Tae-Kwon-Do, sort of

It has been a while since we last posted. Mostly we have been busy grinding through Oliver's homework with him.

I (Katherine) have definitely realized my limits a math tutor. Thankfully Mike is now doing more of the tutoring. We have also been trying to  figure out a work schedule for both of us that that accommodates the kids (who are done with school at the ungodly hour of 1pm) as well as all of the strange library hours on campus. The Forschungsbibliothek, which is Mike's main interest, is only open between 11am and 5pm, which is rather limiting, especially since he tends to have more patience with homework. They have reduced hours to undertake a massive inventory. Earlier this year some rare books went missing--turned out the director had tried to sell some of the collection for personal gain.

At any rate, something funny happened today, which I am delighted to report.

Oliver has been doing soccer, which is great, but Nora really needs an activity, plus the kids need to do something when it is pouring buckets of rain outside. Both Oliver and Nora have really enjoyed Kung Fu in Middletown, so we set out to find the closest possible martial art in Göttingen. Mike has taken them to Tae Kwon Do the last two Tuesday afternoons, and today (Friday) was my turn. As it turns out Friday is not devoted to Tae Kwon Do techniques whatsoever. Instead they set up an incredibly elaborate and slightly militaristic obstacle course in gymnasium. There were vaults, ropes, climbing structures, rings, inclined planes, trampolines, balance beams, you name it. Oliver, as usual, jumped right in, even though he didn't quite understand what was going on. Typically, Nora studied the situation for a few minutes and then asked, "what order are we supposed to do things in?" I feared that she would be overwhelmed by the equipment, not to mention the teenage boys who were jumping off trampolines and doing forward flips onto mats. There was a set of parallel bars that were six feet off the ground. How is she going to get on those, I asked? Well, she did it. She attacked each object as if her life depended on it. Six foot parallel bars? It is a good thing that she is flexible. She hooked one foot  over and pulled herself up, then the other. She then walked across them. Scaling a wooden crate that is six feet tall? Not a problem either. When it came to the rings, she had a problem, as the box that she had climbed up to reach them wasn't tall enough (all the other kids are older and taller). I watched to see what she would do. Well, she took a leap of faith toward the rings, missed, and fell onto the mat. Not flustered, she continued onto the trampoline. The next time, other students helped her reach the rings, and away she went. The kids raced around the obstacle course for a solid hour, as I looked on, alternately laughing, and reading a book on a Belgian Symbolist poet who wrote about ennui. One line from the book says it all: "The Flambeaux noirs is the confession of one who has surrendered to a state of hopeless acquiescence in a cruel and inexorable fate, and is rapidly drifting towards the annihilation of his consciousness in insanity." The book provided a rather strange accompaniment to the obstacle course, to say the least.

After the gymnastics exercises, we headed onto the movies to see a wonderful film, "Le Petit Nicolas," based on some of my favorite French books. The film didn't loose much being dubbed into German. It was a full afternoon, and I think that the kids will sleep late tomorrow morning. Oliver has a soccer game. So far his team has lost every game this season, and tomorrow they have to play the best team in the league. I will be happy if he comes home with two shoes on.

Huge Quads and Suburban Bliss

We live on a not negligible hill. So the view is pretty good, but the bike ride home can get pretty tough. I'm expecting that by the end of the year we'll all have huge quads.

Behind the house is a path into the forest. Don't be fooled by the sun-dappled leaves; they're usually rain-dappled. To deal with the hill and the rain, and to get the kids to activities, we bought this lovely 1993 Ford Escort.

Oliver is delighted to live in a modern housing development with nature nearby and friends next door. He and his friend, Felix, play soccer in the cul-de-sac (rain or shine) and the kids can all walk down these foot-paths to school. Nora walks with two girls who live across the street. Katherine's father found a wild apple tree on the side of the road, and we now have about 5 pounds of apple sauce. We need to eat it pretty quickly since it is using up one of our good bowls and about a quarter of the small fridge.

It has been officially declared that this was the rainiest August in Germany since 1881. We are so happy to have been here for such an historic occasion.

The Eiffel Tower of Lower Saxony

From our posts thus far, you might think that Lower Saxony contains only rain clouds and steep hills. However, it also has major architectural monuments, including the Faguswerk, a shoe factory designed by Walter Gropius beginning in 1911 that served as the model for the Dessau Bauhaus school. A shoe factory, you might ask? Why yes! The French might build iron monuments to nothing, but the ever-so-practical Germans need to know that their monuments to modernity make dollars and cents (or Reichsmarke, or the case may be). The key features of the factory include large spans of glass windows, a few glass corners that seem to float in the air, and a total interior design down to bathroom fixtures.

We visited the factory last Sunday (in the rain), and were quite amazed by the design. It still functions as a factory, but there are good exhibits devoted to its history and importance for twentieth century architecture. It is on the list of monuments currently being considered for Unesco World Heritage Status! And all this in homey Lower Saxony. We hope that this will warm the kids up for a visit to Dessau later this year.