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...