November

November has been a busy month, but not a very interesting one. Philip went from writing simple sentences, in German, in 2nd grade to writing essays, in German, in the 3rd grade. Alex is learning to read and write in both German and English. I'm taking a German grammar class--more on this in another blog. The boys decided they were too old to participate in the annual St. Martin's Day parade (the photo is from last year's parade--Alex made a lantern that looked like a goose, St. Martin's symbol). We had a quiet Thanksgiving at home with a chicken instead of a turkey, which you can buy here but we think the chickens taste better.

And Bob returned from a trip to Chicago, which he promised to write about and post on my blog (we're still waiting). While in Chicago, Bob stocked up on things that are not easy to come by in Deutschland. Such as:

Hellmann's Mayonnaise. They have mayonnaise, but not Hellmann's. You can buy it in Belgium, but not in Germany.

Ziploc Bags. People with US connections buy them and then wash and reuse them. During the summer, we saw a lot of Ziplocs hang out to dry on clotheslines. I'll have to get a photo next summer.

Secret Anti-perspirant. They sell deodorants, but not anti-perspirants, or at least, I haven't been able to find any. They used to sell Secret deodorants, which I thought were just as good as the anti-perspirants, but I can't find them anymore either.

Levi's jeans. Oh, they sell Levi's here and they are quite popular, but they are expensive. A pair of 501s can cost 85 Euros, or with the current exchange rate of $1.48 per Euro, $125.