5 years 8 months 7 days

Day 2076. On Wednesday all the kids went back to their kindergartens, so I got to go back to sleep for a little bit after they had left. At 10:40 am I got and got ready for my 11:15 student. I taught until 12:30, then Randy returned with Sammy. I had asked Randy to get Sammy a little earlier so that he'd return earlier with Tammy and Emmy, so Randy left right away to get them.

Sammy and I had fun, while I also tried to do some work and get some rest. Randy and the kids returned just before I started teaching at 2:10 pm. I told them to put their exercise class on and started teaching. Randy was getting Sammy ready to leave the house with him at 2:30 pm to take him to physiotherapy.

When I finished teaching at 3 pm, we got ready to leave the house and left with our scooters to take the 3:20 pm train which we did. We got to the school early so that they had to wait in the locker room and had fun there until their exercise class started at 3:50 pm. I stayed in the locker room the whole time, reading and on my phone, then closing my eyes because I was so very tired. After the class was over, we rode our scooters back to the train station and took the 5:01 pm train home.

Because I was more tired than usual and could barely function, I canceled my 5:30 pm lesson which is something I rarely do. Thankfully my student was able to do it the next day instead. And so I went to the kitchen to start making their dinner, which started our evening routine. After they had gone to bed, I sat down at my computer to teach from 8:10 to 9 pm. Then I went to the kitchen to get myself something to eat.

Yesterday was a holiday, but for me it was close to a day like any other Thursday. Of course the kids didn't go to kindergarten in the morning which meant that I could not sleep as well due to the noise they were making. It was quite late before Randy left with them to take them to the playground. I already had to get up at 9:30 am to teach at 10 am.

After I was done teaching at 11 am, I went to the kitchen to cook lunch. I was enjoying the silence in the house. I even sat down to eat after it was done, as I had not eaten anything yet. Then I put their plates on the table, and they returned and also ate. I was also getting ready for my 1 pm student and trying to lie down for a few minutes as I was so very tired. But time was short, and it was not silent in the house any more. I had to force myself out of bed, when it was time to teach.

And I had to teach for 3 hours, from 1 to 4 pm. At some point Randy took the kids downstairs. After I was done teaching, I also went downstairs to do piano practice with them - something we do every day. Then I returned upstairs to do some Mali office work on the computer. Later they also came upstairs, and I went to the kitchen to make their dinner which started our evening routine. After they had gone to bed at 8 pm, I sat down at my computer again to teach. And after I was done teaching at 9 pm, I went to the kitchen to get myself something to eat.

This morning Randy left with the kids to take them to kindergarten, while I went back to sleep. At 9:30 am my alarm went off as I had a 10 am student again. I taught until 11 am, then had another student at 11:15 am. During the short break I didn't just prepare my next lesson but also got Tammy's clothes ready that Randy had to take with him and got his and my food on plates. Randy had to leave before I was done teaching at 12:30 pm. He picked Tammy and Emmy up from kindergarten, then took them straight to their tennis class at 2 pm.

After I was done teaching and had wrapped it all up, I left the house to pick up Sammy. Back home we had fun together. Sammy was watching videos, as well as playing with the door. I told him I needed some rest, but he wouldn't let me stay lying down for long. Eventually I needed to start getting everything ready to leave the house. It was not going to be a typical Friday afternoon.

Because of the holiday yesterday, the school where Emmy's soccer class is being held was closed today, so no soccer. I gave Emmy two alternative option, one being checking out the soccer club training, but surprisingly that was not his choice. The other choice was to do a parent-child tennis session. They have those every Friday at 5 pm but we haven't been able to participate because of his soccer class. However, Emmy has been wanting to play with me for a while, and so that's what he wanted to do today. As I didn't have a 6:30 pm student today, it was working for me too.

After their tennis class was over at 3 pm, Randy was supposed to take the train and take them to dance school where Tammy's ballet class started at 4 pm. I was gonna go there with Sammy and switch boys with him. However, there was train trouble today messing up all the train schedules so that Randy and the kids were delayed leaving from near the tennis school. I then told him we'd come to the train station where he gets off with the kids to take the bus to dance school. That's where we usually meet on Fridays. When Sammy and I got there today, the elevator was out of order so that we could not go down and back up on the other side where they were arriving. What to do? I called Randy and told him we'd meet on street level as I had found another elevator that was going there. And we found each other there.

Randy took Sammy and Tammy and walked to the bus stop and took the bus to dance school. Because of the train chaos Tammy started her class late today. Emmy and I went back up to the train platform and not trusting the trains today, we took the next train for one stop and then the tram from there to get to their tennis school.

And we arrived there plenty early, thank God. I changed shoes, while Emmy was ready to go, then we waited until 5 pm, which is when it started.

There was one other parent-child duo there besides us. They got half of the court, and we got the other. They had put up smaller child nets on them. We each got a racket and started playing. And it worked out really well. We had fun and had quite a few good ball-exchanges. I was surprised at how well I was playing given how little I have played the past few decades, and Emmy was playing well as well. For now, I'm the better player but that is probably going to change in the not so far future.

A female teacher was in charge of us. She spent some time with the other couple, then she came to us, then she went to them again. She threw balls to us and gave a few tips.  That was it. Emmy and I basically just got to play with each other. And we had SO MUCH fun. It was good exercise for me, and I wished I could do this every week. And Emmy also enjoyed it so very much that he said he wanted to do this more often.

By the time it was over at 6 pm, I was definitely done. I could not run after another ball. I paid 20€ for the hour, changed my shoes, and we left to go home. I was not looking forward to all the walking we had to do to get home. It was a long walk to the tram stop. After the first tram, we got on another one that we rode for a long time, then we had another long walk ahead of us. Just before 7 pm we were back home.
Randy and the others had already been home for over an hour. I knew that I would have a hard time getting back up if I lay or sat down. So I went to the kitchen and cut up some watermelon for them, then they went straight into the bathtub where they got to eat it. After the bathtub, we went downstairs for piano practice. Back upstairs, I did not have time for any stories tonight as I was teaching at 8:10 pm again. I prayed for them, and they went to bed. Daddy then read them a Bible story. 

I taught until 9 pm, then went to the kitchen to make myself something to eat. After having eaten, I started working on the pictures and eventually started writing my report. Now it's after 1:30 am and time to take care of the kitchen.