Knorr Family Adventures

Credit cards are not widely accepted.  In Germany (and kind of some parts of Europe) they will not let you pay with anything other than cash.  We've been to restaurants where bills come to 50€ and they wouldn't accept a credit card.  We have gotten used to carrying cash which is funny because in the States we had one credit card for everyday use that we always paid off and it was super convenient.  We got points and never had to worry about having cash. Checks also don't exist here so I have to send cash every time the boys need something at school.  I am still not sure how I feel about it especially since the smallest bill here is 5€ and everything under that is coins (i.e. 2€, 1€ and cents). I went to the Home Depot equivalent today to buy weed killer and apparently weed killer has a season and right now is not it.  They told me to come back in the spring! I really need some new pants and I HATE shopping but decided to bite the bullet so to speak.  Three styles

In the last 2 days 3 members of our family managed to get a pretty nasty cold (Andrei, Anton and myself) so I guess that means that autumn is here :(  Ilya and Chris are holding out for now. As promised though, here is a story of how Anton started his school year.  He is also going to a new place this year - it's much closer to our house, the price is much more reasonable and it's NOT Montessori.  German kids go to kindergarten the year they turn 3 and until they are ready to start elementary school at 6.  Despite the official sounding name, it is pretty much a daycare center with a bit of preschool mixed in but not much. When Anton started last year at his old school they had this weird integration system and I wasn't sure whether it was a school thing or a German thing.  This year I know it's a German thing.  Every mom I talk to right now that has a 3 year old is going through this integration process.  Somehow, I am the only one that thinks it's crazy though.

Last week and the weekend have been completely crazy with all 3 boys starting their respective schools and extracurricular activities.  Starting with the oldest, Andrei, started at his German public school in 2nd grade.  His first day was Monday and there was no special assembly or anything else.  In fact, he came home with homework.  His daily schedule changes daily but overall he has sport, German, math, art, music, religion/ethic, and science spread through the week.  Three days a week classes start at 8:35 and end at 12:20; Monday he starts at 7:45 to 11:20 and Tuesday 8:35 to 1:10.  He is signed up for extended day until 3PM where he gets lunch, does his homework, and hopefully makes some friends.  We did end up buying Andrei the German school bag because every single kid has it.  In math they seem to be repeating what they learned in 1st grade which is not a problem; however, in German the kids are writing cursive words and Andrei didn't learn that last year.  I have a meet