Springing forward

Hi everyone!

Well, things have been pretty busy here for the last chunk of time. This past weekend, Gitti the social worker had a birthday party, and I was invited to come a little early and help set up, which I was very willing to do. Gitti has hurt her knee, and her boyfriend Heiko and both of her parents are on crutches, and can't really help carry all the stuff out to the garden where we were, and they were really glad to have be be the runner back and forth. After staying up late talking, we got a c ouple of hours of sleep before I got picked up by Frau Kühne and her Family and we drove to Seiffen, a small town in the Erzgebirge on the Czech border. Seiffen is where all the wooden christmas decorations come from, the nutcrackers, Räuchermännchen and Schwibbogen. It is a little like disney world only with christmas figures. That was a full day (since it was a good 2 and a half to 3 hour drive there) and I got home and crashed. Sunday was dinner with the Florschützes, a short bike ride, coffee with the Florschützes, and then an Amway event. Terrifying. Anyway, I have plenty to take care of at home, so naturally I am sitting here online rather than going grocery shopping or vaccuuming.

This coming weekend the Polish chorus is coming to us, and we are giving two big concerts. It will be quite a whirl. And the weekend after that is another chorus concert and probably a trip to Wörlitzer park with the Florschützes.

The weeks are pretty full too. We've been having two chorus rehearsals a week rather than one preparing for the concerts, and I have been taking dance lessons on Wednesdays down at the army base. Rayk has also been away for his job most of the week, and since I usually write my blog from over there, I havn't found a lot of time to update.

Lessons continue to go well. The thirteenth graders are all taking their A-levels now, which means they have stopped having classes. The 10th graders are preparing for their exams, and the last three weeks I will be here (I have found out) the 9th and 10th graders will also be gone. So I will have 11th, 12th, 7th, and 8th graders. I don't know how my lessons will be divided out exactly, I think I will have to double up on the lessons for some of the classes or something. Visit twice a week rather once. We will see.

The weather is also fantastic and I have been trying to spend plenty of time outside. The cherry tree has stopped blooming, and the peach is about over. But there are lots of other flowers that are taking their places, and after everything being so bare for so long, it seems hard to believe how much green there really can be everywhere. And there is still more to come. I am enjoying it all, and not thinking too much about how soon I will be home. Hope you are all well, and would love to hear from you when you have the chance.