The children just love their schools! They're speaking German to their peers and teachers without hesitation. This is the moment we've been working towards since last December. For me, it's the crowning achievement of the sabbatical so far.
In utter defiance of their parents' genetic heritage, both older girls even like gym class! I am relieved. If ever there was a setting where language barrier could cause an embarrassing mistake with the consequent shame and tears, gym class, with its quickly barked instructions from gruff whistle-blowing coaches, rushed locker-room changes before and after, and unfamiliar games with unfamiliar rules (which the native kids all know of course), would be it. But the girls are taking it all in.
One routine new to all of us is that the 4th graders walk home for lunch, then walk back to school in the afternoon. Cornelia likes it, actually. Luckily I am sufficiently unemployed to be able to greet them at home each day and make lunch for them. What full-time or single parents do is a mystery.
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