Yesterday we headed out after lunch to go into the city center to do some school work and then run some errands. I'd sort of forgotten (read: blocked out) how many millions of errands are associated with moving somewhere new and setting up a new living situation.
Carys, Orla, and I parted ways with Doug and Mairin to head to different places to do various lessons. We are trying hard to split the girls up often and give them some space and also some one-on-one adult time.
Carys, Orla and took an unitended stroll through Old Town while trying to find our way back to the library because I kept getting turned around. On the upside, it was lovely and I got to snap some more pictures.
Michael's Gate
Entrance to the children's area in the library, our tram stop is right out front!
When we got to the library, they check your bags and coats, which was inconvenient since we had all of our school things in there and had to unpack all of our things and stash them in these little baskets. We've realized that on the whole, it will be more efficient to do school work in the morning at home and then go out after lunch.
My Bratislava city library card!
On the whole, lessons are going well...with the exception of Mairin's Latin. We've just gotten underway with school work this week, but it was immediately apparent to all of us that Doug and I were not suitable Latin teachers!! We quickly came to the realization that Doug and I could put forth a ton of effort to muddle through the Teacher's Manual and still manage to provide Mairin with a subpar Latin education that would be unpleasant for all of us. Or we could find and pay a skilled expert to teach her so she can enjoy her experience, have a quality teacher, be right on track in the fall, and eliminate the headaches and frustration for me and Doug. Obviously, we've opted for the latter! I spent the evening researching various reputable online options that use her current curriculum and have been in touch with an incredibly hepful teacher online. He works with an online program that offers exactly what we need and he will set up a course for her that starts precisely where she left off with her regular teacher. It seems like ths will be an ideal way to bridge this gap until the fall. The three of us are all very relieved!
Yesterday, the sun was truly shining and the sky was blue for the first time since we arrived in Europe!! While I squeezed in a quick work out first thing in our "home gym" (ahem, entry way), Doug went out for a run and scoped out the path along the Danube River that is accessible from behind our building. I went out for a walk later in the day so I could explore it for myself. It is so great and it will be terrific to use for walks and hopefully bikes sometime in the near future.
The nice wide, paved path along the Danube.
These are the views walking from our apartment toward the city center.
These are the views heading back home;
When leaving our building, there is a stretch of path that is unpaved and goes through some buildings that seem to be university owned. It's desolate and secluded and they appear to be unused so the area definitely gives off a slightly creepy "abandoned building" vibe.
Beyond the blue fencing are tennis courts.
We've had some funny experiences lately that are worth sharing....We consider ourselves competent and capable adults and we've been fortunate to travel to other countries in the past. Yet moving to a foreign country and trying to live here and perform everyday tasks has been a humbling experience! We got our clothes stuck in a washing machine in Vienna for the better part of a day. As in, we couldn't open the door. We had no idea that you needed to weigh and tag your produce BEFORE bringing it to the register, requiring me to abandon it all. Our kids accidentally started to eat sour cream instead of the yogurt we bought. Our US based credit card doesn't always seem to work the same way as everyone else's in the grocery store, which makes it take longer....and then we can't read the instructions on the little credit card reader yet so we don't know what buttons to push and have to ask for help. Despite the settings being written in English, we haven't mastered the washer / dryer combo (yes! it does both! in one machine!) in our building so we are baffled and have lots of damp clothes. We are working on it. We also need to get a big drying rack. And about 73 other things from IKEA, including a mirror. I don't think we are particularly vain, but we haven't seen a mirror since we left Vienna first thing Monday morning!
Carys, Orla, and I parted ways with Doug and Mairin to head to different places to do various lessons. We are trying hard to split the girls up often and give them some space and also some one-on-one adult time.
Doug and Mairin discussing Tom Sawyer for her Lit Comp class.
Castle in the distance
Entrance to the children's area in the library, our tram stop is right out front!
On the whole, lessons are going well...with the exception of Mairin's Latin. We've just gotten underway with school work this week, but it was immediately apparent to all of us that Doug and I were not suitable Latin teachers!! We quickly came to the realization that Doug and I could put forth a ton of effort to muddle through the Teacher's Manual and still manage to provide Mairin with a subpar Latin education that would be unpleasant for all of us. Or we could find and pay a skilled expert to teach her so she can enjoy her experience, have a quality teacher, be right on track in the fall, and eliminate the headaches and frustration for me and Doug. Obviously, we've opted for the latter! I spent the evening researching various reputable online options that use her current curriculum and have been in touch with an incredibly hepful teacher online. He works with an online program that offers exactly what we need and he will set up a course for her that starts precisely where she left off with her regular teacher. It seems like ths will be an ideal way to bridge this gap until the fall. The three of us are all very relieved!
Yesterday, the sun was truly shining and the sky was blue for the first time since we arrived in Europe!! While I squeezed in a quick work out first thing in our "home gym" (ahem, entry way), Doug went out for a run and scoped out the path along the Danube River that is accessible from behind our building. I went out for a walk later in the day so I could explore it for myself. It is so great and it will be terrific to use for walks and hopefully bikes sometime in the near future.
These are the views heading back home;
When leaving our building, there is a stretch of path that is unpaved and goes through some buildings that seem to be university owned. It's desolate and secluded and they appear to be unused so the area definitely gives off a slightly creepy "abandoned building" vibe.
Beyond the blue fencing are tennis courts.
We've had some funny experiences lately that are worth sharing....We consider ourselves competent and capable adults and we've been fortunate to travel to other countries in the past. Yet moving to a foreign country and trying to live here and perform everyday tasks has been a humbling experience! We got our clothes stuck in a washing machine in Vienna for the better part of a day. As in, we couldn't open the door. We had no idea that you needed to weigh and tag your produce BEFORE bringing it to the register, requiring me to abandon it all. Our kids accidentally started to eat sour cream instead of the yogurt we bought. Our US based credit card doesn't always seem to work the same way as everyone else's in the grocery store, which makes it take longer....and then we can't read the instructions on the little credit card reader yet so we don't know what buttons to push and have to ask for help. Despite the settings being written in English, we haven't mastered the washer / dryer combo (yes! it does both! in one machine!) in our building so we are baffled and have lots of damp clothes. We are working on it. We also need to get a big drying rack. And about 73 other things from IKEA, including a mirror. I don't think we are particularly vain, but we haven't seen a mirror since we left Vienna first thing Monday morning!
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