So, let's see what's been up!
Valentine's weekend we "celebrated" with our traditional stop at McDonald's. Emmy had a hair appointment around lunchtime, and we all took the tram into town since the weather was decent and not too cold. Afterward we walked across to the mall and ate in the food court.
I'm not sure I've ever posted our Valentine's/McDonald's story before, so as refresher...Charles and I had several years of either being apart on Valentine's Day or weird things happen, the "best" of which was in 2003, days before his first deployment to Iraq. We'd begun the day at a funeral for my uncle's mother, then driven to the beach to meet friends and spend the weekend visiting with them one more time before he was due to fly out on the 25th. We got almost all the way there, when the phone rang and Charles was told the planes were arriving in 48 hours, he had to report in at 5:30 the next morning. Remember, this was Feb. 2003, there was no Iraq war at this time, but we something was brewing. Needless to say it was a tearful and long drive back to Greenville from the beach to pick up his car, then we both drove back down to Augusta. On the way, we realized we had not eaten in hours, so we stopped at the first place we found, which was a McDonald's. We noticed the place was quite empty as we picked at our food, and as we walked back out to the car, it hit Charles: It was Valentine's Day. He walked around and opened my door for me, and grinned and said "Happy Valentine's Day, honey!" We died laughing. Then next two Valentine's Days he was deployed. Not that we had ever made much of the day before (in fact we'd been apart or in evening classes previous years) or really cared to make a fuss of it, but it was just amusing. We don't go every year, but when we can we at least try to grab some fries or a sundae on Valentine's Day and reminisce. It's good we can laugh about it because the honest truth is we both should have been way more scared than I think we were about where he was heading. (Which technically no one knew at the time).
Anyways, after our McDonald's lunch, we went to the park for a little while to enjoy the sunshine that had peeked through.
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| First time on the swing! |
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| Yay for some sunny weather! |
Emmy and I both had haircuts that, week, actually. I LOVE the hairdresser I finally found here. He is amazing. He *gets* me. And most importantly he speaks wonderful English, because hair is just one of those things you really need to be able to tell some what what you want.I'm not sure I've mentioned it yet, but I have started Polish lessons. Polish is more simple in someways, and incredibly difficult in others. And they declinate everything. Do you know what that means? ME EITHER. There is not a box in my brain for this. In fact, my spell check says that is not even a word. And, in Polish you also change the endings on practically everything. My Polish tutor is a grad student working on his PhD in historical grammar. I do find it a fascinating language, especially how it survived through years of being an underground language, unable to be spoken outside of private homes because it was illegal. What a testament to the Polish people who kept it alive through several generations and brought it back to life again.
On the 15th, which is my sister's birthday, our cousin Jessica gave birth to the newest Hawley member, baby Beatrix "Bea". He is JoJo and Bea the day she was born. She was a BIG girl, 10 lb 8 oz! We cannot wait to meet her in person!
Charles was gone again this week for work to Oberammergau (in the Alps, you should feel SO sorry for him). In among the classes he attended he got to go sledding and see the famous Neuschwanstein Castle (Cinderella's castle at Disney World is allegedly modeled after this one). Things at home plugged along. We had a little snow that looked pretty but was mostly gone by morning. I had a fun girls night with a friend. Emmy had a birthday party.
Charles got home Saturday evening so on Sunday night we took the tram into town for a date
night. We had a great time, we love having public transportation. He also took the tram home after dropping off the rental car on Saturday, which meant no one drove our car from Friday night until Monday morning.
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| Shredded insulation where it tried to make a nest. |
When I went to go start the car on Monday, it would not start. The lights came on and such, but it made a strange sound. It did not seem to be the battery, could it be the starter? Of course, Charles was already off at work and I was stuck home with Emmy needing to be at school. Fortunately a friend came to the rescue and took her to school for me while I dealt with the matter at hand.
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| Insulation on top of the battery, etc. |
Remember that dead bird we found in the car in Prague? Well, turns out it was not a cat, it was a creature called a marten, kuna in Polish. As soon as I opened the hood, I knew the darn thing had done it.
The insulation under the hood was shredded much worse than when we'd looked in Prague. And some wires and tubes to the battery had been cut.
In case you are wondering, dealing with insurance, tow trucks, mechanics, and car dealerships when you are in another country is VERY stressful. Thanks to my Polish baby-sitter and the advice of the Polish national who works for our national support element, I was able to get the car towed to the dealership. I was told it could take awhile and they did not even give me an "appointment" for it to be checked out until Wednesday. Fortunately, they called Tuesday evening as I was sitting in the little bar/canteen at the barracks waiting on Emmy's drama class to end, and I was able to hand the phone to one of the guys who works there to translate for me. The darn rodent did over $500.00 in damage! They had to replace the battery and some wires, etc. and order the new insulation.
I was helping host a baby shower for one of our British friends at the end of the week, on the 26th, so fortunately I had my car back in time for that. I'll post pictures of the shower in a separate post!
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