Days 30,31, and 32

This week has focused on English lessons.  We’re not sure if our students have learned anything, but we sure have learned a few things.  First, we learned that we don’t actually use correct grammar when we speak.  Second, we learned why we were not English majors in college.  After each lesson we have frantically studied up on riveting topics such as the difference between present perfect, past perfect and simple past tenses.  We now know how we should have been speaking these past 35 years. 
Yeah, yeah, we know we are older than 35, but that was a nice round number, and we are not willing to associate with the next round number just yet.

Oh, and we learned one more important thing.  English classes are much more fun when held at the bowling alley!  This week we met with the ladies’ group at the Tachov bowling alley.  The alley is in the ice hockey arena, and consists of four lanes.  Bowling is more or less the same here as in the US, except that the lanes are a little narrower and a good bit shorter.  However, for some reason it seemed even harder to do well than in the US.  Or perhaps we should say it seemed harder to do no more poorly than we usually do in the US.  So, who can tell us if that last sentence used proper grammar?  Not so easy, huh?

Our next larger commitment starts on Saturday evening with Bicycle Camp, so we rearranged our teaching schedule a little bit so we could take a mini trip for two days before getting back into things.  This has given us the opportunity to give Daniel an early birthday present by taking the boys to the Playmobil Fun Park outside Nurnberg.  Both boys are big into Playmobils (little German action figures of sorts), so this seems like a great fit.  Phil is pretty excited too.  Nurnberg is the closest major German city to Tachov (about 1 ½ hours away).  This afternoon we arrived in Nurnberg and were able to spend a few hours downtown seeing the sites.  Nurnberg was heavily damaged in WWII, but a surprising number of historical (as in hundreds of years old) buildings have been preserved or restored.   The not-so-historical Italian restaurant we found for dinner rounded out a wonderful evening.  The weather, though a bit chilly, was warm enough so that we could eat outside – a wonderful European custom.  We bought Eric a Germany baseball cap at a souvenir store, to which he announced, “Now I’m a real German boy!”  Of course he said this in English – using perfect grammar, we might add.

Tomorrow we’re off to the Playmobil park!  It makes us reminisce about our LifeSigns youth in Sterling heading to Kings Dominion in Virginia this week.  Hope you all have a blast. 

Some photos:
Daniel and Eric playing Floorball at youth camp, a favorite summer sport in this hockey-loving country.

Daniel on the football (soccer) field.

Daniel and Eric posing for the Washington Post "KidsPost."

Bowling with the ladies' English class and Michal, our other student.

Teresa with the Tachov Hockey club mascot.