We've been here for a year and it's been an exciting year at that.
- We arrived in the last week of October and settled into one month rental in a beautiful Bad Hamburg. Things got off to a rocky start with Anton's first round of bronchitis and the boys started school.
- Before too long Anton had another bronchitis but thankfully by Christmas it was all good. Our first Christmas was good and we decided to head out to Paris.
- We all had birthdays here and we love getting our boxes full of surprises every time, but miss our family very much.
- Last year, while convenient to have all the boys in the same school, wasn't ideal for any of the boys. So this year we made a change and while it's not ideal for me the boys are going to 3 different schools and they seem to be happy and thriving. The boys are still doing swimming and Ilya does an all around German sport - soccer.
- We've been to emergency room way too many times for my taste - bronchitis and head laceration with Anton, appendix with Chris and head laceration with Andrei. Anton had two 4 days stays and Chris had his "relaxing spa" experience. Ironically enough, all of kids health care costs are covered and for Chris we paid a whooping 50 euros and most people here think we paid too much.
- Most of us have learned some German. Andrei and Ilya are starting to say things under their breath in German. Anton (from what I am told by his kindergarten teachers and speech therapist) has a fairly decent understanding and is starting to say some words. I understand certain subjects better than others (medicine and school come to mind) but still have a long way to go. Chris has learned a total of about 20 words :)
- Most importantly we traveled A LOT. We've been to southern Germany and France, vacationed in Spain and explored many areas within 4-5 driving distance of our home - Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, etc.
Overall while the year had some challenges and hasn't always been easy, it's also been an amazing adventure. To be continued ...
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