SKI-LESS Week I

This is Ski week for the International School, which means the school is closed so that everyone can go skiing. Most of the people we know have left to go "on holiday" at Davos, Klosters, and Austria. Others have returned to their former homes in England, Turkey, etc. Since we are new to Switzerland, and had endured a very hectic 6 month marathon of planning, packing, selling our house, moving, unpacking, repacking, planning, finetuning, and packing, and moving, road trips, emotional goodbyes, and finally moving overseas, we decided we would use this week for a much needed break. I am sure we have not made the best use of our time; I could have had the kids practice their German, study their math, write letters/emails to friends & family back in the US, explore our surroundings, or write a diary. I intended to update the blog daily and catch up on everything I want to share, and hang the curtains up in our haus, as well as put some pictures on the walls....but I'm outnumbered 3:1, so we did a lot of veggin' and its been delightful.



Saturday was spent in our new normal way. I went for a run around town...it took me about an hour, up (walking) and downhills' jogging - I'd guess it was 4 miles. K played with a friend and had a marvelous time. A&J went on a vigorous hike, and T helped me prepare for dinner with friends. Actually, I prepped for dinner and cleaned. T prepared for our dinner guests, which included a boy around his age, by gathering his nerf bullets, tested his nerf guns, gathered his nerf swords, changed his clothes several times until he achieved his best very dark colors to camoflauge with the night during his greatly anticipated Nerft War in the Dark. We had a great dinner with a lovely family. I didn't burn anything, and noone reported any food poisoning, although some food items may have been served cool when they were intended to be hot. The kids played very well together and we adults enjoyed our time.



Sunday, we got up and out early for our ski lessons at Brunni. We had a group snowboard lesson scheduled for the boys and a private ski instructor for K&J. I decided to confront my fears, and joined in on K&J's lesson to get some pointers from the instructor. We went to the bunny hill, which J had previously told me was the biggest mountain he'd ever skiied on. Well, let me reassure you....its simply just a good size bunny hill. We headed up the Tbar lift, and K&I were partnered. 3/4 up, we hit a couple of pothole divits and we both lost our balance and fell off the T-bar. Face down in the snow, we scrambled to get out of the way of the subsequent t-bar riders. It was not a pretty site and we were very glad to think that we didn't know anyone in the vicinity. The wierd thing is that K&J had fallen at that very spot a couple weeks earlier ! Anyway, we managed to recover and make our way over to our instructor.


We tried to stick together, but it was hard with our different experience levels. J made it down without falling for the first time and he was very happy. K had a harder time starting out, but eventually got her groove. The ski instructor told me that I "ski nice," and saw no major problems, and suggested that I ski a little later in the morning when the slopes aren't so icy. He made a good suggestion about my turning: I had been throwing my hips a bit to turn, and he suggested leaning forward a bit more, bending my knees slightly and using my knees to turn more than my hips. It worked beautifully, so I left them and skiied for the morning on my own. It was so fun. The weather was gorgeous, clear, sunny, and warm at 50 Degrees F. From my slope I could look across to the huge Brunni mountain and see some snowy slopes, areas of green grass, charming Swiss chalets and cottages. It looked like a picture from a magazine. I had a great time and honestly wish I could continue all day. I was confidently gliding downhill, skiing side to side over the whole hill, passing other skiiers....lookin good if I must say so myself. I felt like I had finally made peace with Swiss skiing and achieved that "skiiers high." Of course, I was carried away and then I remembered....I was still on the bunny hill.



Sunday afternoon we all napped for an hour and then headed to a local wonderful playground. The weather was incredibly spring like. Birds were chirping, the sun was shining, everyone was wearing light jackets and crocs. The kids had a ball at the playground and we stumbled upon a friend of T's from school who was there with his family. They are from Spain, and spoke Spanish to the children. The wierdest thing was when we were walking home, J&I both commented how "normal" it sounded to hear the Spanish language; it felt so much more familiar than hearing the constant German and Swiss German language!



Monday, Valentine's Day: My Valentine left for a trip to the UK : ( , but good thing I had 3 spares at home. I started out my morning with a run along my new usual course (doing it twice now constitutes it as "usual," right?) Then we brought A to an orthodontist appointment. He estimates 2-3 years of work and we are to return next week for the treatment plan and co$t. Then, A hung out with a friend for the afternoon. K&T& I went back to the fab playground and ran into her classmate. He comes from a Dutch family who had lived in Brazil for several years, then the UK, then Hong Kong, and now here. (Since I was talking to just one person, I was able to keep their residency history straight this time.) We made a plan to meet at Alpamare on Thursday....more on that later.



After the playground, I went to my German class. I was already promoted on the first day to the "fast learners group," and on this day, she suggested I move on to a more rigorous intensive class at a professional language school. The thing is, I really like this class, am learning a lot, and its conveniently located in my town, so I am happy to stay.



Tuesday earned me a nomination for Mother of the Year from my kids. I had declared it Pajama Day. After my USUAL run, we stayed at home in pajamas and watched tv ALL DAY and EVENING. This was the complete mental break I have been craving for months. It was lovely...nothing to think about. I caught up on some paperwork, computer work, housework, and laundry & a ton of ironing. The kids were so happy....and my mind was quieted.



Wednesday, after my USUAL run, the kids had friends over....which means pizza for lunch and nerf bullets everywhere. The highlight was when they all dressed in costumes and took their pillowcases off of their pillows and paraded to me and called out "Trick or Treat!!!" This was something they used to do occasionally in the US. It was fun- like seeing an old friend. They were so darn cute, I HAD to give them candy. They had a great time while I worked on German homework, researching some travel ideas, and some chores.



Thursday: Today we went to Alpamare which is "Europe's largest covered waterpark," and its name sort of translates loosely to Alps Sea. It is conveniently located about 25 minutes from our haus and offers slides, pools, wave pool, fitness/wellness, massages, cafes, tanning beds, lazy river, giant whirlpool, and a lazy river, as well as a hotel. Since it is always challenging to do something in Switzerland for the first time, we were not without our mistakes. I parked in the parking lot which was clearly labeled Alpamare Parkplatz, although we thought it was strange that there were no other cars in the lot. Then A advised it was the Bus Parking lot... he saw a picture of the bus on the sign that I missed. He then advised that the fine print made mention of some sort of $500 fine....so we quickly got in the car and drove around the corner to the car lot.

We entered the resort and bought passes for four hours. I thought this was a nice feature - you can buy a full day pass or a 4 hour pass. I loved the idea of a 4 hour pass. American waterparks are opened for 14+ hours and its impossible to reach an agreement among the 3 kids as to how long we want to stay. Some want to stay in a waterpark 2 hours, and others want to stay for the full 14 hours. This 4 hour pass is nice and tidy...very Swiss, all the emotions are removed from the decision. You are probably wondering how they manage to ensure you to leave after 4 hours. Upon your entrance, you are issued an electronic key card which activates the entrance and exit turnstyles. So, once you enter, the clock is running. When you exit, you insert your key card which will not activate the exit turnstyle let you leave if you exceed your four hours, that is, until you pay your overcharges, which are $5 per person for 1-30 minutes after 4 hours, or for us $20 per 30 minutes, $40 per hour. Everyone is very careful to leave on time as they fully enforce the overcharges.

Next we entered the communal dressing room/locker room area. This was interesting - men and women in the same changing areas, but the changing rooms had doors, like in a clothing store. So, we all changed into our swimsuits and spent a few minutes trying to figure out where the waterpark actually was.....as usual all the signs are in German. We found some signs for "Eingang" or "entrance" but we were confused because there were separate eingangs for men and women. Was this an Orthodox waterpark? Aren't we all going to swim together? Afterall, we're in a communal dressing/locker room? After much pacing, trying to get a glimpse and figure out why the men and women were einganging separately, the boys grew impatient and went in the male "Herr" eingang, so K&I quickly entered the Damen one. Then I realized, it was a shower passageway to the waterpark...so everyone can shower before entering the pools. Whew! We met the boys on the other side, and met up with our friends.

The kids had a great time together - sliding, splashing, swimming, laughing, playing. There was a large aggressive wave pool. There were 2 very well heated (30degrees celcius) outdoor pools. I never imagined I'd be swimming outdoors in February in Switzerland, but the pools were full of people! One pool is an adult-only pool and had a slight brownish coloring. This pool was advertised as being the "IodineBrine bath," and having some medicinal purposes. I must admit that after spending some time in this pool, the backstrain that has plagued me since lifting T onto a swing on Monday at the park has disipated.

Like any good American mom, I grabbed my camera to capture a few kodak moments. Walking around outside on the patio in February in my swimsuit, I made my way to the pool where the kids and friends were swimming. I was surprised to be intercepted by a lifeguard sporting dark glasses, who spoke to me...in German. I explained I only speak English. He advised that I can not take any pictures and I need to put the camera away. ??????? Really? Who ever heard of a family amusement center where you can not take pictures? This only happens in America if 1-there are liability concerns (delivery rooms & hospitals) 2- no flash photography which would effect the performers 3- copywrite concerns 4- security issues, like at a museum or Fort Knox. I returned to my seasoned companions and asked what they thought of this. They explained that it is likely a Privacy issue. Ahhhhh, yes, the Swiss greatly value privacy. It would be an invasion of privacy for me to take pictures of them in their swimsuits and possibly publish it somewhere (....like a blog). Wow....they've really thought this whole thing thru. Ever the rogue, I still snuck a few pix, just of my kids.

Another interesting happening is the signs on the lounge chairs that I recall as "no reserviert," or somthing to that effect. I came to learn that this means "no reserving lounge chairs." I learned this the hard way. After my companion and I were lounging, reading a magazine, and chatting for a while. We left our loungechairs holding her book, watch, magazines, towels, and her robe to take a dip in the Iodine Brine pool. Upon our return a big hairy men sporting speedos were lounging in our chairs with no sign of our property anywhere. My companion explained," Of course everything's gone....there crazy about this no reserving lounge chairs." Huh? Gone? So, she explained once you leave your seat, it is no longer yours and the attendants take all your stuff and put it somewhere - on towel racks, in the lifeguard station, on the floor, on the windowsill. It was our responsibility to track down all of our stuff. We managed to find everything dispersed about the pool area, in about 15 minutes.

Then we went to lunch. The cafe sells a variety of pizza, paninis, chicken, french fries....all uncooked. After you purchase the items ($65 for lunch of one pizza & drink each and a chicken salad for me. The 12 oz diet coke cost $4.50 alone!), you go to the pizza ovens, ovens, deep fryer (I guess!) and grills and cook your food. We actually enjoyed doing this.

We all had a great time at Alpamare and the kids were fairly tired and ready to go home at 3:45 hour. We made it out without any incident or overcharges.

On the way home, I made what will probably look back on as a big mistake. I explained to my entourage that I was going to make a detour, seeking something I had read about. Not another detour...this usually means we're going to get lost. Well, after pulling over and asking for a few directions, we were on track. The kids preferred to head straight home, and I knew they were tired, but really, we were basically going to pass this place on the way home (after we got directions), and we had some time to spare. It was as if there were a little angel on one shoulder encouraging me just to head home, and a little devil on my other shoulder tempting me to the dark side.....the 70% cacao Dark Side. Our little detour was to the Lindt Chocolate Factory Retail shop!! I had read about this and today was the day. It was chocolate heaven. The kids picked out a treat, and something for J, Dark Chocolate with Chili, (basically spicy chocolate). We picked up a few extra items for friends, and we were off. It was approaching dinner time, and I suggested we have a Vegetable and Chocolate Dinner.... If this doesn't clinch the Mother of the Year Award, I don't know what I will do!

That's the scoop for the first half of Ski-Less Week. Tune in for more adventures....