It's been a while

I've been having trouble organizing everyone's schedules these days and we haven't done much as a family lately. I decided to let the children decide about whether or not to go to this year's neighborhood sports day and kept quiet about it beforehand. If they really want to go, I thought, they'll talk about getting ready and make plans. On the day of the event, I was up early, but the kids all slept in until well after the event started. So, this year I didn't need to make a fancy three tiered lunchbox. Nobody complained. Halloween sort of went the same way this year, as the kids who might have enjoyed it most were too busy with their friends to notice or ask about doing anything special. They did play with some costumes with their friends and have a little candy and mandarin oranges, but we didn't have any parties, do any decorating or do any trick-or-treating. I did serve pumpkin soup for dinner at least, although I'm not sure if anybody really got it. I feel like such a Grinch some days.

Recently, I substituted for another American at an English conversation class with some very lovely ladies who've been studying regularly together for the past 25 years. They all love to laugh and the lessons have been great fun. The regular teacher has contacted me about taking over permanently as he will be too busy for the semi-monthly sessions. The ladies are sharp and full of fun and information, so I'm looking forward to these classes.

Plans for this month include a Thanksgiving buffet at the New Sanno Hotel, a U.S. military run facility downtown. A neighbor here knows the head chef and can get is reservations. It will be right after my Thursday morning classes with the aforementioned lovely ladies so I'll be a bit rushed to get from point A to point B in time but I expect it will be worth it. The kids have school that day but the will accompany me a few days later to a belated Thanksgiving potluck at an American friend's place. Double turkey and trimmings! Whoo hooo!

This weekend I've been dealing with a bout of the common cold which seems worse than ever probably because I never used to catch colds (or if I did, they didn't slow me down). Plans are to sleep in all day tomorrow and be better by Tuesday morning for another blast at the immune system. I'll get an x-ray to monitor (hopefully) progress of the treatment. Knock on wood.