Christmas 2004
The Christkindl markets are here with the smell of glühwein, almonds and cinamon; the winter tyres are on the car and we’ve already had our first fall of snow: Christmas stands before the door. As we attempt to collect our thoughts and make a few scribbled notes our attention drifts back to December 2003. We had a visit from Rosalind, Pete and Suzanne, there was lots of snow and we went ice skating in Salzburg, Katie returning with one sore and broken wrist just in time for Sabrina’s birthday and Christmas. We managed with a bit of help but Katie’s wrist will never be the same again. It seemed a long, dark, cold winter and we haven’t had the wonderful summer we were starting to take for granted out here.
We visited the UK at Easter, spending a week at Spring Harvest in Butlins Skegness. Mealtimes were a bit frantic, but once we obtained a working radiator to thaw us out after the biting east winds, we all enjoyed ourselves. Phil’s Mum visited in the summer. Highlight for her was Sabrina’s Kindergarten Party and the children dancing to music from “Grease”. For our summer holidays, we spent a week at the same place in Croatia again (it was nice but we had over-estimated its fascination for the children) and then a week camping at Lake Garda in Italy, meeting up with Margaret, Jonathan, Frederick and Mollie. We really enjoyed this and the children loved camping. Being at Lake Garda meant that Venice was only a train journey away, which proved an interesting day’s excursion: the girl’s wanted to go on a gondola but needless to say this is a pleasure which will have to wait. Papier mache masks for the moment seemed to make up for it. It was also nice to see the Olympics from a different perspective, and Sabrina soon got to working out all the different flags: cheers for the Union Jack, hmms for the german flag and “oh no”s for Japan’s dreaded red spot!
Notable events in Autumn were a Bonfire Night (we found an English / German Association which arranges one, girls loved it) and a weekend in Nuremberg, which is a nice, clean city with friendly people: quite a change from Munich where people in the street are often downright rude. There was a street market celebrating twinning with Nice in France, plus a fish market from Hamburg and we also went to the Toy museum and Zoo.
To review the year for the girls. Sabrina spent the first half counting the days to starting school (about time, she is nearly seven now!). At one time it was 179 “sleeps”. However, the day finally came when Kindergarten literally thew her out (tossed in a blanket through the gate) and she took her first step onto school ground complete with Schultüte (=upside down clown’s hat filled with goodies) and massive Schulrantzen (=satchel, German kids pack everything in them: sandwiches for a week, liquid to survive in the desert for three days and enough books for a lifetime on a desert island).
After a shaky start, she seems to have settled and appears to be happy. Homework is a chore and occupies most of Sabrina’s afternoons, with a noisy and disruptive Eve looking on. On Tuesday afternoons they go swimming.
As Sabrina was starting school, Eve was beginning Kindergarten, slowly at first building up to 5 days each week. After the “honeymoon” period, we had 2 weeks of tears and struggles and thought we would have to review the situation. However, she then found a friend. Hand-in-hand, they seem to go everywhere together, so all is peace or mostly. She is learning German remarkably fast, best phrase so far is “wir haben dich abgeholt” to Sabrina.
These shifts in the household made us feel quite sad. It was a stark reminder of the passage of time and how soon our girls will be grown. We both felt a little melancholic at the time … the little rascals are growing up to the next stage. Rob Parsons in “60 minute Father” puts it well when he says that throughout childhood, doors keep closing as they move on to the next stage: the skill is to make the most of the opportunity at each stage whilst the door is still wide open. It was funny telling Sabrina she could never go back into Kindergarten (very Peter Pan-like). Luckily we are far more sentimental than she is and she didn't lose a moment in understanding that, but we were both feeling quite emotionally drained.
To the daily practicalities. After seeing Sabrina on to the school bus at 7am and taking Eve to Kindergarten at 8.30am, Katie can then put her feet up with a coffee and good book, well for 10 minutes anyway. It’s great for her to have time to do what needs to be done and still have time to play the piano or explore new activities, eg. Nordic walking – they are mad on it over here.
Now that Eve’s sleeping patterns have improved marginally, we are attempting to use evenings for study (Phil work, Katie language) but it doesn’t always run to plan. Monday is the most difficult day of the week for us, getting the brain back into gear with language etc. Things are usually under control by Wednesday and we’re on a high by Friday evening (listening to “Any Questions” with a glass of red wine is such a treat). We are taking to enjoying Saturday’s more, fussing over Sabrina’s homework in the morning, a visit to the pictures in the afternoon, rush back for “Strictly Come Dancing” in the evening: the girls like to take part and Eve does costume changes for each dance. Sunday’s we go to Peace Church in town, Katie often plays the piano and Phil tries to amuse the little ones. Sabrina has also sung at the front, “Purify my Heart” and more recently “Little Donkey”.
We are also making occasional, daring forays into the nightlife available in Munich, minus kids. This is facilitated by a delightful English/German girl, Spohie, who manages the girls better than we could imagine. Concerts we’ve seen this year include Sting (superb and his autobiography was an illuminating read), Dido (knew so many of her songs, but didn’t know beforehand they were by her) and The Corrs (the tradional irish jigs went down best to a predominantly German audience). We also attended a Munich International Womens Club dinner at the renowned Augustiner Brauhaus.
Phil’s work this year took him on 2 courses in London in the summer. It is interesting to see your country as an outsider, it makes you appreciate it even more: London is so pleasant from the air, seeing the neat rows and attempts of town planners at some sort of order whether it be crescents, rows or circles of houses. Having lunch in Russell Square near the British Museum and watching the office workers lounging on the grass gave a very impressionist feel to it all. British people have such a lightness about them which we miss. An English comedy club has recently opened up out here, getting good attendances and top of the bill comedians from London’s comedy circuit. The audience is mainly drawn from expat British people: there is clearly a demand for something light-hearted, irony is, the club was started as an idea by a German who’d lived in London for 5 years.
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