Homecoming

So....with the adventure behind us, we headed home by train - a series of trains that would take us 8 hours. What was on my mind was finding my keys, grocery shopping, laundry, emails, beating Sue at WWF, praying my ATM card would work, etc.

What I should have been thinking about was, 'Why was T sitting on the floor of the train car, with his head on the seat?" I was certain he was exhausted. After all, we had just completed his 2 week non-stop fun and action dream vacation.

Just as we were coming upon hour 7 of our journey, and were standing in the doorway preparing to jump off the train and make our last connection, T said that he thought he was going to vomit. "No, this couldn't be happening...I don't have a bag or anything." Well, he quickly turned green, and J opened the train's little built-in trash bin, and T emptied his stomach there. It was a great catch, but unfortunate for the cleaning crew. We rapidly departed the train before the odor wafted thru the car. T perked up a bit on the last train, and I was certain that it was merely motion sickness.

Upon our arrival at home....we immediately noticed something was missing from the driveway. Ahhh yes, our car. Prior to our departure, we had dropped off the car at Rolf's garage for some minor repairs and the 80,000mile check up. Let me back up and explain how this process went.
I am the driver of the car. My hubby does not drive here in Switzerland - he doesn't need to. He takes a train to& fro and if he needs a ride, I drive him or he gets a taxi or bus.
So, I took my car to the garage in town which is owned and run by Rolf who utilizes 2 young mechanics. I stopped by on Friday, explained the 5 items I wanted to have repaired/checked. Rolf is a very senior member of our community, and I would guess him to be 80 yrs old. He is old-school Switzerland.

So, I explain the needed repairs, that we are leaving for 2 weeks, I would like the work done while we are away, and when could I drop it off? He shakes his head and shoes me away with his hands and says," I talk to your husband about it next week." This is a significant cultural thing about Europe that had to be explained to me. When there is a big expense (orthodontia, auto repair), the business owner discusses it with the husband. It is a guy-thing. They expect the husband to call the shots and are not comfortable discussing monetary issues with women.
Well, unfortunately, my family doesnt operate that way. My hubby truly knows less about cars than I do. It is my car and I handle everything about it. Rolf won't budge. He insists he will talk to my husband next week. Fast forward one week - I am sitting in a piazzele sipping spritzers with my Canadian/UK friends when I receive the text from my hubby," What do I tell Rolf? " So I text him back the script and he works it out with Rolf. Oy!

Fast forward another week, and here we are returning home to no car. : ( I need the car. We have no groceries, and I need to get the kids to school the next morning. The kids were already missing the day of school and I needed them to get back to school so I could get started on the all-consuming laundry.

I picked up the phone and called Rolf. Here about to begin was the match of the century - one for the Deadliest Warriors- the irate, exhausted, bummed to be back from vacation, fiercely independent New Yorker vs. Rolf, the old school Swiss with almost a century of experience avoiding business transactions with women, AND who was in possession of my car!
I think the conversation went like this:
C: Rolf? It's C, the owner of the RR. Ummm, it's not in my driveway, should I come get it?
R: ahh yes, its not ready yet. I call your husband when its ready.
C: Rolf, I need the car tomorrow morning by 7:30 am to drive the children to school.
R: Oh noo....its not ready. its not driveable.
C: NOT DRIVEABLE?! Rolf, you've had it for 2 weeks. Why is it not ready? What am I going to do? I have to drive the children to school! You know the Swiss Law - they are not allowed to miss a day of school.
R: Where do the children go to school ? ( I realize he was thinking they attend the local neighborhood swiss school).
C: I have to bring them to Wadenswil in the morning. How am I supposed to get them there?
R: Oh - you drive my car.
C: Your car? You want me to drive your car?
Then my hubby interrupts to remind me to ask if its an automatic
R: yes - you take my car and you come back at your car is ready after 2 hours.

Take his car? I hardly know him and he's going to trust me with his car? This is bizarre.
I put some laundry in the washer, and walk to his shop at 6:30 am and he hands me his keys to an old Subaru wagon. I drive it home, grateful noone else is on the road at this time as I get used to driving it, thinking how bizarre this place is. The car is quite old, but runs well. I was surprised he had this old subaru. No sooner do I get to the house when I realize that the car is on E....as in EMPTY. Did I mention that Rolf's garage is also the gas station? Why didn't he put some fuel in the car? You've GOT TO BE KIDDING ME was all I could think of. Am I being punk'd ?

Well, I get home as T is waking. He looks very pale, lethargic, he has a headache, and his throat hurts. You know it - classic Strep Throat symptoms. Poor thing! No school for him. He is really sick....lays in my bed and falls back asleep. I call a friend and ask her to drive K & A to school as I dread the thought of T puking in Rolf's car.

With K&T gone to school, I turn my attention to T who is still sleeping. I switch the laundry, and I go to call the dr, and suddenly remember that our dr is on vacation this week. I call his phone and sure enough the answering machine message confirms this when I hear the works "geschlossen woche mai 1-6."

UGH! I make some calls, get the phone number of another English speaking doctor and call them. Fortunately, they squeezed him in. I used Rolf's car to drive him to the appt where the dr confirmed that he had strep throat. The dr dispensed the Zpac right there in his office - how convenient! No 20 minute wait at CVS!

On the way home, I passed Rolf's station and saw that my car was out of the garage and ready for pick up. Hooray! T & I drove up the hill home and I worked on laundry and unpacking while he worked on recovering all day. By late afternoon, he was perking up and back to his old self the next day. I finally finished laundry by Thursday.

It wasn't the homecoming I was expecting, but it all worked out....fortunately. Also, whenever I drive by Rolf's garage I see that he actually drives a Jaguar - the Subaru must be a spare car. Interesting that he didn't offer me the keys to the Jaguar....