Goodness, I left quite a gap between posts there, sorry.
An update to my insomnia post: I didn't bother to go to bed in the end and stayed up to complete the earthquake article. It was a disturbing subject to write about so I though it best to get it out of my head as soon as possible. The attempt was successful, but not to be repeated.
After that, I dozed on the sofa for an hour before the others woke up. They are sort of used to my foibles now so finding me there didn't raise many questions.
The best bit about last week was that school started. Oh yes! The school bus caught us out on Monday by arriving 10 minutes early but all in all, it went well. Apart from Rhiannon losing one of her school jumpers already. Yes, one of the ones that took so much trouble to find and finally got to me via the power of social media. Hopefully it will turn up soon.
Rhiannon had an absolutely brilliant time back at school. There are only 8 children in her class. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but she's happy and that's all that matters.
Here, they start learning French in Year 5 - she's already bored with the lessons as she's learned the language for about two years. What a shame she can't concentrate on German instead.
As yet the language changes don't appear to have started. We have a meeting next week in order to find out more. As far as I can discover, the school wants to change its status to an "Ersatzschule" but I don't know what that means. I intend to find out next week.
Other news: I finished the ironing! Yes, celebrate! It didn't stay finished long.
Café Breakfast: We were invited to meet Rhiannon's best friend's mother and step-father at a cafe for breakfast one morning, after a sleepover. How civilised! This is something I could really get used to. We made tentative plans for future meetings and language-lesson exchanges.
Birthday Party: I am having great difficulty organising Rhiannon's birthday party. I thought I'd cracked it when I discovered a website advertising karaoke parties for kids. It was fairly close to us, all organised for the customer with entertainment and food provided, not a bad price, and the website was in English - always good at the start of a posting. Sadly, upon talking to them, they need a minimum of 30 children. With only 8 in her class, this would prove impossible (and too costly, regardless). Not only that, but they couldn't confirm availability until two weeks before the event. Gah!
So I'm back to the drawing board on this, with less time to sort it out. And I cannot find anything here in Berlin at all.
Mum's visit: Yikes! She arrives tomorrow. The bedroom is nice now, but I haven't tidied anywhere else. My procrastination levels have reached an all-time low this past week. Still, she doesn't get here until tomorrow night so there's still tomorrow.
Finally, I went to the cinema for the first time in 12 years. A family trip to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows #2. It was very good and I managed to not cry (properly). Nice cinema... we had nachos and salsa which probably annoyed the other customers. You could even buy beer there (I didn't - but only because I didn't realise until we were sat down).
So, my life / work is a little more "managed" than it was last week. Now, if only I can find somewhere for Rhiannon's party...