The day of edits

This afternoon has been a mad blur of articles and Google Drive. We lost half our editing staff on a trip to Poland, so the remaining two of us have been furiously picking up the slack to save our layout team from a hellishly full day tomorrow. Think I may be getting another cold (quite possibly gained from the boyfriend over the weekend), but we're hoping it doesn't grow into anything too nasty.

Had our final German lesson today. Our teacher organised a few games from those of us who made it, and was incredibly touched by the card we'd all signed for her. As a teacher she has been fantastic; her ability to cram so much vocabulary and grammar into four weeks of lessons is almost certainly unrivalled. And teaching languages isn't even her first job.

A group of us went for lunch with our one of our project leaders. He wasn't expecting quite so many of us to accompany him, but he took it in good humour and shepherded us all to our destination - the Nordic Embassy. They open their cafe to the public at lunch times, so the common folk have the opportunity to mix with diplomats over baked fish and parsley potatoes.

Afterwards we were given a tour around the KaDeWe (a large high-end department store in Schöneberg). An entire floor is devoted to food and drink of all kinds: meat counters selling products from around Germany, arranged by district; a selection of European cheeses; an array of fruits and vegetables, both local and exotic; a temperature-controlled bullet-proof glass room full of rare vintage wines; row upon row of beautifully crafted truffles; and two counters lined with irresistible cakes. We all indulged in a sweet treat, including our project leader.

Then ensued three grinding hours in the office. On the way home I had to stop at an automatic photo booth and take a picture for my contributor profile in the guide. Little did I know it was going to start snapping as soon as I'd put in my 2€; consequently, two of the four photographs are of me arranging my hair/scarf/face. At least two are (hopefully) useable.

Working late in St Oberholz again. Shouldn't really be writing this at all; there are several section introductions to edit before the day is done. I think I'll be able to go for a full-blown American breakfast tomorrow morning with a few others with a relatively clear conscience; today, I was one of a two-man team completing the work of four. That, if nothing else, warrants a big stack of pancakes.