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 m
e 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.
