Pioneers

Today has been a much better, much happier, and much more emotionally controlled day than yesterday. After my mini emotional downfall yesterday, things could only go up.
They did. My emotions righted themselves and got on with life, and I spent a productive day thinking positively and enjoying myself.
Today was an early and packed day as well, with class from 8 until 2. My teachers from the 8:00 class and 12:00 class turned out to be the same, which was a nice surprise. So far I've managed to fall into classes run by clear-speaking individuals with well-outlined goals for the class. This, I appreciate. I also appreciate that this particular teacher does not demand a presentation, but rather gives you the choice of either giving a presentation or writing a paper. I'm probably going to do one of each, but since I already have to give two presentations because of my classes yesterday, getting a small break will be nice. I also discovered that the two classes today, at least, are worth more credit than I thought (if my interpretation of my professor's email is correct), which is also exciting because now I'm not stressing out quite so badly about keeping a full-time student status.
In between these two classes I had a class on Mark Twain that I'm probably going to drop. I really enjoy Mark Twain's work. I know this is not a sentiment shared by all, but I think he's fantastic, and as I have no trouble reading dialect (in English, at least) I find his books quite refreshing and entertaining. This class, however, is to focus on his nonfiction, which consists of only two books. That factor in addition to the fact that my teacher almost put me to sleep while speaking in German made me feel the class wouldn't exactly be to my liking. There's a chance I'll read Mark Twain's nonfiction at some point, but I'm not spending a whole semester on it.
After class I tried to go put money on my student ID card so that I could do the absolutely essential: wash bedsheets.
The ID center must have decided business was too slow for the day or something because they were definitely closed when I got there. This was a problem because Alydia has accidentally wet the bed, and I had sheets soaking in my bathtub so that they wouldn't be just completely disgusting. My options were basically as follows: let them sit overnight or wash them by hand. If you've ever had a child you know that the first one isn't really an option. There is a laundromat not too far away, but the washing machine is 5 Euros a load and then 2 Euros for 27 minutes drying time, which means you need two cycles. Due to the unfortunate positioning of a magnet in my wallet, I have been bank card-less for about a week and a half, and I didn't have the 9 euros. I had enough money for milk, which we needed.
So I spent a good deal of the afternoon washing sheets and trying to find places in my little two-room apartment to hang them, and then buckets and jars to catch the dripping water. It was extremely awkward trying to wash these humongous sheets in my little half-tub with the already sudsy things hanging all around me waiting to be rinsed. I now understand both why the pilgrims were so strong and why they had no mattress covers. Washing mattress covers by hand is a job and a half. I started this project at about 4 in the afternoon. (I picked up Alydia and we spent some time talking to my mom online first.) As of right now, five and a half hours later, I have successfully washed an entire set of bedsheets, including mattress cover and comforter, a pair of pajama pants, a pair of princess panties, and a washcloth. Only the princess panties and washcloth are dry, and only because in the last hour or so I remembered that at one point in history people dried things by hanging them over radiators (I'm thinking Mary Poppins) and decided to give it a shot. Success!! Now if only I had a radiator big enough for the mattress pad...