Life in Lent, Part 1

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)

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

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!