conversations about the future

Today, i was wearing rainbow earrings. Beaded earrings, nice and long, nice and colorful. Native American style. The kids LOVED them. I had kids on my lap all day, touching my earrings. At lunch, the whole table came over. It was great. In what other job do you have people saying "emily, pretty earrings! can i play with them?!"

One girl was especially fascinated by my jewerly today. Somehow, she associated the attributed femininity with fertility, and blurted out the loaded question "do you have kids?!" The dialouge progressed as follows:

me: oh.. i'm too young
leonie: how old are you?
me: 24
leonie: oh. thats old.
me: yeah... but i'm not married.
leonie: why not?
me:well... i have a boyfriend, but im not married
leonie: would you marry him?
me: well i guess. if he asked me.
leonie: why?
me: because i love him
leonie: EWWWW. BLECCHHHHH.
me: hehehehe
leonie: why don't you get married?
me: hehe. i dunno. he hasn't asked
leonie: well why dont you ask DUMMY!
me: hehe. because. i cant afford a ring.
leonie: a ring! you dont need a ring. give him a flower! i flower's nice. Here, take this one. (gives me a flower)
me: hehe. ok.
leonie: (noticing my hesitance) ok. in five years. but then i get to be your flower girl!
me: ok!

I retold my mom this story on the phone. This was her response:

mom: where can i send her check? we've been waiting for these answers for months!

ah, kids and family. i'll miss my job.

germany flags, and more

So, the European Cup has begun, and all the Audis, Mercedes, BMWs and Volkswagens are driving around with one, two, or even three Germany flags flapping in the alpine wind. Then there are the bipolar fans. Combinations crazier than peanutbutter and pickles. The classic: Germany-Turkey. Germany-Italy, Germany-Croatia, and of course, Germany-Poland. These "multiflaggers" are the creme de la creme, my favorite part of the flag mania. Showcasing munich's multiculti diversity.

The kids in the kindergarten arent showing quite the same multiculti openness. Today, one kid had brought in a special face painting stick that automatically draws the germany stripes. Try that with the half moon of turkey! Within five minutes the kids were covered with flags. On their cheeks, foreheads, stomachs, collarbones, feet, hands, arms. My personal favorite were those who used the facepainting stick as lipstick, which, due to the black stripe at the top of the german flag, turned them into little mini (ehem) moustached germans. Shiver.

We did have one child come to the kindergarten today with two flags: germany and spain. When I asked her why she was such a spain fan, she answered simply "because it looks the most like the germany flag"

And who says that "Football" doesn't bring the world together :)