What A Difference A Day Makes

As many of you know, one of my biggest concerns about moving to Switzerland was the inevitable winter weather.  A Californian through and through, I don't do cold.  I like being warm.  I like the sunshine.  People who like cold weather baffle me and those who like playing in cold weather baffle me even more.  You enjoyers of cold weather clearly have something very wrong with you.

I wholly believed this. Until yesterday.

Something spectacular happened yesterday.  At first it seemed like a normal Saturday morning - Gooch woke up, Gooch attempted to wake me up, Gooch gave up, and then Gooch got up while I snuggled back down into the blankets.  All was right in the world.  I eventually made my way downstairs with my cup of coffee and we had breakfast while the ran fell.  Gooch had been warning me (prepping me?) for a few days that this weekend was supposed to get really cold, possibly even snow.  And per usual, he was right (this is a rather annoying truth and could actually elicit its own post, but I'll save that for another day).  Slowly the rain turned from drops into tiny little white masses that, unlike the rain, seemed to float rather than fall.  Fascinating!  Sure, I've seen it snow once or twice before, but never where I live.  I needed to get amongst it.  With the breakfast dishes washed and put away, we got ready to brave the outside.  Layered up with under armour, wool socks, a fuzzy vest, a scarf, a beanie, a snow jacket, and my new boots, I was ready.  It was time to explore this strange phenomenon known as snow.

As we walked towards the woods in our little town, I couldn't help but giggle the whole time.  Its snowing.  And not only am I not miserable, I actually like it! I have willingly stepped outside to experience it. What the hell has happened to me?

Gooch and I walked through the woods, including wandering off the trail (how very un-Swiss of us!) to check in on an area that was full of mushrooms when we last looked.  We had a great hike, took a bunch of pictures, and then headed home to warm ourselves up with a warm mug of Glühwein (pronounced "Glue vine" and is a warm spiced red wine that, up until yesterday, was the only positive aspect of winter in my book).  The snow continued to fall and actually started to stick a bit.  While washing the dinner dishes I was shocked when something smashed me in the back.  Uncertain of what hit me, but certain Gooch initiated it, I spun around ready to call him "jerkface" and retaliate. But there he stood, a big, mischievous grin on his face and snowball #2 in his hand.  I burst out laughing.  Let the snow games begin!

the window ledge

When we woke up this morning, it was evident that the snow had continued to fall all night.

From our bedroom window

My excitement this morning totally trumped yesterday's excitement.  It looks like Christmas outside!  Snow on the roof, snow on the trees, snow on the ground!  Once again, we piled on the layers and headed outside.  I was eager to tie up the score in the snow ball fight and possibly make a snow man.  We headed back towards the woods and were amazed at the transformation that took place overnight.  Our little town looks like Santa, his reindeer, and the elves might be lurking around the corner, taking notes on naughty and nice and building toys.

Gooch shaking the snow from the tree branches

I really can't get over how different it looks today.  Yesterday, it was fall.  Today, its full-on winter.  I can only hope that my new found enthusiasm for lower temperatures and snow lingers.  So far its been all fun.  I'm aware that the excitement of it all might wear off as soon as I have to trek to the store and back, to school and back, or entertain the overly active 8 year old boy I now babysit.  But I don't want to get ahead of myself and make any assumptions.  For now, as I watch the snow fall and take another sip of Glühwein, I'm loving my new-found, unexpected joy.

yesterday

today

yesterday

today

Momentary truce

Summer in Swissland

So, yes, as I have been told (a few times) I am long overdue for a blogpost.  I guess this stems from the fact that life here has settled into, well, life.  The past few weeks have been quite busy and full of excitement, so let me fill you in.

Last month we had the honor of attending Matt and Gretchen's fantastic wedding in Bora Bora.  It was truly amazing.  The water was clear, blue, and the perfect temperature for swimming, snorkeling, and sipping cocktails.  We went on a great adventure - swimming with rays and sharks!  The guide first took us to an area full of coral and colorful fish.  I've never really snorkeled before so this was an exciting moment.  I felt like I was swimming around in some fancy fish tank.  Gretchen and I found our favorite fish that was neon green, blue and purple.  I get so excited when I see such colors occurring in nature. From there we were taken to an area full of rays.  They are like puppies and just want to love on you.  It was a bit intimidating at times as they would surround you and don't seem to realize their size or strength.  The whole time we were hanging with the rays, "small" sharks circled the area (small = 3 to 4 feet).  Once we left here, it was off to swim with the big sharks - six feet and longer!  The idea of swimming with sharks was really exciting until I was actually faced with getting in the water with them.  But once I finally coaxed myself in, it really was quite spectacular.  These sharks could not be less interested in us people and quite happily swam around with their little fish entourages.  I've never had a major desire to learn to SCUBA dive until this experience.  The underwater world is so incredible.  In all her awesomeness, Gretchen rode one of the sharks - with a little guidance from our guide, she grabbed onto the sharks fin and went for a little ride!!  So freaking awesome!

Gooch and I also went on a jet ski tour of the island.  And now, of course, he's got his mind set on buying a jet ski.  I am in favor of this idea, mostly because I think it means moving to somewhere where we can ride said jet ski on a regular basis.  Don't get me wrong, I am happy living in Switzerland, but if he came home one day and suggested a move to somewhere with clear blue water and a new jet ski, I would immediately start packing.  I drove the jet ski toward the end of our tour, and once I got over being nervous, I really enjoyed driving it.  Thanks to the GoPro, we have some silly footage of me driving - and you can hear Gooch in the background the whole time telling me to slow down or speed up.  At one point when we were playing in the wakes of some big boats, I got scared and instead of slowing down, I gunned it and you can actually see Gooch's hand shoot up to the throttle. Good times.  I've started uploading the pictures to my Flickr account if you want to troll through the almost 1000 pictures we took. :)

Just a few days after returning to Switzerland, honeymooners Matt and Gretchen arrived from France.  It was so great to have friends here - it felt so normal.  I think the highlight of their visit was getting caught in a rainstorm.  Matt, Gretchen, and I had spent the day in Zurich and the plan was to meet Gooch at a bar near our house for drinks and snacks.  It had been a gorgeous sunny day, even though the weather had predicted to be rainy.  As we got off the train in Wallisellen and headed towards the bar, I got a text from Gooch saying it was pouring at our house.  About forty seconds later (Matt counted) we started to feel a few rain drops.  And then, the sky opened up and the rain came POURING down.  Lightning, thunder, and so much rain coming from every direction unleashed upon us.  We tried to run from overhang to overhang, but it made no difference as the rain swirled in all directions.  We were absolutely soaked through.  In the meantime, Gooch, also soaked, ran back to the house to close up all the windows.  He was a bit too late and we had a fair amount of water in the living room and bedroom.  He was nice enough to then come and pick us up in the car and take us home where we all dried off and changed out of our soaking wet clothes.  After a brief discussion off "now what?" the rain stopped, and we headed out to the bar as initially planned.  This is summer in Switzerland - it can easily go from sticky hot to intense lightning and thunder storms.

Last week I started taking German at a new school in Zurich.  I am so happy in my new class.  My teacher is great and really explains things a much more comprehendible way.  I still find conjugating verbs and the grammar so confusing, but she promises it will get easier.  The good thing is I'm actually excited to go to class rather than dreading it.  And speaking of... I have some homework and studying to do before I head out to class.

Language Immersion = Drowning in German

It has been three weeks since I arrived in Switzerland and I quite am happy to report that the weather is so much warmer than when I first arrived.  When I first arrived, I was convinced that the cows here must lactate ice cream.  It was supposedly going to rain today, but the sky is clear and blue, and the sun is shining and warm.  This change in temperature has made life so much easier for me.  Since my feet are my main source of transportation, walking around town is much more pleasant in the warmer temperatures.  Last week it was California-warm and if you can get high on sunshine, I was wasted!  I spent the day wandering the neighborhood, taking pictures, with a goofy, hopped-up-on-sunshine grin on my face.

About two weeks ago, I started taking German classes.  I spent my first class completely lost, with an obvious look of confusion on my face.  I joined a class that was already a few lessons in and Hannelore, the lady who signed me up, said I should attend and then she would help catch me up over the following week.  My teacher speaks no English and ran the class completely in German.  I found it strange that when I did not understand, her method was to repeat herself, just a little more harshly.  Because after all, using a “you’re an idiot” tone of voice and repeating yourself in the language I have zero knowledge of is really going to help me learn and understand.  The most I was able to take from what she kept saying to me was “That’s the problem.”  I left class frustrated and convinced that my teacher is Mussolini’s granddaughter (yes, my German teacher is Italian).  Since that first day, I have had numerous one-on-ones with Hannelore and another group class with Ms. Mussolini.  It is slowly getting better, but I still feel very behind the other students in my class.  They seem able to understand Ms. Mussolini and respond to questions when she asks them.  I can still only say the few phrases they’ve taught us.  Not a big surprise to me, I am much better at reading and speaking than I am at listening.  Yesterday I bought a German music CD and have been listening to it, hoping the weird, hacking language will slowly seep into my brain.  We also have quite a few channels that are dubbed over in German, so I am hoping to find a show I am familiar with and watch the German-dubbed version.  I consider learning German my job at this point and am determined to start making more progress.  The silly thing about learning all this German is that it still won’t help me out a ton around town, since the locals all speak Swiss-German, which is completely different.  But there is no such thing as Swiss-German classes, so I’ll take what I can get. 

One of the fun things about walking around our neighborhood is the wafting chocolate smell all around.  There is a chocolate factory around the corner from our house!  It smells divine!  The best part is they have a small shop across the street from the factory that sells all the broken and mislabeled pieces for super cheap.  Swiss chocolate is more expensive in Switzerland than it is anywhere else, so we consider this quite a find.  Next time we head to the U.S., you can be sure we will be bringing some of the misfit chocolate with us.

Another exciting find for me was cheddar cheese.  My first week here, I was hugely disappointed as I stared at a giant cheese selection full of different Swiss cheeses. (On a side note, what we call “Swiss cheese” in the states, does not exist here…thank goodness, because it’s gross) I wanted to make taquitos and ended up just guessing and grabbing a cheese that I thought would suffice.  Fortunately, the taquitos were very yummy, but it left me worried that I’d have to wait another two months to eat cheddar. This was disconcerting for someone who considers cheddar cheese worthy of its own food group. After a bit of whining to Gooch (I did quite a bit of whining my first week…) Gooch tracked down cheddar cheese.  Thankfully it’s just a train ride away.  The grocery stores in our neighborhood are quite small, but in the larger grocery stores in Zurich they carry a much larger selection of foods, including a tasty cheddar.  So far in the last three weeks, I have single handedly consumed two jars of peanut butter, a block of cheddar cheese, and countless pretzels.  Pretzels have become a favorite of mine.  You can buy a large box for about $1 – pop them in the oven for 15 minutes and you have yourself a delicious, warm, fluffy, salty pretzel (or three, if you are me…can’t just eat one!)  It’s a lucky thing that I have to walk a lot to get anywhere.

I am still waiting on my residence permit.  Once I receive my permit, I can technically accept work.  The language school where I have been taking German has offered me a job teaching their English classes after the summer holiday.  I don’t know many details, but am excited at the prospect of work.  Last week we received some paperwork from the tax office, asking me to declare my status.  I had to check the box marked “Hausfrau.” Housewife.  I think back to all the years growing up when Mom would try to teach me to cook and I would respond “Quit trying to domesticate me.”  Sigh.  If I only knew…

My Lag is Jetting

Today is day two of life in Switzerland and I feel like I belong among the walking dead.  The plan had been to stay awake on my flight from San Francisco to New York and then crash out between New York and Zurich so that when I arrived here at 8 am I could stay up and attempt to normalize my now screwed up head clock.  Only half of this plan came to fruition - I stayed awake to New York, but only managed an hour of sleep on the leg to Zurich.  I spent most of the flight angry at the two men to my left who somehow managed to sleep the entire way.  Jerks.  ;)

My flight arrived about 40 minutes early and I made great time going through immigration and baggage claim.  I swear you can smell efficiency in the air here. Once back at the house, Gooch took me on a tour of my new home before whisking me to CrazyLongGermanWordICan’tRemember to apply for my residence permit.  He certainly doesn’t waste any time when it comes to crossing things off the numerous mental lists he has going.  Soon after Gooch had to go back to work and I decided I could not stay awake any longer.  Knowing that I’d probably screw myself up even more by sleeping, I decided I didn’t care and crashed. I didn’t wake up again until Gooch got home from work.  I woke up confused with a head full of fog.  After dragging myself out of bed and through the shower, we went to dinner and met up with Gooch’s friend/ co-worker.  I was so excited to come home and go back to bed.

I slept most of the night, waking up around 4 or 5 this morning.  I woke up feeling energized about my day, but that only lasted a few hours.  By about 8:30 I was already starting to lose steam.  I eventually got myself out of the house and took a walk, in search of peanut butter.  Very hungry and in need of comfort food, I found my way to the very overpriced Coop and loaded myself with the necessary items to build a good ol’ American PB&J.  After an unintentional nap, I dragged myself back out of the house in an attempt to snap out of it, buy a loaf of bread for dinner, and obtain a half price card that will allow me to buy train tickets for, you guessed it, half price.  

I have yet to unpack because there is no where to put whatever I might unpack.  Fortunately while I laid awake this morning I came up with a few storage solution ideas that we will hopefully breathe some life into this weekend after a trip to Ikea.  It is going to be an interesting challenge since most rooms in our house are angled.  Only the kitchen, the bathroom, and the dining room have four, straight walls.  I’ve never seen so many 45 degree angles in a house.  But I guess that’s what happens when you live in a farmhouse built in the late 1800s.  Its clear we live in the top part of an A-frame house.  

My adventures today in the streets of Wallisellen reinforced my desire to learn German right away.  While most people speak some English, the ATM does not,  and I stood staring at it for a while unsure of which button to push.  Not being able to understand the world around me is annoying.  I’m sure once the jet lag has passed I will feel less frustrated by my ignorance, but for right now, starting every interaction with “Do you speak English?” is a constant reminder of said ignorance, especially since everyone I’ve  encountered clearly speaks both German and French, as well as enough English to help me.  

As I type this I am entering day three...time for some sleep and hopefully a bit of recharging.  ;)