Happy Thanksgiving, Take II

Today I made (more or less) a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for the family. We only had a turkey breast, because the butcher needs a 1 week notice to get a whole turkey, so there was no stuffing. We didn't have slices of cranberry sauce shaped like the can, either, but we did have mashed potatoes with gravy, candied yams, and green beans to go with our turkey. It turned out really well. Everyone was getting excited as it was cooking, because they could smell the ham that was cooking with the beans and the sugar from the yams. None of them had ever eaten sweet potatoes before, except maybe if they were served mashed, like potatoes, so they weren't too sure about that (especially Gunther). Esther in particular loved the yams. I wouldn't be surprised if they ask me to make them at Christmas. And Olaf experienced the true Thanksgiving tradition: eat too much turkey and pass out on the sofa. He was so deeply asleep that he didn't even wake up, or for that matter move, when Silke rubbed his cheek. I told them that was an American pastime, and they find that fact to be quite humorous.

After Gunther and Silke left, Esther and I started decorating. I hung some lights in my window and Esther bought these cute little wooden scenes with lights for the kids' rooms. My lights are adorable, too. They're those little paper starts that open up and tie around a light bulb, except there are 20 of them and they're really small. I got red ones to match my room, plus they were 10 Euro cheaper than the gold ones and far more interesting than white. So now I have my candles, my tiny, decorated Christmas tree, and lights in the window. I bought little mulitcolored lights, too, but I don't know what to do with them. The light chains here are all a closed loop, so you can't connect them together, and instead of being one long, single chain of lights, it's a short double chain. They don't really fit anywhere that they can sufficiently decorate anything, so I'm going to have to work on that.

After they took Amelie for a walk and were cleaning up the kitchen for dinner, Esther and Olaf let the kids sit at their little table and paint with their watercolors. Olaf was doing dishes, Esther was outside putting lights in the garden, and I was upstairs, so no one was really watching the kids very closely. Pretty soon, I hear Olaf and Pauline coming up the stairs to give Pauline a bath. Olaf told her to come say hi to me, and when she walked in the door her face was green. I started laughing and Olaf said, "You should see Gustav, he's even greener." Apparently while no one was looking, Gustav took a wet napkin, soaked it with green paint, and smeared it all over his face. Pauline, of course, followed suite. Gustav looked like the Hulk, and even after his bath his face was still green. I'm curious to see how green it is when he has to go to Kindergarten tomorrow morning.

Yesterday was Gustav's birthday party, and it was a lot of fun. On Friday night, when Gustav was crying because he "couldn't sleep" Esther told him that she was so tired and that she still needed to bake his cake and it was very difficult to do that when she had to sit upstairs next to his bed. He looked at her and said, "Geh, Mama, und back so viel Kuchen, wie du kannst" (Go, Mama, and bake as much cake as you can). When Gustav woke up in the morning and Esther went into his room to see him, the first thing he said to her was, "Today is my birthday, and I'm 4 years old." Adorable. Esther already had a marbled bunt cake downstairs on the table with 4 blue candles in it to make it so it really felt like his birthday. She remembers her 4th birthday, so she wanted Gustav's to be really special so that he has a good memory of his, too. They read him his birthday card and gave him his first present, which was a firetruck by Playmobil. He was so excited about it that he even parked it under his stool when we sat down to breakfast.

The party didn't actually start until 3 in the afternoon, so it was a little frustrating for Gustav. It kept wondering when his guests were coming, and why so late, and how come they're not here yet. It was hard for Pauline, too, because I think she felt a little lost. Gustav had his new truck, and Pauline wanted to take it and play with it but she couldn't. It got harder for her when Gunther (grandpa) and Silke (Olaf's sister) showed up with more presents. They gave Gustav a fire station for his new truck that, of course, has a million tiny pieces and takes any adult over an hour to put together. Olaf and I were trying to get that together, but Gustav was bored and angry because it was taking too long, and Pauline kept walking right through the middle of everything and we had to keep telling her to stop and taking her somewhere else because she was going to lose all of the little pieces. Plus, since she's just been so angry in general lately, she was getting really mad at all of us for not letting her take all of the little pieces. I was finally able to get her to go upstairs for a nap when she admitted that she needed a diaper change, and after that she didn't fight me at all because she was just so tired. She didn't actually sleep (as usual) but it gave her some time to relax and get away from all of the confusion downstairs. We ended up putting the station back in the box after step 1 of assembly, and Olaf is going to build it with Gustav this morning while Pauline is at the playground.

Yesterday was also really stressful for Esther. She had put so much effort into planning Gustav's party and, as the mother, it fell on her to make it all work out right. She was cooking chili con carne for dinner, and she had to find a recipe and bake some muffins for the kids, so she was really busy. Plus, Silke isn't all there, so Esther was trying to keep her occupied in the kitchen but she kept getting distracted and walking away. Eshter told me that it's sometimes hard for her to keep her patience with Silke because when you look at her, you see a 40 year old woman, but when you talk to her, it's sometimes like dealing with a child. She's a really sweet woman, though, she just takes a little more patience. I'm thinking that I might get Esther a slow cooker for Christmas so that when she does something like this again, she doesn't have to stand in the kitchen for 6 hours cooking chili.

The kids showed up right at 3, almost as if they all had come together. We thought that Domenic's mom, Claudia, was going to have to stay because Domenic's never been willing to stay without his mom before, but when he heard that Gustav had a train upstairs it was "Tschues, Mama" and away he went. Everyone was surprised, but it worked out well for Domenic. The first thing that all of the boys did when they got upstairs, though, was tear the train track to shreds and throw Lego pieces all over the room. Boys. Sometimes (most of the time) there's just no logic. Anyway, they all came downstairs to open presents and eat cake after that. Poor little Florian got so sad when Gustav didn't choose his present to open first. He kind of walked away from the table, looking sad, and when Esther asked him what happened he started crying. Eshter couldn't understand what he was saying or why he was crying, but I got it. So I told Esther to have Gustav open Florian's present next, and everything was ok.

I had a lot of fun playing with those boys yesterday. At some point or another I helped almost all of them with something that wasn't working, or a tiff that made them sad, so I was like a new friend to them by the time they left. In particular I made a connection with Domenic, Florian, and little Jonathan (I made an impact on big Jonathan as well, but I'll get into that in a second). Domenic at one point wandered away from the party and started walking up the stairs. I asked him if he was ok, and he said no. Apparently Gustav told Domenic he wasn't his friend, and Domenic was really sad. I told Domenic I would talk to Gustav, and although Gustav was still being a little turd about it, it made Domenic happy. I helped Jonathan fix a toy that wasn't working, and Florian's just a sweetheart that's really easy to connect with.

At one point a few of the boys were hitting Jette in the face with pillows and balloons. She wasn't crying because she's physically pretty tough, but she wasn't happy. She came over to me on the sofa and I was blocking the hits and taking the weapons away while trying to get them to stop hitting her. Eventually they all turned on me, and before I knew it I was being dogpiled by 5 little boys who were all hitting me with pillows. I was wrestling with Gustav, Malta, Domenic, and both Jonathans. We were all hitting eachother with pillows, and I was tickling all of the little boys so we were all laughing and having a good time. Big Jonathan, who was sitting to my right and a little behind me, kept pulling on my dress, particularly in the frontal region. He ended up essentially tearing the fabric out of the boob of my dress (it's a good thing I was wearing a bra!) and I had to put an end to the wrestling so I could change. Olaf was laughing when I told him what happened, and when the parents showed up later and asked why I had changed, they were laughing, too.

When the parents showed up to get the kids at 6, all the adults sat around eating chili and drinking beer while the kids finished their french fries and played with the new toys. When he was getting ready to leave, Florian went around the room and said goodbye to everyone individually, including the adults, and it was very important to him that Gustav in particular say bye to him as well. I love Florian. When little Jonathan was leaving, his parents were standing around talking to the other parents whil he was putting his shoes on. I saw him struggling a little bit with one of his shoes, so I went to help him with it. After I got his shoe on, he needed to put on his jacket. He went over to his mom, took the jacket from her hand, and brought it over to me to help him put it on. He told me he could do it alone, and once he had it on he turned to me and said, "Aber ich kann es nicht zu machen" and he had me zip and button it for him. He's the cutest little thing, too. He kinda looks like the stereotypical nerd from TV shows where they have flashbacks to childhood, and the nerdy kid looks really preppy and proper. He was wearing a turtleneck and a sweatervest, and he has really great posture. It was really cute. I freaking love these kids.

Now I have to go downstairs and cook our Thanksgiving dinner so that it's ready by 2. We're eating early so that Gunther and Silke can eat with us before they have to drive back home.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

After several weeks of successfully thwarting multiple strains of the flu (including, we think, swine flu) my body finally succumbed to the common cold. It wasn't too bad, just a couple of days with a swollen throat and sinus congestion, but it really made me tired. Yesterday I woke up when my alarm went off at 6 am to get ready for school, and my body said NFW. It was pitch black outside and I didn't even want to exert enough energy to turn off the alarm, which, by the way, was right next to me. So I went back to sleep and forgot about school yesterday. Aside from taking Amelie for walks and occasionally adding a few stitches to my needlepoint project, pretty much all I did yesterday was sleep. It was amazing, and now today everything is fine.

On Wednesday Esther picked up the kids because she wanted to give me the afternoon off so that I could watch the kids at night while she went out and had her free time. Apparently when she went to pick up Gustav, he kept asking her where I was and why I wasn't picking him up. Freaking cute! Although he still gives Esther trouble, he really hasn't caused any problems for me in a while. Pauline, however, has been one angry little person these past few days. When she cries, you can hear the anger behind it, and there's not really any sadness or pain at all. The other day she pulled a Gustav and stood at the door screaming and crying when Esther went to the store to buy some bread, and didn't stop until she got home. But with Pauline it was worse because she was actually kicking the ground and the door. She wasn't sad or worried that Esther had left, she was angry. Maybe she's finally actually hitting that "Terrible Two" phase. For the most part, though, she's still sweet little Pauline.

Esther was talking to me about when Pauline was a baby the other day. She said that when the midwife handed her Pauline, she looked at Olaf and said, "Well, she's our daughter, but she's not very pretty." I couldn't believe when she told me that, because you never hear parents say that. Everyone thinks their baby is the most beautiful thing on the planet, and right after she was born Esther made a comment about how ugly Pauline was. Then she showed me pictures, and her statement was an honest one. When Pauline was born, she had black hair and nearly black eyes, and her nose was smashed to one side so it looked really crooked. And, apparently, she came into the world angry and was screaming for the first half hour of her life. Looking at these baby pictures, you wouldn't believe that it was actually Pauline.

Today I dropped off Gustav at Kindergarten and then took Pauline and Amelie to the forest. When Pauline saw her buggy in the back of the car she insisted that we bring it. I could not figure out how to open the freaking thing!! Seriously, you know these things are designed to have a simple, one button setup, but if you can't find the button you're screwed. It took about 5 minutes to figure out how to open it, and then about 15 to tear it back down when we were finished. The whole time I was trying to figure out how to get it to collapse, Amelie was hiding behind a tree and peeking at me because she didn't want to go home. She's so precious. There was also one point during our walk that I felt like I was in Lord of the Rings. It seriously looked just like that scene where they're first starting on their journey and they find the mushrooms in the road. The wind started blowing the trees, and as I looked up at the swaying Ents and down the leaf covered road lined with trees, it was just like when Frodo heard the Ringwraiths and the wind rustled the leaves and he told the other 3 to hurry and get off of the road. Yeah, I know I'm total nerd, but I also know that that description will paint a pretty vivid picture of what it was like for anyone who reads this, so whatever.

Esther cooked lunch for Pauline and me today. It was the first time since I got here that I haven't been able to eat the food. It was liver and onions, and I just couldn't do it. I did try it, so it's not like I refused, but I just couldn't eat it. The texture is wierd, and it kind of tastes like a cow. And no, I don't mean beef, because beef doesn't taste like a cow, it tastes like beef. It's kind of like how I can't drink goatsmilk or eat goat cheese, because it tastes like I just walked up and licked a goat. I don't really know how else to explain it. Anyway, the potatoes and onions and cooked apple slices were delicious, so I just ate those and left the liver to Esther.

Tomorrow is Gustav's birthday, so tonight Esther and I are going to bake a cake or two, and tomorrow a bunch of his friends and their parents are coming over. It should be fun, and I'm really excited about it. Now I just need to find something to give him for his birthday.

How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?

There was no Kindergarten today because they were having a staff development day (that's our name for it, not theirs) so I had Gustav with me for most of the day. It actually went surprisingly well. The only trouble he gave me the entire day was at lunchtime when I wouldn't give him a gummy bear until he ate some lunch. He threw himself on the floor and started whining, complaining that he wanted a gummy bear. It didn't last long, though, and it was really weak in comparison to his usual hissy fits. I think it's because he knew that it wasn't going to work anyway. I knew it was just a matter of time before I would break him.

This morning I took Pauline to Maria's so that Esther could start her work a little earlier, and I brought Gustav and Amelie with me. After we dropped Pauline off I drove to the woods and we walked around there for about half an hour. It was getting windy and about to rain, so we didn't stay too long; Gustav was cold and wanted to go home. When we got back to where the car was parked, Amelie ran and hid behind a tree. She really wasn't ready to go home. She had the saddest look on her face, too. It was really cute but really pathetic at the same time.

When we got back to the house I made some hot chocolate for Gustav and sat down to have some breakfast. He was riding around the table on a little bike-type thing because he didn't want to eat breakfast, but when he saw my toast he stopped and looked at it longingly. I gave him a bite of it, and then he sat in Pauline's stool (he wanted to sit next to me and not across the table from me) and had breakfast with me. Then we went upstairs and played Legos and looked at books for a couple of hours. He was tired, probably because he's getting sick, so it was a pretty easygoing day for us. After lunch he was tired and wanted to take a nap, so he went upstairs and I took Amelie for a walk. By the time I got back, Eshter had already taken Gustav to his friend Dominic's house to play, and Esther was going to pick up Pauline in the afternoon, so I took a nap.

When the kids were both at home, we all sat down to make more cookies. Tomorrow at the Kindergarten some of the mothers are going in to bake cookies with the kids (Esther was planning on going but cancelled later this night because she just has too much going on this week) and Eshter wanted to try out this recipe first. The cookies are hazelnut cookies that are thin and crispy, and they are delicious. Esther and I have decided, though, that from now on we should do our baking with the kids on Sundays and Wednesdays, because that way Emma comes in the next morning to clean and we don't get sugar and flour all over a freshly cleaned house.

My walk with Amelie this afternoon was a hell of a workout. There's a big storm outside right now, and it was just getting started when I took her out to the field. At first it was just a few gusts of wind and some really light sprinkles. The further we went, though, the rougher it got. By the time we got back to the house it was raining pretty hard and the wind was blowing like crazy. At one point we had to walk about 200 yards against the wind, and it was like trying to walk through a wall. It reminded me of that scene from The Queit Man where the wind's blowing really hard, and her hair and skirt are going crazy and she can't keep the door shut because the wind is too strong. The rain was blowing directly into us, and I had to close my jacket up as much as possible just because the rain drops stung so badly when they hit my neck. Amelie was loving it. She kept running way far ahead of me, and she was doing circles in the fields and charging through puddles. When things really started to pick up I wasn't sure if she was just having fun or if she was trying to get me to go faster so that we could go inside, because she kept turning around to look at me as she ran further and further ahead. When we got to the edge of the field, though, I knew that she didn't want to go home because she tried to hide behind a sappling (which obviously didn't work) so that I couldn't make her go home. I'm sure to most people this sounds miserable, but it was a really nice walk.

I also got a new sim card to replace the one that was in the phone that I lost, but now we can't find a charger for the other old phone that Esther was going to give me to use. Apparently a replacement charger costs about 40 Euro, so tomorrow Eshter and I are going to see if we can just find a new phone for cheaper than that.

Yesterday I forgot to mention 2 really cute things that the kids did. First, Pauline was playing with the napkin holder at breakfast and was trying to take all of the napkins out. She started crying when Esther took it away from her, so Esther told her that she was only allowed to look at it, not play with it. Pauline wasn't very happy, but she said ok. She took the napkin holder, set it on the table, and literally put her face up against it so that she was looking directly at it. Olaf and I both started cracking up. She sat like this for about 15 seconds before she sat up and said "Bitte schoen" as she handed it back to Esther. Freakin' cute. Then, at dinner, Olaf was having problems with Gustav because Gustav's in a faze right now where he thinks hitting people is a fun game and he doesn't seem to think we're serious when we tell him to stop. Finally Olaf got up from the table, picked up Gustav and made him sit on the sofa. He told Gustav that if he hit somebody one more time, he was going to put him in his room and lock the door so he couldn't come out. Gustav's response was "No you're not, because there's no key so you can't lock the door." He wasn't being argumentative or trying to challenge Olaf, he was just pointing out that the punishment wouldn't work. Smart ass. Olaf couldn't help but laugh, and neither could Esther. It was just typical Gustav.

When in Rome...

With Olaf being gone this whole past week, Esther needed a day away from the kids today. Even though I take care of the kids during the day, they end up crying and screaming during the night and have to go sleep in her room, and Gustav gives her a fight every time she needs to get him dressed in the morning or ready for bed at night. She hardly gets any sleep and Gustav wears her out. So today she told Olaf to take the kids to the animal park and she and I went to the sauna in Sindorf. It was definitely a new and, interesting, experience.

The saunas here aren't like most of the ones in the states, where there's a sauna room in a gym or fitness center or something like that. This was an entire spa dedicated to the whole sauna experience, and the whole thing felt very Roman. There were gardens and pathways outside for you to walk around and cool off, and there were outdoor pools and fountains and waterfalls for you to go in. On one side of the complex they had basically 2 rows of small bungalows that small groups of people could just sort of claim for themselves and hang out/sleep in all day, and then there was another long enclosure for the same purpose, but for more people. In the main building there were showers, a hot whirlpool, a warm salt bath, hot and cold wading pools, all sorts of different pools and baths and things. Then there were also several dry saunas, steam saunas, aromatherapy saunas, and an infrared sauna, which they call a Biosauna, or vegetarian sauna. It was really kind of cool.

Even more so than the complexity of the saunas here, there are 2 things that really differentiate German and American saunas. First, the entire complex, aside from the toilets, is mixed gender. And, more awkwardly, nudity is strictly enforced. That's something that just wouldn't fly back home, unless you're at Glen Eden Sunclub, and that's still weird. You can wear a robe or towel when you're not in a sauna or a pool, but otherwise, nothing. While in the sauna, though, you have to have a towel under you at all times because they don't want your nasty sweat on their benches/everyone else. For the most part, though, people were just hanging out naked. Walking from one sauna to the next, or to the showers, or pools, or even getting fresh cool air outside was all done without anything on but a pair of sandals. Oh, and did I mention there were children there? Yeah, going to the sauna is apparently a family affair.

When you get to the sauna, the first thing you have to do is take a shower, because you can't go in any pools or saunas if you're dirty. Esther and I first went to one of the dry saunas that was a moderately high temperature and stayed in there for about 12 minutes. Then we got out and walked around outside to cool down before going inside, showering again in cool water, and then wading through the cold wading pool (which had rocks on the bottom to massage your feet) followed by the warm wading pool, and then a dip in a cold bath before drying off and going to sit down and relax. We repeated this process every time we got out of a sauna. The second sauna we went in was a steam sauna where they had put eucalyptus oil on the rocks, so it smelled really refreshing and cleared the sinuses/lungs really well. The third and final sauna we went in was a really intensely hot dry sauna. It kind of felt like my skin was on fire at times. This whole process lasted about 4 or 5 hours, so most of the time is spent just relaxing. The eucalyptus one, which they call the grotto, was my favorite. Next time Esther wants to try the infrared one, and then she figures we can each do whatever it is that works best for us since we will have tried every type of sauna they have there.

When we got home this evening, Esther told Olaf, "Well, today we've learned everything you could possibly know about a penis," and laughed about how she even saw one guy who wasn't even an inch long. Yeah, they're definitely more open about that sort of thing over here. Then Olaf told Gustav to tell us what he learned about penises today. Apparently Gustav got to see a donkey dong at the animal park, and he told us all about how big it was, while Olaf laughed the whole time. As I said, it was definitely an interesting experience today. Needless to say, I don't have any pictures to share.

I had intended to take the train into Cologne and head across the river today, but I ended up staying at home. It had been really warm and sunny yesterday (warm enough that I was actually wearing a tank top) and then today it got cold again and was dark and cloudy, so it just kind of felt like a stay at home day. I spent the majority of the day hanging out with the family and playing with the kids, and Amelie and I took a nap in my room this afternoon.

After lunch, Esther, Gustav and I made cookies. They were basically shortbread cookies, except they had eggs in them and I don't think shortbread contains any eggs. But they taste like shortbread, so that's what I'm going to call them. Anyway, each of us had our own little mat and rolling pin to roll out the dough, and then we used cookie cutters to cut out snowmen, hearts, stars, angels, Christmas trees, all kinds of things. Then, using powdered sugar, orange juice, and food coloring, we made a glaze to paint over the tops of the cookies and decorated them with sprinkles. They're delicious, and it was a lot of fun. At one point, Esther commended Gustav on what a good job he was doing, and his response was "Ja, ich bin toll," which basically means yeah, I'm pretty amazing. It was so cute. Esther told me that she's really glad I was there, because she thinks it's more fun when I'm there cooking and baking with her and the kids.

Tonight we had what was described to me as a typical German Saturday dinner: "Bockwurst, Bier, und Fussball." Gustav's bockwurst had a little bulge on it where some of the sausage had squeezed through the skin that he refered to as the sausage's penis. It did, actually, kind of look like one. When Gustav was done eating we gave the rest of his sausage (including the "penis" that he cut off before he started eating) to Pauline because she was still hungry. She picked up the little piece and looked at it for a second before saying "Guck, ein Penis," and throwing it across the room and onto the floor. Olaf, Esther and I looked at eachother and immediately started laughing. These kids are so entertaining.

Yesterday was a long day, but a good one. I got up earlier than usual to take Amelie for a walk because I knew that Jette was going to be coming over just a little after 8. When Jette got here, she didn't cry or fuss like the last time, and she actually smiled when she saw me coming down the stairs. As usual, they only wanted to play with their dolls at first, so that's what we did for about an hour or so. Then I helped them both put their shoes and jackets on and we walked down the street to the playground with the dolls in their strollers.

On the way to the park, there was a kitty that was standing at the front door of his house trying to get in. He was meowing, but there was nobody home to help him. We stopped, and I talked to him a little bit to get him to come over to me. He was such a love. He immediately started purring and rubbing his face on me, and he even let me pick him up. I wanted to take him with me; I miss my kitty. Pauline was afraid of it, though. I don't know why she was afraid, but she stayed far away from the cat and after I picked him up she called me and asked me to leave, and then she wanted me to carry her. It was kinda sad, but really cute.

We had a lot of fun at the playground, and Pauline made another huge step in her English education when she started repeating some of the things that I said to her. They were playing on this thing that's kind of like a teeter totter but they stand on it and their feet never touch the ground. Anyway, the girls decided to sit on it, so each time they were on the down swing their feet touched these tires that were buried in the sand as a safety feature. (I realize this probably doesn't make sense without a picture, so I'll have to take one.) Pauline had her knees bent back so that only the tops of her feet were hitting the tires, and I was trying to explain to her how to push off with her toes so that she could propel herself. Every time her feet touched the tire I told her to push, and she started saying "Push" with me. Then, while she was walking across the top of a short brick wall, I told her to be careful and she repeated "Careful" several times as she was balancing. I don't know if she fully understood what it meant, but at least she's trying to speak it now.

Jette also had a first at the playground yesterday. She was afraid to go down the slide by herself, so I went with her. When we went the second time, Pauline and Jette were both sitting on my lap. I was going to wait at the bottom for Jette the third time, but when I didn't go to the top of the slide with her, she started climbing back down the stairs because she didn't want to do it alone. So I went up with her, and sat down with her between my legs, and then inched forward until she was sliding down by herself. When she got to the bottom I told her to turn around and look, and she seemed confused when she saw me at the top of the slide until I told her "Du hast es alleine gemacht!" Then she got a huge smile on her face, and immediately went back to the top to do it again. She had such a blast on that slide once she knew she could do it by herself.

When we got back from the playground it was after 11 so I cooked some noodles and heated up the tomato sauce from the other night for lunch. Pauline didn't really eat anything, but Jette ate a lot. Then it was nap time, so Esther and I heated some milk for the girls and took them upstairs to lay down. Pauline took her milk and got in bed and everything was well, but Jette really didn't want to take a nap. She was screaming and crying, but at the same time rubbing her eyes and yawning because she was so tired. She calmed down a little while Esther was sitting next to the bed with her, but as soon as Esther tried to leave Jette started crying again. I knew that Esther still had a lot of work to do, so I went upstairs and sat next to the bed with Jette to keep her calm. She just laid there on her back looking at me, not saying or really doing anything, for about 10 minutes, and the whole time her eyes were gradually closing and she was yawning. Withing 15 minutes she was sound asleep and I left her there alone to nap. She was still sleeping when her dad came to pick her up at 1, so he left her here and I called him when she was awake, which I think wasn't until about 2 or 2:30. Oh, and when we put her down for her nap, we changed Jette's diaper, and holy craps. That thing must've weighed about 10 pounds. I had no idea that a diaper was even capable of holding that much poop. It was disgusting.


In the evening Esther cooked some marinated turkey. It looked like a pork roast, and I thought it was until I tasted some of the skin, but it was delicious. She also made a really good sauce using the juice/fat from roasting the turkey, honey, orange juice, and sherry. I poured the sauce on my turkey and rice, and it was soo good. I ate way to much of it, but it was worth it. Also, Britta came over to drop off a thank you gift for me for taking care of Jette all day. She bought this adorable little Christmas tree, and it's actually alive. She's so sweet.

After we put the kids to bed, Esther, Olaf and I just sat downstairs in the living room talking until about midnight. The German version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was on, so we watched that, and then we just talked about whatever while sitting around drinking red wine. I learned a lot about both of them, and the family, and all kinds of stuff. Apparently they've both been married before. I knew Esther was, but I didn't know that Olaf had an ex wife. Anyway, at some point Esther mentioned something about her first husband, and Olaf, obviously joking, stood up and said, "What!? You were married before me? You never told me that, you bitch!" and he put his hands around her neck like he was going to strangle her. Esther and I were both laughing so hard. The whole time, really, all 3 of us were laughing and having a good time. We spoke a lot of Germish, which is how our conversations typically tend to go. I was really tired when I finally went to bed, but it was a great day.

My day started off with a bang today. I got up at 6 as usual to take Amelie for a walk, and she was so tired and so cozy in my room that she didn't want to go. Usually I only take her out for about 15 minutes on Tuesday and Thursday morning because I don't have enough time to take her for a long walk and then get ready to go to class. Today, however, it took almost 10 minutes just to get her to the field where we walk (and where she's allowed to poop) because she didn't want to move. So we only walked a little way out into the field before we turned around to head back home. On our way back, we came across a dog that was wearing a big blue light, which kinda freaked Amelie out a little bit. I had her in my hand and was putting her leash on to avoid any problems when this other dog decided that he needed to come and attack her. He came running full speed from behind his owner and took her out at the knees. She fell over and went tumbling down a hill away from the road. She wasn't mad because it wasn't my fault and Amelie didn't do anything, but holy shit! It was way too early for me to coherently think in German and I just didn't even know what to say. It was really awkward.

Then, on the way to class this morning, I got the dirtiest looks from this woman on the U-Bahn. The seats are always set up so that on each side of the aisle there is a group of 4, with 2 seats side-by-side and facing the other 2. Anyway, she was sitting in one of the 2 aisle seats and the other 3 seats were empty, so I went to sit in the window seat that was opposite her. Her legs were crossed and taking up all the space between the seats and she didn't seem to want to move, so I stepped over her a little bit and excused myself. As I was sitting down in my seat she kept looking me up and down with this ridiculous glare in her eyes, and she continued to do it after I sat down. I wanted to punch her in the face. Seriously, lady?! WTF?! I didn't do or say anything wrong/stupid, I wasn't wearing funny clothes, nothing happened. She was just a bitch, I guess. But I still wanted to punch her.

After class I went back to the store that I think I lost my phone in just to double check if someone had turned it in yet, but no such luck. I know that I dropped it in that store, so someone just kept it. Bastards. Esther has another old cell phone to give me so that I don't have to buy one, and we're going to find out if I can transfer the balance on my pre-paid sim card to a new card. I hope so, because if not that really sucks. Hopefully it will all be figured out before this weekend is over, because I've opted not to go anywhere new/far away without a phone this weekend, and I don't want this to have to continue for very long.

When I got home from class today, Pauline was already home. Apparently she never went to Maria's because she had a slight fever this morning, and Esther kept her at home all day. Well, I guess the better way to say it is that Pauline was with Esther all day. They went to Ikea and did a little shopping and had lunch there, then they came home and took a nap. As exhausted as she was, though, Pauline still didn't actually sleep during her nap. She sits in her bed playing with toys and looking at books and talking/singing to herself for a couple of hours, and then tells us how well she slept. It's really cute.

Pauline gave me the fattest dead leg today, too. I was sitting on the floor in Gustav's room while they were playing with puzzles, and Pauline kept running across the room to jump over my lap and land with her belly against the sofa. Well, unfortunately, one time she tripped and her bent knee went straight into the side of my thigh. It was one of those situations where it hurts really bad, but you're just so shocked that you can't help but laugh. At least she didn't get hurt, though, because as tired as she was that would have been miserable for everyone.

On the bright side, Amelie doesn't seem to be having stomach problems any more. She kept having problems in the afternoon, and her stomach would growl really loudly. She wasn't eating anything, and every time I took her out she spent the entire time eating grass and then clearing it from her system, one way or the other. But she ate dinner last night, and she ate breakfast and dinner today, and her system seems to be pretty much back to normal. She does have some wicked gas, though. That made last night tons of fun.

Tomorrow morning Jette is coming over again and she's going to spend most of the day here with Pauline. I have to get up earlier than usual to walk Amelie to make sure that I'm back and ready before Jette gets here. I'd also like to go to the market in Frechen at some point tomorrow to see if I can buy some yams. I don't get to have Thanksgiving this year, so I think it would be fun if I could make a little Thanksgiving feast here with the family. We'll see how it goes.

Today was really windy. I had Amelie out for a walk this afternoon when it really started getting windy. We were walking along a ditch that's lined on one side by trees when a huge gust of wind came up from behind us. It lifted all of the leaves up off of the ground and they went flying past us, and you could hear them rustling. It was really cool and really beautiful. I felt like Pocahontas. And Amelie looks so beautiful in her new harness.

I got a phone call from Multikultur, the au pair agency here in Germany. They check in every once in a while just to make sure everything's ok. They ask about how the family is treating me, how much work I have to do, if I like my room, and things like that. The conversations are always in German, so I have to really concentrate when I'm on the phone with the agancy. Oh, and I always say something stupid. For example, today she asked me, "Hast du eine Sprachkurs gefunden?" (Have you found a language course?) My response: "Yes." Brilliant. Answer a question, asked in German, about whether or not you're learning German, with an English response. Yeah, I'm a moron.

After I picked up the kids this afternoon Jorg came over and brought his kids with him. Jorg is a neighbor who lives like one street behind us, and his oldest son Fabio is Gustav's best friend. His other son, David, goes to the same Tagesmutter as Pauline. So I've meet the kids, Jorg, and his wife Barbara before. Anyway, Jorg brought the kids over to play, and they ended up staying for dinner. We had pasta and a simple tomato sauce that Esther cooked up. Those little boys are so precious. Fabio looks just like his mother, and David is the most peaceful, mild mannered baby ever. He just kinda roams around, looking at everything, and not worrying about anything. I don't think I've ever heard him cry or even fuss.

After dinner I gave Gustav and Pauline the puzzle books that my mom sent for them. They were both really excited about it. Gustav's is a book about tool kits and what different tools are used for, and Pauline's is about pretending to be a princess, and has little cutouts of a tiara and cupcakes and things like that. I sat down with Gustav in his room and he picked up each of the tool cutouts and asked me what each one was used for. He's definitely understanding me a lot better, because he pretended to use each of the tools after I explained it to him, and for some of them he asked why you would want to use it. It's really exciting to see how quickly they're starting to pick up on English.

Once the kids were bed Esther and I sat down to watch the news and the first half of the soccer game. At halftime I went to bed and Esther took Amelie for a walk, and Germany was beating the Ivory Coast 1:0 at that time. While the national anthems were being played before the start of the game, all of the players from the Ivory Coast team were wearing shirts that said In Memory of Robert Enke with a picture of him printed on them. It was really cool not only that they were so respectful of what the German team is going through right now, but also that they demonstrated how much his death impacted the global soccer community. In the USA it's a little hard to comprehend how important the sport really is.

It's only Tuesday, and already it's been an eventful week. Not that either day has been particularly bad, just interesting.

Yesterday Olaf took the car to an appointment he had to go to, and it ran longer than he expected. When it came time for me to pick up the kids, I didn't have a car to do it in, so I got to take the bike again. And I thought last time was difficult! This time I had to pick up Pauline and Gustav. In order to get Pauline I had to ride the bike up a fat hill, but not all of the gears on the bike worked so there wasn't really any way to make it any easier. After getting Pauline I rode to the Kindergarten to get Gustav, and the idea was that he and I would walk and Pauline would sit in the kiddie seat on the bike. But, of course, Gustav didn't want to walk. So I picked him up and put him on the seat, and had to make sure that he held on to something really tightly so he didn't fall off. Luckily, there are handles on the kiddie seat that were right behind him that he could reach back and hold onto. Then I had to walk the whole way home, pushing the bike and making sure that the kids didn't fall. I was so exhausted when we finally got home.

Then today I lost my phone in Cologne. I know exactly where I lost it, but when I went back to the store they didn't have it. I know that I had it in the fitting room in this store, and then when I left the store I didn't have it anymore. I checked the fitting room I was in, I retraced my steps and looked all over the floor, and I asked the cashier I checked out with and the store's customer service if anyone had turned it in, but no such luck. So right now I'm without a phone, and hoping that when I go back to Cologne on Thursday it will be in the store. If not, I have to start over, which I'm not looking forward to. On top of which, Pauline accidentally headbutted me in the eyebrow the other day, and it still hurts.

On the bright side, the packages that my mom sent a week and a half ago finally arrived today. Now I have some cookbooks that I can pull some recipes from and maybe I can start cooking, too. And I have a new harness for Amelie, which she loves. We're going to use it on our walk tomorrow and see how it goes. My mom's so funny. She sent a card to Amelie, and wrote the note in it as if it were from her dog, Bailey. So freaking cute. Esther is excited about the puzzles and books that Mom sent for the kids, too. It will definitely help them to learn English.

I think I discovered McDonald's mystery meat

Today was definitely an easy day. Gustav knocked on my door at 10 this morning to wake me up for breakfast, and I wasn't as tired as I expected. I didn't go to bed until about midnight last night because I got home late and then had to put my pictures up and update my blog. Anyway, we all had breakfast together, and then nobody really had any plans for the rest of the day. I helped Esther take the rails off of Pauline's bed and shorten it a little bit (it's Ikea, so it's meant to be put together in like 20 different ways) so that Pauline now has a big girl bed. After that, the rest of the day was basically time to relax and do whatever I wanted. I was a little worn out from yesterday, so I didn't do very much.

Olaf made lunch for us today. He started cooking pretty much as soon as we were done with breakfast. It was one of his favorite dishes from when he was a kid, and he apparently hadn't eaten it since his mother passed away 25 years ago. Don't ask what made him decide to make it now. Anyway, as we sat down together for lunch and Olaf was serving the food, he asked me if I wanted to try it first because it was kind of a "special dish," as he called it. I figured what the hell, I'm here to try new things so I'll just go for it. I don't really know how to describe what it was, except that it looked like minced meat (but not mincemeat) with spices and herbs in it. So he served this dish, and we had mashed potatoes with a delicious gravy-type sauce that Esther made to go with it. I heard Esther ask him if he had explained to me what it was, and why he hadn't told me, and I thought, oh great, what have I gotten myself into? I tried it, and it was pretty good. It was meat, and it had herbs and spices in it, and really finely chopped sweet pickles as well. Olaf said, "It kind of tastes a little bit like McDonald's, doesn't it?" And it surprisingly did, both in terms of taste and texture. He asked me if I liked it, and when I said yes Esther told him he needed to tell me what it was. His response: "Lunge." And that means exactly what you think it does. We were eating pork lung. And when I say "we" I mean Olaf and me, because the kids and Esther wouldn't touch it. Esther apparently can't stand eating internal organs of any kind except liver, and the kids tasted it and then wouldn't eat. It was definitely a new and interesting culinary experience. When we were done, Olaf said, "Well, I've had enough of that for about 10 years." Needless to say, I don't think I'll be eating any more lung while I'm here.

Gustav seems to be understanding me more and more every day. Earlier today, he was in my room and asked me if he could have my flashlight. I asked him, in English of course, if he was going to bring it back. Ja. Do you promise? Uhuh. So I let him have it, and as he was walking past Esther I heard him say, in German, that he was allowed to have it because he wasn't going to break it and he was going to bring it back. He's so cute. The kids went to bed while I was downstairs and, sure enough, the flashlight was back on my dresser when I got back upstairs. He always keeps his word.

Today was also the memorial service for Robert Enke, the football player from Hannover who committed suicide on Wednesday. I saw a brief clip of it on the news this evening, and it's obvious how important the sport is in this country. The ceremony was held in the stadium in Hannover, and the stands were completely full of fans attending the memorial. The mayor of Hannover gave a eulogy, and several of the highest members of the German government have made statements and sent letters of condolence to his widow. His suicide really was shocking.

Dusseldorf

For the first time since I got here I ventured away from Cologne and went to Dusseldorf this morning. One of the girls from the language was course was supposed to go with me, but she never called me back and I wasn't able to get a hold of her, so I went alone. It kinda sucks having to do everything alone all of the time, but it was still a lot of fun.

The one thing that I knew I wanted to do while I was in Dusseldorf was visit the Neanderthal Museum. The Neander Valley, where the first identified and studied Neanderthal skeletal remains were found, is just outside of Dusseldorf. They valley itself is now a nature preserve that you can walk through, and the Neanderthal Museum is the world's largest display of Neanderthal remains. Unfortunately the actual cave where the original remains were found no longer exists because it was a mining site, but recent excavations have unveiled the exact location of where that cave was. They actually found more bones that belonged to the original skeleton, which is pretty cool.

Getting to the museum was a small adventure in itself. From the central train station in Dusseldorf there are 2 trains that take you near the museum (I had to actually buy a book to figure out what I was doing). I chose to take the train that was a little bit further away because it was cheaper, and I didn't mind doing the extra walking because it just meant that I got to see more. Unfortunately, the weather prediction was wrong (of course) and it was raining while I had to walk to the museum. The book said it's a 15 minute walk, but I think it was a little longer. Anyway, it was really interesting because you actually have to walk through a part of the nature preserve to get there. I thought I was going the wrong way at first, because instead of walking toward something I was just wandering into the wilderness. It was so beautiful, though, and I was walking along little streams that were flowing into the Dussel river. Even though it was cold and wet, I'm really glad that I took the long way.

After the museum I made way over to Alt Stadt to do some sightseeing. I walked along the Rhein for a little bit and it was pretty cool. It actually reminded me of walking along the Thames in London. I'm not entirely sure what all the buildings that I took pictures of are, but I think a lot of them were just buildings I thought were pretty and not actually anything particularly of note.

I also did a little shopping on the Koe, or Koenigsallee, which is Dusseldorf's famous shopping region. I really am not much of a shopper, though, and I definitely don't want to spend that kind of money on stuff while I'm here. This street is lined with big name stores like Prada, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Cartier, Gucci, etc. etc. Definitely not my kind of shopping. In fact, the only money I actually spend on the Koe was the 90 cents I gave to the chaimbermaid at Starbucks so I could use the bathroom. I did buy myself a down jacket in a different area, though. That'll come in handy once it actually gets truly cold here.

Today was a long day, but a good one. I'm going to start planning more trips like this, and hopefully some of the other girls will finally get out and so some of this stuff with me. Esther's going to put me in touch with a couple of other girls who are au pairs for friends of hers because she thinks they might be a little more enthusiastic about doing stuff, like I am. I hope so, because it would be nice to have some company on my little adventures.

"I coming..."

I'm starting to realize how frustrating it must've been for my parents to take me anywhere when I was constantly lagging behind and taking my time to walk from place to place. Pauline does the same thing, and it drives me nuts sometimes. She doesn't just walk slow, though. If she sees somebody doing anything remotely interesting, she just stops and stares. It's not a big deal when you don't have anywhere to go or aren't in a hurry, but when you just really need to get somewhere it makes you want to pull your hair out. Like this afternoon when we took Amelie for a walk. Amelie's been having issues with tummy aches in the afternoon a lot lately, and she had one today. When Pauline and I went to take her for a walk, I knew that Amelie just needed to get to the field so she could do her thing. Pauline would not move at faster than a snail's pace, if she was moving at all. Poor Amelie was being such a good girl, but she was whining and wimpering because all she really wanted to do was poop. It would be so much easier if I could just throw Pauline in a stroller at times like that.

I took Pauline to the market in Frechen today. Every Friday there's a stand there that comes down from Norway and sells fresh fish. Since they only come on Fridays, Esther was really never able to make time to go because she had to work and make sure everything was ok with Pauline. She's really excited that I have a driver's license and am able to drive with Pauline to the market because now we can buy fish every week. Not that we can't get fish anywhere else, just that it's cheaper and fresher to buy it at the market.

Esther's oldest sister (she's 14 years older) and her husband came to visit us this evening. I think they got a little lost on the way because they were supposed to be here between 6 and 7 and didn't show up until about 8. For dinner we ate the fish that I bought today at the market. It was a little difficult for me, because it was cooked and served as a whole fish. The guts had been removed and everything, but it still had fins and a head, and I really don't like my food to still look like an animal. Plus, at one point I went to move something and I accidentally stuck my thumb in it's eye. It was kinda sad and a little disturbing. But it was delicious, and the sauce that Esther made to put on the potatoes was amazing.

Doh!!

Yesterday, on the way home from my language course, I completely zoned out on the train and wasn't paying attention. I didn't realize that I had gone past Koenigsdorf until I heard them say the next stop was Horrem, which is one stop further than mine. So I got off the train in Horrem and then hopped back on in the other direction to go back to Koenigsdorf. At this point, for the first time since I got here over a month ago, there was someone on the train checking tickets. I pulled my pass out of my wallet to show to him and. . . it only allows me to travel between Cologne and Koenigsdorf. I didn't have a valid ticket. Damn it!! It's probably the only time that I've ever wished there were more people on the freakin' train, because he approached me about 30 seconds before my stop, and it's only like a 2 minute train ride. If there had been anybody else on that train, I would've been fine. And I wasn't even trying to cheat the system, it just honestly never occured to me to buy a ticket because I'm so used to not needing to buy a ticket. Anyway, I had to try to explain to this guy that I was on my way home from Cologne, I went to far and I hopped back on the train in Horrem to go one stop back to Koenigsdorf. I didn't quite catch everything he said because I had to get off the train before I missed my stop again, but I think I should be expecting a citation in the mail within the next week or so. Just my luck. fml.

Aside from that incident, yesterday actually went pretty well. After school, I was hanging around Neumarkt and talking to a bunch of the girls in the language course, and apparently they all hate it here. In particular it's the girls from Zimbabwe, Senagal, and Turkmenistan. They think it's too cold, too rainy, and too boring. I think they're crazy. The only reason it's boring is because they spend all of their free time sitting at home by themselves. One of them isn't even an au pair, so she has nothing to do all day, and she still doesn't go out exploring or travel around or do anything. So I'm going to try to get them all to hang out with me when I go places. It would be nice to not do everything by myself all the time, and I really think that they would enjoy their stay here a whole lot more if they just did something. I don't get why I, of all people, am always the only one who has any balls to do anything when I'm in a foreign country. You made it here, why not enjoy it?

Last night was pretty nice, too. Esther and Olaf went to dinner at a little Brauhaus in Koenigsdorf that they haven't been to in 3 years. They had a great time and I think they would like to make it kind of their "usual" place to go. They left at about 6:45 so I had the kids to myself the whole night. During dinner, I had to get a bandaid for Gustav's finger because he had a cut on it (you know, one of the ones that hurts because they can see it) so we went up into Esther and Olaf's bathroom to find them. While we were there, Gustav had to pee and I had to help him because, as usual, he waits until the very last second and then he can't lift the toilet seat because he's too busy holding himself. So I carried him to the toilet and lifted the seat for him just in time for him to lean over it and start peeing, but then he tripped over his pants. I don't know why his feet were even moving, but I had to catch him and hold him up so that he didn't pee all over himself and the bathroom. We were both laughing so hard. After dinner I helped them brush their teeth and get ready for bed, read them a story, and put them both to bed. Gustav went right to sleep and didn't make a noise. Pauline cried once about 20 minutes later, so I warmed her some more milk and sat down with her to look at a book, and then she went to sleep. When they got home from dinner, Esther and Olaf got to "meet" Lee through Skype because I was on the computer in the living room, so that was pretty neat, too. All in all it was a good day.

Today we celebrated St. Martin's Day. I had never heard of it before I got here, but the kids have been preparing for it at school since early October. It's a celebration of St. Martin, who was a Roman soldier in the 4th century until he was baptized and declared a bishop. According to the story, St. Martin came across an almost naked beggar at the gates of the city of Amiens, France during a snow storm. He cut his military cloak in half and gave one piece to the beggar to keep him warm, and his cloak helped keep the man alive when he otherwise would've frozen to death in the snow. It is said that St. Martin had a dream that night that Jesus was wearing the other half of his cloak, and at this time he made the decision to be baptized. To celebrate this good deed (as well as the man responsible) it is customary for children to parade through the streets at night, often led by a man on a horse dressed as a Roman soldier, carrying lanterns and singing songs about St. Martin. They also go door-to-door singing songs, and they are given candy both as a sign of appreciation for their song and as a symbolic gift from St. Martin.

At Gustav's Kindergarten they had a small celebration this morning. All of the parents were invited to come and sing St. Martin songs with the kids, and then take home the lanterns that their children had created. I went with Esther to that this morning. They also had a little feast ("St. Martins Fruehstuck") in their classrooms. This evening we all went back to the Kindergarten to have the procession so the kids could carry thier lanterns through the streets. St. Martin led the way on horseback, and we walked around the block singing songs. It was kinda cool because people actually opened their doors to come out and watch the kids, and the cars that were stopped on the streets opened their windows to hear the songs. Once we had gone around the block and back to our starting point, there was a huge bonfire and Gluehwein. Also, the man portraying St. Martin went around to where each of the classes from Kindergarten was gathered and gave each child a Weckmann (basically a pretzel shaped like a man), again to demonstrate his generosity. Then everyone just chatted, drinking their wine and tea, until it was time to take the kids home for dinner. It was pretty fun.

Note to Self:

Never sit next to the joints on the train. It sounds like squeaky shoes and I want to punch someone.

"You're gonna love my nuts"

It turns out that the nuts Gustav collected in the woods a few days ago actually aren't edible. He gave me one while he was eating some of the nuts that he already had sitting at home, and it was horrible! I don't think it's necessarily poisonous/fatal, but it's definitely something you don't want to eat. I have no doubts that if I had actually eaten it I would've felt sick before the end of the night. It looks almost identical to the ones Gustav's been eating, but it's a little bigger and the shell is a little shinier. I had to try to explain to Gustav which ones he can't eat and why. That was interesting, but he then explained it to Pauline, so at least I know that he definitely understands.

Earlier today while I was playing with the kids in the living room, Gustav accidentally pulled my shirt down. A few minutes later, he pretended to stab me with a stick and told me I was dead, so I closed my eyes and pretended to be dead. While my eyes were closed, he tried pulling down my shirt again! I told him to stop and asked him why he was doing that, and he said "Ich will die sehen!" ("I want to see them!") He's 4!!! Almost 4! I was laughing, but at the same time I was shocked. It's something that I could definitely see Olaf laughing at if he had heard Gustav say that.

The cutest thing ever just happened. Pauline was crying in her bed for whatever reason, and when Esther went in to check on her, Pauline decided that she needed to say goodnight to everyone. So she came over and knocked on my door so she could say goodnight to me. She opened the door and came in, said "Gute Nacht," and then came over and gave me a kiss. So precious!!! And Amelie's sleeping in my room again, too. I'm so glad that this family likes me.

I feel like a slacker for not writing anything here since Thursday, but I've just been so tired lately that I just haven't had the energy at night when I get to do this. I've been fighting really hard to not get sick (by the way, I'm winning) and even though I feel ok, I'm just drained.

Let's just start where we left off. On Friday, Esther didn't work at all. Olaf was still in Switzerland from his trip on Thursday, so Esther made a big breakfast and invited the neighbors over (Jette and her mom Britta) to have brunch with us. Britte also brought Julia, the little girl that was playing with Gustav and Pauline at the playground last week. Anyway, it was fun and delicious. Esther baked this amazing sweet bread that tasted so good with just butter on it, and she brought out some of her blueberry preserves for the croissants. I totally could've gotten fat just from breakfast on Friday. There was so much food, and it was so good. Later on Julia's mom (also named Britta) showed up and talked with us while we all drank coffee and watched the kids play. All three of those girls are 2, with only 3 months between the oldest and youngest. Julia's the youngest, but she's also the biggest. Her mom's like 6 feet tall though, so it's not hard to figure out why.

After everybody left and we put Pauline down for a nap, Esther and I decided that a nap was a great idea, so we went to sleep, too. At 3 we were supposed to wake up Pauline and I was going to take her with me when I walked Amelie. Instead, I woke up at 5:15 and Esther and Pauline were gone. Ooops. Esther left me sleeping (she was going to wake me up when she woke Pauline up) because she knew that I haven't been feeling great and that I really needed the rest. I felt bad, though, because I pretty much didn't do anything all day. But I took Amelie for a walk when I got up, and when we got back Esther was across the street talking with the neighbors and drinking Gluehwein while the kids played in the courtyard. So I cleaned Amelie off, put her in the house, and went over to sit with them. It was nice, and I really like the neighbors.

Yesterday Gustav woke me up at about 9 to tell me that breakfast was ready (which is pretty typical for a Saturday morning) so I went downstairs and ate with the family. I didn't have to do any work because it was Saturday, so I just played with the kids a little bit, reorganized some things in my room and helped clean up from breakfast.

In the afternoon I tried calling Barbra, one of the girls from my language course, to figure out what her plans were for her birthday. The phone number she gave me didn't work, so I had to look her up on Facebook and send her a message telling her to call me if she wanted to do something. She finally called me around 6 and said that she would love to go out, and a place called Triple A had been recommended to her. She gave me directions to get to the train stop near her house and I was going to meet her there, and this is when the fun started. Her stop was 9 stops over from where I got on the train. There was an accident somewhere on the track, and after 2 stops the train couldn't go any further and everyone had to get off to wait for the next train, which wasn't going to be coming for at least half an hour. Lucky for me, I had already been lost in this part of town and knew not only where I was, but where I needed to go (I knew there would be some benefit to my idiocy) so I took off on foot. I had to walk 3 stations over (about 4 blocks) to get on the next train that would take me where I needed to go. Needless to say, I was a little late, and a little tired.

Barbra took me back to her house to meet her host family and so she could get ready. She has the entire basement floor to herself, and it's awesome! Anyway, when we got to the part of town where the clubs were, it was about 9:30 and the club didn't open until 11. We found a little bar to sit and hang out in and we got something to eat until it was time to go to the club. When we got there they were just opening the door, so we didn't have to wait in a huge line or anything. When we got to the door, Barbra says "Oh wait, are you checking IDs? I don't have my ID." Are you kidding me?! You're a 20 year old African girl in Germany and you don't speak German, why the hell don't you have any ID?! So she had to go back to her house to get it, but she told me to wait there, go inside and check it out and she should be back in 45 minutes. The club was right next to the train stop and her train was leaving at 11:15, so she should've been back by nidnight.

I went inside and went downstairs to check it out. It was a pretty nice little place (and I do mean little) but there was no place to sit because the few tables they did have all had "Reserved" signs on them. People started pouring in, and it was really loud and really crowded. Oh, did I mention that I was like 5 years older than everyone in there? Yeah, I was the creepy guy in every night club who's way too old to be there and just stands in the corner by himself looking at people. That was me last night. So I ended up just going upstairs near the entrance and sitting on the sofa bench there, waiting for Barbra to come back. At 12:45 am I left and jumped back on the next train back home because after an hour and a half, I was still sitting there alone. I didn't get back to the house until after 2, and I was exhausted.

Barbra called me this afternoon to appologize. It turns out that she actually got off the train that I got on, meaning that she got back to the club at the exact same time that I left it. That figures. There was a group of about 5 guys that noticed she was looking for somebody, so they tried to help her find me. I guess they were running around calling my name and looking for me in the club. When they couldn't find me, they told Barbra that, since it was her birthday and she didn't have anything else to do, she should go with them. So she went to a club with them (I don't know if it was the same one or not) and she ended up having a pretty good time. So it kinda sucked for me, but I'm glad that she at least had something to do on her birthday.

When I got home, Amelie was of course excited to see me, and she almost beat me up the stairs and into my room. I actually cleared off the space on my sofa chair for her because I feel bad when she stuffs herself into that tiny little bed, so she crawled up on the chair and that's where she stayed the rest of the night.

I don't think anything really happened today, at least not anything of note. It was a pretty typical Sunday for us. Breakfast, playing with the kids, doing nothing, and cooking dinner. Sunday is always Esther's cooking/baking day. She loves to cook. Now tomorrow it's back to work and hopefully I'll have some more interesting things to write about.

Yesterday Gustav's friend Florian and his mom came over to the house after we picked the boys up from Kindergarten to have muffins (like tea time). Florian is adorable. He's 9 months younger than Gustav, but he's tiny. He's barely bigger than Pauline, but he looks and acts more mature than Gustav. He's a really sweet kid, and a great friend for Gustav. They play well together, but Florian has the sense not to get involved with quarrels between Gustav and Pauline, so things don't escalate the way you might expect them to. He's just too precious. He'll be at Gustav's birthday, so I'll get some pictures of him then.

Speaking of Gustav's birthday, they have the coolest thing I've seen at the toy store here. It's kind of like a gift registry for kids' birthdays, only better because you can't really screw it up or buy the wrong thing. Esther and I went to the toy store the other day to set this up for Gustav's party. How it works is that you get a plastic bin that you can fill with whatever toys or books or games or whatever is on the birthday wishlist. Then they put a sign on it that says who it's for and when the party is. When the other kids get the party invitations, their parents just need to take them to the store, grab something in the bin, and buy it. That way everyone brings a different gift, and no one needs to worry about trying to find something the birthday boy would like. I was impressed.

Last night Esther took me to the Baumarkt (which is like a home improvement store, but better) in Pullheim to buy rain boots. There actually more like mud boots, because they won't keep water from getting in the top, but they do allow you to walk through puddles and mud. They're like the ones I used to wear by the creek when I was a kid, so I kinda feel like a kid when I wear them. And, yes, that does mean that I walk through every puddle and patch of mud I can find while I'm wearing them. My walks with Amelie are much more enjoyable now because I don't have to worry about my shoes anymore.

Holy crap, am I tired today, though! I didn't sleep hardly at all last night because Gustav was screaming and crying the whole night (so, really, Pauline's the only one that got any sleep). Apparently it's common in Esther's family to suffer excruciating growing pains during the night, and that's what's been going on with Gustav. As if he doesn't whine and cry enough already, now he actually has a need to cry even more than usual. Awesome. Then, after not sleeping hardly at all, I had to get up at 6 am to take Amelie for a walk and get ready for school.

On the bright side, Amelie slept in my room for the entire night last night. That was the second time in a row. I had my door closed while I was sitting at my computer and I could hear her outside my room. I let her in and she immediately curled up in her little bed right next to my bed and that's where she stayed. I kinda feel bad, though, because it's her bed from when she was younger and it's too small for her. Last night she was all curled up inside but her head and shoulders were over the side, resting on the floor. She looked so uncomfortable, but she didn't seem to mind. It's ridiculous how much that dog loves me.

Gustav didn't give me any trouble tonight. I asked both the kids to come upstairs with me so I could get them ready for bed around 6, and he actually came up. I think that's probably the first time he's done that. Then, when I took his pajamas into the bathroom to clean him up and get him changed, he came with me. He didn't try to argue, or hit me, or resist at all, he just let me do my thing. It was great. I think Esther's probably going to wait until after the kids are ready to come up from her office from now on so that neither of us have to deal with Gustav's crap anymore when it's time to get ready for bed.

I feel like this entry is a bunch of jibberish, and like I haven't even said what I wanted to say, but I'm too tired to concentrate right now so I don't really care. If anything's missing, I'll add it later.

Finally, I get to learn German!!

I finally made it to my German class today, though still not without trouble. Esther had called the school yesterday to confirm the room number, and they gave her the same number they gave me last week. So I went to room A208b again, and again the room was empty. I had to go back down to the office and talk to them again. I asked the woman who helped me last time if she was sure something hadn't changed, because there was no class taking place in that room. All records indicated that the class had not moved and that it should be there. So I went back upstairs and the room was still empty. There was a class just starting in the room next door, however, so I thought it couldn't hurt to check (by the way, this class was not in this room last Thursday). Sure enough, for whatever reason, they had decided to move this class into the room next door. I actually got to attend my language course.

There are 16 people in my language course, and although I'm the only American, there are a lot of English speakers. There's only one guy in the class, and a few older women (and by older I mean older than everyone else in the room, not necessarily old old) and the rest of us are au pairs. I am, however, the oldest au pair by at least 4 years (hooray). The other people in the class come from Australia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Poland, Portugal, Zimbabwe, France, Japan, and Senegal. There's one girl who comes from somewhere else in Africa, but I didn't catch where. Anyway, when I introduced myself to the class and told them I was from California, they were amazed that I had come from somewhere so far away. The girl from Zimbabwe, Barbra, is turning 20 this weekend and she wants to go out and do something in Cologne, so that should be fun. She's only been here as long as I have so she also doesn't really know anyone or anything to do. Catherine, the girl from Australia, has already been here 3 months and she knows alot about the city, so she can definitely help us out. Now I know people who are "my age" here in Cologne.

Whenever I start something like this language course where I have to do something in front of people I get self concious. Like when I first got here, I was scared that Esther and Olaf were going to be upset with how little German I knew, and I didn't really start to feel more comfortable about it until I learned that I was way more knowledgeable (thanks, Starbucks, for infiltrating my everyday vocabulary) than their last au pair was. That relieved a lot of pressure. Then, when I was going to be starting this course, I got worried that I was going to look like an idiot and not be able to communicate or even keep up, especially since I was starting halfway through the course. But today the other girls in the class asked me how long I had studied German, and when I told them I took German for 4 years in high school, they said "Oh, ok. So that's why you're so good." I wasn't expecting anyone to say anything like that. I think that a lot of the girls in there can speak better than I can, but that I understand it better and can read and write it better than they can. Anyway, once again I feel a little bit more confident in my ability to complete this course, and that's a good thing.

Also, today I made up my mind that I'm going to paint, even if all my pictures end up looking like crap. I bought some acrylic paint and some brushes today in Cologne and I'm going to start a couple of projects in my freetime. Hopefully they come out looking more like my advanced paint-by-numbers and less like a 5 year old's finger painting :) That remains to be seen.

It's Raining!!

This afternoon after lunch we all went together to walk Amelie in the woods down the street. The trees were so beautiful, and the air was crisp and fresh. I wish I could paint, because I really want to paint the trees. About halfway through our walk it started raining a little bit, and by the time we were done it was raining pretty good (a torrential downpour in SoCal terms). It was so nice to be outside and feel the rain, and even better since we were in the woods. When we got home the bread that Esther was making was almost done, so it smelled inviting and homey when we walked through the door. Now I'm just sitting in my room (Amelie is right next to me in her little bed) with the blinds open, watching and listening to the rain. It's fantastic. The only thing that makes me sad is that I know by the time it's done raining (it's supposed to rain all week) a lot of the trees will be almost naked. It's ok, though. I've got a lot of pictures, and leaves, and I know that in winter it will still be beautiful.

I think Gustav is starting to pick up on English a little more, at least in terms of understanding what I'm saying. He's reluctant, though. Basically what he can understand is what he needs to understand in order to realize he can't have something until he does something else. For example, tonight he threw a book at me while I was cleaning up the kitchen. I grabbed the book and walked away with it, and he started crying and pulling on my pants and trying to scratch me. After I smacked him in the arm with the book (don't worry, it only weighed about as much as a mouse turd) he stopped trying to scratch me and demanded that I give the book back. I asked if he was going to throw it at me, and he said yes. So I told him no, I won't give it back if he's going to throw it at me. He stopped crying and said "Ok, ich mache dass nicht mehr." I asked him if he was sure he wasn't going to throw it at me, and he was, so I gave it back and he walked away. This isn't the first time something like this has happened. Usually when he's angry and I try to say something to him he just gets more pissed off because he doesn't understand me and doesn't want to. But he seems to be realizing that there are some benefits to listening to me. I'm still waiting for the kids to start using English words regularly, but as I well know, it's a lot easier to understand than it is to speak a new language.