Wait, do what now?

Well, vacation is definitely over. I had to get up before 8 this morning so that I could be finished in the bathroom before Emma got here, and then I spent 4 hours ironing. That's right. Ironing. For four hours. That doesn't include the time I spent folding laundry or putting clothes away, either. I get to do that part tomorrow, after I get up at 7 so that I can take a shower in what will hopefully (but not likely) be warm water and be finished washing my hair before Emma comes back to clean the house at 8. Oh, and did I mention that Pauline didn't go to sleep until almost 11 tonight because she napped at Maria's today? That means that I'm likely going to have to start picking her up at around 1 or 2 so that there's no time for her to sleep there. Ah, to be back in Djerba right now.

"A Song for Ireland"

My intention had been to go to bed early again tonight, because I still feel kind of crappy from my cold, but that obviously didn't happen. We just got done watching the Eurovision Song Contest. The whole time I just kept thinking about the Father Ted episode where they compete in the contest. It's probably my favorite episode. Anyway, Germany totally kicked ass tonight in the competition. They hadn't won since 1982, and usually finish in a very low position (if not last), but tonight the song Satellite by Lena won with 76 more points than the song from Turkey, which came in second. I'm not gonna lie, it was kind of fun and exciting to watch the show, even though the competition has always been a joke to me. What do you expect when the only thing you know of the contest is what you saw on Father Ted?

Today in general was a pretty good day. Not a whole lot really happened until this afternoon. Just breakfast, relaxing, painfully unsuccessful attempts to get the kids to take a nap, and I took a walk to get out of the house for a little bit. On my way home from my walk I saw Barbra outside with the boys. Jörg wasn't there because he was playing in a tennis tournament, but I stopped by to say hi. I hadn't seen them in about 3 weeks, and David was so excited to see me. He had such a precious little smile on his face when I said hello to him. They came over to the house at around 4 for coffee and then stayed for the barbecue. I spent a lot of time playing on the new playground with David. He just loved to sit on my lap on the swing, and I even got him to sit on the swing by himself while I pushed him. He's so precious!

Yesterday was a pretty good day, too. Although I really didn't want to have to drive do Düsseldorf it ended up not being so bad. And I got there just as the family was coming out of the terminal, so I didn't have to park or anything. The kids were so excited to see me. They both had the biggest smiles on their faces. They really missed me after I left Djerba. I got a big hug and I kiss from everybody, too, which was nice. Then we just spent the rest of the day hanging out and relaxing at home. I think they were all a little bit glad to be home, although we all definitely miss Djerba.

I guess the only thing that hasn't been so pleasant over the past couple of days has been Gustav's behavior. He was such a little shithead today. There were at least 3 times where Esther had to drag him up the stairs and close him in his room because he had taken whatever it was that he was doing at the time too far. And in the process he was screaming and throwing a major fit. Then he kept saying schieße over and over again. Scheiße Mama, scheiße this, scheiße that. He was really pushing his limits today, for a good part of the day. What a turd. In the end he went to bed with relatively no fuss, so that was nice. Hopefully tomorrow he'll calm down a little bit and we won't have to relive the terror he inflicted upon everyone today.

:(

Well, unfortunately I'm back from vacation now. I had intended to update every night before I went to bed, but internet was just about the only thing not included at this all-inclusive resort. At first that was a huge disappointment, but I think it was definitely for the better. Besides, I was too busy doing nothing to spend my time on the computer, anyway. So now that I'm back home it's time to get this thing up to date. Luckily I wrote a few entries in MS Works so that all I have to do is cut and paste :)

Monday, 17 May
Today was the first day of our vacation, and boy was it a rough start. We got up at 4:30 in the morning to leave the house by 5:30 because our plane was flying out of Dusseldorf at 7:40. Everything was just fine at first. We made it to the airport at about 6:30, Olaf and Gunther dropped us off and then went to park the cars, and Esther and I went to the check-in counter to get us all checked in for our flight. That’s when the problems started. I got myself checked in just fine, and then went to go stand with the kids while Esther finished with everything else, but there was a problem. There was a weight limit of 20 kg for the luggage, and at least 2 of their 4 pieces of luggage were over the limit. So Esther was frantically trying to take things out that they could carry onto the plane, and rearrange things so that they didn’t have to pay an extra 10 Euro per kilo. I wish I had known earlier that their luggage was too heavy, because my bag only weighed 15 kg. When I told Esther this she tried explaining it to the girl at the counter, but her boss was standing behind her telling Esther that since Olaf booked my vacation seperately from theirs, they couldn’t count the extra weight of Esther’s bag toward the weight of mine. Olaf was still parking the car, and Esther was getting really frustrated and stressed, and she started crying. Eventually Olaf showed up at the counter and they took enough stuff out to make it work, and we went to the security check point.
Now comes problem number 2. In order to make the luggage lighter, Esther took the toiletries kit out of the suitcase. So now she has a handbag full of liquids (shampoo, deodorant, conditioner, sunblock, makeup, etc.) that she’s trying to take onto the plane. They told her she either needed to throw everything away or go back and check the bag. She started crying again, and went back to check the bag while Olaf took the kids to the gate and I waited for Esther at security. She came back crying, which meant that luggage check for our flight was closed and she had to throw everything away. Then she set off the metal detector because she forgot to take off her belt, so they had to use the wand to check her, and then they made her open her bag again to show them what was in it. When we finally got to the gate it was 7:25, the plane was leaving at 7:40, and poor Esther was an absolute wreck. Luckily they boarded the plane late, so it hadn’t left the gate or closed the doors or anything like that.
We got on the plane and the rest of the morning went just fine. At the airport in Djerba we boarded a bus to take us to the hotel. Gustav was very impatient and kept asking when the bus was going to leave. He didn’t seem to understand that the bus couldn’t leave until everyone who was supposed to be on it had been accounted for. Once the bus left the airport, it was about half an hour until we got to our hotel. We were greeted at the door with sparkling apple juice, got ourselves checked in, and headed to our bungalows. Esther and Olaf and the kids have a family suite, which means 2 rooms that are connected by a door. My room is directly above the kids, and it is awesome! Since I’m here alone, I have a double room that’s arranged for one person, which means a king sized bed, a sofa, a balcony, and a lot of space. Plus, the best part, my balcony looks straight out at the ocean. The view is absolutely amazing! The water is a beautiful turquoise color, and I can leave my door open and hear the waves. I seriously ended up with the best room I could hope for.
When we arrived in Derba, I tried to turn on my cell phone only to realize that I had forgotten the PIN to unlock my SIM card. Then, once we arrived at the hotel, I learned that there is no internet in the rooms and there’s a charge for internet in the lobby. Not something I was expecting. So I’m actually writing this entry (end every entry for the next few days) in my room on MS Works so that I can post it to my blog later. That way I don’t waste money and internet time in writing. I’m not gonna lie, it was very upsetting when I first discovered that I had no way of talking to Lee or my family while I’m here. I had promised a phone call or text message when I arrived, and I had no way of doing that, and it turns out that I can’t even just pull out my computer and jump on Skype or send an email. It was a very isolated feeling, and I actually felt a little bummed about it for the rest of the day. But everything was fine when the family and I went to dinner at 7. The theme of the evening was Tunisian, so the décor and the food all fit with this concept. There was so much to eat. There was couscous with various types of meat (I had lamb), stuffed vegetables (tomatoes, eggplant and peppers), all sorts of salads and cheeses and desserts. It was ridiculous, and delicious. After dinner we went to the pool to watch the kids from the Flipper Club do their nightly dance routine to signify the end of the day, and then everybody went to bed because we’re all so tired.

Tuesday, May 18
What a wonderfully lazy day!! It didn't start out lazy, which is good, because if I start the day lazy then I sleep until noon. Today I got up at 7 to go running on the beach. The sun comes up super early, so it was sunny outside already, but it wasn't too hot. It reminded me of when I was still at UCSD and I used to occasionally run on the beach. Ah, memories. Anyway, after my run I took a shower to get myself cleaned up and met the family at 9 for breakfast, which is going to be our ritual for the next week. It's a good time because you don't feel like you're getting up too early, and at the same time you're not really sleeping in. That's important.
After breakfast I headed back to my room to put on a swimsuit, then to the boutique to buy some sunscreen before meeting Esther and Olaf at the beach. Esther was taking the kids to the Flipper Club for the morning and then we were going to pick them up between 12:30 and 1 for lunch. When I got to the beach, both of the kids were there. Apparently when they got to the Flipper Club, Gustav almost immediately started crying because he didn't want to be there, even though he went last year and enjoyed himself, and he's been talking about going back to the Flipper Club for weeks now. So he started making a scene, and that caused Pauline to start crying. She was so hysterical that Esther couldn't just leave her there, and she had to take both of the kids with her. If the kids don't get over this, it could be a miserable vacation for poor Esther.
Anyway, we all headed to the beach, which is basically where we spent the rest of the day. The sun was shining brightly, but there was a bit of a breeze so it wasn't too hot. Some people were saying that it was cold, but that's only because some people can't tell the difference between cold and windy. It was so nice to be able to just relax on the beach, looking out at the turquoise water and listening to the waves as they crashed against the white sand. I've never been a fan of the desert before, but water makes everything better. In a way it made me miss San Diego and all the things I never took the time to enjoy while I was living there, though the beach here is way more beautiful, I think. The water is warmer, too. It was a little colder than I had expected it to be, but still warm. The kids didn't play in the water too much because they're still at the age where the ocean is a little bit scary, but I got Gustav to lay on his belly in the sand with me and let the waves wash up over his back. He got a kick out of that. We also dug giant holes, of course. What else do you do at the beach? Also, one of the photographers working with the club was walking around taking pictures of guests (which you can look at later in the lobby and buy if you like them) and he took like a million pictures of me, which I'm going to have to take a look at. It felt a little weird to have someone photographing me, but whatever.
At around 4:30 in the afternoon Esther and I left Olaf and the kids at the beach so we could go to the sauna. Ah, the joys of all-inclusive! I stayed a little bit longer than Esther because I wanted to stay for the Aufguss at 6 but she needed to help Olaf get the kids ready to have dinner at 7. The Aufguss is the best part about the sauna, though, so I didn't want to miss it. People kept asking me what it's called in English, but I don't know if we have a name for it. It's when someone who works there comes in and does a ritual that involves pouring scented water on the stones and using a towel to circulate the air. It gets really hot, smells really good, and you sweat like a horse. Anyway, this was the first time that I've been in a sauna during an Aufguss (not surprising, since it's only my second time going to a sauna) and I loved it.

Wednesday, 19 May
I did not have the energy to get up and go for a run this morning, but for a very good reason. I woke up at about a quarter to 3 to the sound of a mosquito buzzing in my ear. Awesome, right? I tried to kill it or get it to go away, but that didn’t work. So I turned on the light and sat up so that I could see it, and then kill it. That’s when I discovered that what I thought was 1 or 2 mosquitoes was actually more like 20. They were all over my room! So I sat there for about half an hour, killing them one by one as they came near me, but it was futile. After I destroyed about 10 or so I just turned out the light, covered my whole body (including my head, of course) with the bedspread, and went to sleep. That helped with the mosquitoes, but it’s a little too warm here to be sleeping under the covers like that. Anyway, I eventually got some sleep, but it definitely wasn’t enough for me to be able to get up at 7 to go running. That just wasn’t happening. When I did wake up, I was covered in bug bites. There are 12 of them just on my face, and over 50 on my left arm. Those bastards are seriously eating me alive!
After I had breakfast with the family in the main restaurant, I went back to my room to put on a swimsuit and head to the pool. Esther was going to an aerobics class and Olaf had the pleasure of trying to take the kids to the Flipper Club, so I decided to go to the pool instead of the beach for a little while. It was quieter, there were less people, and I could just relax with my iPod and a cocktail. It was quite pleasant. I learned later in the afternoon that Olaf didn't have any luck getting Pauline to stay in the Flipper Club again this morning, so she was at the beach with them the whole day. It was definitely more peaceful at the pool than it would've been at the beach.
I was going to meet up with the family at 1 in the beach restaurant for lunch, but Olaf came and got me a little early because they were grilling lamb and he didn’t want to miss out. We had grilled lamb, zucchini, and eggplant, which I could eat all day. The food here is so delicious!! The kids, however, are on an ice cream diet. Either way, we’re all enjoying our meals.
After lunch we went to the beach for a few hours, and then I went to the sauna again at around 5. I love going to the sauna, which is surprising, considering how much I hate heat. After the sauna it was back to the room to take a shower, at which time an excessively friendly kitty followed me into my room and made itself at home on my bed. This cat is such a love!! Since the cats here at the club are pretty well cared for, and it’s not dirty of mangy or anything, it doesn’t upset me that there’s a “stray” kitty in my bed. And it’s so happy to just hang out and be loved. All it wants to do is cuddle. I don’t have the heart to throw it out, because it seems to have attached itself to me, so we’ll see what happens when I try to go to sleep. Hopefully the mosquitoes won’t be a problem, either.

Thursday, May 20
Gustav was so freaking adorable this morning! Normally I either meet the family downstairs at their room for breakfast at 9, or the kids come running up to get me in my room. This morning I got a phone call, from Gustav. He told me that they were almost ready and that soon we would be going to breakfast, but that he would come upstairs to get me first. His little voice was so cute over the phone! It was too precious for words. I love him so much.
Since the kids still aren't willing to go to the Flipper Club, the family stayed at the pool all day because it's more fun for the kids. I went running after breakfast since I didn't get up early enough to do it before, and then I spent the day at the beach because it was just too beautiful to be at the pool all day. Once again, it was just a lazy day of sitting in the sun, enjoying the sounds and the view. But I experienced my first adventure of the trip: parasailing! It was so much fun. I wasn't really alone because one of the guys who works with the company went with me to steer the parachute, but I kinda wish that I had been alone because then no one would've been trying to talk to me the whole time. It's hard to fully enjoy the scenery when you're focusing on trying to understand someone else's broken German, especially when you yourself only speak a form of broken German. Nonetheless, it was beautiful from up there and I'm so glad that I did it. I went to the sauna again, too, of course. I also had to make a quick stop by the doctor this afternoon about my mosquito bites. They're out of control. He gave 2 prescriptions; there's a pill I need to take for the next 4 days before I go to bed and a cream that I need to put on twice a day. Stupid mosquitoes!
The theme of the dinner this evening was the Gala Abend, which means black and white dress. I had coincidentally bought the perfect dress for this shortly before we left for the trip, so I was kind of excited to wear my new dress. Once again the photographer took a million pictures of me at the restaurant. It was kind of fun getting a little bit dressed up for the evening. Afterward I headed into town with some locals for a little bit, but when they tried to charge 7 dinar for a can of Coke it the club it was time to go home. I stopped by the disco at Aldiana on my way to my room to see if anyone interesting was there, but it was pretty dead. I was tired, anyway.

Friday, May 21
Today was adventure #2. We got up a little earlier than usual to go to breakfast because we were meeting in the lobby at 10 to take a horse carriage into the town of Midoun. We were going to see the market, and the animal market. It's not very far away, and it only costs about 3 dinar to take a taxi, but it was more interesting to take the carriage.
The animal market was kind of interesting. There was one area where people were selling horses and donkeys, and then a separate area for livestock, and the street was lined with huge stacks of hay and straw bales. In a way it made me kind of sad because I wanted to pet all of the animals, especially the calves and baby goats, but it's not a petting zoo and you're not allowed to touch the animals.
The main market was pretty much exactly what you would imagine when you think of a third-world market. It was almost like walking into a scene from Aladdin, except slightly more modern. It was actually really cool to see all the people selling grains and spices and things. It's not like anything you would see back home in the US, that's for sure. The kids and I got a couple of bracelets with our names inscribed on them and Olaf bought a kilo of apricots, but that was it. I probably would have done a little more shopping had I been by myself, but it was really hectic and I was trying to help keep track of the kids, who couldn't keep up because they were too easily distracted and yet refused to hold your hand or let you carry them. It definitely was not the place for kids.
When we returned from the market there was a little bit of time to relax before heading back to the sauna and then to dinner with the family. After dinner I went to the Blue Dolphin, the disco at the resort, to hang out with some of the people who were working there. I didn't really know anybody, and I wasn't sure who was going to be there, but I figured it was worthwhile to check it out. I ended up having a really great time. I don't even know what time it was when I finally left, but I crashed once I went to sleep.

Saturday, May 22
Needless to say, I did not go running again this morning. I was way too tired to get up that early, or expend that much energy. I didn't do a whole lot in the morning, either, because I was having my 3rd adventure at 11:30 and didn't want to get too involved or too comfortable doing something else. Instead I sat at the pool for a little bit before heading into the lobby to meet up with a couple who was also staying at the club to go ride quads. It was pretty cool. I had never ridden a quad before, so it was a little awkward at first. I don't really care for the thumb-push accelerator, and I forgot a few key things in the beginning, like steering. It wasn't so much that I forgot to steer as it was that I tried to steer it like a motorcycle, and it doesn't exactly work the same way. I figured it out really quick, though, don't worry. It's not exactly easy to take pictures while you're driving a quad, so I only have a few and they're not very good. We made a couple stops, though. The first was because the couple that was on the quad behind me disappeared during this one part where we went kind of fast through a series of turns, and the guy who was leading us had to go back and find them. He was making fun of them later because he thought the guy was scared and that's why he was driving so slow, whereas I was able to keep up with him. We made our second stop at a little cafe to drink some tea and a coke, and then we made our third stop at the edge of the water in this bay. That was gorgeous. I really can't describe how clear and wonderful the water is here.
After dinner a huge group of people shuffled into the theater to watch the soccer game. Bayern Munich was playing Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League Final. It unfortunately wasn't a very good game. Munich played kinda crappy and ended up losing 2-0, which you could imagine was very disappointing to the majority of the people there. After the game there were more activities going on at the pool. The animators were dressed up and there were a series of carnival-type games there. The idea was to play each game once and get as many points as you could, and the winner was going to get a prize at the end. I played 3 games and didn't get a single point. Yeah, I'm pretty awesome. I was going to see if I could play all of the games without getting any points but in the end I think I ended up with 70. The winner had 280, as a comparison. Then it was back to the disco for another night of hanging out and enjoying the company before heading to bed.

Sunday, May 23
My last day on vacation in a beach paradise and . . . it rained. It figures that I would travel to the Sahara Desert (though technically it's just north of the Sahara) and bring the rain with me. Not that I'm complaining, I just think it's funny. It didn't rain the whole day, though, and it was still really warm and, in my opinion, pleasant.
I spent the first part of the day just hanging out at the beach. I laid out a little bit, talked to some people, watched a couple rounds of beach volleyball, but nothing too spectacular. I was still tired from the previous 2 nights and I had intended to take it easy at the end of my trip anyway.
After having lunch with the family at the beach restaurant (as we did every day) I ran into the DJ at the pool and he invited me to go with him to check out the old Aldiana club, where he used to work, because he was taking their new DJ some music. I didn't have anything in particular that I wanted to do at the time, so I went with him for a little while. Then we went back to the club to grab some money before we headed over to the crocodile farm to meet up with the Flipper Club to watch the feeding. The little guys weren't there (both because it was the older division of the Flipper Club and because Gustav and Pauline were still refusing to go) but I think Esther and Olaf will take the kids next year to check out the crocodiles. The feeding wasn't nearly as much of a frenzy as you'd think. It's probably because they feed the crocs 3 times a week, which is way more often than they eat in the wild, so they know that in the very least they can eat again in a few days. It's not exactly life or death, so there's no real hurry or violence involved. We got to see some baby crocodiles, too, which I've always thought were simply adorable. I wish I could've had the opportunity to touch one.
Dinner tonight was a little bit special. Esther and Olaf took the kids to the Flipper Club to eat with the other kids there because the 3 of us were going to be eating a fancy dinner at the beach restaurant. Pauline refused to stay at the Flipper Club when she was done eating (of course) but Gustav wanted to stay for the evening, until Olaf had to pick him up at 9. The dinner was absolutely fantastic, though. It was a full on 5-course meal with wine and everything, but it was way too much food. Of course we ate it all, though.
Once dinner was over, Esther and Olaf took the kids to bed and I headed into the theater to see the show. Tonight they were doing We Will Rock You, and I had been looking forward to seeing it since I talked to some of the cast members about it a few days before. They did a pretty good job, honestly. Afterward, it was back to the disco for one last night of fun. I figured, since it was my last night there, I might as well make the best of it. It was also the last night there for one of the animators, so it was a pretty big party. It really sucks knowing that I have to leave so soon.

So now, here I am back in Königsdorf. I slept in a little bit on Monday morning because I didn't go to bed until I think around 6 in the morning (like I said, it was a big night at the disco) so I missed breakfast. Aside from throwing all my stuff in the suitcase and paying off my balances at the hotel to check out, I basically spent the day sitting at the pool with the family and saying bye to some of the people that I had met there. Esther and Olaf went to their room briefly to get some of the kids' stuff for me to bring home with me, and when they came back Pauline had a big tear on her cheek. Apparently the kids had been crying because I was leaving. Poor things! It makes me so happy that they love me so much. Anyway, I had to leave the hotel at 4 to head for the airport, and by the time I got back home here it was almost midnight, so it was a pretty long day. I've spent the past 2 and a half days in bed because I came home with a cold, and now tomorrow morning I have to drive back to Düsseldorf to pick up the family at 11:45. Not looking forward to the drive, but it shouldn't be too bad.

The last few days have been eventful, to say the least. The whole week as been a little hectic, really, with Pauline being home the whole time, and me trying to keep her from taking naps in the middle of the day. On Wednesday she actually told me to leave her room and then closed her blinds and laid down on the floor to take a nap. It was really cute, but unfortunately she's not allowed to take naps because then she doesn't sleep at night.

Aside from me having my hands full with Pauline, the real fun started on Thursday. It was a holiday (Christi Himmelfahrt, the date of Christ's ascension) so Olaf did not have to go to work and the whole family was home all day. Johannes and Marlene (Esther's brother-in-law and niece) drove out to visit and to stay the night. Gustav was so excited the whole day about being able to play with his cousin. He kept asking every 5 minutes when Marlene was going to be here, if that was Marlene's car, if she was almost here yet, and so on. They arrived just shortly after lunch, and immediately the kids all went into the garden to play on the new playground. In the meantime I walked with Amelie and Olaf made a strawberry-banana tort for tea time. Afterward, Esther and Olaf got themselves ready to go to the ballet in Düsseldorf.

Esther was a little bit delayed getting ready because Pauline had a little bit of an accident. She went to go to the bathroom, and she never came back. When we realized she had been gone for a long time Esther went to check on her and found her in the bathroom, standing in a puddle of pee. The poor thing didn't make it on time, and couldn't hold it any longer. But, rather than saying anything about it, she tried to clean it all up on her own with toilet paper. That little girl unfortunately has a bladder the size of cistern, so toilet paper just wasn't going to cut it. It honestly reminded me of me, because that's something that I would've done as a little girl, too. It was so cute that she was trying to take care of it without causing anyone else any trouble, and yet at the same time it was so pathetic to see her standing there. Poor little thing.

Anyway, Gustav and Marlene had decided that they wanted to sleep together down in the cellar, so Olaf pulled out the sofa bed and got it set up for the two of them. Pauline decided that she was also going to sleep in the cellar and she wouldn't have it any other way. She grabbed her blanket, her pillow, her millions of stuffed animals, and anything else she could carry and dragged it all the way down the stairs and into the cellar. She also got herself completely undressed and changed into her pajamas because she was so excited about the sleep over. It was really precious. You cant really tell her no when shes being that adorable, so Olaf put a mattress downstairs for Pauline to sleep on next to the other two kids. Then Esther and Olaf left for their evening out and the adventure began. The kids immediately started running up and down the stairs and were laughing/screaming the whole time. They were pretending that Pauline was hunting Gustav and Marlene, only Pauline can't go up and down the stairs nearly as fast as they can. She was exhausted, and eventually she just came to sit on my lap and cuddle a lit bit because she couldn't do it anymore. In the meantime I made dinner for everybody, then helped the kids all brush their teeth and warmed some milk for all 3 of them. Gustav and Pauline wanted to be big kids like Marlene, so they took their milk and went downstairs alone; I wasn't allowed to tuck them in.

The kids obviously didn't go to sleep, since kids never do at a sleep-over. I cleaned up the kitchen while Johannes sat on the sofa and read a book, and the whole time we could hear the kids downstairs laughing and playing. I finished cleaning up, then went to check on the neighbors' cats. Shortly after I got back Gustav started screaming and crying hysterically. I went to see what was wrong and I met him at the bottom of the stairs, covered in blood. He and Marlene had been wrestling around, and Gustav got a bloody nose. He had big drops of blood all over his pajamas, and it was running down his face and dribbling off of his chin. So I carried him upstairs, stopped the bleeding with some paper towels, an ice pack, and some arnica, and tried to get him calmed down. Needless to say, he was very upset. Once things were calm again I took everybody back downstairs and had to clean the mattress, change Gustav, and put a new cover on the comforter before he and Marlene would get back in the bed. Johannes had explained to them that play time was over because they were just going to keep hurting themselves, and once they were back in bed I left them there to sleep.

It sounded like everything was fine, but pretty soon here comes Pauline, asking for more milk. The other 2 followed not long afterward, complaining that they couldn't sleep (each of them accused the other of not letting them sleep). Ok. Party's over. Johannes told Marlene that he would sit downstairs with her until she fell asleep, and the other 2 had to go upstairs to their own beds. I warmed some more milk for all 3 of them and told Pauline and Gustav to take their things upstairs while I got a new blanket for Marlene, since she had been using Gustav's. Pauline and Gustav were not happy about the idea of going to their own beds. Pauline refused to go upstairs, so I grabbed all the crap that she had carried down with her, along with her milk bottle, and just carted it all up knowing that she would follow her stuff. Unfortunately, she followed it while screaming at the top of her lungs and crying because she was so angry that I was taking it all away. I put everything back in her bed, then put her in the bed and closed her door, leaving her to cry and scream in her room. When I went back to the cellar to get Gustav, he had laid himself back down in Marlene's bed, under the covers, with the milk bottle in his mouth. He also refused to get up, even though Johannes and I both explained multiple times that he couldn't stay there, so I grabbed his blanket and pillow, pulled the bottle out of his mouth, and told him to come with me. He started crying, so I picked him up to carry him to his room. He started kicking and screaming and demanded that I put him down so that he could walk himself. When I put him down he immediately tried to run back to the bed, and when I stopped him he threw himself on the floor and started throwing a tantrum. So, I scooped him back up and carried him, kicking and screaming, up to his room and closed the door. That really made him angry, because Gustav hates having his bedroom door closed when he goes to bed. He opened the door and started yelling at me, so I told him that he either had to shut up or close the door, but if the door was open I didn't want to hear him crying. That got him to calm down a little bit, and I explained to him again why he couldn't sleep downstairs before offering to read him a story. While Gustav was looking for a story for me to read I went to get Pauline, who had been screaming and crying the whole time, to have her come and listen to the story too. She just yelled at me, so I closed the door and left her there again.

Once the story was over it was no problem getting Gustav to climb up into his bed and go to sleep. He was so tired, and that was all he really wanted to do anyway. I gave him his milk and tucked him in, and he went straight to sleep. Pauline, meanwhile, had suddenly stopped crying right around the time that Gustav's story ended. I went into her room to check on her, and she was lying face down in the pillow, snoring, with the light on and her milk bottle standing upright on the mattress next to her. She had literally cried herself to sleep, and she was done. Finally, at around 10 or 10:30, the madness was over. I walked Amelie one last time and then went straight to bed.

Yesterday was a lot calmer, but still kind of exhausting. Olaf was still at home because it was the first day of his holiday, but after breakfast Esther went to her office, and Johannes and Marlene left soon afterward. At around 1 Esther came back to pick up Olaf and the kids, and drove them into Weiden to get their hair cut while she went shopping. In the meantime, I cleaned the kitchen, did 2 loads of laundry, vacuumed, washed the floor, ironed Olaf's shirts, cleaned up the kids' rooms, and walked the dog twice. I had no idea that they were going to be gone so long, but when they finally came back at around 6:30 I left. I needed to get out of the house. I didn't really have anything to do so I just headed into Köln to do a little shopping. Unfortunately at was after 7 when I got there, and everything closes at 8 or 9, so I didn't get much shopping done. I did, however, find 3 new dresses. Then I went to the bookstore in the Hauptbahnhof, bought a cookbook with fast, low-calorie recipes, and sat in Starbucks drinking a chai tea latte. It kinda sucked being by myself the whole time, but it was nice to be out of the house for a little bit.

Today was mostly just a day for me. After breakfast I headed into Weiden to see if I could find a pair of shoes to go with one of my new dresses. All I needed was a simple pair of white or light brown sandals, and I found nothing. I didn't have a whole lot of time because I was supposed to meet with Britta at 1:40, so I left with only a purse and no new shoes. Kinda bummed. What I was more bummed about (although pissed is probably the better word) is that I got to the S-Bahn just as it pulled up, and the freaking doors wouldn't open! Nobody got off the back half of the train, and when I pushed the button the door didn't open. I tried 4 doors, and nothing. So the train left without me, and I had to wait 15 minutes. I was not happy. By the time I finally got to the station in Königsdorf it was 1:47, and I had to run home in hopes of catching Britta before she left without me. Luckily, she had just finished getting ready herself (unfortunately it was because Jette had thrown up in their other car and they had to get it cleaned) so she didn't have to wait for me. We headed to Pulheim and spent the next 3-4 hours painting. It had been a long time since I'd been able to go painting with them, so I was really excited. When we got home the family was just sitting down to dinner, so I ate some barbecue and then headed to my room to relax. Now, tomorrow I pack and early Monday morning, vacation begins.

Paris!

This past weekend I had my second mini-adventure with the au pairs. We met at the Hauptbahnhof in Köln at 2 am Friday night/Saturday morning to get on a bus and drive to Paris. It was actually not a bad trip to get there, especially since there were only 34 of us and I got to have my own seat so I could spread out and sleep. I made sure to bring a blanket and my froggie neck pillow with me for that purpose.

We arrived in Paris at around 8:45 Saturday morning and did a super-fast driving "tour" of the city. We stopped at the Champ de Mars to take a group photo and some pictures of the Eiffel Tower. After we took the group photo we were approached by a guy wearing a red cape and Superman underwear over his pants, telling us to stay there and take a picture with him. Everyone pretty much ignored him, but I have experience with this sort of thing, and since I knew he was celebrating his bachelor party, I took a picture with him. A couple of the Ukrainian girls took it with me, too. After we saw the Eiffel Tower we drove past he Louvre, the hotel that Princess Diana had just left when she died, the opera house, and the Arc de Triomphe. Like I said, it was a quick tour.

Our rooms weren't ready yet when we got to the hostel, so we dropped off our stuff in their storage room and headed out into the city. First stop was the Metro station, where it took like an hour for all of us to buy our Metro tickets. That's a slight exaggeration, but it seriously took a long time. It's because nobody there knew French, and you have to buy a whole bunch of tickets at once since you need a new ticket every time you enter the Metro, regardless of where you are or where you're going. Anyway, the first place we went was the Sacred Heart Church (Le Sacre Coeur). We only had an hour before we needed to meet back up at the Metro station down the hill from the church, so there wasn't any time to go in and really check it out. Kind of a bummer, since I didn't get to go in the last time I was in Paris, either. I at least got a couple of good pictures of it, and then the Ukrainian girls and I headed down the street to see the Moulin Rouge. It was a longer walk than we had been told, and they were starting to worry that it wasn't actually where we were at all. I was able to reassure them, though, by informing them that you know you're in the right spot when suddenly every building you see is selling porn/sex toys or advertising nude dancing. It's kind of hard to miss at that point.

Next we went to Notre Dame. Once again, there wasn't enough time to go inside and truly appreciate it, especially since I had to waste time finding a bathroom first. In fact, I think that Oksana and I may have been the only ones that actually walked all the way around the building. I don't think most of the group even saw the flying buttresses. Oh well, not my problem.

Our rooms at the hostel were supposed to be ready around 4, so we headed back to get settled in and relax/refresh a little bit before our next excursion. I pretty much went straight to sleep. When we got into the room I immediately called the top bunk next to the window. I realized that it probably wasn't the best idea since, with the way I sleep and the minuscule size of the bed, there was about a 90% chance that I would be falling out of it during the night. Anyway, we almost missed the trip to the Eiffel Tower because the girl who was watching the clock had somehow reset her watch so that it was reading an hour slow. Luckily I looked at my clock and we rejoined the group downstairs just in time.

When we got to the Eiffel Tower it was still bright outside, but it was just starting to rain. I think that everyone from our group went up the tower to at least the second tier, but very few of us went all the way to the top. Personally I think it's a must when you visit the Eiffel Tower, especially if it's your first time. This was the second time that I've been, and both times it was raining. Luckily, I've learned a little bit more about my camera and how to take pictures in adverse lighting and weather conditions (although I'm still not very good) and my pictures turned out much better this time than they did the first time I visited. When we went back down the tower it was pretty late, and we were all exhausted, so we went back to the hostel and straight to bed.

Sunday morning we had to wake up early to get ready, get packed, eat breakfast, and meet in the lobby by 8:45. There was only one thing on the agenda for the day, and that was to visit the Louvre. We walked together to the Louvre, which was only about 5 minutes from our hostel, and then we had the whole day until 3 pm to see the Louvre or do whatever else we wanted. With our au pair ID cards or visas it was free to get into the Louvre, so that was pretty cool. The only bad thing is that you could seriously spend a week in the Louvre, and 5 hours really isn't enough time to see everything you want to see. We did get to see a lot, though. The Ukrainian girls and I didn't really have anything else in particular that we wanted to do, so we spent the whole time in the Louvre. Unfortunately my camera battery died, and I was really bummed/pissed, but Elena let me use her camera to take a bunch of pictures. I still need to get those from her, but at least I got to take photos of the things I wanted to.

At 3 we met back at the hostel, loaded into the bus and headed home. The trip home was longer because there were a lot more cars on the road, plus we weren't sleeping this time, so we made a lot more stops and breaks along the way. It still wasn't a bad trip, though. The Brazilian girls gave the bus driver a bunch of CDs to play, and they were having a dance party in the back of the bus. The guy who was leading our group, Rafael, told me and Oksana that we needed to dance, too. So we did.

It was about 10 when we finally arrived in Köln, and the timing was perfect for me to hop onto a train and head home. I stopped by the neighbors' house first to check on the cats because I'm taking care of the kitties while Jan and Nina are on vacation. Kona, the black cat, had been outside since Saturday morning (which is typical for these cats) but Lutzi had been stuck in the house and was dying to get out, so she was happy to see me. Amelie was happy to see me, too. It was almost impossible to calm her down when I got home. She was jumping and dancing and wiggling all over the place, and her tail was smacking the door, the walls, and the floor. Esther said she knew when I got home because Amelie was making so much noise. She's such a love.

Monday I was absolutely exhausted from the trip, but luckily there were other things going on to keep Pauline occupied. Namely, the gardeners where building the playground in the back yard. Pauline and Gustav were so excited about it, and could hardly wait for it to be finished. Pauline was really good, though, in that she waited for Gustav to get home from Kindergarten before she played on the playground. Gustav, unfortunately, was not so patient when he got home, and immediately climbed the tower and went down the slide before Pauline was even able to put her shoes on to go outside. Oh well, she didn't mind. It was so funny, though, because one of the first things that Gustav said was, "Wir mussen nie wieder auf dem Spielplatz gehen!" (We never have to go to the playground again). They're both so happy and excited about their new playground. To be honest, I am too. It's going to be a lot of fun this summer.

Meh...

So my intention was to write about this past weekend while Pauline was playing with Jette today. That obviously didn't happen. Jette was supposed to come over here to play with Pauline this morning for a couple of hours while Britta went shopping, and then she was going to take both of the girls until after lunch. Instead, Pauline stayed here alone with me all day because Jette woke up with a fever. I was really looking forward to that little bit of alone time because, with Maria on vacation all week, this is sure to be a long, rough week for me. Oh well.

It wasn't so bad having Pauline at home today. With their new playground built in the garden (it was finished yesterday afternoon) she at least has something new and exciting to keep her entertained during the day. Plus, we took a little drive to Weiden to the shopping center, and we made oatmeal raisin cookie dough, which became cookies this evening after dinner. All in all it was a good day, until it was time to pick up Gustav and take the kids to their gymnastics (basically 45 minutes of play time that involves a little bit of gymnastic-like exercises), which Gustav turns into a big ordeal every week. As soon as we walked in the door, both kids started crying. I don't understand what Gustav's problem is, since he had a great time doing this last week. Pauline was really tired, and I think she's getting a little sick, so that's what was wrong with her. Anyway, I eventually just grabbed Pauline and walked out because I was tired of trying to calm her down, and Amelie was stuck in the car because I was going to walk her while the kids where doing their thing. Poor Amelie always gets shafted on days when I have to take care of the kids all day. Not only were both of the kids crying for essentially no reason, but they were arguing with each other, and Gustav was hitting Pauline every time he got annoyed with her. He's really aggressive toward her right now.

Anyway, the main point of this rambling is that I'm tired, and I didn't have time to write about my weekend. I'm not going to do it now, either, because I don't have the energy or desire to write a decent blog at the moment. We'll give this another try tomorrow.

Things have been a little crazy/busy lately. In a way time has just been flying by, and yet at the same time this past week has been dragging on forever.

Last Friday was a rough day for Pauline. First, she was playing around in the sink while she was supposed to be washing her hands (as usual) and she somehow managed to hit her face on the sink. She hit her mouth, and it cut open the inside of her upper lip, so she was bleeding a little bit. Then, when we went to take Amelie out in the afternoon, I decided to hook up the child seat to the bike so that we could take Amelie on a real walk and let her enjoy running around a bit. I had Pauline in the seat but had dropped the house key on the floor next to the bicycle. I told Pauline to sit still for a second and bent down to pick up the key. So what does Pauline do? She leans as far to the other side as she possibly can, causing the bike to fall over away from where I was standing. It scared the shit out of her. Luckily she already had a helmet on and she didn't try to use her arms to stop herself from falling, so she didn't actually get hurt, but she was really scared. Then, in the evening while Esther was out in the garden, Pauline was playing in the flower bed, slipped, and fell into the roses. She got 2 thorns in her foot and got a scratch as wide as her foot across the bottom of her arch. She was obviously not a happy camper. The poor thing basically went straight to bed once Esther got the thorns out of her foot.

Friday was also an interesting day for Gustav. They conducted a speech test that day at the Kindergarten. It's something that every child is required to do, usually at the age of 4, to make sure that they will be ready to start school in terms of their language and speaking abilities. They did the test in small groups, and basically it was just a series of little games in which the kids had to do a lot of speaking. How did Gustav do? He failed. Miserably. Apparently he simply refused to participate and sat there with his arms crossed the whole time without saying a word. All he had to do was talk, which he does all the time, and he refused. Esther was so mad, but Olaf thought it was hilarious. That's probably because what Gustav did was an Olaf characteristic, and one that Esther has a hard time dealing with. Nonetheless, Olaf took Gustav to buy his first bicycle after he picked him up from the Kindergarten. Gustav's still a little unsure of it, and spends more time on his laufrad, but he's really excited about his bike.

Saturday was more or less a good day. The only problem really was that Gustav was being excessively whiny all day. He was really fussy about everything, and he cried for about 20 minutes simply because he didn't want to learn how to take his bike helmet off. Everything was cause for a hissy fit, in his opinion. In the late afternoon we all went over to the Wievers' for a barbecue. Unfortunately it got cold and then started raining, so we were inside pretty much the whole time, but it was still a lot of fun. David said my name for the first time, too. He has this little dancing cow that sang "My Girl" and danced when you squeezed its hoof. He came running over to me holding it and saying, "Manda! Manda!" to show it to me and have me turn it on for him. It was really cute.

Sunday was a little rough. Gustav threw up in his bed Saturday night, and again on the sofa Sunday morning. That explains why he was being so fussy on Saturday. We were all supposed to go with the neighbors to a community swimming pool, but instead Esther stayed home with Gustav and Olaf and I took Pauline. I don't know why Esther and Olaf didn't switch, since Olaf hates swimming pools, but whatever. Pauline wrapped herself around Olaf's neck and clung to him like a monkey, and that's where she stayed for the first half of the time we were there. She refused to let go of him for any reason, whether it was to grab a toy, or to come to me, or whatever. Eventually Olaf convinced her to go down the slide, and that's what she did for the rest of the time we were there. I tried to take a picture of her on the slide, but the lifeguard came out and told me that I had to put the camera away because we're not allowed to take pictures. Really?! That's about the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Olaf said that it's to prevent people from selling pictures to child pornography rings, but still. It's not like there's a law against taking pictures elsewhere in public. I don't know. I just think it was kind of annoying.

After we got back from the swimming pool we went over to Britta's to have lunch with the family. Gustav was feeling a little better, but still didn't feel like eating anything, so he, Malte, Jette and Pauline basically just hung out and played the whole time.

On Monday Gustav stayed home with me. He could've gone to the Kindergarten I'm sure, but Esther had him stay home just in case. He and I played with Legos literally all day until we had to go pick up Pauline in the afternoon. Esther didn't get much sleep over the weekend because of Gustav, so she stayed home and slept the whole afternoon, pretty much until it was time for me to go to class.

Tuesday was a normal day, but yesterday really sucked. Tuesday night I hardly slept at all because I felt like crap. It felt kind of like I was dehydrated, which didn't make sense because I'd been drinking water all day, and I felt like I had to throw up. Something was wrong with Pauline, too, because she started crying and screaming uncontrollably in the middle of the night. I woke up at about 7 in the morning because I had to throw up, and then I took a quick shower to try to calm my body down before I went back to bed. At 8 Esther came and woke me up to ask me to take Amelie for a walk and inform me that Pauline was staying home from Maria's because she was sick. Awesome. I can never be sick on my own; I always have to have a kid home sick that I need to take care of at the same time. So Olaf left in the morning, Esther took Gustav to the Kindergarten and then went to her office. She had an appointment at 10, so she had to be there for that, but then she was going to come back at 11 and take over so that I could relax and recover. I got a phone call from her at 10:30 saying her client was late and asking if I could make it until 12. Then at 12 I got another phone call saying she wouldn't make it until 1. I basically sat on the sofa in a stupor the whole time (except for when I had to go throw up again) because I was too tired and too miserable to do anything. I did get some of the laundry folded, though. Pauline was feeling way better than me, but was still tired and wanted to cuddle, so it wasn't so bad that I wasn't able to do anything.

After Esther got home I basically went straight to bed. That was the only thing I wanted to do. I had made some chicken noodle soup from scratch for me and Pauline while we waited for Esther, but the smell of food as I was cooking made me feel sick so I didn't eat any of it. I put on a movie on my computer for some background noise (and to muffle the sounds of Pauline in case she decided to be loud for whatever reason) and got into bed. Esther woke me up a couple hours later because we needed to take Amelie for a walk. She had been downstairs with Pauline (who threw up again in Esther's bed while the 2 of them were trying to take a nap) and Gustav watching a puppet show on DVD. I took Amelie for a quick walk, and then Esther ran to the store to get some pretzel sticks for me and Pauline and to pick up a pizza for her and Gustav. Once Esther got back I took a package of pretzels and a bottle of water upstairs, got a cold, damp washcloth for my head, found a website where I could watch "Mulan" and went to bed. For a while I was just lying there, chowing down on pretzels and feeling miserable, but eventually I fell asleep.

When I woke up this morning, I felt way better. There was no more nausea or anything, I just felt a little bit tired/weak. I slept in my clothes last night, so I just hopped out of bed and took Amelie for a walk while Esther got herself ready for work. When I got back I helped Gustav get finished, then dropped him off at the Kindergarten and came back to take care of Pauline. Since yesterday was still kind of rough for her she stayed home again today. Before she left to go to her office Esther brought a new game out of the cellar for me and Pauline to play so that Pauline had something new and exciting to do. It's a fishing game, where these little cardboard fish (there's also a bottle, a treasure chest, a can, and a boot) with metal rings in them go in a box, and using a magnetic "fishing pole" you fish them out and add up the points. Pauline's still too young to understand or care about points or winning, so we basically just sat around retrieving the fish out of the box so that we could put them all back in and start over again. That was most of our day. Pauline took a nap, too. At first she complained that she didn't want to go to her bed, and I didn't expect her to sleep at all, but she got in her bed and passed out. I woke her up 2 hours later and she was really reluctant to get out of bed. Hopefully this nap won't keep her from sleeping tonight. We shall see how that goes.