Day: September 14, 2008

Ahmos’ Birthday Party

Mmh, strawberries…

Watching the Bellydancer

Myriam, Anna and Oliver

Delfina swinging

Ahmos, Joshua, his mom and Anna.

The main attraction – a bouncycastle

Cake! The girl standing up is Ariel from the previous post.

Our New House

Our rental application was accepted and I will pay the deposit tomorrow. Here are some photos of our new house near San Francisco.

Living room with working fireplace—you need it here:

Dining area:

Kitchen:

Breakfast area next to kitchen, looking out onto the deck:

Big deck out back with a decent view, or at least some greenery:

Back bedroom, probably for Leilani:

Nicely remodeled bathroom:

Big front bedroom for the parents:

City park and playground —every town in the Bay Area has one like this now:

Every town also has a stretch of El Camino Real—at least it is not rundown in this town:

Mosaic mural at stores in the neighborhood—Safeway and Trader Joe’s!!!!!!!!!!

Smalltalk and Conversations

L: Hi. My name is Leilani, and what is your name?

A: I am Ariel.

L: Oh like the Nixe (Leilani used the correct word but in German an I could really see that she was trying to find the correct english word mermaid)

[no answer]

L: Look I have turtles on my dress.

[Ariel is starting to warm up]

A: Oh, nice. Look I have an octopus.

L: Beautiful. I like this dress to go and dance in.

A: You like to dance?

L: Yes, very much. This dress dances nicely. (means it swings great when she spinns) Does yours dance?

A: It is a very pretty dress.

(2 hour long break)

L: Oh like the mermaid (The background job had finished processing and found the correct english word). Ariel, Ariel like the mermaid.

(I think Arial had heard that a few times before but she forgave Leilani and they played a little)

L: Would you like to come to my house and play (the party had turned a bit stale, the bouncy castle had been picked up and most of the bigger kids were gone)

A: Yes

S: Ahhhm, Leilani we will invite Ariel to our Goodbye party…

L: Noooo! I want her to come to my house now.

S: We really need to get going…

Ariel is 7 or 8 btw, and I thanked her a few times for being so nice to Leilani.

A few weeks ago I realized Leilani had surpassed my mom in computer skills (sorry mom) but now I realize she has surpassed Andy and me in smalltalk abilities…