Tidy Tuesday

Today, we had a house cleaner that our new Berlin friend, Sarah, recommended. Doris, from Kenya, stayed for six hours scrubbing the apartment from head to toe. She even cleaned the plastic chairs on our terrace until they were squeaky clean. It sure does feel good in here.

{picture of our living room}

We also got completely unpacked and put our suitcases in the storage in the Keller (basement). It felt very Babylon Berlin down there! But clean and dry.

After lunch at home, I went to the Pankow Volkshochschule (community college) to take a placement exam for a Deutsch sprachtkurs (German language class).

In typical German fashion, I had to take a number, fill out a form and wait. And wait. Someone asked me to take a twenty-five question multiple choice exam for B1, of which I got 12 answers correct. Then I went back to the room and waited some more.

{I was finally next – Pankow Volkshochschule}

Guess a failing score was good enough for them because they registered me for a B1 class that starts in October. Unable to pay cash and not having our German bank account yet, I was able to reserve a spot, but not confirm it. Guess the Kita Guteschein (childcare coupons) for school will have to wait. Ugh.

On my way home, feeling hot and tired and needing a break, I bought some farm fresh strawberries at the Karl’s kiosk. We remember coming here from prior trips to Berlin. The very best we’ve ever had!

{Karl’s Kiosk at the Wasserturm – Kollwitzplatz}

In the meantime, Dave took the boys to the two playgrounds Ben and I visited the other day, where they had tons o’ fun together.

{Kopenhagener Straße Spielplatz}

Being dinner time, I walked back to our neighborhood to meet the boys for a casual dinner out. On the way, I stopped into a store called Conny’s near the Eberwalderstraße stop. It was heaven. Or at least to someone who was trying to fill in the gaps of a mostly furnished apartment. I bought cute melamine bowls and plates for the boys to use, place mats for the dining room table and some envelopes to mail the Kita Gutschein application once I finally get registered for class.

We met at Dan’s dim sum and had yummy strawberries for dessert.{Dinner at Dan’s sim sum}

I put the kids to bed while Dave popped over to Rewe for groceries and then Skyped with my mom. Another good day!

{sunset from our terrace}