*yawns*

How do others do it? I mean, people do have a social life during the working week, and I'm just wondering whether they feel as dead the next day as I'm feeling now.
Anyway, last night was worth every jaw-unhinging yawn and every irresistible-urge-to-sleep-fighting moment, because I had the bestest evening with mundungus42's and my common friend Erin. We hadn't seen each other in a while (almost 3 months), and so I went to have dinner at her place, and wow, she cooked a fantastic three-course meal: pumpkin soup, a delicious roasted chicken with lemon and rosemary, accompanied by stuffing (YUM!!) and mashed potatoes with rocket and chives (YUM!!!!) and an apple crumble for dessert.
I was very hungry, but since she's a friend I was just being my usual greedy self and ate until I almost burst. It's a pity, really, that she'll have to leave at the end of March, because she's such a great, lovely person -- the kind of person with whom you can have those wonderful, never-ending conversations about everything.

Not much else to report, except that Irene's daughter Hannah arrived on Monday. We had a glass of wine on Monday evening at my place, merely to say hello and catch up, and tonight we're going to have dinner at Gourmet, the place that as the best steaks in town, not to forget those irresistible deep-fried courgettes. And the homemade potato crisps. And... Well, you get the drift.

Also, I'm happy to report that my much-beloved Slavica is now also working for Alexandra -- she needs her only every second week for two hours, and so Slavica doesn't have to sacrifice her free Tuesday but can go there on Wednesdays directly from my place. Plus -- and that's what makes the arrangement such a winner -- Slavica can start to pay off her debt to me: I'm paying her her monthly salary minus what she gets from Alexandra, so she only has to work a few more hours and doesn't feel any financial loss, which is something I want to avoid. Needless to say that paying back € 4000 in instalments of 30 would take 11 years, but when I lent her the money I didn't do so with the intention of getting it all back.
I mean, just giving it to her would've been wrong somehow, because it would have belittled her (I think), but allowing her to pay it back in affordable portions and telling her to forget the rest once I have to leave the country ought to be acceptable for both sides.

We still have fantastic weather here, but of course it's going to change on Friday. Why am I not surprised? Then again, the last weekend was excellent, so I suppose one shouldn't complain. One rather ought to make use of the bad weather to stay at home and do some Macedonian homework for a change. Only one has to look after Lola from Friday to Monday, so that's a more or less perfect excuse for not doing it. *iz being baaaaad*

Boss is wibbling about the application for his next posting. Yesterday we spent almost an hour discussing the pros and cons of Riga and Tallinn, but I think he's still undecided. Not overly surprising, given that "undecided" is his default state. And wouldn't it be a good idea to discuss future postings with his wife? I've been saying it a lot and can only repeat "What a strange couple!" He doesn't have much time left for his decision, because the applications have to be posted by the 21st. Poor boss.  But it's the same for all of us -- once the applications have been sent off, you suddenly remember why applying for this or that wasn't such a good idea. At least he doesn't have to factor in the Ambassador, as we lowly minions have to.

I really ought to update the embassy's homepage, but I think that, at least for the time being, I'm going to work on my sudoku skills...