Last Weekend in Paderborn!

Friday Funday: August 22nd, 2014

Fridays are always the best days. All my staff was on their game and everyone’s moods were good. We practiced as a whole group for Camp A Presents and the kids did so well! Proud director right here :) I love my little British nuggets. I actually received somewhat of a compliment from one of our little crappers at lunch today. He first asked if I was married. And when I replied “Nope.” He asked why, and I said it’s because I haven’t fallen in love with anyone. He then said, “But you’re so pretty and nice. I still don’t understand.” Lol I was flabbergasted. What a kid.

The rest of our day went as planned. We had a couple kiddos bawling today cause it was their last week at Camp, which is always so sad. One of my favorite pairs of siblings left today: Bradley and Amelie are such sweet kids and boyyy do they loved football! We had the kids dress up today for Sports Week and they of course dressed up as…football players! They had their shin guards and everything. Love it!

For Harry Potter Week! I hand-wrote that from a picture online :) 

Another quote from Harry Potter I hand-wrote. Not bad :) 

Bradley and Amelie. I'll miss these two! 

Mosiacs with Finley, Bradley B., Ms. Grape (Alma), Ryan, Mimi, and Elsie (clockwise from left).

More mosiacs with Ms. Kiwi (Emilie), Amelie, Kelsey, Grace, and Ettie :) 

Camp A Presents Practice with our lowest number of kiddos yet! Only 30 this week!

Friday night was well…quite a lot of fun. We went to Paderborn Winefest with a few of our officer friends and it was so much fun! One of most hilarious topics we talked about was the use of “stroke” verses “pet” innuendos. The kids at the field trip kept on saying, “Ms. Cherry may I stroke the goat?” Uh stroke? Us Americans were dying of laughter. And then some of the officers continued to say it at Winefest, so we had a long conversation about why Americans think “petting a goat” is the more appropriate phrasing lol. Oh the conversations we have. 

I actually learned a lot of British History, which is soo fascinating. One of my questions was how do English schools teach history since there history is so detailed and expansive? Quite simply…they “cherry pick” many of their topics to focus on and graze over the others. I have a hard enough time learning all that is American history, which is really no more than 300 years. So learning all that English history, despite it's summarization, seems a daunting feat! 

There was live music as well and we had a good time dancing! I learned a different version of Swing Dance from my friend Chris and we all had a good time busting a few moves haha. 

Unfortunately, it rained quite a bit, and by “a bit” I mean almost the whole time. It was “proper rain” as our friend Rihanna calls it. The Brits have many names for rain actually. They describe it as “a way of life.” For a while there it was a “misty drizzle.” Haha I can’t even handle all the terms they use for different types of rain. It’s really quite humorous.

Despite the “proper rain,” we all had a great time and quite a bit of wine :) Chris and Dan bought a couple of bottles for the lot of us, which was very generous. We all made it home in one piece though :) Let me tell you though, the Brits know how to have a good time!

The next morning was rough for a couple of my girls, but once we got some water and food in them, they were good to go! We hit up downtown Paderborn and I bought some chocolate for my family and shopped around a bit. I’m very tight on money so I only bought chocolate, a baguette, and a coffee. But like I’ve mentioned before, I really just enjoy walking around with a cup of coffee and taking everything in. I wasn’t able to wear flops today though because it was pouring rain. I don’t know what is up with this part of country, but it definitely isn’t helping us travel anywhere. Thankfully, I can still use my eurail on the local buses, so I’m using up my pass. Overall, it was a very successful weekend, including our very low key and productive Sunday :)

I’m looking forward to our last week with our wonderful kids, Emilie’s birthday, a BBQ we are invited to on Thursday, and flying home early Saturday morning here :)

Winefest!

My wine for 2 euro. The rest were bought for me :) I learned that one way in which you can tell if the wine is a good wine, is when you twirl it in the glass and the liquid somewhat sticks to the glass. 

A much needed German meal. The mayo here tastes delicious with chips (fries)!

Had a good time with Alma at the Winegarden :) 

Our post dancing pic! 

I tried on a traditional dress today at the store for fun and loved it! I would definitely buy one if I were here for Oktoberfest.