It's hard to believe but we've been living in Germany for 6 months now. Feels like a good time to evaluate where we stand. Life is definitely getting easier for everybody. Kids are currently on a 2-week Easter break but when they go back to school on April 13, we are going to upset our routine again because I finally found a sports complex where the older boys will take swimming classes on Wednesdays. They had one class and it's interesting to see how different things are. The first stroke taught in Germany is breast stroke which was the last stroke that they boys learned at the Y. Nevertheless, Andrei is going to be in a pretty high level class while Ilya is "an advanced beginner" until he learns the breast stroke. After that, he might skip some levels where they work on freestyle since that's the one he already knows. We are also going to check out track and field at the same complex, and see if the boys like that.
We now have pediatrician, but no dentist yet. We know where to shop for various things and can figure out most of the household issues, including but not limited to garbage sorting, running a dishwasher (yes, also something we had to learn since it needs a couple of special additives to make it work). Chris' work is stabilizing and we are all learning German with various degrees of success. The boys school has also stabilized for now but that's a whole other post. So as many people told me - it really does take about 6 months for life to get easier.
Of course, with 3 boys life is never "easy or boring" We experienced our second trip to ER today. Anton fell off the top bunk of our bunk beds and slashed his forehead open. It was completely horrifying. They put some special things on it that hold it together (not stitches but more than a band aid), and somehow we are not supposed to get it wet for a week. I am pretty sure he will have a sizable scar now. He is sleeping now after a very long morning.
P.S. We also have at least 2 trips already planned which makes us super excited since we came here to travel. Next week we are heading down to south of Germany for 8 days (more to come on that later) and at the beginning of May we are heading up to Netherlands for either 3 or 4 days.
We now have pediatrician, but no dentist yet. We know where to shop for various things and can figure out most of the household issues, including but not limited to garbage sorting, running a dishwasher (yes, also something we had to learn since it needs a couple of special additives to make it work). Chris' work is stabilizing and we are all learning German with various degrees of success. The boys school has also stabilized for now but that's a whole other post. So as many people told me - it really does take about 6 months for life to get easier.
Of course, with 3 boys life is never "easy or boring" We experienced our second trip to ER today. Anton fell off the top bunk of our bunk beds and slashed his forehead open. It was completely horrifying. They put some special things on it that hold it together (not stitches but more than a band aid), and somehow we are not supposed to get it wet for a week. I am pretty sure he will have a sizable scar now. He is sleeping now after a very long morning.
P.S. We also have at least 2 trips already planned which makes us super excited since we came here to travel. Next week we are heading down to south of Germany for 8 days (more to come on that later) and at the beginning of May we are heading up to Netherlands for either 3 or 4 days.
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