Boy's Eye View- Davis

*This is a poem that Davis wrote for school.

bored


I’m sitting in my room

Which looks about to consume

Me in the land of bore

Which makes me want to snore.

I wish I could be

Anywhere else you see.

Like a mouse wants cheese

Or flowers want bees.

If I could see

Somewhere like Paris or the U.A. E.

Not my room

Bored in this gloom

I pick up a travel book

The book told me to take a look

Like a robber I take a peek

As I peeked I bite my cheek

It was Kiev, Prague, Brussels, and Berlin

It was New York, L.A., and Detroit in Michigan.

Everywhere except here, when inside me something shook

A miracle in disguise, something wanted to unhook

Me from my boring life, I didn’t want to be the same

Between my dream and the cost

My dream lost.

____________________
*Just goes to prove, I am not the only one in need of some travel time.  On a side note:  How many kids long to go to the U.A. E.?  What a life these kids have.

Eggs?

Once in the fall, I think I may have told this story before, a group of local high school kids came to the door collecting money, alcohol, or  EGGS.  Yes, really eggs.  I asked them that question too.  In the English that they knew, and the German that I didn't I gathered that they were gathering these because the village had just held its little fest and they were collecting for next year.  I gave eggs because it was the only thing that I had.  The eggs, however, just kept me wondering. They certainly wouldn't be keeping until next year, but then again they keep the eggs on the grocery store shelves here, so maybe.

PART 2:
Our landlord was over looking at a few broken items this weekend and somehow we got to talking about the local fest.  I mentioned that the teens had come by collecting afterward.  Then I remembered the eggs.  I asked why eggs?  Holger laughed and laughed.  He then explained that they, the teens, sit around and cook and eat the eggs.  WHY?  He didn't know, but just tradition.  He said that maybe a dozen of these kids will sit and eat 200+ eggs.  I asked how they prefered to prepare them, anyway...boiled, scrambled...yep all ways 200+ eggs.  Then there was more laughing and head shaking and shoulder shrugging.  Who knows.  Crazy Germans.

Watchout for David Bowie

Ugly girl and David Bowie at play. 

These are among my favorite signs.  They are found hanging in most of the villages letting you know that children may be present.  Germans aren't really known for their artistic abilities, at least according to me.

Another Week January ??-15

Right after I posted my whine about the rain, wouldn't you know it, the rain stopped.  The skies have cleared and everything has turned really cold.  We haven't done much other than the regular basketball, homework, scouts, homework, no traveling kind of stuff.  Darin has been very busy and not around much.  He was actually, shockingly, home for the long weekend, but we didn't really go anywhere because we hadn't planned ahead.  Besides it was super cold.  My favorite part was when we went on our afternoon date.  We wandered around the local grocery looking at all of the great stuff that I long to look at, but don't because I've got 5 kids fighting for gummy bears and making a German scene.  Then we went to our local Doner shop and enjoyed fabulous Turkish food.  Darin says that the Germified Turkish food is better than the real Turkish food because there are less goobers.  I just love the memories that I get everytime I eat it.  On a sad note, Darin was talking to someone stationed in Turkey right now and found out that our favorite local resturant, Red Onion, has closed and was turned into a loud obnoxious disco.  I cried real tears over that news.
The kids are doing really well and seem to be enjoying school, friends, and church.  They keep me busy.  Anya is talking more and more.  My favorite is when she says, "neigh" it isn't spelled this way, but you get the idea.  It is the German (shortened/slangish)word for "no."  She yells it all the time at her brothers. 

I am struggling with 2 issues, 1)Keeping up with the Traveling Jones'.  I cringe with sadness and envy everytime I hear of someones travels.  2) Real life still has to go on EVEN when I am living overseas.  I get grumpy with the homework and work that gets in the way of my desire for adventure.  Even in Europe laundry has to be done and food needs to be cooked.  It is rough.

That is it for now, off to cook some boring dinner and think of the Jones' on their trip...maybe I'll think of them on that Italian cruise ship that is sinking just to make myself feel better. 

He Must Be Almost 8

We have hit the ugly stage with our dear Jag.  Poor Guy.  Check out this smile.

I am just glad that he finally lost the other front tooth.  He has had 1 monster sized (so far beyond just big)  tooth for way too long (think Mother's Day), maybe with 2 monster sized teeth he'll look balanced.  I've given him nicknames such as Bucky, Snaggle tooth, and Nanny McPhee, but he hasn't liked any of them.  Imagine that.  Good thing he is so cute with his mouth shut!

Genius

There are some things that the Germans just do so very right.  This is one of them:

I've been walking around trying to find something to eat it on instead of my finger or a spoon.  So far everything it touches tastes like heaven!

On a side note:
Maybe I should have reconsidered putting my scale into storage for 3 years.  Why did it go to storage?  I have no idea why I let Darin talk me into something stupid like that.  Now I just determine weight by how my clothes fit, but then again everything has to go into the dryer because with all the moisture in the air nothing drys on a line.  That must be the real reason things are a bit snugger.  Couldn't possibly be the fistful of Milka Cream Cheese I had for lunch.

Boring Talk

Rain. Every day for weeks, it has been raining. I guess that the good thing about rain is that it isn’t snow. The weather, although cold, hasn’t been cold enough. Why would we want cold enough? We’ve had one day of snow. Darin and I were being lazy in bed when we hear a familiar sound, one that makes us reach back into our youth…the scraping of a snow shovel on a sidewalk. We both jumped out of bed and ran to the window, our little neighbor was out shoveling our walks. Darin quickly ran outside and stated shoveling the entire street. After 7 years he still remembers how. There is, however, a correct way to shovel snow in Germany. Shovel first (which is tricky with cobblestones), then sweep the sidewalks, then salt. But don’t go back and shovel again if you have salted, it is nicht gut fur die garten (as Darin was told while trying to reshovel the neighbors sidewalks).


This past week we had a crazy weather day in which the wind was blowing the rain so much that it was nearly impossible for Noah and I to make the trek up the hill to the kindergarten. Nearly. That day also brought terrible hail. Jag was fascinated and wanted to run outside as see if it hurt. So he and Noah ran in the hail until they were freezing and declared that hail does in fact hurt. My kids are genius’.

As you can tell with all this weather talk, I haven’t been travelling. And I have been reduced to talking in English about the only thing I can talk about in German, weather. Ugh. Darin has been working way too much. Davis has basketball 3 days a week and the beginning of the primary year has been terrible for me, the secretary. No travelling.

I have been travelling virtually. Planning trips that I hope to take to fabulous locations in Europe, hoping that the rain stops and Darin’s work slows down enough to take them. Spring/Summer can’t come soon enough. I wonder if I’ll be able to tell by the weather or if it will still just be cold and wet?