Well, it seems as though winter is officially over. Yesterday afternoon while I was outside with Amelie I saw the geese starting their migration back north. It was just a small group of them, not nearly as many as I saw last time, so more will probably be on their way soon. It was 12 degrees today, too, so I don't suppose we'll be getting any more snow here in Königsdorf. Kind of a bummer, but I've been really enjoying the spring weather, too.

On Monday after my language course, the instructor invited any of us who were interested to go out for a beer to celebrate making it half way through the course. Only 4 of us went with him, but it was a lot of fun. We went to this little place in Huemarkt called Brauerei zur Malzmühle. We just hung out there, talking and drinking beer until after 11. It was a really cool experience.

In general the whole week has been pretty easy. I had laundry to fold and iron on Monday, some babysitting yesterday, and class, but that's about it. Yesterday Esther, Olaf and Jörg went to see the live filming of a late night comedy show. They left at about 4, and since Barbara was also out of town for work, I had the kids until about 9. It actually was really smooth. I even had all the kids in pajamas with their teeth brushed and David was sleeping on my chest when Barbara got there to pick them up. Pauline and Gustav were both asleep by the time Esther and Olaf got home, so that was good, too. I don't think I had any problems at all with the kids.

Today I took Pauline to the market in Frechen to do a little shopping, and then she went with Esther and Olaf to go buy a new bed for Gustav. Now I'm about to leave to head to Frankfurt for the weekend, and to meet Lee at the airport tomorrow. I'm really excited about my first visitor!!

I woke up this morning at about 7 (these kids seriously need to learn how to get themselves out of bed in the morning without screaming until someone comes to get them) and I could hear the birds chirping outside. I was kinda bummed about that, simply because I know that when the birds are out and happy that generally means it's sunny and probably warm. So I got up to go to the bathroom, and when I looked out the window everything was covered in snow. That was definitely a surprise.

The weather here has seriously been so fickle lately. On Monday and Tuesday it snowed (kind of a lot, actually), then on Thursday it was 18° (64°F, which was really warm in comparison to the temperature we've been having) and yesterday was all over the place. In the morning it snowed for about an hour or so, then it rained, then the sun came out for a bit, then it was overcast, followed by hail, rain, sunshine, and more rain. It was a little crazy yesterday, but I loved it.

I went painting again yesterday, too. On Friday I had Pauline at home all day, and then I had Jetta from 2 until a little after 5 because Britta had another appointment. Esther feels bad because in the past 3 weeks I've basically had one day where I wasn't stuck at home with the kids, and Britta feels bad because she keeps dumping Jetta on me (even though I really don't mind, and in a lot of ways it's easier to have Jetta here with Pauline) so they invited me to go painting and they were going to pay the studio and canvas fees for me. It ended up that neither Britta nor Esther was able to go because they had too much to do, so instead Britta's friend Tina (who I've met before, the first time I went painting) picked me up along with another friend of hers and the 3 of us went. Anyway, I made the painting that I saw in her studio last time, which is a silhouette of the Köln skyline at night. It looks really cool, and now I have a little piece of Köln that I created that I can take home with me to remember. It's my new favorite of my paintings. And, apparently I can by a card that allows me to go to the studio 4 times within 2 months for only 100 Euro, which would save me 40 Euro. I'm pretty excited about that, because I really enjoy it when we go painting and I want to do it as much as possible.

Yesterday was Rosenmontag, the last big day of Karneval (it officially ended today but the partying pretty much ended last night) so I put on my pirate costume and celebrated again. First we just went down the street to Jörg and Barbara's house for brunch. There were 6 little boys running around of all different ages (but all under 6), as well as Pauline and Lena. It was a simple party, just a ton of delicious food and beer and Karneval music. We didn't stay too long because Gustav's still sick and had a fever, but we were there for a few hours. I like hanging out with that family.

After we left and brought the kids home for a nap I headed off to Köln to really celebrate. I had been in the city on Sunday to meet up with a friend for coffee, but there wasn't anything really going on in the streets at the time, so yesterday was really my first taste of Karneval. Everyone that I had tried to get a hold of either didn't answer, wasn't celebrating, or wasn't in Köln, so I was alone when I went into the city. Right outside of the Dom there was a parade that was seriously going all day long. We had been watching it on the TV at Jörg's in the morning and it was still going late in the afternoon. They actually covered the streets along the parade route with dirt, I'm guessing to make it easier to march on the uneven stone streets. The floats don't even come close to what you see in the Rose Parade, but they were fun, and the people in the parade were throwing candy and roses to the crowd (unlike New Orleans were men throw beads to chicks who show their tits). I didn't get to see much of the parade because it was so crowded, but it was still kinda cool to see the floats and stuff.

Right in front of the entrance to the Dom there was a group of 5 guys drumming (like a drum circle, but without hippies and pot) and they were really good. Two of them actually had drum kits and the other 3 had bass drums, like they use in a marching band. I hung out there for a long time because they were amazing, and it was cool to just hang out there and listen/watch them. It started snowing, too, so that made it that much cooler in my opinion.

I met a few people that were there watching the drummers with me, and when the show was over the 3 of them and I headed into the streets to find something to do. It wasn't hard, because there were little parties everywhere. Even a lot of the coffee shops had converted into pubs for Karneval. For whatever reason we decided to go hang out in a gay bar called Zum Pitter in Altstadt. Two of the guys were really uncomfortable at first (the third one fit right in) but I think they ended up having a good time. I had fun, because gay bars are fun and non-threatening, and I wasn't really in the mood for partying with a bunch of drunk guys that were all trying to grope every female they came near. I didn't stay too late because I already knew that today I had to take care of Gustav all day and I needed to sleep. In the end I didn't exactly have the same experience that Olaf had at his first Karneval in Köln, but I'm quite alright with that.

Today was a pretty easy day, just folding laundry and taking care of Gustav. He's not really all that sick in terms of symptoms, but he's had a little bit of a fever for several days now and he's tired because his body is fighting so hard to kill whatever he has. But this morning Esther gave him a new toy boat with a trailer that she's been hiding in the cellar for a time like this, and he played with that literally all day. While I was folding laundry Gustav found my bra and, of course, decided he needed to wear it around the house. He had a good time with that for a little while. When he told me he wanted to take a nap I warmed him some milk and put him in bed, but he ended up not sleeping. I think he looked at some picture books for a little bit and then played with the boat some more, but I was sleeping so I don't really know. I think tomorrow maybe we'll bake some cookies.

And before I forget again, last week Pauline had a total Homer Simpson moment. She and Gustav were both in a mood where they would rather play than eat dinner, so Gustav left the table and Pauline kept going back and forth between the table and the sofa to eat little bits. This one time she hopped off her stool and started walking around the table when she said, "Jetzt claue ich Gustavs Würstchen," (Now I'm going to steal Gustav's sausage). Esther was just about to tell her no when Pauline reached up and grabbed the sausage off the table, and as she did she said, "Claut!" It was basically like saying "yoink" when you jack something from somebody. It was freaking hilarious. We couldn't even tell her no or to put it back because we were all laughing. She's too funny.

Kölle Alaaf!

Yesterday was the first day of Karneval, which I may or may not have already mentioned is a big deal in Germany, and especially in Köln. It was Weiberfastnacht (Ladies' Night) which basically means that for the whole day in the city women run around (mostly trashed) and can get away with doing just about anything, unless it's really illegal. Some of them even carry scissors with them and cut ties and shoe laces off of any man they come across. I would not want to be a man in Köln on Weiberfastnacht.

I didn't make it into the city at all yesterday. I spent the whole day celebrating with the family because it just didn't make sense to go out with all those people and come home really tired when I had to take care of Pauline all day. Plus, I wanted to be able to see all of the little kids in their costumes.

First Olaf, Pauline and I went to Gustav's Kindergarten for a little celebration they were having there from 10:30 until 11:11 (which is the official start of the Karneval celebration). All of the kids were wearing costumes, and the women who work at the Kindergarten were wearing all of their 1.FC Köln gear, and they were singing along to Karneval music and dancing. Gustav was an Indian, Olaf was a sheik, Pauline was a princess and I was a pirate. Esther wasn't with us because she had some stuff she needed to do in her office, so we picked her up and took her home to put her costume on after the Kindergarten party. She wasn't anything in particular, but she was dolled up in Kölsch gear, which is perfectly acceptable in lieu of a costume.

After Esther redecorated the kids' faces and got herself ready, we went to the restaurant at the fitness center just down the road for a party. There were quite a few people there, but Königsdorf is small so it wasn't out of control or anything. Jörg and Barbara were there with the boys, too, so that was fun. Little David was dressed up as a cowboy, and he was absolutely adorable. He was wandering around dancing all on his own. At one point I was holding him while he stood on a bar stool, dancing and eating french fries, and Esther and Barbara were watching us. Then Esther came over and asked me if I wanted to stay another year, because everybody likes having me around with the kids. She was joking, but at the same time they would like to be able to keep me around longer.

After the party we went back home and Jörg and the family joined us there. We had dinner together (bacon, eggs, and waffles) and listened to more Karneval music. It was a really easy-going day with a fun but mild celebration. I still haven't experienced any of the craziness that I've been warned about, but I still have 3 more days for that.

We've been having a bit of snow lately, too, which is extremely unusual for Karneval here. The other day it was weird because it wasn't so much that it was snowing, but more like the air was just freezing. It's like when it feels like it's drizzling outside but really it's just so foggy that the air is wet, only it was -2° so the air was frozen. Then on Wednesday the snow was so big and fluffy that it looked like the ground was covered in dandelions, or the stuff from cattails. I've never seen snow so light and fluffy before. Now today it's been snowing all day, and it's supposed to snow again tomorrow, but then it should get warmer next week. I think I'm the only one here that doesn't want it to get warmer or stop snowing.

The most important thing that happened this past week is that I officially became a legal temporary resident of Germany. Apparently not all of my paperwork got turned in when I first moved, and then it kind of got forgotten in the midst of Esther's move to her new office. So on Monday I drove to Bergheim to turn in the last of the paperwork and now I have an actual visa in my passport, so if anything happens I won't be deported.

The bad news from this week is that the ticket from when I missed my train stop back in November finally showed up. I figured that, since the guy said it would be showing up within a week, nothing ever came of it. He knew it was only one stop, and he wrote my info on a piece of paper instead of entering it in his little electronic thing, and I thought maybe he decided to be nice because the whole situation was just stupid. So now I get this thing in the mail, and they want me to pay 93 Euro!! It's a 40 Euro ticket, but they're saying that it's 2 months late and in collections, so now I have to pay all kinds of fees on hit. Wtf?! This is the first notice I've gotten about it, I know this for sure because I would have paid it. So now Esther is going to call them and try to figure out what's going on. I'm not a happy camper.

This past week went by pretty fast. I don't really know why; I guess I just had the right amount of stuff to do to keep me busy but not ragged. Plus, I think that the days all kind of run together now that I go to my language course at night. I end up getting home so late, and then waking up early in the morning to help with the kids, so it doesn't always feel like it's a new day in the morning. I don't really know how to explain it. Anyway, the course is going really well, and I feel that I'm learning a lot, so that's always good. On Wednesday the instructor read a passage to us that we had to write down as we heard it, or thought we heard it. I only had I think 2 mistakes, and they were really minor ones, so he was impressed and I was happy.

Thursday was Esther's birthday. She didn't really do anything big to celebrate on Thursday, but she did go to the sauna to use a gift certificate that Olaf gave her before he left for London in the morning (there was a big fashion expo there that he had to go to for work). He bought her an aloe vera massage, which neither of them realized was a head and face massage. She really enjoyed it, though, and she looked really refreshed when she got home. Then in the afternoon she had some of the girlfriends (Christina, Barbara, Stefanie, Güner and Maria) come over for coffee and they all brought their kids (Florian, Fabio, David and Lena) with them to play. At first it was just me and the guests because Esther had to wash the oil out of her hair at the sauna so it took her longer to get home than she expected. It was pretty cool, though. The kids were pretty well self contained, and we all just sat around drinking coffee/tea and eating cake. David came to me right when we sat down because he could see the cake from where I was, so I put him on my lap and he sat there with me while I fed him cake. He is seriously the cutest little thing ever. Everyone ended up staying later than anyone expected, so we made some french fries for the kids to eat and then everyone left around 8 or so. I like these little gatherings because, even if I don't have anything to say, I can sit there and listen to the conversations and learn a lot that way.

Last night was Esther's real party. It didn't start until after 8 because the idea was that the kids would be in bed and sleeping and there would be nothing to worry about (but it was just an idea). Esther had made roast beef, a soup (carrots, oranges/orange juice, a little bit of potato, and ginger) that was a lot better than it probably sounds to most people, potatoes au gratin, and mousse for dessert. Güner brought some Turkish food with her, Britta made a salad, and there was lots of cheese and baguettes and all kinds of things to eat. I took Amelie for a walk and then went to bed at around 10 I think, and Esther said that people were there until 12:30. It was a long night.

It was a long day yesterday, too, but not necessarily in a bad way. We ended up having Jetta all day. It was only supposed to be a few hours, from 10:30 until 2, but Britta's appointment at the dentist went way longer than it was supposed to and she ended up not coming to get Jetta until about 4:30. Since she was so late, she picked up Gustav from the Kindergarten and then took care of him and Pauline for a few hours while Esther finished getting ready for the party and I drove to the airport to pick up Olaf. That was an interesting trip. Esther programmed the airport into the navigation system in the BMW for me, but didn't realize that the address she chose was for the military airport, not the regular airport. So I had to try to explain at the gate why I was there and they told me how to get to where I needed to be. They probably have to deal with people being in the wrong place all the time.

Jetta was a sweetheart again yesterday. I think maybe her mean streak is over now, because this was the second week in a row where she was an absolute doll and didn't try to fight with Pauline. At one point she wanted to go home because she didn't have her cup (Britta forgot to bring it again) and she went to the front door, put on her cap and boots (on the wrong feet) and tried to leave to go home. She was crying and screaming when we wouldn't let her leave, mostly because she was just so tired, but I picked her up and cuddled with her and sang to her a little bit, and she just curled up against my chest and calmed right down. She's so cute.

Today I met up with someone from my language course for lunch. I was supposed to meet him at 1 in Neumarkt, but after breakfast I looked at the clock and it was 12:40. Oops. I sent him a text to let him know what was going on and we decided to just meet up at 2:30 instead. Then I missed my train by 30 seconds and the next train was late, so I ended up not getting there until after 3. He then informed me that he had to go to work at 4:30, so I felt really bad. We went to a Chinese buffet to have lunch and talked for a little bit before he had to go to get ready for work. I want to try to see if we can get more people from the class to meet up and do things regularly, because I think it would be fun.

Right now Pauline is causing a ruckus, but it's not really her fault this time. Twice tonight she's coughed so hard that she threw up, and this isn't the first time this has happened recently. She's so tired, and so miserable right now. Poor little thing. On the bright side, Gustav didn't wake up from her coughing, or the screaming and crying that followed (and continue periodically). I spoke too soon. He literally just woke up. This could suck.