chimney sweep

Two blogs in one day... wow. Yesterday the chimney sweep came by. Actually, he was here the day before too, but only to ask if we needed his services and then to pencil us in. So, I found this exciting why? Cause I've never seen a chimney sweep.. well, other than in Mary Poppins. He was only like 25 or so, and pretty attractive, although it's kinda hard to tell under all the layers of grime. Mrs. A asked him how long it takes to get clean at the end of the day (we were all wondering), and he said a good 15 minutes of washing. wow. Anyhoo, the chimney is clean. And we should all have good luck, since it's said seeing a chimney sweep brings you luck (although other variations claim you must kiss him or throw soot over his shoulder).

snow!

This weeks has been rainy, so there have been many crafts constructed. The 4 year old is now addicted to paper-bag puppets, and tiolet-roll figures. Wednesday it actually snowed (crazy!), although it didn't stick and was quickly washed away by the rain- but still, the first snow of the season. :) I've been spending my evenings working on the application process for MIIS (the Monterey Institute of International Studies). It is pretty intense. Two essays, two translations, one abstract, two readings, 2 oral responses, 1 current event summaruzation (two of almost everything... one in English, one in German). And this is all before the acceptance... gees, I'm not sure what I am getting myself into. It's sure to be a lot of hard work, but you know what? I reaaaallly, reaaalllly want it. Today is Mrs. A's birthday. She's off at a photo shoot (like Glamour Shots, I imagine). I am simply looking forward to the weekend with the bf.
In other news, my tiolet is acting up and kinda a bummer. I have to hike down a flight of stairs to pee... not such a big deal except at night. Especially cause the stairs to the third floor squeek... so the everyone in the house is alerted everytime I sneak down to use the loo. Super.

win, win, win

Yesterday the bf and I went to see Monchengladbach play Hamburg in Hamburg (soccer). Hamburg was ranked number 2, and BGM number 15, so our hopes were low that we would beat Hamburg at home. However, much to our glee, Gladbach won 3:2!!! Who could believe it?! And did I mention we were there? Now we are back up to place 12, and Hamburg has moved down one spot to 3rd. Hopefully we've broken our losing streak (it was 6 losses before this). It was really cold (8` C) but well worth it. Here are some pictures.

me at the game

the boys warming up


the field

game time

things looking down

better....

Final Score. Yay.

celebrating in the stands