Stardate: 11/9/2007 Sick Week & Washing Machine Update

Sick Week
This week has been kind of a downer in most senses. I have been sick with either severe food poisoning or a stomach virus. Yep, you can use your imagination and you will not be far off. I’ve been laid up and house bound. I’m partially glad of this because the weather took a turn for the worst this past Sunday and it is nice to stay inside. It snowed lightly on Monday and has throughout the week. I started vomiting Monday overnight, so everything mid-week was a wash. Thankfully, A was on guard and cancelled my Wednesday classes. I was so weak Tuesday and trying to put together a creative, cohesive lesson while my head was spinning wasn’t the best of all possible scenarios!

The positive sides of this minor stomach disruption have been that 1) I have been typing away on my activities for the manuscript that Anne, Kelly and I are working on. I am grateful that I had already brainstormed the activities; I just had to write them up. It didn’t take much energy, just some articulation. I have written 7 out of 9 this week. I hope to have them finished soon, so that I’m not letting Kelly and Anne down. I know that they want to get the proposal to a publisher by the end of Dec. 2) I have also had more time with Maddy. Patrick and I have been able to read more about potty training, gather some good advice and put it into practice. Today, she went the whole day in panties! She had only 2 accidents, which I think is a good effort! We did it by telling her about the next big airplane ride we will take in Dec. We told her that they don’t let children on who wear diapers. She likes plane and train rides so much that was the key in the motivation to overcome her control issues! She is now trying really hard. Thank God! 3) I have also been able to catch up with friends, like Shulan, who I got Skype with, and Heather Klos in Kazakhstan who I chatted online with. I’ve also caught up on my emails! Yippee. 4) I have had enough space to work and think. I feel so busy here, doing stuff that takes me ½ the time back home that I get all tweeked about it.

Pat’s job has become a majorly good thing for him. His self-confidence and happiness are on the up-swing. He really did need a change from EC. He is teaching a business English class at a local company for information technology folks who do business in Austria. They have to go back and forth all the time for business and communicate in English since those folks don’t speak Russian/Ukrainian and these folks don’t speak German, etc. He has already modified the course away from the detested coursebook (why do students always hate the coursebook?) to having readings and discussions on current business happenings, business jokes they can tell colleagues, and some pronunciation rules and practice. They still do some of the textbook work on grammar, but the other things seem to make the students a lot more motivated. He comes home most days all excited. He recently told me that he feels he is making a difference. I’m so happy for him!

Washing Machine Update

After our recent negative encounter with the shrew (landlady), we have been trying to use the washing machine. She claims that it works, the mechanic said it is a lack of sufficient electricity, I can’t make it run more than 1-2 times per day without it freaking out, so now, we run it once a day with a load that consists of 1/8 what the washing machine drum can handle. That works, most of the time. I can only do one pair of jeans by itself though. I think it has something to do with the weight of the clothes when they are wet; the machine can’t turn or spin them. Honestly, it is all very psycho! Pat and I just shake our heads in wonder. A washing machine that can’t really do what the machine’s own instructions say it should do… Whatever as long as I don’t have to buy a damn machine!