5 years 5 months 12 days

Day 1991. While the kids are on semester break - though they go to kindergarten every day - I've taken advantage of the free afternoons and have done a lot of teaching, especially today On Tuesday I taught 5 hours, yesterday 3 hours and today 7 hours.

On Tuesday I taught from 11 to 12, then I ate leftovers, and before it was 12:30, Randy came home with Sammy a little earlier than usual, then left earlier to pick up the other. I asked him to as I had to start teaching at 2 pm, and usually he's not back with the kids by then. But it's hard to start teaching, when I'm by myself with Sammy. Randy and the kids got home just before I started at 2 pm, and then I taught for 4 hours in a row.

Yesterday I went to the kitchen to cook lunch first, then I started teaching at noon, which is an unusual time for me. And so I asked Randy to wait to leave the house until I was done at 12:50. He usually gets home with Sammy at 12:40, and it still worked out for him to catch the 12:57 pm bus. I ate lunch after I was done, and Sammy also wanted some even though he had already eaten in kindergarten. We had a good time together. Randy and the other two kids returned just before 2:30 pm. And at 2:45 pm we already all left the house together.

It was time to go to the dentist. We have lived in our current apartment for 4.5 years, but have still been going to our dentist in the 23rd district, which is about as far as you can go while staying inside Vienna. In the beginning of last year he told me that I needed an implant, but I never did anything about it. The temporary cap he'd put on finally fell apart two days before we were to leave on our ski trip, and I had to go to the university clinic to get it fixed temporarily. It was time to get that implant, and it was time to find a dentist that was closer to us.

I went online, like I've done for other doctors, to find a doctor with great reviews within a certain radius from us. I found one that had our insurance listed and contacted them. They then called me, and I found out that you actually had to pay there, rather than get the basic stuff done for free. I wasn't happy but decided to stick with our appointment there. However, Randy backed out of getting checked.

And so we took the subway downtown, then a bus for one stop, even though we could have walked. I had asked for an appointment during this break week so they wouldn't have to miss any classes. After we got off the bus, we were right there, right in the heart of Vienna, in a historic building. We took the elevator up to the top floor and entered the doctor's office. Right away I was struck by how beautiful it was; you could tell it was not a free doctor. I gave them our insurance cards and was given a tablet to fill out a form. Randy and the kids sat down on the couch. The kids had all brought their tablets to keep them occupied.

I was then called in first for an x-ray, which didn't take long, then I returned to the waiting room. Only moments later were we called into the doctor's office. The kids were hesitant, walking in slowly and staying close to me. They have 3 or 4 dentists working in the office there, and we were assigned a really young, nice lady doctor. She made the kids feel comfortable right away. She gave them a lollipop each and asked who was gonna go first. Emmy raise his hand and sat down on the seat. She then told him what she was going to do and showed him what was in her hands. She looked into his mouth and dictated to her assistant what needed to be done.  He needed two fillings. Then Tammy went next, and she needed three fillings. Then it was Sammy's turn. I put him on the seat and stayed with him. It's not as easy with him. I tried to hold his head still. And - the doctor he said he needed no fillings.

Then it was my turn. She looked at everything and showed me what needed to be done on the x-ray on the screen. She said I needed to come back three times. I was also supposed to have an informational meeting with another doctor about the implant, but that didn't happen. However, there was still time, and so the doctor said she could take care of a few fillings. I asked who was courageous to go first and was surprised, when Tammy's hand shot up. And so she sat back down on the seat. The doctor showed her her tools and told her step by step what she was doing. Soon the first filling was done. She then asked her whether she was up for getting another one done, and Tammy nodded. She did that one. Her assitant then said there was still some time, and everyone agreed to get the third and last filling taken care of as well. And so Tammy was all done.

The doctor told them they could also pick out a gift from a box, and so they all picked one out. Then we returned to the waiting room. They then asked me come back for a 3-D x-ray for my implant, so that was done. It wasn't that different from the first x-ray.

Back in the waiting room, it was time to get the next appointment and to pay up. I was wondering how much they'd charge for Tammy's fillings, as they had told me on the phone that a filling is about 100€.  But for some reason they did not charge me for them; I guess they forgot and are going to present me with the bill next time. I paid for the check-up for the four of us, got the appointment, and then it was time to leave. But before we did, the kids got some cookies and gummibears that the doctor had lying there for people to take.

It had all taken much longer than expected. I had a student scheduled for 5 pm, but we were not going to be home by then, so I moved him to 6 pm. Once home, I made their dinner, they sat down to eat, and I sat down at my computer to get ready for my student. I taught until 7 pm, put them to bed with a story, then sat down at my computer for my 8 pm student. After I was done at 9 pm, I finally got to get myself something to eat.

Today was quite a long and busy day in many ways. Tammy and Emmy had a kindergarten trip to the Belvedere castle and had to be at the kindergarten by 8:30 am, which is 45 minutes earlier than usual. And so I had set my alarm for 6:30 am. I was surprised that even Tammy was able to get up easily to go eat. At 7:45 am Randy left with Tammy and Emmy to take them straight to their kindergarten. Sammy stayed home with me. I wanted to get some more sleep but that was not possible with Sammy arrive. Eventually I got up and got ready, and at about 8:15 am Sammy and I also left the house.

We took the subway for two stops, then we walked to Sammy's kindergarten. I took him to his group, where he was warmly welcomed. Then I said my good-byes to him and left to go back home. Back home, I started tidying up a bit, then our cleaning lady already arrived. I let her in, and she went to work. Normally I would have gone back to bed, but not today. I continued tidying up, then I sat down at the computer to get ready for my 10 am student. I taught until 11 am, then had another student until noon. When I was done, Randy had already left to go get Sammy. And then the cleaning lady was also done and left before Sammy got home. He never got to see her.

Sammy was actually relieved about that as he's scared of her because of the vaccuum cleaner. Randy left again right away to go get the other two kids. Sammy and I sat down, as I had to eat, and Sammy also ate some soup and pudding. I wanted to do some scanning, but Sammy wanted to play with the door, so I moved my computer to my bed to give Sammy the space to sit by the door and play with it. I was pretty tired, but prepared for my afternoon lessons.
At 2:15 pm Randy and the other kids returned. They immediately started telling me about their trip to the castle. But I had only minutes before I had to start teaching. I started at 2:30 pm, then had another student at 3:30 pm. Just before I started with her, the door bell rang and the repairmen we had expected arrived. It's our second winter without heat downstairs, and they were just two more repairment to try to fix it. I talked to them briefly, then started teaching. When they were done, Randy called me, and I interrupted my lesson briefly to find out what they had to say. They actually said that the heating was working again, but I was still skeptical. We'll see tomorrow if it really goes up to what it should be.

I continued teaching, then had another student at 4:30 pm, and anothe one at 5:30. I finished at 6:20 and went to the kitchen to make dinner for the kids. They had already interrupted my lesson, saying they were so hungry and did eat more then usual. After they had all their food in front of them, I sat back down at the computer. I had one more lesson at 7 pm. I taught until just before 8 pm, while the kids were in the bathtub and then got ready for bed. Once I was done, I put Sammy to bed with a prayer, then read a story to Tammy and Emmy before putting them to bed with a prayer. Then I went to the kitchen to get something to eat. After having eaten and relaxed a little, I started working on the pictures. Now it's after 1 am and time to go to bed.