I am sitting on a plane from Amsterdam to Houston. John and I have just spent a week exploring Celle (in picture--charming, yes?) and Hannover, Germany. In about two months one of those fair cities will be our new home for three years. John is taking a new position with his company, Baker Hughes. He will be continuing his work in materials research but changing the focus of his efforts to a broader range of drilling tools (those were his words).
We have always imagined that we would live overseas one day, but this opportunity came sooner than we thought and in such an ideal location that it required almost no discussion to reach a decision. Before graduate school John participated in an internship in a small town near Cologne, and later that same year (unbeknownst to each other) I moved to Vienna to begin two years of teaching. Fourteen years later we will again cross the pond, this time together and with two kids in tow.
Elisabeth, now six, will begin second grade at either the International School-Hannover Region (IS-HR) or a local German school. The decision depends in part on where we can find a place to rent in a timely fashion. It will be a big change for us, not only because we are moving to a new country, but because Elisabeth will go to school for the first time. You should have seen John and me in the Muller store (like a nice Walgreens or nice but small Target) looking with shock at the price tags of the backpacks that all the local kids use. We suddenly understood why parents indulge their children and buy the trendy thing for them. We want her to fit in! We want her to be happy! And actually these backpacks make sense--they keep their shape, so it seems that it would be easier for kids to put their notebooks etcetera in. . . And we rationalized it by deciding to tell her that she will need to use this back pack for at least two years. But we will let her pick it out.
Elisabeth is excited about the move. She has never been sentimental, so while her friends are starting to say things to their moms about missing her already, Elisabeth just carries on, naming the countries she wants to visit, and looking forward to showing her Texas scrapbook to her friends in Germany. I think perhaps that she may be taking cues from me--we have not really known until this week that this is a sure thing, and so I've resisted beginning my farewells or showing any sadness. But every day it becomes more real and I'm thinking more about what we are leaving behind.
Henry is asking when we are going to Germany and if it is near Michigan, so you can see what his expectations are. His one request is to ride trains. That request will be easily granted.
In Germany, school starts at age six, sometimes seven. Anything before that is kindergarten, which can start as early as age three. Take the word literally. This is nothing like American kindergarten. We visited one, thinking about Henry attending two or three days a week (till noon). Let's just say there wasn't much structure apparent. John kept saying that Henry would have a lot of fun there. I think the German reputation for strict rules does not apply to three, four and five year olds.
Some things we are looking forward to: biking (we saw bikes everywhere), walking (our legs were well used this week), using our car way less, (by the way, if you are interested in a 2007 Honda Odyssey or 2006 Audi let us know), living in a smaller place (yes, really), eating good bread, stopping for ice cream on the way home from school, taking vacations together just a hop skip and a jump away, exploring, finding new sides of ourselves, hosting you for a visit . . .
So what now? We plan to move early August, pending John's work visa etc. Our house is on the market, so let us know if you want to move to a nice neighborhood in The Woodlands! At this point we'll do the house hunting once we move, and hope that it all goes smoothly.
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(just realized we really didn't take too many pictures! Next time . . .)
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