It's been quite a week in The Germ, the kind that rolls around every-once-in-an-expat-blue-moon. The kind you can only have because you've moved abroad. It's one of the rare moments that a-week in-the-life-here is definitely more spectacular than if we'd stayed comfortably at home and lived a quiet, happy, familiar life.
There have been many weeks that involved much second guessing and stress here, and that's a necessary disclaimer, because it's often the highlight reel that gets blogged about. (As the writers of Portlandia so sagely put it, "I guess people are just cropping out the sadness.")
But not this week.
In the span of just seven days, I've seen a cathedral, two castles, canals and a city devoted to cheese. I've traveled to historic Aachen and crossed back into the Netherlands.
At The North Sea (Den Hague)
And, to top of that week ...
We've watched our girls blossom like the spring flowers in an environment that once was so intimidatingly new.
Beatrice had her first band concert ... Our girl who could read no music last fall, and who struggled with an attempt at the trumpet, has made a beautiful transition to the mellow toned Euphonium. (A fact that almost makes lugging that beastly piece of brass and creatively playing Tetris in my small trunk three times a week worth it.)
Eliza returned from her Math competetion in Switzerland. She flew with her teacher and two teammates to Zurich and then took a bus and finally a train into the Alps where she spent a weekend figuring equations and competing in team activities with other kiddos who will no doubt be the engineers and actuaries of the next generation. She kind of dreaded going, but the location alone seemed to make it worth it once she arrived.
And The Millie Girl is getting ready for college ... We met with her guidance counselor and mapped out the next steps and scenarios. And then she visited a college this weekend. (And played in her first soccer game since lancing up her cleats with the boys at LGS.)
(We've had a friend's daughter staying with us this weekend. She's doing a semester in Italy. We've been impressed with her organization and sense of adventure ... packing in trips and making the most of her time in Europe. It's encouraging to see the other side of the college selection process!)
So that is our week blogged. (After a long dry spell of no posts.) Sometimes we are just busy, and sometimes we are cropping out the tough stuff ... But we are thankful. And we are mindful ... (that) we took the plunge with full knowledge of the risks. We this week we are grateful to be reaping the benefits (that occasionally feel elusive!)
