My baby is almost home!

Yes! Little Ronnie is coming home tonight. Back out to the Kehl train station but at least I can sleep in this Sunday morning!

He was in tears the first evening but he hadn't slept in the whole journey and I know he didn't eat. Once he had sleep and food, he was fine and went on to have a good time. Turns out he wasn't the only unhappy camper that first day.

Last night one of Dominic's aunts was coming over with three month old twins. Ronnie was excited as he loves babies. One of his classmates lives in an apartment and his parents also don't allow animals. Well, Martin (yes, that Martin if you remember my posts from years ago) got placed in a family with a virtual zoo. He was in heaven, his mom told me. The dog, the cat, the hamster, the snake... Ronnie didn't have any animals but I did speak with the dad briefly over the phone. Happily, he did switch to English but even more joyous was that his English was extremely limited (former East Germany so he probably didn't have as much in school as his counterparts over the old border). Whew! I knew Ronnie was at least speaking German.

Meanwhile, Davina's class seems to have an excursion a week. After the zoo, I also volunteered to watch them practice for the show, which was off the campus (so needed parents to take them from and to). Then we were subjected to the same show that evening. One dad came because he couldn't that evening. He also confessed "My tolerance for music produced by the under age 6 set has its limits". I think mine did too.

Yesterday, the kids had their presents for father's day. I arrived at the door and they all started showing me their artwork. "Look, I did a crocodile!" "I did a chameleon. Look at its tongue" etc. Davina wasn't even there. I was confused for a minute and realized, they were all showing me, just me, what they had made. After all that grumbling about how I was never meant to work with kids, Bah Humbug was now utterly charmed. The teacher chuckled. I felt like Sally Fields "They like me! They really do!!"

I am dreading Tuesday with a heavy heart. it's
1. The parents' lunch at Fosse
2. Last gymnastics class for Davina
3. Swimming for Talia
4. Full dress rehearsal for the ice skating show.

I have only just finished sewing on all those little black dots on Talia's pants (since she wouldn't let me order the full dalmatian costume, just the vest and hood thingy). I have no idea what to do with Ronnie. Irina wants a curly tail. I bought a band to attach ears. Now off to look at wild boars and the ears they have...

Ronnie off to Rostock!

I woke up at 5am to take my little pumpkin to the Kehl train station. He will be back Saturday. They had to leave from Kehl to save a lot on their train tickets. Bummer as the school is right near the Strasbourg train station (it's in the catchment area). It's also an economically "challenged" area so I noticed that some parents had to get rides (not all have cars).

Ronnie thought he was a Big Boy and could do his suitcase himself. Daniel scolded me and wanted me to help him set up the swing instead. It's one of those bench-swings, not specifically for children. I bought it yesterday and Daniel of course, had to play with his toy asap. Meanwhile, Ronnie's bag looked more packed for a ski trip.

Turtle neck sweaters?? Okay, it's cooler up in northern Germany but let's not exaggerate... He also forgot enough socks and entirely PJ's.

We met at Kehl at 6:30am. ALL the kids arrived more or less on time (the teacher actually gave us the Baden train schedule in case someone had missed the train, they could hoof it 40km to join but not necessary-yeah!)

One of the parents joked that they had filled the tank...just in case!

Again, Ronnie will NOT be staying with Alex. He will be with a boy named Dominic. After Talia's incident on her ski trip (threw up in bed, during the night, wanted to call us and the teachers refused), Ronnie, against the rules, has Daniel's extra cell phone.

Yes, I took photos and no, I have not sorted out my problems with this computer. I did go to FNAC where a really helpful Apple salesperson helped me. They were showing a video, in only English, of all the stuff the iPhone can do. I was amazed. Then, it looked funny as I was the only one in the store understanding it. Kind of amusing too because the guy had a total Californian accent. It was kind of like be channelled from home...

I told him to say hi to Alex and tell him we miss him. I really do! I liked that little kid and he was a pleasure to have around. Turns out, a lot of the homestays were not as successful. Some of the children were painfully shy and even in homes where an adult spoke German, they were kind of quiet and ill-at-ease. Maybe Ukrainians and Americans get along better than French and Germans??

When I got home, I noticed that the swing was finished and I headed back to bed. I was exhausted, after having slept badly the evening before.