Still alive!

ok! So I am officially the worst blogger in the world. My blog has become like a houseplant that I forgot to water. Doh!

But since my wonderful husband bought me a new very portable laptop for my birthday I am going to attempt to revive it. Now if I could... onlz...only get used.... öäöä.... to the German...ßßß,,, keyboard!

In my defense, it has been a very busy 9 months since I last posted. Apparently, my immune system was not well adjusted to Euro bugs and I was sick quite a bit this winter and spring. AND I finished the second German course I took since I have been here in July. I must say I am not missing the daily 4 hour classes + the nightly homework. But the classes have helped. I can understand about 75-80 percent of most conversations and can express myself on simple subjects. All I can say is it takes alot longer to learn German than I was hoping. Rats! But it is a good way to exercise my noodle and fend of Alzheimer's.

We had some visitors in the last months too! My parents visited over Christmas which was a beautiful thing. Then my brother came to visit us twice(!) and I was hoping I had snagged him for a return visit during his sabbatical but alas he bagged a fellowship in Hong Kong instead. Congrats Kendall! My friend Kate came to visit in March which was a breath of fresh air in the dark German winter and her husband Mike stopped by a few weeks later during his business trip which was nice too! Then in June our friends Ralph and Andrea came to visit us from Ireland. So we have had lots of nice visits from friends to keep our spirits up during this busy time.

Lukas is growing like crazy! He is very cute (but I'm biased) and he is learning to speak new words in German and English every day! At the moment, he is also facinated with the guitar and always wants Rene to play it for him. Very cute!

Other than that I joined an english speaking creative writing group in Berlin. It has been a really nice way to meet other english speakers and so far I have met a few other Ami's (which is Euro slang for Americans), some Aussies, and even one guy from New Zeland. And I have been having fun writing.

I'll be trying to post more often and I hope this post finds you all in good health and good spirits. We are planning a trip back to Michigan in September. Hopefully, we can catch up with all the Michigan crowd then!

Til next time here's your funny German word for the day: der Dudelsack= bagpipes

Much love from Berlin,

Steph, Rene, and Lukas