The Balance of Good and Bad

It's a cool rainy day in Eastern Germany and I'm waiting for a ride to the grocery store with my friend Kim. Every once in a while she invites me along and I jump at the chance to purchase heavy items that I won't have to carry up the hill in my backpack. I'm nursing a substantial headache from a little too much wine drinking last night and I don't feel much up to grocery shopping, but I have to go because there's not much food here after our trip to Paris and everything is closed tomorrow.

Ahhh, Paris. We went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, toured Notre Dame, visited Monet's Garden in Giverny, saw many great works of art, including the Mona Lisa, at the Louvre, boated down the River Seine, and walked under the Arc de Triumph. It's a bustling, busy, touristy city, but I found the stereoptypes of the French to be untrue; they were really pretty friendly and appreciated the lame attempts I made at speaking their language. The kids did the best they could, being dragged around and made to admire things they didn't understand or care about, but in hindsight I would have waited a few more years for this trip with them. Claire and I would have loved to visit the Impressionist exhibit at the Musee d'Orsay, but we simply ran out of time. We didn't make it to Versailles either, so maybe she and I will return someday. I'll have pictures to post soon; it seems that it's always as much of a rush to get settled again after a vacation as it is to leave.

We've had a bit of bad news from home. It seems that the the economic problems of our state have affected our local school district and they've had to make budget cuts. What this means for us is that Sunnyside Elementary school has eliminated one of their 5th grade classes and because we are out of district, Claire has been transfered to Jefferson Elementary. Poor kid. Not only did we pull her out of school and make her take up a new life in a foreign country, now she can't even return to the way things were. There have been many tears and writing of letters to principals and superintendents, but our fate is sealed. The bright side is that 1) Ben does not have to change schools and 2) it's only for one year; all the elementary schools converge into one middle school in sixth grade. It doesn't provide much comfort for Claire, but it's all we've got right now.

We've decided to leave our penthouse apartment in Jena on July 8 and spend our last week in country traveling the Alps and the Rhine Valley. That makes our time left here a little over 2 weeks. We won't be seeing much of Mark; he's got a lot of work to finish up between now and then, but we can take it knowing we'll soon be home. We've loved living in Europe and having this adventure, but we're ready for the ease of familiarity. Ben says he's been dreaming of playing his Xbox at night, Claire can't wait to see Emily again, and I'm itching to make some art and work in a kitchen with a microwave and dishwasher where I don't bump my head on the "quaint" angled ceiling every time I pull utensils out of the drawers. Being here has certainly encouraged in each of us a greater sense of gratitude for our quiet and simple country life, although not having to mow the lawn has been really nice!