What were you grateful for this week?

Yoga. 

What was the most difficult or challenging part of this week? 

Both kids were sick and at home every single day of the week. 

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week. [My host family’s son’s] birthday party; the preparation, the duration, and the aftermath. 

Tell us about your week!  Okay, SO. Every one was deathly ill. [My host family’s youngest son] had such a high fever that you could feel him burning through his clothes (and sick babies are VERY unhappy babies), and [the older son] didn’t go to school at all. So everyone’s schedules were altered greatly, which is frustrating for all parties involved. But you just have to adjust. 

We were being very careful about who went outside and when, because all of Europe got blanketed in snow, it was freezing because Siberian winds are relentless in case you were wondering, and we had [my host family’s younger son’s] birthday party on Sunday. Which would have been devastating to cancel. So, health was first priority. Luckily, both babies are healthy now, for the most part, and the party happened and was a success. 

I have also taken up yoga in an effort to help with my sleeping issues and it has helped IMMENSELY. I highly recommend it to anyone that’s really experiencing any kind of issues in their body/mind. Anyway.

Sunday was madness; I knew that [my host mom] was going to need a lot of help, because both of the other women that are usually around to help with things like this were not here because they have Sundays off. So, I woke up. Tried my absolute hardest to clear out the playroom (decided which toys we could throw out and such) because I knew that we were going to be receiving a ridiculous amount of gifts that day. 

Then I made a fruit salad while [my host mom] prepared the lunch for the kids. We prepared bags and bags of all the things we needed to set up at the party, inhaled some lunch, got ready, and left. Arrived about an hour and a half early, set the whole party up (I prepared so many balloon bushels that my hand was cramped for an hour afterwards, ATTENDED the party, then stayed afterwards to take everything down. 

It was a long day, but extremely successful and I know how much [my host mom] appreciated everything that I did. We were both exhausted but satisfied and all smiles by the end of the day.