A week in Germany

Two weeks after returning from Vienna, the kids and I were off again, this time to Germany. Not a holiday for me but work: I was asked to provide live subtitles for the biannual conference of IVSS Churchear, a Europe wide initiative to challenge and support churches to fully include people with hearing loss. Because this organisation started in Germany it's very heavily German dominated (and this conference was held in Eisenach, Germany - Luther and Bach's town) but these days they're so international that they need to offer everything in English too. So my role was to provide on-the-fly translated subtitles in real time - that was challenging, though fun to do! 

The organisation had invited my entire family to come but after two weeks in Vienna, Mr didn't feel able to take another week off so it was just me and the kids. We flew from Bristol to Frankfurt, then took a two hour train journey to arrive in Eisenach. A small, very picturesque town, and our hotel could have been been a painting! It was on a hill, looking over to the next hill on which sits the famous Wartburg. Which was only 20 minutes walk away, and we did visit it (more on that later).

Climbing tree up front, Wartburg view behind 

Our room looked towards the Wartburg too, and because the hotel is on a hill, one of our windows actually was so low to the ground outside that the kids could get in and out of the room, directly into the hotel grounds (where they found a great climbing tree) - they loved that!

My kids were the only children there. Not just at the conference but in the hotel altogether, because it's no longer the school holidays. They would have preferred to have other kids to play with but they did enjoy making lots of new, older friends - people of all ages. 

Why did I bring them, you may ask?

As a Christian parent and home educator I see it very much as a priority to let my kids experience real life and take part in it. They aren't confined to a classroom to learn information abstractly from worksheets: they get to experience things. I'm also entrusted with teaching them values - and that's why I make sure they see me serving others, and that they get to meet a diverse range of people. Including, of course, disabled people. That way they learn through experience that everyone is of equal importance and value, no matter their age or impairment, background or language. 

Fun at lunchtime

N(7) in particular is a natural connection builder. I can easily see her changing the world when she grows up, building bridges between enemies - a diplomat? A (gasp!) politician? Who knows, but that girl has never met a stranger in her life: in her world, everyone is a friend. She really accepts everyone as they are, she's kind and encouraging and curious... and this week she quickly made many friends, and helped D(6) who's not quite as forward as she is, to do the same. 

So - this was a joyful and meaningful week, but in all honesty it was also very hard work for me. Many hours of deep concentration work each day, translating on the fly as I typed; and outside those hours, being there for the kids who, though of course they are incredibly mature and well behaved, are still only 6 and 7 years old.

D's highlight of the week was the walk over to the Wartburg, where we had a tour - with ALL the technology, which was brilliant to watch, enabling everyone to follow what was said. Here are a few pictures...

Looking down towards our hotel

Found the toilet!

As I write this I'm sitting at Frankfurt airport, waiting for our flight home. I'm so ready to collapse - this has been a full-on week on many levels. But this is how we roll. Living the life!