Gift 4: German, Chocolate

Today's Affirmation: Today, I will give with patience.

My husband and I are planning a 90-day audition tour of German-speaking Europe, based in Berlin in September of this year.  We have been studying German every chance we get in whatever way we come across.  I've been most recently using one particular system that I really like.  A friend gave the mp3 tracks to me last fall.  So far, it has been the best I've used.  

My boss walked up to my desk this afternoon and said, "Oh by the way, one of our German partners will be in NY in a month.  I want to take him to an authentic German restaurant when he's here.  Will you find a really good place for us?"  My boss also happens to be of German descent.  I said, "Veilleicht, werden wir mit ihm Deutsch sprechen!"  My boss confessed that his German is pretty rusty, and that he had asked his kids to chip in to get him Rosetta Stone for Father's Day, since he really wants to get better.  I just happened to have my German mp3 tracks with me, so I put them on a thumb drive for him and gave them to him.  Now he can practice his German on his commute into the office every morning and be ready to wow his German partner with his language skills when he arrives.

I had to take my one year old to the pediatrician to see if he had an ear infection.  (He doesn't, thank Heaven!)  On my way back to the office, I stopped by this lovely, lovely new store called Two Beans - all coffee and chocolate - to browse.  I sampled a few chocolates.  The salesgirl said, "I notice you gravitate toward the dark chocolates, but would you like to try a really nice, smooth milk chocolate?"  Well, sure!  I thought she was going to hand me another sample, but she handed me a whole bar and said it was a gift.  Wow!  I took the bar back to my office (which turned out to actually be two bars!) and shared it with two of my coworkers.  It was a lovely late afternoon pick-me-up.

I'm not sure where patience came in exactly...  But despite everyone still being really sick, we had a lovely evening.  My husband sang gloriously in his practice, blasting out high Cs that blew the roof off.  He's feeling more and more confident every day.  I turned to the baby and said, "Nathaniel, I think we are going to be rich."  He grinned.  Even the baby knows how good his daddy's voice is.

I made a nourishing dinner of sweet and sour swiss chard, couscous with coconut curry sauce, lamb, and bananas tarte tatin for dessert.  Going to bed early...

Goodnight, everyone!