now, the jetlag seems to be not as bad as the last time thanks to the 6 hours of sleep on sunday right after i got back i suppose. however, i have been tired the last couple of days and just don't manage to go to sleep before 1 or 2 a.m. and then have a hard time getting up in the morning right now. plus, it has been snowing here for days now and i haven't been able to ride my bike to work. those of you who know me know that i HATE starting my day on a tram and i haven't made it to work on time once since tuesday.. snow looks pretty but sure is a p.i.t.a. when it comes to getting around.

talking of getting around: carmen (my friend from australia who i met in MN when we were both au-pairs for a year in '97/'98) will come here tonight. which is super EXCITING because this is her first time to germany and after such a long time she finally gets to see my hometown. and i haven't seen her since dec. 2002 when i visited her in boulder, CO where she lived at that time. so we'll have a lot to talk and chat about.. i don't know for sure if she's coming with her (ex-??) boyfriend or not. her last mails were kinda confusing but i guess i'll know by tonight. it'd be nice to have her alone on the one hand to be able and girly-talk and all the rest of it but then again - i have to work tomorrow and monday and it'd be nicer for them to do something in the city together as opposed to her all by herself.. but we'll work it out one way or the other. i'm just really not looking forward to the drive tonight. i have to go to hamburg to pick her (them??) up at the airport and the street-conditions are pretty bad. especially driving at night (she gets here at 10 p.m.) and to a place i don't know exactly how to get to.. but i already printed out the directions and i should be fine as long as i drive careful and slowly and don't meet some idiot who can't drive in the snow on the way ;o)

tomorrow and saturday are actually two birthdays i'm invited to. so i'm just gonna bring my visitor(s?) and hopefully they'll have a good time. saturday during the day i was thinking about taking her (them?) to the bergen belsen memorial because she mentioned that she'd like to see that. it's not that far from here and if the roads are a little better i think we may go. it should be a good weekend with not a lot of time to be depressed and miss C so that's good.

he's got his appointment with the surgeon again today. we wrote down several questions he wants to ask about both kinds of surgery and then make his decision within the next few days. he also wants to talk to a lawyer to find out what his options are as to getting some sort of compensation. after all, the break-cable of the cart he was driving broke and that caused the accident. and now he's gonna have to live with back-problems for the rest of his life. who knows if he'll ever be able to go snowboarding again (he still has a brand new one that he bought here in germany in storage that he never used..) not to speak of the pain he's had to live with for over a year now, having to set his (our) life on hold and all the rest of it.. so we'll see how that goes. i'm SO ready for SOMETHING to happen and things to get going. and hopefully by the summer he will finally be ready to come. and who knows, maybe i will go again for two weeks to check out indiana in the summertime and then just take him home with me *dreaming* -- so much from me for today. have a good weekend everyone (in case i'm too busy to update) and lots of sunshine ;o)

update: 2005-03-04 * 9:31 a.m.

they both came. the drive wasn't bad at all because things had cleared up during the day and the main roads were actually no problem. i got to the airport on time and then they were an hour late.. so i sat there until about 11.15 p.m. until they finally came out. it is SO GREAT to have carmen here. she really is the first one of the people i was close with in MN to come here. it's so awesome to chat and be all like "remember that one day/night/thing..." and she totally KNOWS. it's just great. we were home probably around 1 a.m. and then we hung out for a while and then carmen and i talked for about another hour in bed (she sleeps in the bedroom with me and corey sleeps in the livingroom..) so i didn't go to sleep until around 3 a.m. and got up at 7.30... i am kinda tired but also excited to have them here. it'll be a nice weekend for sure. so bottom line: they got here okay and i'm glad to have them and michi gave me her car until sunday which is great and i will tell you all about the weekend on monday. have a goooood one ;o)