Zuerst Glucklick Geburstag

"First Happy Birthday"

I'll share my big boy's birthday happenings and show you what's been keeping me from all of you:

On the day my dear daughter left for Davos....

I got up with her at 6am (let's not discuss how that was 11pm in Chicago time), arrived at her at school at 6:40 am, snapped a few pix, bus departed at 7am, I was home by 7:20, fed the boys breakfast, it was my big boy's birthday so we opened his cards & gifts, made lunches, out the door to drop them at their schools by 8am. Went shopping, picked up some Swiss cake mixes.

My big boy was turning 13. Normally, I would have planned a celebration but this year was obviously a bit different. He has has made casual friends at school and at scouts but hasn't really made any special friends. His weekends had been filled with hiking with his dad, and participating in his school's musical by working on Backstage Crew. He has spent several Saturdays making sets, painting sets and himself, and having other people apparently paint him as he's come home covered in paint. He's had a great time and really looked forward to spending every Saturday afternoon at school.

Fortunately/unfortunately the big boy's birthday arrives on such busy day. His show was only 10 days away so there was rehearsal every day after school. K had left for Davos, there was an important Scout meeting that night, and we had committed to hosting 2 basketball playing girls from the school in Milan who would be competing in a basketball tournament that our school was hosting.....all in the same day. Without the opportunity for a true celebration, I asked the Show Director if I could bring cupcakes or something to the end of rehearsal as it might be his only celebration. She thought it would be a great idea. I asked how many should I bring....she replied that there were 65 kids involved. WOW!

After I dropped the boys at school, I came home with my day already filled. I needed to bake for the 65 Show kids and might as well send some goodies to the Scout meeting (+25 people), and clean and prepare for the Milan girls. I bought several boxes of cake mix, whose directions are only in German, French and Italian. I typed the instructions in to the translation website and got a general idea of what to do. Some things did not translate, so then I inputted the French words to see if that would provide some additional clues. Once I got the general parameters, I started to bake. Since I brought my American Hand Mixer, and it is compatible with the European electicity, I thought I was good to go. To my surprise it went UBER powerful, fast and crazy, and spewed the baking mix up in poofs all over the kitchen. Quite a mess...next time, I stirred it by hand a bit first to moisten it and avoid the billowing clouds of baking dust.

That day, I successfully baked 4 large cakes of lemon, and marble cake, and while they were baking in the oven make 4 large batches of rice krispie treats. I placed them in lovely woven trays, topped them with loads of gummy candies, and smartie like candies, and some muffins and wrapped them up.

I managed to squeeze in a lovely hourlong walk with my friend D from the Netherlands and most recently from Dubai. We talked a lot about travel plans. She will be heading to Chicago and NY this summer ....and perhaps squeezing in a 2 day trip to DC as well. She is so nice and enjoyable and had a terrific family.

Then, I came home and quickly prepped dinner, and set up the guest room and guest bathroom for the gals for Milan. I printed off their schedule so I would know where and when to chauffer them to/from.

I picked up T from school and we headed to rehearsal to meet up with A. He had no idea we had all these goodies. The director set up a table, and surprised A by having all 65 kids sing Happy Birthday to him. I was so excited I wanted to cry. He's been so brave and amazing, juggling all these changes, navigating friendships new schedules, new demands, jumping in to volunteer, hoping to make meaningful friendships, and never complaining while settling for mere acquaintances on his very special day.... while there are great friends equally missing him so far away. It was such a happy, but certainly bittersweet moment, as I know how much he must miss his friends and his previous full life.

Then, we rushed to the Upper School/High School, picked up the lovely girls from Milan, and rushed to drop A at the train station with his tray of goodies for his next meeting and little celebration. With a quick hug & kiss goodbye I left him at an unfamiliar station, with his directions to meet dad at ENGE. Then, as usual, I began the incessant texting with my husband"he's on the 6:31 train....meet him at Enge in 12 minutes" Followed by "where are u?" "Did you get him yet?"Which sends my husband rushing to the train platform while texting my son to stay in communication. They text until they meet, get a bite for dinner, usually at a Burger King or equally bad establishment, and they are off to the scout meeting.

Then, I introduce myself to the Milan girls...."hello, I am Colleen, I am a typical overcommitted, harried, American Mom squeezing 48 hours worth of life into 24, and you are.... ? T chats incessantly with the girls on the drive home telling them our life story of the past 6 months.

We arrive home, T gives them the tour, they are amazed by our large house (so un-European), seem to like their guest room, and eat the dinner I've prepared. We had a great time chatting. They are actually British students living in Milan. One has a father who is Italian, and a British mom, while the other has 2 British parents (although her mom is from an island off the coast of Africa- its not Madagascar, but perhaps the Seychelles?.... but emigrated to the UK when she was a girl). They told us all about Italy....Florence is really just a smaller Milan. If you go to Milan, you don't need to see Florence, they like Venice, pizza and pasta are very good. They're Basketball team is not very good as their school (like most of these International Schools I've learned) emphasize the Arts way more than they value sports. The Milan British School is apparently quite prestigious, as a Versace child attends, and "David Beckham tried to get in" (see, his mistake was that he excelled at sports rather than the arts....such a shame...).

The girls were great company. T barely let them go to bed that night. In the morning, I got the 4 kids off to their various schools and attended my all day German lessons, then picked up the 4 kids, and brought them home. A & T really liked the girls. They went out to the Wildepark together and came home with their private jokes that I obviously wasnt included in.

While they were all gone, I worked on dinner. When I volunteered to host the basketball players, we were informed that there were students from a variety of locations who would be attending the tournament. There were students arriving from the International Schools of Milan, Tel Aviv, Vienna, London, Germany, and another English or Irish School. My friends who have hosted told me "just make them some pizza & pasta." Well, low and behold, I get 2 students from Milan, the birthplace of fabulous pizza & pasta.... -how could I possibly serve them my store-bought Swiss pizza & pasta? But... I did. I confronted my anxiety, and followed a recipe for a semi-homemade baked ziti and the kids all loved it and nearly ate the whole dish! whew!!

Then the kids played games that night and ate chocolate fondue which they loved. These girls were a great match for us. I really wish we could have kept them for a week. It definitely kept my mind so busy that I couldn't be sad about missing my own little girl.

The girls spoiled us with gifts from Italy. One brought us Grappa, a dessert wine, and dried mushrooms and fresh dried pasta. The other girl brought us a funky designer wine bottle opener which we will treasure always.

So, then, Friday arrived and they went out for the night with their team. I picked up my baby girl from her trip and we had a nice family time listening to her stories about her trip and tucking her into bed with some extra-special kisses. The next day, we ate a big breakfast and had to say goodbye to our guests. We sent them off with some special Swiss chocolates and our best wishes.

A was off to rehearsal and the birthday week/Davos trip seemed like it just was a wonderful, magical time that vaporized like Brigadoon. Poof !

SWISS BLUES

Wow! I can hardly believe it has been a month since my last post. I greatly apologize for neglecting you and have set aside time this morning to update you.

First off, I must offer my setting: I am sitting in my living room, feet propped up on the coffee table (since the kids are not home to see it), the room is filled with sun, large glass doors are wide open, sun is streaming thru the windows, the smell of coffee wafting thru the air, the clippy clop of the horse just passed and gave way to the splashing of the creek beside our house (in between is the sound of cars revving by, but don't let that ruin this glorious imagery), and the church bells are clanging reminding me its time to catch up with friends....

My neglect is likely a sign that we are getting entrenched in our lives here in Switzerland. Where do I begin?

Swiss Blues: Not referring to sadness, but rather the Swiss Ski Pistes. I went skiing a couple times earlier this month and made great progress. On Friday 3 weeks ago, a friend invited me to join her HausFrau Ski Group for an outing to Hoch Y Brig mountain. This was a wonderful day. The weather couldn't be more perfect, bright shining sun, and perhaps 45 degrees. We met in the parking lot at school, piled our gear atop her little sporty BMW station wagon and set out immediatly after dropping off the kids at 8:30 am. We got to the mountain, met up with the other HausFraus, changed into our gear in the parking garage, got our lift passes and were on the slopes by 10am. Hoch Y Brig was amazing - I wish I had brought my camera, but I have learned that people here pack light when they go skiing. Literally, they just bring their ski necessities. snowpants, boots, helmets, skiis, coats, gloves, goggles. No need to bring anything else. Its all about hittin the slopes. In the US, I would have packed a weekend bad with extra ski pants, tissues, snacks, water bottles, etc. So HochYBrig was a site- it was sooooooo wide and vast, I could hardly take it all in in my brain. Oddly, it had no trees - so it looked like a white desert with rolling white hills. It really looked like a white Sahara - just spectacular. Above I have added 2 images from the website.

Since I was with die-hard skiier women, they were so anxious to start and pumped! I was a bit leary, and made it clear this Swiss skiing was still new to me. Someone brought a camera so we posed for a picture at the exit of the lift atop a Blue Piste (trail in US) - great shots I'm sure. If they had any doubt about my ski skills, or lack of, it was confirmed when I turned around to make my way toward the slope and accidentally began sliding out of control and smashed into an older man wearing the Swiss Ski Instructor uniform and fell onto the ground. He immediately turned to me and shouted some obviously excited words in German.....let's just assume he was expressing great concern for me and checking to see that I was alright. Thankfully, I couldn't see the HausFraus' faces as I am certain they were eyerolling and thinking that this was going to be a looooonnng day with the Newbie. We set off down the slopes and it went surprisingly very well.....in that I didn't fall or crash into anyone else. Of course, I was sweating and gritting my teeth, concentrating and trying to squash the negative thoughts in my head, "why did I think I could do this? why did I think I could keep up with them?" After I survived the first run and caught up with them, and was thinking that it was a good time for a coffee and snack break, they were elated and joyfully exclaimed," Wasn't that GREAT?! OMG this is SO FANTASTIC!!!" We stayed on that Piste for several more times, and I found myself getting better and better. I was still having to concentrate on not killing myself or anyone else, but by lunchtime I was fully comfortable and really having a great time. Another interesting sight I appreciated from the ski lift was th e off-piste skiing and snowboarding. It is acceptable to ski off-piste, off trail - its just a free for all - there are ski & snowboard tracks everywhere - apparently people here love to ski off trail in this powdery,off beaten areas. Alas, it was time for lunch. Lunch was lovely in the ski chalet - a buffet of a variety of hot meals, cold sandwiches, and snacks awaited. I ordered a meal of curried chicken, which by the way, using my newly acquired but still quite limited and timid German, I requested "mit gemuse, nicht reis, bitte" (with vegetables, not rice, please). The meal was $20 and the bottle of water $5.

We had a nice time chatting over lunch and it was nice to see their faces without their helmets and goggles on. There were 6 of us, including 5 Americans 1 of whom is from Queens NY, 1 from Minneapolis, 2 from Boston area. We exchanged info about various vacation spots, who is going where for Spring Break and for summer. After lunch, we hit the slopes again. Everyone told me that I was doing very well and keeping up with them fine. It boosted my confidence. This time the HausFraus decided to kick it up a notch and hit the Red Piste. I joined them and did fine. I was gritting my teeth again, a bit stressed, but did well and so enjoyed it. I am beginning to feel that "skiiers high" a bit where you so look forward to skiing.

As soon as I knew it, it was 2pm and time for us to start to head back to the school parking lot and pick up the kids at school. It had been a great day.

The very next day, a Saturday, the Boy Scouts were having a ski day at Flumserberg. I had volunteered to help chaperone. My big boy and I got up and out of the house around 8am and traveled like the natives. We wore our ski/snowboard boots, wore all of our equipment, carried our skiis across the street to the bus stop, boarded the bus to the train station, met up with the other scouts and leaders at the Thalwil train station and boarded the train to Flumserberg carrying and wearing all of our equipment....yes, that includes walking up & down stairs and steps in our ski boots. It took 1 1/2 hrs to get to Flums but we had a great time with the Scout friends on the train. As soon as we knew it, we were on the cable car headed up to the slopes. My big boy is still new to snowboarding so he wanted to stay on the bunny hill. The wonderful Scoutmaster encouraged him to try the Blue piste....just once....its easy. A did, and it was very tough and frustrating for him, but he managed it fairly well. I skiied near him, following him. At the bottom he asked me to, basically, go do my own thing. I think he was feeling hurried with me following him and he wanted to learn on his own. We agreed to stay on the same piste and meet up a the restaurant with the other scouts at 1pm. I was a bit worried, thinking about something happening to him, he'd be all alone, but I realized that we'd be on the same trail, passing each other continuously, so I agreed but kept my eye on him from afar. I really had a great day. It was freeing to be able to let him do his thing and allow myself to concentrate on my skiing.

We all met up for lunch at one of the restaurants. The leaders brought a large insulated bag of food for their family. They were both skiing, and I asked where they had kept their food. "Oh, we just put it down here in the snow, next to the picnic tables before we went on the lift. Noone touches anyone else's belongings here, so its safe." Hmmmm....interesting. In the US, it would have been stolen, or someone would have called the bomb squad about an unattended bag.

We ate lunch with a few other scouts. Two of whom are brothers and told us that their family is likely moving to the US Chicago area this summer. They were curious to know about America, since they are originally Australian, moved to England 9 yrs ago, and have been living in Switz for the past 5 yrs or so. They had heard great things about living in America and wanted us to confirm. Yes, movie tickets are ONLY $10 ($20 here in Switz), there are McDonalds and Starbucks on virtually every corner. We told them all about the Wisconsin Dells waterparks (Brilliant!), I tried to tell them how big the HS are, and how fun and challenging they are, how lovely Chicago is, but how brutal the winter is, etc. I think we sold them! They told me their mom is quite hesitant, so I told them I would contact her and give her the 411.

So, A finished up lunch and immediately engaged in the BS snowball fight. The boys had a blast and I wish I had my camera. The weather was incredibly warm, and there were people sitting outside the restaurant eating and drinking and hanging out in the gorgeous sunshine, while the boys froliched in the snow. Skiiers and snowboarders whizzed by us. It was truly a lovely time.

I chatted with some other parents including a set of parents from California. The dad is a college professor, here on sabatical for a year, and his wife is a teacher, homeschooling the children. They will head back over the summer.

We hit the slopes for a few more runs before A&I met up and headed home. When we arrived, we had a wonderful visit from an American friend living here in Switzerland. He's a good friend of J's and we had a great night eating, drinking, and talking. He's great fun and we're glad to have him & his family closeby.

Everyone here seems to LOVE the skiing but this year is considered a washout. The weather has been uncharacteristically warm and the ski slopes are suffering. Its so interesting to me to hear moms at school saying how they are so anxious to get in as much skiing as possible since this will be a short season. Every day their are women meeting in the school parking lot, fastening their ski equipment to the roof of a car and zipping out after drop off, obviously headed to the hills. I like skiing, and certainly am enjoying it more that I am becoming better at Swiss skiing, but I still don't CRAVE it the way others do. Its funny for me to be in a conversation when other moms are talking about what a bummer this gorgeous warm weather is....I just furrow my brows a bit, tuck in my lips, and fake a sign of concern, and agree with a sigh "such a shame...."

My dear daughter also had quite the Ski Experience this past month. The International School takes all the grade 3, 4 and 5 students on a 3 days ski trip designed to improve their ski & independence skills. They went to a beautiful mountain, Davos, near Kloisters. They left at 7am, were on the slopes by 10, and in small group lessons of 4-6 students with a private instructor for 6 hours per day with just a break for lunch and snacks...for 3 days straight.

I must confess when I heard the rigorous schedule I was a bit concerned for my daughter. Although she's had lessons, she is still new, it is still frustrating, and definitely not an activity that she loves. I wasn't sure how she would handle getting all of her equipment on and carried by herself, and how she would vent her frustration.....in addition to all the tween concerns of who am I rooming with, what's the food like, where do we get dressed, what is everyone wearing, do I bring a teddy bear or not, etc. I dropped her off at 6:30 am as required. She was nervous and anxious and I wish I could help comfort her more, but I had to let go and let her figure it all out. I was so excited for this opportunity for her but knew what a challenge it would be.

When she returned on the 3rd night, she was exhausted but happy. She did great. She felt that she greatly improved her ski skills. She roomed with some people she liked and didnt like much, but felt it all worked out. She hated the food, ate a lot of bread and butter. She managed all of her equipment like a pro. I was sooo proud of her. She always rises to the occaision and is so capable! It was good to have her home.

Residency Permit

When I met my husband, I imagined we would share lots of adventures in life, but I never imagined one involving fingerprinting.


I haven't shared all the on-going trials and tribulations of the delay in receiving our Residency Permits. I'll be brief, for the first time ever: Switzerland's Migration Dept sent us a note 2 weeks ago saying that we have to produce an FBI background check to get a Residency Permit. We had already been electronically fingerprinted and done the bio-whatever check for our migration and thought everything was in order. The man at the migration dept had even told us that we could expect our permit within 4 weeks. Now they were advising everything was not in order. We had brought a letter with us from our local IL police dept., which was acceptable for the visa, but not for a residency permit. The FBI background check takes 3 months to complete, and Switzerland would take another month on top of that to finalize things on their end. The day after we received this notice, we went to a notary and signed a document advising we have no criminal history. They were certain to let us know that if this is found to not be true, we could be fined, jailed, or deported. Gulp ! I was wondering if a speeding ticket constitued a criminal act, but then decided it is merely a traffic violation....right?

We needed to proceed with our bummer FBI background check. We made an appt and had a retired police escort arranged to take us to the Central Police Station to guide us thru the process. Our appt was delayed, they explained, as there were "gangsters" having their prints taken and this takes priority over us. We were turned away and instructed to return in 3 hours, after the "gangsters" were processed and after their lunch break was completed. We were quite bummed - hubby had an incredibly busy day at work and was trying to squeeze this in before heading to the UK, since time was of the essense.

I was feeling quite dejected on this particular day. I had a stressful morning racing to get drop the kids off at school and get into Zurich for this appointment. I got lost as soon as I exited the train station (which I attribute to not having an Iphone App Map),upon arrival and spent an hour in the cold damp morning air trying to find my hubby's office to meet him. I really wanted a warm cup of coffee for comfort, but knew if I stopped in a Starbucks, I would only be $6 poorer and further disappointed. I admit that I was quite teary and sad during this fruitless frustrating scavenger hunt. Finally, thanks to the directions of a few strangers, I made it to hubby's office just in time to meet him for the subsequent fruitless fingerprinting expedition only to learn it was going to be delayed.

Since I had over almost 3 hours to burn alone in Zurich with just my credit card for companionship, I meandered over to the glorious Banhofstrasse where I had been lost in the morning. The sky had cleared and the streets seemed to be paved with gold now. Browsing thru Globus and Jelmoli definitely provided the girly distractions I needed. I visited the lovely grocery sections in the basements of these stores and picked up some nice fresh pasta, a marinade, some chocolates. I enjoyed a yummy eggsalad and ham sandwich on a full carb wheat roll. I was recharged; a woman once again filled with optimism and eager to conquer this country one shop at a time. Bring on the fingerprinting!

I later met hubby at the Police Station where we were fingerprinted together. A large, very serious Swiss man advised us to "relax and do not help." He thoroughly rolled ink onto a special glass looking board, and diligently took one finger at a time, and rolled it in the ink, and then with a flash of his hand would place it firmly on the white FBI fingerprint document, without a smudge. He was quite intense about it and his work was impressive and meticulous. Of course, for J & me, it was not as romantic as I'm making it out to be....

Once it was done, I raced back home with my Banhofstrasse purchases and braced myself for the long haul of waiting 3 - 4 months for an iphone and the freedom to travel. Later, I learned that we would be able to travel with J, but would need to expect a bit of a hassle at the Swiss border. Needlesstosay, it wouldn't be an easy 4 months.

But, I think all that's changed....wierd as it is....the postman had me sign for 2 envelopes today. It appears to me to be our Residency Permits!!!!! Wondering if I should get my Iphone today or wait for hubby since we have to sign the documents in German!!

Ski-Less Weekend

Better grab a cup of coffee, and hold on, we've had a busy weekend:

Friday night was spent at home. It was our first evening at home all together since J had abeen away for the week in the UK. T couldn't wait to play with his dad/bff. He was asking continuously when/if dad would be home early. After the twentyth time, I explained that I didn't know what time dad would be home and suggested, "why don't you send him an email from my (wifi Iphone) email?" So, dutifully, he did. A while later, I happened upon my iphone and checked for messages, and saw one from J that said, "ok- heading home now!" I scrolled down and saw that T had sent him a note, sounding urgent, "Can you come home early, please?" with no signature, and I could see how J thought it was send from me. J thought I was in trouble, and dumped a conference call to rush home. I felt bad that he thought it was an emergency, but of course, we were glad to have him home relatively early (6:30) : )

Saturday, J&A had a scout hike commitment, leaving K&T&I on our own. I was very productive, and completed my Usual Run early. We stopped at "Die Post" office and send a few items to the US. Then, we took the train to Adliswil where we took a cable car ride to Felsenegg. This cable car hauled us up to the Albis mtn for a lovely view of Zurich and Zurichsee (Lake Zurich). There are great hiking trails available but the kids weren't much into hiking on this day. The weather was chilly, damp, and misty and did not offer a great view on this particular day....but it gave me a great idea. "Let's head to Zurich!"

This was quite a coup for me. I'd wanted to bring the kiddies to Z for a couple of suprises for them, and for a bit of shopping ....for me! I'd only been in Zurich without J a few times, and those trips had produced more frustration than satisfaction due to my lack of navigation skills. Having been lost there several times and meandered lost for long periods of time, I thought perhaps I finally figured out what I've done wrong and could successfully navigate it....and I was right. : )

We took the train to Selnau Station and when we popped out onto the street, the kids were so happy to see "Subway," the American sandwich shop! K& T love Subway and were so happy to get a kids meal for lunch. Although it smelled SO GOOD, I passed on lunch, intending to save my calories for something more delectable. (This is where a coffee would have come in handy).

Next, we went to Athleticum, sporting goods store. We picked up a Ski helmet for J, some socks for A, a hat for K, and ski goggles for K that will fit over her glasses. Feeling quite confident in my navigational skills, and with the kids still happy with their Subway high, I decided to push the envelope a bit and pitch them on short walk to the Banhofstrasse. With the expectation of more surprises, they readily agreed and followed me like ducklings following their mama.

The Banhofstrasse is THE shopping mecca of Zurich. It is also one of the top shopping districts in the world. It ranks #3 (I'm not sure who measures these things), right behind NYC 5th Avenue, and Hong Kong. It has all the high end stores Chanel, Tiffany, English bookstore, Claires, Armani, Hilfiger, Apple, Jelmoli, tons of other high-end luxury shops, and Globus, which is like a Macy's or Bloomingdales.

I was a woman on a mission, with 2 kids in tow. Since I had just been lost here for an hour 2 weeks earlier(....I'll save that for another post) and traipsed around these streets aimlessly, I knew the way decisively. We headed straight for Globus to the Thomas Sabo jewelry counter.

Thomas Sabo is a jewelry designer and has a collection of beautiful silver charm bracelets and charms. I admired one worn by an acquaintance who explained the bracelet to me, and showed me the charms that marked her travel milestones. There was an Eiffel Tower for Paris, a Double-Decker Bus for London, etc. I thought this would be an excellent souvenir for K&me to commemorate our "European Years." I had scoped it out a couple weeks ago, but now that I had my partner in crime, K, with me, I was ready to pounce. We each picked out a bracelet and 2 charms. K picked out a K and a William Tell Apple with the arrow thru it, to mark her arrival in Switzerland. I picked out the William Tell Apple and a blingy cross which reminds me of the center of the Swiss flag. I was ecstatic to start our collection. K was equally happy and we discussed how we would keep these forever. She said that when she is a teacher, she will use the bracelet to introduce herself to her students and tell them about her life and travels. She's such my little bff. She happily carried the bag around all day.

Next stop was the electronics store. We picked up a toaster for our poptarts and toast. It toasts a cute little smiling sun image onto the toast. I thought it was time to spoil T, who'd been such a trooper, shopping without complaining. He picked out 2 Remote Controlled Cars for him &A. I think the batteries cost more than the cars and neither will likely last long. He was so excited and we couldn't wait to get home and surprise A.

We couldn't rush home, however, there was more work to be done. We stopped at some other little shops, picking up a new scarf for K& m to share, and I took them thru the basement of Jelmoli to feast their eyes upon the nice grocery shop, and treats. This didn't interest them the way it impressed me. They had already spied the next stop, and like a Swiss train, there was no stopping them. They directed me back to street level, over to McDonalds. McD's Really? When there's all these amazing freshly baked treats and chocolate, they want to go to McDs? However, once they ordered their McFlurries, I folded and ordered one too. : ) Yum!

We had to make one final stop on the way home to complete a promise I made to the kids. We stopped in Adliswil station to go to the 2chf (2 franc) shop. This is Zurich's answer to the Dollar Tree. T picked up some new foam swords and some casino games, roulete and a dice game. Yesp casino games. I never saw casino games for kids before....and how did he ever know what these are? I can understand him needing the casino equipment....how else is a child going to earn some money? More swords ? ugh!

We reunited with J&A at home and heard about their hiking day. The hike was vigorous and they both pushed themselves and enjoyed it immensely. They enjoyed the view from the Albis and learned about the amazing Swiss Watchtower system. They had a great time with the Scout troop; A likes the boys and they have met some very interesting global kids.

That night K&T created the Shining Star Casino in T's room. I was simultaneously impressed and perplexed about how well they knew to create a casino. They wore uniforms - red & black clothing. They shut the lights off and we played some casino games by the dim solar lights. They got rid of the clocks so we wouldn't know what time it was, and played great music.. They dispersed fake Euros for spending, and wouldn't let me take pictures (ever the rogue, I managed a few shots...just of my kids!). We had a great time and played roulette, the dice game, and bingo.

Sunday turned out to be cold and rainy, but the weather couldn't dampen our planned tour of the city with Bill Hovey Fleet of Foot Tour of Zurich. Bill is A's Social Studies teacher and he and his family are so knowledgeable about Zurich and living here as ex-pats. We are so grateful for the help they have offered us and we were very excited for Bill's tour. We started at the main train station "Banhof HB" eating delicious mega pretzels for lunch : ) while Bill offered a short history of the trainstation and its art. Then we walked around the Banhofstrasse learning about the history which is largely commemorated in various fountains, statues, and placques found throughout the city. We learned about the Roman origins of the city and saw the ancient Roman baths, the history of the churches and religion, and stained glass art, that influenced the development of the Swiss culture by visiting the Fraumunster & Grossmunster Churches, we saw St. Peter's the largest clock face in Europe, the start of the funky Dada Art movement, the home of Lenin, the mistreatment of the Jews in Zurich, and the legend of the 3 Saints. Bill did a great job of conveying the highlights to give us an understanding of the city, and even managed to keep the kids engaged the whole time. He brought his trusty dog, Roscoe, with him and when he quickly lead the way thru the alleys and streets, he reminded me of the Pied Piper with all the kids eagerly in tow to keep up with him & Roscoe. It was a wonderful tour and I can't wait to take another.

After the tour, we were fairly soaking wet, but our fun was not yet over. We had a Sitter scheduled so that J&I could go out to dinner - alone at last! We headed over to Hiltl, an amazing fab Zurich restaurant. It is an historic institution, founded in 1898. In addition to being one of Zurich's best restaurants, it is also Europe's oldest Vegetarian restaurant. We enjoyed the buffet, eating a vast sampling of the tasty Indian -inspired dishes. There was curried cauliflower, Jasmine rice, nut and raisin muesli, couscous, hummus, guacamole, delicious breads, all sorts of salads, fennel apple, slaw, hot pasta dishes, quiches, apple crumble, all sorts of exotic fruits, breaded and fried jalepeno peppers...way too many for me to recall. It was so tasty that it was hard to believe that it was all vegetarian.

Of course, nothing seems to transpire without incident with me. When we arrived at the restaurant, I was a bit of a mess from our 2 hour tour in the rain. I started at the washroom to freshen up and attempt some damage control. As soon as I arrived in what I thought was the Ladies Room, I heard a man talking to a young child from behind a stall door. They were speaking German so I did not know what they were saying, but it all sounded like regular parental-speak. I immediately panicked, thinking I erroneously entered the Men's Room and turned to quickly exit, when in walked another woman. With the door open, I checked the wording on the door. It clearly said "Damen" and had a picture of a baby as well. I was quite confused. The large man creature with curly wiry hair was now at the sink with the child, washing, and acting totally normal and didn't address me. I was so confused; I couldn't make eye contact, and jumped in a stall, lest I be accused, by this man creature in the Ladies Room, of wierd bathroom behavior. I was so perplexed, and soon returned to my table to tell J what happened. I was certain it was a man....could I have been wrong? No, I'm certain it was a man. I asked the waitress about it....wondering is it possible that men with female children use the ladies room? She brushed it off and said that it wasn't normal, but that "Switzerland is not like the US - we don't have to worry about men...about the things you worry about it the US." I was not insinuating anything of that sort of perversity, I was merely inquiring whether it was the custom that men would enter a ladies' room. So much for her shedding light on my caper. I continued to scan the restaurant hoping to spot the man and to justify my experience to J& the waitress, but I never caught a glimpse.

It was a very nice early evening and I was glad to spend some alone time with my best guy. When we returned home, we found the kids in a happy chaos with their teenage boy Sitter. He did a great job with the kids, and diligently fed them a snack dinner of poptarts and popcorn. They were quite happy with him. A later said that it wasn't like having the other (girl) sitters; it was "fun, like having an older brother." I'm sure they'll be asking him to come back soon and J will be glad to oblige and have some more quality time.

Liquid Gold

I can't believe my husband awoke on Saturday morning and uttered THE words that he did. Like "HE who cannot be named," I thought there was a clear, albeit, unspoken understanding that we would not be mentioning this, especially on the dawn of what could be a very promising, adventurous weekend. Why didn't he bring up someother acidic topics... like the credit card bill, or did I really need to bring 3 toilet brushes, but no pencil sharpener from the US? What did he say, you ask? I can barely type the words. He said, "I wish I had a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee right now." Ugh! How I wish I had a nice hot cup a joe from DD.

We both love to drink coffee. It doesn't have to be a fancy unprouncable sugary latte grande whatever Moccaliatochino-whatever. I'm a simple girl, really. A nice hot DD coffee, 1/2 regular 1/2 decaf with extra skim milk in a large white styrofoam cup was my joy. I would sometimes have it for breakfast, or as my liquid lunch, and always on the weekend when one of us were out running errands, we would pick up two, and enjoy it as our our "afternoon delight."

My cupa Joe became a faithful companion in the months before the move. I believe it made me more efficient too. I would pick up a cupa Joe, leave it in the car, and quickly complete my errands as to return to the car to enjoy it before it turned cold. Like many Americans, I would walk around town with my little cupa Joe, and savor it. My health club offered free coffee, and I would consider it my reward after a good workout.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways... Piping hot, it was a cozy blanket in the ever cold Chicago climate. It was a companion whilst running errands, a time filler when there was 15 minutes before I needed to be somewhere. It was a reward for a workout well done. It was a low-cal celebratory dessert alternative. It was nice, warm, and smooth.

Here in Zurich, the people do not have the same relationship with coffee as my generation did in the US; this is a bit of a wham-bam coffee culture. There are loads of cafes and people seem to take their coffee seriously. Coffee is served in very small portions. It's a tease and in the US there would be class action lawsuits over false advertising. No matter what size coffee you order, the container is only 1/2 filled. Where's the rest of it? Expresso-type coffee seems quite popular. People will basically just buy a shot-glass sized serving of expresso and drink it hot and fast and be done with it. What's wrong with lingering over a lovely hot cup filled to the rim, for awhile?

There are several Starbucks around the Zurich area. Once when I went in, and explained my dilemma. I am an American and I wanted a coffee to go. The barrister understood, and gave me a full cup of coffee. The problem is that it was still that bitter European coffee - and full caffeine. As it turns out, I struggled to drink it, and could barely manage half....and that I did because it cost $6. I've never been a fan of Starbucks coffee in the US, and don't imagine I will ever develop a taste for it here in Zurich.

We have struggled with coffee on the homefront as well. I bought 2 large Costco sized bags of DD ground coffee and thought they were shipped here to Zurich, but they seem not to have arrived. I do not know if they were absconded by the moving men, who I imagine would just be finishing the bags up right about now, or whether we accidentally dropped them into our storage locker, or donated them. I also brought loads of Costco's Starbuck's Instant Via packets, and occasionally use them. Interestingly, I do not care for Starbuck's fresh coffee, but I do enjoy their Columbian Via. I saw that Starbucks was introducing a new variety of fun Via flavors infused with vanilla, and caramel before I left, but didn't have the chance to try them.

We've worked the coffee angle at home with mixed results. We bought a new Swiss regular coffeemaker upon our move, but seemed to have burned that out rather quickly. We are not sure what happened exactly, but it seems that we picked up the wrong filter size, and perhaps that contributed to short circuiting the machine ? Makes no difference because when one door closes, another opens. We decided we would buy a lovely Nepresso machine. This is one of those cartridge type coffee machines that makes hot frothy milk. It is lovely, plus it looks great, matching our red kitchen. The first few days we had it, I would go to bed and think, "oh good, I can have a nice hot cup of coffee with frothy milk in the morning!" It made getting out of bed so much more enjoyable. Of course, the Nepresso machine barely fills the cup 1/2 full, so we press the button again, doubling the size but making it less intense, which is perfect for us.

Well, the church bells are ringing, telling me its time for my cupa joe!

The Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins With a Single Click

Well, not much happened today, other than a lot of cleaning by me. After sleeping in until 10am, I thought the day was shot. I didn't do my usual run, which now seems like it is going to be downgraded to the un-usual run. I dragged myself out of bed, enjoyed my nepresso coffee, and asked the kids what adventure they wanted to have today. They all wanted to stay home, despite the fact that there was not going to be any "screen time." "Screen time" is what we call any sort of recreational electronics that involve "screens" such as Itouches, DS games, TV, Wii, and computers. It turned out to be quite a productive day for me. I did quite a bit of cleaning and a bit more organizing. All day long, I chugged on, thinking that I would use the blog as my incentive. When I completed my work, I would get to write a blog entry.

I thought I would tell you a bit about our Screen situation. Of course, no entry is complete without the background. My hubby went on a bit of a spending spree on Black Friday 2009. He purchased not one, but 2 large flat screen tvs. Six months later we were preparing for a move to Zurich and wondered what to do with the tvs. We didn't want to part with them, as they were new and wonderful, and it would seem foolish to put them in storage for 3 years, and buy new Swiss flat screens to use for 3 years. Additionally, we already had a large DLP tv we wanted to bring as well. We wanted to find a way to use these tvs in Switzerland.

We are not a huge tv watching family, but let's face it, we need to watch tv, and we do love to watch movies and HBO series. We outlined our desires. We wanted to 1- use these tvs that were designed for use in America with the American plug and voltage requirements. 2- watch American tv shows 3 - listen to American pop music 4- watch English language movies 5- play the American Wii .

We researched some options. There is SkyTv, which enables you to watch British TV. There's satellite dish opportunities. SlingBox is a bit shady, and I don't fully understand it, but I believe it enables you to tap into someone's American cable tv and basically record shows that you want onto a dvr to watch at your leisure. These didn't seem to meet our preferences.

After extensive research, my hubby decided to pursue complete internet driven American tv. We purchased a new laptop that would be dedicated to driving the tv. However, computers actually send a signal via satellite that tell the websites where you are geographically accessing their site from. Many American sites are not accessible from outside the US - such as Netflix and Hulu. My hubby averted this by purchasing a software VPN, which disguises your actual location to that it appears we are in the US and enables us to use American websites.

We purchased some online services to provide our entertainment. We purchased a Hulu Plus account that will enable us to watch our favorite current American tv shows (Modern Family, Office, 30 Rock, Real Housewives.) We were already suscribers of netflix, and we can stream movies thru their instant play movies. These are not as current as the dvd subscription, but we can not have the dvds sent to Switzerland without paying shipping and duty fees. As for pop music, we have a subscription to SiriusXM, and we also download songs on Itunes for our Itouches/Iphones (once I can get my Swiss Iphone). I also enjoy watching current music videos on MTV.com Top 20 countdown.

I still really miss some shows. I miss our favorite cable series most of all. I wish I could see the last season of Big Love, as well as catch up on all of my Real Housewives. I wonder what's going on on Nurse Jackie, Weeds, Hung, Boardwalk Empire, and Dexter. I miss them : ( K yearns to see Shear Genius again, and everybody wishes we could see Everybody Hates Chris again.

To compensate for the voltage discrepancy, my hubby purchased "step down transformers." These transformers restrict the Swiss 220v output to only enable 110v to be input into the US TVs - I hope I am explaining this correctly! So, we have transormers on all of our former US TVs, as well as converters and adapters to fit the US plugs into the Swiss outlets. Its complicated and I am very glad my hubby figured this out, otherwise, we'd be sitting in the dark.

Swisscom (the major cable provider) is our high-speed internet and landline provider. I am not exactly certain why, but we subscribed to Swisscom Cable tv. I think my ambitious hubby thought we would actually watch some Swiss tv, despite the fact that it is all in the official language, German.

To watch tv, we turn on the transormer, tv, and computer. When the computer is booted up, we click on the VPN first thing. We've learned that if we forget to click VPN, the computer sends the signal from Switzerland and a tracking cookie is embedded, and we can't watch Hulu or Netflix for 24 hours after we clear the cookies! Then we log in to either Hulu or Netflix to watch our shows. The image quality is very good, but sometimes the images are choppy and it doesn't flow naturally. Its a bit like watching a show in strobe lights, but not quite that bad.

We've found that Netflix doesn't stream current movies, and it's a bit of a bummer to be out of the movie loop altogether. We manage to watch old tv series thru Netflix, however. Hopefully, this summer when we return to the US we will hear reviews of the movies you've enjoyed over the past 6 months and we will collect some dvds of current movies.

One thing we have added to our tv repetoire is watching the NBC Nightly News online. Every night, the kids boot up the computer and we watch the online stream of the news. Its very cute; A sets a spot at the dinner table for "Obama," since one night we watched most of the State of the Union Address during dinner and we joked that it was like having Obama as our dinner guest. Everyone looks forward to seeing the news, and it gives us fodder for interesting discussion. Our kids are becoming very aware of world matters, good or bad. This week, they noticed that with Egypt's regime overthrown, the primary news report has shifted to Juarez, Mexico. The one drawback is that after each news segment, the online news plays the SAME 30 second Walgreens commercial. We see it about 10 times during the 20 minute broadcast and we groannnnn every time!

To further stay abreast of the news, I utilize some news apps on our Iphone/Itouch via wifi. We always read the Chicago Tribune App, and World News by BBC I believe. I also read Swiss News online which is an English language site for Swiss News. Interestingly, a woman in my English speaking book club is a journalist for the site. I would love to also watch The View, and Today Show, but there's really just so many hours in a day....

My hubby also figured out a good telephone solution for communicating with family and friends back home. He purchased some MagicJacks which is a little software tool that easily facilitates internet phone and gives us a US phone number. When we want to make a call, we boot up the computer and plug in the MagicJack and make our calls. It is not perfect in that the voices don't come thru really clear, and our call recipients often have difficulty hearing us. We also use Skype to make calls and the kids have enjoyed Skyping their former classes ! J skypes his family almost every week. The tough part about using the internet is the technical difficulties/volume (lack of), and the timing. With us being 7 hours ahead, we need to schedule a time to be home and at the computer to make the calls.

We are fortunate to have a mail forwarding service that gives us a PO BOX in NJ. This mail forwarding service sends our first class letters/bills and MAGAZINES : ) to us weekly. Before we moved, I treated myself to a People Magazine subscription and once a week, we receive a package of our weekly mail, including People!, The Week magazine, and the kids' magazines, as well as the bills...bah humbug.

So, that's how we keep abreast of the life we left in the US. I've said it before, but have to say it again, we are so grateful for the amazing technology that we have. It's great to be able to have this overseas experience and not entirely lose touch with our homeland.

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....

Woher kommst du?

In my German class the first lesson we learned is how to introduce yourself. "Ich hiesse Colleen. Ich komme aus Amerika. Woher kommest du?"" I am Colleen, I come from America. Where do you come from?" I am starting to see that this last question is causing me a lot of confusion....


The International School does a nice job of cross- pollinating the parents, that is cutting across each grade, nationality, and geographical/residential segment to ensure all the parents have the opportunity to mix and mingle. So, far, I have attended a general big luncheon, a 2nd grade class coffee, a 5th grade class coffee, a Langnau area (geographical area) coffee, and an American nationality lunch.

I have been amazed at the multiculture/global experience, but must admit, it gets a bit confusing. Here's how the trouble unfolds:

I introduce myself...my children, yada yada. Seated next to me is a woman who has blond hair and blue eyes, and a British accent and introduces herself as "Z, and I will be moving to London in a couple months." "Oh," I say, " You're returning to London." "Uh not actually, I'll be living there for the first time." Obviously, I'm confused. She explains, "I grew up in Nigeria (my mind thinks "was that a British colony?) for while, moved to Saudi Arabia (then my mind starts to wander...what's the connection between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia?) when my father worked in the oil industry, but then I went to boarding school in Somerset, then afterwards, married and moved to India, somewhere else in Asia, and then Dubai, and now we've been here for 4 years, and are moving on to London which will be new for us." Whew. I was exhausted putting all that together. Next I spoke with the Indian woman, M, who grew up in India, then when her children were young, moved to Singapore for 5 years, then Dubai for 5 years, and now Switzerland for 5.

The American has only spent a fraction of her life in America. She grew up in a Globe-hopping family. Both she & her husband grew up living in various countries, the list which escapes me now. Then, she & hubby both went to college in the US, and lived in the US until their children were born. They've been globetrotting since with a 3 year stint in the US at one point. Now her eldest is going to college and "as is their family tradition," he will attend a US English speaking college while they stay in Switzerland. The world is his oyster.

Here's the profile of the others I have met. The Dutch woman from Dubai, not to be confused with the Dutch woman who moved here via Hong Kong. The Irish & English couple whose children were born here in Switz, moved to the US, then to Shanghai, and are now living back here. The English couple who have lived here in Switz for 10 years and whose children were born here; they guess they are here to stay. The Chinese-American woman who has lived in London, Paris ("just fabulous") and now moving to China, but she only speaks Cantonese, but her American husband is fluent in Mandarin. Others have had one baby in each country that they have lived in....like souvenirs : ) . My son has made a friend whose dad is Canadian, mom is Russian, and they lived in Canada for years, before moving here to Switzerland. In one of my German classes is an American woman whose parents are from Italy, and who speaks Italian, and is married to a Bulgarian man, and they decided to live in Switzerland to be closer to their families. There's another American family who have moved around the US so much that they don't consider any part of the country their home. "Where are you from in America?," simply resulted in "Everywhere!" Another American from St. Louis was laughing about how the Europeans have not heard of St. L, so she tells them that she is from Chicago. We laughed because St. L is 5+ hours from Chicago...here in Switz there are 4 countries less than 2 hours away (France, Germany, Austria, and Lietchenstein). 5 hours away is considerable here in Europe, but in the US, it is merely the distance to the next city. Discussing people's residency history lived takes up a great deal of conversation and its just bewildering to me. Many of these people are hard-core Globetrotters, that don't really have a 'homeland" and don't seem to be concerned about being associated with one country.

Next, I attended the American luncheon which was wonderful. It is so much easier to be with the Americans. We laugh easily, its easy to understand them without having to discern words thru the accents, and we know the geography. So, I met K, a nice newbie (August) from the northeast. A, a lovely French-American married to a Swiss. I was seated across from M, who lived in Rome for several years, back to the southeast US for 5 years, and now Switz. Ok, it was still manageable, and then I got seated next to L. L asked me the usual questions: how long have you been here, first overseas assignment, who/where does your husband work, who are your kids, is your 7th grade son cute (?)... uh, okay, maybe not so usual. After the questioning, I turned the questions to her. She holds both British and American passports, but entered Switzerland as an American. She's lived all over the world all of her life, but went to college in the midwest. She has lived in a multitude of countries- I can't even recall them all, but Saudi Arabia was one stop, and most recently arrived here from Turkey via her American passport. Despite the globetrotting, what really confirmed that she was a seasoned globetrotter was when she mentioned that she brought an "American Size Washer and Dryer" with her. WOW! I hadn't even thought of that one!

I have wondered about the extensive address history. It is a fascinating conversation piece, especially if you are talking to someone with more mental stamina than me. It could be a connection builder in that so many people here have lived in several places, it is likely that their paths have crossed or that they have other friends in common. They could probably easily connect about favorite places, or the culture if they happen upon someone else who is familiar with their prior locations.

I realized that I can not make connections based on the zillions of places these folks have lived. I have come to understand that it is not as important to me where they have lived, but instead who they are. Besides traveling, and different cultures, what are their priorities... how they spend their days? What are their interests? What might they have in common with me, a mere rookie ex-pat with a few interesting adventurous vacations under my belt.

Armed with that epiphany, I began to turn to my companions and inquire as to how they spend their days. A unifying answer: "TENNIS" Everyone seems to play tennis. They love tennis! Several ladies belong to playgroups, workout at the English speaking gym, go hiking, take German lessons, but the vast majority all play tennis with other ZIS moms on Thursdays. Hmmm....that's something that could be fun. Of course, I'm a rookie...rookie ex-pat, and rookie tennis player. Will I ever catch up?

"WELCOME TO SWITZERLAND: ENJOY AT YOUR OWN RISK!" / Rigi

Now that I have a bit of experience under my belt, I have figured out what the multitude of German signs and paperwork at the Airport say "WELCOME TO SWITZERLAND: ENJOY AT YOUR OWN RISK!" I've always thought of the Swiss as practical, efficient, careful, and precise....not macho.  I stand corrected...these people are thrill seeking daredevils. I completely defer to them in all matters involving death defying feats. I don't even know why we bother competing in the winter Olympics; perhaps we should just mail them all the gold metals for sports involving whizzing down mountains lightning fast, and save everyone else the trouble, expense, and travel.  Just as they love their snow and mountains, they love thrill....who'd have known? They seem so reserved and polite and unassuming.....

This weekend's weather in Zurich was once again glorious. The sun was shining on the backdrop of a storybook blue sky. The temperature was perhaps 50degrees F. The kids had playdates again all day on Saturday, and I had a friend stop by and we enjoyed some tea. It was a lovely day. With the great weather, we decided to enjoy the great outdoors, but to skip skiing on Sunday and, instead, have an adventure, sledding ("sledging" as the Europeans say) at Mount Rigi.

In late fall, J had a 10 day trip to Z, and on the weekend he & his buddy went to Rigi. Rigi is a mountain in Central Switz, and is known as the "Queen of the Mountains." The highest peak is the Rigi-Kulm at 5900 feet. It is accessible by train, and offers skiing/snowboarding, snowshoeing trails, "airboarding"(? we think it is extreme sledding, but are not sure), parasailing, and "sledging". When J went in late fall, there was no snow, so the hills were beautiful, green, and harmless. He & his buddy took the train up the mountain and hiked down, stopping at the multitude of local traditional restaurants, eating fondue, sampling the various biers like a couple of carefree college kids.

J planned out our trip to Rigi and it sounded delightful and wholesome....sledging on the Swiss Mountain. We awoke at 7:30, and started our day with a big breakfast. I cooked some eggs, and without the delightful Pillsbury dough boy's help, I baked some "quick Cinnamon rolls" (pizza dough with some cinnamon + the highly coveted imported brown sugar that I brought from the US- not sold in Switzerland).

We gathered our snow gear, and left the haus to get on the road at 8:30. We took a bus and series of trains to get to Goldau, a charming looking town at the base of Rigi. There were loads of skiiers and winter sports enthusiasts on the early trains with us....and such a diverse crowd. There were little old ladies, families with young kids, teenagers smooching, and one guy who I am certain was a pirate. He was an older, burly man, with his arms folded across his ample belly, a black 'do rag on his head, and a silver hoop earring. I couldn't see his complete body from my seat, but I am sure it was littered with tattoos, and his snowpants obscured his wooden peg leg, and behind that cocky grin surely was a gold tooth or two.  What really impressed me, besides the skiing pirate, was the VERY SENIOR citizens. Even little old ladies and men who can't walk too steadily head up to the mountains and find enjoyment... basking in the sunshine, or thru walking, snowshoeing, or skiing, or sitting at the restaurants.

At one train change, we caught a glimpse of the "restaurant car" of the train. I didn't even know that these still existed. We could see the basket of croissants in the window as a couple were eating their breakfast. It was so neat. T asked me several times when would we be able to go to a restaurant car. I replied, several times, perhaps when we go on a long train ride, overnight, we could use the restaurant car.

So, we changed at Goldau for the special train that would climb the Rigi in approx 30 minutes. There are two train lines that go up two different sides of the mountain, the blue line and the red line. We headed up the blue line,which makes a few stops along the way to various villages that offer equipment rentals, restaurants, and trails. We watched the wonderous changing view as the train chugged up the mountain. We saw the little village disappear and change to green farmland, to steep snowy forests with deep ravines. We saw a radio tower on the top of the mountain and could hardly believe we would soon stand "way up there!"  Wow ! The journey offered spectacular views. The train finally reached the summit and we disembarked. We then walked a bit to get to the actual summit, to the radio tower, and we marveled at the sight. Of course, a little camera cannot accurately capture what the eyes do. When you see it live, you can see, all at once, the panoramic never ending view of the vast mountains, the little villages below, Lake Lucerne and Lake Zug, and the farms, the hot air balloons floating in the sky, the skiiers who look like specs restaurants nestled on the mountainsides, Swiss flags blowing in the breeze, sightseers snapping pictures, ski lifts running up and down, the dizzying view down the mountain, and the seemingly tiny train climbing upward. It is amazing!

So, like good tourists, we marveled at the view, snapped some pictures, and then prepared for sledging. We ate a little snack, and added an extra layer of snowpants, gloves, hats, helmets, and we were good to go. We walked down the mountain on a trail, which offered a bit of foreshadowing for the rest of the day. The  bright sun was melting the snow on the well packed trails, but the cold air was causing it to be quite icy. Walking down the trail was tough...After a few slips and slide, most of us walked along the snowy side of the path for to be able to get a grip, but K chose to slide her way down, eating snow along the way.

We took notice of the sledges. Wooden sledges, like America used until the '70s when China convinced us everything made of cheap plastic is better, is the preferred vehicle. When I looked at them I thought that they were so quaint....that we are here at a Swiss ski mountain and they are going to give us the full quaint, charming, old fashioned experience. These are just simple wooden design, not changed for hundreds of years, except that they have a bit of padding. There's no steering, no brakes, nowhere to store your cell phone, cooler, or video camera....just an innocent, tried and true, old fashioned harmless sledge.

We stopped at the rental shop, rented three sledges and teamed up: K&me, J&T, and A by himself...poor thing. The sledging trail was 4 miles down the mountain, but  had a few stops along the way. We scooted our way to the sledging trail, and watched others slide down. There didn't seem to be any trick to it - you just lift your legs and slide.  Hmmmm....we noticed lots of people scraping their legs thru the snow as brakes. All the Swiss seemed to be laughing there heads off, and having a delightful experience.

With our arms wrapped around our partner kids' waist, we lifted our feet and slid, OH MY how we slid ! Is there a greater word than slid? "Slid" compares to our experience as "skipping stones" compares to "avalanche." I quickly discovered it was treacherous. The trail was icy at parts, so there was no where to dig my heels in to slow down, no steering, and as hard as I would try to lean to one side, it didn't seem to go in the direction I needed it to, instead, it just felt as if the sled was sliding out beneath me. The trail runs alongside the cliff and it would be very easy to just slide off. I was very conscientious of the edge and constantly trying to stay away, but we were sliding very fast, and there was no steering. How do these Swiss manage this? This is fun? This is recreation? This just seemed a bit terrifying to me.  When it was good, it was good, when it was great, it was crazy dangerous. I was very grateful for the padding of our clothes and for our helmets.

There were a few areas that were really just insanely dangerous. At one point, I could see we were heading down a sleep decline, in the shade, thus icy, and there was a sharp turn. I spotted J& T ahead of us, laying on the ground. I realized I couldnt stop, couldnt even slow down - it was so icy, I was afraid we would careen into J& T, and there was no way we could safely avoid them and make the sharp turn. Working on instinct and adrenaline, I had to make a fast decision, so with my arms around K, I held her tightly and leaned to the right and threw us off the sled. We had a hard landing, the sled continued to crash near J&T, but we were all laying there scratching our heads. Then I looked and saw A sprawled as well.  We were dumbfounded  and amused at how challenging this was. Then we looked at what was ahead...this turn lead to a similar crazy icy decline and turn, and yet another, so it was a steep decline/zig zag of pure treachery. After the second turn, K& I crashed badly, captured by A with the camera.  This time we were getting a bit used to it and were laughing about it, so glad to not be hurt. We skidded, slid, and crashed our way a bit further until the trail leveled off at the end of the sledging trail at Kloisterli.

It was time for a break. Along this path, we passed a little church where it later occurred to me that this is where the sledging survivors drop to their knees and thank God for their survival. Then we approached a  restaurant. The atmosphere was typical for these mountain restaurants - real traditional Swiss chalet style....just lovely.We left the sledges outside, and entered the restaurant. In addition to checking your ski coats, and helmets, there was shelving for your shoes. It makes perfect sense, right?  Our kids are so good about trying new foods. We all try to order something and sort of share it...or share some tastes at least. A ordered spinach ravioli, but didnt care for the brandy sauce that we had added "to the side," K had Nudeln Napoli (spaghetti), T ordered Poulet Provincial which came with soup (Cream of Broccoli eaten by K), and J&I shared rich cheese fondue. The boys gave me the fancy veggies that came with their dishes. K doesn't care for cheese, so the boys shared in our fondue. It was a lovely meal....just wonderful. If you are curious about costs, lunch for 5 cost 116swiss francs, about $116.

With our batteries recharged, we were determined to tackle the sledging run again. We survived once, and now that we are older and wiser, its got to go more smoothly. We walked to the little Kloisterli "sports train" station, and ascended the mountain again. This time K&J were teamed, as were T&me and A was flying solo again. For the most part, it was smoother, and more fun....however, when we hit the zigzag icy decent, it was more chaotic. There was a pile up of people sprawled about the trail. T& I crashed off on purpose to once again avoid the danger. K&J & A were all off their sledges as well. T&I walked down the decent....actually, I just slid on my butt, but it was still treacherous, as it was sheer ice and I could not grip anything nor control my decent. T&I walked along the trail until level ground. Then we sledged a bit, and caught up to K&J who were having a sit down watching other people crash. A crashed into a snowy area, but when he got up and set up his sledge on the track, it slid out from underneath him - he jumped up and chased it. It was hilarious, seeing him try to catch the runaway sledge. It finally crashed into a ravine with  pinetrees near a creek. Fortunately he managed to retrieve it before it fell in the creek. We all inched our way to Kloisterli, and bravely took the train back up the hill.

Third time's the charm, right? T&I decided to only run 2/3 of the trail, seeking to avoid the zigzag hell. We got off at Staffel, and sent the other 3 Swiss-daredevil-wannabes down the trail, and agreed to meet in Kloiserli at the train station. T&I took our sledge and hopped on the next train heading in the direction of Kloisterli....only it wasnt headed to Kloisterli. Remember how there was a red train and a blue train. The blue train goes down the Kloisterli route, and I erroneously placed us on the red. We went to the next stop, realized it was not Kloisterli, learned the next train back to Staffel comes in 30 minutes, so we walked back to the Staffel stop. UGH! It was 20 minutes, uphill, on the icy path, carrying the quaint wooden sledge, and poor T was whining, "I'm so tired....I need to rest." I was doing my best to encourage him...let's not prolong the misery...the sooner we get there, the sooner we can rest. It was exhausting, after an already-exhausting day. T rose to the occasion and we made it back, and eventually met up with J& the kids in Goldau for the train ride home.

The trip home was not without event, of course...J split from us to go into Zurich and meet up with a friend to pick up some Costco! items that she brought over for us. The trio and I left him in Zug and had to get on a train to Thalwil by ourselves, wearing snowpants, and boots, carrying 2 backpacks and a large Ikea bag filled with helmets and gloves. We had 3 minutes to run down the platform steps, and back up to the track for the Thalwil train. There was a big incentive to run fast, for if we missed it, the next train would arrive in one hour! We did great running up and down the steps, dodging the other snowboard carrying, sledge bearing Swiss, and maneuvered our way to the correct train. We got on with a minute to spare and walked thru the car, noticing something didn't look right. The seats were plush red, and there were lovely tables, and circular sofa seating. Ahhh....this must be the first class train, for which we do not have tickets. Eyes widened with this realization, the kids quickly followed me off and we jumped into the next car, just as the doors were closing. Whew ! As we began to look for seats, we realized that this one was also a first class car. The train was moving, and I examined the doors to lead the kids to the NEXT car...but I honestly could not figure out how to open the doors. I was afraid of doing something wrong and setting off alarms. Frankly, I was exhausted, exhausted by the day of death-defying sledging, weary of traveling, tired of being fearful of making mistakes, tired of the struggle. Screw it - "kids, let's just stay here and be extra-quiet." K was very worried and anxious about "getting caught." As I sat next to her, I held her and with the little energy I had left, explained to her that its ok to make mistakes if you accept the consequence. If and when the conductor comes around I will explain to him that I am new here (and have the paperwork to prove it), I don't speak German, I couldn't figure out how to open the doors, and if he has no mercy, then I have to pay a fine (the ususal fine is $80 x4 of us = $320) then so be it; I surrender. Fortunately, the conductor did not check tickets : )   I suspect that will be our first and last first class train car experience.

The next day, J & I both had interesting conversations with Europeans about sledging. Another parent at ZIS told me that her husband was terribly injured a month ago sledging and has only just recovered from his back injury. Also, several ZIS students had broken bones during a pile up during a school trip sledging trip last year. Yikes... Then J told a Swiss colleague about our sledging day and he told J that it is considered quite dangerous, and a couple people die each year at Rigi, generally from sledging without helmets...like J did.

In reflecting on the sledging experience, it appears that Swiss don't actually have the preoccupation with safety and liability the way America does. I think they engineer it right the first time, and then the responsibility is transfered to the user for their judgement and skill to ensure they are safe. If this had been the US, there would be a hold harmless agreement signed, zillion warnings posted, and 20 accident injury attorneys advertisments on the highway heading home. 

A few years ago, J & I took the kids to a Fall festival in IL where there was a young man offering rides on his camel for a fee. We put the kids on the big "saddle" and I noticed the "saddle" had a railing only on one side. I asked if there was a strap or rail for the other side, to ensure the kids wouldn't fall off. He cocked his head to one side and looked at me like "duh," and replied, "We're from Wisconsin, we care about fun, not safety." So, J & I have this ongoing joke/signal...when things are a bit rustic, potentially dangerous/safety questionable, we refer to it as "Wisconsin-esque."  I think we've devised a new term when things are definitely dangerous, but fun, we will refer to them as "Rigi-esque."

I am not sure when we will sledge again, but I am glad our experience ended safely. : )

Privatizing the blog

Gruitzi! In the interest of maintaining some privacy for my family, we have decided to privatize the blog. As much as I want to share my adventures with the world, I need to maintain some level of respect for my family's privacy. Privatizing the blog will allow me to approve who is a subscriber/reads our blog, ensure greater privacy for my family, and allow me to be abut freer with the info I share since, presumably, only those who know us will share in our happenings. If you haven't already done so, please subscribe to my blog or send me an email at my email address or to. Swissyouwerehere1@gmail.com
Thanks so much!