Zweibrücken, Alemania

We spent a large part of our vacaciones in a small town in southwest Alemania called Zweibrücken, which isabout 10 kilometers from Francia.  We went to visit my tíos.  They are actually my mamá’s tíos.  So that means that Tante Anna and Unkle Jakobhave put up with three generations of our family’s young girls’ antics!   

They haven’t lost their touch as OUTSTANDING tíos!

 

Sofía also got to meet a cousin with thesame name!  (Tocayas!)

 We also got to catch up with cousins wehaven’t seen in years!

 

And we visited the Rosengarten—which Ihave many fond memories of—running around the roses just like Sofía! 

Burg Eltz

Do you recognize that pink coat?! Papi took a foto of us from a mirador! This beauty is Burg Eltz!

After a short jaunt to Burg Pyrmont, we drove to our real destination which was Burg Eltz.  The outside was amazing.  In fact, it was more interesting to see the outside than the inside. 

We got there much later in the day than anticipated, and before we were even out the doors, Sofia was asleep.  Jetlag is rough on a three-year-old!

Center: El Mercado de Jasmín

There are a few "constants" that Sofía always likes to play, so I went with it and used them to create Play Centers in our basement.  The first Center to be finished is El Mercado de Jasmín.  Sofía had so much fun helping me clean things and pull odds and ends together to create a little Mercado for her. 

Then we gathered all the play food and sorted it into different categorías as we organized where the food would go in the stands.  (We also included a a way to purchase lottery tickets—just like Papi does!)

This was a great actividad to reinforce the categorization of fruits and vegetables and refrigerated foods. 

Sofía decided on her own that it was important that she hand write a recibo for every customer (or character I played buying in her Mercado!).

10:30 PM

I heard noise in Sofía’s room.....It's 10:30 at night..........Can you tell?

¡Ay Dios Mio!



Había una Vez….

As Sofía and I drove to school on this morning she told me a story.

“Once, Mami, when Papi and I were driving back from Tío’s house, the Policia told Papi he was driving too fast and gave him a ticket.” She then went on to warn ME not to drive too fast so that I wouldn’t get a ticket too.  I was confused of course, because I HAD NOT HEARD THIS STORY BEFORE.  J  We immediately called Papi and I told Sofía to tell Papi the story.  Her response to me?  “I don’t need to tell Papi the story because Papi was there Mami.”

Foto credit:  Feefoto.com

Repollo

Driving across the southern half of Alemania, we saw an AMAZING amount of repollo (cabbage) crops. The color of the repollo was a magical purple just like in the foto. I ask myself how much repollo one country can really eat, especially when I’ve only seen it made ONE way…..hmmmm??  Anyway, we were driving by WAY too fast for me to take a foto, but I was able to find one at Floridata. (If you click on the foto, it will take you to extra interesting información about repollo!).  Ironically, right before we left for our trip, I found a recipe for Roasted Cabbage Wedges by Martha Stewart.  I was not really a fan of repollo before eating it prepared this way.  Now, I can’t get enough!

 

I don’t use caraway or fennel seeds as Martha’s recipe calls for….I came up with my own concoction Below are mine, and yes, I used all of them together along with salt.   I also found that I only have to bake the slices for about 20 minutes.   

Repollo is really healthy as well as filling and is a great accompaniment for many main dishes.  Adiós vinegary and tangy over-boiled repollo….now we have a fresh and flavorful alternative!

Burg Pyrmont

The first castillo we visited in Alemania was Burg Pyrmont, located in the hills the Moselle River Valley. I think it was Sofía’s favorite castillo because its structures reminded us of a Fairy Tale castillo.  

We enjoyed being able to walk through the castillo without a guide and take our time.

 

 

 

Sofía and her Papi walked all the way up the Rapunzel tower!

 

An antique doorbell!

A cool look-out room!

 

 

The only down-side to the castillo was that there was no restaurante to enjoy the gorgeous view!

Travesuras de una Gatita

 

İSí los dos eran sorpresas para mi!

İPanaderías Everywhere!

One of our favorite things to do in Alemania was to walk around the city and stop at random panaderías to try all their deli, deli, deli treats!

 

 Our favorite was Rischart’s Bäckerei in München. (I’m thinking I should tattoo their logo on my left pompis since everything I ate at the Bäckerei seems to have relocated there.)
 

 

Marzipan replicas of the pretzel!

 

 

Rischart is also one of the main Oktoberfest sponsors.  Here is a replica of their fantastic Oktoberfest structure.

 

 

İPrimer Día de Preescolar!

 

 

Sofía started Preescolar! We can hardly believe that our baby has grown enough to begin the first segment in her educational life! (Gracias to Victoria’s mamá for great foto idea!)

 

Before we left for Alemania, we attended an Open House at the colegio.  Sofía really only cared about the parque!

 

We are excited that we found The Children’s Center for Language and Culture’s(ChiCeLaCu) Preescolar Program for Sofía! It is the perfect programa for us and not only because they solamente speak Español!

 

Sight Words en Español

If you have been following my blog or my articles on SpanglishBaby™, then you know that Sofía and I have been learning our Abecedario, our letras and their sounds.  

Reading Specialist and early elementary grade teachers everywhere recommend that children learn sight words while on their path to becoming proficient readers.  Sight words are important to learn because they are words that make up a large part (about 70%) of all reading.  Usually they are words that are difficult to sound out and grasp concept through context.  Although I don’t need to worry about sight words yet since Sofía is just learning her abecedario, I did research sight words en Español to share with readers with children who are beginning to read.

One of the best ways to learn Sight Words is the old fashioned way:  through flashcards (and plain ole reading of course!).  As an educator, I can’t stress enough the usefulness of using flashcards with your children.  When the time comes and Sofía begins to learn to read, we will be using Sight Word flash cards in both languages. 

Scholastic has great resources for Sight Words in both Inglés and Español (Downloadable versions only cost 99¢ each!) Their links to Sight Word resources in Español can be accessed through my article on SpanglishBaby™.

This post is a linked additional information section for an article called Reading and Your SpanglishBaby on SpanglishBaby™.

Resources Available in SpanglishBaby’s™ La Tiendita

La Tiendita

If you have been following my blog or my articles on SpanglishBaby™, then you know that Sofía and I have been learning our Abecedario, our letras and their sounds.  

SpanglishBaby™ has a Tiendita through Amazon where you can make purchases and part of the proceeds will benefit us in bringing you more fabulous prizes and opportunities. So, before purchasing any product for your Spanglish Baby that has to do with Español, always check first with our Tiendita.  Since Sofía has been born, I’ve done lots of searching for material (books, toys, and apparel) en Español.   I’ve noticed that if I do a search on Amazon on my own, these products (from La Tiendita) don’t necessarily show up (I think that foreign material products aren’t always tagged properly for searches) and there are some really good resources in La Tiendita!  I saw some authentic CD titles that I know I will be purchasing for Christmas!  What better way to reinforce rhyming than with classic children’s songs en Español! I also noticed that Leap Frog makes a Pesca de Letras toy.  Although it is no longer available through Amazon, I now have a “make and model” to be able to contact Leap Frog directly and ask for it!  All in all, a little parada in La Tiendita before purchasing through Amazon is a definitely worth the extra time spent! 
 

This post is a linked additional information section for an article called Reading and Your SpanglishBaby on SpanglishBaby™.

 



Español Alphabet Pocket Chart

If you have been following my blog or my articles on SpanglishBaby™, then you know that Sofía and I have been learning our Abecedario, our letras and their sounds.  

In order to help facilitate my efforts, I purchased an Español Alphabet Pocket Chart made by Learning  Resources.  We LOVE it!  It is well-made, accurate, and their customer service center is outstanding!  I will definitely purchase their products again!  

The Pocket Chart comes with various picture cards that correspond with each letter and there are many copies of each letter so as to promote spelling too. (both upper and lower case as well as vowels with accent marks!) We can match letters with letters or letters with sounds or pictures with beginning letters or pictures with sounds.  Really it is worth every centavo spent and I know we will be using it for many years! 

This post is a linked additional information section for an article called Reading and Your SpanglishBaby on SpanglishBaby™.

Interactive Abecedario Slide Show Game

If you have been following my blog or my articles on SpanglishBaby™, then you know that Sofía and I have been learning our Abecedario, our letras and their sounds.  Recently I created an Interactive Abecedario Slide Show Game in Español for Sofía and me to play— usually while we eat breakfast.  You arewelcome to download it for your personal use. Once you do, you can also add additional pictures for each letter.  For example, in the Slide Show, A is for Abeja (bee) and you could add in an avión (airplane), agua and árbol (tree) to provide more examples and variety.  Sofía recently has been telling me her ideas of additional words that begin with each letter and thus she has really been creating her own personalized game.  We have been incorporating them in slowly.  (For example, our Gato is now holding a globo!) Because the Slide Show is in Español, you could also use it as a tool for your niños to learn some new vocabulary if Español isn’t one of your languages. Remember that small niños learn through sounds and pictures, so a bilingual (Español/Inglés) Slide Show would need to represent each language with the SAME letter and object.  For example:  A is for airplane and avión.   B is for boots and botas.  C is for car and carro.  D is for dinosaur and dinosaurio. 

Sofía loves the Interactive Abecedario Slide Show Game.  Hope your niños enjoy it también!

This post is a linked additional information section for an article called Reading and Your SpanglishBaby on SpanglishBaby™.

 

Odd Things I Spied in Alemania

During our viaje a Alemania, I tried to do many things at once—translate for my family, take touristy fotos, remember all the names of the delicioso dishes we ate, and of course, make mental notes and snap fotos of cultural tidbits here and there!  Although I didn’t get as many fotos as I made note of, here are a few to share at least!  In the tienda Globus, Sofía had fun pulling (and pushing) the basket on wheels!

 

 

Our buffet breakfasts were really big on honey and this hotel served the entire panel!

 

 

 

I mentioned before that the majority of restaurantes in Alemania were CASH ONLY!  (Yes, even the 5 stars, popular chains, and fast foods!) So all of the waiters carried these black leather expandable clutch purses; they are a cross between a wallet and a coupon filer. I’m not sure what the advantage is for carrying them, but I definitely see what the disadvantages are!

 

 

 



One of the fancy hotels we stayed in had neat modern gadgets. This panel by the front door controlled all the lights in and out of the hotel room. No more guessing which button is for what light! And….no more sneaking the “Do Not Disturb Sign” on the outside of the door while indecently dressed OR trying to close the door quickly before the sign catches in the door!

All you have to do is touch the appropriate button on the panel and a red or green light blares outside on the door plate making it look like a shiny rhinestone on a gaudy gold ring!

 

 

I found this add (and its irony), posted in a bathroom stall, for a feminine cranberry product, to be hilarious!

 

Many Alemanes smoke and this vintage cigarrillo machine still works!  (I remember them from my summer holidays as a child!) Now they have electronic ones which require you to swipe your ID to prove age!  I didn’t get a foto of that one!

 

 

How cool is a plastic glove to wear while pumping petrol!  We need THAT!

 

I am always nagging my esposo to take off his shoes in the house.  He complains that his feet are cold (although he has designated house shoes!).  In one of the castles, they gave us all these oversized slippers to put OVER your shoes!  Now where can I buy a few pair of those??

 

 

 All the baby strollers, buggies, prams and carriages had an umbrella attachment!

People EVERYWHERE were using these ski poles (as I refer to them) to walk.  This couple (who didn’t know they were being photographed because of my spy-like skills) were using them to walk the grounds of the Neuschwanstein Castillo.  But we saw people use them in the mall, on flat sidewalks, and in crowds of people. 

Hope you have enjoyed my “Odd Cam”!  I will have to be more diligent on our next trip!