I woke up at 6:30 this morning, sat up in bed and took one earplug out and held it in my hand while I held my water bottle with the other. Then I proceeded to attempt take the earplug like it was a nutritional supplement. This either illustrates just how many supplements I take when I travel or the fact that I was tired, I don't know which.
After I woke up, Arnheidur walked by and offered to take Embla to school today so I could sleep after staying up late making the cake, and I took her up on it. It's hard to sleep after you're already "up," so to speak, but I laid back down and willed myself to rest. I did end up sleeping until ten or so, and I even had time to exercise before we left to pick up Embla from school to get her a haircut on base.
She had told me what she wanted to get and I found pictures on Google that accurately represented her desired style.
Thus, she had entrusted me with accurately interpreting the hairstyle she desired to the hairstylist at the salon on Panzer. It's located on the base PX, which is similar to a mall and food court.
It is precarious thing, to be in charge of someone else's hair cut, a risky thing. Even though she assured me repeatedly that it wouldn't be my fault if it went wrong, but I knew that I would still hold at least some of the responsibility for the failed haircut.
One stylist was very bubbly and outgoing, the other was reserved and appeared to be somewhat snippy (no pun intended.) But as the haircut progressed, though seemingly a sober-minded individual, she proved to be excellent with hair and gave Embla exactly what she wanted- soft layers and some framing around her face. She intentionally made it long enough so it wouldn't be too short to put in a ponytail and did the layers soft enough so her fine hair would not have jagged edges.
Regardless, the cut was cute and very becoming for my girl here.
This is before:
And this is after.
We came back home to load up for Erla's Birthday party at the park a few minutes away.
If you are German and throw a birthday party at a park, as is quite common here, you bring your own nice plates, cups and dishes from home, and spread out a blanket and have your picnic and cake. You use them and then take them back home dirty in a special caddy.
Today we had what Arnheidur jokingly referred to as a "half German and half American"
birthday, where she used some paper products and some dishes from home.
It was a pleasant time getting to meet some of Arnheidur's fellow Navy wives and their kids along with some girls from Erla's kindergarten. Even Guthrun, the landlord's wife and our neighbor, came out for the party.
This little park is accessible by the highway or the bike path that runs through to the nearby villages. And it is beautiful.
In the background, you can see the shared garden plots on the hill. Since the houses here are somewhat packed close together within the towns, typically each village has a space like this where you and your family have a shared plot to tend as you see fit.
The cake was a big success and Erla enjoyed the party and the limelight.
Besides two Russian kids who would not stop throwing rocks at us, all the children we met at the park were just darling.
Played hide and seek tag, which has become the game of choice for Embla and I. I did a lot of running, and one comic moment occurred when I was chasing her down the nearby sidewalk.
We whizzed by an old man puttering down the sidewalk in his little drivable wheelchair, wearing an old fashioned German hat, that kind you wear with lederhosen. I'm sure that as we rode past he thought "kids these days!"
We also took a picture together on top of the climbing wall.
The boys played soccer on the field.
7 year old Alicia, an African American girl who rode her bike to the park with her Dad and brothers, introduced herself to me and we were fast friends.
"Wanna see me ride my bike? I can show you."
"Want to meet my little brother? I hope you could meet my Mom! She would like you too."
(I did end up meeting her Mom, as she came by to pick the baby up.)
Goodness, this outgoing little girl was such a sweetheart. She was born in Germany but her language is English. Her Mom works on Panzer, and her Father does IT work from home.
I don't know how many friends she has, but it was clear she might be in need of one. And so, for at least a short while, I was able to be her friend, to watch her ride her bike really fast and play with rocks, to talk about the new school she is going to this year, the one at Panzer near the bowling alley, the one I've passed on quite a few occasions while on base.
By the end of our time together, she had invited me to their house which was just up the hill in the nearby village. She gave me a big hug when I had to leave. I treasure these kind of encounters.
Everyone was very tired when we arrived home but nonetheless, we managed to get things unloaded out of the car and the laundry finished.
However, we were not too tired to enjoy looking through the photos of my brother's wedding, since George wasn't able to make it. In turn, he showed Rachel and I some old pics of Embla and Ellert when they were young
and he showed us Erla's pictures from when she was baptized as a baby back in Iceland. Then we had a wonderful time looking through some old (very old!) family photos before crashing for the night.
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