Saturday (27.09.) was a day of clouds and sun. O.K. left for his home right after breakfast, to give him enough time to unpack, do the washing and all the other things one typically does between returning from a holiday and starting work again.
The family living in the attic flat above me have two children, and they were celebrating their birthday. Because they don't speak German very well and I don't speak Farsi, I still don't know whether the children really share the same birthday or they simply celebrate together. Anyway, I was invited to join them; the little girl turned 4 and the boy 9. I brought gifts for the kids and chocolate for everyone plus a little something for the mother. Two ladies and another little girl were the only other guests, which made their small living room full enough.
We had very nice spiced tea and a home-made cake, which was delicious.
Conversation was a bit stop-and-go because of our language difficulties, but we did get some information about each other across, and I have once again noticed the progress my neighbour has been making in learning German.
She is 29 years old and came to Germany never having learned to read and write, and has since been on what she calls her "alphabet" course (learning to read and write) as well as learning German - certainly no mean feat, and I think she can be quite proud of herself about what she has achieved already.
Her husband fully supports her; he is not the type of man who prefers to keep his wife away from the world, locked up at home with no access to people and books and so on.
She explained to me that once she has completed her course and is better at German, she wants to work; by then, she says, her little girl will be old enough to start school, allowing her to take up a part-time job.
This family is clearly trying to make Germany their home, a place where their children can grow up well, and they are willing to work hard for that.
Of the two other ladies present at the small birthday party, the older one spoke some German. She said to me: "In my country are the Taliban. I was not allowed school or work. It was very hard." She, too, is looking for work, but her limited German means she can only hope for a cleaning job or something similar. Still, that's better than nothing, and again here was someone who was prepared to make a living for themselves and not depend on others.
Mid-afternoon I thanked my hostess for the tea and cake and left. Just as I had arrived in my flat downstairs, my sister texted, suggesting a walk. I had intended to go walking anway, and now I set off to my sister's.
We went to Kornwestheim in a wide loop across the fields and back, and I was home a bit more than two hours later after a much enjoyable walk.
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| On the fields between Ludwigsburg and Kornwestheim |
Sunday (28.09.) was mostly spent getting ready for Monday. I did my ironing, blogged, played my favourite computer game for a while, and read.
Late afternoon/early evening I walked to Benningen, part of my "coming home" process. It was a grey and rather chilly day, but good walking weather nonetheless.
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| Waiting for the train back to Ludwigsburg some time before sunset. |
My evening was quiet with watching "Wednesday" and reading, and of course O.K. and I spoke on the phone.
