After Gerard’s mom left us, the house just seemed so empty. To top it off, Gerard left the next day (Sunday) for Spain.
I got together with Roxy and Marcelle on Tuesday for tea at Roxy’s house. Roxy treated us to her delicious scones.
On Thursday, I picked Heidi up and the two of us went off to Fulda for the morning. It was so nice to walk through the shops and look for things without kids moaning and groaning as to how boring it was. We had a nice cup of coffee and some German cake before making our way back to Alsfeld.
The schools were breaking up on Friday 6th, so that whole week was spent winding down with very little homework. Robert took a little gift for his teacher on Friday, as he had spent the last 3 years with her. He said that the whole class was very tearful at the final farewell. He was quite tearful at home just telling me about it all. I just can’t believe that my little boy goes into “high school” in September.
It was also report day of course. Robert and Steven had very average reports and are both going onto the next year - thankfully.
Friday being full of excitement for the kids was even more exciting for Stevie as it was his ninth birthday. I had planned for his birthday to be at Halligalli and I was quite pleased, as the weather had not improved at all. He had a total of 12 children at his party including himself. We had bought him the Bayern Munchen soccer outfit amongst other smaller things, and my S.A. friends clubbed together and bought him some Adidas soccer boots, goalie gloves and socks that all matched his new outfit.
Boy, was he chuffed with all of this!! I will post some photos of his party so that you can see his cake etc.
The last two years, Zelda had been here and helped me out with Steven’s party but this year, I had to go it alone. I was at the point of muttering under my breath “never again” when Heidi walked in. How relieved I was to see her.
Ryan and Roxy arrived a bit later and they were pleasantly surprised to see how many activities Halligalli has to offer. Gerard arrived and both he and Ryan played soccer with the boys. Oh what fun they had.
On Saturday, we had a nice lazy start to our day. I was busy with breakfast, when Gerard walked in and said that Clive (Gerard’s boss from S.A.) and Seni (a colleague from S.A.) would be here soon!!! He had omitted to tell me that the rugby game was starting at 12.00. Well was I caught unawares. Anyway, the two of them decided to go and do shopping in Giesen afterall. Gerard and I watched the rugby and were disappointed that S.A. lost. Clive and Seni returned in the afternoon with all their shopping.
On Sunday, the family had been invited to Gary Bell’s birthday lunch and Cindy’s introduction to Germany. It was great to get out, the weather was quite good and a good time was had by all.
We all left at about 3.30pm as Gary was flying back to S.A. a little later that evening. Well, Gerard received an SMS telling us that the party was continuing at their house in Romrod. Gary had postponed his flight until the following night.
It was a great evening where we met Gary and Larissa’s neighbours.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Monday, July 02, 2007
June has come and gone!!!
Hello everyone. The whole month of June has come and gone in a flash. As I said previously, we had Gerard’s mom arrive on the 1 June and she spent a month with us this time. After her trip out here last year, we felt that she can still cope with the flight from S.A. When she comes to Europe, she usually visits us and then goes on to her family in Austria or Switzerland. After a real problematic time with her flight back to S.A. last year, we decided that the Austrian family and anyone else, who wanted to see her, could come to us for a change.
So our first week was spent just relaxing at home. On the 8th of June the Austrian family arrived. Peter and Traute stayed until the Tuesday afternoon and left Tante Hilde here with us. They were attending a business conference in Munich. On Friday 15th I drove Hilde through to Fulda station. She caught the ICE train down to Munich where she met up with Peter and Traute again.
On the 23rd of July, Manfred and Lisabet arrived from Switzerland. They caught the ICE train from Thun through to Fulda and then caught the connecting train through to Alsfeld. They got to spend one night with us and then we took them through to Fulda the next day to go all the way back.
Besides school activities, a few braais with friends and getting together for teas etc. we did not actually take Mom around for much sightseeing at all. She seemed to enjoy her stay here very much, as she said it was a nice relaxing visit for her. She involved herself with the kids and their homework which was great and helped me around the house and garden..
She left on Saturday 30th July and we are all feeling quite lost without her.
I will be writing a few more detailed posts with some photos about her stay here.
Now there will be no excuse for my emailing you all again and getting back on track with correspondence.
So our first week was spent just relaxing at home. On the 8th of June the Austrian family arrived. Peter and Traute stayed until the Tuesday afternoon and left Tante Hilde here with us. They were attending a business conference in Munich. On Friday 15th I drove Hilde through to Fulda station. She caught the ICE train down to Munich where she met up with Peter and Traute again.
On the 23rd of July, Manfred and Lisabet arrived from Switzerland. They caught the ICE train from Thun through to Fulda and then caught the connecting train through to Alsfeld. They got to spend one night with us and then we took them through to Fulda the next day to go all the way back.
Besides school activities, a few braais with friends and getting together for teas etc. we did not actually take Mom around for much sightseeing at all. She seemed to enjoy her stay here very much, as she said it was a nice relaxing visit for her. She involved herself with the kids and their homework which was great and helped me around the house and garden..
She left on Saturday 30th July and we are all feeling quite lost without her.
I will be writing a few more detailed posts with some photos about her stay here.
Now there will be no excuse for my emailing you all again and getting back on track with correspondence.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
The Last Week of May
The last week of May went much the say as any other week here in Germany. On Tuesday, I played tennis with Gisela. Gisela is ranked in the top 2 women players of our club, so needless to say, she beat me wholesale. It was still nice to get out and feel like I had used some muscles.
On The Wednesday I picked Roxy up and we went into town. We walked around some shops and went to the Asian shop to see if any Milo had arrived. Roxy having pregnancy cravings!!! hehehe.
We then went and had a cappuccino in the market square. As we were getting seated Larissa had seen us and she came and joined us. About ten minutes later, Heidi arrived. So it was really nice to sit and chat with the other girls.
Besides normal sports activities and mom playing taxi, nothing else exciting happened during this week. Over the weekend, the boys had a light athletics day in Schlitz. After arriving in Schlitz and not being able to find anything resembling a sports ground, Gerard drove off in a huff. I got on the phone to Jane and she managed to locate a friend in Schlitz who could advise us how to find the place.
The boys had a good time. Steven came 6th out of 18 kids and Robert came 10th out of 10th!!
Sunday 27th was Pfingstsonntag and we took the kids off to the Pfingst Market which they always enjoy. We have learnt over the years, to visit the market at about 12.00pm because this is when most of the German's are having their Sunday lunch etc. It was great to walk around the uncrowded market, and when we were leaving, this was when the people started to flood in.
This was a great end to our last week of May.
On The Wednesday I picked Roxy up and we went into town. We walked around some shops and went to the Asian shop to see if any Milo had arrived. Roxy having pregnancy cravings!!! hehehe.
We then went and had a cappuccino in the market square. As we were getting seated Larissa had seen us and she came and joined us. About ten minutes later, Heidi arrived. So it was really nice to sit and chat with the other girls.
Besides normal sports activities and mom playing taxi, nothing else exciting happened during this week. Over the weekend, the boys had a light athletics day in Schlitz. After arriving in Schlitz and not being able to find anything resembling a sports ground, Gerard drove off in a huff. I got on the phone to Jane and she managed to locate a friend in Schlitz who could advise us how to find the place.
The boys had a good time. Steven came 6th out of 18 kids and Robert came 10th out of 10th!!
Sunday 27th was Pfingstsonntag and we took the kids off to the Pfingst Market which they always enjoy. We have learnt over the years, to visit the market at about 12.00pm because this is when most of the German's are having their Sunday lunch etc. It was great to walk around the uncrowded market, and when we were leaving, this was when the people started to flood in.
This was a great end to our last week of May.
Monday, June 18, 2007
A Big Apology
Hello to all of you that read my blog. I would really like to apologise for the fact that I have been neglecting my blog of late. Will definately make it up to you and there will be a new entry waiting for you all tomorrow.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Another Liechti Family Update
On Monday I met Ursi and Natasha at the tennis courts in Eudorf and had a hit around. Didn’t actually play a game but got in a bit of practice. Tuesday 1 May was a public holiday and Gerard and I got stuck into moving Lara and Steven’s rooms around. This took all day as I went through all their old clothes and chucked out broken toys etc. What a job!!!
On Wednesday morning I fetched Roxy and we picked Heidi up from Bell. Went to Heidi to finish off the last bit of painting that needed doing. Gerard and I started our Atkins diet today.
Lara was due to visit the Vogelpark in Schotten today with the kindergarten and Steven had a appointment at the Giesen hospital. We left home at 7.00am and dropped Lara at Roxy and Ryan. Ryan then took her to Kindergarten a bit later for us. Steven got booked in to the day ward. Of course the necessary obs were done and they wanted more of his blood. This doesn’t seem to come out of Steven easily, as every time we have been, they have had to prick his arm more than once and then try the other. This happened yet again!!! We were then told that he had to go to another department. This we found was down the road and situated in an old villa.
This is the sign outside
As you enter this villa, there is a panel of bulbs (some flashing) and switches. Makes one really wonder what you are entering. Steven then had some radio active substance injected intravenously into him. We were then told to come back 3 hours later. Gerard and I took and walk with Steven to the Hospital Café where we sat and had something to eat and drink. Poor Stevie was so hungry as he had been starved since midnight. Gerard decided to gap it back to work and left me to while away the hours with Steve. Stevie and I found a bench in the sun and we sat reading and watching people go by. Eventually we made our way back to the Villa where they dealt with Steven immediately. He was told to lie as still as possible and a scanning device was brought down over him as well as being scanned from underneath.
After all the info was shown on computer screens and reports done, we were asked to go into the room next door. Here Steven had to lie flat and as still as possible and this scan time was 25 minutes. It was quite a contraption. There were 3 sides to it and it rotated round Steven’s body, stopping for intervals and scan shots made. This is a 3 dimensional scan.
Here is a pic of Steven in the scanning device.
After this, we were sent to the waiting room. The radiologist came and called us for another take as the first lot were not good enough. Poor old Stevie had another 25 minutes of lying ever so still. After that, we were allowed to go. We had to report back to the Kinderstation where the doctor gave us the necessary prescription etc. They had also saved Stevie some lunch, so we could sit and relax for a while. Gerard picked us home and we got back home at about 4.30pm. We were told that the reports would be forwarded to our paediatrician here in town.
Lara had had a good day at the Vogelpark and was with her friend Sina so I collected her at about 4.00pm.
On the weekend Gerard and I went to Lauterbach on a shopping spree. Went to Herkules first as Gerard had seen a pair of shoes that he wanted and we also wanted to look at the big screen tv that was on special. We were disappointed to hear that both these items were available only at the Fulda branch. I still managed to find jeans for Lara and Steven.
We then went to Mega Company where Gerard just calmly bought a Samsung Plasma 50inch flatscreen tv, a stand which is remote controlled and will lift the tv screen to whatever height we like and a complete surround sound system to go with the whole set.
We woke up to some drizzling rain on Monday morning, breaking the pattern of nearly 4 weeks of absolutely stunning weather. After waking up to a rather miserable Monday morning, things did get a whole lot better.
Our big screen tv was delivered this morning. This I want to add is something that Gerard has dreamt of for many years. Since I met him 15 years ago, he has wanted a home movie / big screen system. Now he finally has it!!!
Before After
The day improved even more, when I visited the paediatrician this afternoon with Steven's report from the Giesen Klinik. The paediatrician informed me that even though Steven's right kidney (the much smaller) functions 24% and the left kidney functions 76% of the whole kidney function, that it is, in fact, functioning perfectly well in proportion to its size. He feels that this whole kidney issue may not be the cause of his High Blood Pressure after all, so we will have to look elsewhere. I will continue monitoring Steven's blood pressure twice a day and he has to go back to the doctor in the first week of June. What a relief to hear that his kidneys are fine!!!
Steven has been going to Heidi everyday after school for some help with his times tables that he has been battling with. What an improvement and his teacher has also made him feel great about doing extra work on his maths. My little boy is shining right now.
Lara’s 10 days of being in the forest (Waldwochen) were absolutely miserable days with lots of rain and quite cold weather.
The 18th of May is a public holiday here in Germany. It is Christi Himmelfahrt which is Ascension Day. We all had a nice lie in and then a late breakfast.
"In Germany, Father's Day is celebrated on Ascension Day. The fact that it has not been ranked as high as it should be as a day in honour of responsible and caring fathers is rather incomprehensible. Fathers too ¬ as well as mothers ¬ like to receive small presents, cards or letters as a token of gratitude.
This might be the reason why one can see so many groups of men, perhaps consisting of lonely fathers who are joined by non-fathers more and more often, hiking, biking or travelling by horse drawn carriages during this day.
Günter Garbrecht
Greeting Card Association of Germany"
Gerard took the boys off to a soccer tournament (in the rain). The men's team played first and a beer tent had been put up and things were well organised for the party thereafter.
Lara still wanted her outing. She had been going on and on about going bowling. I had been putting it off but now I had no excuse. We went off to the hotel in Alsfeld which sports 4 bowling alleys. These are situated in the basement of the hotel and they are airless and obviously used by people who smoke!!!! Rather unpleasant when you first arrive but then one gets used to it. It is nine pin bowling here in Germany so we had to get used to that. The bowling alleys are made of wooden floor running probably a length of 8 metres to the pins which are set in a diamond shape. The balls are smaller than the ten pin bowling balls and have no finger holes. A sloping wooden ramp along the side of the alley is used to return them to the players. The kids absolutely love bowling and Lara is now managing to throw/roll her bowls on her own now. Spent a couple of hours playing and having dinner there.
Gerard took some time off on Friday afternoon and we drove up to Kassel. I had wanted to visit Ikea, as I wanted to see their kids room section. (I am in the process of redoing Lara's and Steven's rooms). We couldn't believe the number of people visiting this shop. After booking the kids into the fun centre at the entrance to the shop, Gerard and I set off to see what we could see. You can drop the kids off at the IKEA supervised play area and ballroom, and shop in peace for an hour. This way, everyone's happy. We actually came away very disappointed and with nothing to show for our visit. The kids had a ball however!!!
We then headed for Kassel centre. Here we wandered through quite a few shops and found a book shop that we had bought English books in previously. Bought two great new books which I can't wait to start reading. James Patterson's Beach Road and Patrick Suskind's Perfume. We caught a tram, much to the kids delight, to the station where I could buy my English magazines and then back into town again.
Bought some ice creams for the kids, grabbed some Sushi and hit the road for home again.
Saturday was spent gardening and we watched the rugby in the afternoon. Larissa joined us for the rugby match.
It was an excellent game and both sides played so well. Well done to the Bulls!!!
We went off to Edmonds birthday in the evening which was great cos I didn’t have to cook supper.
Gerard played golf with Heinz on Sunday. They had a good time even though they didn’t play well.
On Wednesday morning I fetched Roxy and we picked Heidi up from Bell. Went to Heidi to finish off the last bit of painting that needed doing. Gerard and I started our Atkins diet today.
Lara was due to visit the Vogelpark in Schotten today with the kindergarten and Steven had a appointment at the Giesen hospital. We left home at 7.00am and dropped Lara at Roxy and Ryan. Ryan then took her to Kindergarten a bit later for us. Steven got booked in to the day ward. Of course the necessary obs were done and they wanted more of his blood. This doesn’t seem to come out of Steven easily, as every time we have been, they have had to prick his arm more than once and then try the other. This happened yet again!!! We were then told that he had to go to another department. This we found was down the road and situated in an old villa.
This is the sign outside
As you enter this villa, there is a panel of bulbs (some flashing) and switches. Makes one really wonder what you are entering. Steven then had some radio active substance injected intravenously into him. We were then told to come back 3 hours later. Gerard and I took and walk with Steven to the Hospital Café where we sat and had something to eat and drink. Poor Stevie was so hungry as he had been starved since midnight. Gerard decided to gap it back to work and left me to while away the hours with Steve. Stevie and I found a bench in the sun and we sat reading and watching people go by. Eventually we made our way back to the Villa where they dealt with Steven immediately. He was told to lie as still as possible and a scanning device was brought down over him as well as being scanned from underneath.
After all the info was shown on computer screens and reports done, we were asked to go into the room next door. Here Steven had to lie flat and as still as possible and this scan time was 25 minutes. It was quite a contraption. There were 3 sides to it and it rotated round Steven’s body, stopping for intervals and scan shots made. This is a 3 dimensional scan.
Here is a pic of Steven in the scanning device.
After this, we were sent to the waiting room. The radiologist came and called us for another take as the first lot were not good enough. Poor old Stevie had another 25 minutes of lying ever so still. After that, we were allowed to go. We had to report back to the Kinderstation where the doctor gave us the necessary prescription etc. They had also saved Stevie some lunch, so we could sit and relax for a while. Gerard picked us home and we got back home at about 4.30pm. We were told that the reports would be forwarded to our paediatrician here in town.
Lara had had a good day at the Vogelpark and was with her friend Sina so I collected her at about 4.00pm.
On the weekend Gerard and I went to Lauterbach on a shopping spree. Went to Herkules first as Gerard had seen a pair of shoes that he wanted and we also wanted to look at the big screen tv that was on special. We were disappointed to hear that both these items were available only at the Fulda branch. I still managed to find jeans for Lara and Steven.
We then went to Mega Company where Gerard just calmly bought a Samsung Plasma 50inch flatscreen tv, a stand which is remote controlled and will lift the tv screen to whatever height we like and a complete surround sound system to go with the whole set.
We woke up to some drizzling rain on Monday morning, breaking the pattern of nearly 4 weeks of absolutely stunning weather. After waking up to a rather miserable Monday morning, things did get a whole lot better.
Our big screen tv was delivered this morning. This I want to add is something that Gerard has dreamt of for many years. Since I met him 15 years ago, he has wanted a home movie / big screen system. Now he finally has it!!!
Before After
The day improved even more, when I visited the paediatrician this afternoon with Steven's report from the Giesen Klinik. The paediatrician informed me that even though Steven's right kidney (the much smaller) functions 24% and the left kidney functions 76% of the whole kidney function, that it is, in fact, functioning perfectly well in proportion to its size. He feels that this whole kidney issue may not be the cause of his High Blood Pressure after all, so we will have to look elsewhere. I will continue monitoring Steven's blood pressure twice a day and he has to go back to the doctor in the first week of June. What a relief to hear that his kidneys are fine!!!
Steven has been going to Heidi everyday after school for some help with his times tables that he has been battling with. What an improvement and his teacher has also made him feel great about doing extra work on his maths. My little boy is shining right now.
Lara’s 10 days of being in the forest (Waldwochen) were absolutely miserable days with lots of rain and quite cold weather.
The 18th of May is a public holiday here in Germany. It is Christi Himmelfahrt which is Ascension Day. We all had a nice lie in and then a late breakfast.
"In Germany, Father's Day is celebrated on Ascension Day. The fact that it has not been ranked as high as it should be as a day in honour of responsible and caring fathers is rather incomprehensible. Fathers too ¬ as well as mothers ¬ like to receive small presents, cards or letters as a token of gratitude.
This might be the reason why one can see so many groups of men, perhaps consisting of lonely fathers who are joined by non-fathers more and more often, hiking, biking or travelling by horse drawn carriages during this day.
Günter Garbrecht
Greeting Card Association of Germany"
Gerard took the boys off to a soccer tournament (in the rain). The men's team played first and a beer tent had been put up and things were well organised for the party thereafter.
Lara still wanted her outing. She had been going on and on about going bowling. I had been putting it off but now I had no excuse. We went off to the hotel in Alsfeld which sports 4 bowling alleys. These are situated in the basement of the hotel and they are airless and obviously used by people who smoke!!!! Rather unpleasant when you first arrive but then one gets used to it. It is nine pin bowling here in Germany so we had to get used to that. The bowling alleys are made of wooden floor running probably a length of 8 metres to the pins which are set in a diamond shape. The balls are smaller than the ten pin bowling balls and have no finger holes. A sloping wooden ramp along the side of the alley is used to return them to the players. The kids absolutely love bowling and Lara is now managing to throw/roll her bowls on her own now. Spent a couple of hours playing and having dinner there.
Gerard took some time off on Friday afternoon and we drove up to Kassel. I had wanted to visit Ikea, as I wanted to see their kids room section. (I am in the process of redoing Lara's and Steven's rooms). We couldn't believe the number of people visiting this shop. After booking the kids into the fun centre at the entrance to the shop, Gerard and I set off to see what we could see. You can drop the kids off at the IKEA supervised play area and ballroom, and shop in peace for an hour. This way, everyone's happy. We actually came away very disappointed and with nothing to show for our visit. The kids had a ball however!!!
We then headed for Kassel centre. Here we wandered through quite a few shops and found a book shop that we had bought English books in previously. Bought two great new books which I can't wait to start reading. James Patterson's Beach Road and Patrick Suskind's Perfume. We caught a tram, much to the kids delight, to the station where I could buy my English magazines and then back into town again.
Bought some ice creams for the kids, grabbed some Sushi and hit the road for home again.
Saturday was spent gardening and we watched the rugby in the afternoon. Larissa joined us for the rugby match.
It was an excellent game and both sides played so well. Well done to the Bulls!!!
We went off to Edmonds birthday in the evening which was great cos I didn’t have to cook supper.
Gerard played golf with Heinz on Sunday. They had a good time even though they didn’t play well.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
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