Am 1. Weihnachtstag hatte meine Tochter (jetzt 9½) die Gelegenheit, auf einem Klavier herumzuspielen. Sie hat nie Klavierunterricht gehabt, aber eine Freundin hat ihr vor ein paar Jahren Au clair de la lune beigebracht, und sie hat noch mehr aufgeschnappt. Irgendwann überraschte sie uns mit den ersten Tönen aus Beethovens Fünfter Symphonie: ta-ta-ta-taaa! “Mama, ich […]

On Christmas Day, my daughter (currently 9½) got a chance to play around at a piano. She’s never had formal lessons, but a friend taught her Au clair de la lune a few years ago, and she picked up more beyond that. At one point, she surprised us with the opening notes of Beethoven’s Fifth […]

Im Deutschunterricht hat die Klasse meiner Tochter beschlossen, in diesem Jahr das “Ich weiß was über-Projekt” weiterzuführen. Im vergangenen Schuljahr hatte meine Tochter über die Grundschule in Deutschland berichtet. Dieses Jahr schnappte sie sich das Heft als Erste, um dann nach langem Überlegen ihr Thema auszuwählen: (Klick auf das Bild zum Vergrößern)

During school holidays, our 4½-year-old daughter attends the centre de loisir in her school building. On the last day of the week, there is usually a party, and kids can come in costumes. Last Friday when I picked up my little witch, I met her BFF S. about whom I’d already heard a lot. She […]

Last week, during the European Aquatics Championships in Berlin (BLN 2014), I tried to watch whatever race I could catch between coming home from work and bedtime. I don’t follow any swimmers in particular, so when a race came up where I didn’t know a single name, I said: “I don’t know anyone there, I’ll […]

When we’re in Germany, I have a tendency to raid bookshops, much to the delight of my 4-year-old daughter (she always finds something by herself there). The other day, after our second raid in three days, we passed the bookshop we’d just left a little earlier. My daughter: “Können wir da nochmal rein?” (Can we […]

This week, my daughter came home from school and showed me a drawing she had made. I noticed she had drawn two suns side by side, and the inevitable comment escaped my lips. Today, the drawing was still lying in the living room when she saw it, picked it up and asked me: “Mama, comment […]

A few days after our skate at the City Hall skating rink’s children’s rink last Sunday, where gloves are compulsory, we again watched figure skating in the Olympics, a male skater’s short program. She watched a while, then asked. “Why doesn’t he wear gloves?”

Last Sunday afternoon, we went ice skating at the City Hall skate rink’s children’s rink: That evening at home, we watched the highlights of the day at the Olympics, figure skating among them. She watched wide-eyed, then said: “I can’t do that!”

In case there has been a doubt about my daughter’s nationality, and based on these words of wisdom, here is final proof: