Midterm Report

image from here

The days are slow, but the years fly by.  We're halfway through 2019.  Each year, I set and present my goals for the year in January.  Today I look at how I'm doing.

I decided to keep it simple this year, presenting the following as my main goals:
- spiritual: re-establish good routines in prayer, scripture, and leading the family in devotions/teaching
- financial: determine a good system for budgeting/tracking expenses- and stick to it
- nutritional: radically improve diet and overall health

Along with some side goals:
- read 40 books (potentially based on a 'German reading list')
- create a board game
- have adventures in Europe and blog about trips/family life overseas
- become fluent in German
- slow down and enjoy every area of life (even the mundane chores- stop 'looking away to the future' or leisure time)

Here's how each is going:

Spiritual
I have been in a better routine here- during the weekdays.  Weekends and vacations still throw me.
Grade: B

Financial
We're saving nicely, but don't yet have a good system in place.  Needs to be addressed.
Grade: B-

Nutritional
I'm on track to meet or exceed last year's workout totals, but not doing well in the eating department.  I blame the schnitzel.  And waffles.  And chocolate.
Grade: C

Reading
I haven't read quite as much this year, in part because the quest for fluency is taking time.  But the German Reading List is going well.
Grade: B

Board Game
Minor goal, but no progress.
Grade: F

European Adventures
Living the dream here.  I love the history and culture of this continent.
Grade: A-

Fluency
I've made this a priority and been consistently studying.  I'll cover this more in a future post, but there's hope for me yet.
Grade: A

Slow Down & Focus
Meh.  I have kids.  Whom I use as an excuse.
Grade: F

Overall
Nice to see results in some areas, but there's a long road ahead.

Grade: C+

Grimms Märchen

Grimms Märchen is a selection of three Grimms' Fairy Tales presented in German and English.  It presents The Bremen Town Musicians, The Star Talers, and The Elves.

I read this to practice my German, seeing first how much auf Deutsch I could understand before reading the English translation.  For that, it was helpful.  I was disappointed to have only three stories, and the production/presentation quality was rather low.  I might try to pick up a nicer, longer version just in German for further practice.

Rating: B-

Switzerland: Interlaken and Oberhofen

All things must end.  Our Swiss trip concluded with a short stop/hike in Interlaken, followed by a castle tour in Oberhofen.

Interlaken- appropriately situated between two lakes- is a nice, sleepy town.  We stopped there for a short hike (on 'der Ringweg') that gave us views of both lakes.

Then, we drove on the north bank of the left lake (Thunersee), which was spectacular.

We arrived at Oberhofen on the northwest coast of the lake.  Beautiful town and castle.

So ended our 2019 Switzerland trip.  It was spectacular.