My youngest son's school requires in the 4th grade that they all learn bike safety. This is very good since so many people ride bikes as their only transportation here instead of having cars. They are very serious about children learning early on the rules. The class is taught over 5 sessions and is taught by the local police. For each class, they must go to another site where there is a road course set up. In one town nearby, the road course is an actual park with miniature streets and intersections, cars, etc. so that the children can truly get a feel for riding in traffic. All children, like they should in the USA, must wear helmets. On the 5th session, the children are given a written and physical test based on what they learned. Yesterday was day 2 for my 4th grader. He wishes he had his bike from SC, but he is doing well on a borrowed bike.
Most major roads have bike lanes for all the bikes. There is also a bike route that follows the Iller River (we are in the Iller river valley) where you can ride literally for kilometers and there are no cars to dodge. At my husband's work, they have a large group of people who do just that. We haven't decided if we will get bikes while we are here, but we have heard that you can rent them. If we ever get the Indian Summer I keep hearing about, we may go do that one weekend. However, if the current forecast holds, that is unlikely this weekend as highs are forecast to be in the lower 40s!
The question for yesterday was "When did Germany first become a country?" That is quite a question for debate. It depends on if you mean using the name of Germany or as a region. I will go with the name of Germany. (Bonus question: What do Germans call Germany?? Answer: Deutschland - pronounced doich-lahnd.) According to Wikipedia, the date was January 
18th, 1871 (Happy Birthday, Grandpa!!) This was the official start of the German Empire with Prussia. The Prussian rulers ruled the region and set up the capital in Berlin. On the map, the area in peach and blue made up the region where blue was the Prussian aspect of the country. It did not include Austria as in previous times when Germanic peoples were grouped as a region. This era lasted until November of 1918, when the German Revolution broke out and the ruling monarchy gave up the throne. Germany was forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles in June of 1919, ending World War I. After the loss in World War I, the borders of the country were drastically changed. Many Germans (from what was up to this time Germany but was then given over to the Poles and other peoples) decided to leave the country all together. My husband's family had members that came to North America during this time including some of his grandparents.
18th, 1871 (Happy Birthday, Grandpa!!) This was the official start of the German Empire with Prussia. The Prussian rulers ruled the region and set up the capital in Berlin. On the map, the area in peach and blue made up the region where blue was the Prussian aspect of the country. It did not include Austria as in previous times when Germanic peoples were grouped as a region. This era lasted until November of 1918, when the German Revolution broke out and the ruling monarchy gave up the throne. Germany was forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles in June of 1919, ending World War I. After the loss in World War I, the borders of the country were drastically changed. Many Germans (from what was up to this time Germany but was then given over to the Poles and other peoples) decided to leave the country all together. My husband's family had members that came to North America during this time including some of his grandparents. The question for today is: "Is there a speed limit on the Autobahn?"
The words for the day are the numbers 11 - 20: 11 - elf (just like it sounds), 12 - zwölf (tsvuhlf where the uh is like the u sound in burn), 13 - dreizehn (dry-tsehn - remember the word for 10 was zehn), 14 - vierzehn (like fear-tsehn), 15 - fünfzehn (foonf-tsehn) , 16 - sechzehn (zeck-tsehn), 17 - siebzehn (zeeb-tsehn), 18 - achtzehn (ahcht-tsehn where the ch is like the sound a hissing cat makes), 19 - neunzehn (noin-tsehn), and 20 - zwanzig (tsvahn-tseeg). For numbers after 20, it is a pattern just like our numbers. Each tens unit is followed by -zig just like ours is followed by -ty. They say 1 and 20 instead of 21, so it would be einundzwanzig (i as in kite: in-oond-tsvahn-tseeg) and 42 would be zweiundwierzig (again i as in kite: tsvi-oond-fear-tseeg). Now you can count to 99 in German! Remember tomorrow we'll look at the colors.
Auf Wiedersehen,
Frau Spitzer
