November, 2019

Some notes and observations…

The girls have been in Austria since mid-July. Due to work issues my initial plan was to arrive the beginning of Sept. But…

Work issues specific to legal residency in Austria was a hassle. The process started with Cisco in June, and by the end of August I was told it would take another 6 months (with Cisco as my sponsor). I pushed back, suggested that Andrea (as an EU citizen) could be my sponsor and I would go to Austria myself to manage the process.

I came (Sept 17th) and then abruptly left (Oct 1st) due to a delay with my residence permit and (silly and absurd) Cisco requirements. I then returned on Oct 19th, and had my residency permit on Oct 28 to start working again on Nov 4th.

Andrea left on Oct 27th as planned to work at Squaw for 4 weeks; she returned Nov 25th.

The 4 weeks alone with the girls while Andrea was gone was so much fun! Luckily the first of the 4 weeks I was not working so I had time to settle into a routine and figure things out. This included morning and late afternoon walks with Kino, daily trips to the grocery store, driving the girls to school on an emergency basis (the order was bike, bus, me), making lunches which seemed to improve over time until they were a large glass container of numerous fruits, and of course coming up with dinner ideas beyond what the stereotypical Dad is capable of. Every Mon/Wed/Fri Niki and Britta had LeichtAthletic (Track and Field) from 4:30-6 in RIF so they would ride their bikes (25 minutes) there and I would meet them by bike at 6:00 to ride home together in the dark. Each night at 7:45 we would watch the News on Kika (a children’s TV channel) and then start for bed at 8. My days were very much routine driven, but it was good and always ended each night with a story in bed.

For homework support Niki and Britta would Facetime Andrea just about every day, which seemed to be effective both at getting the work done and keeping the stress level down. After Andrea had been gone for 2 weeks Mimi arrived to step in and help out with homework.

I have to admit there was a cost to Mimi coming. The girls love her so much and always look forward to spend time with her, so I did start to see less of them once she arrived but their happiness as having her around was worth it.

Each day I take about 30 minutes for my German training on the phone with Babbel. My German is entirely embarrassing to the girls, which is what feeds my motivation to improve. Slowly.

I hardly ever see Annika. She’s out the door by 7:30 to school, and between after school stops at Mimi’s, or soccer training, or ensconced in her room downstairs doing school work (which would include her online pre-calc class or studying for her Dev 7th SAT test), or out with a friend it’s usual for her to not be having dinner with us. I did seem to score some much needed points with my teenage “protege” by managing to get her out of her Math class (so that she could take online pre-calculus instead; pre-calc was offered at AIS but a conflict with Annika’s schedule didn’t allow her to take it) as well as get her out of PE (with her soccer trainingserving as a reliable substitute).

This month ends with a weekend trip to Venice, which is currently experiencing the worst flooding in 50+ years. Should be an adventure!

In 4th grade Niki and Britta were lucky enough to have Mr. Dave Goggen as their teacher. He was a legend amongst his past students; everyone spoke so very highly of him. One big way he stood apart from other teachers, from the student perspective, was that he gave no homework. He explained his motivation to parents at the Parent-Teacher meeting to start the school year, but really his legendary status went beyond a lack of homework. He was engaging, he was calm, he was motivated, and he was always present, always mindful. I can easily imagine Niki and Britta having tangibly fond recollections of Mr. Goggen, well into their later years.

For reasons I’m not sure of, Niki and Britta wrote a letter to Mr. Goggen around September 2019. He would be retiring soon (maybe that’s why they wrote the letter), and as Niki and Britta were in Austria struggling to catch and keep up with their German speaking classmates Niki and Britta were even more nostalgic about 4th grade and the ease and fun of the entire school year. Mr. Goggen replied to their note with this:

Education, above and beyond the academic, as it should be.