ich bin erkaeltet

Or, I have a cold. It's not the little sniffly kind, either. It's the full-blown sneezing, watery eyes, hoping it will stay out of my lungs kind of cold. It's the kind of cold that makes my colleagues ask if I shouldn't go to the plant doctor? No, I'm pretty sure it's just a cold. It started Friday with just a touch of stuffiness, but I had that sense of impending doom......and it's continued until today, when I felt like I accomplished nothing on account of the fact that my brain has been replaced by cotton. If I hadn't had a meeting which couldn't really be rescheduled, I probably wouldn't have made it into work. And unfortunately, I have another pretty important meeting tomorrow, so hopefully I'll feel better by then. I'm taking Vitamin C with Zinc, Eucalyptus capsules for the symptoms and drinking lots of water and Erkaeltungs Tee (Tea for colds).

So, bear with me as I ramble through my weekend.....Friday night, we had Hauskreis. It was at David and Irena's. But what did I do? I went to Martin and Irena's. Martin's Irena was at work and Martin had fallen asleep while putting the kids to bed. But he wasn't sleeping any more after I rang the doorbell. I got all the way up to the third floor and he's standing in the doorway, looking sleepy and grinning. "Sarah.....Hauskreis is not here tonight." What??? "No, it's at David and Irena's." Oh no, did I really read the email wrong? Yep! Well, Martin decided that since the kids were sleeping and his mother-in-law was there, that he would go with me to Hauskreis. So I showed up late once again, but at least I had Martin with me.....Made for a good story, anyways. My excuse is two-fold. First, I have a cold and my head is kinda fuzzy. Two, Stefan wrote "Irena and David" in his email and when I see the name Irena, I think of Martin and Irena, because I think of David's Irena as Ira. So, when I saw "Irena", I just thought Martin and Irena and glossed over the David. Actually, it's three-fold...they both live in Fellbach, so the city didn't help me to know that I had read incorrectly.....

Saturday, I did....................nothing. As usual, it rained. I was not feeling great, so I didn't do anything until I went to the grocery store at about 4. It was either that, or not have anything to eat on Sunday, because I had no food here and the stores are closed on Sunday.......And what did I find at the grocery store?? Act Microwave popcorn!!!!! Yum! Now if only I had a Diet Coke to go with it. Then my downstairs neighbor came over to look at my TV. He couldn't find anything wrong, so he said he would tell my landlord that the technician needed to come out and check the wiring...And then he looked at my washing machine connection (the one we jerry-rigged) and said he could use silicone to make it leak proof.....much better than my duct tape. Although, he was very impressed by my duct tape job, saying that he could hardly remove the duct tape. :) He was very nice, too, telling me I should feel free to stop by anytime I had a question or needed help with anything.

Saturday night, I was multi-tasking, IM'ing with two people at the same time and talking to my Mom on Skype, when my cell phone rang. Too much at once! Derrick (who has a cold, too) was on the phone and he helped me to configure my wireless router. So I'm writing right now from the comfort of my bed. Oh, how I love being wireless!! (Thank you, Derrick!!)

[Side note: I've seen many blogs where bloggers only use an initial for people's names. I'm not going to do that, because 1. I'm not saying anything bad about the people I'm writing about, 2. I'm not using last names 3. I don't share overly personal information about anyone and 4. It just seems more confusing....But if you're ever unhappy about me writing about you, you should please just let me know.]

Sunday was church, which I was late for, because I left a little too late and then the parking lot was full, which meant I had to drive around looking for a spot. My beloved C3ers are accustomed to people coming in late, but not in Germany, or at least not at the FeG. And then, it was really full! (Why couldn't I have been late last week when there was space in the back????) So the usher escorts me to a seat in the front row on a sort of raised dais off to the side....everyone saw that I came in late and then everyone could see me through the whole service as I casually tried to blow and wipe my nose, without being totally disgusting. Nice.

After church, my neighbor came over and fixed the washing machine connection. So I should be able to use it tomorrow without duct tape and a pot underneath for the drips. :o) It seems that his daughter needs help with her English grammar, so it looks like I'll probably have more than one student. If I ever decided to leave my company (not even thinking about it, don't worry!), I have an idea for a subsitute career.....teaching English!

In the afternoon, I went to the Fellbach Herbst (Autumn) with David and Ira and Irena and Martin (see how confusing that is??) and their kids. I thought the fresh air would be good for my cold and it really was a beautiful day. It was like a big street fair with carnival rides, a flea market, vendors selling food, drinks, crafts, etc. and all of the shops were open. It was fun. I went on the Ferris Wheel, which gave a great overview on the area. (Yes, I was holding on the whole time.....as much as I love the view, I am soooo afraid of heights!!) I also ate warm chestnuts. They were tasty, but I think I'll stick to roasted almonds (yum! Had some of those, too. By the way, the word for almond in German is the same as the word for tonsil - yuck!). We were there for a long time - over four hours, so by the time we came back to Martin and Irena's, the adults (counting myself in that group ;) were all exhausted. But not the kids. Or if they were, they weren't showing it. Irena made us waffles (yum) and we all had dinner together, which was nice.

As I was driving home, I was thinking about how much I miss my friends and family in Michigan (a lot!), but how really, truly blessed I am that I know people here and that I have someone to call if I need something or want to talk or whatever. Isn't that pretty cool, that after just three months here, I can already say that? I think so......

Today, my landlord called and he's decided that I should use the new digital satellite dish after all AND he'll pay the costs. So I'm just waiting for the company to call me so I can make an appointment for the new cable I need to be hooked to that satellite.

Speaking of TV, I have a question for my technically-able readers.....can someone tell me how I can watch US TV on my computer? I did a google search and there are tons of companies with various price ranges.....does someone have a recommendation? With winter coming, I wouldn't mind being able to watch some of my favorite shows.

Even though I have a cold, I still remember that it's Monday! So............

You Are 27% Impulsive

You're a pretty stable and serious person. You don't take things lightly. This doesn't mean you can't have fun - you just have fun responsibly. You definitely have a spontaneous side, but you only let loose when it's appropriate.

Are You Impulsive?