May & June Highs and Lows 2017

I got a little behind in my Highs and Lows posts, as the end of May and beginning of June were quite busy. I had a wee bit of a hard time weeding out photos this time. Here we go...

HIGHS

• we did another Kochkurs at Straub's Krone with the theme "Spargel und seine Freunde", and my dad participated, too!

M is burning the last hairs off the chicken with
a bunsen burner for me, because fire scares me.

Dad schnibbling herbs for the Wantans
(won tons)

• my dad was here the entire month of May and my mom arrived on the 17th. They spent four days in Esslingen and a week in Vienna with the delegation from our hometown (Sheboygan, Wisconsin), who came to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the sister-city partnership between Sheboygan and Esslingen.


• I brought my dad to the Sprachcafé (Café United, it's actually called), and he was able to meet some of my former students and friends.





• my Schwiegermutter came for Muttertag, and we made Lamb Stew - one of our favorite meals.

  

  Mother's Day afternoon: my dad works on his German homework
  while my Schwiegermutter reads

• my daughter graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Master's Degree in Social Work.

• at the welcome lunch when the Sheboygan group arrived, I was placed next to the Oberbürgermeister of Esslingen to be his translator if needed as he talked with the mayor from Sheboygan. I was not often needed, but it was a very interesting experience for me! In the past my Schwiegermutter has had this responsibility, but she's happily passing such duties on to me.
  
  

  

  Dr. Jürgen Zieger - I admit, I felt quite honored.

• at the main celebration I first gave a "Secrets of Esslingen" tour to about 15 Sheboyganers who decided to brave the rain, and then in the evening I gave a speech in German about how the exchange program influenced my life.
  


• my dad and I were the chaperones for the three Sheboygan exchange students on a four-day trip to Berlin. We walked a ton, went on a bike tour, visited several museums, saw most of the major sites, failed badly in an escape room, and ate a different cuisine every meal.
  


• several meals at our favorite restaurant, and especially this one with both my parents.
  
  
  


• two days after my parents returned home, M and I flew to Scotland to meet my kids and my son's girlfriend for a 12-day family holiday. I'm in the midst of a series about what we did, so I will just include this one highlight (of very many):

  

  Tee is an owl we saw in Edinburgh in 2015, and she was here again!
  She helps raise money for an owl sanctuary, but she's retiring this year.

• I started this week a new Integrationskurs, and my students this time are even more diverse than in previous classes. The 15 of them hail from: Syria, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Romania, Scotland (!!), Poland, Iraq, and Chile.

LOWS

• rental car problems that the rental company really could have handled better. Post pending. A low I'm anticipating for July is receiving my mobile phone bill, since I was on the phone with the rental company every day or two until the car finally broke down in Falkirk.


• learning on Mull that it was too early in the season for lamb (to eat, that is - they were dashing happily about all over the fields). They needed time to fatten up before...well...you know. So we had Glengorm beef in our stew instead of lamb.

What were your recent highs and lows??