Day 45

Are you HUNGARY . . . my semi-charmed life as a social butterfly.

Nobody likes Monday.  It is the bastard child of the week.  Everything is grim and the scent of the weekend is still fresh on your skin.  Sort of an all day reminder that the fun has ended and the work must begin once more.  The boys had a "jogathon" today at school to raise money for a class trip.  It was to be my responsibilty to get the youngest to the stadium so that he may participate in said event.  The eldest would be transported by school bus.  After a fair amount of diplomacy, I convinced the youngest that this would be a good activity to participate in and soon I had him strapped firmly in the ant infested 206.  Once again, Garmin would fail me and I ended up quite lost not a mile or so from my home.  I drove around for the better part of the afternoon and never found the damned place.  I finally gave up and headed back for the house with the hopes that the eldest would forgive my absence from this event.  He did, and I am thankful.  Just another notch in the old father of the year belt.

The evening would mark our third in a row for entertaining.  We were to host a young couple from my wife's company that have recently moved to the area as we have.  She is of Hungarian heritage and his is an American lad from Phoeinx.  Dinner was pleasant and the conversation lasted well past our bedtime.  For those of you who are keeping count, over the course of a week, we have dined with an Ethiopian, an Australian, and a Hungarian.  Quite the cultural mix.  This is not to mention the number of expat American company we have kept as well.  I am tired and could use a break from the social set for awhile.

The children's grade cards came today.  Both are doing well, but could use a bit of polishing in the neatness category.  If that is the only complaint, I certainly have nothing to worry about.  We are to attend parent/teacher conferences on Tuesday to get the full story.  I can't say as I am looking forward to this as I defend my children jealously and am not all that open to criticism.  I consider myself their worst critic and often disagree with the analysis provided by the school system.  It usually ends in an unpleasant exchange which then blacklists me as a difficult parent.  I am hoping tomorrow will not be more of the same, but I am not holding my breath.

There was one piece of rather sour news for the day.  My bicycle purchase has fallen through.  As with most things in life, this cloud has a silver lining.  Not being one satisfied to leave well enough alone, I had continued my bike search even after the purchase was made and had already found a bicycle that I liked better than the one I had purchased.  With the cancellation of the current order, I was now free to pursue this new opportunity.  The final purchase is quite rare and I was only able to locate one of them out of a shop in the UK.  Shipping was free and has been fairly quick based upon my recent observations, so I hope to have my new toy by the weekend.  The weather has turned quite warm and I look forward to taking my new purchase out for a spin this weekend.  For now, all is well and I will keep you posted as the week progresses.  Take care.