Friends!!

My past couple of weeks have been pretty dang good. Julie (gasp)... hugs me willingly now! All of her own accord, I swear. She cried when I left the house today. I've never been happier to made a kid cry.

I suppose we've just been mostly chilling. We went to the beach a few times and to the zoo. Julie went crazy for the tigers and kept growling the whole day. It's been an exciting past few days because Julie is starting to potty train! She's doing a pretty good job too. She doesn't speak yet (she's 18 months) so she goes "shhhhhhhhhh" when she needs to go. Then she claps and claps when she's done.

Last weekend Sarah and I went to the women's marathon that took place on the last day of the World Athletics Championships here in Berlin. It was great! There were so many people and everyone was so excited. The finish line was Brandenberg Tor which made it seem all the more grand (as if the World Championships needed a boost). Fun fun fun.

Friday night Sarah and I decided to have some more fun. We met up with another au pair named Vanessa and went out. What I learned:

1. Always be up for an impromtu pub crawl.

2. People from Panama are excellent.

3. When a self-absorbed though nice British boy starts talking to you about his own conceptual art that involves "lots of stolen gold" and is exhibited in found places you can just smile and say "yeah" a lot. Don't worry, he won't ask you anything about yourself.

Best of all, I really mean it when I say things are looking up. Julie's great AND MY PARENTS ARE COMING NEXT WEEK! Hallelujah. Eight freaking days until I see my mother!