What I've been up to: the August 31 ed.

Here's a quick run-down of what I did the week of August 31:

-was invited to dinner at my new German-English tandem partner's home; she cooked a delicious meal and we spent four hours (!) that went by quickly: talking, laughing, and improving our language skills;

-made the promise to myself that I would spend at least 10 minutes working on learning German in some form or fashion;

-attended a somewhat-impromptu dinner at a friend's house; about 20 people showed up and enjoyed tacos and conversation (and even met some people in our social circle who came from Saarbrücken and Bad Dürkheim);

-stopped by the local book store to look at books used for the Volkshochschule course that I am considering; I have to decide if I'm going to take A2.1 or A2.2;

-got a badly-needed haircut at Sandy's Salon and had my hair cut by the fabulous Sandy herself (oops, it had been 3 months since the last one!);

-attended a farewell lunch for a colleague in another division;

-spent Thursday night a bit grumpy because I had to pack for my upcoming holiday (I despise packing);

-flew to Vienna with my friend C. for the Labor Day holiday weekend; got rained on but had a good time (more to follow about this).