Still reeling from the shock of discovering that half term starts the day after tomorrow, I set about planning what to do to keep a demanding child occupied.
In the midst of preparing to move here, I'd rashly promised Rhiannon she could take up horse riding. She's not one of those totally horse-mad kids, but always enjoys pony rides at various places and has wanted to learn properly for ages. Besides, she has no after-school activities here and because she returns from school so late, there's no chance of starting any.
She needs some extra focus in her life, preferably sporty. In Tokyo she'd reached her 5th kyu in Aikido and we hoped she'd be able to continue here - she misses it - but sadly we can't find anywhere either nearby, or offering classes that work for her free time. We're still looking.
So, while Tim was off work yesterday we drove over to the Brandenberg British Pony Club to see what they offer. We were met by Nicola, the British owner and escorted under barriers to her office where we discussed options. Afterwards we went to meet the horses and ponies. They were roaming free and some were enormous!
I think I hoped we could get Rhiannon into a few lessons over half term and then random weekends throughout the year. It doesn't work like that - she has to promise to ride at least once every week. This may be a problem as the only days she can attend are Saturdays. So for now we've booked her in to take four trial lessons over the half term and Nicola has kindly agreed that her real lessons can start in September when we return from our summer trip to the UK.
What I particularly like is that it's not just riding - Rhiannon will have to muck in (and muck out), learn how to care for the horses and tack and everything. Nicola will keep her in check. Haha!
I'd also sort of hoped I'd be able to go for a hack while she attends her lessons, but as I've never had a formal lesson in my life, I don't think this would be in order. Besides, I can only really ride properly in a "cowboy" saddle.
I'll admit to being a little nervous about this new venture. Firstly because I will have to drive there by myself (eek!), secondly, all the worst case scenarios are jumping around in my mum-brain and thirdly, I really don't want to spend each and every weekend attending pony club events.
But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Rhiannon may hate it or be allergic to the horses... I'll know more by the end of the week.