February, gone already?

Buh? When the hell did March appear? Yes, the correct answer is "today," but I won't hear it. I'm still wondering where January went.

February was an eventful month, at least on the Jen scale of events. Immediately after my return from Brussels, I fell ill and missed two days of work before returning for a day and a half...and then being sent home that half-day because I had a terrible coughing spell that almost met an unhappy end during my class with 3c. So, two and a half more days missed. After much prodding from my family and friends online and off, I swallowed my pride and visited an Apotheke. The Loewen Apotheke in the Altstadt, to be exact, and the rather helpful pharmacists gave me a vial of cough syrup to fight against Bronchitis. Yay. Bronchitis. It's no fun being sick. (As I'm certain most of you know, unless you have an immune system of steel. In which case, I'd like to punch you.)

As a lingering result, though, I've had a difficult time sleeping since then. I've purchased one of the many "doctor-approved" herbal teas here in Germany (Schlaf- und Nerven Tee), so we'll see if that helps at all.

When I did return to work 80% healthy, I received a very pleasant surprise. As I was preparing for class with Suzana, Petra, the homeroom teacher for 3b, hurried over to me and said that she had a birthday gift. I was confused, particularly since I do not work with her, but we had always been on good terms. I waited until I got home to open the gift, and I was delighted to find a beautiful necklace of fake pearl and light green ribbon. The next day, as Suzana and I chatted during our break, I found that Petra wanted to give me something that left a more permanent impression of my stay here than, say, a plant. So, she got her neighbor to make me a necklace. I'm amazed at her generosity and at the fact that the necklace is just my style. I have nice coworkers.

Barring the adventure with Marcel (who keeps changing places on me, by the way; I refuse to acknowledge that I may have multiple spiders) and the horrible UAH shooting, there's not too much more to tell. I ended up subbing for Suzana last Tuesday and Wednesday, which went very well; Kathrin, the substitute, basically just lets me take reign of the classes, so I managed to improvise with each class because of Suzana's lack of lesson plans. Both 3b and 3c behave very well when there's a substitute. 4c, not so much. Overall, though, it was a very positive experience, and it's nice to know that I can take charge of a class if necessary (only with certain classes, though).

I should pat myself on the back for updating about normal life here. The weather is getting better, which makes for a more upbeat me; the snow has melted, the sun is at least trying to shine through the grey clouds, and it's getting warmer. Spring is just around the corner.