Updates

I've haven't been as good lately at keeping the blog updated, partly because all four of us have been sick (Katie before London, VJ at the end of the London trip, followed by Anna and lastly me) and partly because nothing much is going on. I mean...I can write about what I cooked for dinner and how much traffic sucked for Anna but, Hello...BORING.

But the little things do add up so...

Katie - Katie is doing very well in 1^st grade and seems to be enjoying it. We had our first conference with her teacher and she got a very good report. For our part, we can see that she really loves to read and has really made significant improvement since school started.

As a 1^st Grader she is now able to participate in the after school activities her school offers. She takes Gymnastics on Mondays and Sign Language on Wednesdays. Fridays are still reserved for Ballet Class.

Bonus for Katie: Swimming has started at school. Katie has PE 3 times a week so from now through November that means 3 times in the pool each week.

We got the proofs of her school pictures back and it came out much better than expected (remember her sitting time was right after morning recess).

VJ - VJ absolutely LOVES his new school. Here's a conversation we had yesterday:

Me: "VJ, did you have a good time at school today?"
VJ: with sad face "Yes, until you picked me up."

His class is the "Friendly Frogs" and their classroom mascot is a HUGE snail. You won't believe me, but the freakin' snail (named 'Csiga Biga' pronounced Chig-a Big-a) is about the size of a NYC rat. The other snail ('Escargot') is only the size of a mouse so who cares about him.

VJ takes Dance Class on Thursdays. The class is given by the same company and teacher that does Katie's Ballet class. Once she found out that VJ went to A-Z (and after reassuring me multiple times that no Ballet was involved) she convinced me to sign him up. The big selling point was that VJ's best buddy, Carlos (from Mexico) was also taking the class. The kids spend the hour jumping around the gym, pretending to be jungle animals and having a great time. Since Katie doesn't have after school activities on Thursday we typically go to the nearby cafe/bakery and have ice cream (her) and cappuccino (me) before going to VJ's school to pick him up. Through the closed Gym door we can usually hear him and Carlos getting scolded for being too wild.

Last Sunday VJ's school had a Garden Party. The kid's had a great time playing in the school playground (several of Katie's friend's from her school have younger siblings at VJ's school) and Anna and I got to meet many of the other parents.

Vito - I have been playing tennis on Wednesday mornings with some other AISB parents. Although I haven't played since high school it's been very fun and hey, I need to do something remotely athletic. Even though I'm not at all competitive and have no need to "win" or "be better" than the other parents, I will say that I've been holding my own in the games and am probably in the top half of the players. Although a couple of the other parents are obviously dialing down their game so as not to totally embarrass the rest of us.



And just to show that I don't just post embarrassing pictures of my Dad, here's a picture of some doofus with poofy hair and coke bottle glasses from my high school yearbook.

If we could look any closer I would bet money that there is a calculator on my watch...dork. (Billy, Dan & Michael: cash is a perfectly acceptable "thank you" for not scanning in the TEAM picture.)










Katie's teacher also guilted me into being the Room Mom Parent. I basically have to help out with class parties, find and coordinate chaperones when they have trips, attend PSA meetings and then report to the rest of the parents in Katie's class what the PSA said, etc. I had planned on chaperoning a lot now that VJ is in school but being the Room Parent is a little too much like "work" and I did not move all the way to Europe to "work." Oh well.

Anna - Anna enjoys going to work every day. Doing what, I still don't know.


Car Woes - We've had some bad luck with the cars lately. First Anna's car had to have the exhaust system repaired after some jackass basically forced her off the road and she drove over a big rock, ripping up the bottom of the car.

Then last Friday Katie & I met Anna at the mall for lunch (Katie didn't have school due to the parent teacher's conferences). As we were leaving the mall after lunch to drive Anna back to work, I hit the curb as I was pulling out of the parking garage and blew a hole right in the sidewall of the rear passenger-side tire. Even though one would suspect this, I can officially tell you that a flat tire in Europe sucks just as much as in the States. About the only thing better about it is that I didn't almost get heatstroke changing the tire as would be the case in Houston.

People think that I am more like my Mom, but in these cases I react very much like my Dad: Pure Rage. Anna knows enough to leave me alone and let me get about the business of changing the tire (having been nearly brought to tears when I yelled at her to "STEP BACK FROM THE CAR" back in 2001 when we got a flat and she attempted to help me despite being 8 months pregnant with Katie). Katie, on the other hand, thought the whole thing was very exciting and interesting and did not know that you don't talk to Daddy when he is all "Red Ross."
Katie: all smiles "This is my first flat tire, Daddy. How many flat tires have you gotten before?" pointing to the jack "What's that for Daddy? The tire is so dirty....etc."

Luckily for all, Anna intervened and helped me keep my sanity and Katie from getting yelled at.

Flash forward to trying to buy a new tire. Once I finally found the place and was picking out the type of tire (like I know anything about f&%#ing tires) it came to that point just before they started work when I did the check. You know, the all important check of the front window for the "We Accept these Credit Cards" stickers. No Stickers. Where are the stickers? I don't see any stickers. Oh Shit. I hold up my credit card to the one guy who (some what) spoke English.
Tire Guy: "Nem (one of the Hungarian words I actually know - NO). Cash Only."
Naturally I only had about 2000 HUF (~$10 USD). Luckily another Tire Guy was leaving for the day and had me follow him to the mall that was about 3 blocks away where I double parked in the Bus Stop and ran into the mall and found the ATM. At least once I got back and paid them they had like 5 guys working on the tires and were done in 4 minutes.