Chistmas all year long!

I dismantled Christmas. It took a few days and some negotiation, but it's 99% done now. The negotiation stem from my husband's insistence that things should stay up until January 6th, the Feast of the Magi. As you know, I vote for taking it down December 26th at 12:01AM but, to avoid being called Grinch or Scrooge,  I don't really start barking until New Years.

We had a dinner guest on the 3rd so I agreed to leave the tree up if we could take down all the other paraphernalia/decorations.  Now the tree is gone too. The platform the tree was on is still in the living room, but that's going today. The Nativity scene can stay up until tomorrow so the Three Kings know we were expecting them. (I'm hoping for myrrh, but frankincense is always nice too.)

Even though the decorations are gone, the gifts just keep on coming! Yesterday we received a wonderful package of things from Vanya, one of our German exchange students. It is easier to imagine her at home with the book of pictures from her region of Germany. It looks incredibly beautiful. That was fun and Maggie loved her new scarf, which is a bit more stylish than her usual kerchief.

Later in the evening, we received another set of gifts from Emily, Maggie's former teacher who is visiting from Poland. Maggie looks cool in her new shirt for the Euro Cup (which will take place in Warsaw this summer) and I have a lovely porcelain bell.

Steve's present was the best, however. Everyone is familiar with the Russian Nesting dolls - those lovely wooden dolls that have smaller and smaller ones inside. Little did we know, however, that the Russians were such 49er fans. It cracks me up that these dolls were inspired by the San Francisco 49ers, made in Russia, purchased in Poland and traveled back overseas to San Francisco.

These will be displayed through the Superbowl. No negotiation needed. We just have to hope the real 49ers  are still in the hunt.

'scuse me. I have a platform to move.

Today we say Auf Wiedersehen to Vanya and Betty. Their stay has come to an end and they are headed back to Germany this evening. It has been a great three weeks and I'm glad they stayed with us.

Betty asked if Maggie could come to Germany when the San Francisco kids come in May. I wish that could happen, but it's just not possible. (But I am giggling at the thought of going through TSA security with the suction machine and the cans and cans of her food pleading ,"No, really sir, she needs more than 6 ounces of liquid for the 10 hour flight."  I think I would suspect us because it's too ludicrous to be true. )

The morning madness will settle back to its normal overdrive level. We have been in super duper overdrive adding lunches and a ride across town to the already unbelievable mix. The other day I was making lunches and maggie was banging on her bed  which is her way of "calling" me. I said, "just one minute Maggie. you are NEXT on my list." I heard the night nurse start to laugh because Maggie made a face. The nurse said, "oh no, she did NOT like that. This girl needs to be FIRST on every list."

Other than the mornings, though this has been fairly effortless. We were lucky to get such lovely your women to join us because they made it so easy.  

We will miss them and wish both young ladies well as they travel home to their families and friends. I hope they know they have a little of both right here in San Francisco if they ever want to.

Weekend update

Good thing we gained an hour this weekend, because we were busy!

Any change in the schedule causes a ripple effect. When the whole country shifts back an hour it takes several days for us to catch up. Add in our busy weekend and forget about it! Maggie fell asleep an hour early last night and by the time the nurse arrived at 11 all of us were sound asleep in the living room.

My posting has been slow of late. We have been very busy entertaining Betty and Vanya. In fact I think I'm using the extra hour to write this. On Friday night we went out for Chinese food, Saturday we went to the Legion of Honor to see the Pisarro exhibit, they toured Fort Point and then we had a picnic at Crissy Field. The rain was threatening all day, but held off

Yesterday we went to Ghiradelli Square. We felt it was out obligation to show our guests the Chocolate factory, or the remnants of it.  We hadn't been there is a very long time. I remembered why when we arrived. It its the LEAST accessible place in San Francisco. Multiple levels with one elevator that  comes four steps above ground level - WHAT??!?!?!.You have to call a security guard to unlock a lift to get up those stairs to get to the elevator that takes you to a bunch of shops that cannot fit a wheelchair. Even in the chocolate factory itself you could not maneuver with a chair. I'm sure they don't get many in there, but I can tell you there's a reason for that. All in all a colossal fail.

We wandered around Fisherman's wharf and stopped in at Cost Plus. It's always important to take visitors to our city to a store that specializes in imports from around the world, including Germany. Oops. Still they had fun.

Maggie loves to use her dynavox to say hello to each of them and they have become very adept at responding, even when she says hello 20 times. Maggie has them well trained.

It is hard to believe they will be leaving us in a couple of days and things will go back to "normal." There are still so many sites I want to see!

P.S. I forgot my gratitude for today. I am thankful that this experience has been so positive - but I am also thankful that tomorrow is election day and all the phone calls and junk mail will stop for a while.  If you are in SF., don't forget to vote tomorrow.

German Invasion Day 9

Our exchange students Betty and Vanya have been with us for nine days now. I believe they are enjoying themselves and getting a lot out of their visit. I KNOW we are. It's an amazing thing that in such a short amount of time these girls have become such a part of our lives.

Vanya and Betty are in a group of about 14 students who came from Germany. The kids are spread out among various host families connected with the high school.  Most of the host families have students at the school. Our connection is more tenuous, my brother is a teacher there. I was glad to get two students (who are already good friends) because they don't have a host student in the house.  Maggie attends a different high school and, though you may find this hard to believe, she is not that hip on the social aspects of being a San Francisco teenager.

Betty went with the rest of the visiting German students to Los Angeles for four days. Vanya stayed in San Francisco. It was interesting to watch Vanya adapt to school and to us without her friend around.  Of course she did great. But when Betty returned last night, I realized how much I had missed her and saw how happy Vanya was to have her back again. It was a sweet reunion for all of us.

These girls are 16 years old and I can tell you that teenagers are teenagers regardless of their country of origin. They giggle and converse and give each other a bad time. Vanya told Betty that she (Vanya) was now our favorite daughter because she bonded with us while Betty was in Los Angeles. Betty just stuck out her lower lip in reply and we all laughed.  They joke with each other and with us and even get Steve's sarcasm. It feels like the energy level in this house has increased in a very positive way.

In addition to the constancy of teenagers, there is also the constancy of parenting. Steve and I find ourselves worrying about them and wondering where to set limits. There has not been any issue whatsoever, but there is a dance at the school tonight. Also Halloween is Monday and they are invited to any number of parties. Fortunately it's a school night so they won't go too crazy.

You have to realize that the only teenager in this house now is Maggie. We have many worries about her, but heading out to dances and Halloween parties unsupervised are just NOT among them. I worried about stuff like this with my sons too, but let's face it, the issues are different with boys than with girls. Also, I had known all of their friends for many years and knew what to expect. I also knew their friends parents and could track them down with relative ease.

It's been several years since we've had to consider these issues. We will figure it out, but we are realizing that we both feel somewhat energized by the circumstances. I just have to keep Steve from roaming the streets on Halloween looking for any signs of mischief.

Talk about scary!

Weekend Whirlwind

This was a great weekend. the weather was perfect, both my boys were in town, we had a dinner on Saturday with my mom and my brother and sister in law and I didn't lose any exchange students.


My son Eddie and his girlfriend Grace arrived on Thursday evening about 6. We talked for a while and I told them I would introduce them to Vanya and Betty, our German exchange students, as soon as they returned from their walk. They were due back at 6:30. When they still had not arrived at 6:45 I was getting nervous. They had only been in SF for 24 hours and I let them wander around alone. Eddie was making fun of me for being worried. I tried to be cool, but by 7:00 it was pitch dark and they were no where to be found. I started looking around in the car. I wasn't worried about their safety, per se, but I feared they were lost. Eddie stayed home to let me know if they showed up. They did at 7:15. When I came home they were all apologies, but I knew it was as much (or more) on me than on them. We ate dinner and the girls turned in, still jet lagged from the trip. An hour later the second earthquake of the day jolted the house. I made the decision right then and them to buy them a go phone (pay as you go cell phone) to use while they were here. Grace and I bought in on Friday. For $25 I have the perfect solution to my anxiety. I gave them the phone Friday after school and now know I can reach them or visa versa whenever we need to.

Steve returned from his trip on Friday night to find only Maggie and I at home. The girls had gone to a high school football game with my neighbors and Eddie and Grace were out with friends. Maggie and I were holding down the fort watching chick flicks. Within a few minutes everyone else arrived and Steve was introduced to the girls and caught up with Eddie.

Maggie and I took the girls downtown on Saturday morning to meet up with one of the host students, who was going to spend the day shopping with them. I picked them up later in the afternoon, stopping in the middle of busy Market Street to retrieve them. I was  urging them to jump in the car before a) I got a ticket and b) the Occupy San Francisco people enveloped us. Vanya and Betty were fascinated by the protest because they said they don't have things like this in Germany. It was a good opportunity to explain both the academic - the importance of free speech is in this country  - and the practical - how you don't want to be stuck in traffic because of someone else exercising that right.

Maggie is thrilled having visitors. She is calling them by name via her dynavox. When they first heard her say, "Vanya and Betty, hello!" they were taken aback but delighted. That helped them "get" Maggie a little better. She doesn't always appear to be engaged, but she is listening and paying attention all the time. 

Maggie was even more thrilled to have BOTH brothers home at the same time. Tim came by on Saturday and Sunday morning and I was able to get a picture of all of them together. This is becoming an increasingly  rare occasion.

Culture!

We are hosting two German highs school students for three weeks. They arrived yesterday and everything seems to be going very well. The two girls, Vanya and Betty, are already good friends in Germany, so they are very pleased to be rooming together. They are lovely, polite, speak perfect English and think everything is great. That's the kind of house guest you dream of. Here they are leaving for school this morning and saying good bye to Maggie.

We've already had our first cultural exchange. I asked if there was anything they wanted to eat or didn't want to eat so I could stock the groceries accordingly. Vanya mentioned last time she was here she had some lovely cheese from Philadelphia that was very creamy and wold love to have that again. I said, Philadelphia Cream Cheese? Yes. No problem. They had bagels and cream cheese for breakfast and Betty had never heard of them or tried them. Of course she loved it (how could you not?). I guess that's not technically MY culture but I think Bagels are assimilated enough that we can all claim them.

Maggie has had limited interaction at this point. The girls met her when they got home yesterday, but they could barely stay awake and were in bed by about 7:30. They will have plenty of time to get to know one another.

The new refrigerator arrived while I was at the airport (of course.) Thanks to the generosity of my friend Rose who waited at my house for the delivery men, it is in place and cooling food again. I tried to convince Vanya and Betty that my kitchen is not usually in such disarray, but I'm not sure I got that across. The plastic wrapping on the refrigerator helped me look a bit more credible.  Of course now its a day later and the food is put away, but the disarray continues, so maybe it's not just the new refrigerator.

Have a grand day.