So Cami has officially started school here. She is attending a German kindergarten that was surprisingly easy to get into ... The other American moms and I are skeptical that it is actually a covert Nazi sweatshop and our ignorant children are easy labor. Political agenda aside, she is really loving it (even with the occassional complaints of sore fingers ...). :) Just kidding. She comes home counting in German, singing in German, and telling mommy NO! in German. So delightful. The best part is that each Tuesday all of the students have a day of exploration in the nearby forest. Regardless of weather (I was recently told by a German that the national motto is "There's no such thing as poor weather, just poor attire), the four teachers bundle up all of the children and go walking down the street, armed with buckets, shovels, and a big pot of German dumplings (I guess just bringing fruit snacks would be too easy). So far, Cami has brought us back reports of spotting a giant rabbit, a snake and what I could only infer from her description to be a homeless forest-dwelling man who is probably getting pretty cold by now. In addition, at the end of each Tuesday, her little pockets are bursting with acorns, petals, leaves and pinecones -- she is still searching for "her very own cactus" -- most of which ends up in her bed that night. A common trend among women of all ages here is facial piercings. One of Cami's teachers has several eyebrow rings and a nose ring. For the first few weeks of school, Cami was insistent that this teacher was a pirate, and she refused to talk to her out of fear. Now that we have ascertained that Frau Stephanie is, in fact, not a pirate, Cami is hung up on Fraulein Andra, who has a diamond stud on one of her teeth (another common fashion statement here). For the past few days, Cami has been pleading with me to let her also have "a sparkle on her teeth." I'm sure there must be some academic enlightenment going on somewhere ... If not, I'll take two Nazi patches to go, please.
