Bad night's sleep and a herky-jerky day...
Somewhere around midnight, 3 of us woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. MeiMei slept through the whole thing, true to form. I'd forgotten about the "donut hole" aspect of jet lag, the being awake from 1-3am and sleeping in til mid-morning. In the apartment we have a wall clock that ticks especially loudly between 1 and 3 am...I laid awake coming up with literary descriptions for the cacophony...
...a homicidal toy robot stalking my pinky toe
...an artificial heart left behind on my bedside table
...marionettes reenacting the French revolution with tiny guillotines
...a mouse weaving Kente cloth
Finally, we switched beds so that JieJie and John were on the pullout and MeiMei and I were in the back bedroom. I fell back to sleep and JieJie talked to John for about 3 hours.
We woke up at almost 11:00am. You're not supposed to do that when you're trying to whip your body into adjusting to the new time. Oh well.
We sat around, dazed, for a while, then decided to walk to the girls' old school and say hi, hoping they would be more ready to spend the day there tomorrow. It's a good thing we did - at first, both girls literally hid behind my skirts in terror. Of course, having all these children come crowding around excitedly calling their names and staring doesn't help! The best moment was when JieJie found Sarah, her buddy from last year. You should've seen Sarah's face! She recognized JieJie immediately and the sweetest, richest smile spread across her face. By the time we said goodbye after a short visit, JieJie and Sarah hugged. We hope they will enjoy staying tomorrow but are prepared for whatever happens.
It was raining when we left, so we trammed it to the Groenplaats and stopped in a croissant shop for a mid-afternoon snack before walking back to the apartment for a little hanging out. Mr. K is coming at 5:30 to join us for dinner by the playground across the river. If the weather holds, the girls can play there, get good and tired, and (please God) sleep through the night.
We were hoping to play with the little girls who are in our old apartment, but the older one has a sore throat that might be strep, so they're a bit quarantined at the moment.
Cross your fingers that we sleep well and the girls can have a day full of playing and laughter tomorrow at their old school. Weather here is so nice and cool...nice respite from the awful heat wave in Virginia!
Still, our friend I said last night, "WHY would you want to spend your vacation in Europe??!!!" It's all a matter of perspective.
LG
Sorry for the lack of photos - I haven't taken pictures yet and then will have to have them backed up to a CD at a photo shop...forgot the cable AGAIN!
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