A German Birthday Party

Hi! Today we celebrated Pauline’s 6th birthday party with 12 of her friends at a sort of petting zoo type place about 20 minutes from home. It was an exhausting day, but a fun one. We also went to Pauline’s kindergarten on Saturday where she and all of her classmates had had a sleepover and performed a show for us in the morning. It was adorable. Through a combination of body language and facial expressions I am quickly picking up what people are talking about, especially at the kindergaten performance, because children are so expressive.

Back to the birthday party. There were a few adults at the soiree but I decided to stick with the kids as they went on a treasure hunt around the farm, and eventually found the booty filled with boxes of food to feed the farm animals with. It was a hilarious ending to a very detailed treasure hunt. The funniest part of the day was the kids realizing that I didn’t yet speak any German and speaking it to me anyways. Like I said earlier though, through a combination of body language and with help from some of the other kids, I understood fairly well what they were saying to me. The kids ate sausages and we fed animals and opened presents, and I ended the day by shopping with Esther (the kids’ mother) for fresh fruit and flowers from the farm’s store.

I start my language course tomorrow evening in Koln which I am super excited for. I can’t wait to meet some friends and explore the beautiful city some more. For now, it’s time to hit the hay and recharge for another exciting day tomorrow.