Family Day at the Beehive School

Today Geno's school had a family celebration. It started at 11:00 am and lasted until 2 pm. It was great to see all the families that showed up. They had face painting, fishing for presents set up for the kids as well as lots of food and snacks.

As soon as Geno came in, he had to find one of his teachers Nadine and give her a big hug as he ran into her arms. Considering that in December when he started, he was a shy, sad boy who didn't want to leave his Mom, this is amazing progress. Now when I ask him if he wants to go to school, he always says, "Yeah!" It is clear that it has become a second home to him. To all of the expats out there that want a loving, nurturing, and academic learning environment, this is the school to choose.

After this, Geno chose to sit at the table he always sits and colors at every morning. What can I say, he loves routine. He did, however, notice that there were chips and popcorn at the table instead of markers and paper. Being the snacker that he is, he loved this kind of change. Loved it so much, that when I wanted to see if he wanted to get his face painted, he would not leave the table unless the bowl of chips could come with him. The only true bribe that will always work are tempting him with chips, pretzels, and chocolate.

Coretta chose to have her face painted, however, and played with Geno and his new friend Josh, while I spent time in conversation with Josh's parents. Thanks to all the teachers for taking time out of their weekend to make this day so special. It was a lovely way to share a Saturday morning.

Happy International Workers Day

May Day is just one of the many celebrations I remember as a little kid. My Mom always created little May Day baskets that we would then give to our friends in the neighborhood. In the tradition of May Day, we would ring the bell of our friends, leave the May Day basket on their step and run. If the person sees and catches you, they could kiss you. Eew. Although this tradition is fading since the 20th century, some (including my family) still celebrate it.

On a more serious note, I never really questioned the history behind May Day and this pagan celebration as a kid. I guess I didn't realize what this holiday means and meant for people around the world. In one instance, the Catholic church views the month of May as the month where Catholics celebrate the blessed Virgin. For others, this day marks something much different.

According to Wikipedia, May Day can refer to various labor celebrations conducted on May 1 that commemorate the fight for the 8 hour work day. It is hard to believe that there was a time when people were forced to work long hours and even worse working conditions. May Day in this regard is called The International Workers Day or Labor Day. The idea for a specific worker holiday began in Australia in 1856. Alternatively, Labor Day then traditionally occurs on the first Monday in September in the United States. That is what I thought and remember as a kid. What I failed to notice is how people also use May Day as a day for political protest or as a day for protest against government actions, such as pro-immigrant rallies across the United States.

I read that in keeping with this tradition, Zurich, Switzerland can be a scary place to be on May 1st that can include violent riots and rubber bullets. I think I much rather enjoy the tradition of making May Day baskets and dancing around maypoles then being in the way of the cross fire.

Geno's Words

Today Geno had his first appointment with Tabea Ziegler, his speech therapist. She stated that she has taught for 11 years with young kids and has been working in this office taking care of the needs of children from age 0-7. She stated that the services are all provided free of charge from the canton of Zug and that today she would ask me some specific questions about Geno. She was here for an hour and a half. She plans to come and do therapy play with Geno for the next three Thursdays at 10:30 am, and then meet with us again to see what our plan will be from there.

She stated that she thinks from what she could tell today, that Geno is just a little bit behind. He has the beginning stages of stringing words together, and that most children will be speaking understandably and conversational by three.

I really felt comfortable with her as well. She gave me a couple of pamphlets with checklists to fill out, and these should help guide the process. The manual is called the Vademecum which is an overall view of the physical, linguistic, and social development of a child from birth to the third year. It is typically used by doctors, nurses, child advisors, special educationalists, psychologists, and therapists. This helps them gain an impression of the activities of the child in his familiar surroundings and from the rate of development as seen by the parents.

These are the words Geno can say so far:
Animals:
1. Cow
2. Pi (pig)
3. Mow (mouse)
4. Bee
Animal Sounds:
5. Moo for cow
6. Woof (ooo,000) for dog
7. ooo,ooo for Monkey and scratches his head
8. Du Du (Quack)
9. Meow for Kitty
10. Tweet for bird

Rar (roar of lion)

People:
11. Ma (Mom)
12. Daddy
13. Char-ee (Charlie the dog)
14. Bar-ee (Coretta)
15. Poo (Winnie the Pooh)
Other words
16. Wow
17. Ah-oo (when something bad happens)
18. Owie when he hurts himself
19. Poo (poop)
20. Goo (good)
21. Mow (milk)
22. Two (used to tell us he is two years old)
23. Two (also used for toes)
24. Peas (please)
25. Done
26. No
27. Yeah (Yes)
28. Party
29. Car
30. Tee (Teeth)
31. Mmmm (for things he likes to eat)
32. I
33. Go
34. Pee
35. Ba (Ball)
36. Boon (balloon)
37. Woa

38. Bee (also for baby)

39) Blue

40) Chee (for cheese)

Here's a picture of Geno and I waiting for the therapist. When I ask him to smile, he always puts his finger to his face.

Expat-Expo in Cham

Today the Bieter's and the Burkert's decided to walk into Cham for the annual Expat Expo. Here is where many businesses come to share their products that are geared towards the English speaking community in Switzerland. Once we arrived, we were given a gift bag and walked around to the various booths at the event. There were vendors selling jewelry, photography, promoting their International Schools, food, wine, pastries, and many more.

A clown came around and handed balloons to all the kids. The biggest thrill for the kids was the American Market Store that sold things such as Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, Mountain Dew, Root beer, instant oatmeal, oreos, and many other products.

Another store called Peace Foods serves several American desserts that are all natural as well as organic fair trade coffee. there cheesecake looked especially good.

Ronnie and I tasted different wines from Italy, Argentina, and Spain and sampled wonderful cheeses and relishes. I ended up buying two different kinds of cheddar and a chili relish while there.

The biggest highlight for Coretta was when she received Paul Wood's autograph and had her picture taken with him. He is nationally known freestyle soccer player. He performed for the audience as well. Coretta will be hopefully taking part in the inter soccer summer camp available as well.

Coretta entered a drawing at a chance to win a big stuffed animal and I entered to win a free photography session for the family by Foto Emotion. Yes, Nick, you heard me right. For the family. What I liked about her sessions is that she tries to capture your family in a natural setting and you can also get your pictures on canvas as well. Here's a short video of Paul Wood, Mr. Urban Soccer Freestyle.

Coretta's Conference

Today Coretta had Spring conferences. These were in the format of student-led, and she did a great job. Mrs. Wunderlin, Coretta's teacher, had different stations set up for the students to share specific parts of the curriculum.

The first station Coretta took me to was the Energy Unit. She showed her brother and myself how to make a light bulb light up and shared with us the differences between conductors and electricity.

She then brought me to the station where she shared her art work lesson where she taught a kindergarten student how to make a dolphin portrait. She had to create the instructions and explain it to her student. It turned out great.

She then brought us to her Portfolio Station where she shared all the work she has done to date. She not only shared her poetry, math, writing, science, and art, she shared what she felt was her best work and why. She even created a crossword puzzle for me to complete that dealt with synonyms and homonyms.

We then went to the Target Station. Here we looked at what her target goals were in the beginning of the year and had to create new target goals for the future. She wants to consistently keep improving her German and her times tables.

The complete conference lasted an hour. We celebrated her accomplishments by eating pizza, one of Coretta's favorite foods. Great job Coretta. You make me so very proud to be your Mom.

Paris: Thursday Day 1

Today was the day that Coretta and I would make our journey to Paris via train. We had to catch the 8:38 bus in Hunenberg and had to catch three more trains that eventually dropped us in Basel for our direct connection flight. All is going smoothly until we board the Paris Est train. We were running late, so we jumped on any car and it took us a long while to find car thirteen. While the train was moving, it proved difficult to maneuver, and Coretta even got caught in one of the doors. Once seated things went much better.

Four and a half hours later, we were in Paris and caught the metro 4 towards Port de Orleans. From here we walked a few blocks to our hotel and checked in. We then ventured out in the Latin Quarter where we saw the University of Paris which was right across the street. Sadly, they did not allow visitors however. Connected to the University of Paris Sorbonne is the Church of Sorbonne. The Church of Sorbonne is one of the oldest university buildings which was constructed between 1635 and 1642.

The next historic monument we saw was the Saint Michael Fountain which was constructed in 1860. This was used as a program of transformation and enrichment of the city in during the second Empire.

We also wandered into many neighborhoods along the Seine River including the Saint Germain and Ille of Saint Louis.

The Latin Quarter actually got it's name from the Middle Ages where students in this area spoke Latin. This area has been synomynous with intellectuals , artists, and bohemian culture ever since. It was in my opinion one of the best places to stay, second only to the Montmarte area.

The Monmarte area is where the jazz age flourished during the 60's and many people particularily African Americans found refuge here from the harsh oppression they faced in the United States. It is here that the Grevin Wax Museum is and other boutiques for shopping.

Coretta and I decided to take a taxi here to pick up our Paris Pass and vouchers at the Hard Rock Cafe. Since Coretta had never experienced the Hard Rock Cafe, and we were in the neighborhood, we ate there as well. She bought a t-shirt and received a free hard rock cafe shot glass. The Champs-Elysees is also located in this area.

One historic monument in this section is the Arc of Triumph. It is really a site to see. This was erected in the 1900s, and ordered by Napoleon, as a memorial to the Great Army.

Overall, great first day! Here are a few more pictures if Interested. Just Click on the links:

Paris 1
Paris 2
Paris 3

Paris: Friday Day 2

Coretta and I woke up early and decided to have a full day of sightseeing and museums. We first went to the Louvre Museum. This museum dates back to the 1200s and has been labeled the world's most important museum. Everything from Roman, Italian, Greek, and Egyptian antiquities and paintings can be found here. Coretta and I especially enjoyed all of the oil paintings including seeing the original Mona Lisa. They had artists such as Van Gogh, Monet, and DaVinci. Pretty amazing place if you love history and art. Below the Louvre you can see parts of what the Louvre used to look like back in the earlier centuries. We also saw the Sphinx and the Venus of Milo. I was amazed that the Venus of Milo was actually discovered in 1820 by a peasant on the island of Milo in the Cyclades thus the name.

Once we finished at the Louvre some four hours later, we decided to spend some time in the Tuileries Garden outside. It was beautiful with many pathways and sculptures to look at throughput the park. We decided to have lunch here on the patio of a restaurant overlooking a man-made pond. Very beautiful. As we walked, we also saw the President's Palace as well as the Place de la Concorde. The Place de la Concorde was constructed between 1757 and 1779. The square was originally dedicated to Louis XV. As we walked through the garden heading to the Eiffel Tower we came across several other historic monuments. One of the bridges in particular was stunning. It is called the Pont Alexandre III. This specific bridge has a metal span 107 meters 350 feet long and 40 meters. It was built between 1896 and 1900 and was created as an alliance between the Russian and the French. The allegoric figures, the gold etching, and the decorative motifs make it a must see in Paris.

Once to the Eiffel tower, Coretta and I were amazed with it's overall size. In fact, it proved difficult when close to get the entire tower in a picture. The Effiel tower was created in 1889 for the World Fair. It was designed and created by Gustav Eiffel, hence the name, who was an engineer. Coretta and I enjoyed sitting out on the park benches, watching all of the people, eating ice cream, and trying to be sold cheap trinkets. In fact, the worst place to be constantly barraged with vendors is around the Eiffel Tower. I do not know how many times we were approached and bargained with. We found it quite humorous and needless to say their persuasion was lost on us.

As if we haven't already had a full day, we decided to head over to the Musee D'Orsay. This was definitely one of my favorite museums. They have sculpture, architecture, paintings, decorative arts, and cinematography. My favorite paintings were that of my favorie artist Gustav Klimt as well as the sculptures by Rodin.

That night we decided to eat some Italian and found a great restaurant that made great ravioli, lasagna, and stuffed pasta. Once fed, we decided to take a night stroll along the river and decided to take one of the many boat tours on the Seine River. We were to board our boat at 9:15 pm and the tour would last an hour pointing out all of the historic monuments along the way. Coretta and I made sure to be the first in line so we could sit on the top. We sat next to a Russian couple and their grandson who have visited Paris many times and gave us much insight to each monument. The one monument in particular that was amazing to see at night was the Eiffel Tower. It was as if it was glowing.

Great full day in the City of Lights.