Mini-vacation in Germany

Drawing near to the end of the school year we saw how incredibly intense things were becoming for our children, so we decided that as soon as we could, we would break away after school. They needed it and we needed it for sure!

Now that we have a reliable vehicle with air conditioning we decided to drive up to Germany for a few days. After an extremely hot June, it was an ideal choice to head north to cooler temperatures. We left on Monday, June 26 and what should have been a nine hour drive to Erfurt turned into an eleven hour drive due to summer road construction. However, no one was lamenting as the drive through Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Germany was absolutely breathtaking. Waterfalls cascading down the Alpine mountains, crystal blue lakes, rolling countryside with picturesque towns and their sole church steeple rising above, forests, and more wide open spaces. It was everything that I love about the Western European landscape.

The kids had sufficient space to spread out, so no arguing over who was hogging more leg space. The line crossing was not completely preventable, because that is just what road tripping siblings do. We listened to two audio books on the trip that kept us engaged with the historical and inspirational life stories of both the Reformer, Martin Luther and the missionary, Darlene Diebler Rose. [Books: Luther's Fortress and Evidence Not Seen]

After a good nights rest, we headed out the next day to Eisenach in Thuringia to visit the Wartburg Castle. This is where Martin Luther took refuge in 1521 for nearly a year after the Diet of Worms where he was condemned by the Holy Roman Emperor with a threat to his life. In his castle refuge, Luther translated the New Testament from Greek to German in an astonishing 11-weeks time.

Soft pretzels filled with butter while waiting for our tour time

Replica of the wagon Luther was riding in when "kidnapped" and taken to Wartburg Castle

The Luther exhibition and tour was outstanding and took us over two hours to navigate through. We received audio guides with our ticket admission and this is a life saver when touring with children. Searching each room for the next number on the guide becomes like a treasure hunt. Towards the end Luca was getting VERY upset with us that we taking enough time to listen to every number. He lagged behind and refused to move on until he had listened to each display explanation. We have come a long way since beginning our travel as education vacations with our children! 

No photos were allowed on the castle tour so you will have to visit the official Warburg Castle website for more photos.

It was mid-afternoon when we completed the tour and we wanted to get to another site in Weimar before the rains came. Therefore, we did not have time to walk around Eisenach but this was a city in which my maternal grandfather helped liberate from Nazi control in WWII. All throughout our trip I could not stop imagining what it must have been like for my grandfather to serve as an Army Medic in such a bloody and horrific fight across German terrain. He received the Silver Start in Limbach where he exposed himself to artillery and machine gun fire to amputate a soldier's leg before he bled to death and then dragged him back to safety. As a family, we do not know much about his war experiences as he never talked about them, but somehow just revisiting the area he traversed in his youth made me feel closer to him.

In our effort to retrace Tata's trek across Germany, we then went to the Buchenwald Concentration Camp Memorial in Weimar. Although he did not personally liberate this particular camp, he did liberate a sub camp of Buchenwald just 32 miles WSW near the town of Ohrdruf. The Ohrdruf Concentration Camp was the very first concentration camp to be liberated in the war on April 4, 1945. The shock upon learning and seeing for the first time that such places actually existed must have been beyond horrifying, and explanation enough as to why he never spoke of it. As the Americans drew close to the camp, the prisoners were forced out on a death march to Buchenwald and a wake of bloodshed was left behind as the camp officials attempted evacuation and retreat in much panic and haste. U.S. Generals Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley and Eddy visited the camp 8 days after its liberation.

Entrance gate to Buchenwald CC

Detention cell wing of the gate building

Memorial room in the former crematorium

Hanging post and quarry cart with the depot and disinfection building in the background

Stump of the Goethe Oak

This is the third concentration camp that we have visited and each time there is a pit in my stomach and nausea that washes over me as we walk the camp grounds. Please, let us not forget the Holocaust and let us not blindly turn our eyes from such modern day atrocities of genocide and discrimination that still flood this broken world.

After a previous two full days of driving and touring, we decided to take the next morning slowly and hang out at the house. It was a coincidental choice that was ideal since it thunderstormed and rained all morning long. We enjoyed playing games and not rushing out for our next adventure until the afternoon hours.

We first attempted to get to the Ohrdruf site but ran into a road block as the area is now used as a military weapons training ground and the camp structures no longer exist. At least we tried and got within two miles of the location.

Panoramic of view from the roadblock

Road towards camp

Next we drove into the city center of Erfurt and started off by filling our tummies with yummy German pastries. 

With hunger and thirst quenched, we continued our walk over to the St. Augustine's Monastery. This is where Martin Luther lived and studied as a monk from 1505-1511. 

Martin Luther's monastic cell

Courtyard view

After some time at the monastery and church, we enjoyed more views of German quaintness...

I want to live in this house

Thanks Emma for obliging your mamma with pictures of randomness

Capping off our touring with gelato, because of course

The view on our drive back to our rental house

On Thursday, we started our journey home this time taking a slightly different route that would allow us to stop in Möttlingen, Germany. Johann Christoph Blumhardt (1805-1880) was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian in Möttlingen. 

After the exorcism of the woman, Gottlieben Dittus, a major spiritual revival broke out in the town and spread throughout the surrounding area. Blumhardt is famously quoted as saying: "That I don't know, but this I do know; Jesus is victor." He always gave glory to God for what happened in the lives of those in his parish and others who came confessing their sin and yielding to Jesus. Jonathan and I had both recently read a book about his life and the revival that took place in this area of Germany. We would recommend "The Awakening: One Man's Battle with Darkness" by Friedrich Zuendel.

The house of Gottlieben is now a museum and open upon appointment. We were very grateful for the time and tour provided by the curator's son who spoke English very well. 

The upstairs of the house is the museum with a wooden floor where every floorboard creaks. The kids were more entertained with walking across the floor than reading display tags in German. The bottom portion of the house is the actual living quarters where the Dittus family once lived. 

Blumhardt's church as viewed from the Dittus house

Möttlingen

I have to conclude this vacation post by bragging just a little bit on Jonathan for getting us by on this trip with his growing proficiency in the German language. Thank you, language learning apps and a husband who enjoys languages! Grocery stores, restaurants, mechanic--yes, mechanic...no problem! Samuel too was a help in reading and pronunciation, but less sure in comprehension having not studied German for a year. 

It was a lovely trip and well worth the long hours of driving. Our goal of visiting Reformation sights in 2017 in commemoration of the 500th Anniversary has so far been a great success. Appreciation for our spiritual heritage has grown as well as our love of Europe.

High School Acceptance

With much joy and pride in our son, Samuel, for his years of hard work and perseverance in a rigorous academic setting that is beyond our comprehension, we report that he passed his middle school exams with flying colors. His final semester grades were great, which gave him a starting value of 10/10 going into his final written and oral examinations. He was the only one in his class with this starting value. He received another 10 for his written and oral exams, this time just one of two to accomplish that. No matter the grades, we are most thankful for the character building, study skills, discipline, perseverance and growth in faith that this learning environment has taught ALL of our children. We are so proud of them!! They get a "Dieci a Lode" (10 with praise!) every time in our books!

Yesterday with his Certificate of Competence in hand and other documentation, we went to complete the final registration at his first choice of high schools in Torino. He has been officially accepted into the "Traditional Classical" track at Liceo D'Azeglio, again his first choice. Class section assignments will occur after registration closes and as the professor said, "to make sure the 9 and 10 students are evenly divided". Um yeah, it is safe to say he'll be swimming in a sea of students with a higher level of intensity and desire to learn. This would make me nervous, but for Samuel it truly excites him because he hopes that means more serious and calm classmates and learning environment.

It is surreal to think that Samuel is now officially in high school! Go D'Azeglio!

Heavy Weight Lifted

Have you ever had the feeling where you just feel so scared out of your mind that you feel miniscule in the face of something huge? Well, that was me at the exams.

To help you understand what kind of pressure the Italian State exams put on fragile fourteen-year-olds, I will explain how everything works.

The 8^th grade final exams are divided into two phases: the written and the very infamous orals (and I will explain why).

Phase 1 is easy enough to understand. It’s a series of written tests that test you on how much you’ve learned so far during the year. It focuses more on the techniques you’ve learned so you can’t study for them. For me it was 6 tests that spanned over the course of 5 days, Tuesday through Saturday (and you’re already feeling bad for me).

Day 1: Essay in Italian. This targets my main struggle in Italian public school, and that is expressing myself in correct grammar in an essay. I may get good grades in Italian grammar tests, but putting it into action is extremely difficult. The professors give you four hours to write an essay from start to finish, writing a rough draft first to make your corrections on and then rewriting everything you just wrote on a corrected draft (ridiculous, I know). BUT!! (there must always be a “BUT!!”) you are first handed three envelopes, each containing three essay assignments. You will pick one of them at random and then choose which of the three assignments you feel most prepared for. However, my nervousness for that day completely altered my perception of time. Mere five minutes felt like twenty! Also, the whole envelope madness NEVER happened: the teachers only gave us one because everyone was running out of time just to start the test. I managed to write it all down in three hours and leave the room before I was the last one remaining. From here, things went downhill on the difficulty level.

This is me arriving home after Day 1 of exams

Day 2: French. In this test I had the decision between responding to comprehension questions on a paragraph in French or writing a letter to a hypothetical friend in French. I chose the letter, and I pretty much had this one covered.

Day 3: Invalsi tests. The “Invalsi” are a form of national Italian testing that is split in two between Math and Italian. You have 75 minutes to complete each test, which is a very tight time budget. It heavily tests your logic and attention span as the test was specifically designed to fool you. In the Math test I obviously had to respond to 29 Arithmetic/Geometry questions, which was easier said than done. Once I was done with the test there were literally thirty seconds left on the clock. It’s kind of like those shows on Food Network. Once the time is done, you have to have hands up, close the test, and give it immediately to the teacher. Fortunately there was a fifteen-minute recess for everyone so they can recover. The Italian test is divided into three parts: the first two are comprehension questions on excerpts from a narrative book and a research paper, and the third is questions on Italian grammar. Ironically, I had this one done 15 minutes in advance. Oh, the list was posted this day for the oral exams giving both dates and times for the 150 8th graders undergoing examination.

Day 4: English. I’m not even going to be talking about this one. 

Day 5: Math/Technological Drawing. In this one I had to solve one geometry question, three equations and do a technological drawing of a parallelogram. Sound easy? Well, actually it was. I was one of the first people to finish.

Phase 2. Oh, phase 2 how much I hated preparing for you. The oral exam requires the students to study the entire program for every subject, which is 90+ units of information!! If that wasn’t enough, you also need to prepare a presentation on a topic of your choice, connecting it with all ten subjects, writing a thesis complete with a PowerPoint. For example, history was connected by discussing the Cold War, music I talked about Bob Dylan and was prepared to play "Blowin' in the Wind" on my recorder, physical education I talked about hockey and the famous game between USA and USSR called "Miracle on Ice", geography I focused on the USA, English I talked about the Marshall Plan, Literature I talked about a period author and his works...you get the idea of everything having to connect to the Cold War. This is why everyone who has done this exam hates it, and why every student who hasn’t done it yet dreads it.

I started writing my thesis two weeks before the end of school (when most of my classmates had already finished theirs) and I completed the PowerPoint only after Day 5 of my written exams. My thesis ended up being 35 pages long. The presentation also had to be within a forty-minute time limit. I started practicing presenting my work Sunday, which was right before the exam day (I was tested on Monday afternoon). The first time I tried presenting, it came out as an hour and a half long. The second time it was one hour. No matter how hard I tried that day it could never be less than an hour.

But I’ve had some amazing support from my family, friends, even prayers from people I don’t even know. Sunday night I was feeling slightly better when my dad said, “I have no doubts in you”. At least eight people from Grace Baptist Church in Cedarville were gathered to pray for me during my exam time. It was comforting to think about, but the “Why me?” question was always dogging me. It wasn’t that I didn’t accept this prayer, but I just felt I was taking too much attention, possibly distracting them from people who need it far more than me. The people who prayed for me, if you’re reading this post now I want to say that words can’t describe how humbled I am that you care about my life and I really appreciate all of your prayers.

However, the next morning I was cracking under the stress. I woke up at 6 in the morning and I prayed for a full two hours. I started practicing in front of my mom, but I constantly blanked out and then just broke down in tears.

If I’m breaking down in front my own mother, who knows what I’ll do in front of the profs?

Then a friend of mine was giving me updates on how the orals went for other people. They all said it was easy, but I wasn’t sure I could believe them struggling as much as I was just preparing for it.

Oh my nerves having to wait to be called in! I was 2nd for the afternoon group of testing.

 Then I went to the school in which I was going to be presenting. I waited painfully long for 45 minutes before one of my friends came out with a smile on her face, soon followed by my French professor to usher me into the room. I was asking God for help far too many times to count while I was trying to relax. 

However, once I stepped inside the room I was filled with a strange feeling of calm that almost felt like it wasn’t mine. Seeing the familiar faces of my teachers that I’ve had for the past three years helped, coupled with the fact that I would get some room (I am claustrophobic around people). They were complimenting the fact that I was well prepared for this exam (well, duh. Isn’t that what they want?). Plugging in the flash drive, I started presenting my thesis. 

Powerpoint presentation

I was thankful they let me sit down since it was like 90° in the room!

My French Professor asked me to stand as I recited a
poem in French and spoke about the author and meaning
of the poem all in French.

I was silently surprised by the fact I spoke with authority in Italian, English AND French. In the end I was only asked a few things about my thesis. I never even got to present all of it as the 35 minutes flew by. They could have asked me questions outside my thesis on things I’ve learned the past year because they have the authority to do so. But they didn’t and they just let me go.

It’s over… It’s finally over!!!

The feeling of that heavy weight lifted from my back was indescribable. I was just so overjoyed, beyond giddy.

Now that I think about what happened during that exam, I noticed that I couldn’t have done that on my own at all. The authority that I spoke with, the confidence I had didn’t come from me, but from the Holy Spirit.

Again, a shoutout to everyone who prayed for me: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!!

Celebrating with a much deserved gelato!
(Forgive the crazy eyes; I was literally mad with joy)

STAY TUNED FOR THE RESULTS

—Samuel

Last Day of School

The 2016-2017 school year concluded on June 9th. This was a milestone school year for our family with the closing of a chapter in our lives. We no longer have elementary age school children! That means no more walking to and from school with our children. No more gathering and conversing with parents at school gates. No more long days of school because now everyone will be done with school each day at 2:00pm. And a whole lot more of little things that I probably won't notice until September begins again.

My Elementary and Middle School Graduates

Sadly, there is no fan fare or graduation ceremonies nor any kind of special recognition made for the students who have worked SO hard over the course of five years in elementary school or three years in middle school. That is left to the parents and depending on how tightly knit that group is for each class determines the level of corporate celebration. Luca's class was all smiles when exciting school on their final day, a complete contrast to the tears and affection for Emma's class. Class 5A came out and said goodbye just as if it was any other day of school.

Luca bringing up the rear

His graduation cap was on a cup with a poem from his teacher inside

Classroom decorations were torn down and given to the kids to take home. Thankfully this was not Luca's too keep.

After school we headed to the park for the annual picnic for Luca's class. The traditional water fight ensued all afternoon and this last hoopla marked the end of Luca's elementary years. We did gather on Sunday night with two families that are close friends from Luca's class to celebrate over homemade pizza in a more intimate setting.

Arriving home from dinner at 12:30am had its benefits as we were able to see the "Strawberry Moon". Pictures don't do it justice! It was SO pretty! Did anyone else see it? 

We will receive Luca's report card on June 23, but we are sure he did wonderful. He has come a really long way and has had lots of hurdles to surpass along the way. We are greatly encouraged as we look back and she how much growth he has made since first grade. We could not be prouder of him!!

Emma is stuck in the middle of her brothers and will maintain status quo this year moving from 7th (seconda media) to 8th grade (terza media). She received her report card on June 13 and is soaring with high marks across the board. Emma has very strong study skills and is so self-conscious of her work that you almost want to tell her to chill and relax. For example, she began her summer vacation homework before school even ended and has not let up this first week of summer. But I suppose she is like me in which she likes to do things just so she can check things off her list.

She was treated to a haircut at the salon when school let out. 

Emma had eight works of art chosen for an end of the year art display at her school. She thought that her teacher chose her bad ones. haha! She is a talented artist and hopefully we will get them back in the fall to keep.

The gondola is by Emma

Top left and top right are Emma's

Bottom left, bottom middle and right middle by Emma

Samuel concluded his classes on June 9th as well, however the following two weeks are dedicated to both written exams and oral exams before he officially concludes his 8th grade year. Stay tuned for more on this unbelievable and intense conclusion to middle school...