Kerstin spent today making this for her latest homework assignment. Her classmates will have to take a quiz about her once they have read the poster!
On Monday 22nd I finally became an official Atlanta Public Schools employee, after being a substitute teacher since I received my work permit in November last year. It was an interesting experience to go to the HR department of Atlanta Public Schools; there were more than twenty people being processed on Monday morning, including school librarians, paraprofessionals, school bus drivers, lunchtime supervisors and a few teachers of course. Not surprisingly, I was the only white person and non-American.
This term the girls are keen to try out different activities; Claudia is interested in gymnastics and Kerstin wants to do Martial Arts! They have both taken trial lessons at the local Gymnastics and Martial Arts clubs, and we are impressed by their confidence to try out new things. It's great to be able to take advantage of the huge range of activities easily available here and there are also many after-school-clubs offered by private providers so Kerstin is continuing with Robotics and Claudia is taking up drama.
Just across the road from MODA is the High Museum of Art, which was also having a Family Free Day today, so we thought we'd drop in as there was an Eric Carle exhibition which sounded good. We had a lot of fun; painting with chocolate, watching a dance troupe in the atrium, and taking part in other craft activities. Afterwards we were home again in 12 minutes, thanks to UBER, which is our new favourite method of transport in the city! Meanwhile, Jonathan was out cycling 70 km with the Atlanta Cycling Club.
Today's adventure was to the Museum of Design in midtown for Family Free Day. There were exhibitions on wearable technology and 'user-centered design' which were fascinating. The girls also got to use circuits and conductivity to play olympic themed computer games and won themselves 3D printed medals!
Today we had our biggest day out in a long time, and it was great! We drove for one and a half hours to the North Georgia Mountains and our first stop was Unicoi State Park and Anna Ruby Falls, an impressive waterfall. Thankfully the weather was cooler up in the mountains (around 25 degrees) so it was perfect for gentle hiking! From there we drove up to Georgia's highest point, Brasstown Bald, which is 4,784 feet. (1458m) Some opted to hike the short walk to the summit from the huge car park, while others took the free shuttle bus! The visitor center at the summit was excellent, and the girls enjoyed completing the Brasstown Bald scavenger hunt with cool prizes! After that, it was time for more fun at Vogel State Park, where the girls enjoyed playing on the beach and in the lake.
Today, Pete and I took the MARTA bus from the end of our street (my first time on Atlanta public transport!)) down to Midtown, where our destination was the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. The USA has 12 Federal Reserve Banks, and this is one of them, where millions of dollars get processed in and out every day! The bank has a newly renovated free Monetary Museum which might sound boring, but was surprisingly fascinating. We even got to watch the money being moved around and processed, behind bullet-proof glass of course! Sadly, no cameras were allowed inside for security reasons. We also went past another famous Atlanta landmark, the home of the author Margaret Mitchell, when she wrote Gone With the Wind. It was another successful day exploring the city.
Yesterday, Uncle Pete returned to us from his US travels to Las Vegas and Seattle, so today we went exploring downtown while the girls were at school. First stop was the Martin Luther King Historic Site, from where we walked through Sweet Auburn. This neighbourhood was America's foremost African-American residential and business district from the late 1800's until the 1930's and the area was also significant during the civil rights movement; Martin Luther King Jr was born, raised and worked here. Our next stop was the Sweet Auburn Curb Market, a historic market which dates from 1924. The current name reflects the history that when Atlanta was segregated, only whites were allowed inside, while African-Americans had to shop at the stalls outside on the curb. Our third stop was APEX, the African-American Panoramic Experience, which features the history of Sweet Auburn and African-American History, including the slave trade; A fascinating and poignant experience.
Exploring Downtown Atlanta: The CNN Headquarters and the Center for Civil and Human Rights8/11/2016
After exploring Sweet Auburn District, we took the new 'Atlanta Streetcar' to the Centennial Olympic Park and walked across the road to the CNN World Headquarters where we ate lunch in the huge foodcourt. It is possible to go on a CNN studio tour, but we're saving that for a rainy day with the girls! The final stop was visiting the Center for Civil and Human Rights, which only opened in 2014. This museum connects the civil rights movement of fifty years ago with human rights issues and struggles throughout the world today and was a fascinating and moving experience. This definitely wasn't a museum for young children. After that, it was home in an UBER, in time to collect the girls from the school bus.
On Sunday afternoon, we dragged ourselves away from watching the Olympics for an hour, to go downtown to visit Atlanta Contemporary. This small, free-entry modern art space is a hidden cultural gem in the middle of an urban area, which reminded us of where we used to live near the canal in Sheffield. The highlight today though, was the free coffee and table-tennis table in the little shop area!
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AuthorsSusan, Jonathan, Kerstin & Claudia Archives
September 2017
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