Swiss Family Olson

Mein Nase ist Sensitiv

2012-02-01T20:24:00.002+01:00

Yes. I have a sensitive nose. A sensitivity that banned seafood from being cooked in our house for almost 3 years. It started when I was pregnant with Kendra and in the midst of cooking Salmon, I threw it out and that was the end of that until some point in Iowa when I thought "I'd like to cook fish tonight." My nose has never been the same since that pregnancy.

I have a pan dedicated to fish. I won't cook fish in my other pans because the smell will linger and I don't want to smell fish while I'm cooking beef/chicken/whatever! I wipe down everything around the stove as well (including exterior of exhaust filters) after cooking fish and yet I still smell it well into the next day.

Sensitive.

That is just ONE example of what bothers my nose. I also don't like to listen to people chew certain foods - it will send me out of my chair and out of the room. Too much information? Back to the nose.....

We have a dog again. He smells like a dog. My room smells like a dog. I smell like a dog. Actually, I think I smell like a dog who has Wild Rabbit treats in its pockets. I don't smell like Warm Vanilla lotion or Chanel Chance anymore. I try. But all I smell is dog.

When we had Max, I used my mom as my 'odor barometer.' She'd fly in and I'd always ask her to please let me know if the house smelled like canine when she walked in. It never did according to her. My dog (current and past) will receive regular baths at which point they don't really smell 'clean.' They smell like wet dog. But I know they're clean and besides which it leaves them very soft and shiny. They also smell somewhat better.

Is it worth the assault on my nose? Yes.

Off to explore the neighborhood with a little "eau de Salmon or Wild Rabbit" in my pocket. Hey - it's better than freeze dried liver!

It's a Boy!

2012-01-31T05:22:00.004+01:00

I can't even be subtle about this post. It's a boy!

One of the fine-tuning adjustments we've made has been the addition of this little man to the household: Meet Eiger - a 3/4 Labrador Retriever 1/4 Rottweiler mix. He's 3 1/2 months old and already 30 lbs. We adopted him from a local shelter but he was cared for and loved - previous owner couldn't keep him due to medical issues. He had another name but we are working on the change and after only 3 days, he's responding well.

Talk about a challenge. Adopting from a shelter is not as easy as one might think. Certain breeds are hard to come by and there are adoption applications to fill out, visits to schedule if the animal is not already taken and then, for the agency we adopted with, a home visit. They came out to see how Eiger would be in our house, yard and with us. We were the lucky family and so far are very happy to have this warm bundle of fun.

He's pretty mellow, has a soft mouth and big paws. There are some things we've forgotten about over the years: toys lying underfoot, water drops across the floor, constant attention to the 'outdoor business' and being followed - everywhere. It's kind of like having a toddler again. It curtails my "freedom" a bit as I now need to keep his needs in mind as well (letting him out and mid-day feedings) but I LOVE having a dog around and I still miss our Max.

Speaking of Max:

This was Max at a similar age. A little resemblance don't you think? Eiger doesn't have the white on the chest and his front shoulders aren't quite as square. Max had a Lab head attached to a Rottweiler body. Eiger has the big bark though. We've already heard it. I think it's a good thing.

The girls are enjoying Eiger and helping to train him. The name was a family decision. A small tribute to a part of Switzerland that we all dearly loved. He may not be as menacing as the mountain but he'll be decent sized.

Maybe not as big as Max who at his heaviest hit 110lbs. Around this time frame:

I always loved this picture. Rachel was playing with these beads (under close supervision) and Max was so patient and just needed to be right there with us.

Considering Eiger's attention to us already - I think we'll be making some great, new memories!

What will NOT be in the new memories? The avocado green walls and brassy trimmed closet doors. Wow!

Life is like the Seasons

2012-01-27T19:01:00.005+01:00

Life is full of constant change, isn't it? We may find ourselves in a comfortable moment or place but it doesn't last. Nor can it be recreated.

Being "experienced" at relocation, I can confirm that re-entry to a place you had previously lived can be as difficult or more so than an entirely new environment. Things seem familiar but they are definitely different. I often find myself starting to say "S-- R------" as the city I live in rather than "D---------" which is proper place. In taking a friend to the Oakland Airport, I went a 'different' way as my brain stepped back 12 years ago and thought I was heading to a clients place of business. Hello? Brain, are you working in there?

We live close to our old CA residence but just far enough and having been away long enough that much has changed. We are currently changing a few other things which will be revealed as the weeks go by. As we've been going through the mental exercises for these decisions (none of which are earth-shattering, just fine-tuning), I was reminded of the challenges we faced when we left for Switzerland over 5 years ago. And how God just took care of everything even when I didn't feel in control.

Most of those challenges are recorded in the early part of this Blog. The sorting, labeling, packing and disposing of things when you are leaving your home country for an unknown period of time AND selling one's residence is no light matter. Much of it done with the husband out of town and/or out of the country. I had wonderful help through friends at church - if you're reading this now, Thank You again!!!

We had to leave our beloved dog Max who passed away shortly thereafter and thus created challenges in decisions and feelings while we dealt with it from overseas. I was just telling my Mom how hard it was for me. I couldn't pack the suitcases until he was with J & S (new family) because he was already on my heels with the house in a crazy state and if I pulled out the suitcases, he would understand how big the change was = suitcases equaled his people leaving. I didn't go with Bart & the girls to give him a last goodbye either - couldn't do it.

Then there was the matter of Rachel which was not on the Blog. She was sick (antibiotics issue) and had lost considerable weight (for her size) before we left. We were still waiting for test results right before the movers came on Monday and had a "standby" appointment with a Pediatric Gastro....something specialist on that Tuesday and we were supposed to hand over our keys that Thursday and head off for California. Fortunately, we didn't need to see the Specialist as we got a diagnosis and a plan (still took 2 months for her to finish recovery). I've never written about the pharmacy mess-up that occurred as we tried to leave Urbandale headed for CA (visited family before heading to Switzerland) but let's put it this way: I cried in front of the pharmacist, I spoke harshly, they had messed up, I convinced them that "I will pay for the medicine in full" which I told them I would the previous day! as it was a compounded liquid (has to be prepared as it's not already in form and this is usually done overnight) AND I did this all in front of my dad who had flown out to help me with the girls and the drive. He was calm and quiet the whole time and let me drive and just work it all out. I was a challenge. Thank you Dad!

Then we arrived in Switzerland. This brought on another host of challenges and learning as a family to operate and exist in a new country. We were significantly blessed by it all.

When I look at all those old challenges, I see how God brought us through. How much I've learned and grown as a wife, mother and individual. I can apply the experience and lessons learned to new challenges. As overwhelmed as I've felt this Fall/Winter with some things, when put next to challenges in the past, they're quite small. They just feel big in this time that I'm in - the "right now." The Lord is reminding me, again!, that He's bigger than all of it.

I'm rejoicing in the discipline of the last couple of weeks. Obviously not disciplined on the computer but in other areas of life. I'm finding my routine. Taking care of things that matter and not leaving so much for later. My to-do list is still very, very long but reassessing priorities, especially priorities that matter to other people, has brought some great balance to life.

It is good.

What an interesting winter

2012-01-20T21:04:00.002+01:00

It has certainly been an interesting winter. A lot of blue skies and no precipitation up until this past weekend. Strange, enjoyable and a bit scary - California is suffering from winter drought and this does not bode well for summer.

No precipitation has also meant no skiing! When we went to Reno after Christmas, there was no snow to be seen on Emigrant Gap and sketchy bits on the mountains surrounding Lake Tahoe. We occupied ourselves with other outdoor activities and didn't even bother to pack snow gear. It's certainly a new environment for the girls who don't remember living in CA and after 10 winters with snow, it feels different for Bart and I as well.

Here are Kendra and I with our friends L, N and M last year. I think Rachel and D were off skiing another piste. It is getting easier to look at the pictures ( I go through this with every move) and just enjoy the memories of time that cannot be recreated. We are making new memories and continue to explore the area around us. The last time we were in Las Trampas Regional Park, we had Rachel/Kendra in backpacks and Max was dragging us around by the leash or he was trying to tell us how fun it was to roll in cow pies. Things are a bit different now but the view is still beautiful:
Those hills should be bright green but with no rain comes no growth. As you can see, the rain has had no impact on the growth of Rachel and Kendra! Rachel is officially as tall as I am and Kendra has hit a growth spurt and is closing the gap. They'll pass me up soon. In Bart's words "not that it's hard to pass you up." Thanks Honey.

There are habits/customs we do not leave behind. Such as afternoon coffee with my mom outside. This was from her visit this past Fall. A little espresso, chocolate wafer cookie......Life is good!

It's a New Year - a New Routine perhaps?

2012-01-14T06:19:00.002+01:00

I hope everyone is enjoying the start of 2012! I will enjoy it better once I have a computer that likes me. One that stays connected to the Internet or simply doesn't die on me for no apparent reason. I'm not ignoring the Blog on purpose - it's just hard to write when ones tools are mis-firing.

Remember the routine I was trying to find? I just realized I forgot to pack it! It’s still in Switzerland. I’m afraid it’s there to stay and thus I need to develop a new one.

Consider this: in Switzerland there are specific parameters that organize your life for you – both legislated and culturally enfored. I offer the following as examples:
• Mowing the lawn is allowed between the hours of 8am to 8pm Monday through Saturday but NOT during the lunch hour (12pm to 1:30pm). NOT allowed on Sundays.
• Most grocery stores are open 8am – 7pm, M – Sat. (a few open until 8pm) and Saturday opening hours are 8am – 12pm or 8am – 5pm depending on where you live. Grocery stores are NOT open on Sundays except for those attached to gas stations or at the train stations.
• Retail store are open 9am – 6pm M – Fri. and 9am – 1/4/5pm on Saturdays. NOT opened on Sundays.
• If you live in shared housing, which we did, you do NOT run the vacuum cleaner during the lunch hour (pretty much follows the lawn mower rules).
• We were admittedly spoiled by their school – all of their music lessons were held on campus – about 5 minutes from our house.
• Driving was logical – passing is allowed only on the left and it was not considered offensive to flash your lights at someone to get them to move to the right lane in order to pass.

Now we are back in the US and there is no imposed order to life – other than the HOA (Homeowner Association). I’ve most likely violated the HOA landscaping rules already by ripping out ugly plants and replacing them with new, attractive plants. We’re in the back corner of a cul-de-sac so I don’t think anyone but the one neighbor has even noticed. 
I can go to a grocery store virtually any hour of any day depending on my choice. We can mow the lawn any day of the week – 8am on a Sunday morning would not be illegal although it may make our neighbors cranky. I’m back in a single family house so I can run any appliance at any time of day I wish. I have to run up and down the freeway a couple times a week for music lessons and they’re far enough away that I have to sit and wait during the lesson (I know I was very spoiled before) if I don’t have a short errand to run. Driving in the Bay Area: as I stated before, the school parking lot is worse than in Zurich. Drivers from 35 – 40 different countries handle school drop-off better than the homogenous crowd that exists in our little pocket of suburbia.

All of that “freedom of choice” makes things a bit untidy. It’s a bit disorderly at times. I am a tidy and orderly person who appreciated the structure of Switzerland – to a point. I don’t want to make this post too long so we’ll have to save the “stifling” points for a later date. We came to really appreciate the “no stores/retail open on Sundays as it truly became a family day with church, lunches, naps, long walks, movies, etc… So I’m working on a new routine and feeling settled in the community.

That all said, do I find I appreciate a quick run to Safeway on a Sunday night for a forgotten lunch item? Absolutely!!!

Merry Christmas to You!

2011-12-25T06:23:00.002+01:00

Hi! A quick Merry Christmas!!!

We're sitting and watching White Christmas (Bart grinning as I sing along quietly). We're missing the snow and cold we've become accustomed to. A sweater was all that was needed today although it will be below freezing tonight - warming up again to 60's for tomorrow.

I did have a little funny that I referred to before - garlands. Kendra wanted to wrap the stairways and rails in greenery and I told her it would probably have to wait until next year. I promised to hit the after Christmas sales and buy it all at 50% off. But we had two boxes of Christmas stuff that had been in Des Moines storage and I really couldn't remember what was in there. Lo and behold, I started pulling out 9ft. after 9ft. length of greenery garland. I had enough to do both stairways and both fireplace mantels. Plus lights!

I looked at Bart and said "Did we start wrapping the front porch in Des Moines before we left?" Turns out we had and that's where it all came from. Yeah! I don't have to hit Michaels the day after Christmas now.

Getting things out of storage after 5 years has been a bit like opening a time capsule. And not everything you think should be "revived" is given life. The Christmas tree below is dressed with, not a proper tree skirt, but a big scrap of cloth. The proper tree skirt which had been used in Des Moines was stuck in the "storage" and did not travel with us to Zurich. Nor did the Christmas stockings.

Our first Christmas in Zurich, I realized my mistake and found a big piece of material to wrap around the bottom of the tree. The girls decorated paper bags for stockings. ANYWAY, when I put the proper tree skirt under the tree this year there was a protest. Turns out, the girls are attached to the way the tree looks with that big scrap of material and did NOT want the proper tree skirt. So - no tree skirt. I also asked if they wanted nicer stockings but they like their cheap drugstore stockings with names written in gold glitter. Works for me. My homage to Swiss decorating:

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas from Sunny California!

A Real Conversation between Mom and Girls

2011-12-12T05:19:00.002+01:00

Girls 1 & 2: Mom, can we go up the hill by the big trees and stuff?

Mom: Yes, be careful, don't do anything stupid and stay away from big rocks.

Girl 1: Why?Mom: You know, in case there's snakes sitting in the sun. (Dad joined in on this one)

Girls are getting ready and I (mom) notice the "outfits" they are assembling for the journey.

Mom: OK - NO making weapons or tying up anybody or anything while you're out there.

Girl 1: OK - we won't tie anybody up.

Mom: Weapons?

Girl 1: Moooommmmm. Can't we bring our Swiss Army knives?

Mom: OK. But don't tie anything up or cut off your fingers.

Girl 2: What about the slingshot or my bow & arrow (handmade with backyard sticks)?

Mom: OK. You can take the slingshot but don't aim it at any living thing or person.

Girls: Thanks mom - see ya.

Out they go and I'm left wondering if there's something I forgot to tell them. Thankful that my .22 is locked up in dad's gun safe. Remembering they went tearing through the park just a few weeks ago, Rachel with large stick in hand, and me stomping my foot yelling "no running with sticks!!!" much to the amusement of my mom and sister. They also built a little "nest" bed for their 3 year old cousin in a tree during Thanksgiving break.

You may wonder where they get these ideas? They both just finished the "Hunger Game" trilogy which is completely and totally my fault as I read it and recommended they both read them so we could discuss together. The protagonist, Katniss, is a forager/hunter/protector and the girls loved the series. We're hoping the Movie rating is appropriate or I'll have some disappointment to deal with. I'm just glad they're not acting out the "fight to the death" portions and are focused on the "survival" portions.

So. What do your kids do for fun?

Tap Tap Tap

2011-12-05T21:08:00.002+01:00

Tap Tap Tap

Yep. Blogger is still working. Bart asked the other night "are you ever going to Blog? It's been almost a month?"

I find this funny. He is, after all, my husband and therefore knows most of what happens in our little world and "why is he waiting to read about it?" I probably reveal things in a Blog that I don't share in conversation - I am the "Finnish" one of the family after all. Many times I just don't feel the need to talk about everything but there's alot going on in my brain!

Blogging can be like having a confidential friend - it's enjoyable to share pictures and thoughts and ideas. Except this friend is public and as with anything on the computer, there will be a record of it somewhere for all eternity. At least until Armeggedon and then I plan to be propelled back in time to Terra Nova. Well, maybe just while watching Terra Nova on the DVR with my girlies.

As I consider why I've chosen absence from the Blog lately, it comes down to a couple things: priorities, attitude and health. They are all bound up together.

Paul, in speaking to the Corinthians about living a life of freedom in Jesus Christ vs living by the Law (Old Testament Law) says this:

"Whether then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." I Corinthians 10:31

I don't want to take this out of context - Paul is addressing issues of legalism and judgement under the old Law. He tells them that under Christ all things are permissible - there is no longer "clean" and "unclean." I think they are also great statements about everyday living as well.

"All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor." I Corinthians 10:23-24

Where am I going with this? It's been a while since I've written a "deep thought" so I'll do my best to be concise.

Life has been busy. Really busy. I underestimate the time it takes to get things done - for various reasons. Having lived in a "temporary" place for 5 years and moving to a "permanent" place requires a bit of physical (think furniture) and mental re-adjustment. There has been construction, furniture shopping, storage issues, visiting and having visitors, travel, new schools, new friends, old friends!, new/old church, new bible study, new Dr's/Orthodontists, new clients, new groceries, new vehicles and a new schedule.

Ah, that new schedule. I haven't found it yet. I'm looking. I'm frustrated by it a bit. That's why I'm not on the computer much. I used to get the girls off to school and sit for an hour looking at the Lake getting caught up on all things computer. Not here. It's different. I really want my girls and Bart to enjoy being home. That requires me to get some things done before they arrive. And I have some back issues to deal with - therein the health and attitude (currently in diagnosis phase). When you are uncomfortable/pain most of the time (I know a couple of you will relate to this), your attitude can take a nosedive - aka cranky/irritable/short-tempered. I spend a lot of my time doing what I need to without doing too much so that I can be sane come evenings with the family.

Add that to the adjustments we've had and I would turn into a complaining Blogger. I don't want to be that kind of writer. I want to be giving glory in everything I do. It's not always easy and I'm working on it. So many things are enjoyable to do but not all things are right in the circumstance. Are the activities I'm choosing helpful to others or just self-pleasing? Seeking to find my balance in a new place.

I miss posting and hearing from my few precious readers. :) Hopefully I'm back on track and now that the house is festively arrayed, I'll start by sharing pic's and a funny garland incident. We think it's funny anyway. And I'll share tomorrow.......time's up for today.

In Honor of our Vets - 11.11.11

2011-11-11T18:15:00.002+01:00

One nice thing about the move is some new stuff. One of which is the new, wireless printer, copier, scanner and fax machine(all in one) which works much better than the printer we brought back with us that was making funny noises and not sure it wanted to print anymore.

I've never had a scanner before so am enjoying the ability to get some pre-digital pictures onto the computer.

Like this: My Dad. Who is also having a party today for retirement from 38 years as an electrician - Congratulations!

Thank you Dad - and Uncles, Cousins, Grandfathers and all those who have served our country in various capacities, under various circumstances and for various reasons. God Bless You!

Free Range Anyone?

2011-10-29T05:44:00.003+02:00

I know this won't be the last time I bore you with the local wildlife.

We are quite used to cows, sheep and hawks but you have to admit - Turkeys in force are fascinating.

Here is just a portion of the "gaggle" "flock" "herd" ???? of turkeys in our neighborhood: It's quite something to see all the males puffed up and showing off their tail feathers while the females just try to get some breakfast. Oh my! Growing up in a family of hunters, I do wonder how these free-range birdies might be on the table. But don't worry - I'm sure the HOA has some rule or another against shooting in the backyard. Cultivated wilderness.

I took these from my car with the little camera so they're not what I hoped but - those turkeys don't stay in place! I can come back 10 minutes later and they'd be gone. They're very funny too - as traffic came down the road and the turkeys had to get out of the way, they split into "boys" and "girls." Each gender on separate sides of the road. I find them hilarious.

What else might be hilarious this time of year?

Aye, Matey! Ye be talkin' 'bout me girlies:

Yes, the Pirates have taken over. We've finished the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and they are rarin' to go. Mom & Dad have costumes too from years ago in Des Moines - I may even share a picture............

The girls had done "Trunk or Treat" at the international school while in Switzerland but this will be the first year in 5 that they've gone to school in costume or out trick or treating in the neighborhood. Rachel doesn't think she's too old at all - she can't wait. I think 10 yrs was my last trick or treat year..........

It's been a decent week. Furniture shopping is virtually complete - and we should have everything by the end of January....... But we do have a couch and "Bart's" recliner arrived this week so - Yeah! It's a lot of work, time, money and just not as enjoyable when you really need it all - hoping to get things out of boxes or have a place to offer guests to sit. But we are so happy to be located where we are in this area. God gave us a good thing.

I actually have A LOT to say about the last few months. Just not sure how much I should. And does anyone really want to hear that my back bothers me enough that often I don't sit at the computer because I feel better staying up and about. Working on that - better this week.

I'm off to sleep. Need a lot of that. ;) Guten Nacht!

I am from........ by Rachel Olson

2011-10-20T20:02:00.005+02:00

Hello! Back again and I think, I think things are going to settle into a routine and I may, I may be able to bring myself to the computer a bit more frequently.

I would love to share this poem Rachel wrote for an English assignment this week. I'm sharing it without editing so don't feel a need to correct her mistakes - this is how she'd put it if she were talking it out.

I shared a bit from the Art of Coming Home a while back. The transition has certainly had it's ups and downs. This poem reflects, in my mind, how Rachel as a "Third Culture Kid" (seriously, there's a whole book on this topic) sees herself. I thought it was beautiful and maybe it's just me, the mom, speaking but you can let me know:

I am from dusty old scrapbooks filled with happy memories. I am from foreign yearbooks sitting at the bottom of a closet shelf. I am from new pop CD’s and gossip magazines. I am from dark and milk creamy Swiss chocolate. I am from Thanksgiving pumpkin and apple pie making. I am from a hundred pens scattered all over desks and tables in my house. I am from peach colored sheep paintings from Stockholm. I am from camera’s that capture wonderful moments on trips to the Italian Riviera.

I am from nagging old habits. I am from dark sky blue Faberge eggs of Russia. I am from good-smelling perfume air freshener from France. I am from scenic postcards written by dearest friends. I am from funny and girly birthday cards going back to three years old. I am from the Harry Potter books, dark, mysterious and thrilling. I am from the mythical books of Percy Jackson, romantic and exciting.

I am from skiing on large, majestic Swiss alps, covered in powdery, crystal snow. I am from swimming in a deep green lake. I am from friends that will stay by my side through dark, scary and horrible times. I am from cream colored, silk soft sand of Oman. I am from computers that take seven minutes to start up. I am from a closet so messy that you can hardly see the cream colored carpet below.

I am from thick, delicious, moist vanilla cake with sugary, creamy chocolate frosting. I am from brown tinted sunglasses that are always clouded with finger prints. I am from a bright, lime green elementary school with windows framed with bright, strawberry red.

I am from long, steamy, and hot showers. I am from warm, moist Abigbrot eaten with hot and spicy chili on a cold winter night. I am from soft, sandy beaches with clear, turquoise water; lapping gently against the shore. I am from below zero degrees winters, with fresh snow every morning. I am from Christmases filled with mirth and warmth, from opening beautiful presents in the morning and playing in the new fallen snow in the afternoon. I am from these happy, sad and angry moments.

I can think of many other "froms" she could have shared but it's her work and reflects how she sees herself at this time. I'm from a lot of those places too.

What's been goin' on

2011-10-10T20:58:00.010+02:00

Busy, Busy, Busy.

Time for some pictures and a bit of what the Olson's have been up to the past few weeks. I'm going backwards as I'm writing this on the return of a whirlwind trip to - Guess?Does the red, double-decker bus give you a clue? My shiny, clean face devoid of makeup as I intend to go straight to bed after the show? Yes, London!!! I did not sleep (dosed about 45 min.) on the flight over so this is me at about 28+ hrs. I don't remember much of the first half of Billy Eliott but was awake for the 2nd Act.

Why London? A wonderful friend from Zurich was in London to celebrate a special Birthday with another wonderful friend who moved there in April who was hosting other wonderful friends (also from Zurich) for the weekend. Follow? My wonderful husband who knew I was missing friends and that's it's been a time of adjustment, looked into tickets and gave me the "hall pass." So I was a surprise for the Birthday friend - and she was VERY surprised. It was fun to be a surprise!

On the River Thames. Advertising - A-hem! But if we show our ID we can get a discount ...... :)

The surprise activity for the weekend was a high-speed boat excursion on the River Thames. Next to skiing fast together, we enjoyed this immensely - Thank You L for arranging this and treating us to such fun!

After the thoroughly fun but chilly ride on the Thames, we were off to celebrate the Birthday girl at a lovely! hotel tearoom.

It was so beautifully arranged. They had several pieces of furniture that were "just what I'm looking for" but, of course, one can't take off with hotel furniture in ones' small suitcase.

Along with eating, boating, theatre-going and visiting, there was a bit of shopping to do. L lives in the Hampstead area and it was so fun to see a different part of London.

I'm so thankful for these friends and for the trip - quick as it was. It also felt natural to be back in a place where you can walk out the door, go a few blocks and catch a train, taxi, bus to your destination. Being in the suburbs again, I actually miss that. Especially with a larger group of people - we never had to worry about whether there were enough seats in the car.

It was also good to see friends I miss in a place other that Switzerland. Although it's very nice where we live in CA, I was happy to move from it 9 years ago and really had no idea we'd move back. It's really taking me some time to acclimate (some things are easier than others) and with work being done on the house, haven't "gotten out" as much as I thought I would have at this point. It's best NOT to visit the place being missed at this time but great to visit with the people. Plus - the birthday girl and her Hub will be visiting us in November which we are really looking forward to.

Before that trip - and in keeping with the spirit of Swiss culture - Rachel had an assignment for her Foods class that we worked on. They are to prepare and give a bit of background on a food from their heritage or culture. As we lived in Switzerland for 5 years, certain aspects became a part the family culture.

Such as the Grittibaenz:

Grittibaenz are a traditional bakery dough men made in November/December. Ours are looking a bit "special" (dough men vs Aliens?) but Rachel's class really enjoyed them and she felt good about sharing this part of her life. Can I add that I love the workspace of our kitchen island. LOVE IT!

We also spent a weekend with our friends in Fresno again and to watch the young man below play a bit o' Football - American style. We brought the girls instruments so they could practice and have a little jam session. Knowing the girls as some of you do, what's wrong with this picture:

Yes, they played their own instruments a bit and then decided to switch it up - J is a naturally gifted musician (plays contrabass, electric bass guitar and drums) and within minutes had Kendra's cello going - another instrument in the H house? Rachel had fun on his bass and Kendra enjoys the violin when Rachel leaves her alone to just play it......

And before the Fresno weekend, we had a weekend in Reno with my mom and J. We had a great time visiting and went up to Virginia City - and old Silver mining town.

I do believe I mentioned that trip now that I type it out...... losing my mind. While I know I mentioned Bart's parents Anniversary in Minneapolis, I never did share pictures. It was great to celebrate such an anniversary with them. This cake? This cake was GONE. During clean-up I checked to see if any was left and there was just a smudge of frosting on that plate. I did not swipe at the smudge 'cause I was being well mannered. But if no one had been watching????

With Bart's parents and sister Siri - we had a great time. Happy Anniversary!

So I'm now off to do laundry, make more Grittibaenz (Kendra decided to use them for her class project too) and shuttle kiddo's to music lessons.

And to my husband for all his love, kindness and support - Thank You! I'm glad I decided 19 years ago to not be "just friends."

Random items for today

2011-09-24T07:20:00.002+02:00

And my lack of blogging time continues. But:

I've spent time (3x) with a friend from Zurich whose daughter is a Professor at Stanford. Yes, that Stanford. I felt smart just eating at the Faculty Lounge restaurant which we were treated to. And thinking I'd like to go back to school. I don't think I'll get into Stanford.... I digress. It was wonderful to spend time with J and so glad to see her face!

We went to Reno last weekend to visit my mom & J at their house - realized because of living in IA and Switz that we hadn't been there in 9 years! It was such a nice visit and weekend. Mom's friend C was also there so it was great to catch up. We were very fortunate - J was at the Reno Air Races but not in his place in the stands but the pitts (note - there was a tragic accident with a plane and surrounding casualties) . Their friend is a surgeon at the hospital there and only revealed a bit of the trauma before dinner on Saturday. So sad and heartbreaking. Besides that - had a great time and thankful for our many blessings.

I took the girls, including a friend of Rachel's, to a movie this afternoon and have entered a strange new world - that of teenies in CA. Slightly different than teenies in Zurich but with a common adoration for cute boys in movies. Sigh.

We have pictures on the walls!!!!!!!!!!! At least some. I made Bart change the painting over the mantel by 1/2 inch over: "Really, I need to move it." "Yes, really you need to move it." Because I will know it's off by one inch total and someone (or several of you) will come in and realize that somehow it's not dead center. It is now. :)

We have a sofa to sit on!!!!!!!!! The day our container arrived from Switzerland we had the movers take the sectional to my dad's as we knew it wouldn't fit in the new house (too big and clumsy for the room). So we've been using a double seat (smaller than a loveseat) and Rachel's child size chair - fancy!

Getting there. Working through missing people. Working on getting to know new people. Happy to be together and be able to spend time with CA people. And non-CA people visiting CA.

Did I mention it's hot here. In California. It's almost the end of September and we still need the air conditioning. Or I'll melt. And not because I'm the Wicked Witch of the East. Don't ask my family about that one. We have all agreed that since we moved here at the very end of June the weather is boring: sunny and hot, sunny and hot, oohhh, a little marine layer - bingo, burns off by 10am and it's sunny and hot. Not complaining, just realizing that once again I live in a land with pseudo-seasons. Where I will refrigerate my bulbs for a couple weeks before planting them 'cause, hmmm, bulbs are from Holland and I live in....CA.

I'm off now to check on my insomniac child (she's not really but thinks she is) and then sit on my new, comfy couch with the cute boy aka my husband.

Observations as we settle in

2011-09-14T19:02:00.003+02:00

Hi! Remember me? The lady who typically drops out of the Blogging world when traveling? But has dropped out primarily due to lack of routine, strangers in the house, a little travel (MN) and trying to figure out how to put things into words again.

I like to internalize things and carry them around in my upper back lately vs getting it all out on the keyboard. Much to the massage therapist and chiropractor's dismay. "Wow" being the most frequent word in their vocabulary when I visit.

Things are moving along with getting settled into the house. We unpacked the rest of the boxes this weekend so the shipping company could come pick up the rest of the "debris." We had lots of debris. Happy to report that there were no broken items in the lot save one piece of pottery which had no sentimental value and one painted egg ornament of Rachel's. It was given to her by our dear friend M in Zurich but in Rachel's typical pragmatic way she said " well, it's an egg - it wasn't going to last forever."

Now that life is settling into a bit of routine: music teachers found, lessons begun, school times figured out, etc..., we notice more of what we miss of the old and what we like of the new. We're a bit 'homesick' right now but it's to be expected.

Friends from our church in Zurich came for a visit last night - their daughter teaches at Stanford - and it was sooooooo good to see them. The husband baptized Rachel in June and they are dear, loving people. Something occurred during the visit that made us laugh and I realize it's time to share some of our observations.

I was in the kitchen and everyone was outside when I heard a loud 'bang' at the door. There is J staring at me - and we both started laughing with realization. She just walked straight into the screen door not realizing it was there. There are no screen doors in Switzerland! We laughed and then starting pointing out all the other "differences" like the trash compactor, the garbage disposal - the filtered water and ice that comes straight out of our refrigerator door.

Other observations:

Rarely does one have to pay for parking

Parking spaces are generally big enough for our big car

People don't signal lane changes/turning any better in CA than in Switzerland

It feels strang to pass other cars in a right hand lane

It feels strange not to go 75mph(120km) on the freeway

In spite of screens, a flyswatter is still needed but I can't find one

Nutella in the USA is NOT the same as Nutella in Europe (US version has Palm Oil in it)

Much Chocolate in the USA is NOT the same as in Switzerland (again, US uses Palm Oil a lot)

We love going to Barnes & Nobles which seems so inexpensive after Orel Fuessli but must start restraining ourselves BUT the library doesn't have everything......especially young adult books by English/UK authors we've come to enjoy and for that one must go to Amazon

School parking lot may be more ruthless here than in Switzerland - good thing we are so close

We have air conditioning

We will not have snow

Our heavy winter clothes may get used in Tahoe - Or a trip to Switzerland in the future

We should have bought the tall vase in Italy

Baseball "pitches" should be refered to as "fields" or "diamonds" in the USA

We all find ourselves mis-pronouncing "new words" or last names based on our language experiences (so many people mis-pronounce European surnames here..... ;) )

Things are so spread out here that while we have more "conveniences" we don't have any more time

CA weather is boring - blue sky, warm/hot - but we're not complaining :)

Restaurants are loud here - music and people

Trains are not as clean nor on time as in Switzerland - big surprise

Much searching is done to find food products without so much sugar in them - bread, sauces, salad dressings?

We love our wildlife neighbors

We have fun with our ping-pong table (Kendra is a contender!)

We're trying to figure out how we ended up with so many pictures/frames for the walls over the years and what will we do with them as our house has more windows than wall space

Unable to find Nuessli (lamb's ears lettuce) anywhere so far (supermarkets, Trader Joes, Whole foods, etc....) and might have to sneak some seeds in

The grapes on our grapevine are edible table grapes - the deer and turkeys like them too

Our passports are gathering dust

Haven't settled into a cooking groove yet which is not impressing the Bartman

Stress level in the grocery store is definitely going down though

Cash back in the check out lines - YES! - no separate trip to the ATM

There are no supermarkets in the Malls here - a convenience I'm missing

There have been so many 'technical' changes in the world over the last 5 years, there are things new to us in moving back and can't even list them all

Church visiting is going well - with the one church we've visited so far (one we used to go to in the area)

I can understand almost everyone who comes to service/work on things at the house - I need to learn some Spanish, the German is not useful

School has brought challenges in different ways but things have worked out well - we think?

Girls have 50%+ more students in their classes in CA vs ZIS - Kendra is in a class of 31 vs 18 - 20 and Rachel's biggest class is 37 vs 18

Rachel's gone from an 8 class block schedule (longer class times, each class 3x week) to 7 classes every day - without German and Spanish this year, she's down two academic classes from her previous load which hopefully will help the academic curriculum adjustment this year

We chose this area in part because of what the schools offered - found they still have some of these programs because the Parents fund them, not the State - have written quite a few checks.........

I've written more checks in 2+ months than we wrote over the 5 years in Switzerland

There have been adjustment surprises - one day at a time

Kids really miss ZIS and their friends

One thinks things should be so much easier here - but its really not - things still take time and patience and persistence

It's still weird to listen and understand so many conversations around you

I can click the spell-check on Blogger now and it doesn't highlight my entire post - as it did in Switzerland thinking that I should be writing in German

Lastly, we could pick up our 'village' of Waedenswil and plunk it into Hacienda Crossings of Dublin (big shopping complex - theatres, restaurants, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble - you get the picture) and it would fit!!!

Whew! Sometimes these changes and differences can be overwhelming. We take it day by day. Amazed at how adaptable one becomes to their environment because 5 years away was 5 years away. It was a different life. Our "Swiss Bubble" as we refer to it. And I'll be honest, there are days I'd like to go back to my Bubble. The pastor spoke at church on Sunday about the "Offense of Jesus." People get offended by Him. How much of the 'offense' is due to human expectation. Because Jesus came to save us from our sins, not our circumstances. How often we expect our circumstances to change because of our belief. People get "offended" because He doesn't do things the way we think He should.

We are very thankful for our circumstances. Hugely thankful that He paid the price for our sins.

One thing that has remained the same - Wednesday is a short school day. It was an "early out" day in Switzerland and it is an "adjusted day" here in CA. Either way, I have to get a move on because Kendra will be walking home in a couple hours and I have things to do!

Caio! Tschuss! Adeiu!

It's Official!

2011-09-02T21:08:00.002+02:00

We have a teenager in the house!

Really? Can Rachel really be 13? YES! I think she thought she turned 13 about 6 months ago. That girl. She's funny, sweet, stubborn (wonder where she gets that), quiet, loud (born with volume control stuck!), sensitive, enthusiastic, creative, musical and we love her to pieces!!!

The girls have been on a cupcake craze and I bought them a new "Cupcake Cookbook" recently. Instead of a cake this year, we decorated cupcakes - Birthday girl's choice: Panda's! We had a lot of fun making these and while we all tried making an entire bear at first, it became apparent that we all had our separate talents. I was better at base frosting and the face details, Rachel was great at the crumb covering and ears and Kendra put the heads and arms on. We were pretty hilarious and had only a few Oreo's and licked some frosting while we were at it.

With the household still being a bit chaotic, I was thankful for the first time in many years having available to me in a convenient US of A way: yellow cake mix, premade frosting and various bits that often required a time consuming "search and find" mission in Switzerland. There are things I miss but when it comes to baking items and accessories - US of A has it.

So remiss - I haven't posted any HI pictures! And here we are headed for another family event - Bart's parents 50th Golden Wedding Anniversary! Bart has spearheaded this event with help of his sister in Minneapolis and is ready with program, power-point show and various fun.

But I'm not sitting around in the sun doing nothing(I can't even tell you how many sunny days we've had! Oh yeah, they've all been sunny and hot - this is California summer, not Zurich). The house - still 1/3 in boxes - has been a full time project but should be ready to fully settle into in about 1 1/2 weeks or so. We are ready - new paint, new appliances (they were starting to drop like flies), etc... Soon we can move furniture around again and start to settle. We're still trying to figure out our storage issues. Apparently, I have a large quantity of Christmas decorations, sewing materials/stuff and photo album making supplies. That, of course, is according to Bart. :) Who needs an office at home. Which is also the guest room. Which leaves me wondering where to put my stuff - creative solutions are coming I'm sure.........

I have a lot to do during the day but often find myself not sure where to go in order to stay out of the way:

The front porch was a good place to be while they cut the kitchen countertop!! to fit a new appliance.

The dis-order makes me a little crazy. I know it will be over soon. I am so thankful for where we are and this house God has given us. Someday I can clean the floors and they will actually stay clean until my family comes home from school & work - hahahahaha...... We are enjoying close proximity to some dear friends and family. It's been great to see my dad multiple times - just because he's so close now.

Greatly missing friends in Zurich - knowing new friends/relationships will come. It all takes time. Blessed and fortunate every day.

The real work begins

2011-08-25T17:36:00.007+02:00

The title may be a little mis-leading. It should read " the real work began." It began last Monday on the 15th. We've been a little overwhelmed and tired, tired, tired. But we got our container and things are moving with the house so YAHOO!!!

We were a bit concerned (mild statement) that our container would not get delivered as scheduled. It was a week overdue into port and then it was chosen by US Customs for "intensive inspection." Fortunately, our prayers were answered and Customs did not fool around with it and released it quickly (most likely was sniffed and scanned as none of the contents were disturbed). What a blessing!

It arrived into Oakland/Alameda on a container ship similar to the one shown going under the Bay Bridge here:
And showed up on our doorstep that Monday morning - Wow!

It took approximately 1 hour, 10 minutes for them to completely unload the container. Yelling out item inventory numbers and stacking boxes in the garage and driveway, they moved fast.

We had the crew for 2 days and you have to make the most of them while they're there. Day 1 was unpacking the container and then you start to identify what goes where in the house - especially the furniture pieces. Most of it is wrapped so there are times you're not sure what it is. I didn't get a picture of all the "stuffing" as they were so quick to unwrap and stuff it into boxes that were then thrown back on the container.

They worked on reassembling furniture and placing boxes in the proper rooms for unpacking later. Part of the crew (with a little side $$$) also made a delivery to my dad's as our sectional was going to his house in addition to returning a dining room table and some odds and ends. That worked out great as we would otherwise be walking around that piece(s) of furniture.

We had to work out some logistics as we also needed the house painted (interior) and had to wait our turn with the contractor. Painting started this week on Tuesday meaning we would have to leave some items boxed and some furniture "loosely" placed. It's just a little goofy here. In the past we've always painted ourselves but this house has really high ceilings and we just can't do it all. Oh, and Bart is really busy. He just can't do it all.

Here's Bart on the Wednesday he took off after the moving crew was done to help organize and put away what we could. What a mess. Where does it all go?

We didn't consider storage or the lack of when we bought the house. We would still buy this house - we love where it's at. It really hit home as we started unpacking that we had a lot of storage in Iowa (basement! and big closets) and Switzerland (built-ins). We have decent sized bedroom closets but there is little in the way of convenient storage elsewhere in the house - but it is big and airy. Just not equipped with storage. Except the kitchen - lots of storage there! :)

We've also had the "Barbeque" project going. The "island" has been ready - 3 weeks earlier than estimated! - and we've had to hold off delivery until our preparation for it is completed. There were Jasmine bushes to tear out, wood railing to be sanded(Susan), primed and painted(Bart & girls) and an electrical outlet (Gpa Paul) to be finalized before it can go in. We're almost done! Bart has just a little painting left. We'll enjoy it when it's done.

While the rest of the house is still "in flux" (exception is Rachel's room now that paint there is finished - she is Bart's "mini-me" - can we all give an "Amen") I am most comfortable when the kitchen is all in place. Day 1 of the move - afternoon:

Day 2 of the move - evening:

The move-in of everything caused another shift in the tenuous balance of the Olson's readjustment period so there have been many a "not so many sleeps" nights. K started sleeping in our bed again (thankful we switched to a King!) and Rachel standing next to the bed saying "I can't sleep" and our responding "nothing we can do - lay down and relax." Makes us all a little crazy - I'm having the same problem some nights. Plus - school was starting (yesterday morning) and we were a little concerned that we were all overtired.

Naturally, as nothing has really gone to plan, the painting started on Tuesday (originally scheduled for previous Thursday) - the night before school. So the girls were on air beds in the Family room and Bart and I have moved into the guest room. Bart & I have to stay there until our new blinds arrive - I'll have to get a pic posted of our "open" space. The painters have been great though and made the girls rooms a priority so theirs were done by Wed. noon and they were able to sleep in their own beds again - and they slept all night! Hallelujah!

I don't have pic's of the girls together on the first day of school. Their departure time is about one hour different: Rachel leaving by 7:25 and Kendra at 8:20. They can both walk to school and they both had a good first day! I don't necessarily want to Blog all the personal things that go on with moving countries and schools but those of you who've done it will know and those who think about it will understand - it's a stressful period. What a sigh of relief and a "thank you Lord" yesterday afternoon when we talked about their day.

I feel like a new kid too! I still know our banker more than anyone else in the community - all the wire transfers to pay remaining bills in Zurich....... I even think Rachel had a better day than Kendra which suprised me. I think that subject is a post of it's own.

Kendra leaving for 5th grade:

Rachel ready for 8th grade - she'll officially be a teenager next week!

All I know is that time flies - whether you're having fun or not!

Which way did it go?

2011-08-12T00:24:00.002+02:00

HI!!! Back again. Another trip. To Hawaii to visit the family and celebrate the 1st Birthday of my sister's twins. No pictures as I haven't had time yet to unpack my suitcase let alone download pictures but here I am on the Blog.

The warnings that Re-patriation (return to the Home Country) is harder than the leaving are to be headed. It is. Can't always explain it but it's a different adjustment. The school counselor put it well to Rachel this morning "make sure if something doesn't make sense, you speak up - even though the teachers will be notified you've come from overseas/Int'l school, you look and speak like any other kid around them and they won't know that things are different for you unless you say something." We don't look or sound different but we sure feel that way.

Good News! Our sea-going container of household goods finally reached the Port in Oakland/Alameda.

Bad News! US Customs randomly selected our container for intensive screening. Part of the "harder" of Re-patriation in our book.

It may be that it will still get released quickly but depends on their backlog and whether they want to take a quick peek or deeply dig into our stuff. I can say for the record - there are no verboten, re-sale, weapons, flammable, animal, plant, food product or otherwise forbidden items in our container. So I don't care other than I don't want yet another person touching my stuff when I'm not looking. Just creeps you out a little - or a lot. And we're still rattling around this empty house.

So I'll show off the container for you. After you see the Magic Box.

Magic Box:

This box contains ALL the pieces necessary to put ALL the disassembled items of furniture back together. It is a very, VERY important box. US Customs better not mess with it. Just sayin.'

A lot of people wonder how the boxes/furniture got out of our house and to the container. No one wants to traipse all down 120 steps to the garage area. Everything was entirely boxed and wrapped (patio furniture included!) then loaded onto this small truck via the wanderweg (walking path) next to our house and driven and reloaded into the container. I don't know how many trips they made.

But they made quite a few because I became a bit concerned that what I saw still in my house would not fit into what appeared to be a quickly filling container. The crew chief was pretty sure it would all fit but wasn't fully committed until the end. He said the Swiss tend to pack heavier with the paper wrapping than other shipping companies so they take up more space. Apparently they used over 7 kilos (18-20 lbs or so) of paper on our kitchen items alone. My gosh - we had a 40 ft container, surely it would all fit???

It did. Snug and tight with a bit left over. Not much left over.

Our container has gone by truck from Waedenswil to Basel, loaded on a ship for its trip up the Rhein River to Rotterdam, loaded on a cargo vessel which traveled Rotterdam to Oakland via the Panama Canal and is sitting and waiting it's final destination by truck when released.

I wish we could have earned some miles for freight. Praying the customs process is speedy.

It will be a real treat when this shows up at our door.

Hmmm - What will the neighbors say?

"Have it Your way"

2011-07-30T07:11:00.002+02:00

It’s a funny thing – ordering at a restaurant. One would think it’s not so different. But it certainly is. We really hold up the lines here.

To be fair, we’re not used to such choices. At “home” in Switzerland, one simply orders what one wants from the menu and rarely asks for any changes. Occasionally you ask for something to be left off, mushrooms or pickles for example. For the most part the food is served/made/prepared as the establishment wishes with few changes asked by the customer.

At “home” in the US one has so many choices, it makes the ordering process a bit confusing for those not quite used to it.

We’ve been in Subway and Chipotle recently and trying to get the girls used to the “order it your way" type of restaurant. They are gradually getting there. It’s funny as we’re pretty simple eaters now because of the past 5 years. It's much easier to order a simple ham and cheese sandwich and that's what you're given. Maybe with a little butter or fresh cheese ("frische kaese") and a pickle or cucumber slice but otherwise - ham and cheese on whatever roll they're serving it on.

Again - grocery store is still a challenge - too much! Trader Joe's is becoming my friend - smaller, less choices but good choices AND good, ready to heat up meals for when Bart's out of town and I don't want to cook.

Not that I have much to cook with..................

Have an awesome weekend!

New Neighbors

2011-07-27T17:22:00.004+02:00

Hello Again! It's been a busy week of visiting family and friends. Appointments with contractors (for our house that "is ready to move into") as it needs repainting and some repairs/adjustments. You just never know until you really look at it. We are still 'camping' in the house although the girls got the bean bag chairs for their rooms delivered so that has added seating to our family room or living room - depending on where they want to be.

I promised some pictures so I have some new neighbors for you. Not the kind that will come over for some coffee, but we enjoy their company.

The hill - home to deer, coyotes, big jackrabbits, ground squirrels, turkeys, quail, lizards and yes, snakes: A couple lonely pots left behind - I'll put something in them after Hawaii:

Here they are! The momma's and their chicks. These chicks aren't so little though. These 3 turkey momma's and their 6 chicks roam the neighborhood - front lawns, sidewalks - there are enough dogs they stay out of the backyards from what I can tell.

Here is pappa Quail - isn't he beautiful:

He stands on guard and you can bet that somewhere close by are the momma and chicks in the grass or bushes. Here is the pappa and 2 babies (at right) in our backyard. I need my zoom lens which I forgot to pack in our luggage and is on the slow boat.

And the lemon tree - we're loving that.

We'd love to have our patio furniture - this is where we last saw it:

And we're missing the view:

Still feeling in-between places. I still feel like maybe I'm going to be getting on a plane headed for ZRH and walking into "my" house in Waedenswil. But I'm not. Things are on schedule to have our container delivered to the house on August 15 - praying for no delays. I'm sure it will seem more permanent then. And after the girls start school....

It's a moving process that takes months. Since the beginning of April (before then as far as communications) the process has been in full swing. One looks for a house, the current house must be 'prepared' for packing, you start packing what you need for 2-3 weeks of travel, 2 months for items to get you by until the container arrives, start preparing new house for container items - oops, painter's can't get in until after container arrives, add 1 month after container before things will be up on wall and in place and time for new furniture to be ordered and delivered. A good 6 months of moving and situating things. It's like a full time job. But we take breaks because for 10 and 12 year old girls - not that fun!

But I enjoy taking breaks to watch my new neighbors. I hear that the momma turkey's will teach the babies to fly - hope we get to watch!

A little this, a little that

2011-07-19T16:47:00.002+02:00

"Olson"

Still answering the phone half the time Swiss style. Bart keeps asking how long I'll do that. He never picked up the habit as he rarely answered our phone in Switzerland.

"Adieu, Ciao, Aufwiedersehen......." I'm still saying goodbye several times and feeling like conversations are abruptly ended with a simple "Bye" on the other end of the line or at the store. Working on it.

We (or rather I) are not ready to tackle discussion of grocery shopping on the blog. Still the hardest part of adjusting for Moi. I could give specific instances of "I'm going to lose it" in each move, be it HyVee, Migros or Safeway. I'm most comfortable in Target - a constant since even though we didn't have one in Switzerland, it was the go-to store each summer trip to see family.

The Air cargo arrived! Yeah! We now have some regular kitchen items, summer clothes, some toys/stuff for the girls and more air mattresses and towels. And more seating options - there are now 4 camping chairs to accompany the dining room chairs. All the people traipsing through the house recently (window washers, carpet repair, shutter repair, paint/handyman, etc...) find it amusing.

I keep thinking of all sorts of things to blog about as I go through my day but then I sit here and go blank. I've not actually had much time to sit. I do have three items specific to moving:

1. As it's summer and we've just moved and there is NO routine yet, I've not had the chance to develop any new acquaintances yet, save working on one with a neighbor down the street. My most frequent "I know their names and we can chat" contacts are the banker and the insurance agent (and his wife). The girls are playing with girls down the street which has been an answer to prayer. We have had a great time seeing our "old" friends and some family (yes, we're working our way around to everyone) like we would during a normal summer only this time - we drive our own car and sleep in our own beds!

2. The girls, in spite of being given sleeping options via cots from Gpa P and more airbeds from Switzerland, continue to sleep together on a queen airbed. Bart and I know that this will be a potential issue for them later and sure enough, Kendra pipes up and says "I'm going to want to stay with Rachel in her room to sleep you know." Yes, we know. She's always preferred to share a room than be by herself. That will sort itself out. Plus it's cute to see them all curled up together - they're a bit like kittens.

3. Contact Paper. I hate it. It's OK to hate inanimate objects. Especially contact paper. I'm almost done re-papering the kitchen. The contact paper is still winning the war. But at least it's new and CLEAN and almost done so that when everything comes from the container in August, I'll be ready. The house is 14 yrs old and only the upper cabinets have laminate on the shelves, the rest were bare pressboard. Therefore, I peeled all the old "green marble" contact paper off and have been putting down new - bathrooms, kitchen, laundry, linens......it must be done.

Adjusting and enjoying time as a family - so much nicer to be all together again. Pictures next time.....

Still Waiting...

2011-07-11T21:32:00.002+02:00

Hi Again. I'm still bouncing around trying to figure out what to do first. I'm not very good at quickly putting everything away. Not that there's a lot to put away but I had to wait for the house to get cleaned first. The previous occupants, while very nice people I'm sure, did not really clean the house (vacuum out their bits from kitchen drawers, wipe out refridgerator, etc...) when they left so I felt a bit frozen when we got here.

Bart & I have gone through and sorted ALL the Iowa storage items that came - yes, we will be participating in the neighborhood Garage sale next week. So the garage is looking pretty good and I should really get to my closet. There are only 2 suitcases of stuff to put in there but it's amazing how it explodes all over the floor. My uber-organized husband is not impressed. :)

Our Air shipment has been delayed due to a backlog of cargo being shipped by the airlines. The 7 - 10 day estimate came and went a week ago and so we've been given an allowance for some necessities. We have borrowed some items and our neighbors loaned us some. There are just a few items though that we really could use so we've actually spent a little allowance - I don't typically but, camping is fun for only so long.

I'm sure others could tell stories. I hope ours isn't like the one we heard last night where the cargo containers fell off a ship to the USA via UK - the stuff all at the bottom of the Atlantic. I guess it would be the best reason to go shopping.

I'm off to take the girls out - keeping the boredom at bay.

We're Here!

2011-07-04T22:48:00.000+02:00

No - we have not fallen off the face of the earth. Just moving households and it's amazing how much time and effort and falling into bed at night is required. Maybe I'm just older. Maybe there's just more to do. Maybe it's because the former residents of our house didn't really clean up after leaving (really? the microwave is dirty, drawers not vacuumed out). Maybe because moving back to the States is as time intensive as moving to Switzerland - and we're citizens!

So we are camping in the house - one regular bed, one air bed and one dining room set - with odds and ends that have come out of Iowa storage.

The funnies of overseas moves:

Purchased some instant coffee so I can survive and was assured we had a travel mug or two to put it in. Before bed, realized we had nothing to heat the water in!

Purchased a couple candles to light and get some of the stale house smell disguised - "Bart, do we have any matches?" Uh, no.

Raiding our old camping gear for kitchen accessories such as a can opener.

Realizing that we should participate in the neighborhood garage sale coming up even though our container won't arrive until August - there's enough in the IA storage that should/must go.

Dropping husband off at train station (commutes into SF via BART - yes, Bart rides BART Bay Area Rapid Transit) each morning since we had only one rental car

We've purchased two new cars within 2-3 days of each other. Even when budgeted for, this can be quite a shock to one's system. And the poor girls: "keep your feet off that, don't bring that drink in the car, don't eat that 'til we get home" the new-ness will wear off soon (just not in "Bart's" car).

Taking CA drivers license tests (half of the written is required when re-newing from out of state) and having our old numbers returned to us - very convenient.

Meeting new neighbors on our small street - one family had been in S. Africa for 4 yrs recently (yeah, Expats!) and the other we realized went and still attend the church we were at when living in the area before.

Enjoying that we are in a familiar place (our first house is about 7-8 miles from our current) but learning a different part of the community.

Kendra is startled by the automatic sprinkler system.

Our friends in Fresno sent us home with a bottle of wine and an opener - Bart stared as I poured some in a plastic picnic cup and I said "this is all we've got!"

I have a long list of to-do's so had better get moving but very happy to wish you a Happy 4th from CA.

Not an ending...

2011-06-21T11:09:00.005+02:00

Wow. I think this will be my last post as a resident of Switzerland. Which means I've been writing here for just over 5 years. It doesn't seem that long ago. Really. It's gone by so fast and yet I feel we've really savored our time.

However - I won't stop writing here. I'll keep the name for the time being. The book "The Art of Coming Home" by Craig Storti explains the reason for this well:

"One of the most common complaints of returnees (to their home country) is how little interest the people back home show in their experiences, including close relatives and friends......This might not matter so much if you had just come back from a week in the countryside or at the beach, but you have been halfway around the world, seen places and done things these people will never see and do, and you've been gone three or four (5!) years besides. There's a lot to catch people up on.
Catching up is probably too simple a phrase to describe what's going on here. The point of telling your stories, after all, is not because you want to show off or because you crave attention but becaust you realize that you are now something of a stranger to friends and loved ones back home. You have been changed significantly by your experiences, and unless you can tell people about them, how can they know this new person who has come back to them?.........When you can't tell your stories, you are in effect obliged to remain a stranger to the people you love. The keen sense of loneliness many returnees experience upon reentry comes from this feeling that close friends and relations no longer know who they are."

That describes the feelings we have about coming back/visiting well and why the Blog has been so important. You see, I've had a chance to tell my/our stories. Yes, much of it has been from my perspective but I tend to be the one that doesn't say alot in person unless someone really wants to hear it. I know those who are really interested and who have time/computer, have looked at the Blog. We talk regularly to the parents/others who don't.

So the strangeness of our life here is not an issue so much as there are days we just won't feel like we quite fit in. We experience it every trip home. We've changed, home has changed. Our family and friends have also changed. In different ways and for different reasons.

We look forward to being closer in proximity to the changes of life.

That excerpt also explains why we will continue to use SwissFamilyOlson - it's part of us now. I would never take that piece of us away. Maybe I'll change the title someday. Maybe not.

We fly out the day after tomorrow and still have a full schedule. I might get time to post something about the weekend (goodbye's at church, R got baptized, etc....) but right now am smack dab in the move - sourrounded by boxes and men packing my kitchen......eeeeck!

I leave with another excerpt. This time from a book called Bloomability by Sharon Creech. This is a required reading for the 5th graders going into 6th grade at the International School here. Setting is an International school in Lugano, Switz. and the protagonist is a middle schooler who's flying home to the USA at the end of the year:

"And then I was waving them good-bye, and walking down the ramp, and I was sitting in my seat, and the plane was taking off, and I was sitting there looking out the window like a civilized person, not screaming my head off that we were going to die. I looked down on Switzerland, on the mountain peaks, and I wondered how Grandma Fiorelli felt when she left Italy all those many years ago. Maybe Grandma Fiorelli would come back to Switzerland with me some day, and we’d both go to Italy, to Campobasso, and we’d both feel right at home.

Soon I could no longer see Switzerland or any land at all. I was over the ocean, miles high, and I started thinking about Bybanks, wondering what it would look like and how it would smell and how it would feel to see my mother and father and Stella and the baby again, and how soon Crick might come home. Bybanks. What would I find in Bybanks? It would be an opportunity, I told myself. A new life."

The names, circumstances and places might change for each Expat returning home but I think the feeling is the same. It hits home for me.

Wow.

Fringe Commenters

2011-06-18T07:25:00.002+02:00

You are all welcome to come over and have coffee with me! We'll sit and watch the deer and turkeys and then head to the City for some shopping. :)

Don't worry my IA friends - we left things in a Safe Deposit box there in Clive! We HAVE to go back. Now if we just knew which key went to the box............

I'm leaving to pick up Bart but his plane is a bit late so I had a few minutes. There have been so many things I've wanted to share here but Time - I need more of it.

You have a fantastic day and I appreciate all the prayers re: this move. It's working. :)

On the Fringe...

2011-06-17T23:31:00.002+02:00

I've always felt myself to be a bit on the fringe.

Not quite fitting into one group or the other.

Happy with various types of people - some of them quite opposite from another.

I like living where I have all the convenience of the city yet feel I'm a bit away from it all. Bart has seen deer multiple times next to the house in CA now. They just won't be trudging through the snow like they did in Iowa. :)

I'm on another Fringe now. Not quite in Zurich, not quite in CA. A lot still to do but a lot has been done. This has been the most challenging move yet. Bart's been in CA since early April and we're managing separate places and challenging responsibilities. I know the Lord is keeping me going because my lack of sleep would normally have me wiped. I am wiped but I'm still going................

I don't know about him - we've hardly been able to talk this week! - but I really, really appreciate all my dear husband brings to our household. I can't wait to see him tomorrow.

I'm NOT on the Fringe about that! He is a doer. An organizer. I think if he had been here, we'd be a lot further along. That said, I think we're in decent shape for the movers to come along on Monday.

One week from today I have to catch a plane. A one-way ticket - CA via NY. I hope it's cloudy so I don't have to see the mountains. I will leave a small piece of my heart in the mountains and thus, will have to return.

Besides all the sorting, lists - shipping doc's were faxed via snail fax service in town (Waedenswil needs a Kinko's!), we also had the last week of school for the girls and their leaving parties.

For anyone who's done the overseas move, you know you have to get rid of the food and various flammables, etc.... that Customs (pick your country) does not like to have shipped. So I had my table for open house and while some things were taken, people seemed reluctant to take my stuff in spite of my insisting "if you don't take it, I have to throw it away."

Until Rachel's friends came over. Basically, if you need to get rid of "stuff", invite a group of Jr. High students over - no inhibitions. " oh, we use this" "my dad likes stuff like this" "Is this good? I think we should try it." Beautiful! The girls each had "leaving" parties at the Badi this week. A "Badi" is basically a public swimming beach with well-maintained facilities along the Lake (Zurich in this case). Some have rental floaties, chairs, even in-ground pools for those who don't care for the Lake.

I was worried about Kendra's party as the thunderstorms and rain typical of June finally arrived and her's was after school on Tuesday. I prayed, not for a perfect day, but that the Badi wouldn't close. She wanted a party and had forgone a Birthday party for the big leaving party. We had only 23 or so of her nearest and dearest on hand.

I hired our sitter and her sister to help watch kids. Also got chewed out by the "Bad Meister" aka Lifeguard for having so many kids and the adults not being right at the waters edge. He calmed down after I pointed out my capable and grown up helpers. grrrrrrr.... She had a great time and it never rained on us.

Rachel's group met during the day on Thurs. as Middle school was done Wednesday and Elementary campus still had school. The beauty for the Int'l school students is that the local schools are in session until July 15 or so giving them free reign at the Badi to enjoy themselves. Not to say they can't otherwise but I'll leave it at - there can be tension between the two language communities depending on backgrounds.

Rachel and Kendra in the Lake at Kendra's party:

Me? I've been saying "aufwiedersehen's" which are much better than goodbye as it essentially means until we see each other again. I don't like this part but I treasure all the moments. A special time.

And to help me remember. Just in case I might forget:

Why does Frau Olson have two - 2 - coffee machines on her counter? One is 5 years old and the present to myself for moving TO Switzerland. One is brand new, out-of-the box and my present for moving FROM Switzerland. I'll let you guess which is which. :)

I didn't intend on replacing mine until arriving in the States but there was this special one at the store and, oh, what a lovely reminder of my time here, Yes? I had to unpack it to make sure it worked and then packed it up again. I also have to buy a transformer for it in the US. My husband is so kind and patient with me.

I'm not on the Fringe re: my coffee needs.

I've taken 2 loads to the dump, about 6 bags to the garbage dumpster this week ( a normal week is 1.5 bags), drove around horse drawn buggies without blinking an eye, returned my girlies beautiful instruments to the violin maker, driven a last time on the one lane road through the Barn in Tanne - I will miss this. I was still in Robot mode until I started saying goodbye to all the "mums" (they are ALL UK except for the Japanese mom) from Kendra's class. There's a whole group of them that have been together since Kindergarten and they're such a good group of kids. Rachel didn't quite have the same. Whew! I'll miss seeing them and just knowing they're there even if we didn't see each other much lately.

Moving. On the Fringe again. New people to meet. New places to explore. Never forgetting the people and places and faith that molds us.

We're No. 6! and a bit of babbling......

2011-06-10T21:43:00.004+02:00

From the recent Bloomberg Business Week article on 10 Costliest Cities in the World by Venessa Wong:

"No. 6: Zurich

Quick lunch: $32.90
Beer at a bar: $10.54
Kilogram of rice: $3.70
Dozen eggs: $7.90
Movie theater ticket: $19.60

The financial sector is an important part of Zurich's economy and the city is home to the Swiss Stock Exchange and companies such as Credit Suisse and Swiss Re. Zurich is also a major transportation hub. Mercer ranked the city second in the world for quality of life in 2010, but such a high standard of living does not come cheap: Zurich jumped to No. 6, from being the 10th most expensive city last year."

The Costliest city this year was Tokyo. It's sometimes hard to explain why we obsess a little over the cost of things. Or why I cringe when I make bank transfers between the US and Switzerland right now - although there will be no more. We feel like our friends and family look at us like we're crazy people with the amount of shopping we do when we're in the States. But when a tall cappucino, no frills, costs 5.90 chf (about $6.50) at Starbucks in Zurich, you feel like you ought to buy the house a round when we're in the States.

Even my dad commented last November on how much food at the grocery store costs. And, we need so many things when we go back. There are many things we did not replace or have used beyond their normal life expectancy because it was just, in our mind, too costly here. So, the US of A should experience a little uptick in the economy when we get to the house. Bart's already made a list and budget - we've been planning this for years. He's already been doing his part.

Did I mention he bought the washer and dryer? I have not seen them. I actually don't know what color they are? I'm assuming he bought white? Or the red? :) I gave him a list of brands I would and would not like and a few guidelines and he did the rest. Washed his first loads yesterday and is very pleased with how quiet they are. Good thing considering their location - next to family room/kitchen.

Where was I? Oh - expensive. I have come to one conclusion however: cheaper is sometimes just cheaper. There are two specific brands of items I can compare between Switzerland & USA - one is clothing and the other, shoes. I have for a few years bit the bullet and bought some Tommy H---iger clothing here. And they seemed different. I started comparing quality of fabric, design and manufacture location. The items I buy in Switzerland are often made in Sweden, not certain Asian countries - fabric and cut were definitely different. Another was shoes - a Spanish brand, Un-sa, are made in Spain or Portugal for sale here (and very nice)whereas when I checked in the US on our recent trip, they were made in China - not so nicely made. And the leather was completely different. When it comes to our consumer goods, sometimes cheaper comes with its cost - products are "cheaper." But it comes down to priorities and what one needs/wants as well. Here - we tend to buy less but it lasts longer. And we buy less 'cause it's the 6th costliest place to live.

Oh, I'm rambling when I really should be finishing the inventory list. I have a week left and I've just written a silly economic/fashion observation post.

We are doing fine and are crazy busy. I'm sorting (luggage, Air Freight and Sea Container), trying to dispose of unnecessary items, getting the garden in order and trying to motivate the girls to get their rooms sorted as well. Bart has a client in the middle of an IPO (Initial Public Offering) and is trying to support us from afar until he arrives again. It doesn't help that the phone hook-up got messed up and he still doesn't have phone/internet from the house. He hops over to Starbucks when needed (often right now due to the IPO) to use the wireless. He's also looking at cars. If he doesn't buy one today, we'll have two to buy when we fly back. OY!

I have to have everything done to accomodate appointments, leaving parties for the girls, coffee's, final dispersal of electrical items, return of instruments :( and make sure there are no Verboten items getting packed. And a Baptism on Sunday - next week, Rachel, and our last Sunday at IBCZ. Good thing I'm still in Robot mode. Wondering when the fascade will crack?

We took a little break - Italia!

2011-06-08T22:08:00.007+02:00

OK - I wanted to start my post above the picture but the computer won't let me. It won't let me italicize 'above' either. Pretty much everything has taken a turn south since I upgraded to Explorer 9 and the new Yahoo Mail. The keyboard constantly freezes on me - but only in Blogger and Yahoo. Grrrrrrr......

That's not what this post is about. It's about ITALY! Long ago when we figured the Ascension weekend (4 day weekend for school) would be our last opportunity to travel, Bart asked me where I'd like to go. I wanted to go back to Italy. The people are ALIVE, the food is great, it might, just might, be warm and we just really enjoy it.

So he booked us a weekend in a little seaside village called Santa Margarita Ligure and spoiled us. It was so nice to get away from the house and all the work that needs to and will get done for the move. Additionally, we hadn't seen him in a month so it was great to spend time together without the everyday distractions. Like I said, we were spoiled last weekend.

Getting there, getting home - not so fun. Wednesday night traffic in Milan was 1) sheer torture 2) not moving 3) reminded me of LA rush hour but somehow worse and we'll stop there. Sunday night the Gotthard Tunnel had a 5 km wait so we opted for the alternate San Bernardino pass route. Hmmm - foggy and slow up top and then - tunnel closure due to an accident. All the traffic from both sides of the tunnel had to be re-routed on the old road through the little mountain village. I'd still have made the trip even if I had known about the "road challenges" because we had a great time. The girls had their portable DVD player as well so were comatose in the back seat.

I have a lot of pictures for you. More specifically for my sister D who complained that I didn't have enough pic's on the Blog lately and she wants to see the girls. So here we go, in no particular order:

I love taking pic's of the fruits and veggies. If you've never purchased produce in Italy - please do not touch! The clerk will be more than happy for you to point out which particular piece you want and bag it. I still have a slo-mo in my head of my friend S reaching toward an apple/orange and the shopkeeper rushing toward her and me trying to get to her from down the street to warn her - too late, she touched. Shopkeeper took it out of her hand, bagged it, etc.... Hard to know the "rules" sometimes.

Typical Italian scene: men on the bench.

Pretty doors in Portofino.

Pretty girls in the pretty blue water.

We enjoyed watching all the boats. Which you can't see now because Blogger and the keyboard don't like me.

I took a few pictures. So did Bart.

Biker chic:

Off for a little shopping in Santa Margarita:

Reading by the pool:

Boats in the harbor of Portofino:

I take pictures of goofy things. The villa of Dolce & Gabbana with all the boats docked below.

While the family eats gelato, I have an espresso. I did eat one gelato - delicious!

Water was beautiful:

And here we are: Bart and I with our "mini-me's."

So great to have him around and we miss him already. Oh, we're homeowners (aka poor) again! As I write, Bart has already received delivery of our Des Moines storage items, hopefully the bed and they should be arriving to install the washer/dryer. WhooHoo!

Told him we'd get a bed before the TV!

Working on saying "see you later"

2011-06-06T22:35:00.005+02:00

I didn't realize my last post was on May 25th. That was before Bart came. And the girls had programs. And my computer time got hi-jacked. And my husband ~~forced~~ took me/us to Italy for a long weekend vacation. Now he's gone again and there are 17 days left before we make our final departure. I just don't feel ready.

I'm ready to have my husband around all the time again. A month long break will do that for a girl (at least this one!). I'm ready to have my very own house again. I'm really looking forward to that! I'm ready to stop making so many lists and having so many things rolling around in my head. I'm ready to speak English on a daily basis but will miss my feelings of accomplishment at managing conversations in German.

I'll miss my view - I'm not ready. I'll miss the late evenings where you look out the window and still see light in the West at 10:30pm - not ready.

Most of all, I will miss some very dear people. People I would not have met had I not moved to Switzerland. But I'm ready to live near people I've missed because I have lived in Switzerland.

So I'm filling my time with getting ready to go and spending time with the people I'll miss. The Blog is suffering I know but for the few of you who check it out, I think you understand.

That said - I will be posting pic's from the weekend in Italy. The Italian Riviera. Oh, my goodness. My husband spoils me. And our girls. It was a great trip to end our adventure here. Minus the drive to and from but that's for the next post.

Ciao!

If I stay really busy,

2011-05-25T22:20:00.002+02:00

If I stay really busy, I DON'T THINK ABOUT THE PAPERWORK!

It's sitting there. Sad and lonely. Waiting for my pen to begin making lists. The Transportation files. Lists of what is in every room and what the replacement value is. In these moves, it's better to be over-insured than under-insured - you actually penalize yourself if you're too conservative in the event that things 'happen.'

Oh, and I'm supposed to indicate what items were bought overseas but over 1 year used and what is under 1 year. Because US Customs would like some tax please on anything over the allowed customs limit - same as if you took a trip to Europe and came home with some souvenirs. As if living in Zurich we didn't already surpass that dollar amount by purchasing new socks and underwear for growing kids. 8% VAT already included in all purchases. Half of which we couldn't substantiate anyway because there are NO receipts given for most of our stuff - hello! bargaining with Egyptian's in the marketplace/ceramics on the road in Portugal. Really - they have no replacement value in $$ because it's value is in our memory of where we were when we bought it. We don't spend much on souvenirs - I take lots of pictures.

Oh, I'll get to the paperwork. Hey Bart - I even made a 'dump' run so I didn't have to look at it. Maybe all those years as an accountant filling out forms traumatized me.

My other trauma was the last transfer(we hope) of $$ into the Swiss account. Lowest transfer rate ever and I had to look twice. I haven't talked about this for a while so I'll explain: Bart was paid by the US side, not Swiss, so we've been transfering $$ for 5 years into our "swiss bank account" to pay the bills. Which sounds cool and all until the USA had a spat with UBS and now nobody really wants to give accounts to Americans unless they have to (ie - we're residing in their country). Note - they will ask us "where do you want your money wired to so we can close your account?" as soon as our deregistration and address change is processed.

When we first moved here, and I'm using round numbers to assist in the mental imagery, the rate was about 1.24 = for every $10,000 transfered, 12,400chf was deposited into the account. That rate went as high as 1.29 at its short lived peak. But things have changed. Last transfer was at .86 = $10,000 is deposited as 860chf. That is a swing of over 500 chf purchasing power. Times are not good for the American tourists in Switzerland. I can't complain too loudly as we do get a COLA (cost of living adjustment) but when prices are 2-3x higher and you see the change reflected so dramatically - it makes you think really hard.

I'm still thinking hard about that hot pink floral purse.

I did get one piece of paperwork completed today (2 actually as I have 2 kids). The Health form required by the State of CA for children enrolling in school. I didn't know about this and was glad I checked the school district website - not so happy about the 19 pages per child forms that have to be filled out. What is it with the paperwork? I'd rather pull weeds. I have been and the garden looks nice by the way.

OK - rambling. I called the District and they said our Dr. here could sign off on the forms so off we went this morning. Kendra was not happy to get an MMR shot. For whatever reason, she was only administered one and so she's in the catch-up category for Switzerland and the US. At one point the Dr. says "so she's healthy?" and I said "yes, as far as I know" to which he laughed and signed off. I'm thinking my kid's aren't the target market for these health forms. He did check all the other items but found it very 'interesting' as they don't do this same procedure in Switzerland. People are expected to have the common sense to take themselves and their children to the Dr. as needed and required. Oh, and everyone's required to have insurance.........

Rambling again.....

Another distraction: this lovely young lady playing in her Spring Arts Festival. This intense concentration was during a Brandenburg Concerto (JS Bach). She was on fire. Very proud.

And when all is said and done and I still don't want to look at the paperwork, I can pop one of these into my mouth:

There are only 3 left. Meringues with a little almond in them. From my favorite bakery in Colmar, France. Seen here:

Colmar is in the Alsace region bordering Germany and Switzerland. I probably love the surrounding small villages even more but Colmar has big parking lots and lots of shops due to the tourist interest. The Disney "Beauty and the Beast" village must have been modeled after the Alsace region - I'll have to post some more pic's later.

The Alsace is known for its wines - light, fruity - White, Rose and a Pinot Noir that looks like a
Rose to me and someone once described it as "punch." I wouldn't call it "punch" but it is light and easy with food. Their "pink sparkling wine" is also popular - they can't call it Champagne because it's not grown in the Champagne region. And it's hard to find these wines in neighboring Switzerland. A political and economical matter.

I find it funny that I have a favorite bakery in France. What I fell in love with there was the Macaroons. Crispy coconut on the outside and soft in the middle. There are no pictures as I ate them quickly. Maybe this is why I like to take people to Colmar? So I can visit the bakery.

And this restaurant:

Also a favorite. But we (mom & I) had eaten a large lunch (salad w/ Quiche Lorraine) in Riquewhir and just weren't hungry. They make a delicious Tarte Flambe.

That's it. It's bedtime and I've successfully avoided the paperwork for another night running. And emails, I need to get to the emails. I need a secretary.

Anyone?

Strength!

2011-05-22T21:57:00.004+02:00

The theme of the week has been strength. Life takes strength. Where does your strength come from?

This week, this verse has been the "verse of choice": "I can do all things through Him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13

Quite honestly, if Jesus wasn't gettin' it done this week, it wasn't gettin' done. I just get too tired. I can't do it all and yet, when I look at others around me, I feel so blessed to have the "problems" that I do.

News Flash: Parenting is hard work!

Oh, that's old news? Well, this mom had her hands full for a few days and bless my husband for listening when he can't be here in person. But the last few days culminated in some beautiful conversation between my girlies and I this evening before bed. So for lessons learned and the sweethearts that I tucked in - it was all worth it.

On the lighter side, there are some funny pic's of me that my mom took while she was here. I don't generally like to put myself on here but we had a lot of fun and this reveals that I'm capable of enjoying life when I'm not:

- parenting, mowing the lawn, taking out the trash, recycling, chauffeuring, cleaning out cupboards, making lists, calling utility companies, trying to sell stuff, getting the car tire repaired after finding the large screw in it, sitting at games, pick up/drop offs at airports(4x) or Train stations(2x) and so on and so forth.

Hmmmmmm, what have we here? Loving the floral, not so sure about the animal print: Wait a minute! I might, just might like that print after all:

And what about a new bag? I've had my eye on the hot pink floral but that navy is catching my eye and is definitely more practical:

A girl needs a little caffeine after all the walking, pictures and wee bit of shopping:

Most definitely something to eat! A caprese salad (tomato, buffalo mozarella & basil) with rucola and balsamic syrup - tasty!

After all that, it's back to the castle tower:

Put back into my chains:

And delight myself in my family:

OK - not the most flattering pic but isn't that real life?

I can do all things through Him who gives me strength!

Disclaimer: I didn't buy anything I was looking in the windows at.

Missin' the Kissin'

2011-05-16T22:16:00.003+02:00

Not sure this is the great post you were hoping for but - it's my Blog and I get to choose!

Feeling a little fiesty with all the to-do's and stuff I'm tasked with accomplishing in the next 6 weeks - most of which needs to be done in 4. Today's Mom's in Touch characteristic for God was strength - it's a good thing I have His strength to rely on and not my own!

These pictures are from the Sechselauten (Zurich Guilde's) Parade a number of years ago but they demonstate a normal course of everyday life between friends and family - Kissing in Switzerland.

In these pictures, the women are giving the men a traditional kiss (and flowers) - known in our house as the "Swiss kiss."

The Swiss kiss differs from the typical "European kiss" as it requires 3 pecks instead of two. There may be a hand shake preceding - as the hand shake begins, you draw near for the 3 pecks, air kisses or cheek to cheek's.

Not a complicated process unless you start to "Swiss kiss" and it turns out that they are German or Italian and therefore done with 2 - and you're cracking their nose going for that 3rd round.

How does one know whom to kiss (and this goes for male & female unless otherwise noted)? Family - yes. Close friends - yes. A friend you haven't seen for a while - yes - men typically shake. Colleague - hand shake but between mixed genders at a social function the kiss is fine. Hosting at your home - yes, on arrival and departure. If it is a first time introduction, shake their hand upon greeting and then departure would be a shake or kiss depending on how the evening/relationship develops.

This is how I've observed it over the years. I may be wrong in my analysis but I don't think I'm too far off. One may not always greet one another with such a kiss but it is a warm gesture that says "I care about you as friend/family/new friend and wish you well."

I always imagine my Valley Church friends greeting each other with kisses - you know who you are. That's what it'd be like in Switzerland for you if you unexpectedly ran into each other in the mall or in church after an absence. Hello and kisses instead of hello and hugs.

It's an important form of communication.

THAT SAID - We do not kiss when we are feeling run down, etc....etc..... There is a responsibility here to other peoples health. And that said, there are probably more germs exchanged via hand shakes than our "Swiss kiss."

So - if I come at you with a kiss, give me some time. The instinct will fade I'm sure but I like it so it will be slow to go.

A good ole' American hug will do too.

Where do I start?

2011-05-16T10:19:00.002+02:00

As you know, I'm not good at writing posts when I have company in town. The girls and I dropped my mom off at the airport yesterday morning and didn't do much for the rest of the day - yes I took a lovely nap. And got distracted by Gone with the Wind on TCM when I should have been going to bed. "As God is my witness, I shall never go hungry again...." A riveting movie after all these years.

This morning I sit wondering what to write about. We packed a lot into last week and there is always something going on re: the move. So I'm going to dwell on it a bit, clean my house, go to Moms in Touch, clean some more, go through pictures (I hope) and have something very fun and exciting for you with the next post. Maybe. If I'm lucky.

For now I'll offer a couple updates:

Went back to the airport this morning to drop Rachel off for her class trip to Spain. They will be in Cordoba and Granada and I'm just praying all week for the buses/coaches that will be driving them around. If you've ever driven in Spain..... you get it. Kendra and I are looking forward to our time together and will work at getting to bed on time and getting up on time as we both tend to want to stay up late and sleep in late. Danger, Danger..... Rachel's not around to keep us on schedule.

My Bro-in-law came through both his surgeries with good results according to medical staff but portion's of this process have been surprising/more difficult/painful than they anticipated. He is recovering and is in good health but as he is primary caretaker of the kids during the week (he works 3 day shifts Fri. - Sun.) and they had been led to expect a quicker recovery. So we're still praying for him and my sister as they go through each day. He's already joking about the headaches/pain with "yeah, feels like someone drilled a hole in my head"...... But prognosis on how this will affect his future treatment is good. Yeah.

Bart is now up to his neck in work where he didn't have much 2 weeks ago. He's traveling every week to Seattle for the forseeable future on a client and in between, making a trip to see his parents in MN and then a trip to visit us and then back again for the move. In between, he has to sign papers for the closing on the house, check out of the corporate apartment, drop all his stuff temporarily at a friends and look for/buy a car. He's not wasting away in SF without us.

The sparrows that built their lovenest above our blinds make a racket every day feeding their babies. The babies make a racket waiting to be fed. Things that eat must relieve themselves so there is an absolute mess on the blinds and the windows. Praying the babies grow quickly and leave the nest soon so I can clean it all up. Hope to see the babies at least. Not fair to have the mess and no reward.

Til next post.......

Is the grass greener?

2011-05-10T22:42:00.005+02:00

Sigh. A view of the yard that is soon to be ours. All that green grass. Ignore the grass on the hillside - it's soon to turn brown for summer! That said - I'm thrilled to have an empty hillside to look out from my kitchen window. I hope to see plenty of wild turkeys and deer roaming on that hill.

This lawn will be so easy to mow. Especially after living with.... ...this natural field which I both love and which drives me crazy. Which my husband is not present to mow. No pressure honey - just calling the game as it's playing out.

I'm actually a bit proud of my capabilities. The mower is not easy to start - old gas mower with manual ignition (pull that rotary string as hard as you can). I find it easiest to brace against the big rock in the back for the first time or two. Once it's been running, it's not so bad.

The daisies and dandelions are pretty but attract a lot of bees - need to wear shoes for sure on this lawn.

Done just in time for the thunderstorm.

Unfortunately, the thunderstorm didn't bring much rain with it.

We have had summer weather for April and May but very little rain (normal for summer). They're saying it's the worst drought in Switzerland in 150 years. Temps have been in the mid-70's and the plants are all blooming early. The fields are looking a little less green and I've had to water the lawn 3-4 times already. I typically water the lawn 3 - 4 times the whole summer - in July, not in April/May.

I'll miss my garden. I don't think I'll miss mowing the lawn though. Nah, just don't see it. It's an obstacle course.

Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day! My mom is here and we had a lovely, lovely weekend in Germany/Austria. We did a little castle-hopping with the girls and really enjoyed ourselves.

Happy Mother's Day to my Mom and the girlies who are the reason I'm a Mom:

People on my Mind - Prayers

2011-05-05T16:59:00.005+02:00

I have a couple people especially on my mind today and would like to ask you to pray along with me if you feel led.

One is my dear Bro-in-Law - location Hawaii. He will be having the first of two surgeries tomorrow for the DBS (Deep Brain Stimulation? something like that which I forgot to look up the proper translation) procedure. He's my age and was diagnosed with Parkinson's 9 years ago - almost to the month. This procedure calls for the implantation of a device - in the brain - that is connected to a electrical stimulator/battery (located under the collarbone) which will hopefully allow him more control over the tremor portion of this disease. And eliminate a good portion of the drug cocktail he takes multiple times a day.

Please pray for him, the Dr's and my sister - surgery is tomorrow, Friday, morning in HI.

I have a sweet, young friend who I love that suffers from a chronic disease. Details are not mine to give on a blog but suffice it to say that she is in pain most of the time right now and things are complicated. I'm praying a miracle for her. So is this young lady: God doesn't always answer our prayers according to our wishes and timing. That I know. I pray His mercy and grace will be seen in all circumstances.

Bread & Cheese

2011-05-04T08:57:00.003+02:00

My plans at blogging the differences between/things we'll have to adjust to re: Switzerland vs USA have been slow to come to fruition. What with not being home and searching for houses and all the other "stuff" that comes with the process.

Now that I'm back and somewhat settling into a routine - hah, until Mom arrives Friday morning - I will offer some observations, things we are grateful for, things we'll miss and things we're looking forward to. I even had a list. Not sure where it went before we flew off a couple weeks ago. Maybe in the "junk" drawer that needs another cleaning out. Everyone has a "junk" drawer, yes? We have one. Only one.

Bread and cheese. I give you a loaf of Abigbrot - hell and Frischkaese: The Abigbrot is our favorite. It comes from a bakery nearby, the Feldbeck, and it is our bread of choice for dinner - preferably the hell which means "light" but the dunkel (dark) is equally good just a bit heavier (higher % of whole wheat).

Abig (the g pronounced hard with a k twist - gk ) is the Swiss German word for evening - Abend would be the standard German word. This bread is baked only for evening sales, 5pm to 7pm. If you arrive at 4:50, you're too early - it's still in the oven. If you arrive at 6:30, there may be none left. I typically time my visits with picking up kids or Bart at school activities or from the train station.

Although I will be able to buy some good bread near our new location, it won't be Abigbrot. I asked the bakery for the recipe and the owner was kind enough to give it to me and sit down and explain it to me. He said my first challenge will be getting the flour. I knew this already - Rueschmehl is what I need and based on some research, I'm hoping bread flour will be OK. Otherwise his measurements are all in litres and grams - enough for 4 loaves! at a time I think - and I will have to experiment. I'll probably blog that process once I try it out. Until then, I'm quite content to buy my Abigbrot!

Cheese: the name of this Frischkaese (fresh cheese) from Coop is literally translated as round of garlic cheese. In the Olson household it's referred to as "yummy cheese." That is how Kendra described it when we first tried it years ago and over time the name stuck. If I want them to eat it up I just have to say "I've got yummy cheese and crackers out."

It has to be eaten within a matter of days ( 2-5) depending on when you purchase it. Hence the "fresh" part of the name. It is really, really good. Especially on a Silzer roll - pretzel bread. With a pickel. Yes, I just declared that soft cheese with slice of dill pickle on pretzel bread is really, really good. It is. You should try it. In lieu of pickles, a cucumber slice is excellent.

Rondele is similar. However, I've checked and it has more salt and 'stuff' in it. And I've become used to less salt and 'stuff' in our food. This is in part from the way I cook and in part from the ingredients available. For instance, we've used non-salted butter for 5 years now. The salted version here comes one quarter stick at a time and is almost twice the cost. I could really taste the salt in the butter when we were at my dad's this last trip. The taste buds do notice. I digress......

I don't know that I'll find a real substitute for this cheese in the US but I know there will be good cheeses to be found. I have already scouted out an International Market in our area (10 minutes!) that has a good reputation for cheese, wine and various food products from around the world. I look forward to scouting out some goodies!

Tonight I'm making chili - perfectly accompanied by shredded Asiago and Abigbrot!

Randomness from Spring Break

2011-05-02T10:52:00.005+02:00

Today - I'm still suffering from jetlag. So is Kendra - she woke up at 5:20 am - she is not a morning person. So is Rachel - she went to sleep at 11:30 pm - she is not a night person. I was up until 12:30pm and woke up at 5:30am. I just need some sleep.

Today I have little picture stories.

We got to see Bart's new office in San Francisco. An empty bookcase, bare desk, no artwork - he's waiting for our stuff to be shipped, bare whiteboard - which didn't stay white for long. He had a few comments re: the artwork they left. Very sweet and it sure brightened things up! We did a little retail therapy by Union Square - though not at Saks, Macy's and the Sale was their destination of choice. What did I bring home? A new pair of tennis shoes. Aaaaannnnnd - 2 magazines and 2 books. Yep. That's what I got. Oh - and a house. I bought a house.

My little monkeys sittin' with the monkeys:

Aaahhhh - now I feel like I'm back home in CA. I rode in a friend's lowrider truck from Santa Barbara back to Riverside - there needed to be more cushion between me and the freeway asphalt running inches below my feet.

Hey - here's the house. Part of it. And the nice green hill that is our view - complete with wild turkeys. This lovely hill will be "golden" when we return. Yeah, thar's gold in them thar hills - the dead, dry grasses of a California summer. Those I do not miss.

Here are the girls having "fun" while we buy the house. Don't they look thrilled?

The fog rolled away and this was the view from Bart's apartment:

One of the very nice Wells Fargo Bank lobbies in the City. One of the old Crocker (railroads & banking) buildings. The heart is the City's arts theme - "I left my heart in San Francisco." Why go into the bank? Well, when one doesn't use their ATM card for, say 4 years, one's PIN seems to not work. Even though it is still written in the safe place that shall stay undisclosed and separate from my card. So I have a new PIN. So we could buy lunch. And go to the movies - Soul Surfer. I cried just a little bit........

By Fort Mason in front of Ghiradelli Square. They can't stay away from the water:

"What kind of crab is that, Mom?"

"The kind that tastes good!"

On our walk back from Pier 39 to the Financial district where the apartment is. It was a beautiful day and we all got a little unexpected sun. Nice shot of the TransAmerica Bldg:

In case you've never seen it, this is the San Francisco Int'l Airport - aerial view. Not sure how much I liked flying out of the Oakland Airport to circle the Bay and go over SFO. Mom???? Haha - I'm sure they know what they're doing............

I've got to run now. I promised my friend and Dental Hygienist that I would go to my appointment today. I'd rather ski or hike with her. She's going to clean my teeth instead. Maybe I'll fall asleep in the chair. I could use some sleep.

Tschuss!

This is Awesome!

2011-04-30T22:23:00.006+02:00

OK - we're in the "up too late at night, it's 10:30 and I should put the kids to bed" portion of our jetlag. However, it's mid-afternoon in CA and we are slooowwww to get moving. And there are fun things on the Internet.

Like this:

Skiing the Alps

Awesome!!!

OK - I just watched this for the 3rd time tonight - way past my bedtime. The ending is so cool. My stomach leaps when he jumps. Maybe I'm just a little weird......

And Just Where Have I Been?

2011-04-28T23:40:00.006+02:00

No apologies from me for the Blog absence. As I mentioned before, I've been playing Realtor from afar and Bart had been going out with our Realtor in CA to whittle down the list of targets. We've actually been in CA this entire Spring Break! As I don't discuss these things in advance on the Blog for security reasons, you're finding out now - right before we depart for Zurich and our own beds. :)

The foggy view out of the little corporate apartment that Bart is staying in. It's been fun to be in the City by the Bay for our trip. Different but fun. I forget how many people talk to themselves on the streets of San Francisco. No - these people are not talking into their Bluetooth. Just talkin' to themselves....... We've done a bit of sightseeing. The girls have not been in SF since they were itty-bitty so it's been fun to do the city as tourists. Their first time across the Golden Gate:

We logged plenty of time crossing the Bay Bridge:
We even took a quick trip down South to visit sister Kris (and bro-in-law J) with new baby L (2.5 months old) and his big sister J. Spent a beautiful, sunny day at Huntington Beach:
They were also interested in all the fun shops in Chinatown (back in SF):
Mission Accomplished! We found a house. A nice, comfortable house with open space to one side located on a quiet cul de sac. Look what's down the street:
There California cows instead of Swiss cows but figure they'll make us feel right at home.

More later - maybe some jetlagged ramblings...... Cheers!

Part-time Realtor?

2011-04-19T18:56:00.000+02:00

Well – I thought I would have more time for the blog but…….most of my time has been spent looking at houses, houses, houses online. I’ve decided it’s more fun looking at houses online when you don’t have to actually buy one. At least not in the near future. In a location you haven’t really been in for years. In a short amount of time.

OK – not complaining here even if it sounds like it. It’s more like explaining the process and the bit of stress that accompanies it. It (the stress) exists even though you are prepared for it and you have ample time and resources to get ready for it. Maybe – it’s just having to buy a house in the Bay Area again! At least we are coming back at a good time – many blessings in that. Home prices still seem high compared to when we bought our first house in the East Bay in 1996 but at least they are not as ridiculous as they were 5 years ago. I do feel for many people though – so many are upside down on their loans. Additionally, we’ve grown accustomed to not having a mortgage and frankly, that part is just a bit scary.

However, I look forward to having my own house again. I can paint it, change it, etc… If I bang something up, it’s my own fault and I don’t have to answer to anyone but myself. Bart is doing the “pre-shopping” with the Realtor so he can whittle the number of houses to look at down. It’s hard to know, even with looking on-line, what exactly a house will feel like once you’re there and what the neighborhood is like. He said they’ve had some that they just drove right on by – they’re having fun. And such a wide range – houses he really liked but not the lot or neighborhood and vice versa. So if one could pick up a house and plunk it on the right lot…….

So that’s what I’ve been up to lately. I’ve also been tearing around the yard mowing and edging and keeping it clean along with the house for prospective renters. I know I probably go overboard but it’s just how I’m built. Our occasional gardener decided that he would not be able to do the lawn mowing this Spring after all. Right after Bart left. So I need to find someone who is willing to take care of that but just until we move – not easy.

The girls are doing great – even though they miss their dad. I’m a lucky, lucky mom. Until next time – just need to find the time……… don’t give up on me! 

My Birds Nest

2011-04-12T14:10:00.006+02:00

I often refer to our house as "my bird's nest." Sometimes I call it the Eagles Nest but then I think of H--ler and I don't want to be associated with him.

For the last month, I've tried adjusting the exterior blinds, keeping them entirely up or closed all the way down. Nothing works. Nothing seems to stop this sparrow couple in love who wish to build themselves a nest. They figured out a way to get up under the blind canopy so that even if I move the blinds themselves, their little piece of construction stays put. So I've quit trying. Therefore, I'm subjected all day to rattling and scraping noises while they work and their frantic swooping when disturbed. Here they are: And again here - I purposely rattled the shades and this is what they do: sit and watch. He is on the post at left and she is sitting below the daffodils on the ledge at right. They sit and watch us. See if we are dangerous or not. Wait until they feel they can safely go back to work. Making a mess on my windowsill.

The fruit stand down the road is all dressed for Spring:

The Cherry Blossoms have been be-ooooo-teeee-ful. Seriously. Lovely. I have to share these few pictures (yes, I have more) as Mom has experienced a relatively lack-lustre Cherry Blossom season in Wash. DC. This was disappointing as she had a friend out from CA (HI C!) who booked her trip specifically for that time.

The difference between these cherry trees and those in Wash DC is this - these trees produce cherries. They are delicious. I'm thinking we may not be around to have any this year. Oh, so sad as I love the fresh cherries. Maybe I'll plant a tree in CA. My grandparent's had one in Sacramento when I was growing up and they were delicious - messy tree but delicious fruit.

Have I mentioned how a large percentage of the population of Switzerland has been drugged lately? Can you see why? Allergy season has been brutal with the early Spring and not much rainfall. It's raining today so we are rejoicing - especially Rachel who woke up with one eye nearly swollen shut.

The girls have been taking advantage of the nice weather and we set up the Badminton net. It distracts them from getting homework done earlier but I'm happy to have them enjoying themselves outside. And then they spy the camera: You just never know what you're going to get!

Cheers from the Putzfrau! (aka Cleaning Lady which would be an apt description for today's activities)

Thank You!

2011-04-11T00:00:00.002+02:00

I meant to add in my last post but forgot.

Thank You for all the kind comments and suggestions lately Blogging friends. I really do appreciate them. God Bless!

What's this? I have a Blog?!!!

2011-04-10T22:47:00.005+02:00

Ah. Yes, I have a Blog and I am back. I seem to have typed those words quite frequently in the last 4 - 6 months. I used to get several posts per week in but lately - other things have taken priority and I've taken to processing many things internally or in person vs getting to the Blog. A good thing I hope?

This last week has been CRAZY. Capital letters required. We dropped Bart off at the airport last Sunday and since then it's been a round of activities with the girls all of which included some fun outings, school, music recitals (only 3!), after school activities, homework, Dr. appt's, other appointments, yard work (found out gardener can no longer do our lawn/garden), appointments for the house and - I'm really thankful this next week doesn't have too much packed into it.

I admire all the single parents out there. I know it's not always a choice. Our situation is temporary and although we've done it before when business travel requires it, it feels different when you know that it will be some time before the partner is available on a day to day basis to ease the parental load. I put Bart's slippers away in his closet and felt sad realizing he won't see them for 2 months. That's not the only reason I miss him of course!

I have pictures from our week but of course, I loaded them in backwards order chronologically so please bear with me. I am going to put this in print so the skies are sure to open up tomorrow - the weather has been gorgeous! For almost 2 solid weeks! Only one day of rain. It is highly unusual and we are having better weather than we had in August. No joke. Skies are blue, temps are about 68 - 72 and we are outside as much as possible. After such a long season, let's say the last year, of so-so weather, this is an absolute delight.

So the girls and I ventured into Zurich yesterday for a bit of girl fun. At left you can see the GrossMuenster which I mentioned having taken Bart to the top of. Tower at the right is accessible to the top of the square platform below the domed tower. A landmark of the city. The flags are flying as it is the weekend of Sechselauten when the Guilds of Zurich hold their annual parades. Rachel in front of the "Red dog" on the building behind. She has a fantastic Social Studies teacher who also conducts tours of Zurich and surrounding cities based on various historical periods and overviews. She's been on 3 trips into the City with her class and as they are going about he shares the folklore and history. So she often acts as a bit of a tour guide when we're out an about now.

I've promised the girls for months to take them to the Felix Cafe at Bellevue - a Cafe with a Teuscher chocolatier shop. We had a light lunch and I had promised they could have desserts of their choice. Kendra is the queen of Creme Brulee which she finished off after a cheese soufle and part of her salad. My kind of girl!

We bypassed the Trams in order to walk along the Limmat river - it was so beautiful and we weren't the only ones with the camera out. Tourists and residents alike were clicking away!

Speaking of clicking away. Last Sunday's trip after dropping Bart off included me asking Rachel to take a few pic's on our drive home. She's incapable of "clicking off a few." More likely to click off whatever remains on the digi storage card!

At one point I said "we're taking the scenic route home." Rachel, in her Jr High sarcastic deadpan, says "Mom, every route in Switzerland is scenic." She's pretty much right - except when it's foggy. She is not happy about leaving the scenery of Switzerland.

Why were we driving home - ah, yes. After dropping Bart off, we went to the Wildpark im Albis. It's like an open zoo but home to a mix of species all of which were once at home in Switzerland - some 900 years ago but there nonetheless. There are different species of deer, ibex, bear, lynx, moose (called Elk in Europe), wolves, wild boar, foxes, etc... The enclosures are situated along a stretch of hillside outside of Zurich - beautiful setting with lots of space and as it is a privately and publicly funded park - it's free. Donations accepted of course.

There's also a terrific playground: And a favorite: da Moose. It was a good way to enjoy the outdoors and get our minds off other things.

@ Mom - tried to load the vid's of the girls individual recital pieces but Blogger is just not having it.

Bart is busy settling into his new office and gradually moving into a new workload. He's busy this weekend looking at houses and weeding the possibilities down. Fun. Sort of. It's a bit of work! We want to pick the right one and stay in it for a while......

I think, I think I might even squeeze a few more posts in this week :)

Oh - Where do the days go?

2011-04-01T22:43:00.008+02:00

April 1st. April Fool's Day. But we aren't fools.

The day was nice and Bart had his last official day with the Swiss firm on March 31. No more CH email or cell phone. He's actually feeling a little naked with no personal, mobile communications device. He will quickly rectify that situation once he reaches the West Coast. He'll use our summertime, pre-paid, cheapy phone from Target in the interim.

He and I planned a day into the City after showing the house to a prospective renter this morning (I hope the house rents soon!). It was a lovely day in spite of a few early clouds. The Bellevue side of Lake Zurich is one of the first places we became acquainted with when we moved. The lakeside becomes crowed during lunch on a sunny day with students, tourists and people on their lunchbreak. This includes "hausfrau's" who like to sit with a bretzel and people watch. Standing in line at the Sternen Grill - the place for a St. Galler Bratwurst and Gold Buerli Brot for lunch:

Don't forget the mustard! It's hot and delicious with a brat. We hate to think we are doing "lasts" but it is our reality and we are enjoying every single minute:

On our way to a specific destination in which we were purchasing a long, overdue gift item, we walked up the steps toward the GrossMunster (twin towered central church of the Reformation in Zurich) and I said "you've never been up the tower of the GrossMunster, have you?" Bart confirmed that "no - I have not."

"My treat!" was the response and we climbed the itsy, bitsy circular stone stairs to the creaky wooden ones until we reached the top.

A fitting end to his 5 years in Zurich:

The view on a nice day is fantastic and worth the 4 chf if you want the height - as you can see, there aren't many high-rises in Zurich city!

Bart will return for a long weekend and to complete the final move back but as of today - he's back on US email, etc.... We have but a short time and we'll join him for some house-hunting fun. What a great weekend for a send-off:

Complete with fire and roasted marshmellows:

We have been so blessed!

And that's just about all I can say right now. The rest is just floating in my head - to be heard by few.

I'll be back in a few days - need to give it some time..... Cheers!

Speeding and Camera's and Ticket's - Oh My!

2011-03-28T08:25:00.006+02:00

I was reminded about another transition we'll have in returning to the States - Driving.

I was reading an article re: Highway camera's being used in a few selective locations in the US and the controversy that accompanies them. Some have been removed because it gives the "impression" that the camera's are just there to generate revenue. In spite of the fact that statistic's prove there are fewer vehicle collisions and fatalities when camera's are in use. Oh, and most of the people complaining are those who received tickets.

The camera's in these highway circumstances give advance warning (signs on the road) and there is a "give" or "cushion" built in so that a ticket is not triggered for going a bit over: in an example, a ticket was issued for going 81 in a 70 zone (with a warning sign preceding the camera trigger). Plus, no ticket is enforced when there is doubt re: the driver.

I can't find the url of the article right now or I'd link it. But it got me thinking. I have no problem with this type of camera setup. Maybe I've become immune living in Switzerland. There are camera's all over the place.

Unlike the UK, France, Austria, Germany, Italy, etc..., Switzerland does NOT post a warning sign with it's highway radar camera's: Nor with the local radar boxes (we have one right down the street), nor the temporary ones they hide ever-so-often on a well trafficked road, NOR in street intersections. Considering the speed limit on the Highway (Autobahn) is 120 (75mph), there isn't really a need to go much faster (most of the time!).

Except I like to drive fast so I'll push it a little on certain stretches. And if safety is improved by enforcing speed limits, is that so bad? The camera's are cheaper than people. The US is so large and widespread, how can cities/counties/states expect to improve safety when they can't afford the manpower? How is it violating rights when that someone is already violating the law?

I've received 5 love letters from various Cantonal Polizei divisions since we moved here. Nothing too painful - smallest was for going 2km over the "cushion" limit and largest for going 95km on the Autobahn when the limit was still 80km (I thought it had already switched to 100km) - 7 over the cushion.

I've not had a love letter in 2.5 years now and I don't intend to get one in the next 3 months. I stick to "round about the limit" and think about my girls who walk/cross the streets here - and I want others to stick to the limit too. I'm a rule follower - most of the time. But I do like to drive fast. One more trip planned to Germany before the move!

Right turns, traffic lights, traffic circles, right of way and pedestrian traffick all have their nuances too. There are aspects of some that I'll miss but overall look forward to getting back to "my normal."

Hey - I didn't bring up the school parking lot. Still verboten in our house. There was an incident shortly after my last post re: the school parking lot - fortunately no one was hurt.

So - all that said, I will miss flying down the Autobahn with the mountains in the distance and the green hills surrounding me. I love how in Spring, all the 'fair weather' cars come out of their garages (similar to cold weather States). The neighbor has her little Porsche all cleaned up, the Aston Martins, Ferrari's and Maserati's hum by and well, Bart cleaned and vacuumed ours before his near departure. My Volvo that I love even though I said I'd never have a Volvo back when I was young and single.

What is the regular speed limit on the highway in CA now? AND How long before I get a love letter from the CHP do you think? It would be a first. :)

Last Ski Day?

2011-03-25T20:55:00.006+01:00

Oh - Where has the time gone? Has it really been a week since I last posted?

I've been on a round of showing the house, cleaning the house to show the house, various other appointments and "leaving" events as Bart is soon to take to the land of sunny skies and mild seasons.

I'll share our last family weekend in the mountains. Boo Hoo! And I mean that from the bottom of my heart. We planned a nice 2 day/night outing to Davos - first place we ever went as a family to ski. Bart was busy but managed to arrange things so we could go.

We went up on a Friday night anticipating a nice meal at our hotel with a reservation at the favorite Italian trattoria (Romeo & Juliet) for Saturday night. Glad everyone enjoyed their meal on Friday:
As this was our poor Rachel on Saturday:

Please note!: bucket was NEVER USED! She had complained of stomach cramps before and when we all thought back later, we all probably had some version of this over the course of the preceding week - no symptoms except painful aches and then Rachel did happen to run a fever with it. It wasn't our dinner.

It was decided that we shouldn't waste the beautiful day entirely and that Susan & Kendra would do some skiing while Bart stayed with Rachel. BooHoo. Look at this:

Absolutely perfect blue skies and we knew all that was waiting for us in Zurich was the grey gloom. So Kendra and I got ourselves ready and headed up the ParsennBahn. It was deelightful. But not toooo delightful as we were missing Bart & Rachel. But the snow was really, really good. We hadn't had many really, really good snow days this year. I was still conflicted about having so much fun skiing with the other half stuck in a hotel room. I've begged forgiveness.

And I'm still upset that Bart has never seen this:

Although he's seen it from the other side of the valley (Jacobshorn side) so I guess it's OK.

Have I said how much fun Kendra and I had? She even convinced me to ski in the snowpark - jumps, chutes, etc... Which was fine until I got to the top of the first jump and as I should have been lifting off suddenly thought "What the heck am I doing?!!!! I haven't done this for 20 years!!!" Thus leaning back when taking flight, instead of staying forward. Fortunately. Fortunately, I didn't actually fall (even Kendra will say "well, you didn't really fall") but chose to slowly continue my lean back approach and slid myself to a stop sitting on my right side. It would be hard to say I "stuck the landing" but neither did I blow it. Needless to say, in interest of preserving my future career in skiing, I let Kendra do her penguin jumps and I skiied around them.

She then asked if we could ski to the bottom - into Davos. Oi. My knees didn't like this run last time. She convinced me that if my knees were feeling good at the end of our day that we would do the run. They were still good.

This is Kendra 2 years ago ready for the run into Davos (note - we had a LOT of snow that year so she actually looks taller in this pic):

And this year (last year with this ski jacket :( but she has THE coolest helmet ):

I treasured the time with her. We ended up packing up and saying goodbye to the hotel (and $$$) but were glad to get home as Rachel did start running a fever. She was fine by the next day!

There is so much going on and we are making the best of our family moments until Bart goes - we join him shortly thereafter for some house hunting.

That was probably our last ski bit in Switzerland during our residence here. It was a good one.

You could say it agreed with me:

Ice! and Water

2011-03-18T09:30:00.005+01:00

Ice? you say. Yes, today's exciting topic is ice. Not ice on the ground thank goodness. Ice in your beverages.

I've been thinking about all the differences between our life here in Switzerland and what life was like/is like in the United States. We'll have spent 5 years in another country and no matter how "Western" it is - there are differences.

As our move back to the States approaches, many people ask "What are you going to miss?" "What aren't you going to miss?" "What will be the biggest adjustment?"

I can't answer any of those questions specifically. Not in one sentence. I wouldn't dream of condensing a whole 5 years of experience into a single statement. There is a long list of differences/experiences/behaviors that one can compare and contrast. Without picking favorites. OK, well, maybe there are a few favorites.

I decided the best way to go about this is to pick the various topics and have short posts about them individually. Some with pictures and some without. Some will be emotional and some frivolous. Topics such as: housing, kissing, chocolate, measurement & time, driving, etc... If you have a question surrounding a topic, please leave a suggestion in the comments or email me and I will add it to the list.

Ice. We have several small ice trays in our freezer. A month may go by without ever cracking an icecube out of a tray. I have to remember to empty and fill them ever so often because ice gets icky after a while if not refreshed. Especially in a freezer that requires defrosting every 6 months.

We drink our water cold but not iced. We drink our soda beverages straight. We like it cold but do you realize how watered down your drink gets with ice in it? :)

When ordering at the local McDonald's last week (a lunch date with Rachel), I was asked if I wanted ice in my drink. I ordered in German but my "cheeseburger" pronunciation gave me away. The young man switched to English immediately and asked about the ice. This happens elsewhere ever so often. They hear the American accent and automatically assume we want ice in our beverage even though they aren't serving it to others.

And the size! This picture is awful of the girls but when they set these "regular" soda's in front of us last summer in Minnesota, we looked in shock at those big glasses. We could have split 2 of those for the 4 of us. They were as big as Kendra's head (doesn't she look mad! heehee she's ok, just bad timing). Needless to say - we got our fill of Root Beer that day. How long will it take to re-adjust to the ice? We'll probably have an ice-maker in the frost-free freezer of our future home - wow!

But water? Free water at a restaurant? That I look forward to. It will save some $$ on the restaurant bill! $4-$6 per person. Except for the San Pelligrino - I do like my sparkling mineral water. Chilled. Not iced.

Cheers!

And so it's over until next year.....

2011-03-15T11:09:00.006+01:00

Confetti in the street drains from the night before: Streets into town closed off for safe pedestrian travel:

It's 1 o'clock in the afternoon and there are places to go:

But, but - it's not Halloween! Is it?

Fred and Wilma are on their way:

But it seems the night before was a bit hard on the Boomtebooms and they are no where to be found with their souped up wheels chairs (that is NOT a saline bag on that IV stand!):

A few hardy souls getting a start on the evening's activities with music so loud you can't hear yourself think (aka why the street is otherwise deserted):

I haven't been into town this morning but my guess is - the streetsweepers were busy at work come midnight to remove all evidence of fun and frivolity:

Fastnacht(Carnival) is over! Whew! No more loud music and monkeys dancing in the street. It's entertaining - I'll have to give you that. But over the course of 3 days you become a bit bemused by grown men in elaborate costume, lounging at tables on the sidewalks and drinking at all hours of the day.

Are you confused that we had an end to "Carnival" this Monday? When Ash Wednesday was last week? It takes a bit to get used to but as we know, Switzerland likes it's uniqueness. One of which relates to the religious orientation of each Canton (state/county). After the "wars of the Reformation" period died down, the Cantons of Switzerland determined themselves whether they were Catholic or Protestant. It has remained this way and thus, many holidays are determined by whether you are in a Catholic or Protestant Canton (ex. Zurich, a Protestant canton does not take All Saints Day off as the Catholic Cantons do).

I have not been able to get anyone to tell me WHY the Protestants hold the Fastnacht/Carnival period out longer than the Catholics do. Was is out of spite long ago? Does it follow a pagan tradition calendar? It doesn't seem to have anything to do with the Protestant Reform Church in Switzerland at all. But it's what they do. One neighbor said "it is so the people can be disguised and act ridiculous without revealing themselves." Hmmmm. That actually explains alot and makes sense once you've lived here long enough.

Our town celebrates over 3 days each year, starting Friday night and ending at midnight on Monday night. There are events and Bands (brass) scheduled throughout. The sounds have been carrying up the hill and it has been noisy! It's marching bands without the football game - for hours. The pictures above are before and after the "Kinder Umzug" or the Children's Parade. Monday was a half-day for all of Wadenswil and the Children all come in their costumes (this is their Halloween) and parade through town and throw confetti in the afternoon.

I must say - the costumes are incredible. I had other business so did not stay to watch the Parade :( and as I'm not about to take the girls into town in the evening for the drink-fest, I have no pictures other than the few above. Trust me! They are incredible. Whole groups of people coordinate their costumes and the band costumes are always elaborate. Fun to watch. Scratch my head. Why do they do this again?

Enjoy the quiet once more.

Weekend Blessings & Kids in Church

2011-03-14T11:00:00.000+01:00

This picture - Chicken Pot Pie - has nothing to do with today's post. The girls love to see it come out of the oven all puffy and Kendra insisted on a picture. It was really good. There's always a little left-over for my lunch the next day. :) Weekend Blessings:

1) our good friend, ski buddy and Dental Hygienist who is Japanese emailed everyone this morning. Very thankful that her 15.5 yr old niece and the older nephew are safe and home now. The niece was on a day trip with school to Disneyland Tokyo. The Park immediately closed and kept all school groups inside until they could be safely relocated to school facilities nearby and then eventually transported to their own communities. With cell services compromised and train service stopped, this was hard on families waiting to hear about their children. Her nephew was working in the city and was able to buy a bike and biked his way home - he normally takes the train - it was a very long bike ride.

I'm sure there are many stories out there of similar nature. And many people grieving as well. Praying for all those still waiting to hear where family and friends are, the humanitarian efforts, all military personnel and those trying to contain potential nuclear disasters. It's surreal.

2) Talked to my sister in Hawaii. So happy to hear that J's (one of the new twins) hearing loss has certainly not increased and may in fact be improving - no promises but things are going well!

3) My bro-in-law (HI) had some tests done too - brain is working great! We could have told the Dr's that! Anyway, many improvements are being made in the treatment of Parkinson's and we are very hopeful that he can proceed with a desired treatment course.

4) Showed the house for the 1st time. They are Swiss and would prefer to buy vs rent but, Hey, my house is clean so I can play. Or do the filing which I really need to tackle. Hmmm - Play and make chocolate chip cookies!

5) Rachel finished her Science project which included a model of an atom. Silly mom forgot to get a pic before she took it off to school this morning. During the process of making the model, we realized that one thing we will be thankful for in returning to the US is: all-in-one craft stores. Big ones! (Michael's, JoAnn's Fabrics, Hobby Lobby, etc....) As usual, we had to visit 2 stores to get the necessary supplies - this happens when sewing projects come up too, remember? One store to buy the fabric and then another to buy the thread and other notions.

6) Good friends. We had a lovely afternoon with friends at the Thermal Baths in Baden. And High Tea afterwards - substituting "Doppelrahm" from Gruyere for Clotted Cream on the scones - yummy. The baths are a kick! The indoor pool is about 35C and the outdoor pool about 38C. There are "jet" stations all around the pool at various heights (feet, calves, back, etc....) and there is a chime and lights which blink when it is time for everyone to move from the jet they're currently on to the next station. It's funny to see the whole pool "rotate" at the chime but you get to experience all the different jets - no jet hogs allowed!

7) Good husband and a good deal. I bought a piece of furniture, a sofa, last week. Yes, right before we move. I think I got a good deal. Anyway, on our way home from Baden last night we call to let the sellers know what time we'll be home so they can deliver. The wife says "oh, if you're close, you can come and your husband can help mine get it into our truck and then my husband can follow you home." See - she bought a new sofa for their TV room and the old sofa (antique that they were using in their TV room) was now in her atelier/studio. She wanted it OUT! and put it on the school website at a great price which included delivery. So I said "yes, we can swing by and help." So I now have a sofa sitting in my garage waiting for it's trip to the US. Thank you dear husband. I think Bart and the other husband maybe had some words together about their crazy wives but I haven't heard much so far. Not sure if that's good or......

Kids in Church

In January, we had an evening of delightful entertainment from our young people at church - Living Psalms of Praise. There were participants from ages 3 to about 16: singing, reading, violin, piano and dance/song. I think it surprised us all as to the willingness and talent that arrived that evening. Even my eldest surprised me.

A key lesson taken away from the evening for our church was the importance of letting the children have an avenue to display their talents at the church. Personally, I started at 6 years old! We had a small church and there was opportunity to share ones musical talents with the church. I speak primarily from the music side of church services - it's pretty much what I know.

Most of the musicians (vocal & instrumental) I've worked with over the past 10 years all have roots in small churches where they were able to develop their talents and presence in front of an audience at church. I would never have dreamed when I was my girls age that I would end up serving as a part-time Music Leader.

We don't know, of all those willing children in our church, who will be asked to serve as adults - or in what capacity. What a great opportunity to see them grow, learn, share and gain confidence before others.

I'll share a few pic's - I wasn't able to get a pic of Kendra at the piano but she also read Psalm 121:

Rachel played "Wonderous Love" with our friend D accompanying on piano:

Rachel and her friend G sang "Above All" :

So proud and blessed by all of the children at our church - including my own.

"Then the little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

Matthew 19:13-14

Peace be with you.

SkiWeek 2011 - Eats & Animals

2011-03-08T10:14:00.006+01:00

As I start this post, I must first share what the "I don't want to move" child said the following day: "I can't wait to move, 'cause then......."

See? Up and down. Thank you for all your kind comments and suggestions. One day at a time.

However, we are wringing enjoyment out of each day as it comes. A lot of pictures again today. I have a picture problem/addiction but often feel that is the best way to describe the experience. I know I enjoy the pic's of others.

One doesn't think "animals" when going for a week skiing. However, with snowfall not to be found and some beautiful sunny days, a country that lives amongst it's livestock will invariably let them out for some fresh air when reasonable.

Now - this little guy isn't alive but considering the obsessive nature of Swiss woodpiles/stacking, I thought this was very fun and clever. This Gent is flashy - a Dapper Dan - a Dandy:

He was out keeping his ladies in line and the other Roosters away - including us:

Ducks were out on their semi-frozen pond enjoying the sun:

The cows and calfs were out of the barn enjoying some fresh air. This precious baby (no teeth yet) liked my hand as well as the saltlick. I couldn't get the girls to let it (looks like a her but I forget) lick their hand. Chickens! Could have left them there in the coop.....

There were more sweet babies! We saw at least 4 newborns in the shed here. The farmers keep them cooped up during the winter except for sunny days - warm in the sun.

And a couple of Ibex were grazing near our rest stop - not close enough for a good pic but you can see the horns:

OK - not a live animal. I would have put him in my bag but he was too big. Perhaps the owners would miss him. Perhaps I will find one of my own.

Now on to the FOOD! I can't fix this picture - it's staying sideways. This was Bart's lasagne for our Valentine's dinner out. It came looking like a giant puff pastry. The server cut off the top crust and it became the bottom layer. On top of it she scooped the layers of cheese, sauce and parma ham? Didn't expect the ham but Bart said it was very tasty. Most interesting looking lasagne we've run across.

Here's a typical lunch out while skiing: wienerli (linked hotdogs/sausages), bratwurst, french fries and whatever the soup of the day is - usually vegetable or barley (always tasty). There are some other favorite lunchtime meals like Roesti and Alpermagrone but no pic's today.

Another soup - special of Mary's Cafe. I have not doctored this photo - that is GREEN soup. Fitting for Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham I think.

At last. The Main Event. Fondue. Just the girls and I because Bart doesn't care for fondue. We LOVE it. Please take note of the bowl of potatoes - Kendra let us have some. She eats them straight - loves them! I like to drizzle mine with a little fondue cheese.....

With every fondue meal comes the traditional pickled onions and well, pickles:

The end of the fondue. Scraped every bit o' cheese out. I even ate the garlic cloves. The girls tried to scrape the bottom cheese layer up - very tasty and it's part of the fondue "culture" so is not poor manners - but it just would not lift.

Me - I got a new hat. Like I need one for the Bay Area.....................

Glorious Evening:

Air is so clear:

Enjoying a break:

Love each and every moment:

In spite of little bumps, this was a terrific week and I'm so glad that we were able to take the opportunity to go once more. And look how big those girls are getting - Rachel and I are almost eye to eye. She can't wait!

Now - to go shoosh the birds out of my blinds again. I understand they need nests but another location would be more desirable........... Shoo!

Editorial Comments for the Day

2011-03-03T13:29:00.004+01:00

It is March. Already. I wasn't anticipating a speedy arrival but it's here.

The sun is shining today. In Zurich. Let us give thanks.

Yesterday saw the Swiss AirForce racing through the skies time and time again. Wonder how long it takes them to circle the country? 20, 30 minutes? :) Today - it's helicopters. This all equates to noise.

Why does Middle School have to be so hard? At times, I think boys would have been easier. Yet, my parents survived 3 girls!

One of my children has declared "I don't want to move." I told you this would be an up and down ride.

Had an awesome day of Bible study - Paul has been imprisoned and the Romans aren't impressed with his exhortations of self-control. Considering I am working on adjusting/changing some eating habits - convicting and encouraging all at the same time.

We need a new bed. Slept on the guest bed for 2 nights and I feel, oh - so much better. Asked Bart yesterday what's the first thing to buy once we have a house. Bart: "A TV?" Susan: "So you're going to sleep on the floor but at least you'll have a TV?" Bart: "weeellll, yeah. I guess I buy a bed next?" Priorities.

Kendra continues to outscore me in Scrabble even though my words are more "complex." My take from this - "big, simple words rule." In Scrabble at least. I've got to beat her!!!!!!!!!

I saw a flock of geese flying North today. Spring is coming!

I really need to get off the computer now and get something done...............

SkiWeek 2011 - Skiing, Skating and ???

2011-03-01T13:21:00.009+01:00

Our last Ski Week in Switzerland. :(

Not to say that we won't come back and ski - for a week even. However, this is the last "official" Sportfereien (sport holiday aka Ski Week) during attendance at school in Switzerland. I've mentioned in years past that this is a regular school holiday in Switzerland (local schools have 2 weeks off, Int'l school takes 1 week). Have I said how much I will miss the school schedule here? I WILL MISS the school schedule here.

I may put sad faces on things we miss but there is much anticipation and excitement about returning to our home country too. There are happy faces coming too. And you get to come along on our up and down ride.

We chose to return to Wengen to spend our week. Tired of it yet? We're not. If it made ANY sense, I'd be looking to buy a little apartment or something here. But it doesn't right now. We are moving to the wrong Coast.

I love how the buildings at Kleine Scheidegg mimick the peak of the Eiger: Bart was able to come up with us at the beginning of our week. Since you have to park in Lauterbrunnen and put all your stuff on the train up - 2 ski bags, 2 boot bags, 3 suitcases and 4 backpacks - he comes in very, very handy!

Here they are at the top of the Maennlichen Bahn and ready to take off on a beautiful day:

There had been no significant snowfall for approximately 2-3 weeks so the pistes were pretty much hard packed and icy in spots. Great learning experience for all during the week. The girls learned how to read the pistes/run's really well, stay on top of their skiis on the ice and, well, with no snow coming - we had some awesome weather. Sunscreen was in order. If you've been watching any WorldCup Ski Events in Europe lately, you'll notice how there's often snow on the runs only. We were a little luckier than than - a little.

There is something for everyone in the Jungfrau Region - skiing, ice skating, snow shoeing, sledging (Crazy!!!), cross-country, hiking, curling: Yes, curling. A riveting sport (joke) and the curling rink is always busy in Wengen (not a joke). I refuse to go sledging based on the number of people I see take flight face-first off of them. Oh, and you use your legs/feet as brakes. I don't think so. I think the wooden sledges are a nice ornament. That's it.

We opted for no Ski School this year either. That gave the girls and I a lot of flexibility - to sleep in and hit the slopes whenever we felt like it. OK - not quite that dramatic. They both ski well and we wanted to explore and have fun so that's what we did. We skiied all over the mountains and there was no rush to catch the Ski School train, pick them up, listen to them be tired and not want to ski with me - We had a great time.

Our first day getting back was interesting. The apartment we rented worked best (meaning we didn't have to take skiis off and hike through town at all) if we went up the Maennlichen Bahn, skiied around the back of the mountain and returned by skiing down from Kleine Scheidegg (the 4 km run - WhooHoo!). But the lack of snow had forced a closure of certain parts of the trail.

We found ourselves crisscrossing the mountain by way of skiing from one chairlift to the other to the Lauberhorn lift (Lauberhorn as in THE downhill run - World Cup - bells and all) and bypassing the race route to the portion of the Wengen run to town. Then we hit the gates that cut our trail off. So I'm proud to say that my girlies have skiied the bottom portion of the Lauberhorn Race piste. To another chairlift that eventually got us back on route. They actually started moving snow via trucks so that the Kleine Scheidegg to Wengen route was more easily accessible. :)

One of my girlies is very intuitive and just seems to get stuff. She surprises us all the time with her sense of humor and innate intelligence. Where did she come from?

There she is playing in the snow:

WHAT????????

Yes, Where did she come from??????

None of us are ice skaters. But the girls love to get out there and circle around and practice whatever tricks they feel competent at. Rachel does pretty good out there. They have ice skating at the local outdoor rink for PE during the winter for a couple of weeks. The girls love to push each other (and mom & dad) around in these chairs.

I keep thinking there are more stories to share but I don't think we have all that much time and space. Guess I'm slightly addicted to the view:

This was a quiet day - Wednesday. Due to weather, a lot of people took a break. Speaking of quiet - our Break fell a week earlier than most of the UK's half term and the Netherlands and most of Switzerlands. So it was not crowded at all! Last year was crazy and we enjoyed the change that came with this year's trip.

At Kleine Scheidegg - meeting point of trains coming up from Lauterbrunnen/Wengen and Grindelwald as well as the starting point for the train up to the Jungfraujoch. Everyone catches the train up and then heads out to their favorite runs. Note: see them crossing the bare tracks on skiis. Not a good idea if the tracks are warm from the trains.....think about what it does to the wax. Not that it's ever happened to me...................... (ski instructor in red below - carrying his skiis!)

One of the highlights of the skiing was just one run - similar to skiing the bottom of the Lauberhorn - the Eigernorwand piste. Unfortunately, Rachel was back at the apartment with a fever and Kendra and I did this our last day. It's been open for just over a year and I didn't make it last year because 1) I was skiing alone a bit and 2) my knee was really bothering me last year. This lift has 3 black expert and 1 red intermediate run that then join another run that turns into blue beginner. Kendra and I picked red. She did awesome. I forgot my camera!!! :( But we took the big, orange bubble lift and happy to say we did.

Here it is from the train looking up - at the right of the top lift station is the Eiger Hotel. We saw the lift stantions being installed during summer hiking trips so it was cool to ride and ski the finished product.

We enjoyed our week and believe it or not - I have more to share. There's eating and animals. Animals? Yes. Animals.

I will say we miss Bart when he has to go home to work. And when kids get sick and I pack everything up and head down the hill myself - minus one suitcase. I don't get much sympathy considering the 'whole circumstances' but a girl can try?

Monday Mumblings

2011-02-28T17:10:00.003+01:00

So - Kendra stayed home today and she is definitely feeling better. Off to school she'll go tomorrow. As I needed to get some ironing done - I hate ironing - we searched the DVD collection for a movie to get me through the pain.

Turns out, she had not seen Holiday Inn. Now we watch White Christmas every year but I forget I have the other and thought she would enjoy the dresses, singing and dancing. We put in the DVD, it starts playing and she asks "Will it ever be in color?" Um. No. Guess not.

Checked the copyright date and the narrative at bottom of DVD cover and guess what? The film was nominated for 3 Academy Awards in 1942, winning the Award for best song "White Christmas." Irving Berlin wrote the song for this movie with Bing Crosby (& Fred Astaire) and then reprised it in the movie by the title "White Christmas." Oh, who knew.

I still enjoy the movie and thus, at 69 years of age, it seems to have some staying power. Perhaps that's a bit pompous - my sister and I may be the only ones in the world who still watch that movie. Kendra would like to see the pretty, sparkly dresses in color.

I also have the 1st "Technicolor" film from 1953, How to Marry a Millionaire, but I think we'll go next to My Fair Lady. Camelot has to wait a little for maturity. Love a good Musical. The girls also like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. I'm glad they enjoy these and I'm not alone!

Yesterday afternoon saw us watching "The Sound of Music." How can we turn the channel away from that? I was actually writing yesterday's post during the movie and at one point Bart suggested to the girls that it was good I was distracted or I'd be singing along and including choreography. Hah! Showed him and did it while I wrote - pausing for the occasional choreographed move. I can also recite bits along with the characters.

I can do that with Star Wars (the 1st or 4th "original") too but....We're not going there. Embarrassed myself enough in front of my husband rattling off the cast quirks of Star Trek - Original Version - while watching the recently released Star Trek movie. He didn't even know all the character's names!!! Again. Shouldn't go there.

Speaking of ironing, which I hate, Bart & I recognize both the blessing and curse that is coming our way. You see, at the beginning of April, he will essentially move back to the US. Taking with him a good portion of his work wardrobe. I imagine I will bring him some more on our house-hunting trip. You see where this is going don't you?

He was already grinning as I was putting away the ironing board a couple weeks ago and said that I had a confession to make: " I will miss you soooo much honey when you're gone but I won't have to iron your shirts anymore!!!!!!!!!!" I do have a few things I do have to iron but they tend to not 'pile up' like his work wardrobe does. But I will miss him very much.

What else has been going on? Ah, I had the appointment with the property management co. and relocation people and everything went really well. Turns out, and this is NOT the normal situation, the landlord will release us from the Lease as of our notice date of July 1. This means we are not obligated for the July - September period as stated under "Swiss Rental Rules." The reason is two-fold in that 1) I am willing to help show the property and therefore the Management Company saves a lot of time and 2) they are changing the terms of the Lease agreement - you are normally required to find a replacement for your Lease under the original conditions. What a blessing! We are very pleased as it just alleviates some stress.

Stress, which seems to be aggravating my 'silent reflux' condition. I'm sure singing for 2 - 3 hours yesterday has nothing to do with it (singing can aggravate it due to the contraction of the abdominal muscles). Bluck! Although we had a terrific service! I've been treated for this before and it comes and goes but has been irritating me more lately. So I'm going to be a good girl and take my med 1st thing each morning (with a full glass of water and must wait 20-30 min. before eating/drinking again).

But - I have to do some other things too. Item one is not eating/drinking much 2-3 hours before lying down. So my nap after lunch, after singing so much, yesterday was a no-no. As are after dinner snacks. Which I would rather eat than dinner - preferably cheesey ones. I've also got the no-smoking and keeping excess weight off down pat. No problem. The problem is with item Two - the type of things I consume.

On the list of foods that aggravate this condition are: Caffeine - especially coffee and chocolate, Alcohol- I'm good with this but Wine? :( , tomato based sauces, garlic, onions, CHEESE! and saturated fats - butter, cream , the list goes on and on. Hello! looks like the Bread & Water diet I was on when nursing Kendra. What's a girl to do, let alone eat? Sigh...... I need to figure out which are worse than others (I know butter is one). But CHEESE?

Maybe that pot of Fondue during Ski Break didn't help either. Tomorrow I will post Ski Break and not torture you with anymore mumblings.

Egypt #8 - Final

2011-02-27T19:00:00.000+01:00

Wow! Some of you may be wondering if I was ever going to come back here. I was beginning to wonder myself. First, we had a very fun Ski Week and we all returned safe and sound with all limbs firmly attached - I'll post pic's soon. Second, we returned just a bit early (Fri. afternoon instead of Sat. afternoon) as Rachel came down with a fever on the Thurs. - spent some time at the local Spital (hospital) Sunday to conclude that it was in fact the respiratory virus rampaging about. And thirdly, we had our 'pre-inspection' appointment this morning with the Property Management Company representatives, the exit Relocation Firm and several exit Cleaning company's (for estimates) - this necessitated my continuance of cleaning madness and associated neurotic behavior re: the state of our living conditions. Switzerland will do that to you - you could, literally, eat off virtually any surface of my house right now.

Ooops - there was a time out. Another sick kid - this one less pleasant than the last......and will be staying home from school tomorrow.

But I'm back. Ready to blog once more about our Egypt trip and finish it off. Still seems surreal that we were there just weeks before the protests started and they were "cut off" for a time. Still wonder how long it will take for them to make significant strides forward. A colleague of Bart's went last week on a planned family trip for diving. They were in Sharm al Shek/Red Sea (think sharks!) and said it was quite empty - planes, hotels, etc.... Any purchase from vendors met with much gratitude. I imagine - as things are settling down - there are great deals to be had.

What does the future hold, especially for these ones - the children? In most of the places/sites we visited, we saw groups of school children with their teachers. At one point near the Sphinx in Giza, two young ladies - about Rachel's age, approached the girls asking their names. Rachel and Kendra stayed silent and the girl's just smiled and moved on to their friends.

We are unacustomed to being approached by children and our first experience in Cairo with 'children' had been with a young girl trying to sell kleenex as we drove by in the taxi. We asked our guide about the girls approaching and she laughed and said that most of the children on field trips such as these live outside of Cairo and, while they learn some English in school, they have very little opportunity to use it. They also don't see many foreign or 'western' children in their villages. So the questions of "What is your name?" and "How old are you?" give them a LOT of information.

They find out what a child outside of their culture is called. Rachel is easier than Kendra we find - it is pronounced Rah-shell in Arabic vs Raquel in Latin vs Rahch-hell in German - need to hear it in Hebrew again, I've forgotten. They looked at - scrutinized! - the clothes the girls wore. They wanted to know the ages so they could compare. They were especially interested in Rachel as she is of the age when, if they are Muslim, the young ladies start covering their hair. Bright curiosity!

What impressed us the most? Their smiles. They stared and smiled! In Switzerland, the girls are used to being stared at with blank, unreadable faces from other children. It's a "we hear you, you are speaking English, you're interesting and we're going to watch you" stare. It is unapproachable (and literally, the children do not reach out) and from our culture - American - it can appear unfriendly. Part of the integration issue here. We've had some good interaction with some neighbor kids over the years but with different schools, it's sporadic.

We loved the smiles and the eagerness of the young people we encountered from Cairo to Luxor. At one location, I was nearly mobbed by the group of students - probably 3-4th graders. It seemed to become a competition to see who could get me to say my name. And they were eager to respond with theirs. A very sweet part of our trip.

Another fun part of the trip - the Market:

This is THE Market in Cairo. From an aerial perspective, it takes up many square city blocks. Tourists really see only a small part of the Market as other streets break off into the Fabric Mart or the Appliance Mart, etc.....

So many things to look at - from India to local produce. Below is a copper and brass vendor stand with the Hooka pipes and copper engraved platters (one of them found it's way home with me!):

Oh - and the spices! The smells were powerful and overwhelming in a good way. I finally broke down and bought a little bit in Luxor - not cheap. As we can't ship any foodstuffs back when we move, I'll take it over in regular luggage....

Our tours in Cairo also included the Old Fort above the City which houses various museums and the Mosque of Muhammed Ali (mid-1800's). This is the exterior of the Military Museum. It was interesting and I think we came away with the knowledge that History is often remembered and colored by which side one happens to "be on." It was interesting.

Mmmmm - love old, courtyards:

The Mosque:

Had we done more homework on Cairo before our trip was set by the agency, we would have included a Coptic Christian Church tour as well but hindsight - 50/50.

The exterior of the Fortress:

The catapult which was of great interest:

Our chamber of commerce day complete with picture outside the Egyptian Museum:

Our last day in Egypt, Luxor, was spent relaxing and taking a boat ride on the Nile in a felucca with a stop at "BahNahNah Island" (use your spooky voice as you read that - it's how you will hear Kendra pronounce it. Why? Because she's 10.)

Groves of Banana trees. For some reason, I thought they'd be taller but they aren't - the tallest were perhaps 10-12 feet.

The felucca 'parking lot' off Banana Island:

All fruit flowers first, right? Here is the 'flower' of the Banana tree:

All those cream little 'florets' underneath the pealed back petal will become bananas. Although the island harvests mango, mandarines, grapes, etc.... also, it is called Banana Island because the banana's grow year-round - they don't have an end season.

Distracted by a blue door in the village on Banana Island:

Our tea service on the boat! Sorry for the plank in the way - teapot is sitting on a propane stove/tank:

I am allergic to banana's, Bart simply doesn't like them and Kendra tolerates them by eating 3 bites a year. But Rachel, she enjoys them:

Our felucca captain kept the girls entertained with a simple but tricky 'string' game:

Sailing off into the sunset:

And off into the sunset goes the blogging of Egypt. We hope you enjoyed the ride with us.

I will be back with pic's from Ski Week and our bits of adventure there. I know Grandma E is waiting to see but she's been busy with my new nephew in SoCal and so it will be a treat for when she gets home. Yes, another nephew. Things have been busy..........hence, infrequent blogging. Thanks for stopping by and maybe tomorrow????????

Egypt #7

2011-02-11T08:39:00.007+01:00

Here we are again. Almost done with the Egypt trip. Bart and I are wondering when tourists will be able to visit these ancient places again? And a part of me wonders - How important is it really to our lives? To see these places. Besides the "Ooooo" and "Ahhhh" factor. It is important to history. And we do hope to learn from history. Places discovered - ancient rulers discovered - ancient civilizations and lives discovered. It does hit me as we wander around:

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." Matthew 24:35, Mark 13:31 AND Luke 21:33 (Jesus speaking of the Kingdom of Heaven)

Many men throughout history have tried to "preserve" themselves. Nothing last forever but the Kingdom of God - but they keep trying. You (varied readers) may agree or disagree but my faith doesn't allow me, personally, anything less. That said - we do honour and remember those throughout history. Remembrance plays an important part of all civilizations and people. In Joshua we read how the Israelites were instructed to carry the 12 stones (for the 12 tribes) from the Jordan and set them in the camp they established as they prepared to enter Canaan - their promised land. They were instructed to remind the generations to come what the stones represented:

"In the future, when your children ask you, What do these stones mean? tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever." Joshua 4:6b-7

OK. I didn't intend to give a Bible lesson with this post. It just happened. Part of why I like blogging - things just come as you look at pictures and reflect on events. These are the things that swirl through my head as I go along.

To tie this up - I'm still sorting through the memorabilia in the guest room. All mildewy and completely un-necessary items have been sorted and thrown. I still have yet to find the proper places for some. It's part of our lives and our remembrance. Some of the letters/cards have been so fun to read (yes, I get a little distracted) and some bring back parts of life I'd just as soon fast forward through. But they are part of my history and I hope to share the appropriate parts with my girls. To help them learn from my history. They are my "stones" so to speak.

And those stones in the Jordan - picked up during the Egyptian reign of Amunhotep II, son of Thutmoses III (remember - stepson of Hatshepsut) approximately 40 years after the beginning of the Israelites exodus under Ramses II. This is according to the best historical evidence available - secular and biblical - and referenced from the NIV Study Bible.

This history really brings more of what we saw to life having read these events from childhood on.

Here are the girls in front of Karnak Temple in late afternoon. Karnak (and later this evening, Luxor Temple) was used as a ruling base by Pharoahs from the 12th to 22nd Dynasties - most notably Ramses II.
The Rams-head shpinx's (how does one pluralize 'sphinx?') protecting the "king" who's statue is between their front legs under the chin:

This is the purification lake of the priests. The water is still fed by underground springs - only the priests or the Pharoah were allowed into these waters.

OK - funny bit of trivia for you. See this clock here? It's a gift to Egypt (located in the Fortress overlooking Cairo) from the French:

See this obelisk located at Karnak temple? It's twin is located in Paris - in the middle of the round-a-bout at Place de la Concorde.

Now - this is according to our tour guides (both in Cairo and Luxor) so true? but we found it funny: France and Egypt were to swap "gifts" over some remembrance of which I cannot recall and so Egypt was sending one of it's Karnak obelisks and France would recipricate by sending a statue - the Statue of Liberty (in its early origins). But France was having some financial issues and decided building or sending a statue of that magnitude did not make sense at the time.

France redirected it's statue efforts at the USA - hence our Statue of Liberty. And sent the clock featured above to Cairo instead. The clock never worked!

So - Paris received an obelisk over 3,000 yrs old, the US received Lady Liberty and Cairo received an ornamental disfunctional clock (they should have brought the Swiss in on that one). Who got the bum deal?

FYI - the Statue of Liberty's sculptor was Bartholdi who was born in Colmar, France and there is a lovely little museum in the old town. I'll take you there if you come. But it has to be prior to June!

Caught a picture of this handsome gentleman admiring the engravings of the pillars - about 20M high:

You spend a lot of time wandering through and thinking "how did they do that?"

English is widespread in Egypt as a spoken language but perhaps a little spelling help is needed?

Luxor temple at night - it is beautiful all lit up!

One of the colossal Ramses II statues at the entrance to the courtyard:

Ramses II had a big head - figuratively and, just guessing, literally:

I think we have one post left. Whew! It was a big trip and there are those I need to share it with.

I have to remember to share later why blogging will have had (we think ) a positive impact on our return home according to a book we're reading "the Art of Coming Home." It is a book for Expatriates discussing the challenges families and employees face as the return to your home country can be harder than the leaving. Oh Boy! We already know this but it's helpful to have a professional put it into words.

I may or may not get to Egypt #8 before we desert Bart for the mountains and our last Ski Week. We may or may not ski depending on whether Switzerland gets anymore snow! After the dumping in December/early January, there's not been much precip but plenty of cold - everything turned to ice. We'll see.............

Egypt #6

2011-02-08T09:58:00.008+01:00

Back to Egypt. We were lucky to see what we did, when we did. I just received an email from a friend who was there in Luxor last week. She and I worked together a while back in San Jose and they moved to Asia (currently China) shortly after we moved to Iowa. We've stayed in touch and it's fun to compare notes on Expat living - our lives being so similar (they also have 2 girls) and yet so different based on the different environments we find ourselves living in.

Their story of getting out is theirs - not mine to tell - but I was glad to receive her email and hear they were able to get out via Luxor to Doha/Dubai and are back at home safe and sound. She also mentioned the lack of security/guards/anyone at roads, bridges - Valley of the Kings (which they could not get to). Like she said, there won't be anyone in the hotels once the tourists are all able to leave the country. A sad state of affairs as such a large percentage of people are dependent on tourism for income.

Well, let's go back in time. Our first stop of the day, Jan. 2, was Valley of the Kings, right outside of Luxor. However, I have no pictures to show you. Several years ago, they quit allowing camera's out of the cars and tour buses because apparently - tourists could not be trusted to not take pictures when asked of the interior of the tombs and despite efforts with fines, etc... they were not successful and banned them entirely. So we bought a pack of "official photos" from a guy that our tour guide recommended. Good all around - I didn't worry about getting photos and just enjoyed myself.

A few notes on Valley of the Kings:

It's accessible by one road.
The road is well guarded. At least it was until recently.
Certain tombs, due to depth, lack good oxygen flow so there are suggested time limits.
Those who died in the "Carter" party that found King Tut's tomb did not die from the Mummy's Curse but from respiratory illnesses due to bacteria levels in the air of the tomb. Evidently, tombs should be aired out for several days before occupying them.
The tombs are really warm. Even in December.
Christians fleeing Roman persecution in the 1st Century AD hid out in one of the larger tombs and you can see evidence of their 'grafitti' inside.
They are still looking for a few tombs - this is done carefully and via manual labor. There is no current technology to help them "find" the remaining tombs.

Second stop of the day was Queen Hatshepsut's temple. She was a piece of work - the aunt, step-mother and, according to our guide, mother-in-law of Tutmoses III who was considered a great Pharoah of Egypt. The temple dates back 3,500 - 3,600 years. The temple is visible from Luxor and there are large spotlights on these cliffs at night (the Valley of the Kings is to the right behind this cliff front).

Now, we learned alot - ALOT - about Ancient Egyptian history on this trip (Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom, gods, Pharoahs, architectural style, cultures). It was fun to watch Rachel with the tour guide as he was a bit impressed by all she knew from last years 'Ancient' studies. She enjoyed matching what she learned with actual places and objects. I promise - I will not recount all our Egyptian knowledge here but it was fun to be able to start recognizing obects and 'personas - aka gods' as we went into the various temple and structures.

It really strikes home the idea of faith when you take a trip like this. Faith in a God that cannot be 'seen.' People want so much to put faith in what they can see and touch. But doesn't that bring the 'god' to their level and make him capable of fallacy? Ah, the Pharoah was to come back as the god. Did that then remove his human element of imperfection? Who makes up this stuff? Ah, man. My theology is showing....

Amazing how these paintings have survived! They would carve the figures out first - limestone - and then paint later with natural, ground stone colors. The color lasted where protected from the sun because it's all from stone elements.
Small bit of history - Queen Hatshepsut reigned in the place of Tutmoses III for about 20 yrs as he was a small child then Tutmoses II died. She essentially took over as Pharoah and pushed him aside. Even her statues are in the form of a man - women weren't supposed to be Pharoahs. Her statues don't have faces. They were 'de-faced' by Tutmoses III who didn't care much for his aunt/step-mom/mother-in-law. Temper, temper....

Here is the policeman who wanted his picture with the girls (don't they look relaxed?), took our picture and then very kindly took a small tip. :) He didn't ask, I offered. Interesting - there were two police in uniform at that level of the temple. There was another gentleman in "civvies" who you knew was supposed to blend in but we felt, and maybe it was just us, that the submachine gun under his arm gave him away.

Our long journey was out to the Dendera Temple and the Abydos temple. These temples are smaller and get fewer visitors. They are quite remarkable and well preserved - a favorite of our tour guide.

Not sure if I mentioned the travel restrictions in my traffic post? Many tour groups travel by convoy with tourist police escort. This apparently started in '97 due to security concerns and the convoys have travel time restrictions. This makes it harder for large tours hitting the 'big monuments' to make the smaller stops. Because we were private, we could make a trip like this, still within the "travel time" with our "permission slip."

The carvings and pictures at these temples were incredible. Dendera Temple is from the Ptolemaic Period - rule of Ptolemy I about 300 - 30 BC. So - a little newer than the Great Pyramid (5,000 or so yrs old) or Hatshepsut's Temple (3,500 yrs old).

I like the falcon reliefs even if they are portraying the god Horus. They're still pretty.

Look what I found in a little tunnel underground!

Loved the Papyrus and Lotus blossom carvings:

The light in Abydos Temple (just over 3,000 yrs old) was coming through openings in the ceiling:

All the detail and color was amazing. I need to find a new word for amazing.....

After our visit, we sat down in the open-air "cafeteria." We had a lunch of pita with scrambled egg and water buffalo cow cheese in it. I think we confused the man with our "yes, just put the egg and cheese in together." I don't think they eat it that way. And we didn't realize that the cheese was the consistency of cream cheese. But it was good and it was lunch - along with Nacho Chips and Fanta and Coke. I can't buy Nacho (dorito) chips in Switzerland except by on-line order! We felt bad declining the beautifully sliced tomato that our tour guide offered and was eating himself. But we had been avoiding any fruit/vegetables washed in local tap water for our own good. Seemed like such a waste though.....
Not much of Egypt left. Wow - it's taking a while but I will finish this trip!

Cheers!

Married a Wonderful Man!

2011-02-04T09:36:00.007+01:00

16 years ago today. He still makes me laugh. I still think he's cute. We have a lot of fun. We trust each other. Love him more today than I did 16 years ago. Amazing isn't it - how that works?

I thank God for him every day.

And ever so often, you run across something that brings back memories of the beginning. Such is the case this week. I found a box up against one of our walls "underground" which has a little mildew damage. One of the few boxes that is rarely touched and happens to have an assortment of memorabilia in it. Boo!

So I'm going through this box to toss out stuff I don't need to haul, for yet one more time, to the next place of residence. Stuff that should have been sorted years ago. The stuff you put in an envelope and say "I'll do that later when I have some free time." Free time comes when you realize that you have to clean up mildew spots and throw things away because "free time is too late." Fortunately, there hasn't been much I need to throw away. The biggest item is my volume of "Classic American Short Stories in Literature." Which I obviously read all the time. I think I'll survive for a while - until Rachel has to buy it in University (I'm assuming the American Short Story is still studied in University English classes)!

The box has letters from family and friends, various programs from weddings and a couple funereals, 1st Birthday announcements, class photos from my elementary years and things like this:

Yes, we had an itinerary for our wedding. Because we were a wedding party that was heavily made up of CPA's. Not just the 2 getting hitched.

When I look at that itinerary I think "what a geek!" I'm the one that set it up although I'm sure my sweet, on-time and loves "everything in order" husband-to-be had some input. I didn't throw it away.

When I look at that itinerary, I also see a picture: of a soon-to-be bride and her father in the driveway. It was a touching moment and I still love the memory of the look on my dad's face. He was shaking his head back and forth and grinning - amused and perplexed.

Because his 28 year old daughter was throwing a crying fit as we were trying to get in the car because we were *GASP* running about 13 1/2 minutes late to the church. According to the itinerary, we were arriving 2 hours before the ceremony to dress and take pictures - big deal. Stupid itinerary.

I think that's the only time I've ever cried about being late for something. I'm usually pretty relaxed about being late. Personal flaw I'm sure and a definite Social flaw here in Switzerland (I've gotten much better).

Guess what else I found? Our 1st Anniversary cards. They match. Pretty funny, huh? It wasn't the first time this happened!

When we first started dating, it was sometime late Fall and so we celebrated our first Christmas together with R & F (yes, CPA's and in our wedding - who in fact, caught our bouquet & garter and were married 3 months after us). I opened the card he gave me and looked at it confused. I looked at the envelope and it said "Susan" so I said "open your card, Bart." It was the same. We both stared and cracked up. Same thing happened that 1st Anniversary - bought the same card, different stores. Meant to be.

Hope you've enjoyed my little trip down memory lane. I hope mildewed boxes don't prompt your own trips.

I have to admit I saw that look on my dad's face one more time: He's in the living room with me, Rachel is about 6 days old and I burst into tears and said something to the effect that "she's already changed so much and someday she's going to be grown up and gone." He chuckled and said I had a few years to wait. :)

Egypt #5

2011-02-01T10:10:00.005+01:00

An indication of the challenge(s) that tourists may be facing as they are working on departures from Egypt right now - our Airport story.

As you have probably heard and read about from news sources and the couple posts from my Blog, the unemployment in Egypt is a real problem and people try in every way possible to earn something to live on. As tourists, you are "prepared" by both tour guides and books for the "baksheesh" or "tip" that is expected for any service provided. I explained that a bit in the Traffic and Toilets post. You can expect to tip the room steward, the driver, the waiter, the WC attendant, the guide, the pool man who gives you towels, the man who lets you take a picture of his camel - have a large quantity of 5LE (about .20 USD) in your wallet/pocket because you will be handing it out left and right. It's not so much, but it feels like you are constantly handing out money. It's not an issue because you expect it and we had great service from the people.

It's the way the society operates and how many of them earn a living.

We didn't expect it at the Cairo Airport though. From the equivalent of TSA. And this was our only negative experience of the trip.

On the way home to Zurich, we had flown back into Cairo from Luxor which is considered a "domestic" flight in Egypt and you are required to claim your bags and go through security and baggage check-in again. There's no possibility to have your bags checked in and tagged for their final destination.

So our guide has left us at baggage screening/security and we have put all the luggage through and are on the other side when the security agent points to Bart's bag and indicates there is a problem. He says there is a forbidden item in the bag.

Bart indicates that there's nothing there but his clothes and souvenirs. The agent again says "No" and with hand gestures indicates something narrow and about a foot in length. I tell Bart "It's the obelisk." He tells the agent it's a souvenir - a stone obelisk "just like in the gift shop here at the airport." The agent still insists "No" and makes Bart get it out of the luggage. Note: the other agents are on the other side and not paying attention to us.

Bart has now pulled the obelisk out of its wrapping to show the agent and declaring it's not an antique, it's a souvenir, it's legal..... loud enough for others to hear but they are either studiously ignoring us or don't really care. The agent then winks and rubs his fingers together. Bart gets everything packed back into his bag and hands him 20 LE and we went on our way.

Shaking our heads and wondering how often he gets away with that. And what "real" contraband do they let through for some cash? Actually - the penalties for breaking "real" laws are pretty stiff and I imagine they stick to hassling the tourist for a few bucks on their way out of the country.

So my guess is, while tourists are trying to make their way out of Cairo, Luxor, and Red Sea areas, that the expected tips are increasing in frequency and amount as the people of Egypt are uncertain as to their future. All manner of services are significantly disrupted as the infrastructure is brought to a halt. I can't imagine Cairo traffic now without traffic police on duty. And the curfew is so tight that many cannot go to work.

Saying prayers for those who face an uncertain future in their homeland and for those waiting to return to theirs.

Egypt #4

2011-01-28T20:51:00.004+01:00

Well. It is hard not to be mesmerized by the coverage of Egypt right now. We were right there in Central Cairo less than a month ago. Although it seems like ages ago already.

As I mentioned before, Cairo is the most populous city in Africa - 16th largest in the world. It has a very high unemployment rate and a government that essentially hasn't changed in 30 years. It is such a mix of new and old. So much media is given to the government restriction in internet/cell phones right now. From what we were able to ascertain from our tour guides, the majority of households do not have computer/internet service. This is due to cable logistics - most of TV is via satellite.

But cell phones? Cell phones are everywhere and they are highly dependent on them. There were men on donkeys talking on cell phones. Our tour guides were on their cell phones. The taxi drivers. Vodafon is expanding by leaps and bounds there. They are certainly not happy about the cell phone restriction by their government right now.

The Nile winds out of the big city into the countryside. One of the biggest agriculture crops is sugar cane. Everywhere there were fields of green and it was harvest time. Much of the sugar cane is still harvested by hand in Egypt. It's then loaded on donkeys, carts, trucks or camels and taken to the sugar cane train or a large transport truck for delivery to the refinery's. Along the canal at the end of the day - some fishing. I struggle with my thoughts on this one - I'm fortunate not to need the fish out of those canals. It provides them food but at the same time, the water here is so polluted. Giving thanks.

Water buffalo - source of cheese, milk and income for the family who lives in this house which is quite nice by neighboring standards.

Most of the animals (including chickens, sheep, goats and donkeys) are hobbled or chained right in front of the family home. In many fields children, women and men were cutting the greens to take home for their livestock.

Dry sugar cane stalks are used for shade and fencing for the livestock.

It's a different world than the one I live in. I'm only partially content with my experiences (pretty much everywhere we travel). I want to go into local houses. Sit with the children and see how they interact. Eat the food they would eat for the day. Talk to the women and find out that their lives are like. Women are still struggling in this country - the newspaper articles (in English) were enlightening and sad. It is hard to be faced with a daily reality that I don't have to live. I feel very spoiled. I could say "by chance" I was born in a different place. I thank God for putting me where He did.

We stopped on a bridge to take a picture across the river. It cracked us up since the bridge was built to be 4 lane but was only 2 because of all the dirt on it? Why? We never found out.

The days will tell as the people try to get their message to Mubarak's administration. Consider this: per our guide, a good monthly salary for an average person in Egypt would be 1200-1500 LE. The equivalent of $250 - 300. And they believe approx. 40% of young people below 30 years old are either unemployed or only working part-time (estimates per tour guides). It's a different reality.

Egypt #5 will find us going back, oh, 5,000 years or so......

I am a Maniac!

2011-01-22T09:44:00.005+01:00

Certifiable.

A distractable whirlwind.

We don't move out until June but...

Things need to get done. So I thought I'd explain a bit of life as I don't feel like posting Egypt today. But I will finish Egypt - I promised.

Some of you know and some of you don't - what our timelines are over the next 5 months. Bart heads back to the USA at the beginning of April and will be back and forth a small bit but - essentially in CA. The girls and I will entertain any last minute guests through the end of May and then prepare to move out by the end of June after school's finished.

There will be a house hunting trip sandwiched in there and the girls have had fun looking online at houses with us to get an idea of what we're up against. Now that the move is to CA vs MN, the heart drops a little at the cost differential - it's quite a bit. However, many other costs are equivalent so it's really just mortgage itself that you have to dig into.

We've started trading emails with the Moving/transportation company, the housing relocation people in the States and the relocation company here in Zurich. Many questions answered, asked, copies of documents found/sent, inventory lists of household belongings started, list of household items which need to be sold AND cleaning.

Why clean it now if I don't have to move out 'til June?

We are moving out in the middle of the legally prescribed period for vacancy of a rental. There are two legal dates by which a tenant may end a lease and move out with no financial responsibility/consequence in Switzerland - March 31 and September 30. As we are giving notice that we will move out by June 30, this puts responsibility of the remaining 3 months of rent and maintenance through Sept. 30 on us. It doesn't matter how much notice the landlord is given.

The public advertising will be done by the Property Managers at cost to us and I can put an add in the school links as well. I will also be the contact person and must be home for any showings. Oh, and have the prospektus (rental information documents) and direct any applications to the Property Management company. Therefore, it is in the best interest of all parties that the property be advertised and available for show soon. So that someone can take the property on July 1. As I do not see myself in the role of Real Estate agent, I hope this happens quickly and painlessly. Question is - Do I allow it to interfere with ski days 'cause you know, this is the last season here?

I am mentally incapable of having people go through the house and imagine themselves living in it without taking care of certain things. So - I've been cleaning, sorting, moving things down to the garage, throwing things away, giving things away and constantly asking "do you really need this? do we have to move this? are you really, really ever going to play with this again? can I at least throw this away right before the movers come?"

The girls are going to start stashing things behind their clothes pretty soon if I'm not careful. They're already adept at peaking into the large trash bags to see what I've put in there. They're asking questions about specific items. I immediately toss any bags I don't want them looking in. I'll admit I've already had to retrieve a bag out of the dumpster and go through it for a little white horse (I didn't know it was so special). Shhhhh - please don't tell Kendra until a couple years have gone by. She was very happy that I found it out of the "give away" bag. I didn't lie! I told her it was in a bag "downstairs" and she assumed......I just didn't correct her.

This all needs to be done anyway and I'm doing while the sun is NOT shining and snow is blowing. We may move back with less than we came with. Moves are good for cleaning out possessions and the soul.

Because we hope this :
And this (deceptive at this time of year but a vision of things to come):

And this (small by US standards but functional and nice by Swiss standards - our freezer is as big as our fridge (also small by US std.) ):

And this (large living area facing wall of windows out to terrasse):

And this :

Will convince someone to take the place as of July 1. They should ignore the 6 flights of stairs at the bottom of which lies the garage. A minor inconvenience. There is a funicular lift - that will take them 5 flights of the way. It's great for fitness - strong legs!

And if we sense hesitation, we can always show them this:

I can honestly say I've never lived in a place that was so physically comfortable. I never feel claustrophobic or confined here. I love the open feel, the water, the mountains, we watch weather patterns change across the sky, we have a quick walk down to town yet behind/sides of us are pasture/orchards, we have fir trees in our backyard and I just love, love, love it.

We will miss this place. There will not be a replacement for it. Even with the funky weird things (they do exist) that sometimes frustrate us, Bart & I are so glad we had the opportunity to live here.

So I am the crazy lady getting everything in the house ready so that I can relax when the weather clears, make some time for skiing (the snow has finally arrived again to relieve the 'Spring skiing conditions' we were having), enjoy lunch with friends, time with my girlies and especially time with Bart before April. I'm speaking his Love Language because I'm getting To Do's done. He loves that. I don't generally let him make To Do Lists for me - stresses me out! - but I need to be kept focused and he is so very willing to help me with that when I say "OK, write it down."

So that's what's happening in my little bubble. And we know that God already has a house waiting - one that I'll be physically comfortable in, just different. So we're praying that it will be a smooth hunting and purchasing process. If not, I'll be camping out in a few spots come July - watch out!

(excuse my "I" and "we" voices today - I just can't keep it all straight nor have the inclination to go back and fix it) Cheers!

Egypt #3 - Pyramids and Food

2011-01-15T15:33:00.006+01:00

Mr. Olson thought I seemed, well, a bit on my soapbox last post. NO - I was on a ROLL! (get it? toilet. roll......) Anyway, we had a terrific time and I certainly didn't mean to be negative toward my Countrymen. But I think most can admit there are times we don't want to open our mouths because our 'Countrymen' are perhaps making a bad impression? Even my Russian neighbor doesn't speak Russian in parts of Switzerland because she doesn't want to get grouped as " Russian tourist." People are funny. I hope I put all of these observations to good use someday.

My feeling is always that traveling should expand our knowledge and provide us with different experiences. We can't travel to foreign places and expect it to be like home. If so, what's the point of traveling away from home? Enough - On with our tour:

Can't have an Egypt post without the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx now, can we? This is cool! Our day out to the Sphinx/Pyramids was overcast/drizzly/smoggy. Pictures are hazy and trying to clean them up with Photoshop didn't work that great - most were better left original.

The Pyramids are right outside of Cairo - only about .45 hr from our hotel and that's due to traffic. They sit on the outskirts - bordered by the City and Desert. They are impressive in person but it's funny; you go out there, you take your pictures, wander around a bit listening to the history ( they are only about 5,000 yrs old ) and then you think OK, well, if there's nothing else, I'm ready to go back and find something to eat.

I'm not trying to underestimate the significance or priviledge of getting to see one of the last "7 Wonders of the Ancient World" in person, it's just there's not much to do once you walk around them and take your pictures.

Now - you can take a ride on the many camels or horses available. If you are with a guide, they may know someone who will give you a 'good price' for a camel ride OR simply get your picture taken with the camel and no hassle. Our guide did. Rachel is still the only one of our family to actually ride a camel, Kendra at least sat on one this trip, Susan really has no interest - although she'd go horseback riding again on the beaches of Portugal if asked and Bart has basically said he will NOT get on the back of an animal again after the horseback riding in Portugal. I bet he'd ride an elephant if we all wanted to though. Maybe.

Those camels are tricky. They are high up off the ground and you have to really hang on when they stand up and when they go to sit back down. Kendra was not convinced of their safety but was happy with a picture.

Should you want the camel ride, make sure to negotiate and settle the fee before the ride - in Egyptian pounds (LE). They will take British pounds, Euros and USD but best prices are always if you can pay cash in LE.

There are only 3 pretty complete pyramids left - the 4th was worn by weather and used for it's rocks. There were hundreds of pyramids built by the Ancients but they didn't all survive because of materials used and construction. These that have lasted were solidly constructed with blocks of limestone and a layer of granite. The layers of granite were removed over hundreds of years as later generations used the precut blocks as convenient building materials. Only the top of one of 2nd pyramid still has it's outer layer intact.

The great Pyramid. It is of solid construction - the entire piece is solid building brick from bottom to top except for the small burial chamber located a bit up and in the center of the pyramid. They still don't have the exact answer to how these were constructed based on the weight, size, etc.... but based on Biblical history, I would take some guesses as to who might have helped.

Considering Cairo's close proximity to Sinai and the Mediterranean and the importance of this region to the Ancient Pharoahs, it makes you wonder whether Moses or Joseph ever saw these same Pyramids?

Standing on limestone 'bricks' put in place approximately 5,ooo yrs ago:

Our "we were there" photo:

I wonder if the President of Kenya got a similar photo taken? 'Cause we were all kicked off the Pyramid when his motorcade drove up and the entourage approached.

We figured he was staying at the Grand Hyatt during his visit. Per previous post, the Hard Rock Cafe Cairo was on the grounds of the Grand Hyatt. When we came out of the restaurant that evening, we were faced with heightened security detail, fancy black cars with flags on them (reminded us of "Coming to America" but without Eddie Murphy) and 2 vans full of riot squad - fully armed and armored. Fun!

Speaking of Security: Another interesting experience was each hotel is not instantly accessible by car. There are barriers and while one guard watches the vehicle (ours), another goes around the vehicle with either a dog (sniffer) or a mirror on a stick to check under the vehicle. While it might sound extreme to the average suburbanite, it made you feel better. At least it did me.

Yes, there are things that happen (we were in Egypt but not in Alexandria at the time of the church bombing). But, as we know, unexpected tragedies happen all over the world, no matter where you live or what country you live in. We felt very safe and the extra measures only served to make you feel that if there was a problem, someone was right there.

On to other important matters: FOOD.

This may have been one of the girls favorite meals:

And they ate it alone in the room while Bart & I enjoyed a dinner date at the buffet downstairs complete with Egyptian musicians/dancers. WhooHoo!

Seriously - the buffet food was great at both locations (we stayed at Sheraton's in Cairo and Luxor).

Quick review - the Sheraton downtown Cairo needs remodeling/updating and by George, they started that process - while we were there. Soooooooo, the ambiance was a bit weak and it was loud but the hotel was clean. And our room attendant very attentive. But we are not used to staying in hotel rooms - we like to get out and move around. So we were a little stir crazy in Cairo. Luxor was great and relaxing - very easy place to get out and run around without fear of being run over.

What did we eat? One thing we ate a ton of were oranges. The oranges were fresh, you didn't worry about them being washed in tap water (their tap water is heavily chlorinated and can cause problems for tourists - bottled water is everywhere, cheap and best to brush your teeth with it and avoid salads/fruits washed in tap).

My lunch appetizer of flat bread (that's what we call it - similar to Indian Naan), oranges,

date, tahina and eggplant salad (salaatat baazenjaan). I could eat this everyday. It was followed by excellent roasted chicken with rice.

The girls enjoyed Fanta which tasted more like Sunkist soda in the US than the Fanta we have in Europe. They pick up on these nuances in flavor and especially like the Arabic writing on the can (cans were pull tops - kept confusing me as I would go to push in and realize I need to peel off):

The girls wish you Happy New Year from Luxor - they didn't make it past 11:30 but they tried. And they danced at the "obligatory" New Years Eve Fest at the hotel - Bart and I had a ball watching them.

You've seen this picture before but I'll try to describe the food. Dishes starting from top left (not on plates): flat bread, goulasche made with beef, spicy shrimp and rice (far right), tahina, baaba ghanooj, rice with tomato and lamb (Fettah), rice and in the middle - spicy cheese dip. Here's something - much of their cheese comes from the water buffalo - it's creamy and more tangy than cream cheese and very, very tasty. This was our dinner at Abu al Sid. I wish Abu al Sid would come to Zurich. And then I wish it would go to San Francisco. That's how much I liked it.

I even took hummus to church today for the vegetable dip (another story) and Bart looked at it and claimed it wasn't Veggie dip. I said "yes, it is and I'm still eating in Egypt."

Funky New Year Eve decorations at the dessert table.

What I don't have a picture of is any of the grill chicken or lamb (kebabs) that was very present during our stay. Or my daily breakfast of 'Fiteer' with honey (and cheese, meat, orange). Fiteer is like layers of thin flaky dough served warm and accompanied by a prune sauce (yuck!!!! sorry but the adolescent in me came out), honey or cream. The cream is in an almost solid form like butter. I had fiteer with honey every morning (occasionally added the cream). Did I already mention that? 'Cause I really liked it and I miss it. sigh......

It's time for bed. Well past time. More Egypt later.

Egypt #2 - Traffic and Toilets

2011-01-11T09:10:00.008+01:00

Guess which topic get's the pictures? I'll cover traffic before I conclude with my editorial on toilets (primarily aimed at those who rarely travel outside of the US but are thinking about it).

The view outside the hotel room in downtown Cairo. Always busy, always noisy.

In regards to visitors/tourists obtaining a car rental in Cairo/Egypt, our DK Eyewitness Travel guide (Top Ten - Cairo & the Nile) says this: "Car Hire. Driving in Egypt can be terrifying. Egyptians do not seem to obey any road rules, communicate by means of the horn and are adverse to using headlights at night(this is true - they flash them as they approach intersections or crossings). If you feel you need the freedom of a car to get around, it isn't any more expensive to hire a car and driver or just negotiate a day rate with a local taxi." Very good advice. Taxi's are fairly cheap by our standards - white ones are metered and regulated while black ones are negotiable/non-regulated.

We started recognizing the timing for horns, little hand gestures and certain signals but there are always people in the road, carts, and the game of "chicken" which would cause most sane drivers who didn't grow up with this to have a nervous breakdown right in the middle of the round-a-bout above.

Crazy as it was, I still think Malta was worse. That said, I'd never drive in either place.

There are few traffic lights in Cairo. Most large intersections have the large traffic circle (round-a-bout) with traffic police that help "control" the flow. You can see them here at the left and right:

Every large intersection has not only the Traffic police but other security detail as well. Their friend is waiting under the canopy behind his riot barrier:

We found that there are a lot of police/military on hand - everywhere. You get used to it very quickly. In the "countryside" you came to welcome it - it kept traffic somewhat controlled. The roads along the Nile have "checkpoints" every mile to 5 miles (more within city limits) to 1) keep traffic slowed down and 2) check for proper travel authorization/deliveries if needed.

For instance: the tour buses, large and small, are only allowed to travel to specific destinations within certain times of the day (from one city center to another: ex. Aswan to Luxor). They must also be carrying an authorization to transport the "people." The authorization needs to be obtained the day before. Our driver had to show the authorization to take us out to Abydos (3 hrs outside of Luxor). They essentially want the tourists back to their "roost" after tour hours are finished (most places close by 5pm). Private cars are allowed to travel within Egypt freely however. A resident or rental car would not require authorizations to travel between cities. They are very protective of the tourist industry in Egypt - it accounts for 10 - 12% of their GDP.

Back to fun in traffic. See the bus? The bus is moving. The man in white is hopping off (yes, right in front of the car) and the man to the right with briefcase will hop on. While the bus is moving. In traffic. We watched this happen all the time. Fun!

The mule and cart are patiently waiting with the auto traffic. In downtown Cairo there are no laws against livestock in traffic. Kind of like Switzerland with exception of the Autobahn.

The mule makes his way as do the 3 girls. There are people in the street constantly. Our guide pointed out a blurred crosswalk and laughed - "it does not matter where you cross the street, you can cross it anywhere." Jaywalking is a non-issue here. After a while you get used to it but I was still glad I wasn't driving!

Now, there are those who do wait for the bus to make a proper stop. Most of those 20+- people will be standing. We rarely saw a bus that wasn't overflowing. There are so many people and the public transportation system is taxed to it's limits. There are 2 Underground lines in Cairo according to our guide. They are overcrowded by local standards (!) and, funny, not mentioned in the tour guide book.

Things you see outside your window:

Hardee's! Really!

KFC! Pizza Hut is also very popular - as is the ever present McD's.

And Produce - giant heads of cauliflower:

It's hard to describe the experience of riding around in place such as this - we dodged people, carts, other buses, donkeys and camels carrying sugar cane, oxen/buffalo, goats (there were even 2 men on a motorcycle with 2 goats in between them!), and children scurrying off to school.

But come Friday, the 31st of December? The circle was quiet. Hmmmmm - New Year's Eve holiday?

Nope. It's Friday - 1) 1st day of their weekend (Friday and Saturday) and 2) if you are Muslim (and most are), you are due to the mosque for prayer at 1pm. Apparently it gets busy again and back to normal by 5pm.

A little snippet with sound so you can experience the action:

OK. Perhaps this post is a bit long. You're thinking "Do we really need to have Potty talk now?" Yes, yes we do. If I don't blog when I can blog, I'll never get it all blogged.

On the subject of Toilets, I would like to stick to the issue of "Paying to use the Potty". Most of those growing up in the USA have rarely encountered this with exception of public toilets in large city areas perhaps. Our guide said that one of the biggest complaints they get from American tourists is that of the toilet situation - both condition and having to pay.

So I will start my little rant here. Don't mean to offend.

This (using the toilet) is a basic function required of every living person on the planet. Not every part of the world enjoys the same sanitary technology that we are so blessed to have according to "Western" standards. That said, we enjoyed the use of Western style toilets everywhere we were in Egypt. Mostly due to the fact that they really controlled our trip but, Tourism in Egypt has responded and most visitor centers are fairly new and have modern facilities. You can travel in France, Italy and Oman and not enjoy the same facilities - same goes for most of the Middle East and Asia (we've not been but I hear from friends). And if you have to use the "hole in the ground", use it. But pack skirts as this is a tricky technique in jeans but will improve balance and muscle tone in your thighs/gluts. We were prepared just in case.

Be prepared to pay to use the toilet. And always carry tissues with you (we also carry antibacterial wipes/gel). And I'm not talking just Egypt. Less of Europe requires "pay" in a toilet now vs 10-15 years ago but you can still expect this in a tourist area and definitely at most train stations. Switzerland is typically .50 to 2chf (yes! $2 to use the toilet at the Zurich Main Station) and most of Euro countries are .50 - 1 Euro. In Egypt (and almost ALL toilets had an attendant) it is 1 LE (Egyptian pound) per person (equivalent of .17 - .20 USD) - very cheap.

Why pay to use the toilet at all? Because if you don't, there most likely won't be any TP, the toilet might be clogged and soap/running water may be iffy. Gee, sounds like many a USA bathroom I've been in.

When we travel around Europe, I confess I'm always happy to "go home" to Switzerland (or Germany) because then I know the toilets will be serviced/clean! Italy? Love the food but would recommend they bring back the "pay for toilet" service so I didn't make my family "hold it" all day or enter at your own risk. Haha.

Another note: Egypt has a very, very high unemployment rate. The people who service the toilets are paid very little but it is providing a bit of employment. Most of their income is from the 'tips' by those who use the toilets. You will NOT find TP waiting for you at most toilets outside of your hotel/restaurant/airport. You give the attendant your 'tip' and they hand you a bit of TP - it's not much. That's why it's highly recommended you bring tissues. And very often you are requested to put them in a bin - not flush - as the sewer systems are not hardy and the risk of backup is worse than filling a bin. That said - there was nothing we went in that smelled as bad as a Port-a-Potty. In fact, not much smell at all since there is an attendant who takes care of these things regularly.

So I will conclude my little rant by saying "I would rather carry around change vs using a free toilet that I'm actually afraid of - no matter where I am in the world."

Maybe more than you wanted to know about toilets but felt it was my public duty today. heh, heh......

Next editorial will be regarding STARS. Not the stars in the sky but the kind you find next to the Hotel's name. That was the other big American complaint so I feel another enlightenment coming along - some of you know where this is going as I've touched on it before. Honestly - did they expect Ritz Carlton-Half Moon Bay for the price they were paying?

Happy New Year! Egypt - #1

2011-01-07T09:06:00.011+01:00

Happy New Year Everyone!

I know it's a bit belated but as many of you know, we were gone during the Christmas break. We celebrated the New Year (in bed before 12! and only Susan to wake at the Midnight commotion) in Luxor, Egypt this year. What a trip. I can only hope to express some of our adventures and experiences by picture and words. Certain trips take time to process and this is one of them.

New Year's Resolution: Blog the entire Egypt trip.

Reason: I've left 2010 incomplete. "Busyness" and distractions left the Blog complete. For instance: 1) I never did finish off our Baltic cruise 2) Did you all know we went to Berlin in Sept? Probably not. I still haven't finish sorting the pictures and sharing with you. And it was probably one of our most cherished 'short' trips this year. So at some point, I will share it in 2011.

So as I start the process of cleaning out the house to put it on the "rental" market by February, I will enjoy the distraction of sharing our trip with you. Hope you enjoy.

We left our mountains of snow:

For the deserts of Egypt:

Before I go much further, I have to explain that this was not one of those trips we booked and planned ourselves - traipsing about on our own. We went through a Travel Agent (same as when we went to Oman) and had each day (not full days) planned with an English tour guide including driver/minivan. 4 nights in Cairo and 5 nights in Luxor. So we had the luxury of personal service and no big buses. This costs a bit more, I won't argue that, but as we are residents of Switzerland but American/English speaking and can't arrange things through the US (complicated) it's the easiest way to go in a country where you don't know anyone, can't drive yourself (trust me!) and know only three words in Arabic (hello, no and thank you). Traveling this way also affords us the ability to ask any questions we want (within reason) and get the best feel we can without knowing someone personally in the country. Spoiled we are. And very thankful.

Although we have been thinking of this trip for a long time, we didn't cement plans until well into Fall. Since the trip had an itinerary attached, I didn't really do much research into it. We were going to the Giza Pyramids/Sphinx, Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Fortress, the Market, Luxor, etc... and I never really considered where we would be at.

It hits you as you drive out of the Cairo Airport - I am in another world. I spent the next 9/10 days glued to whatever was going on out the window (except for a brief nap one day on a 3 hour drive back to Luxor). You drive through Old Cairo on the way to the middle of the city and realize, similar to being in Rome, that this civilization is ancient. And much bigger than we thought. And it is all brown.

We didn't realize how big Cairo was. I normally look into these things before a trip. Quick facts: 1) Cairo is the largest city in Africa 2) the 16th most populated city in the world 3) approx. 20 million people live in greater Cairo (city limits and suburban areas) 4) approx. 89.5% are Muslim (Sunni and Sufi) and 10% are Coptic Christian (orthodox) (.5% remaining for other) 5) if you look at an ancient map, Cairo is situated on the Nile near Memphis 6) approx. 90 - 95% of the Egyptian population lives along the Nile - the rest of the country is arid desert. It is still a developing nation by Western/European standards and left a huge impression on us.

I have to share experiences by bits or I will never get on to finishing the laundry!

On to fun things: Food!

One of our 'habits' when in major cities is to check for a Hard Rock Cafe - Here we are!

This particular Hard Rock closed on Dec. 31, 1010 as their lease with the Grand Hyatt was up. They plan to reopen sometime in Spring on the Nile in a more permanent location but - Egyptian time is like Hawaiian time so...... I feel most sorry for those who worked there. Unemployment is very, very high and good jobs hard to come by. But we enjoyed out time and Bart and the girls got Cairo T-shirts :) before they were all gone.

Now - while the Hard Rock Menu is very predictable, we enjoyed the Egyptian food as well - lot of small plates (like tapas) with hummus, veggies, etc... and dishes with rice and chicken or lamb - everything spiced a bit differently (ex. we had rice with cinammon at one meal). Went to a terrific (and very price friendly) Egyptian restaurant (Abu al Sid) in a little alley on our last night - YUM! And no, we did not smoke sheesha although it's become very popular for tourists to try. Our wonderful dinner:

View outside our hotel rooms. We decided traffic here could be a reality TV show. I will have to post about traffic alone later.

So I will leave you today with our touristy photo's:

More later :).

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T21:52:00.000+01:00

We were well prepared on Christmas Eve. We went to a lovely carol service at church and then headed home for a nice, quiet dinner. We were supposed to have dinner with friends in the mountains but the snow had been coming down all day and we didn't relish the drive in and out in the dark. The girls didn't want to spend the night up there - they wanted to be in their own house with their own tree for Christmas morning.

Christmas Trivia: Most of Switzerland celebrates on the evening of Christmas Eve - the Christkind (Christ child) comes with gifts. Sammiclaus (St. Nicholas) came on Dec. 6th (with Schmuetzli the scary counterpart and a donkey) bringing nuts, chocolates and fruit.

We still had our Christmas Eve dinner. I split the mashed potatoes of which I was responsible for and took a portion to church. The swap was made in the parking lot for the Swedish meatballs that were L's responsibility (a Minneapolis Swede) and we were all happy to take home our fare. We swooned over the meatballs. I'm not partial to ground beef dinners even though that is about the only red meat we eat here - USDA steak is about $25-30/lb and Swiss beef is too tough and expensive to bother with. Sidetracked - oh, the meatballs were delicious! Perfect with the mashed potatoes and steamed carrots. Funny thing was - BR decided when they got up to the mountains that carrots sounded best = we all ended up with the same dinner just different locations.

We watched Frosty and Rudolph, checked the NORAD Santa tracker (Kendra was slightly obsessed) and then prepared to go to bed. Girls were ready for Santa and the reindeer:

And Santa was faithful in arriving:

We had a great morning and then headed on up to D & B's to join in the snowy fun. It was a very slow trip - bit slick but worth it (you can say that as long as you're not the one off the road or facing the wrong way in the middle of it).

The girls down with L and her son N. The 3 entry snow fort and snowman are to the left - they did it before we came - it was awesome.

Much fun was had in the snow before coming in for a great dinner prepared by BR (have to distinguish him from Bart!) who is a fantastic cook. All I had to bring was the apple pie! We've been so blessed to have such wonderful friends here. It's a time of change for most of us and we are really treasuring the time we have left together.

So as Christmas comes to a close and we look ahead to the New Year, the verse that sticks out to me for the year 2010 is:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths." Proverbs 3: 5-6

God has been faithful to provide direction and open doors and relieve anxieties this year. We can't always be certain of our future but we can look at the past and see His hand. We look forward to what lies ahead in 2011 and I have a feeling that verse is going to stick!

So from our house to yours:

Whether we are entertaining poor, beggar children from the streets of Paris (Les Miserables brought forth new, imaginative creations):

Or Sweat Peas from Zurich:

We wish you a Blessed and Merry Christmas!

Photo Shoot? No....

2010-12-22T20:51:00.000+01:00

So perhaps I'm taking up Home Design Photography? A little Shabby Chic perhaps? It's all about the details. And how they blend and compliment one another:

Aimed at capturing the eye and pleasing the palette of sight and taste: The use of the unexpected in an extraordinary way in an ordinary place:

Stylish and comfortable. Enticing and pleasing. You can't wait to sit and be part of it:

Everything carefully placed before the guests even arrive:

And we were the guests. Not fancily dressed but with hearts warm and full of laughter. Such is a visit to Bart's sister's in Germany. We are always visually stimulated by a visit to her place. She mixes eclectic pieces and colors together which I don't seem to have the creativity to do and it works so fantastically. Her husband says she should go into design but as she says "if I had to do it as a job, it wouldn't be fun anymore."

Bart's niece has also taken up baking as a hobby. So we were well stuffed and felt well treated when we left Monday.

Can we talk about a trip without mentioning weather right now? No? All I'll say is that we rode the train with "refugees" of air flight cancellations who were headed to London via Paris and our train was 1.5 hrs late in arriving to our destination - not Paris or London. That was Saturday. On Monday, due to snow in Northern/Central Germany, most trains in our region were already 1 hr. delayed and eventually our scheduled train disappeared from the board. But by that time, we had already made the executive decision to hop on the first train to Basel (Switzerland) and there would be numerous train options to Zurich from there.

Weird thing was - it was snowing like crazy in Germany when we left but Switzerland was experiencing a little "heat" wave and was about 45F. CRAZY!!! Needless to say, in spite of delays - I'm glad we didn't drive!

Hope you enjoyed my sister-in-law's place. Mine is a bit more, well, boring. But it's home. :)

Gotta love these days!

2010-12-17T22:28:00.003+01:00

Hmmmm. Love a wintery walk in a Winter Wonderland.

This is what I thought (hah!) as I walked from the house down to the Bahnhof (train station) today at 4pm. Of course, this had followed a day of appointments, calls to get kids early from school due to weather, call from school nurse re: Rachel having a small fall at school and can she take the bus/train or do I need to pick her up (her posterior is in pain)?

I was not the "oh yes, I'll be right there" Mom today. I was the "OK Rachel - can you walk? OK, good! cause the streets are _______ (words that I thought but cannot write for my genteel readers nor speak in front of my children)."

Our thanks to the school nurse who drove her to the train station near school so she could get to Waedenswil and I could pick her up.

On a normal day, I would pick her up in the car. But today the roads were ______ and once I got the car up the un-snowplowed hill that is normally our street, I decided the car needed to stay in the garage. I wonder how many times I could work un-snowplowed into this post. I wouldn't have to if I were still in Iowa. If I were still in Iowa, I'd be complaining about the snow plow waking me up at 4 in the morning to start clearing the streets. They excel at that! Count your blessings!

It works differently here.

But I enjoyed a BEAUTIFUL walk down - no sarcasm - it was delightful and quiet and I didn't worry about other cars sliding into me. Even in the midst of all the chaos of today, I 'stopped to smell the roses.'

Now - before all h--- broke loose today, I had a hair appointment. And you know that you do not cancel such appointments prior to the holidays unless you or your child is deathly ill. Well, I don't anyway. It wasn't even for a cut - just the hi-lights so that it looked, in Bart's words "I can't see many grey hairs". Yes, my roots were showing.

And it looked great when N was finished. Ten minutes later, I put my hood on and ran around town a little - and had lunch with Bart. Walked some more and then:

And post driveway/walk/steps shoveling:

I paid $$$ to have my hair highlighted and blown out so that I could sit here on a Friday evening with it up in a half pony/bun. The look that is cute on teens/20 somethings but makes me look like a middle-aged mom who didn't have time to do her hair. LOVE IT!!!

Husband is shaking off his boots at the door. Gotta go!

His report: The wanderwegs are plowed but the street is still un-snowplowed. Still! Un-snowplowed since this morning and it's 11pm! Oy Vey! Good thing we're taking a train to Germany........................Pray that all of you trying to get out of town for the holidays are safe and healthy - it's a mess out there. Everyone will have a "story" when we're all together again.

Next Adventure - Departing June 2011

2010-12-12T22:00:00.002+01:00

Hmmmm? Where shall we go? It's been an interesting period of time and God threw us a little curveball in the direction of our life as Bart's contract begins to come to a close here in Switzerland. Many of you know the journey of "are we staying in Switzerland or moving back?" over the last couple years due to various elements outside of our control. Additionally, the economy and financial services climate changed to such a degree since we left for Switzerland that we didn't anticipate very many options on our return. It's just how things have been over the past couple years and I'm sure everyone can certainly appreciate that.

We had known for some time there was room for Bart in the Minneapolis office and there didn't seem to be another logical place for him opening up based on everything we knew. So we have grown accustomed to the thought over time. Bart has family there, we have some relocated friends/acquaintances and Des Moines isn't too far away so we felt that we could get comfortable there. Even though it's COLD there (ooo you betcha, Uff da).

And I had, I'm serious!, told Bart when we were engaged to "Please don't ever make me move to Minnesota." (post trip to MN at Thanksgiving to meet parents and the lakes in the Big Woods were frozen - they were already ice fishing)

And I've been eating those words for a while as we started considering our move next year.

But a suggestion was made a few months ago. And we thought about it. Then the suggestion became a reality. And we had to make a choice. All I can say is that it's easier to be 'told' where to go than to be given a choice in some circumstances. Because it wasn't an easy choice based on the locations. We did all our "research" and put a lot of prayer and thought into this and ultimately, as that door stayed open and was not closing, it just felt more and more right. We were thankful and grateful to have a choice - it was not expected - thank you Firm.

This is what our girlies looked like when we left CA: This is pretty close to what they'll look like returning to CA:

Bart will be returning to the San Francisco office and we will be looking to move back to the East Bay - somewhere. Full Circle.

We are excited on many levels (How many of you are a little surprised I'm willingly moving back to CA? I am! God really softened my heart). One of the factors is giving the girls a family base with their cousins while they're still 'at home.' As the "Bianco girls" have been late bloomers in the baby department, there are 5 little cousins in HI and 1 (soon to be 2) in So Cal, and my sisters and I are so very, very excited to be closer in proximity. At one time we were spread out between Switzerland, Australia and Hawaii!

So although we are a bit sad now that the prospect of re-connecting with some MidWest friends/family has changed, we know we are committed visitors to MN. Bart's Mom & Dad will still be expecting us of course and we'll probably have more time with them as we won't have to squeeze in the combined CA/MN summer trip.

We also look forward to reconnecting with CA friends that we don't get the chance to visit on those squeezed in summer trips.

So - that's the latest and if the METRODOME ceiling collapse doesn't just have "sign from God" all over it, I don't know what else we could use as positive confirmation! :)

Hope all of you in MN/IA are staying warm and safe right now! Love to all.

A Night in Zurich

2010-12-10T23:00:00.002+01:00

I'll take you along on a tour of Zurich at night. At the start of the Christmas season.

Here's the thing. We didn't know there'd be soooooooo many people. On a Sunday night. Most likely because I don't check schedules and that sort of thing. The tram took a detour as we were figuring out that, no, the tram wasn't going to Paradeplatz/Bahnhofstrasse as we thought. It was closed for the parade: For the Santa/Samiclaus parade which kicks off the full season downtown:

See - there's Santa riding down the Bahnhofstrasse in his little wooden hut - no flashy sleigh and giant cartoon balloons for this guy in Switzerland:

Although I tend to avoid large crowds of people, this was fun. Perhaps the large masses of people in one place helped keep us warm as well?

Paradeplatz was beautiful and the new lights definitely an improvement. See, when we first came to Zurich, there were "new" lights on the Bahnhofstr. They were tubes that hung down and pulsated with different light. Funky, modern and well, not very magical. The people wanted the magic back!

But the city of Zurich had sold the old lights and the customer would not sell them back! So the people of Zurich have endured the strange tube lighting until it was depreciated enough that the city could write it off and buy new ones.

According to the long timers, these "new" lights aren't quite as magical as the old but considering they are definitely more energy efficient, they'll do: I think they're pretty.

And the front of the CS building which always looks so festive:

The Frau Munster with the towers of the Gross Munster behind:

And heading off side streets through Old Town - No, girls! You will find none of those beautiful, sparkly shoes in your stockings. They'd blow the Christmas budget right out of the water! But they're pretty.

I think you have to be raised in the culture to fully appreciate the Hexenhaus. The Hexen (witch) is supposed to bring good luck of some sort but all I can think of is Hansel & Gretel and this just doesn't put me in the Holiday spirit.

And Rover sitting so patiently on the concrete barricade stand. He was NOT so patient once his owner let him down. Lesson: don't force dogs to wear light up collars and sit still while staring at giant Christmas trees - they'll never be the same again.

And the handsome man I was able to catch:

I've never seen these narrow streets so crowded. Added to the sparkle.

Heading to the Hauptbahnhof (main train station):

Where one can find a large Christmas Market complete with the annual Swarovski Christmas tree:

Tired kids always feel a little better with a goodie from Spruengli in their hands:

Yum - Truffes du jour (she likes dark chocolate!):

We wish you a Merry Christmas season amidst all the busyness that seems to come along. Lunches, potlucks, recitals, concerts, plays, Oh My!

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Giving Thanks, Markets and Stuff Dreams are made of...

2010-12-05T17:13:00.003+01:00

Bart doesn't typically like his pic featured prominently on the Blog but: He was sooooooo happy to have a Thanksgiving dinner. I'll admit, I was tempted to bail on cooking one this year. It was a very busy week, Mom arrived that day and yet, I couldn't fail the family. Our little group of five were very Thankful and ARE very thankful for all that we have: a Saviour, our health, our Family and Friends.

We were thankful for the good food we had and the Turkey pot pie which followed the next evening:

I was also thankful to have my Mom with us for almost a full week. She loves coming over at Thanksgiving - this was her 4th Thanksgiving with us! The only one she missed was when Dad had already booked his stay during that time.

She watched the girls overnight so we could stay in the City after the company Christmas party. She and the girls decorated the tree and watched a movie - enjoyed a girl's night. The girls did a great job on the tree. Rachel told Mom that "my mom's going to get home and tweak the ornaments around - she always does." But I got home and they did such a great job - no tweaking! My only complaint is they have so many of their own ornaments now (an ornament per year plus gifts) that I only have about 15 of my own ornaments on the tree this year.

Thank you Mom!

She and I hit the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) in front of the Kloster in Einsiedeln. Had a great time sampling goodies such as local fruit wines (good for flavoring things or sipping with dessert) and chocolates, opfelchuechli (apple rings battered and deep fried with vanilla sauce - my favorite!) and, as we must this time of year, Gluehwein (hot, spiced wine). There is good Gluehwein and bad Gluehwein. Fortunately, we hit the good.

My girlies looking too old at their first concert. A quick funny that makes us wonder how they'll fit in next year: They're playing Taboo and Rachel's describing the word and Kendra/Bart are guessing.

R "this is something we need in order to live here" (Switzerland)

1st guess K "Visa"

Correct! but Bart and I recognize the context is a little odd for their age group. They play Taboo using context instead of key words and it's hilarious.

Mom and I were out and about in Zurich and I got silly with the camera again:

Takes a lot of inner steel to have hair that shade and wear a green fur jacket, Ja? But the gentleman to the right. That scowl walked right by me and growled. He was not happy that I was out with my camera. He needs a bit of Christmas cheer. Gluehwein, perhaps? I just smiled at him.

We did go to the Dr. for Bart and it appears to be all muscle related which is a relief. He's still pretty much sedentary and taking it very easy. We did not get to Germany to visit with his sister's family which was a bummer - we were all disappointed but will look for a free weekend in the new year.

Final funny: You know how strange dreams can be? So I had one early this morning that is still quite vivid and cracks me up because I can pinpoint where most of it comes from but none of it is related.

I'm at a party, in a place that looks like a condo I stayed at in Sun Valley, ID 23 yrs ago, I'm in a dress that's too short and therefore extremely self-concious, Kate Middleton is there (and although Prince William arrived with her, he's no where to be seen the rest of the evening), and JD and KD from IA are there (worship leader & wife/friend). I excuse myself from Kate M. to have a heart to heart with JD (miss you friend!) and then suddenly we're at a table where KD is explaining that he now picks up pastries for lunch instead of sandwiches because it's more cost effective.

I can explain everything except KD and the pastries. Unless the pastries for lunch is 'my' subconcious and not KD at all...........because that would certainly make sense.

Oh - and just to clarify, no, it doesn't make sense that I'd be at a party with Kate M. and Prince William - comes from reading magazine articles. ;)