Saturday, October 27, 2007

Raining...metaphorically

As this monster Halloween party approaches, Skip is scrambling with a problem at work and Maddie's foot has begun breaking out where she got stung by the jelly fish over a week ago. Skip went online and learned that you can have flare ups for up to 4 weeks after being stung. Arrrrgggghhhhh! So glad I grabbed that box of chewable children's benadryl last time I was home.

Our friend Ron is out of ICU, but really uncomfortable. Just FYI, in Germany, when they ask you to rate your pain on a scale of 1 to 10, you better make it at least an 8 if you want any medication for it. Our friend Michelle, who is also in the hospital, learned that the hard way and I think Joy has got Ron set up now as well. All of Joy's German lessons are really paying off as most of the staff in the hospital don't speak English. They are at a hospital in Duisburg instead of the one here in Kaiserswerth. A couple of miles makes a huge difference. Everyone who grows up in Germany takes at least 5 years of English in school, but some of the staff at the hospital grew up in what used to be East Germany and they never studied English at all. Their second language is Russian.

Joy and Ron attend a Catholic church in Duesseldorf, but the American community here pretty much functions like a church community back home. People have helped with food, child care, etc. Joy has been beseiged with offers of help. It doesn't hurt that she has really nice kids who all of our kids love to play with!

Maddie is going as an angel for Halloween. I keep making remarks that she might be better suited to go as a little devil, but she's not feeling it. Hope the jellyfishyness works it way out soon. There's a party tonight and Trunk or Treat on Wednesday.

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