Vacation is over :(

And man, is it over! First of all, they came home with 4 large suitcases full of dirty laundry which I now get to do. Hooray. And then there's the constant noise. The family was here for maybe an hour last night, and as soon as Gustav got into bed he started in with the milk bit. Not joking, within the span of 1 minute, he (loudly) posed 3 questions regarding his milk bottle from his bed: "I want a milk!"...pause..."Mama, are you making my milk?!"...pause..."When is my milk ready?!" Ok, so the first comment wasn't technically a question, but you get the point. You would think that, at midnight, when they just got home from a 2 week vacation and everyone is exhausted and wants to go to bed, he could let the milk bit go for just one night. Apparently not. Then, at 4:15 in the morning, I was woken up by Pauline yelling and crying and screaming at the top of her lungs because she had "Beinschmerzen." By 8 am the kids were fully awake, and at around 9 am I was again awakened by the obnoxious sound of a child screaming and yelling and crying. This time it was Gustav, sitting on the toilet (which, by the way, is directly across the hall from my bedroom door) throwing a fit because nobody would come to wipe his butt for him. So my brief sojourn in the realm of peace and tranquility has come to an end, and its passing has been "commemorated" with a 21-gun-salute, fired into a nitroglycerin plant during a nuclear blast while the world's worst marching band plays "76 Trombones" and Jim Carrey belts "the most annoying sound in the world" into a megaphone. Awesome.

That being said, it was nice to see the family again. The kids were so excited to see me when I picked them up at the airport. As soon as they came through the door from the baggage check, the kids (who were both half asleep, since it was 10 pm) came running over to me to give me a hug. Pauline immediately wanted me to pick her up, and she stayed on my arm until we put her in the car. She even came with me to go pay the parking fee (here you usually pay at a machine before you get in the car instead of paying at the exit) instead of going with Esther and Olaf to the car. She and Gustav both held my hand the whole way home, too, even while they were sleeping.

Amelie and I really enjoyed our little vacation. We went jogging almost every morning, we were walking in the woods, and I took her to a lake nearby in Hürth a couple of times, including yesterday afternoon. She loves the lake, probably even more than she loves the woods. She always has a stick that she carries around with her, and at the lake she's actually willing to hand it over, which she otherwise never does. That's because I throw the stick into the lake, and she gets to go swimming. She has such a blast in the water, and it's perfect for her in the hot weather. Even though it's now officially fall, we basically just got our summer weather. We had a pretty mild, somewhat cool and occasionally rainy summer, but at the end of last week it started to get warm, and now we're supposed to have hot, sunny days for at least another week. That's not so fun for Amelie because she get's too hot and then doesn't have the energy or desire to go for walks or play. But at the lake, she can go swimming to get cooled off, and she gets her exercise in the water instead of having to run through the fields in the hot sun. And it's also wooded there, so she can still go running through the trees and I can enjoy the beautiful leaves, which are starting to turn.

On another high note, I'm actually allowed to play soccer now! I've been playing for over a year, but "officially" I haven't really been allowed to. At first I never registered with the club, because I wasn't sure how much longer I was going to be in Germany and I really was just happy to be able to kick the ball around and participate in practices with the team at all. Then I didn't register because the coach stepped down and we weren't sure if there was going to be a new coach at all. Then, once that all got figured out, I finally filled out the application to become a member of the team. The only problem was, in order for me to be permitted to play as a member of any soccer club in an official league in Germany, I first had to get clearance from a central agency. Man, the Germans are ridiculous with their bureaucracy! Anyway, that took probably about 2 months, because they first had to contact my old soccer club in California to verify that I was no longer a member and that there had been a long enough period of time between now and the last time I played with them. Shouldn't have even been a question, considering that I haven't played soccer in 8 years, but whatever. At first we worried that it was going to take forever to get the clearance, since god only knows who, if anyone, in the Temecula-Murrieta Soccer Club has my player pass or knows anything about my involvement with the club anymore. But we got the word last Tuesday that I was cleared to play, and I played in my first official German soccer game Sunday afternoon. I was terribly nervous, as I always was when I was playing soccer, but I got to start and I played the whole game. I didn't do too bad, either. We tied 1:1, which was kind of crap because we should have had at least 4 goals in the first half alone. But it was a lot of fun, and I'm super excited that I get to play every week now.

Aahh, vacation!

Ok, so technically I'm not actually on vacation. But the family is, which basically means I am too. Sure, I have a few small tasks here around the house, like watering the plants, mowing the lawn, and, most importantly, taking care of Amelie while they're in Djerba for the 2 weeks. But really I'm probably having more of a vacation than they are. First of all, since the kids refuse to go to the FlipperClub, where they would be fully entertained for the entire day, that means 24/7 parenting duties for Esther and Olaf. Not vacation. Second, Olaf sent me a text last week saying that Esther (along with about 50% of the guests at the hotel) was sick with some sort of stomach flu and was lying in bed for several days. I'm guessing that it was probably food poisoning, since such a huge percentage of the people there had it, but either way, that really sucks. I, on the other hand, have had complete and utter quiet here at home. I get to sleep in the morning because the kids aren't screaming and fighting with each other or with Esther. I can also sleep through the night because they're not waking up screaming and crying that they have to pee or want another bottle of milk. Amelie and I go jogging in the morning and then walking in the afternoon, sometimes in the woods, when I feel like it instead of sometime around 3 so that I can pick up the kids at 4. I'm also able to make it to soccer practice on time, since I don't have to wait for Esther to get home and I'm able to take the car instead of having to catch a train. And the best part: this doesn't count as vacation for me, so I'm still getting paid for these 2 weeks without it counting against my 4 weeks of vacation time. Not bad. Not bad at all.

I just got a text message from Olaf, too. He said that Gustav misses me. Apparently he tried calling me at around 11:30 this morning but I was out jogging with Amelie so I missed it, and I can't call him back because he has it set up that all calls go directly to his voicemail because he's on vacation and doesn't want to be bothered. But then he sent a text saying that Gustav misses me, so I sent one back saying to tell the family hi and to give the kids a kiss from me. Maybe they'll call back and I can tell the little guy hello myself.

This is why I still love the little bastard :)

Some of you may already know that Gustav and I have not been the best of friends for the past few months or so. That's primarily due to the fact that I'm usually the only adult in this house that tells him there will be consequences and actually means it. For example, when I tell him that we're all sitting down to eat dinner now, and that if he would rather fart around and be a pain in my neck than eat his dinner (which generally only happens when he has friends over) then he can go to bed without dinner because there will be nothing to eat later, I actually send him to bed without dinner. Or if I say that he needs to hurry up and get ready for bed so that he can watch Sandmännchen (which comes on every night at 6:45) then he better do it, because I refuse to record it on the DVR while he screams and cries and tries to hit me so that I can later reward him for his crappy behavior by allowing him to stay up a half hour longer to watch the show he wants but doesn't deserve to see. But I feel it's necessary to show him that there are consequences for his poor attitude and complete disrespect, because he's really become a little turd. The fact that I have been so "strict" with him has caused him to tell me that he hates me, or that I should leave and never come back, or that he wishes I had never come here, things like that.

But things are starting to look up. Of course we still have our problems, but he has been doing things recently that really remind me of what a good kid he actually is, and why I love him. First, Esther had a dream a couple weeks ago that we were all sitting at the table and I said, "Btw, I quit. I'm leaving tomorrow." When she told about the dream, Gustav told her how horrible that would be if I were to leave. Then, last week we were in the car and I was driving a group of kids to a birthday party. Gustav (who has always been extremely opposed to anything involving English) asked me what "Liebe" was in English. Then he asked, "Wie heisst 'Ich liebe dich'?" So I told him, and he responded, "Ja, das wollte ich sagen. I love you, Amanda." He told me he loves me. In English! It almost brought a tear to my eye, it was the sweetest thing ever. And yesterday, he drew me a picture in Kindergarten. A real picture. He usually just puts a few blobs down on a piece of paper and has no idea or explanation for what they are. In fact, since he drew the Easter Bunny and St. Nick when he was 4, I don't think he's even attempted to make a real picture. But for me he drew a hill with 2 cherry trees, a couple flowers, a man, a sun, clouds, and even a mushroom. And you can totally tell what each thing is, too. And he drew it just for me! No matter what kind of hateful things he sometimes says, I know he loves me, and it's things like this that will make it impossible for me to ever not love him.

I hate the internet!!!

So...I tried to write about my trip to Copenhagen at the beginning of the week, and due to our totally worthless internet connection I was unable to complete the blog during the week, and I just tried to hurry and finish it but about half of what I typed didn't save. Bullcrap! Now I'm not going to be at home for the weekend, but I promise that at the beginning of the week I will finish and post my blog.

København

Here it is! As it should have appeared a week ago...

Elena and I had so much fun this weekend in Copenhagen! Of course it went by too fast, and it would have been nice to have more time to relax and see everything thoroughly without having to rush or walk until we dropped over each day, but we definitely had a great time.

Our trip began Thursday night at around 8:30, when Elena and I met at the station in Köln. The train wasn't scheduled to leave until just before 9:30, but I've already had one unfortunate experience with missing a train for a long journey, so we got there a little early to make sure it didn't happen again. As we were sitting on the platform eating some chow mien and waiting for the train to get there, we heard an announcement that it was actually almost 1 hour delayed. So we had to wait a little longer, but it wasn't so bad. We just opened up a bottle of sparkling wine and a package of chocolate donuts while we waited.

The train ride itself was not so pleasant. It was an all night train, but we booked too late to get a cabin with beds, which meant we were in a small room with 4 other people, along with everyone's luggage. There was no room to lay down or get comfortable enough to sleep, and it was really hot. My feet were so hot that it felt like they were on fire, partially because it was simply so warm and stuffy in the cabin, and partly because my feet were swollen because I never got the chance to put my feet up and let the blood flow back out of them. Not to mention I had forgotten my traveling companion (the little green frog neck pillow that I always take with me when I fly or have a long train ride) and that made it a little more difficult to fall asleep while sitting up. At some point in the middle of the night I grabbed my blanket and went into the hallway where I could open the window and get some fresh air without disturbing everyone. Then, with the window open, I laid down on the floor as close to the wall as possible so that there was still room to walk by, and that's where I slept. When we got to the Danish border in the morning the police came through and woke up every passenger to do a passport check. Although Denmark is part of the EU, they started controlling their borders again in April of this year. Elena got slightly worried, because when the police officer saw her Ukrainian passport he spent about 3 minutes to thoroughly read and double check every detail of her visa to be sure she was permitted to be there. But there was no problem. After that, though, I had to stay in my seat in the cabin because we aren't actually allowed to hang out in the walkways like that. At that point there were only a couple hours left in our journey, though, so it wasn't too bad.

When we got to the train station in Copenhagen, the next step was to find the buses and figure out which direction to go in. I had already looked it up online at home and knew which bus to take and how many stops we had to go, it was just a matter of getting on the bus traveling in the right direction, which wasn't really a big deal. What was actually more difficult was determining where and how to buy our tickets. We only had Euro, and Denmark still uses their own Danish krone. I had asked the bus driver if we could pay with Euro, but we couldn't. So we went back into the train station to find an ATM so I could pull out money and went back to the bus stop. We didn't have to wait very long for the bus, only a couple of minutes, and then it was only 2 stops until we were at the station where we needed to get off and a short walk around the corner to the Danhostel Copenhagen Downtown, where we were staying.

The hostel was really cool. If anyone ever takes a trip to Copenhagen and is looking to save a little money on accommodations, I highly recommend it. In the lobby/reception area they have a bar, lots of seating areas, a pool table, a Foosball table, a full kitchen available for everyone's use, and a cozy little corner with lots of pillows and cushions to relax, read a book, or take a nap. It has a really laid back atmosphere, and although we were in a room with 6 strangers, we felt really at home.

It was not yet noon when we got there, and check-in was at 2, so we had a little time to waste. At first we thought we would just hang out there in the lounge and relax a little bit until we were able to check in, but then we realized that that was way too long to just sit around and do nothing. We carried our luggage into the storage area in the basement, grabbed something to eat at the burger joint on the corner (we had smelled it as we passed by earlier, and it smelled so good that we couldn't resist) and then we headed out into the city. We didn't really have a goal or destination, we were just wandering around to get a feel for things and maybe figure out what looked interesting that we would check out in more detail over the next couple of days. The city itself was beautiful. It's really pleasant to just walk along the canals and look at all of the ships and the buildings.

After we were able to check in at the hostel, we made our beds and then got ourselves a little bit cleaned up and refreshed, which was extremely necessary after the long train ride, before we went back out to see more of the city. Again, we didn't have a destination we were trying to get to, so we just roamed around checking things out. In the process we came across a painted elephant statue, one of 100 in Copenhagen, which was part of the Elephant Parade to help raise money for elephant conservation projects. We took a picture with the elephant, and decided that we were going to try to take a picture of each elephant statue we saw.

In the evening we took a walk along the canal in Nyhavn, which is accurately described in my travel guidebook as the biggest tourist trap in Copenhagen, but nonetheless a must-see. It was so beautiful to walk along the canal as night fell and to see all the lights reflecting off the water. The whole street was lined with little cafes and every one of them was busy. Elena and I picked one near the end of the row and ordered ourselves a bottle of wine and a bite to eat and just sat there enjoying the ambiance of the city. Afterward we were too tired/lazy to walk all the back to the hostel, so we took a rickshaw taxi back. Then we hung out in the bar at the hostel and played a couple rounds of pool before going to bed. Although it had been a long day and we both expected to be asleep by 10 pm, it was almost 2 in the morning when we finally went to sleep. That wasn't a bad thing, though, because we knew we didn't have to get up particularly early and we were having a great time.

On Saturday morning we took our time waking up and getting ready. It was around 11 when we went down to the lobby, and since breakfast was already winding down we decided to go elsewhere for food. The first thing we thought of was this little sandwich shop right there on the corner. When we walked by the day before, there was a line out the door waiting to order lunch there, so we figured it must be pretty good if so many people are willing to wait. We were standing outside, attempting to decipher a menu and debating whether or not that's what we really wanted, when a man walking by said to us that this place had the best sandwiches in all of Copenhagen and that we needed to eat there. So we did, and he was right. Elena ordered a sandwich with mozzarella and sundried tomatoes, and I had one with chicken salad. That was seriously the best sandwich I've ever eaten. It's too bad that they were closed on Sunday, because I wanted to go back there for lunch again, and to order an extra sandwich to take on the train for dinner. I definitely know where I'm going for lunch if I ever make it back to Copenhagen.

Once our hunger was satisfied we started out again, this time with a few actual intended destinations. First was a church (Vor Frelsers Kirke) that we had stumbled upon the day before, with a spiral staircase on the outside of the top of the tower, which we wanted to climb. On the way there we passed by Christiansborg palace which we somehow missed on Friday, so we checked that out a little bit, too. We didn't go inside the palace, but we did go beneath it to see the ruins of the middle ages castle that used to stand in that spot. Then we headed to the church, and it was a perfect day to climb the tower. It was warm and sunny, and the sky was clear so we could see everything. It was kind of crazy, though. The stairs go up the tower until it tapers off so much that they simply can't go any further, and you can climb all the way up until that point. Kind of neat, actually.

The next destination was Rosenborg Slot, a 17th century castle with beautiful gardens. Actually, the gardens are more like a giant park, and people use it today as a public park. There are 2 members of the Danish guard that stand watch outside the palace. More specifically, they patrol the entrance to the treasury, and once you're inside it's clear to see why. There is so much gold and ivory and jewelry in there. The crowns in particular were impressive. After we saw the treasury we went inside the palace, which was equally well decorated. There was one room off to the side of the throne room that was lined from floor to ceiling with shelves filled with expensive porcelain. At first Elena wasn't sure that she wanted to take the time or spend the money to go inside at all, but she was definitely glad that I made her.

Although it seems in writing like we didn't see or do very much, it was a lot of walking and we were pretty tired after visiting the castle, so we went back to the hostel to relax for a little bit. After we got cleaned and rested up, I asked the girls at the reception where they would recommend to go for good, traditional Danish food. What was the response? There is no such thing as Danish food. Huh? Yeah, after discussing it with them further I learned that they simply didn't like traditional Danish food because they think it's too fatty, but of course there's such a thing as Danish food. So they pointed out on the map where a restaurant was, and Elena and I headed out. Unfortunately they told us the wrong street corner, and we had to wander around a bit to find it, since there was nothing there which even resembled a restaurant. When we did get there, the waiter explained that if we really wanted traditional Danish food, we would have to come at lunch because what the Danes eat for dinner is the same as what we would eat for dinner (like roasted chicken and potatoes, that kind of thing). So we decided we would simply head back in the direction of the hostel, where we knew there were a lot of cafes, and somewhere we would have to see something that was "typical Danish" enough. What we found was a cafe that served something called Pariserbøf, which is kind of like a Danish version of a hamburger and which apparently can't be found outside of Denmark. It's a big patty of ground beef on a slice of bread, garnished with pickled beets, onions, fresh horse radish, and capers, complete with raw egg yolks (in this case pasteurized) to go on top. Sounds pretty gross to some people, I'm sure, but I loved it.

After dinner we hung out in the lobby at the hostel for a little while longer before heading out for our last planned event of the day. Just down the street from the hostel, about 2 minutes by foot, was the Ice Bar Copenhagen, which is from the same people that build the Ice Hotel in Sweden. Once I saw the Ice Bar, I knew we had to go in to check it out. They have 3 different cover charges, each one including entry into the bar and a certain number of drinks. We paid 200 DKK each, which got us each 2 alcoholic cocktails once inside the bar. Before you go in they put a giant, heavy fur-lined waterproof poncho over you, and in case you don't have proper footwear you can borrow a pair of boots. When you get inside, it's pretty much exactly what you'd expect: a bar made of ice. They had tables, a chandelier, chairs, a tip jar, everything made of ice. The cups were made of ice, too. They were basically giant hollowed out ice cubes. The bar itself wasn't too exciting, by which I mean it wasn't exactly a place you would go to spend the night socializing, dancing, partying, whatever. But it was definitely a really cool experience.

Back at the hostel we played a few rounds of pool again, but this time not by ourselves. We had met a couple of German guys that morning who were staying at the hostel (one of them was actually in our room) and we played with them. There was also a group of 4 Danish guys there, each of them wearing a different crazy hat, and we were talking to them and hanging out while they threw darts. That wasn't so great for Elena, because she doesn't speak English (and the Scandinavians speak impeccable English) and they didn't speak German, but I don't think it bothered her too much that I had to translate. She did go to bed earlier than I did, though. She left for the room at a little before 1 and I stayed in the lobby until they kicked us out at 2.

Sunday morning we had to get up a little earlier because we had to check out by 10 am. It was no big deal, though, since we just took our stuff into the storage room in the basement, checked out, and then basically continued our day as if we were still staying at the hostel. We ate breakfast at the hostel this time and relaxed in the lobby while we planned out our day. There was a row of windmills in the water that Elena wanted to walk to and see up close, and we had to make our way over to the statue of the little mermaid. There were a few other things I wanted to see, but we were pretty beat, so we just planned a course that would take us past these other things so that I could take a picture and call it a day.

It didn't quite work out the way we planned because we couldn't figure out how to get to the windmills and realized, after putting way too much time and energy into walking in their direction, that they were too far away, anyway. So we turned around and headed in the direction of the statue, which was also further away than we realized. But along the way we passed by the citadel, and got to see the St. Albans Church, which is my favorite building that we saw during the whole trip. It's not very Scandinavian in terms of style (or function, since it's an Anglican Church), but it looks really cool, and it's in a beautiful setting. Then it was just a short walk until we reached the little mermaid statue, which sits on a pile of rocks just a few feet out in the water. It took a little while to get some good pictures there because there were so many tourists all standing in the way and trying to take their own pictures, but I think we got some good ones.

On the way back to the hostel we had planned a route that would take us past a couple of other really cool looking churches, but we took a wrong turn and were far too exhausted to care. We both noticed that as the day went on our pace got progressively slower, and our legs could hardly carry us anymore. We thought we were going to drop over by the time we got back to the hostel. We had done so much walking over the 3 days that our feet hurt and we couldn't feel our legs, so it wasn't the end of the world that we didn't get to look at a church or two. Back at the hostel we laid down on the mattresses in the little meditation/relaxation corner for about an hour with our feet up to recover. Then we went across the street to the cafe for lunch. Elena ordered traditional meatballs with potato salad and I ordered herring with a creamy dill sauce. Both were typical Danish, and both were very good. Though, I must say, the meatballs were much better than the fish, and I was glad that Elena couldn't finish her meal and I got to eat the rest.

After lunch we were able to put our feet up for a little bit longer before heading back to the train station for the long ride home. This time we walked to the station instead of taking a bus, since we now knew exactly where to go and that it wasn't all that far to walk. The train ride itself was much more pleasant, too. At first we were really worried because there were probably about 100 boyscouts in their early teens who were getting on the train with us, and we thought for sure we were going to be stuck in a cabin with 4 loud, obnoxious, stinky boys who were going to make it impossible for us to sleep. Boy, did we luck out! For the entire 12 hour trip there was only one other girl in our cabin. We all had plenty of room to spread out and get as comfortable as one possibly can in such a cramped little space. Plus, I was next to the window and was therefore able to control the thermostat, meaning I was able to keep it as cold as possible at all times. Eventually I actually laid down on the floor because I was able to completely stretch out my legs that way, and then I was able to sleep. At first Elena was concerned that I must've been uncomfortable and she kept trying to rearrange luggage and whatnot to make it better, but eventually I was able to convince her that I was actually quite comfortable, and we were both able to get some sleep.

We arrived back in Köln at around 6:30 Monday morning. We were both sad that our trip had to end so soon, but of course thrilled that we were able to go at all. Once we got back we both went our separate ways, each of us then going direct home and into bed. Elena had to go to work at 6 that evening, and not much was really expected of me here at home for that day. And, needless to say, Amelie was absolutely ecstatic when I walked through the door. She followed me directly up into my room and we both went to sleep. A good end to a great trip, I would say.

So, I've survived my first semester at the University. I don't know yet whether or not I actually accomplished anything, though. The system here is totally different than at home. For example, I didn't take a single test, give any sort of presentation, or hand in any homework. For any of the 5 courses I took. Yeah, it's as weird for me as it sounds, too. That means that I won't actually be graded on this past semester. Instead I'm hoping to get 3 pieces of paper which certify that I was present at lectures for the semester, which will give me 2 Credit Points for each of those 3 courses. We'll see if I get those. As for the other 2 courses, I don't need that paper for Latin because I will be graded at the end of the second semester, and I already know that I missed too many lectures from the colloquium to get the credit for it. Hopefully this past semester was more than just a mere learning experience and I actually get some credit for it.

The Kindergarten has vacation for 3 weeks now, too, which means that last week was a full week for me. I spent the night at Elena's on Sunday night because that was when we got together to celebrate our birthdays at her apartment. Then the work started immediately when I got home Monday morning. Not only did I have Gustav and Pauline, but also their 8-year-old cousin Marlene, who was here visiting for the first time without her parents. When she's here, pretty much all the kids do is literally run up and down the stairs, from the top floor to the basement, all day. Seriously. Not only is that annoying, but also extremely distracting when Olaf is downstairs trying to work in his office. So I took the kids to the zoo in Köln for the day on Monday to get them out of the house. The kids love going to the zoo. And there were so many precious baby animals there! Since I was so exhausted from the night before, though, I didn't mind so much when the kids wanted to play on the playground instead of going to see more animals; it gave me a chance to sit down and relax. We were at the zoo all day, until around 5 in the afternoon, I think, so when we got home it was pretty much time for dinner and for the kids to go to bed.
Tuesday wasn't so exciting, but still a lot of work for me with the kids running around. They didn't do the usual with the stairs, and they were all playing really well together, so we stayed at home instead of planning another outing. That gave me a chance to start on the laundry a little bit.
Wednesday I had to take Marlene to the Hauptbahnhof to meet her dad so they could go back to Bielefeld. I got the kids dressed and made them some breakfast before we left, and then we drove to the S-Bahn station here in Königsdorf to take the train into Köln. We almost missed the train because Gustav wouldn't get in the car. He doesn't seem to understand the concept of talking and doing something else at the same time. So he stood next to the car and insisted that he tell me something instead of just telling me while he got in and put on his seat belt. Then he started crying when I told him to just get in the car and tell me on the way. When we got to the station, there was no place to park, and I had 3 minutes to park the car, get the kids up the stairs, across the bridge, and back down the stairs to the platform, and buy Marlene a ticket before the train came. We barely made it, but we made it. When we got to Köln Johannes was already there waiting. We handed over Marlene, said goodbye, and the kids and I hopped back on the train and went home. In the afternoon I took both of the kids along with Federica (the little girl from next door) and Amelie into the woods for a walk. The kids had a blast. They pretended that they were wild cats that had been taken from the zoo and released into the woods, and they collected blackberries which we brought home for them to eat.
Thursday was another full day. Florian came over in the morning at around 11 to spend the day with Gustav. The 3 kids and I took a few bowls and Amelie into the field to go pick blackberries along the edge of the field where the S-Bahn track is. There are tons of berries over there. The kids had a great time, although they for some reason continuously neglected the berries that they could reach and kept looking for ones that were too high or to far in the bush for them to get. Nonetheless we were able to pick about 3 or 4 pounds worth of berries, which we then turned into jam. Then there were also the berries that Pauline crammed in her face on the way back home, and the ones that Amelie herself picked off the bush and ate. That was precious. Later in the afternoon Lena came to play with Pauline, so then there 4 kids running around here. The sun came out for a little while, though, so they were able to play in the garden and that was nice.
On Friday I got to relax. The family left in the morning to spend the weekend with the Schwarzes, who moved to Hamburg in February. That was a nice experience for the kids especially, to get to see Jette and Malte again. They took Amelie with them this time, too, so I was completely free from Friday morning on. That was nice. I really enjoyed the peace and quiet, since I hadn't had any of that all week. I'm not so sure that Amelie was so excited to be going, though. She looked absolutely traumatized when she saw me carry her bed out of my room and put it next to the front door. She probably thought I was kicking her out, the poor little thing. When Olaf tried to put her in the car, she stood in the entryway at my feet, looking back and forth between Olaf and me as he stood by the car calling her. It was as if she was waiting for me to go with her. She looked so sad. I really think it would kill her if she had to live without me.
Saturday I went to Aachen with Dennis, which was the first time that I was actually in the city. All in all it wasn't that interesting, but then again it was raining, and Dennis isn't really the sight-seeing touristy type, anyway. In the evening we drove to a friend's house to grill. The men sat outside in the garden drinking beer for the first couple of hours while the women sat inside for a Tupperware party. That was my first Tupperware party, and all I can say is, I will never do the Tupperware party thing. It's just a bunch of women sitting around, talking about Tupperware, discussing how good or convenient certain products are for (or because of) the kids, and debating whether or not to spend the 40 Euro on the ravioli form. Then we made a recipe that the hostess had previously selected, using only Tupperware products. We made a radish dip and a savory bread, which was actually really good. The whole thing was just way too stereotypical 1950s housewife for me, though. But the barbecue party afterward was a lot of fun. We stayed with the couple there in their apartment so that we didn't have to drive all the home in the middle of the night, and I was back here on the sofa at around 11 or so Sunday morning. The family didn't get back until really late on Sunday, so I slept on the sofa all day. It was a good day.

The last couple of days we've actually had hot weather and abundant sunshine, for the first time in about 6 weeks. It's been pretty warm, but overcast and raining a lot. So, needless to say, Olaf busted out the grill Monday evening, and the Wiewers came by to grill with us. Yesterday afternoon I picked up Jörg at around 3 and then we grabbed the kids from the Kindergarten (Gustav and Pauline are spending this week and next week at the Catholic Kindergarten in Königsdorf, where David and Fabio go) and drove to the public swimming pool in Frechen. We were only there for about an hour and a half, and the kids spent the whole time in the wading pool instead of really going into the water, but that was enough for them. Then we all went back to the Wiewers to barbecue. Olaf and Esther came by briefly at around 6:30 in the evening. They were on their way into Köln to go to the ballet. They didn't stay long because they had a train to catch, though. At around 7:30 the film that the kids were watching was over, so I loaded them into the car and we drove home to put them in bed.

Today is pretty much a normal day. The kids are in Kindergarten, it's raining again, and I'm going to go watch over Elif for a couple of hours so that Güner can go shopping. That's about it for today. Tomorrow, however, I will be packing my suitcase for the weekend and taking a night train with Elena into Denmark. A new adventure awaits...

So...
After 9 months of bureaucracy, hours of studying and fighting with a slightly dysfunctional computer program, 3 unnecessary hours worth of "lessons" with an official instructor, several pointless bus trips to Bergheim, and a total of about 600 Euro, I finally have a driver's license. On June 14, I took the written test, which around 30% of Germans fail, and aced it. Then last week on Monday I took the behind-the-wheel test and passed that one, too. I had to take the test in an automatic, because I've never driven a car with a manual transmission, and therefore there is a restriction on my license that I am not permitted to drive any vehicle with a stick, but that's ok. So Friday morning I was able to take the bus to Bergheim to pick up my license, and today I drove the new car, which they bought in January, for the first time. And now I don't have to pick up the kids with the stupid bike and scooters anymore. I am a happy camper.

I tried to be good this past week and write a post. So what happens when I finally have the time to sit down and do this? "Website temporarily unavailable. Sorry for the inconvenience." What a pain in the butt.

Anyway, on Tuesday afternoon when the kids got home Gustav walked right into the house without first washing his hands, as he always tries to do. I asked him if he washed his hands and he responded, "I can't." "Why not?" "Because of this." Then he showed me his left hand and all I could reply was, "Oh my god! What happened?!" That morning Gustav wanted to help make the coffee (something which he had been asking for days to be able to do) and he was allowed to help. He poured so much water into the filter that boiling water and coffee grinds went flowing all over the counter, the floor, and Gustav. The skin on two of his fingers on his left hand boiled off instantly, and he has burn blisters on his thigh and foot. His hand is pretty nasty. To be completely honest, it was a really stupid decision to allow him to make the coffee. The kid has the coordination of a 2 year old sometimes, something which you would immediately notice if you've ever seen him eat, or run. And when he's tired (like at 7 in the morning when it's time to make coffee) it's even worse. I feel bad for poor little Gustav, and at the same time I'm irritated and a little angry that it happened in the first place. I know shit happens, and it was an accident. But it's an accident that should never have even had the possibility of happening because that kid should never have been trusted with a pot of boiling water. Luckily, though, his hand is healing really well and it doesn't seem to be bothering him.

Friday evening my friends and I kicked off our grill season at Aachener Weiher. Elena had been in the Ukraine for 2 weeks and came back Friday morning. I hadn't seen her in a while, so we decided it would be fun to meet up at Aachener Weiher to hang out and barbecue. A lot of people actually ended up showing up, which made it a lot of fun. I think it was around midnight when we finally packed up (I had to wait until all the opened food had been cooked because it was my grill) and left. We definitely plan to be doing a lot more of that during this summer.

Yesterday I went rollerblading with Dennis along the Rhein. That was a lot of fun. I'm sure we both looked like idiots, because neither of us had attempted to rollerblade in at least 10 years. But we both managed without falling, and we had a great time. That's something else that I will probably be doing a lot of this summer, at least I hope so.

Today we had a soccer game, but I didn't get to play. It was a league game and I'm still not technically a member of the team, so I'm not allowed to play. But we're working on changing that.

I hate bureaucracy!

Despite the undisputed brilliance of German precision, I've come to realize that bureaucracy is universally senseless and inefficient. Today I wasted a good 2 and a half hours of my time traveling to Bergheim to try to get my visa renewed, again, and came home with nothing. My last visa actually expired at the end of March, and in the middle of March I had started to get the ball rolling so that the renewal went quickly and smoothly. It didn't, however, because I realized it was a stupid waste of 60 Euro to renew my visa for 3 months as a language student when I could still potentially get accepted to the university and thereby receive a visa for a much longer period of time (and which would allow me to work a certain number of days in the year) for the same amount of money. So I waited. Then I received a letter from the immigrations office informing me that I had 2 weeks to renew my visa before I was reported to the authorities and would be deported. Once I got word of my acceptance I started trying to take care of my visa again. It has been nothing but a hassle for the past month. I took all of the stuff that I was told I needed to Frechen, where I was supposed to drop it off to have it sent to Bergheim to be finalized. Then I tried to make an appointment with Frau Scheer in Bergheim, who handles my visa stuff, but I couldn't because she was on vacation. So I sent her an email requesting an appointment. A few days later, I received another letter from her office telling me to take the enclosed application and my passport to Frechen to hand them over. They would then be delivered to Frau Scheer. So I did that. A week ago. The day after I handed over my passport I got another letter from Frau Scheer to tell me we had an appointment for today at 9:30 am and to please fill out this application and bring it, along with my passport. So, her office never told her that they told me to give everything to Frechen. No big deal. I figured I would just go to the appointment, she would already have my stuff, and we could get it over with. Wrong. The first thing she did was ask me for the application and my passport. When I told her I gave them to the office in Frechen last week, she informed me that it takes longer than that for documents to be delivered from the office in Frechen to her in Bergheim. That's funny, because I traveled by bus between Frechen and Bergheim within half an hour. Why does that take more than a week? So, in the end, I went home with nothing. She has to wait for everything to arrive from Frechen, then she will finish it and send it back, then I have to wait until I get the letter from Frechen, and then I can go pick up my passport with the new visa. Rad. In the meantime, I still can't make an appointment to take my driver's test because I don't have a valid visa and therefore am not legally in the country and therefore cannot obtain a driver's license. What a pain in the ass.

Oh, and because I'm an idiot, it actually took about 3 and half hours total today. The chain popped off of my bike on the way to the bus stop this morning, so I had to quickly switch with Olaf's bike and try again. The bus comes at 8:40 am, which is exactly the time that I got there, so I hopped on the bus and away I went. But it wasn't 8:40 am, it was 8:42 am, and I was on the wrong bus. I got to Brauweiler, got off, waited 5 minutes to take the bus back to Königsdorf, and then had to wait until 9:40 to catch the next bus to Bergheim. All in all it was a good day.

As far as the bike goes, I'm ready to take a sledgehammer to it. Last week the chain popped off 4 times in one day, and I only took it to the train station and back. I missed 2 trains because of it and was late to my Latin lecture that morning. I took the bike apart on the weekend and tried to fix it, and it seemed like everything was ok. When the bike is flipped over in the seat/handlebars and the tires in the air, everything works fine. As soon as I flip it back over and try to ride it, I get about 10 feet and the damned thing comes off again. I'm going to have to take it to get repaired on Wednesday.

Aside from that, it's pretty much been business as usual. On Saturday I went over to babysit Zeynep and Elif for the afternoon/evening. I love going over there to take care of them. Elif is just too freaking cute! Unfortunately Zeynep had been sick and threw up the night before, but she wasn't feeling too bad. We just took it easy anyway and watched videos and played in the house all day. We also took Amelie for a little walk in the afternoon after Elif's nap because the family was in Münster for Günther's birthday. Because they were staying the night, though, there was no room for me and Amelie, so we stayed at home. I was watching over the 2 girls for a total of 8 hours on Saturday. Last weekend I did a little babysitting, too, for 2 little boys that live down the street. I've met them before, but never babysat for them. At first I had no desire to go over there because I was tired and wanted to relax, but I ended up having a lot of fun. The oldest of the two, Markus, is 6, and Viktor is 3. They're both very well behaved and polite and helpful. They wanted to watch a movie with me, but didn't have any that were in German (the parents are Swedish) so watched Toy Story 3 in Swedish. That was pretty interesting. Then we went to the playground and played soccer for a little bit until the parents came home. Markus was so sweet. When I got a call from his mom saying they were back, he asked me if I was going to leave right away, because he wanted me to stay longer. I would've stayed, too, but I had plans for the evening. It was really cute, though. I love the kids around here.

Et tu, Brute?

Latin is killing me!! Actually, it's not so much the Latin itself as the fact that the lecture is at 8 in the morning. Which means I have to be up at 5:30 am to be sure I have enough time to walk Amelie and catch the train at 6:43. It's like working at Starbucks all over again, except worse because I'm not getting paid, and I'm learning Latin. I don't feel nearly as lost as I did on the first day, though, so that's good. And I ordered a book online yesterday so that I can learn Latin in English, just to be sure I actually understand what's going on. It's really confusing trying to learn a foreign language in a foreign language. It's like I told my mom: By the end of this first year, I'll be able to translate Latin into German and still not know what the hell it says. Actually, though, I think that learning Latin is going to help improve my German. It's going to force me to expand my vocabulary, and, it's going to improve my understanding of German grammar because I have to make sure that I'm translating into the proper tense, case, etc. As hard is it is, I think it's going to be good for me.

Oh, and since I mentioned the new hair-do, here's a picture of it.

Happy Easter!

Ok, so I seriously fail at the whole blog thing. Things have been a little (extremely) hectic the past couple of months, and usually I just don't have the energy or desire to sit down and write an update when I have the time for it. Since it's obviously been a ridiculously long time since my last update, I'm just going to give the highlights for now, and then once again try to focus and get back in the habit of updating this regularly. So here go the highlights, in no particular order:

Gustav and Pauline got baptized. I don't know exactly why they weren't each baptized as babies, but since they didn't do it that way, Esther and Olaf had decided that they would have both kids baptized at the same time to make it easier and get it over with. Several years later, they were finally able to get enough relatives and godparents together at the same time (before there was always at least one significant party member who was unable to make it on the set date) on the third Thursday of the month, when baptisms are performed during the sermon at the Evangelical church here in Königsdorf. It didn't go quite so smooth as one would hope, since both kids refused to cooperate and everybody in the church thought they were going to throw a fit, but it wasn't really too bad. The best part, though, was that little David walked up to the basin while the pastor was doing her thing, dipped his hand in the water, and baptized himself. It was really cute, and really David. After the ceremony we went to eat at a really amazing Italian restaurant in Weiden, and then back to the house for cake and coffee in the garden. It was actually quite a nice day.

Jan and Nina had their baby. Actually, the little Leni was born about 2 months early. Nina had to go to the hospital because of complications involving high blood pressure and an excess of protein in the blood. They determined that the baby was no longer growing, so they performed a C-section. Although she was incredibly small, Leni was in perfect health. She was able to breath on her own, so she didn't need all kinds of breathing tubes and machinery to keep her alive, just to keep her warm. And she was almost immediately able to start nursing, which of course is a good sign, and a very important ability. Initially the doctors had said that Leni would need to be in the clinic for at least 6 weeks to be sure she had put on enough weight and was able to go home. In the end I think she was there for 3 and half or four. She put on weight super fast, and she was healthy to begin with, so the doctors were pleased enough with her progress to send her home. She is the tiniest baby I have ever seen in my life! She weighed less than 4 pounds when they brought her home. I got to hold her while she slept and Nina got some stuff done around the house that she needed to take care of. She is so precious.

Elif had her first birthday in February. She has gotten really big, too. And she looked so cute at her birthday party. She had a little dress on, and a fat bow in her curly hair, and she was running around all over the place. When I walked in the door she came running over to me and wanted me to pick her up, too. She totally loves me. She smiles every time she sees me or hears my voice, and I love to babysit her, even though it's a huge pain in the ass to try to get her to go to sleep.

Olaf also had a birthday in March. He turned 50 on the 4th, and we had a huge party to celebrate on April 9th. Olaf had always wanted to have a major party for his 50th, and he spent months planning it. There were between 40 and 50 people there total, and it was a hell of a party. Olaf and I had spent the two days prior and the entire morning/afternoon on the 9th preparing for the party, which included laying super-thick paper in the living room to create a dance floor, picking up hundreds of glasses and forks that he rented for the party, cooking several delicious recipes and distributing them into the glasses for people to eat, setting up the music equipment/lighting effects/fog machine, and purchasing unbelievable amounts of beverages for the party guests. The party started at 9 pm on Saturday and ended at around 5:30 am on Sunday, and it involved loud music and lots of dancing, but very little standing around or chatting, exactly the way Olaf wanted it to be. I was actually on duty for the evening. The kids were staying at the Wiewers' house, so I didn't have to worry about them, but I was responsible for cleaning up all the glasses and silverware, making sure there was enough to drink on the drink table, and that sort of thing. I basically was running around like crazy from 9 until about 1 in the morning, and then my duties became minimal because everyone was done eating and a lot of the guests had already left, so Olaf told me I could stop working. It was a lot of work, but I actually had a lot of fun doing it. As I said, it was a great party, and everyone had a good time, and I think Olaf was very happy with how it turned out.

And now the big news: I got accepted to the University of Cologne!! After all the hassle that I had to go through to make sure that everything worked out with the application, I waited and waited and heard nothing back from the university. Finally I wrote an email asking when I should expect to receive a response, since I had heard neither a yay nor a nay. The response I got was that the acceptance/rejection letters had been mailed at the beginning of March (it was at this point the end of March) and that I had not received one because, due to some sort of technological problem that they were attempting to resolve, they never got my application at the university. Great. Not a problem, though, because I few days later I got another email telling me that I had been accepted and was able to start my studies immediately. Unfortunately by the time I was told this the semester had already been in session for a week, which means registration was over and I had already missed a week's worth of lectures. Not to mention the fact that I had absolutely no clue who I needed to talk to, how to register, which courses I need to take, etc. As soon as possible I went to the university and spent about 3 days running around, talking to various people about how to enroll, which courses to take, how to pay, all that good stuff. I attended my first class at 8 am on Thursday, April 14th, and I have never felt so lost in my life. It was a Latin class, which I need to take for 2 semesters if I want to continue in Classical Archaeology. Unfortunately my first lecture was their sixth, on top of which it is, of course, taught in German, and I did not understand a single thing that was said during the entire hour and a half. Not a good start. I talked to the professor afterward and he told me that there is no easier course, it just seems hard because I had already missed so much. So I have some catching up to do. We'll see how it goes this semester, and if it doesn't work out then I will just forget about Classical Archaeology and focus on Prehistoric Archaeology. Anyway, the important thing is, I'm officially a Masters student at the University of Cologne.

Those were really the big things that have been going on in the past couple months, at least the only ones that I can think of right now. Other than that it's just been a lot of stress trying to get the university thing figured out, working on renewing my visa again, and dealing with the kids. But there's been a lot of fun involved, too. I was finally able to return to soccer practice (although I have a lecture Thursday evenings now so I can only play once per week) and I've been hanging out with friends a lot. Oh, and I got a haircut yesterday afternoon. My hair is still long in most people's standards, but now instead of reaching my ass it only goes down to my armpits, and I have bangs. It looks really good, and my hair is really healthy now, so I'm definitely happy with it. All in all I must say that things are pretty good right now.

I played in my first soccer game on Sunday. I hadn't been to the past few games, largely because I'm not really officially a part of the team, and I don't want to just show up and act like I belong there or have some sense of entitlement when I really don't. But last week the trainer sent me an email asking if I would be able to make it to the game on Sunday, which of course I was excited about. I asked him if I should show up ready to play (again, just to be sure I don't look like an ass with a sense of entitlement when he really just wanted me to come ans support the team). He told me to be sure I had all of my stuff with me and, although I didn't think I would end up getting to actually play in the game, it made me really excited and I felt like I was really a part of the team. Anyway, I didn't start, of course. I was in charge of keeping the jackets warm and dry, since it was raining. But I actually got to play for about the last half hour of the second half. I did pretty ok, too, I think. This was the first game I've played in about 8 years, and I can't even describe how good it felt. Of course, I already managed to injure my knee, but I had a great time doing it. My knee isn't that badly hurt, either. My right foot had been firmly planted with all my weight on it while we were running, and right at the moment the girl I was protecting the ball from came in from the right and nailed me on the outside of the knee with her knee. So it completely tweaked my leg in all sorts of wrong ways. I still managed to keep her from getting the ball, though, until it went out of bounds, we got the goal kick, and I collapsed off the field. The girls told me after the game (which ended about 1 minute after the incident) that they thought I was just sitting on the ground laughing. Well, I was laughing, but only because I was in so much pain that I couldn't really do anything else. Like I said, though, it's not too bad. I didn't practice last night to give my knee the rest and let it heal, and I'm still limping a little bit, but I will see how it goes tomorrow at practice. Hopefully I will be able to at least jog a little bit.

Yesterday was also Elif's first birthday. Esther had a seminar yesterday, and Olaf had to take Gustav to swimming lessons in Hürth, but Pauline and I went over to say hi to Güner and Zeynep and to wish Elif a happy birthday. She looked so freaking adorable!! She was wearing this little pink dress with a a pink headband and a bow in her hair, and her little curls were sticking out everywhere. Cute. When I came in the door Elif came "running" over to me with her arms out and a big smile on her face, wanting me to pick her up. She always gets happy when she sees me, and I love to see her smile at me. She's trying to talk more and more, too. Güner said that she can say her own name now, and she also says "Tschüss" and waves goodbye. I wish I had taken my camera with me so that I could have taken a picture of her.

Oh! My university application is finally complete! The transcripts came by courier Thursday evening, and I took them along with my TestDaF results to get notarized first thing on Friday. First I went to the Kreissparkasse here in Königsdorf, where I have my bank account, because the university said that such institutions often possess an official seal and can notarize these documents. Well, they don't, and they can't, at least not at this Sparkasse. So then I waited 40 minutes for a bus to take me to Frechen so I could go to the city hall and get them notarized. Once that was done, I went straight to the post office and put everything in the mail, headed for Berlin. Now we play the waiting game, again, until I hear back from the university. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Wow, am I lazy. When I can't even muster up the energy to write a blog in almost a month, just to say what's been going on, I know I'm really lazy. Part of the problem is that the internet connection in my bedroom sucks and only works when it wants to. So when I want to write a blog I have to take my computer and charger downstairs and write it in the living room, which I don't like doing when the kids are running around or when Esther and Olaf are watching TV or preparing dinner. It just feels weird, for some reason. So right now the whole family is gone, and I'm sitting on the sofa with Amelie watching Office Space (in German) and I'm going to attempt to bust this thing out before everyone gets home.

All in all I guess there's probably not too much exciting to talk about. For starters, Gustav has basically been sick for a month. It started a month ago right when I got home, and I mentioned already that he had antibiotics and this vaporizer/inhaler machine that he needed to use. He was home from Kindergarten for a total of 2 weeks with that deal. Then, while Esther was in Mallorca with her sister for a few days (they went to celebrate their birthdays) Olaf and I got the feeling that Gustav wasn't hearing so well. He was constantly fumbling around with his ears and asked Olaf to repeat basically everything he said. So Olaf took him to the doc again, and found out that Gustav wasn't hearing well out of his right ear because of unequalized pressure in his middle ear that had resulted from his clogged sinuses (the cold that caused his lung thing). So then he had this little thing that he had to shove in his nose with a balloon attached to it and he needed to blow up the balloon with his nose. Then last week on Tuesday he complained about his ear hurting, so Esther had Jörg check him out and now he has an inner ear infection. So he's back on antibiotics, he needs to continue using the inhaler thing, he has ear drops, and he stayed home from Kindergarten 3 days last week. So in the past month, Gustav has been to Kindergarten a total of a week and a half. Awesome.

Right now I'm sick. It started with a slightly sore throat last week on Friday. Then Saturday I went into Köln to hang out with Elena at her apartment and spent the night there. I woke up feeling pretty crappy Sunday morning, spent most of the day sleeping, and then didn't go to class on Monday so that I could stay home and sleep all day. Tuesday I took a nap to get a little extra rest in, but still got a lot done with the laundry and other things that I generally have to do during the week. Then, as I said, from Wednesday on Gustav was home from Kindergarten, so aside from going to class Wednesday morning I was home taking care of him the while time. I went out again Friday evening, possibly not the best idea but it was a pretty calm night so it wasn't a problem. Anyway, I still have a stuffy nose and for some reason feel a little light headed, but not too bad.

I do have good news about my university application, though. I don't think I've mentioned it yet, but after going through a big hassle to get everything mailed to Berlin one day after I arrived back in Germany, I received a letter from the organization handling the application that they were not going to forward it to the university because it was incomplete. Reason: I had not included a notarized copy of my TestDaF results, and I had not included a notarized copy of my transcripts. Okay. So the TestDaF results I was only able to pick up after the application deadline and therefore could not send them with the application. As far as the transcripts go, I sent an original, sealed copy of my university transcripts and my original high school diploma, which I did not have time to get a notarized copy of. How anal can you be if you won't accept original documents because the rules state that a notarized copy should be sent? Anyway, Esther had called Uni-Assist to find out if there were any way to alter their decision, and they said it wasn't up to them, it was up to the university. So I called the University of Köln on Wednesday to try to get things figured out. When I explained the situation to the woman on the phone, she right away said that rules are rules and there were no exceptions. Dang it! Then she asks, out of curiosity, what my results for the language test where. When I told her she replied, "Oh! Well those are very good results." Then she asked what field of studies I was applying for, and when I told her it was a Masters degree in archaeology she again said "Oh!" and told me that because it's for a Masters and not a Bachelors, there might be something they could do. She passed the info along to her colleague, who handles Masters applications, and he called me back telling me to send the missing documents to Uni-Assist as soon as possible, and they will forward the application on to the university. Sweet! So I still haven't been granted an admission, but they've agreed to at least review my application, so there's still hope for a spring semester admission. That's some exciting news.

The only other thing that I can think of that's worth mentioning right now is that Esther had her birthday on the 4th. That was the same day that Gustav had to go to a kid's birthday at a place called Silly Billy's, which is kind of like Chuck E. Cheese's but without the animatronic characters and an idiot in a mouse costume. Since they don't know this kid's parents at all, Esther and Claudia had me go along to this party to watch over Gustav and Dominic, and Pauline came with me. Then in the evening we had Esther's birthday party. I actually spent a good part of the time putting Pauline in bed, reading Gustav a story and putting him in bed, making sure that everything was okay with David when he started crying in Esther and Olaf's room, and that sort of thing. That was okay, though. I was actually pretty tired from the kids' party earlier, and the kids here were all well behaved so it wasn't a problem taking care of them.

And two side notes: Elif is walking now, and the Schwarzes (Jette, Malte, Britta and Markus) moved to Hamburg. It's so cute to watch Elif walk because she's still really unstable, so she's constantly looking for things to hold onto, and she has that cute little stammering drunk walk that babies always have. It's precious. As far as the Schwarzes go, I'm a little bummed that they're gone. Britta was such a sweetheart, and Pauline played so nicely with Jette. They had to move, though, because Markus's job is now in Hamburg and it doesn't really make any sense to have his family here where he only sees them on weekends. When my family moved from Monrovia to Temecula I was just a little older than Jette, and I don't really remember my friends from there, so I never really missed the old neighborhood or anything. So as far as that goes I don't think the move will be a problem for the kids. Either way, I'm a little sad that they're gone. We're looking forward to meeting the new neighbors when they move in, though.

Amelie is apparently terrified that I'm going to leave in the middle of the night. She still is extremely hesitant to go for a walk with Olaf in the evening, and sometimes she refuses to go to the bathroom at all. Like last night. Olaf said that after he spent all that time to put on his coat, scarf, hat, gloves, and boots, Amelie walked out the front door, sat in the front yard, and just looked at him. He couldn't even get her to go anywhere because she didn't want to leave the house. Then, as soon as he did let her back in the house, she ran straight upstairs and into my room. I don't know what that poor little dog is going to do if I ever do leave.

I'm Back!

Well, after my trip being delayed by 8 days because of weather conditions, I was able to fly home to California in time for the New Year. I was supposed to be home on December 21, but all flights into and out of Heathrow and most flights out of Frankfurt were canceled that week so I kind of got screwed on that one. I spent the entire day on the 20th trying to get a hold of anyone at Expedia or British Airways to see what could be done about re-booking my flight. Because thousands of travelers got shafted in that one week, they were slightly reluctant to help me. But when I told the guy at British Airways that I was trying to fly home for Christmas because I hadn't seen my family in over a year, he was willing to do what he could to help me out. Unfortunately there was no way for them to get me home in time for Christmas, but he re-booked me for a flight on the 29th and moved my return flight from January 4 to January 12. Why didn't I mention any of this before? It was supposed to be a surprise. Only my mom knew, because I had to tell her months ago, before I originally booked the trip, to make sure that it was going to work out, and she told my sister to make sure she flew down from Seattle while I was going to be there. And how did the surprise work out? Well, I was surprised. By the time I got to California everybody know that I was coming except my oldest brother and a couple of friends. Due to various circumstances my mom ended up having to tell both my boyfriend and my dad, and Lee told several of our friends, but nobody told me that anybody knew I was coming. Surprise!

Even though I can't really say that I've felt homesick since I left San Diego over a year ago, it was really nice to be able to go home. I think the best thing about it was that pretty much everything was exactly as it had been when I left. Of course there were a few minor changes like haircuts, new boyfriends, a couple recent marriages, or new jobs, but for the most part it was as if I had never left. And since I wasn't exactly a tourist that needed to be entertained the whole time, I pretty much just slipped back into my old life for the 2 weeks that I was there. When I was home with my parents, we mostly just hung out and watched movies. It was so nice to be able to simply do nothing but sit around and talk with my folks, which I haven't been able to do in such a long time. It was exactly what I needed, too. My mom also took me shopping :)

I was also able to cuddle with my kitties. I missed the kitties so much! I wasn't sure if Tweek was going to remember me or care that I was back, but I think that he missed me. He always stood at the little gate that keeps the dog from running all over the house and would whine at me in the TV room to come and get him. He spent a lot of time just sitting in my lap, purring, while I was watching TV. And he and the little girl slept with me almost every night. Tank wasn't so enthusiastic, but that's only because he's fat and lazy, and was way too content to lay in the window next to the Christmas tree. Those cats love Christmas trees. And as far as Tweek actually remembering who I am, I'm pretty sure that he does. While I was there he would stand at the front door and then meow at me every time I walked by, waiting for me to let him out. Ever since he was a kitten I have taken him on walks for at least 30 minutes almost every day (he's too crazy and too much of a spaz to leave him inside all day) and he immediately started expecting his walks again when I got there. My mom said that he doesn't do that anymore when I'm not there because nobody else takes him for walks like I used to. Although it's really pathetic to see him standing there and begging to go outside, it made me really happy to know that he remembered me. I'm so thankful that I have Amelie here because I would be completely lost without a pet to cuddle with, but I still really miss my cats.

I didn't sit on my butt the entire time I was home, though. For New Year's Eve I went to a party at a friends' place in San Diego. I put my buddy Ryan in charge of making sure our friends Ron and Shamara threw a NYE/ Ron's birthday party so that I could show up and crash it and surprise all my friends. They had no idea that I was back in town, so the surprise actually worked on them. Lee and I ended up not leaving until around 3 in the morning because I was still messed up from the time shift, so I caught my second wind at around 1 am and was wide awake. We played games, which we do every time we get together, and eventually they kicked us out so they could go to bed. Then I also went to a PPL briefing in Mission Valley to see that group of friends one Tuesday. They were all really excited to see me, too. Afterward Adam, Chelsea, Lee and I went to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. I stayed in San Diego that night because the next day we went to Pizza Port in Solana Beach, where I got to see my old Starbucks buddies, plus Ron and Shamara. Then there was also a dinner at BJ's in Escondido with PPL people and Lee's roommate, and bowling the Monday before I had to leave. Basically, like I said, I slipped back into my old life and did everything that I used to do with the people I used to do it with. It was good to be home.

It's also good to be back in my German home. I definitely feel refreshed from my little vacation and can tell that I have more patience for the kids. And everyone was definitely happy to have me back, too. Esther told me that on the day that I came home she had asked the kids if they were excited, and Gustav said no, that I should stay where I was. But then that night when he went to bed he told her he was excited that I was coming back. He also ran over to me and gave me a big hug when I first came downstairs on Friday morning, and he kept giving me hugs throughout the day. Pauline was tired and in slightly a bad mood when she got home from Kindergarten on Friday, and when Esther asked her if she wanted to cuddle with her or Papa, Pauline said that she wanted to cuddle with me. And of course Amelie was ecstatic to have me back. The night that I got home she almost acted like she didn't know what to do, or whether or not she should even believe that I was actually there. She kept going over to Esther and sitting next to her, but she wouldn't stop staring at me. That doesn't sound that unusual, except that Olaf, Esther and I were all there, and of the 3 of us Esther is the last person that Amelie would choose to go to. We decided that it was because she could see me better if she was with Esther than if she were next to me. Olaf said that for the first couple of nights after I left, Amelie didn't want to go for her evening walks, either. She would only go a little way and pee, and then when he wanted to go further she would sit there and stare at him until he came back, and then she would hurry home. They said it was if she was trying to hurry home to see if I'd returned. Poor little thing. She did the same thing for the first couple of nights after I got back, too, probably because she wanted to make sure I hadn't left again. Now she's calmed down and is back to normal. She definitely missed me.

Since I've been back in Germany everything here has been the same as I left it, too, by which I mean it's been crazy and hectic. I landed in Germany around 7:30 on Thursday evening and then caught a train home from Frankfurt. It was raining (and I had a ridiculous amount of luggage), so Olaf picked me up at the train station in Königsdorf. They pulled out a bottle of champagne to celebrate my return, and I went almost straight to bed because I was exhausted from traveling. I was able to sleep in in the morning, but once I woke up it was straight to work. First I had to go with Amelie, and then I had to take over with Gustav. He stayed home from Kindergarten for the 3rd day in a row because he was sick. And he's actually still sick. Esther took him to the doctor yesterday morning and he apparently has a lung inflammation, so he's on antibiotics and has to use this inhalation machine 3 times per day. What made that first day really hectic, though, was trying to finalize my university application. It was the 14th, my application was supposed to be in Berlin on the 15th, and it wasn't finished. So I wrote my letter of intent and gathered the last of the things I needed during the day while Gustav played with Legos and listened to CDs in his room, and Esther ran everything to the post office in time for it to be post marked and picked up with the last of the mail. Talk about cutting it close! Now I still need to pick up the results of my language test from the school, which I will do the next chance I get to go to Köln, and mail that to the place I sent my application.
Then, on Saturday afternoon, Esther and Olaf left for Basel for the weekend. It was Olaf's boss's birthday party and they spent the night in Basel. So I had the kids all afternoon Saturday and all day Sunday because Esther didn't come home until around 8, after the kids were already in bed. It was really easy, though. Pauline fell asleep on the sofa between 4 and 5 while we were watching a movie, and Gustav fell asleep at around 6. I carried them both to bed and gave Gustav more medicine for his cough and his fever. Aside from Pauline waking up briefly at about 9 and wanting to cuddle with me (we sat downstairs under a blanket for about half an hour before she decided she wanted to go back to bed), they both slept through the night until about 8 the next morning. On Sunday we just kind of took it easy to make sure that Gustav used the opportunity to recover. He went the whole day without a fever or really any problems, and actually spent a couple of hours with Domenic while Pauline and I watched Cars. Then I made them dinner and put them in bed without any troubles and waited for Esther so that I could give her an update before going to bed myself.
Monday Gustav had quite a relapse and had to stay home again. In fact, Esther took him to the doctor after dropping off Pauline at the Kindergarten, and the doctor said that Gustav has a lung inflammation. So now he has the antibiotics, and he has a vaporizer with a mouthpiece that he needs to breath through 3 times a day. Needless to say, he will be staying home from Kindergarten for a while, probably the whole week. Luckily he's been pretty content to just sit around and watch DVDs or listen to CDs, so it hasn't really been any strain on me. It did prevent me from going to the language course on Monday, but I was able to go today.

So now everything continues as it was before. I go to class twice a week, help take care of the kids, walk Amelie, and wait to hear back about my application.