Monday, December 13

I woke up to the church bells this morning from across the street. Then my alarm went off and I waited for the girls to come in and get dressed. I was so tired that I said good morning and have a good day and went back to sleep for a couple of hours. I got up and got ready and went downstairs where Mark made me breakfast (toast with runny eggs on top). He used a ton of olive oil and salt, but it was still edible. At least I know how to make it now for the future and can maybe cook my egg a little more. They found the English news station (CNN), so I was able to watch the news while I helped Nancy get the soup for dinner ready. I cut the potatoes and carrots and did a bunch of dishes, which was nice because I was cold. She has the nicest and easiest peelers on the planet!

Stacey and I skyped for a few minutes because she had a two-hour delay before we had to go pick up the girls from school. The Midwest is getting hammered with snow, wind, and really cold temperatures right now. I’m kind of glad I’m here right now. It’s cold here, but not like it is at home.

We went to the girls school to pick them up because on Monday’s Helena has an extra class and would have to wait for the bus an hour. Gloria had the front of her hair in a pony tail so it looked like a rhino’s horn. It was hilarious, but she looked so cute. She really wanted me to meet her teacher. :)

We then went back to the house and brought Helena’s friend Janice with us. We ate soup while the girls talked about school. They talk a thousand miles an hour! Sometimes I just give up on even trying to understand what they are saying. Nancy gives me the jist of the conversation later.

While the girls played, Nancy and I made more food. I think she really enjoyed having me in the kitchen helping. She said she is so busy that sometimes she doesn’t have time to prepare the food, but since I’m here for a while, I can help and it will get done faster. We cut and washed yellow, red, and green peppers and stuffed them with hamburger, egg, paprika, onion, salt, and pepper mixture and put it in a big pot to cook. There were potato slices on the bottom of the pan so the peppers didn’t rest on the bottom and burn. While we were cooking, she taught me some German phrases and reviewed the colors with me.

We played taboo, although instead of playing it correctly, we used the cards to play Gestures. Nancy won, but I was only about 10 points behind her, granted I said all the words in English. I had to look up some of the German words before I could act them out. We also looked for any English to German books/tapes to help me learn German.