taxes

i'm so close to completing and filing my US taxes (this year i had income in Finland and Czech Republic so i am going to have to file in 3 countries), but i am having some technical difficulties on the H&R Block site.  grrrr...

my hair

i just paid someone to cut large amount of it off!  pictures later.

hofbrauhaus

we went to hofbrauhaus in munchen last night we a bunch of students from the class.  obviously it's quite touristy, but it was a good time and i drank a big beer.

traveling

i'm back in munich again!  i'm not doing such a good job teaching today, but i'm getting through it.

bacon championships

"Contestants ... were set the challenge of eating 75 slices, a pound of bacon, in just five minutes."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17521237

Terrace weather is here

it's beautiful these days in prague!

game time

i have to take a nap before the game tonight! go heels!

divoka sarka

this afternoon we went for a walk in divoka sarka, which is a huge nature reserve in prague.  it's fantastic, and we can't wait to go again.  lumi enjoyed walking around (holding on to a parent's hands) and meeting many dogs.  she even seemed to like the face licks.

reunions

lumi seemed happy to see me, but i don't think she missed me.  i, however, was very happy to hold her in my arms again.

not needed

apparently lumi slept her best night yet last night -- her first night without me.  i'm happy and sad all at once.

in munich

i'm in munich teaching a couple days of factory.  it feels good to be back in the classroom!

preparation

tomorrow i leave on a business trip, to teach 2 days of a class.  it will be my first night without lumi since she was born.  i leave very early in the morning (ostensibly before she wakes up) and then am scheduled to arrive home thursday night after she goes to bed.  i am terrified.  i was giving her extra hugs and kisses all night tonight.  i think she and kimmo will be just fine; it's me i'm worried about.  i'm still breastfeeding her at least 3 times a day (when we wake up, when i get home from work, and before bed) and i'm worried this will end it.

Productivity

After a few months of using toodledo.com, I feel I have gotten off track. At first I was doing a pretty good job getting stuff done, but now I seem to have a backlog of these non-urgent, semi-important tasks. There is a category of projects I would like to do but can't say they are higher priority than cooking dinner or playing with lumi or watching the ncaa tournament (that last one sounds a bit ridiculous at first, but actually it's an event that reconnects me to certain friends and family on an annual basis). One example is practicing the piano. I have set up recurring tasks for this, but I usually end up postponing it. How do I improve on this? Just set the task to an even smaller scale, like practice for 5 minutes? It's worth a try.

kutna hora

sami and ilona are here for a visit, and we went to kutna hora today.  it was a nice little town!  i had only remembered the church with the bone art in it, but the town is quite nice as well.

unfortunately, we had some difficulty finding decent gluten-free food for vaari both in kutna hora and later this evening when they want to go to the downtown touristy area of prague.

duke

i had lehigh picked to advance in the tournament.  it's so satisfying!

spring

it's beautiful weather today, and it seems that everyone in prague is happy.

we don't know what we're doing, and it's clear to everyone

on tuesday afternoon when i came to pick up lumi, i stayed for a few minutes to discuss lumi's needs with her daycare provider.  when lumi started there back in december, she wasn't walking and it was winter.  her diet has shifted since she's older, and now that spring is here (and with it the mud), we needed something besides her government-issued snowsuit.  i asked for advice about what is easiest and most practical, and they gave me recommendations.

i bought shoes yesterday (as i noted) and found a bib-style pair of rain pants as well.  we had hoped to shop for a waterproof jacket this weekend, but then when i arrived this morning to drop lumi off, there was a raincoat waiting for her.  one of lumi's caregivers (a super nice mother of four whom lumi adores) had brought it from home specifically for lumi!  i was delighted but also a bit embarrassed, because it seems pathetic that we can't be trusted to get outdoor clothes for our daughter. 

shoe shopping

i bought lumi some shoes today.  up until now she has worn a couple of decorative pairs, and then she wears her snow booties every day to and from day care.  but now that she is walking around and pushing toys and such, she needs shoes.  we also have a pair that fits now that i love that was a gift from my sister-in-law's family, but they are maryjane-style, and that doesn't help much in the muddy spring of prague.  so the day care people requested some real shoes!  i was expecting to enjoy the process -- i mean, think of all the adorable tiny shoes!  unfortunately, despite the large selection, there was that ridiculous color gender-based breakdown and it was disappointing.  the 'girl' shoes were all assorted hideous shades of pink, and the 'boy' shoes were all blue and brown and orange.  i was hoping for red (which is a girl color here and in finland!), or even grey with some pink decorations, but they were not to be found.  so i ended up with boy shoes, but the most neutral colors i could find, in a size 20.

body changes

i got my period today!  it's been about 23 months since i last menstruated.  i guess i had been expecting it the last month or so, but it still surprised me.  it has been nice not having to worry about that all this time (because of course now i worry about all kinds of other crap because i have a baby).  and it feels like lumi's gestation is now officially over.  i'm still breastfeeding her a few times a day, so i guess it's not quite over.

emergencies

i'm trying to make an emergency list of numbers to keep on the fridge in finnish, english, and czech, because we have some visitors coming and plus now that lumi is roaming the apartment i know she's going to eat or touch something really dangerous soon.  i'm super-scared about this all of a sudden.  in helsinki, almost all young people speak english so i don't think it would have been impossible to show up at the hospital with a damaged baby and somehow get everything worked out even without kimmo.  but it's really not the same in the czech republic.  there is one hospital with good english service, and it's not close to our house at all.  and for example kimmo's dad is coming this week and if he's hanging out with lumi alone and something happens, i don't know how he could communicate at the hospital.  he speaks finnish, some swedish, and like 5 words of english.  he does pretty well with pointing and drawing, though, and there's actually a legendary story of him doing some repair work for kimmo's sister in barcelona while they were out and he hit a water pipe, which started leaking water everywhere.  he went downstairs to the doorman and said 'problém! problém!' and the dude came upstairs to see and eventually things got resolved.

solo

kimmo left this evening for a few days in stockholm. we had a nice day today -- sunday pancakes, a walk, housecleaning, basketball, putting stickers on the wall, etc.

basketball

i was glad i got to watch some unc basketball today, but ugh.  that was an ugly win.

oh also lumi was lots of fun today.  she realized that she can walk and what that means for her ability to maneuver in the world.  it was amazing to see the delight on her face.

class prep

i'm preparing to teach a class in may on some software i have never used in the field.  it's pretty interesting, but unfortunately the course materials are very out of date and will require some significant work.

spring isn't here yet!

it was snowing this morning.  i think the finns in the house are kind of excited that winter isn't completely over in prague.

Kefirove mleko

i mistakenly bought a single portion of kefir milk today to accompany my lunch instead of regular milk. that first gulp was horrifying!  but then i remembered that i conquered my fear of drinking buttermilk this summer and drank a glass of it, just like my mother-in-law does.  and kefir is basically the same thing, right?  it's not too bad, especially if you keep reminding yourself about the alleged health benefits.