First Day!

We did it!  They started school today!

 

Neither of these faces portray what they were actually feeling

Yes, "they".  For those of you in the know, Dafna isn't actually starting school until 2 weeks from today (the rest of her class starts next Thursday, but she'll miss the first 2 days for Rosh Hashana).  But when we went for Micah's new student orientation on Friday we learned that there is a little "camp" for the incoming class.  So, off they went together this morning.  Halleluyah.

Things seemed to go fine.  Dafna has a new "best friend".  We don't know anything about her except that she's German and her name is hard.  So, we'll try to learn more about She-Who-Cannot-Be-Pronounced tomorrow and let the usual best friends know if they have anything to worry about.  Micah is the only new student in his class and his teacher wasn't at orientation on Friday nor at school today, but she'll be back tomorrow and things went smoothly anyway.  Of course gummy bears on the desks first thing this morning may have helped that along.  That's one smart substitute!

Our weekend was quite nice.  On Saturday we went to the synagogue that we are planning to join while we're here in Berlin (read about the building here: Neue Synagoge).  I met the Rabbi several years ago and Mark attended services when he was here last year, so we knew this shul was the right flavor for us.  The fact that our landlords are very active there (and told everyone about the "Erstaz Familie" coming to replace them) sealed the deal.  But what was really terrific was the boy who came over and said to Micah "You were at Camp Ramah with me this summer!"  Natan, his dad Markus and his 5 year old sister Xenia were friendly, welcoming and so happy to meet us (and learn a little more about this camp they sent their son/brother across the ocean to, sight unseen).  The Rabbi(nerin) was also amazing-- making sure we met everyone, finding boys to play with Micah, getting me involved in children's services (I can run...).  So, Mark will be reading Torah on Simchat Torah morning and I'll be helping some young teens run Junior Congregation.  All in a day's rest...

On Sunday we trekked through the Grunewald to the Beach at Wannsee. 

Trekking

It was beautiful, despite all the bad things you think when you hear about Wannsee.

Micah found a (dead) sea snake.  This was less than beautiful.

Even better than full-sized chess? 

Micah makes a move

People!  (Eh, Micah may disagree).  Just by accident a family just arrived from NYC with 2 kids at the JFK Schule, in Micah's and Dafna's grades, sat down next to us.  The adults had a great time talking and commiserating and Dafna and their son ran around like crazy (I couldn't even get a picture) playing soccer, jumping, etc.  And, even better?  He showed up at camp today.  Best of all?  M and D slept GREAT last night.

So all this, liberally seasoned with ice cream, candy and pizza (yes, we had pizza Saturday night)-- just another Berlin weekend. 

Eat your heart out, Sally Bowles.