German food!

We've been in Germany for exactly 10 days now and, until today had NOT eaten any German food. Our first meal off base was McDonald's because I have a phenomenal, perfect husband who, after getting hit by a crazy German lady, decided to give me and the kids our favorite comfort food. Our 2nd meal off base was Korean food, again for the kids and a little for Joe, and our 3rd was Mexican food. I LOVE Mexican food. Mostly, these outings were due to us being famished and otherwise unable to find "real" German food. They have plenty of schnitzel stands, but we didn't want German fast food. After the snow melted, we decided to go find Real, the German version of Wal-Mart, pronounced Ree-all. It was a bust. We found it, but it was more like a giant Dollar store (quality) with Dillards prices. Anyway, we came back to our village, even though we don't live there yet, and found our landlord's restaurant. They fed us really well. Joe had the schnitzel with mushrooms and I had a turkey schnitzel. No worries for my Kosher friends...they do offer something other than pork! It was good and the potatoes were good too. The Landlord's (from here on I'll refer to them by their names...Michael and Melanie) daughter, Salina, took our kids to the back of their restaurant and played old bowling. It was 9 pin and they were attached to strings. The hilarious thing is, whenever my kids would try to bowl, Salina, who is 13, would go smack the ball or tickle them. She even tackled Josh and took his shoes off. My kids didn't even blink. They went right to tackling her. They also have a 10 year old son, Lucas, who wouldn't speak but did smile a lot. His shirt said, "Texas" so I told him I'm from Texas and he grinned. His mom said he's lazy. Maybe that's why he wouldn't speak. Michael and Melanie speak English really well. I am so thankful. I asked her to help me speak German and she said she would, then, further in the conversation I learned that she wants to play the piano or get her kids to learn. It just so happens that I teach piano...speaking of teaching, they charge a small fortune for music lessons over here. The Americans on base are paying $17 per half-hour. I only charge $10 per half hour (although I was already considering raising it to $12 to weed out the parents who were using me for baby sitting). I'll do the typical Wal-Mart thing...come in with LOW EVERYDAY PRICES and put everybody else out of business. :) I digress...we ate our schnitzel and salad and potatoes and had a great conversation with our landlords. She "schooled" me on German culture and their school systems. She actually said she wanted to home school her children for the first 2-3 years but wasn't able. Their school system, too, is set up vastly differently than ours. It's NOT free, for one thing. They have to pay for all books, which can be upwards of $500 per year, per child. They also pay heavy taxes, so don't think they get it easy there. They have 3 school systems...the "D" student system for kids who just need the basic education...the "B" student system for kids who MAY go to college, but more than likely will do a trade...and the "A,B" student system, which they call "Gymnasium," which is, according to Melanie, "for extremely intelligent kids who must go to college." Their "Gymnasium" school, though, requires that the student be self-taught to a great extent, and they have very strict grading standards. If you're athletic but not smart, they don't want you. Athletes are not prized over here...smart people are. Dogs are allowed in restaurants. They brought theirs in to meet us. His name is Lucky and he was a terrier mix, kind of like Frazier's dog (Jack Russel, but this one had German Shep. coloring). When you pointed your finger at him like a gun, pulled your imaginary trigger and made a shooting noise, he played dead. Very cute...lots of laughs.When we move in, Salina and Lucas are going to take our kids out to the woods and show them around. My American Mommy bells are saying "NOOOO" but I told Joe that I'm letting them go. Maybe I'll send Garmin with them. You know, our GPS. Salina is quite a trickster. I'd hate for her to think "Let's leave the Americans in the woods and let them find their own way home." She would do that without malice, not understanding that my brilliant home school children can't tell direction when it's cloudy outside. Maybe I'll send some bread with them. Eventually I'm going to have to cut some apron strings. I was told by another American that it's hard to go back to the States once you've been here a while because things concerning children are so different. You can't send your kids out in the woods in America without wondering who is lurking. Here, if you do something to a child...well if they can arrest you for home schooling, imagine what they do if you intentionally hurt a child.