School rules

I set off just before full dark yesterday (7:10 p.m.) for the first parent meeting of the school year. I actually like walking around in our village, and we live in a really beautiful area, lots of woods nearby, and a fantastic view of the valley. Last night reminded me of Halloween night as a kid—crisp, cold air, a clear sky, and the smell of wood smoke.

Of course, Germans don't really do Halloween, just the grown-ups and masquerade parties or special events in dance clubs. To make up for the lack of a fall decorating holiday, some of the shops have already started putting up xmas decorations, even outside. Bleah!

So, back to the parent meeting. One nice feature of the German school system is that kids stay with the same class and the same set of teachers for 2 years, so we already know the teacher and other parents from last year. It's hard enough for me and lovely husband (L.H.) to follow what's being said in German; at least the speakers are friendly.

After the Pisa results (the biggie in school performance testing here in Europe), the curriculum has been tweaked once again, so we got to hear about what that means for our kids. Really, the changes are fairly minor, but of course all the subject names got changed, and some of the subjects were merged into 1 (Humans, Nature, and Culture, which includes arts and crafts and music, etc.). So there weren't any big surprises.

It was after 9 by the time we wrapped up, and I just missed the bus up to our house, so I hauled ass home. By the time I got here, I felt sick, like in P.E. in elementary school where they made us run until my ribs hurt and I felt like I was going to puke. I think I may have overdone it with the exercise yesterday.

It's too early for a weather report, but so far it's clear and cold. If I can see the sun, I can handle the cold. L.H. turned on all the radiators yesterday evening while I was at the meeting so we'd wake up to a warm, cozy house—then forgot to switch the hot water heater over to the radiator setting. No hot water in the radiators = no warm, cozy house. Oh, well. It heated up quickly enough once we got everything turned on properly, but having to drag myself out of bed when it's 19C (about 65F) in the house is not fun.

Also, working in this room is not much fun—it was built on after the fact and has no heat except what leaks in through the doorway from the rest of the house. We're looking into an electric heater.