This was a pretty normal week for school and work. The kids are working hard to end their term this week on a good note. For mutual each of the youth brought a magic trick to teach the group. It was fun to try to describe everything in French. I had some pretty fun experiences teaching magic to kids on my mission. The picture is from a cool laser machine that the Bishop bought for 80 euros that draws cool shapes and patterns in fog. People probably thought the Mormons had lost it and set their church on fire!
Probably the most exciting thing for the kids during the week were our flu shots. We had to schedule an appointment with our local doctor. She was surprised to hear all of the places we've been since we initially saw her for our "get into the country" appointment. Spencer tried every excuse he could come up with to not get the shot. But in the end, he clenched his teeth and got the shot. I think Ashton was the only one that cried this year - so that was an improvement!
Ashton had a Halloween party this week at school because the local Luxembourgish schools are off all next week. He dressed up as Spiderman and had a great time! His favorite kids at school are Italian. Ashton keeps us laughing as he's always speaking in his Italian accent. When we get home you'll have to have him give you a sample!
Saturday morning we drove an hour and a half into Idar Oberstein to go gem hunting. There was an old volcano that produced some pretty good Amethyst and other semi-precious stones in the 1800's. We went on an hour tour of the mine and were most impressed by the tear shaped air bubbles where the gems form. Basically gems form in air bubbles in the magma and create geodes. Depending on the type of minerals, metals and chemicals you get the different type of crystals growing towards the center of the geode.
After the tour the kids got the opportunity to basically easter egg hunt for cool rocks in a rocky field. The people that run the mine hide the rocks amongst the rocks and let the kids loose every couple of hours. Ashton was in heaven. We told him that we'd taken him all over Europe to looks at Castles and Cathedrals and that this was his day! The weather turned was cool, but not rainy. It was perfect. Spencer helped out the whole event by hiding most of the rocks he found and letting Ashton find them. It was fun to see him do that for Ashton!
It turns out that the people from Idar Oberstein migrated to Brazil during some hard times in Europe. They actually went down to Rio Grande do Sol which is the area I went to in Brazil. They brought back the same churrasco style of cooking and they call it Spiessbraten. After the tour we searched the town and found a restaurant that served it!
http://www.kitchenproject.com/german/recipes/Spiessbraten/History-Spiessbraten-Schwenkbraten.htm
We had some delicious pork neck churrasco style. It was awesome!
Have I mentioned yet that I'm a huge fan of the Autobahn!!!! Driving home at 160 km/hr, about 100 mph is awesome. You have to be careful looking for people passing you, but overall the drive goes by much faster at that speed and the roads are smooth!!! If I lived here long term I'd be buying a Porsche for sure! When my Dad was here we looked up the accident rate in Germany vs. the rest of the world. Basically they have half of the accidents that we have in the U.S. I think party it is due to their culture. People stay out of the left lane, don't generally drive drunk and seem to be much more courteous drivers that what you'd find in the states.
We got home about 7:30 and had a relaxing night at home. We watched the movie the 6th Sense and scared the kids to death. The last scene where you find out the truth blew the kid's minds. Especially Spencer - he was impressed! Pretty awesome!
Emilee gave a great talk again today in Church. This is the 3rd time she's had to speak. Spencer had been teasing her about it, but Karma bit him and he's speaking in 2 weeks!
Week 44 Pictures
By the way, we came off daylight savings time this week, so we'll be out of sync until the states come off DST next week.
Until next week!!! Only 49 days left!
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