Feelings...nothing more than feelings...

So far things have been too crazy for anyone to be shocked by anything - culturally or not. I was hoping that if I held my tongue just right and had a good attitude, I would escape culture shock. But nope. Apparently no one is immune. Now that things are a little more routine, I find I'm missing home, and missing people (ahem, flights to Europe are remarkably cheap sometimes, you know...), dreaming wacky dreams, and frustrated how everything is more of a hassle than it should be.
But yesterday, they really were because our tap was being fixed right at the dinner hour, and then when I finally had carefully made dinner (involving unwashed pans, unwashed vegetables and raw chicken) sans water, I discovered that also our oven doesn't work. Aye Carumba! (Not German, but it felt right.) So we microwaved the casserole, and it was passable. (My neighbour heard the story, felt bad, and made us supper tonight!!)
Looking back over our calendar causes lumps in my throat. Remember when? It was just 2 weeks ago, but it seems like forever! So weird.
However, our kids are really adorable, and they cheer me up quite a lot. Here's a photo of Kaia at the top of our slide!Lia has adjusted to being in Kindergarten better than her mother is adjusting to Lia being in Kindergarten. It's hard to know how much to leave her there each day, since it's completely up to us.
Did I mention that Kaia is eating again?? And guess what her favourite food is? Meat! Some of you know that I am a meat-a-saurus, and now so are my daughters. Tonight, we were having a pre-bed snack, I was washing dishes and heard Marc say, "Don't cuddle with your meat, Lia." Apparently she was holding it close, petting it, and telling it that it was okay. Maybe we do need a child psychologist?? I muttered, "Another sentence you never thought you'd say." And Marc said, "Oh Karla, I've said that to you!"
Having kids along when I'm out and about can be a good and a bad thing since people stop me all the time to make comments and ask questions. It feels friendly-like, but I have no idea what they're saying. I smile and nod, and mostly that works!

We went to city hall Tuesday to get some papers signed. And then to Ikea again. This time with one child only, and enough money. What a difference!!
Wednesday was mostly finishing unpacking boxes. At last! It's feeling really good to have the boxes out of the way. Now if we just had some furniture to put the stuff in...
This morning I walked Lia to Kindergarten with our neighbour and then she and her 2 year-old came in for tea and cookies. Fun! IKEA made a delivery and Kaia and I went to the mall for the afternoon. I have found several of my favourite stores here (C&A, H&M and Pimkie), which is exciting! :)
Tomorrow, we're going to investigate the language school. Then we need to find childcare for Kaia during the class times.

Marc is enjoying work. He biked today for the first time - 8km, uphill both ways. :p Everyone eats together in the university cafeteria which is fun and social.

So things are good. Overall, I'm feeling quite positively about being here, but not so much about not being there.