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.