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.