Big transitions

These past few weeks have been a time of large transitions:

• our 8th anniversary, meaning we've been married for slightly more than 1/4 of our lives :)
• -- and we've experienced + learned so much!! 

• ... such as living in 2 countries (U.S.A. + Germany) on 2 different continents  
• ... visiting several, several more countries (such as Mexico, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Norway, Spain, Russia, etc.)
• ... completing 3 academic degrees + a teacher training program between the 2 of us (F: Bachelor in Linguistics, Master in English + American Literatures, Cultures + Media, me: Bachelor in Early Childhood Education, Waldorf teacher training)
• and he's working on the next one (Doctor in English Philology :) )
• ... learning how to cook amazing food (okay, that's mostly F (for which I am so grateful!!) but I have learned some too :) )
• ... learning how to navigate adulting (bank accounts, taxes, health insurance, investments, etc. -- in Germany, no less!)
• ... how to be better spouses,
• ... and how to all around be better people!
• I'm so grateful for my husband + that he shares this marriage adventure with me! 
• school ended + I said goodbye to my class, who I had taught from 1st to 5th grade, about 1/6 of my life (+ about 1/2 of theirs!)

• I love that as a Waldorf teacher I got to get to know them so well + teach them over so many years! In fact, I could've been their classroom teacher through grade 8 -- teaching them for the first 2 hours of the day, before they had other subjects, but this was not to be. 
• As a last °°°hurrah°°° we had two field trip days with an overnight (at the school! I don't think that would even be allowed in the U.S. :) ). We biked to a forest ropes course (I was thankfully able to borrow an e-bike), bought produce at the market, cooked dinner + had fun around the campfire. (I had introduced them to s'mores during our week-long class trip in the fall + they requested them again :) Hooray for silly, sugary American cuisine!) The next day we went to an indoor pool. The day ended in a potluck farewell with the parents and I received wonderful gifts for me + baby. My girls had also prepared choreographed tumbling + monkey bar routines :)

• And, to round off our ancient Greece unit, we held mini Olympic games (not quite ancient Greek -- wrestling was done fully clothed :) + not quite modern -- there was no swimming and the like). Our crowning event was the wagon races -- in wheelbarrows :) 

• And with that ending comes a new beginning! We can now focus entirely on the next new adventure -- that will change the REST of our lives! (i.e. the arrival of our Theta!) We transition from being wife + husband to ALSO being mother + father, and from a family of 2 to a family of 3!
• As I mentioned before, Theta's arrival, means that I 'only' taught my class through 5th instead of 8th grade. The previous financial director at my school quoted, "In terms of career, children always come at the wrong time. But in terms of the heart, they always come at the right time"...
• That being said, our tiny human did have pretty impressive timing -- coming near enough the end of the school year that I could finish the school year, have a few weeks + then my "Mutterschutz" begins (the 6 weeks before the due date where you're not allowed to work (but still get full pay!) -- see this blog post for this + other perks of being pregnant/giving birth in Germany). So, well done, Theta!

• I'm still working on processing/sorting the materials + accoutrements of the just-ended school phase. 
• (Dare I show pictures??) ... lots + lots of piles! (look, there are kinda paths in between! + F has been very patient + supportive :) )

It was actually quite satisfying to categorize + sort on such a massive scale (and this week's paper recycling contribution is impressive! + we shall probably never want for scrap paper again....)

• I've been pulling out school supplies from all of the shelves, bins, boxes + drawers, sorting them (+ reducing where possible) + stowing them away. (They're headed to the cellar, so that we + Theta have some more space to breathe, (at some point crawl) + spread Theta's things around :) 

They have come into these boxes (with plastic bags, cuz our cellar's a bit damp...)
+ LOOK! all the red arrows point to places that were full of school stuff! (+ some is still pending removal :) )

• My plans also include making progress on writing my Master's Thesis. 
• I believe it's unrealistic to have it done by Theta's arrival, but I can definitely make progress. I've met with my thesis advisor, he's suggested some articles for my theoretical framework, I've already recorded/gathered lots of data about my teaching fractions + musical notation in my class and F has already let technology transcribe many of my audio recordings about what I taught + how it went. So, we'll see how I manage :)

Essentially, although life and its pieces are not always cheery/well-rested/easy/well-balanced/relaxed/understandable/gratifying/easily-solvable, I am still overall happy, in awe and grateful!!!