Belly dancing

So! I just took my first belly dancing class! My former landlady and her daughter invited me to the class they've been taking for a long time now, and after assurances that I did not actually have to show my belly (the horror!!), I agreed to try it out. Astrid lent me a belly dancing skirt and that was probably the funnest part of the whole deal, hearing that clang-clang-swish, but the whole event was hysterical. Natti assured me that I was doing great, but I felt like an awkward poser the whole time. It didn't matter though, because everyone seemed to be working as hard as I was to coordinate the hip shakes with the hand movements and THEN cha-cha-cha feet! I felt mildly spastic. I did break out in a sweat, so it was a workout, which is good. And it was fun! The less I concentrated, the better I did. I think I would've been hot if I'd had the champagne we had at the end, first :) So I learned some moves and afterward, we sat around and drank champagne and talked auf deutsch. Of course, there is this girl there that wants to learn English, so she was talking to me a lot, but I tried to only respond in German, so I could practice. I even was able to join in the conversation a bit and they seemed to understand my broken German, or they just very nicely smiled and nodded :) So ANYWAY...I've decided to go back for a couple months just to do something different and maybe learn more deutsch. I've even bid on my first ebay item...my pretty purple belly dancing skirt. Wish me luck!

Women

So about a month and a half ago I saw this 60 minutes show on the horrors happening to women in the Congo and was so moved, that I got up, went to the computer, looked up Women4Women (the charity mentioned on the show), and signed up to sponsor a woman. This week, I got my "sister" and a little bit about her life in the Congo. I have a photo of her and for some reason, she looked familiar to me. Anyway, Women4Women sets it up so that we can write each other. I sponsor her for a year, get to know her life, and hopefully, my few dollars a month makes her able to get more education and get basic supplies and medical care for her family (she has one daughter). I was so anxious to get my sponsorship packet that told me who I was sponsoring and all that. I finally got it after over a month (they had a huge response from the 60 min. story) and when I did, I had this strange mix of shyness, excitement, and worry. Here I am, having anything and everything I could ever want in the world--travel, family, friends, security, happiness, support...writing to a woman that had suffered atrocities unspeakable. Thankfully, Women4Women takes this fact into account and guides us on how to write our sisters. They warn us that some of these women may not have the time or resources to write back, but encourage us to keep writing because for many of them, our letters are tangible hope of a better life that they carry with them everywhere. I have yet to hear from my sister (takes 3 months for a letter to transverse), but I hope I do. Like I said in my letter: I was appalled and angry at the atrocities these women have faced merely because they are women, that Iwas moved to do SOMETHING. I am hoping this is one person I can make a difference for...

Legs

So maybe it's cuz I know about all sorts of early developmental milestones from working in the schools, but I'm SUPER excited that Aiden now draws pictures of people that resemble Picasso works more than scribbles. Overnight, Aiden has discovered how to make a circle for a head, round splotches for eyes, cheeks, ears, chins, noses, etc...and LEGS! Okay, so for you non-elementary ed people, this is actually a significant developmental milestone, not just mommy pride. Yes, I'm the speech therapist that actually notes in my kids' baby books "reduplicated babbling: da da--6 months; first wh-question form--2.5 years", ect. Ha ha! Oh well. Using my education for something :) Anyway, that's been the highlight of my week so far! That, and when Aiden explained a drawing that he did at kindergarten today included his "balls"...Nice, Daddy...

NCA=Now Crashes Andrea

Okay, so it's been a crazy week. Rad came back late Thursday night, we saw each other Sat. and Sun. and then I left first thing Monday morning to be an NCA augmentor for two schools in Bavaria. We have a team of people who basically make sure that the schools are doing what they say they're doing in order for them to be accredited. Sounds simple, but it's not. We used every second of the two days we were at each school to gather and put-together info. into our final reports. It was intense. But the team I was with, about 8 people, was really cool and we had a great time together while we worked and hanging out afterwards. I am so mentally taxed, that I'm physically worn-out. Well, and I was up before 5am each day. By the time I got home after the nightmarish drive home (stau/traffic jam on Autobahn 5 that left me stranded in one spot for hours until I got close enough to an exit to get off and guess my way to the next Autobahn...more on that another time), I was fairly incoherent with exhaustion. But, I have learned so much in the last week and feel so prepared for my school's visit next year that it was worth it. Plus, the people on my team made it fun. I'll blog on that crazy stau soon...

Missing Radley

Okay, Radley has been gone 6 days and normally, I'd be cool about this. I am used to him being off somewhere for work for a week or so pretty regularly. However, I think being sooo sick right when he left just shook me up and not to mention wore me out. I'm feeling much better--looking forward to a glass of wine and TV tonight after the kids are in bed! All week, I've been crashing into my bed barely able to think right after I turn out Aiden's light (and Ava's usually sleeping by then). That would be about 7:30. Anyway, so but now I really miss Rad and can't wait for Thursday night. It's sad that I'm thinking how luxurious life will be when I only have to wake up at night with Ava every OTHER night and how he can field some of the 1,000 requests I get from Aiden each hour and maybe Ava can climb on HIM for 30 minutes, and I'll get the next 30, and so on...Parenting is much easier when you're tag-teaming it!