Steve, Stacy, Dominic, and Ian in Germany

Life in Lent, Part 2

2008-06-23T09:19:00.000-07:00

In our last post, Stacy described our home and neighborhood (although, try as she did, mere words cannot capture Ian's primal Braveheart-meets-300 yell that he gives as he runs to the other line in the neighborhood games of Red Rover). I wanted to describe a little bit more about the town we live in.

We are loving life in the Netherlands. What's not to love about a place where rides bicycles everywhere, everyone speaks English as a second language, and all of the restaraunts serve pancakes at every meal!

We've been getting into Bike riding-- the family that we are renting from lets us use their bikes. Back home in California, the boys don't ride bikes much since our road is a steep hill. Dom and Ian both have really done a great job learning to ride, although when we ride long distances, Ian rides on Stacy's mega-bike.

Our town, Lent, is a small little town, but it's just a 15-minute bike ride over the River Waal (it's the Rhine) to Nijmegen.
Nijmegen is the oldest city in the Netherlands, with ruins from some Roman settlements dated at 17 A. D.

The city is really beautiful, even though there aren't too many old buildings left-- during World War II, the U. S. Air Force accidentally destroyed about 80% of the old town when they bombed the city, thinking they were bombing a German city of Kleve just over the border. They've forgiven us. In fact, a few days after we arrived, they celebrated the 4 & 5 Mai (the 4th and 5th of May), when they remember the days that the Netherlands were freed from Nazi control in 1944, and they still honor the French, Canadian, and American forces that helped them.

The oldest standing building is the Valkhof, built in 1030 A. D., and it is still used as the location of city festivals.

This has been a great place to live in because people are incredibly friendly. In fact, some of the neighborhood kids are in a local soccer team, and one day when some kids were sick, Dominic and Ian were invited to join for the day to fill in the roster. We didn't win, but the boys had a great time.
We spend time most days tutoring the boys on some school work, now that they're no longer in German schools (and I spend time working on research and writing lectures for next semester), but during these last two months we have had a lot of flexibility to take advantage of cheap train tickets and cheap RyanAir tickets (don't get me started about RyanAir...), visiting places like Florence (staying for a week at the amazing villa of our good friend Elizabeth, hanging out with her and her wonderful dogs Althea and Macchiata),

Paris,

Berlin,

Amsterdam,

Dublin,

and the Lakes District of England.

Well, our year in Europe is just about over. This Friday, we take the train back to Heidelberg so we can spend a bit more time with our friends there. Then, next Monday we fly back home. We have had incredible experiences, but we are all really ready to get back home to our friends and family.

Life in Lent, Part 1

2008-05-26T12:54:00.000-07:00

We've been in the Netherlands for almost a month now. It's gone by really fast. We're so pleased with where we're living and are glad to be here. We're finding whereever we go around here the people are friendly and patient, and our neighbors seem to be especially so.

Here's our "street," Dokter Huijgenhof. It's a group of 36 houses situated on an oval where the front of the homes look out onto the oval street and the green space and a playground in the center. It was all built 3 years ago and only one house had been sold in that time, so everyone knows each other. Also, there are tons of young kids around; we were told around 50.

Almost all the homes have a bench or chairs out front and often people sit out and talk or sit on the grass to visit. I think our home definitely needs a bench out front and we need to get our tushes in it. It is a great feel in the community to have everyone out so much.
Lots of homes are close together to save space and go straight up. Here's the tall view of our place.
Outside people ride bikes and other wheeled things in and around the oval, and kids run around playing games. Last Saturday it was warm so there was a great water gun fight most of the afternoon.
Below are kids at play again. Ian is in the red shirt with the ladybug umbrella and Dominic is the one hanging 1/2 off the platform. Steve and I have been so impressed with attitudes here. Everyone is generally calm, kind, friendly, and accepting. We even see it in the kids. Ian wanted to play "Red Rover" one day, so Dominic taught everyone and now we hear them playing it sometimes even when the boys aren't outside. Here someone has taken down the line. They play for keeps!

Here's a tour of some of the inside of our place. We really enjoy it here. On the ground floor there's the entry way - with a purple wall, even!

The living room...
And the kitchen. We both think the green cabinets are really fun. And there's a little garden area outback that also has the shed where the bikes and things are.
The we have some steep, slick stairs up to the second floor.
For the first time ever, they boys each have their own room. Here's Dominic's. He enjoys being about to look out the window every night as he's falling asleep. Which, by the way, is difficult because it doesn't get dark until after 10 p.m. here and their bedtime this summer is at 9.
And Ian's room. Ian really likes to look at the big map above his bed.
I guess I either ran out of camera batteries or steam here, but I don't have pictures of our bedroom, or the third floor that has the laundry, guest bed loft, and office.

And I'm out of steam again, because that's all for today. I'll do a part two soon about riding bikes, the area around here, and the animals and scenery we get to enjoy here.

Thanks for indulging all these pictures. We really miss you all and wish you could come visit, so this is my way to share and feel like you're here, too.

Take care!

Stacy (and the rest of the family, too)

The threw us quite a going away party, according to the letter... (again)

2008-05-05T12:27:00.000-07:00

During the nine months that we've lived in Heidelberg, we've learned to discount several myths. For example, we had heard that Germans tend to be fairly distant toward strangers and nonexpressive, but this couldn't be further from the truth. We've had to say goodbye to so many people who have really become special to us this year.

To start off with, it was hard to say goodbye to our students-- we really feel like 57 new cousins have been added to the family. We can't believe it went so fast and we're looking forward to getting together again in August in Malibu. Many of them are keeping up with us on Facebook and we love it.

Unfortunately, Daniel Daugherty, the program director, was sick for the final banquet with the students, but we were glad to have time to spend with wonderful colleagues and friends like Mary,

Ulla,

Christina, Martin, and Bruno. Along with Daniel, these colleagues have warmly accepted us, and it's been a pleasure to work side-by-side with them this year.

Outside of the Pepperdine community, though, we've been shocked by how many others have warmly accepted us, helped us, laughed with and at us, and made us feel like we have another home.

Thanks to Stacy's friend Verena (you'll find out more about her below), she's been part of a book club "Literaturkreis" this year. It makes her laugh to go to a German book club because she doesn't even attempt to read. She goes and listens, nods, and smiles. And the women have become friends and been accepting, tolerant and patient. Not to mention lots of fun! To show her thanks for the great year, she invited the club to the Moore Haus for a dinner. Oh, yes, and to discuss yet another book she didn't even try to buy much less read. So here's the faithful six (down from about 15 the first night - including the "founder" of the club who I think was able to come once): Sitta, Nicole, Verena, Meggie, Stacy, and Gabriela.

Steve said goodbye to his Monday-night Kegeln club. One of his best sets of memories of this year is of this bowling club. One tradition of this group is that a person will bring dinner for the entire group on the week of his or her birthday. Since everyone was on Christmas vacation at the time of Steve's birthday, he never cooked them dinner, so he took this chance to make an American dinner for them, complete with tacos, mojitos, and brownies. They gave a very kind speech for him, and gave him the coolest book we've ever seen about Heidelberg. His biggest accomplishment, however, was that he was finally-- on the last night-- able to drink the pre-bowling shot of schnapps in one single drink-- that's strong stuff.

I hope I'm not mis-spelling any of the names, but my kegeln friends were (back row) Phillip, Hanspeter, Karl (thanks from inviting me and driving me every week!), Siegfried, Heinz, (middle row) Doris, Hedi, Rosa, (front row) and Gerhard.

The boys said goodbye to the friends that they made at school.

Ian's wonderful teachers (Miriam, Carolin, and Melanie) had the kids in his kindergarten make a memory book for him, where each of them told him what the were wishing for him. Two of his best friends are Kai (who wished for him something about a chocolate and a white house-- I don't think anyone really had that figured out), and Alex (who wished that he wouldn't have to leave).

Dominic said goodbye to his great teacher (Frau Attree), and his favorite memory of his last day of class was that all the boys rushed over to him and lifted him up into the air.

In addition, one of the families that we've become very close to (the Koch family) threw a goodbye party so that Dominic and Ian could have one final party with some of the friends they've made.

We also had several families that we wanted to spend time with before we left. We went with Daniel, Karen, and Lisa Daugherty to Europa Park-- a really cool amusement park, where each region of the park was designed to look like a different country in Europe.

We went out to eat with the Drehsels, who introduced us to a great restaraunt that was well-known for a springtime delicacy called spargel-- white asparagus that is apparently very complicated to prepare, but can be made into wonderful soups and side dishes.

Finally, we had dinner with Verena, Mattius, Luis, Joni, and Tino, a great family that we have really become close to.

Another family who's meant so much to us this year is Tilmar, Meike, Bente, and Sander Hummerich. Bente and Sander befriended Dominic and Ian our very first week in Germany, long before the boys were speaking much more German than "my name is...". Just a few weeks later Meike ran into us on the Hauptstrasse. It was Dominic's first day of school and we thought Ian's too, but Steve, Ian and I had just found out that the school fell through and we were all three sad for Ian. She walked us to what became his Kindergarten, took us to the Director, and helped us both with paperwork and with Ian. She also helped us with some things at Dominic's school. They invited us to celebrate both Tilmar's 40th birthday and Christmas Day (Weihnachtstag) in their home. We walked on St. Nicholaustag to find a statue of St. Nicholaus and never found him, but had a nice walk, anyway. And in April after the students had left, they came for dinner, with the four boys having fun adventures all over the big, empty house. And in all that, no picture!! I'm still not sure how that happened. Hopefully we remember to take one of all of us when we visit again in June before we return home. If not, Stacy will be forced to draw a picture and you will be forced to make heads or tails of it!

Church at Gemeinde Christi was another special group of people for us. They've been gracious to us in a thousand ways including taking the time to get to know us, and by inviting us to their homes or to do things with them. They do an invaluable service by welcoming any student or faculty and their family that choose to visit there during their time in Heidelberg.

It's been really hard to say goodbye to so many people who have become so important to us in such a short amount of time.

Well, now the title of the blog isn't accurate anymore-- the Rouses are no longer in Germany. We're going to spend the next two months in the Netherlands, and we just arrived at our new temporary home in Nijmegen two days ago. As soon as we get our bearings, we'll update this blog again. Several people have asked how to be in touch with us while we're here, but we still have easy access to our e-mail (steve.rouse@pepperdine.edu and stacy.rouse@pepperdine.edu), and we are still using skype (our username is stevenvrouse) and our Skype phone number (310-929-5828) still costs no more than a phone call to California (and you never have to worry about getting time zones confused because we only have this running when we are awake and our computer is on).

We love hearing from you! Take care!

Yes, We're still alive

2008-04-05T09:06:00.000-07:00

Yeah, we're still alive, even though some of you haven't heard from us since November. Back when we first started writing this blog, we said that we're not usually bloggers, and even at that that time we knew that there was a danger that we might get out of the habit of updating it. After a bit of time passes, there's so much to write that it gets intimidating to sit down and catch you up on everything we've been doing. So this blog entry is going to be big on pictures, but without much writing. Nothing clever and no elaborate explanations-- just catching you up on what we've done so we can now start blogging again in smaller chunks.

Well, the fall ended with us having to say goodbye to our students. Four of them knew that they weren't coming back this spring, but we knew we'd see the other 44 this semester.

Our year ended on a high note because the Whites came to spend several days with us. It was so much fun hanging out with some really great friends, showing them around Heidelberg...

Mannheim...

Ladenburg...

...and a swim-park in Schwetzingen.

We got to celebrate Silvester (which is the German name for New Years' Eve) with the Whites and the Daughertys. The Daughertys introduced us to a German tradition-- you melt some tin in a spoon over a candle, and the you pour the melted metal into a pan of water, making it turn solid instantly. Then, you decide what object the piece of metal looks like-- like a fish or a snake. Then, you look up that object on a chart, and it tells you your fortune for the upcoming year. The kids loved it-- what kid wouldn't love melting things over a candle, while the parents worry about you inhaling poisonous fumes and splattering yourself with molten metal.

Right when it turns midnight, everyone in the city starts setting off fireworks-- for about 90 minutes, the entire city was exploding with the sounds of fireworks. We had the best view in the city-- the Moore Haus is on a hill overlooking the old city, so we got an incredible city-wide firework show.

A few days later, our students returned. Along with 44 who had been with us in the fall came an additional 9 students who were with us just for the Spring.

Dominic was really glad that they all got back in time for his 9th birthday, but he never expected a surprise birthday party, with all 53 of our students, the faculty and staff of the Heidelberg program, and two friends that he and Ian have become very close to-- Joni and Tino

Our first trip this semester was to Berne Switzerland. The city is absolutely beautiful, and the boys really enjoyed going to the Albert Einstein museum...

...but they loved finding the World's Largest Chupa Chup (a strawberry sucker) even more.

This semester, our whole group went on a five day trip to Spain. To be honest, I had never really been very interested in visiting Spain before, but we were all so impressed with Madrid...

...El Escorial...

... Toledo...

... and especially Seville.

One real high point on the trip was an afternoon spent rowing boats in the Parque del Retiro.

Spending time in Madrid reminded us that winter's end was approaching, and we didn't want to let the winter pass by without going skiing. We spent a day in the Black Forest at a ski area near Freiburg. It was only the second time the boys had gone skiing. Dom loved it. We couldn't figure out why Ian wasn't enjoying it until the day ended and we figured out that he was sick. That explained why he was so exhausted.

He really is asleep on our suitcase under the coats.

When Pepperdine's spring break arrived, we couldn't go traveling because the boys were still in school. Luckily my sister Anna timed her visit to be here during my Spring Break, so we had a lot of time for visiting great medieval castles and cities like Hirschhorn...

...Neckarsteinach...

...Bad Wimpfen...

...Freiburg (where Ian got sick again-- there's something about that town)...

... and to go stork-watching in Strassbourg...

...and see the tech museum in Speyer...

Anyone who knows Anna knows that one of her incredible talents is photography, so check out the pictures she took on her trip by clicking here. Her picture of the Strassbourg cathedral's rosetta window is one I've wanted to take every time I've been there, but I never was able to get as incredible a shot as this.

Anyone who knows Anna also knows that another one of her incredible talents is getting away from pictures. Dominic, though, is showing an early talent for being a good spy with his ability to take quick pictures before anyone even knows what he's doing. Gotcha!

Well, my spring break ended about the time that Dominic and Ian went on Easter Break, so I wasn't able to go with them, but Stacy and the boys took a flight down to Malta, a beautiful little Mediterrarean island. These two California boys loved being able to get back to playing on a beach...

... and they both rode horses for the first time.

Finally, at the end of the week I got to join them. It is such an incredible place. Unfortunately, we ran into some camera problems so we weren't able to take a picture of one of the high points. We went to il Ggantija, which is the oldest free-standing building in the world. It's the ruins of an ancient temple that was built around 3500 BC, making older than the Egyptian pyramids and the Stonehenge megaliths.

We've also had an incredible time with our students. A couple of weeks ago, for example, our students set up a volunteer service roject to clean up trash around the parking area of the Heidelberg castle and on the walkways around our part of the city. They are an incredible group of students, and we have fun with them whatever we're doing. Plus, the orange vests look cool.

The last excting thing we've done was a trip a few day ago. Stacy and I left the boys with a student, and we went to Hirschhorn, a nearby town where the 13th century castle (perched up on a hill overlooking the Neckar River valley) has been turned into a hotel. This was the view from our room.

So, yes, we're still alive and having a great time in Germany. Sadly, our time here is just about up. Our students leave us in just a couple of days. We'll stay in Heidelberg for the rest of April, but then we'll move up to the Netherlands for May and June.

We've loved getting skype calls and phone calls from many of you. We'll still be able to use skype (my user name is stevenvrouse) and our California number (310-929-5823 - if you've been afraid to call us, it really only costs the same thing as a call to California), so we'd love to hear from you!

Well, now that we've made up for more than 4 months of being negligent bloggers, it won't be so scary to think of sitting down and updating you. So you'll hear from us again soon!

German Holiday in Germany

2007-11-20T12:40:00.000-08:00

St. Martin's Day was Sunday, November 11th.
"What is St. Martin's Day?" you may ask. As of two weeks ago, we can tell you!

BRIEF HISTORY: Martin was a Roman soldier from the 300's and one cold night he noticed a very poor man begging who was starving to death. Martin had no food or money to give him but decided to use his sword to cut his own military cloak in half and put the other half over the beggar. He later became a Christian and in 370ish, Bishop of Tours, France, but it's Germany that still embraces his feast day. Martin Luther was born November 10th but named on the 11th after St. Martin. Because of the connection between the two Martins, both Catholic Christians and Protestant Christians in Germany celebrate the day.

HOW THE HOLIDAY IS CELEBRATED: It's really celebrated by families with younger children (to about 4th or 5th grade). The Kindergartens here teach the kids the songs and story for a few weeks prior to the holiday and help them make St. Martin's lanterns (Laterne) and got them ready for the Martinsumzug (St. Martin's Day Parade). Ian didn't want to make a lantern, but the Monday before the holiday his sweet teacher Miriam "gentled" him into making one by getting him to tell her his "Lieblingstier" (favorite animal). And the cutest Elephant Laterne I've ever seen came to life. He's very proud of it! Ian's Kindergarten had their own Martinsumzug on Wednesday Nov 7th. We met at his school yard, Laterne in hand, with all the other kids and they sang for the families. Then the kids Ian's age (going to 1st grade next year) re-enacted the story for everyone. After that, the school's director (Schulleiterin) led the whole Kindergarten, families and all, through some of Altstadt on the Umzug (parade). The parade doesn't start until it's dark. That's not so bad considering it gets dark around 5:15 p.m. right now! Most of the kids have electric candles in their lanterns so they glow. I say most, because some have real candles. Scary to think of 2 to 10 year olds running around with lit candles inside laterns made out of tissue paper. And yet, it works. Until just a few years ago all lanterns were with candles and friends of ours have told us how only a couple would catch on fire every year and parents were good at stomping on the laterns to put out the fire while the poor kid would sob because their beautiful lantern was burned and flattened. Ah, memories...At the end of Ian's parade, all the children were given a St. Martin's Menschen, which is a man made out of yeasty bread with raisins for eyes and buttons. Dominic's not a fan of the bread, so Ian got two until he decided he was full. Then Steve and I got to share it and thought it was yummy.

The City of Heidelberg had their Martinsumzug on the 11th. That's a good thing, because after walking in Ian's parade Dominic really wanted to participate, too. The next day he designed and made his own lantern with a kit and was all ready for Sunday. He and Ian are both into Webkinz [thanks to The Brewsters, Cupps, and Jordans!:)] so he took pictures of his panda, Ian's elephant, and two others that we have here that we're giving to cousins for Christmas, printed them out and glued one picture on each of the four sides. The City's parade had a woman on a horse acting out St. Martin, and a patrol behind her carrying a huge Laterne on posts followed by parade people. At the end of the parade, they acted out the story, too, then the kids got more St. Martin's Menschen. A neat thing about this holiday is that it's so familiar and loved by people here. Parents who have raised their kids still know all the songs and talk about how they miss not doing it anymore. Grown-ups who haven't been since they were kids still will warmly tell you about it and even sing some lines from the songs. And the German homes we have visited still have a least a few Laterne on display somewhere in their home. It's fun to be a part of something so intregral and well known in their culture that I have never been a part of before. It's really special.

Ian loved it so much (Child that refused to make a lantern til the last minute!!) that he wants his 6th birthday to be at dinner and wants his American friends to make laterns then have a parade. It's kind of a bummer that his birthday's in July when it stays light for so long, but we've bought Laterne kits and the plastic Laterne sticks (they look like short fishing poles to me) with bright lights on the end. We figure if nothing else we can put the kids in the garage and turn out all the lights for a mini Martinsumzug. And if Ian changes his mind, one of the activities will still be lantern making!! When I bought the supplies the woman asked if it was for a Kindergarten and I told her about Ian's idea and she thought it was really neat (she said "Toll!" which is kind of the German "cool!") that we would take Laterne to America. She probably also thought we were crazy, but she's probably right!

American Holiday in Germany

2007-11-08T09:10:00.000-08:00

Hope you all had a fun and happy Halloween! Halloween has come to Germany, but is still a new concept. Almost everything associated with it is the creepy part of Halloween and non gruesome costumes are hard to find. People dress up but only at night, and it's mostly children not older kids or grown ups. Both children and adults who do celebrate mostly have parties, not house to house trick or treating. Mary Drehsel said this year for the first time she heard the phrase "Susses oder saeurs" which literally means "sweets or sours" but sauers doesn't just mean sour taste, but also something mean, so it's the German equivalent of "trick or treat".

Here we are in all our Halloween Glory...I'm Pippi Langstrumpf (Pippi Longstocking), Steve is Parpignol, Ian is ein Pirat (peer-aht), and Dominic is a Rebel Snow Trooper on the ice planet Hoth from The Empire Strikes Back. Story behind Steve's costume: our student and teacher group went to an Opera two weeks ago, La Boheme. The tenor was excellent. The direction, however, was weird. There's a scene on Christmas Eve where a minor character, Parpignol, distributes toys to kids. In this version, Parpignol was bald with a huge nose and walked hunched over carrying a gym bag full of automatic weapons which he gave to all the kids. Then the parents turned into Zombies and began attacking the main characters. So when Steve found a big plastic nose he went for it, but couldn't find a bald mask and didn't want to shave his head. :)

There was some Trick or Treating in the Moore Haus then we had a group dinner followed by a dance party. Ulla and Daniel turned our weekly Special Dinner into the kickoff of our Halloween Party evening. It's impressive to see what costumes people come up with on limited resources!

Push those tables back and time to dance! Laura pops up!

Cam and Emily groovin' to the music

Adams busts a cool move

Jared getting animatedWhat's Halloween without a little "Thriller"?
Dominic and Ian differed on their opinions of dancing. Ian said "I was bored," and when Dom said he wanted a dance party for his birthday, Ian said, "Then I'll just be bored again." Dom wrote in his journal the next day about the dances he did the night before like the Robot, the Sprinkler, the Shopping Cart, and the Shower. But we don't think he dropped it like it was hot.

Yes, we have left Heidelberg a few times

2007-11-04T12:23:00.000-08:00

We recently realized that if you read our blog you might get the feeling that we've never really left Heidelberg, so I decided to catch up on all of the trips we've taken. Initially, we thought that we'd be doing a lot of traveling to other countries, but this Germany is so beautiful that we've really focused our time on nearby towns and cities.

LINDAU

Our first overnight trip was to Lindau, a place that just might have become my favorite place on Earth. It's a little island town on the Bodensee (Lake Constance), which is at the border of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Looking out across the harbor, past the New Lighthouse (which was built in the 1850s, in contrast the the yellow-topped Old Lighthouse built in the 1400s), you can see the alps on the far side of the lake. One day we rented bicyles and had what we all decided was a perfect day-- riding around town, riding over the causeway to the mainland, riding along the coast of the lake, and then finishing the day with a vigorous game of minigolf.

STRASBOURG, FRANCE

Our first trip out of the country was to Strasbourg, in the Alsace region of France. The entire old part of the town is surrounded by a series of rviers and canals, so we took a boat tour around the town before touring it on foot. The cathedral there is breathtaking, and we climbed to the spire for a priceless view of the city.

TRIER

We went with the students on a day-long field trip to Trier. The boys loved playing in the ruins of the Roman amphitheater, and it was amazing to see how well-preserved the Roman gates, the Porta Negra were.

DAY-TRIPS TO NEARBY TOWNS WITH MY PARENTS

My parents were able to come visit for over a week, and we had a great time showing them around. Although we had hoped to go on a weekend-long trip, that weekend there was a train strike, so we ended up deciding just to visit several of the small towns that we could get to on local trains. First, we went to Ladenburg, a town with some Roman-era ruins.

In Ladenburg, we had a very unique dinner-- a restaurant there specializes in a really unique cooking style. They bring out a slab of marble that has been heated at 1400 degrees, and then you cook your steak directly on this searingly hot stone. Can you imagine an American restaurant with a children's menu that includes placing a 1400 degree stone in front of a kid? Dom felt like such a big kid, cooking his own steak (Notice Stacy deftly stopping Ian's hand as he's reaching for the stone!)

We also took them to back to Speyer, as well as Schwetzingen, where the castle gardens are beyond belief.

ROTHENBURG OB DER TAUBER

While my parents were here, we also went with Karl Drehsel to an incredibly picturesque medieval town, Rothenburg. The town still is surrounded by its medieval wall, which you can still walk around. Karl also took us by a local glass factory, where Ian decided that his new career goal is to be a glass maker. We enjoyed the scenery, the wall, and Stacy found Kurbiscremesuppe (Pumpkin Cream Soup).

WIEN, OESTERREICH (Vienna, Austria)

The educational field trip this semester was a five day trip to Wien. I was completely caught off-guard. I expected a quaint little city, but I had no idea what grandeur we would see there. Most of the buildings were just too large and too impressive to capturn in pictures. But what an incredible week! We went to the Schoenbrunn Palace, and had fun with a group of our students running around in a giant hedge maze in the palace gardens. Stacy and Dominic went with one group of students to a museum that houses the works of a modern artist named Hundertwasser, a man who believed that straight lines were immoral since you don't find straight lines in nature, so all of his works were based on naturalistic curves, while Ian and I went to a military history museum, where we saw the car that the Archduke Ferdinand was riding in when he was assassinated-- along with his 90-year old blood-stained clothers! Stacy and I got to hear a concert that featured Strauss and Mozart music, and all of us saw the Royal Treasury.

We even had a chance to go see the house of Sigmund Freud. It was interesting to see the place where one person, single-handedly, came up with ideas that set the field of psychology backwards for about 40 years. Even more fun, however, was getting to eat cake at Freud's favorite cafe, Cafe Landtmann.

One of the boys' favorite places was the art museum. This wasn't because of the great Egyptian, Roman and Greek exhibits. It was because they learned that several of the hallways were used as sets for the Naboo Palace scenes in Star Wars Episode I (The Phantom Menace)-- if we imagined digitizing out a few sculptures and digitizing in a few battle droids, we felt like we were there.

TRIBERG

Last of all, yesterday, we went for a day trip to Triberg, which is in the Schwartzwald (Black Forest). The town is beautiful. It's known for two main things: Cuckoo clocks and having the tallest waterfall in Germany. The wasserfall is actually made up of about 6 or 7 smaller falls, all linked together. We didn't get a cuckoo clock, but we had a great time walking around this beautiful little forest town-- especailly since tourist season has officially ended!

Thanks for reading up on our journeys!
Steve

Our Students!

2007-10-01T13:29:00.000-07:00

Yes, we have students here. And we love them. They arrived after dark on September 6th weary, hungry and unshowered after being up almost all night and having a slightly delayed flight, and had to bring their two suitcases (max 70 pounds) and carry ons up the 71 steps. Did I mention it was cold and had been raining earlier?

What to do.

(A) Help them

(B) Pretend not to be home

(D) Stand at the top and holler encouraging words while taking pictures openly glad it's not you this time.

As tempting as C was (and still is, just for the fun of it) we took the Christian pick of D. And I fondly call it the Student Parade. This is a rite of passage moment - they are Heidelbergers now.

Cam, Jared and Taylor B. making their way up.And here is the damage for the luggage. From one end of the library....

to the other...out the door....and into the entry way.It was an awe-inspiring sight!

We crowded into the Fruhstueck Zimmer (Breakfast Room) for the students to be greeted by Herr Daugherty and meet Ulla, Christian Seres, us, and to eat some pizza.

Ian posing with Natalie and Kristen. The students aren't the only tired ones!

That first weekend was an intensive orientation to the program, the House, the rules, and each other. It was softened by a beautiful ride on a ferry boat up the Neckar River to the nearby town of Neckarsteinach to enjoy the ride, see castles, eat food, and get acquainted.

Amanda, Stephanie, and Ian checking out some pictures.

Jon, Dominic and Shannon deep in conversation.

Taking pictures and taking in the view.

Talking and hanging out while waiting for the boat to rise in a lock. Don't touch the black funk on the side, it sticks on your fingers. Just ask Dominic. Eww.The towns on the Neckar are really beautiful.Chelsea C, Christina, Laura and Meagan hanging out below deck.Royce, Sebastian (aka, "Sea Bass"), and Matt Y enjoying the ride.

Say cheese!Mark, David and Zach B. on the front row, with Andrew, Susan, Taylor G, Adam and the top of Lex' head in the second row.

Ooh, castle. It's very cool that these things are here.

Fun on the ground at the Spielplatz. Meagan and Dominic swinging.

Lisa Daughterty above the fray as Dominic and Ian display some brotherly love.

That's more than enough for now. More later!

Love, Stacy, Steve, Dominic, and Ian

First Days

2007-09-21T01:02:00.000-07:00

We've had lots of first days here so we'll start from the most recent and work our way back.

This past Monday, Ian started Kindergarten at Kanzleigasse Kindergarten. It's run by the City of Heidelberg. We really like it there, and more importantly, so does Ian!

Here is Ian at His Classroom Door for Walgruppe (the Whale Group). The kids move around rooms some during the day and he likes the Maulwerfgruppe (the Mole Group) room best because he likes their fort. He has a fort in his room, too, but the first day a girl blocked him and wouldn't let him in. In the other classroom no one blocks him so he's decided that one is better.

He is very glad to be in school and feels like the big boy he is. His teachers, Carolyn and Miriam, speak to him in German and some in English. When I asked him how it was to hear German all day his calmly said, "It's annoying."

Here is Ian outside on his playground. This playground sold the school for Ian when he first saw it.

It's designed like a Schloss (Castle) because the school backs up to the bottom wall of the real Heidelberg Schloss.

To the right of the red roof there are some colors on the wood - those are four shields for the Kindergarten's four classes, Wal (Whale), Maulwerf (Mole), Eisbaer (Polar Bear), and Maus (Mouse).

Ian goes to Kindergarten from 8 or 8:3o in the morning until 1:30 in the afternoon each day. The kids can't wear their shoes inside so each child has Hausschuhe (houseshoes) that they leave at school at put on each morning. They have a 3rd pair of shoes for gym that are never worn outside.

Here is Dominic walking into school on his first day of Dritte Klasse (third grade).

On Monday, Thursday and Friday he has to be at Schule (School) at 7:45 a.m. so we have to leave by 7:25 to be on time. Tuesday and Wednesday he gets there at 8:30. Most days he leaves school at 1:05, but on Monday and Friday he gets out at 12:15.

On Wednesday his whole grade goes swimming for Sport (P.E.) that's been fun for him.

Dominic in front of his school and the sign. It's Friedrich-Ebert Grundschule (Grade School). He is in Klasse 3.b with Frau Attree.

Colin, in Dominic's class has become a friend.

It hasn't been easy to sit for so many hours not being able to read or understand directions. But he is making friends and doing his best.

Two boys sitting on the Moore Haus steps, ready for school.

We are very proud of them both for being so brave to go to German school! They are still excited to be better German speakers than their parents. Which will happen very soon!

Thanks for your prayers and encouragement for them both and please continue to pray for their perservance and patience in school, confidence to make new friends, and learning German.

German backpacks are really cool. The boys love theirs.

They are very lightweight and have thick shoulderstraps and pads on the back.

They are also reflectors, which is very cool!

We also have had the students' first day of arriving here in Germany, of their Intensive Week of German, and of Classes. Steve's first day of school (teaching, of course!) was good and he is enjoying his students. We have more pictures and stories coming very soon.

We would love to hear about what you are doing and how you all are, too.

Love, Ian, Dominic, Stacy and Steve

Because Robby Nagged Us...

2007-09-04T13:32:00.000-07:00

We have had a great time the last couple of weeks being tourists in our new hometown, and going to so many nearby places. We're excited for our students to arrive, but we've been having a fun local vacation before they arrive.

A family that we have been getting to know at church invited us to the town of Weinheim to go to a waterpark called Miramar-- the boy sitting next to Dominic on the right is the son of that family-- he's named Maxim and he is about Dom's age. We had a great time, but we were introduced to one surprising part of the German culture. We found out that at this pool on certain nights, starting at 7:00 p.m., swimsuits are not allowed (notice, it's not just "swimsuits optional", but "swimsuits not allowed"). Well we decided that it would be good to leave right at 7:00, but we found out that German punctuality even extends to nudism-- at 7 sharp, ours were the only swimsuits in sight. That's when Dominic had a traumatizing experience. He was walking along, unaware that a naked man was walking right behind him, and he suddenly stopped and turned around. Let's just say that the phrase "Dominic got an eyeful" isn't just a figure of speech.

Heidelberg is a great town just to walk around and explore. They have incredible parks where kids can play with hands-on water sculptures.

The geese, however, are real.

A little south of Heidelberg is a great little town called Speyer. The main street (above) is beautiful. They have an aquarium that features fish from the Rhine River and the North Sea (which the Rhine empties into). Since it's just a short train ride away, we can tell this town will be one of our favorite day-trip locations.

Every summer, Heidelberg has a special firework show and lighting of the castle that commemorates the time (back in the 1600s) when the French army attacked the city and burned the castle, and destroyed part of the old bridge. We're not exactly sure why they celebrate someone else attacking them, but the display was incredible. They use special lights to make the castle look like it's on fire, and then they followed that with a firework show on the old bridge. The fireworks lasted 25 minutes long, nonstop-- the best fireworks any of us had seen. We watched it from a park right on the Neckar River, just about 100 yards away from the bridge.

On Sunday, another family from church took us to the nearby town Hirschhorn to go to a Medieval Festival. I had been to a renaissance festival in the US before, but it's a completely different experience to go to one at the foot of the hill below a medieval castle. Ian bought a wooden dagger and wooden shield, and Dominic bought a wooden sword and wooden shield, and they had fun in a wild everyone-for-themselves battling arena against other kids. It was complete chaos, and yet no one got hurt.

Tuesday we went to a nearby amusement park. Although it was small by California's standards, it had more than enough to keep us busy all day. Steve enjoyed most a freefall tower, Stacy loved the river raft ride, Dominic loved a ride where you are taken about 70 yards into the air and then swung around on swings, and Ian loved a Pirate waterski show.
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A few of you have called us on our new number, 310-929-5828, or joined Skype, www.skype.com, and we've so enjoyed hearing from you. If you haven't yet, we'd love it if you did! We even have a webcam now. Thanks for your posts, e-mails and mail, we miss you and enjoy hearing how you are and what you're doing.

Our students are on their way here in the next hour. We are VERY excited for them to come. We have orientation tomorrow and Saturday, some fun local excursions with the group Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon. Then German language immersion week on Monday!

Also on Monday, Dominic and Ian begin school. They are both excited and nervous. We would love for you to pray for their transition and experiences.

More later! Tchuss!

A new way to contact us, and The Moore Haus

2007-08-23T10:14:00.000-07:00

We set up a free way for you to call us. For those of you in the 310 area code, it's a free call, and for everyone else, it's the same long distance charge as a call to Southern California.

We've got a new phone number. Call 310-929-5828. This will ring through to our computer.

Don't worry about accidentally making a mistake with the time zones and calling us in the middle of the night-- when we go to sleep we turn off the computer, and whenever the computer's off your call will just go straight through to voicemail. Also, our account is unlimited use, so we're paying the same amount whether you call or not, so call us!

Some of you have asked about where we're living this year, so we thought we'd give you a tour of the Moore Haus, one of the most beautiful houses we've ever seen.

This first picture shows the Moore Haus from the level of the street-- perched 71 steps up a steep hill.

However, before you start up the steps, you go though the front gate.

And then start up the steps. When you are trying to move in 9 suitcases (each one weighing exactly the 51 pounds that British Airways allows), you count each and every one of those steps.

The next picture shows the front door (to the left) and a patio for the students. Right in the center of the picture, there's a tunnel that leads to our back door and our patio (which you'll see in a minute).

When you walk into the foyer, you see this incredible stained glass window. The stairway leads to the second floor (where the bedrooms for the female students are) and the third floor (where the bedrooms for the male students are). The brown arched door below the stairs leads to the lower floor, where the offices, student living room, and student computer lab are.

In the next picture (also of the foyer), the door to the left (which is almost out of view) leads to the library. There's a lot of construction stuff in there right now, so we didn't take a picture. The door in the middle of the picture leads to the Reception Room (which is shared by us and the students). The arched door to the right leads to our apartment.

The next three pictures show the Reception Room.

Dominic and Ian have both been starting to learn how to play the piano since we've been here. Stacy thought ahead and brought some piano lesson books, and they've been enjoying it.

When you walk into our apartment, the first room you go into is the kitchen.

Then our living room.

Then the bedroom. Right now, the boys are sleeping in one of the students' rooms, but in a couple of weeks, they'll move into this bedroom, and the two of us will start sleeping in the living room.

Finally, there's our back patio, which is a beautiful place to eat lunch or just sit and read. The stone stairway to the right leads to a path (all on Moore Haus property) into the woods, where there's an old World War II era bunker. The pathway makes a good place for the boys to go play Stay Wars.

So that's our home. Come and visit us some time before April!

Steve, Stacy, Dominic, and Ian

Four blogs for the price of one

2007-08-15T10:13:00.000-07:00

A note from Ian:

"Dear All of my Friends and Family, I like about Germany that it's so cool and it's different about California. Because of the Kinder Eggs and because of the many tootsies that they have here in Germany. It's cool because they have big and little chupachups. Well, I liked going to the candy store. That's where I got my Spiderman Kinder Egg. I really liked Luisenpark and the Zoo. The Zoo was so fun I can't remember how fun.

(Playing in the water at Luisenpark)

The Moore Haus is so fun. And once we played hide and seek in our whole house except in the lockie thingies (wardrobes). BYE! From, Ian"

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A note from Dominic:

"Dear Everybody in the Whole Wide World,

I really miss Pepperdine. And I really miss my friends and family. But the Luisenpark and the Zoo, and the Hauptstrasse and the Schloss ... I've had a really good time. We found a bunch of poker chips and my dad's going to teach me how to play poker. Not the gambling kind. I really miss you all.

This picture is of some beautiful flowers at Moore Haus. I took this picture.

This is a slope next to our house. It is a picture of our back porch. I took this picture too.

From, Dominic"

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A note from Stacy:

So last Monday we went to Luisenpark in Mannheim (a neighboring city) with the Drehsels. It's a great place! A huge area with many play areas, eating areas, water play, bumper cars, trampolines, and a small zoo, as well as indoor areas and even a boat ride.

Here are the boys and I practicing our Flamingo look:

Last Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we played in the rain. We enjoyed getting umbrellas and tromping around in the puddles.

On that Thursday we went to a family's home from the Gemeinde Christi and had lunch. Die Mittagessen war sehr schmeck. I hope that means lunch was very good. So was the company. They were very welcoming.

On one of the days the boys had a huge Squattie war (squatties are what our boys call the small StarWars figures) with Titans for backup (their stuffed animals).

Boy versus Boy

When it cleared up again over the weekend we went on a hike in the woods near our house. It was great to be exploring.
We ended up finding our way around and down to the garden grounds of der Schloss.

It was fun to look around and see cool water bugs and tad poles in the fountains but there were no frogs or lilypads.

The view over Heidelberg is beautiful!

It's fun to become acquainted with the area and the people around us. We've met our neighbors on one side. Sometime we'll give you a tour of the inside and outside of the house. As laid back as our schedule is right now, I find it doesn't take much to wear us out, so even though we're doing well, we're still in the adjusting phase.

We love hearing from you all! Love, Stacy

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And last of all, a note from Steve:

So my biggest adventure this week was my introduction to the German sport Kegeln. Karl Drehsel plays most Monday nights with a group of his friends, and he invited me to come along this week. Very fun.

It was described to me as 9-pin bowling, but there's some big differences. The ball is about half the size, and either has no holes or only two holes-- and it doesn't curve like in American bowling. The lane itself doesn't have any arrows or lines-- just a big open lane. The biggest difference, though, was that there's not just one single game-- where you try to get the higest number of points. Instead, there are a huge number of variations, and after every game it switches to a new set of rules. For example, in the first game we played-- translated Foxes and Hounds-- everybody rolls one ball, and the two highest rollers are the Foxes, and everyone else is a Hound. After the Foxes get a one-roll head-start, each of the Hounds try to roll high enough that their total overtakes a Fox's total before the Fox reaches 50 points. My favorite variation (translated something like Thief, or Con Artist, or Cheater) has everyone roll one ball, one after each other, and the total of all of the players are added together. Everyone tries to avoid being the person who breaks a total of 25, because that costs you. Once the total rises above 25, you try to avoid being the one to break 50 (which costs you more), then 75, then 100, all the way up to 200. I liked this game because it was the only one where it actually was good to roll a 0!

The other Kegeln players were great-- very welcoming and hospitable. Even though I sat through a night listening to friends joke and good-naturedly insult each other in a language I don't yet understand, it was great. Even though I played like, well, an American who was used to an entirely different sport, they were encouraging. Best of all, they told me that since it was my first time I didn't have to pay for anything but my beer. If I come back, though, I pay like everyone else. I tried to keep track of what I would have owed if they had made me, and it was somewhere around 7 Euro-- which would be a great value for a great authentic German experience.

Looking forward to next Monday night.

Thanks for reading this long post!

Steve

Wir Sind Hier!

2007-08-05T14:33:00.001-07:00

We made it to Germany and aren't at all surprised that we like it here. We have been so warmly welcomed by Karl Drehsel (who picked us up in Frankfort and took this picture of us), and by his wife Mary Drehsel, who works for Pepperdine, and by Ulla Prokop, who also works for Pepperdine. They are kind and the three of them went with us to dinner our first night in Heidelberg and we had good food and a good time. They took us to one of their favorite Italian restaurants because they knew we had enjoyed Italy when we were there 6 years ago. It was fun to get out of the area we will soon become so familiar with and see a different part of town.

We have been acclimating and settling in well. The boys really like most things but walking up the hill isn't one of them. Our California boys like to ride in cars! But we will all have strong legs soon - I hope! There are helicopter seeds outside the house and the boys have loved finding high places to drop them from and watch them spin to the ground.

Saturday we walked down to the Hauptstrasse and had some lunch, then gelato, and then did a little shopping for food. We all enjoyed the weather, which has been really nice, and the activity of Alt Stadt (Old Town Heidelberg). Later we came home and spent some time exploring the Moore Haus, which is currently empty. It's fun to rummage around and see all the rooms. We are also enjoying watching movies on the big, flatscreen TV in the student area while we're not in the way of the students in their own lounge.

Today, Sunday, we went to Gemeinde Christi, which is the German Church of Christ here in town. We really enjoyed the spirit and the people there. They are very hospitable and freundlich (nice) even though we are strangers. There were many kids there and the boys enjoyed meeting them and having children's lesson with them.

After church we had more gelato - for lunch this time! - then came home for a dessert of sandwiches. After doing a little more unpacking, we walked over to the castle, Der Schloss, and walked around some (it's amazing to be the ones who don't understand what everyone else is saying). We've already unpacked our family games and have enjoyed playing some of them.

We would love to hear from you! We will keep you updated on what's going on and more pictures, too. Thanks for your prayers and well wishes. We are praying for and remembering each of you, too!

Love, Stacy

"They threw quite a Going Away party for me... according to the letter." -- Emo Phillips

2007-07-29T21:00:00.000-07:00

Well, in addition to packing, we've had a great last few days of parties.

First, Ian had his 5th birthday party, and this gave him a chance to hang out with a lot of his friends.

Next, Dominic had a Bon Voyage party with a lot of his friends.

Then, we had an Auf Wiedersehen party with several family friends.

These parties have been so much fun, but they've also reminded us of how blessed we are to have such great friendships, and we know we'll miss these friendships even more than we'll miss 75 cent Extra Large Diet Cokes.

By the way, one way we hope to stay in touch is through Skype. If you are a Skype member, add us as contacts-- search for the account name stevenvrouse.

Steve

Almost ready to leave!

2007-07-21T15:23:00.000-07:00

We're not really bloggers, but we're about to leave to spend a year in Heidelberg, Germany, and we thought that this would be a great way to keep our friends and family in touch with what we're doing. Stacy and I will both be writing posts every now and then, and we'll have Dominic and Ian dictate things that they want to write for their posts, too.

If you want to be e-mailed whenever we add a new post to this blog, just e-mail me at steve.rouse@pepperdine.edu or just keep checking back here every now and then.

So, our plane leaves on August 2, and we get into Germany in the afternoon of August 3. The people who work for Pepperdine's Heidelberg program really impress us-- they offered to pick us up at the airport and someone would be available to let us in to the Moore Haus as soon as we arrive. They have been so nice and welcoming even before we've even arrived, so we are looking forward to getting to know them better.

By the way, if you're curious, check out this websites about Pepperdine's Heidelberg program; you'll be able to see why we're so excited!

Back to packing...

Steve