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Saturday, March 6, 2010

FINALLY!! February in Review & What's Ahead...

First of all...while I was away, my blog hit (and surpassed) the 1000 hit mark...YAY! You love me, you really love me! :)

So, when I came back from MI I was all depressed and whatever (not actual depression-been there, done that...this was more "I want to be in America, these kids are annoying me and this weather sucks" sadness)  So I guess that's part of the reason I've posted twice in the New Year. Also, my laptop got infected by some crazy trogan horse and nearly died. It took almost two and half weeks between infection and healing, which sucked A LOT. I had Stephanie's netbook (like a super mini laptop) but it was small and it hurt my eyes to look at if for too long. Plus, it was pretty slow and everything was in German.
Anyway, everything is back to "normal" now and here I am!

February was cold and windy and snowy, but nothing like a winter in Park City-or Gaylord for that matter. The snow blowed around a lot, but all told, only about 18" actually accumulated. And the cold was a super damp cold that made me shiver just opening the door and made my knee hurt like a SOB. Needless to say, I rarely left the house in the past month. If I can't be out building a snowman or pretending to ski, I don't want to be outside at all. So, instead I read 9 books over the course of the month. Most of them were books Martha gave me before Thanksgiving that I finally got around to reading and none of them were all that good.  Certainly nothing I'd reccomend.

The highlight of the month was definitely Whitney's (the au pair from CA who lives in the castle in Germany) visit. She was pretty sick while she was here-and she gave me a mild case of pink eye (or maybe I gave it to her...)- but we made the best of it. We made chocolate chip cookies (and ate way too many), had movie marathons (Fried Green Tomatoes; The Secret Life of Bees; Alpha Dog...), explored Schaffhausen and drank hot chocolate at the most pretentious European cafe' and made a day trip to Basel. I was really looking foward to going there-from everything I had seen I looked beautiful, but due to a late start and a frigid wind, we didn't really see much. Ahh well, I will have to go back I suppose. Especially as I took all of 4 pictures while there. =P

Anyway, the kids are doing well...because of the trouble I got in before I left for Christmas, I'm not going to say too much about them anymore. (Even though they are the whole reason I'm here.) They're English is improving by leaps and bounds and they are really becoming attatched to me. It's going to be very painful for them when I leave, I think. Speaking of leaving-I'll be back in America on August 20 (well, by August 20) so mark your calendar!! The parentals have their 25th wedding anniversary on the 24th and I was told I HAD to be home by then....especially because I am missing Cher-Bear's big 5-0 in April.

German classes are.....well, they are almost over, thank God. I have 2 lessons left and then I am DUNZO. I gave up back in January (why do I need to learn an ugly language I'll never use again when everyone around here is desperate to practice English?) Technically, I'm supposed to have 160 class hours in the year I am here, but Switzerland just changed their visa laws and will no longer issue au pair visas to non-EU residents. So if I don't fulfiill the requirement, it's not as though Stephanie can get in any trouble. She's already banned from bringing in another American nanny anyway. Plus (and this was the cherry on top for Stephanie in my quest to end lessons) the Level 2 classes either run through the end of September or are 4 days a week. Neither of which really work for us.

And now the visitors.....
*Erin from the Island will be in Paris soon for study abroad (or maybe she's already there?) Depending on train fares and how time works out, she will either come to Schaffhausen for a weekend, or we will meet in Basel (which sits on the French border) for a couple days.
*Brandi (mi hermanita) will be here on May 18 for about 2 weeks. We'll probably go away for a few days (I need a vacay). Not sure where yet, though.....she wants to go to Italy, but I am thinking more Salzburg, Austria (the home of Mozart and The Sound of Music) or Paris. We'll definitely go to Pontresina (as residents of Gaylord, Pontresina's sister city, it's practically our duty to go there. A pilgrimage if you will...) and maybe go up into the mountains. And of course all the cool stuff around Schaffhausen-Rhine Falls, the Munot, a boat ride to Stein am Rhein, a day at the pool. She'll be here for her 19th birthday, so we'll definitely have to do something cool for that.
*Aunt Janet and Uncle John are going to Italy in June, but will come to Schaffhausen for a couple days to see me first.
*Liz from the Island will be studying in Sicily for the month of June as well. She and I have no set plans as of yet, but I'm going to try my hardest to see her, as she is crazy double-trouble and I'm sure it would be worth the effort/train fare to see her.

As for trips of my own, once the weather is nice again, I'll start making day trips. Maybe. I really hate travelling alone. I get nervous in a forgein country in an unknown city by myself. And it's expensive. And it's really no fun to travel alone. I'll definitely be going up to Wurzburg, Germany, to visit Korrin-probably in April. I owe her a visit as she was here in the fall. And, there is the possibility of a trip up to the US miliary base, which has a TACO BELL (and military boys *sigh*)


Well, Carlo finally came to get the boys (Stephanie is in Thailand, which is why I was up this early on a Saturday) so it is time to start my day.... shower and shave my legs (scary hairy YIKES) and then off to Migros to buy the things the kids will need Sunday night and Monday (shopping probably won't be done til Tuesday). I need to do a couple loads of laundry and do something to tame my eyebrows. Then, it'll either be playing Sims 3 or reading The Kite Runner the rest of the day because it is snowing. (55+ all week and it HAS to snow when the weekend finally comes...) Or, I may just go back to bed. The kids were kind enough to infect me with another Swiss cold and I need to sleep it off before it nearly kills me, like that damn H1N1 back in December...

Until next time.... XOXO

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