great, my absolute favourite colours all over the place. Everywhere you go in Berlin there are leaves everywhere! 

The boys are enjoying walking through them and hearing them crunch under their feet! The council have people to sweep the leaves up in piles, then a truck comes the following few days to collect them. I wonder why the council doesn't collect them straight away? You see lots of kids jumping in the neat piles of leaves and throwing them at each other, then the men just have to come around and do it all again! 

Highly amusing, and cheap fun for the kids!!!!

Sightseeing in Mallorca

 

We wanted to do a bit of sightseeing.  The lady at the car rental shop told us not to worry if we ran into anything. She says the staff do more damage than the tourists. Phil braved the roads of Mallorca, driving on the other ride of the road to what we are used to.  With a very limited map, he headed off.

After 1/2 hour of winding roads, Cameron threw up all over himself in the car.  Thank goodness we took a couple of large bottles of Evian water with us, although we were hoping to drink this, not use it to wash vomit from clothes.  It was a public holiday and few shops were open.  We managed to find a shop to buy a tourist tshirt and shorts.  

We had a good look around the island.  Some of the homes are built right to the edge of the road. There are also a lot of stone walls lining the roads, with nowhere to pull over and stop.  Sometimes I felt I could stick my hand out the window and touch the walls and houses.  There were many times I sucked my breath in because I was sure we were going to scrape the side of the car and lose a read vision mirror.

On  the North Coast of Mallorca are some Roman Ruins.  They are only small, but incredible to see. Also a really interesting castle, complete with a moat (although dried up now). It was fascinating to see the infrastructure and layout of the castle.  The windows in the outside walls appear to be long slots, but on the inside was enough space for a person to sit in there and shoot arrows from.  Obviously it was harder for their enemies to get their arrows through the narrow slots.  Mallorca was a haven for pirates with so many small harbours to hide heir loot in.

The closest main town to our hotel was Porto Christo. We caught a local tourist street train to town one day when it was a bit grey.  Porto Christo has a really lovely harbour, and some of the boats in port were incredible. $$$

Spanish is the main language of Mallorca, followed by German,French and then English.  We learnt a bit of basic Spanish to get by.  We spoke more German than English. Phil thinks he spoke more German in Mallorca than he normally would in a week in Berlin.

We had a great time in Mallorca. Phil and I feel refreshed, and have enjoyed our family holiday. Phil is off to Australia in a few weeks, (without us) so it was nice to spend a week together! Now to plan the next holiday. London after Xmas and then skiing in February....just have to work out where!

Mallorca

What a relaxing week! 

We seemed to miss out on Summer this year, with heading over to Australia, and Phil travelling. So this was our final chance to get a bit of sun before the winter sets in! We had a good flight, and got in late, and it was dark. We had a transfer to our hotel, which took about 45 minutes. Thank goodness we decided to get a transfer, and not hire a car. The roads are windy and Phil was certain we were just going around in circles. The hotel was reasonable, all inclusive. The pools were lovely, and we were walking distance to the beach!

For the first few days we didn't leave the hotel. The boys were eager to go to the Kids Club each morning for 2 hours. Each day was a different theme, with different activites. They really enjoyed it. They spoke mainly German as most of the kids were German at this resort. Mallorca to Germans is like Bali to Australians. In the afternoons we either went to the beach, or stayed near the pool. 

Each day was about 24 degrees, warm, but not enough to get sunburnt! The food for all meals was terrific and very fresh. Each night was a different theme. I think we all enjoyed the seafood night the best!

Each night after dinner. We would settle down into the bar area of the hotel. We took a few games with us, and played these while we waited for the kids disco to begin. The boys enjoyed their cocktails (non alcoholic of course). Each night, the staff of the kids clubs held a mini disco for the kids. The songs were Spanish, French, German, Italian and English. The kids had a great time. After the mini disco, there was a show for the adults and the children. One night we had an acrobatic act that kept everyone amazed. It was a great way to end the day, and the boys are getting a bit older to stay up a bit later to watch this sort of stuff!

Phil in Kiev

Phil had a business meeting in Kiev on Friday: 

I flew in on Thursday night and got to the hotel about midnight. Friday was stuck in the office all day, but the business meeting went really well. 

That night I went out to dinner with the local General Manager and his wife, then out to 'Art club 44': a basement rock venue in central Kiev. The band was great, but I didn't understand a thing they were singing! The music was really good though! Had a great time. 

Saturday morning the weather turned to rain (after being perfect blue skies whilst I was stuck in the office!), but I still did a walking tour of the centre of town with the local GM and his wife. Interesting city, clean, quite modern, and influenced by Russia from one side and Poland on the other. Very 'Western', too, with all of the big brands, billboards etc. 

However, once out of Kiev, everything really changes and it is apparently like stepping into another world. The photo is of me in 'Freedom Square' - this was where the Orange revolution was last year - apparently a great event, peaceful and almost like a permanent street party. We also saw the Sofia Cathedral and the other main sites in the centre of town. Back home on Saturday evening.

Frankenstein & Tropical Island boy

We had a good time at the Berlin International Women's Club Fest. They were raising money for a children's hospice in Berlin. 

There was face painting and lots of international stands. There was an Aussie stand, and we ate vegemite sandwiches, anzac cookies and lamingtons! Ahh..a taste of home!

The UK stand had a competition for guessing where Canterbury was on the map...we both failed that one!

One of the kids projects was to contribute to a large canvas for a wall in the hospice for the children. All the kids were invited to paint something on the canvas.

 

Here is Cameron with his giraffe (it has a red hat on), and Alexander with his aeroplane, (the red tail is for Qantas!)

The Blue Man Group

Phil got tickets to see "The Blue Man Group" , what an awesome show. 

We were thinking about taking the boys to see it previously, but after seeing it, we both agreed that they were a bit young for it. They would love the music and the colour. 

There was a lot of social commentary, and all of it in German..The concepts were a bit too much for a 5 and 6 year old! 

If it comes to your town we recommend you to see it!

Wallace and Grommit

or should that be Grimace and Vomit? ! Great movie, lots of fun, and lots of laughs.

Interesting day though... Phil had taken the boys out for a bike ride in the morning. Alexander had a fall and hit his head on a metal railing. He was wearing his bike helmet.  Alexander looked and seemed fine, except for a bit of crying. They came home, rested and had lunch.  Before we left, we checked Alexander out again. He was fine, no pains, headaches or anything apart from the bump on the side of his head.  We decided we would go to Potsdamer Platz as planned to see a movie with Sonia and Bradley. 

Alexander wasn't feeling too well on the train, and said he had a little headache. Once we got out of the train station he was sick on a tree. He said he was feeling better and was OK to see the movie. We thought of taking him to the doctors, but he really sparked up again. 

The cinema shows all movies in their original language. The local posters advertise "Wallace and Grommit - auf dem Jagd nach dem Reisen Kanninchen".  Movie was great, except for 2 incidents of Alexander vomiting in the cinema. I took him out the 1st time, and found an employee to tell him about the mess in the cinema, and which seat we were sitting in. His reaction? "don't worry, swap seats and we will clean it up later".  Luckily the cinema was fairly empty.

Alexander said he was OK to see the rest, so we went back in, and changed seats! 5 minutes before the end of the show he vomited again. Phil thought we should take him to the hospital and get him checked out. Luckily we ran into other 2 families from school, both who know a great kids emergency room and speak much better German than us. They got us a taxi, and told the driver which emergency department to take us to.

Sonia took Cameron back to her house. 

We waited a whole 5 minutes, before we were taken to see the doctor...incredible! :)  The doctor confirmed it was mild concussion. The thing was that even though Alexander felt OK, the stimulus from the movie (sights and sounds) were way too much, and this caused the vomiting. The doctor said "Well he shouldn't be reading, playing video games or watching any TV. That will make him feel nauseous." (Oops, that was a pretty big TV screen!) 

The doctor said it was unnecessary to admit him, just to take him home and let him rest for 24 hours...any more vomiting or other symptoms to bring him back!

All is well now, back to school on Tuesday, just a nice little graze on the side of his head! Now he knows why we insist on wearing a helmet every time they get on a bike! Lesson number 1 :) Hate to think of what would have happened without it... nice to dint a helmet and not a head!

Oktoberfest in Berlin

ohh.....should have taken my camera last night! We went to a German restaurant beside Schlachtensee (south-west Berlin). 

Beer was served in 1 litre steins! Boy, were they heavy!!! 

The kids were served lemonade in 1/2 litre steins! 

A lot of fun, lots of beer swilling men and women, music played by lederhosen wearing men. After 2 1/2 beers Phil was a bit worse for wear, and so were the other guys we were with.

Eis bitte!

Translates to "Ice Cream please".

We are fluent in German at our local Ice Cream Shop. The boys can order their own ice creams and drinks by themselves...."Ich mochte ein kugel Schokolade und ein kugel Zitrone in einen becher mit bundestruese bitte" I would like a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of lemon, in a bowl with 100's and 1000's please! 

The 2 waitresses who usually serve us are really friendly, and very patient with our "basic" German. (although I must be improving, because today she asked me why we hadn't been for awhile ,and I was able to talk about chicken pox) The boys get spolit with extra wafer cones and little flags in their ice creams...we haven't had any Aussie flags in our ice cream yet, they are all EU countries. 

Our first attempt at ordering ice cream was very poor. In my next German lesson, I asked my tutor to tell me all about ice cream, how to order, all sorts of flavours, bowls, cones, 100's and 1000's etc. (She thinks I am a bit mad) In my first German lesson I asked her to check my sentence for "Could I please have a cappuccino". and then "Could I have another one please"

Phil in Cairo & the end of chicken pox

Phil is in Cairo, he will be back on Sunday night! Here he is on his last trip to Cairo (August). Seems to be good shopping in Cairo, he always comes home with really good quality suits and ties. He tells me today he bought himself a new pair of shoes! I am sure he has more clothes (and definitely more shoes) than me! When he rang today he was in a fabric store (one of the girls is looking for dress fabrics), but nothing good for patchwork. 

In our "chicken pox bubble" I have managed to do a bit of fabric shopping via the internet. I love that I can buy fabric without leaving home. The credit card gets a bit of a wholloping! 

Thank goodness, you only get Chicken Pox once in your lifetime. Imagine if it was like a common cold! Cameron is over the worst, and will be back at school next week. His case was more severe than Alexander's. We have a public holiday here on Monday (Bank Holiday)

We are sick of being at home....the boys and I are off to our local ice cream cafe! YUM YUM!

Cameron has chicken pox.

14 days after Alexander's first spots appeared, Cameron has his first 3 spots! 

He was excited that he could spend the whole week at home with me. But when I told him it also meant not going to the zoo today and seeing his friend Bradley, he was really upset and decided chicken pox wasn't very fun at all! 

We happened to be at Berlin's largest Indoor Play Centre! Many of the kids have had chicken pox over the past 4 weeks at school. there has been a lot of absent kids in all classes.

Hamburg to Berlin

After a long day of walking, it was back on the ICE train to Berlin. 

A quick train ride to our closest station, 5 minute walk to our home, and the boys were in bed fairly soon after a pizza for dinner! A great trip to Hamburg.

Hamburg Men

In Berlin, there are many sculptures of large Bears, painted by different artists, children's groups etc, all used to raise money for children charities. In Hamburg, there are these men. In Berlin, I have taken photos of the boys in front of all the bears that we see. 

So, in Hamburg I decided to take photos of the boys in front of as many Hamburg men that we passed. I think we got about 35 in total. By the 10th, the novelty had worn off, and it was a struggle to get them to stand there for more than 1/2 minute!

Hamburg Botanical Gardens

There are lovely gardens in Hamburg. We walked through a lot of them today. In some areas there are big deck chairs that are scattered over the grassy areas, for anyone to come and sit down, read a newspaper and enjoy the sun. A very pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Lots of lovely gardens, water features, and even a rink for rollerblading in the summer, and ice skating in the winter months.

Ferry Ride in Hamburg

What an amazing harbour! So much happening, even on the weekend! There were some really large ships docked in the bays and lots of containers being moved. The boys love the ferry rides, and were amazed that we were on the Elbe River, that we were on in Dresden only a few months previously. 

Model trains galore

Hamburg has the largest model train exhibit in the Northern Hemisphere. It is situated in a large warehouse. We waited for about 1/2 hour in the queue. While we were waiting, a lady from the cafe next door gave all the kids a free icypole, and the adults a drink of juice or water. How kind! 

Once we were inside there was so much to see and do. For the kids there are lots of buttons to press on your way around, to make Ferris wheels go around, a man bungee jump, ski lifts operate and so much more. There is even a UFO that hovers over part of a field. 

There is so much to look at, and amazing attention to details. The fields of sunflowers were incredible. Beside the field, was a river where a man had drowned...the area had been taped off. Police and "CSI" people were investigating, taking photos and lights on cars flashing. 

There were lots of different scenes in the different rooms. Of course there was Hamburg, with terrific attention to detail of the harbour. Also areas of the Alps and also part of the Grand Canyon, and Las Vegas. (although I am not sure why they have parts of America in there?)

They are constantly designing new things to add to it,and extend the rooms. You could spend days in there, and still not see everything. There are all sorts of different trains, and the boys thought this was terrific.