Visit to the Fire Station and Breaking Dawn

On Wednesday morning my class walked to the local Fire Station. A fireman had come to talk to our class the previous morning and so the kids were all super excited to go see the fire trucks and "big scissors." Some though, I talked with one boy the whole way about airplanes and how he wants to be a pilot when he grows up and can we go on a field trip to the airport...

At the fire station two of the firemen were there to show us around. The whole station is run by volunteer firemen and it was really nice of them to offer their time. One of the men told us he works in a local kindergarten as his job! We got to see everything that is stored in their trucks and try on some helmets and jackets and gloves. I was impressed by the organization of the trucks. The sides open up and everything has its place. There are shelves that pull out and everything fits in and is somehow secured so it doesn't fly about. After we got to go outside and see the "big scissors" which turned out to be hydraulic cutters. The kids also got to try using the water hoses. The highlight of the whole trip was the ride back to school. They drove us back to school in two fire trucks! A little way from school they turned on the sirens for a minute, and a bunch of teachers came out to meet us. Definitely a great field trip!! I will get photos from Marie next week to post on the school website, and I'll see if I can post a couple here.

Then last night I went out to the opening of the new Twilight movie - Breaking Dawn part 1. When Cara arranged for 18 of us to go I said yes only because I thought it would be fun to go with the group. I had no anticipation that I would actually like the movies. The first one surprised me and I enjoyed it (while finding it a bit silly as well). I personally thought the second one was horrible and the third one only a bit better so went into the fourth with very low expectations. Don't want to give anything away if you haven't seen it, but I had a good evening. Definitely not in the "take it really serious" group, but I liked it. And while I did have to keep my eyes closed at points near the end, wasn't traumatized by it like some of my colleagues :)

Tomorrow I am heading into Frankfurt with a friend. We've got a full day planned of shopping, Christmas marketing and going out for dinner. On Sunday is the first of Advent here and so on Saturday there will be some special celebrations at the Christmas markets. On Sunday Christmas lights will be turned on :) More photos and stories to come!!