exhausting job

it's day 9 of teaching factory by myself. i'm quite tired. and they just asked me to do it again! so i will have a week off, and then i will teach it again by myself.

and then i will rest. 

this is ridiculous, and unsustainable. on most days, i have arrived home too tired to romp with lumi or be decent with kimmo or do a little exercise.

so what is the answer? i don't know. if this is what they want, i can't keep doing this job.

birthday

today is kimmo's birthday. i already gave him his gifts (long underwear and a dvd), so the only thing left is a little sparkling wine and a cake.

paying for friends

i'm considering not paying my dues this year for the International Women's Association of Prague, and therefore dropping out of the group. I don't get much out of it, since I don't have a lot of extra time/energy these days outside of lumi and work.

The only thing I "do" in it is the book club. But I am really enjoying the book club! The dues of the club are around 100 €, though. Including the pricey meals and the pricey books, is that worth it for the book club? I don't think so. I will be sad to leave it, but I think I must. I guess I could try to start a book club outside of IWAP.

Great women rulers...of literature!

My friend Sarah gave me this for Christmas.

Day 5

i'm on day 5 of a single person teach of teradata factory. it's exhausting! i'm really looking forward to the weekend, but feeling like it won't be enough to replenish my energy.

this car is awesome

reading

a great reading day!  i read a hilary mantel essay (speech, actually) last night, and today, this.

ice swimming

check here for my ice swimming experience!

it was crazy. i dipped in 4 times, and followed each with a sauna. unfortunately, the last time i didn't stay in the sauna long enough, so i was cold. the trick? don't get your hair wet.

monday

it was a wonderful long weekend in finland. it wasn't cold (hovering right around freezing) but there was lots of snow.

and now i'm starting a single trainer delivery of teradata factory and i'm already tired. oof.

dook

tonight is the dook game! and of course i won't be watching it, because i will be in helsinki, probably sleeping.

it saddens me how little i'm involved in basketball these days. but it feels so foreign. no one around here watches or cares, so either i need to live in online discussions, or i just kind of find other interests. and i have to say that i think i'm a little less highstrung than i was when my emotions rode on wins and losses. 

but maybe i'm just a little more dead inside. :)

cold

it just started snowing again and all i can think about is how i will get to have a sauna in 2 days, when we go to finland. 2 days!

nanny meeting

we had an interview today with another nanny!  i feel good about this person. i hope it works out.

exercise

i went jogging twice this week, but otherwise i feel like i'm barely getting any exercise. i used to wake up early and do some floor exercises (arms, abs) before going to the gym for cardio. but that was all before lumi arrived. now most of the time when i try to sneak out of bed, she wants to get up with me. of course, the obvious solution is to do extra walks for cardio, and then do those same floor exercises at night. but for some reason, i have zero motivation to exercise at night. i'm terrible at it! i would like to change that about myself.

moneygram!

i sent a moneygram today to my friend in burkina. it's a good service, and seems much better than western union.

but like many of these things, it is ridiculously out of date. if you are in the US, you can do it online and it seems great. but if you're in the czech republic, there is a lengthy paper form you fill out. then, right after you spend 10 minutes filling in the paper form, you hand it over to the agent, who spends 10 minutes typing all your information into the program on his/her computer. why you can't do most of the typing yourself online, and then bring in the cash for the transaction, i don't know. it seems like it would be a real time saver.

anyway, i had done it before so i knew what to expect, so it went reasonably quickly, right up until the agent clicked 'Go' or 'Send' or whatever it's supposed to be. it turns out that the exchange rate had changed! the amount of money is near the top of the form, and by the time she had finished typing in the rest of the form, the CZK-CFA rate had changed. that's was fine for me because the change was in my favor (more CFA per Czech crown) except that it rendered the entire form invalid. so i had to get another paper form and fill it all out and then she had to once again type it all in. it was ridiculous! she said that had never happened before while she was using moneygram, which is somewhat reassuring.

and also? they only accept cash. 

it's just part of life here, i guess

we took the cats to the vet this morning just for a check up and to be registered with a vet in the event of some future emergency. i had found a vet who speaks english, and contacted them via email and phone. i was warned that without an appointment, we could wait up to 45 minutes. so we made an appointment for 8:30. we arrived at 8:25. we did not get into the office until 9:20. it was ridiculous and frustrating. and we had lumi with us because she was feverish last night, so that just added to the waiting annoyance.

fortunately, there was some free entertainment provided by the other patients. one family brought in a huge dog (maybe an irish wolfhound?) and lumi was excited and wanted to ride it. she kept saying "lumi ride horse!"

jogging

i went for a jog this morning! i had to very carefully and quietly sneak out of bed at 5:30 (both cats and lumi were sleeping around my legs), but it was a really nice way to start the day. 

i have to figure out how to better use earbuds when i jog. i like listening to music, but i feel like i'm constantly pushing the earbuds back in. is the answer to go with the older style that comes with an ipod? the sound isn't nearly as good and there is no 'seal' with the ear, so you get a lot of background noise. but they can withstand the jogging movement, so maybe that's ok.

Reading

Kimmo took this picture through a Lego door. I really like it!

childcare stresses

after that first meeting with a nanny candidate yesterday morning, we
had a good opportunity to compare and contrast: a parent-teacher
meeting at our daycare.

we love our daycare center. from the moment we walked in the door the
first time, it just felt right. you can tell that the teachers really
care about the kids. we had looked at another place in prague and
while they seemed perfectly nice and the kids seemed happy and healthy
enough, it just didn't feel right. of course, at that point our
current daycare had not even opened its doors, so we knew that they
might not always seem calm and organized! but i'm happy to say that
this impression has not changed in over a year, even with the addition
of many new children. lumi is happy there and trusts her teachers and
we feel really good about her safety and happiness.

and then yesterday we had a meeting with them, and all our good
feelings were reaffirmed. her teachers had put together a big packet
of information of "observations" about her development in all areas
and it was clear that they adore her as much as we do. we had an hour
and we discussed her development and behavior (including some problem
areas) and then we spent a while exchanging stories of funny stuff
lumi does, which helped fill in a lot of gaps for both of us (like
which languages she uses for certain situations, and which songs she
sings). it was wonderful.

and now i find myself scared to hire a nanny because it won't feel as
good as our daycare situation.