4 Thumbs Up!

We had plans to meet our relocation advisor today. Since there are 5 of us (6 with her as a driver) and her car only seats 5, we decided to meet her in Zumikon instead of having her pick us up at the apartment and illegally driving with Abbie on my lap. (Because, as well all know, it is much safer and legal to drive for a only a short distance of a mile or two with an unbelted child on your lap.) Anyway, we were happy enough to meet her, as we figured that we could make a quick stop at the Intercommunity School (aka the kids' school), giving the kids a quick tour, and showing off our amazing train navigation skills again. Things started out well. We walked to the right tram station (a 10 minute walk) and immediately got on the right train, going the right direction, riding it to the Zumikon stop. We did think it was a bit odd that the Zumikon station was underground as it was above ground on our last visit, but we didn't let that little questionable item deter us. Nope. We figured the easy answer was that there were two trams that go to Zumikon and we just took a different tram this trip. All we needed to do was walk a bit. Pretty soon, we'd recognize our surroundings, see the other stop, and find the school. So, we headed up and out of the station and continued in the direction John assured us all the school would be. It was a gorgeous day and a lovely walk. John pointed out the direction of our house (confirming that we were, in fact in the right city) and everyone was excited. That is until we happened upon the next tram stop, which just so happened to also be underground. We started to consult the maps and ponder our predicament. Just where was this school anyway? Fortunately John noted a young man walking by carrying a tennis racket and wearing his tennis whites. John assumed, correctly, that he was probably associated with the international school, and asked him if he knew where the school was. The boy was quite friendly and told us exactly where the school was located – two train stops back, or about a twenty minute walk. We opted to take the train back, assuring the kids that THIS time we'd arrive at the right location.

Sure enough, we got to the stop (the one before Zumikon), recognized our surroundings, and walked to the school (after a quick stop at the grocery store for a picnic lunch, where I was able to buy swiss swiss cheese, vs. all the other cheese they make in Switzerland, since you can't exactly just ask for "swiss" cheese here. They point you to the entire cheese display – it's all made locally!) The kids ran to the playground and gave it all a thumbs up. Woohoo! Of course, they hadn't seen the classrooms, read about the curriculum, or met the teachers, but they were convinced that recesses were going to be good and there even looked to be good P.E. potential, so all the important aspects of their school lives were covered.

After a few minutes of play, I determined that the school looked open and decided to take the kids on quick tour. Who do we see, but one of the partner's wives. John was impressed that I recognized her (people identification is not a strength of mine). She greeted John, instructing him to give her 3 cheek kisses (thanks for the lesson Kristi!) and made all the kids shake hands, making eye contact. I'm going to like these Swiss manners lessons! We found our admissions person, got a copy of our welcome package (mysteriously lost in the mail – who knows if it went to our US address, temporary house, or John's work address) and got a quick tour of the classrooms, cafeteria, and locker areas. The rooms were empty as the teachers were just arriving to set them up for the year. The admissions person kept apologizing and I kept saying that I was happy the kids were able to see any part of the school. We knew the "real" tour wouldn't happy until Monday at New Student Orientation.

After the quick tour, we met our relocation advisor, loaded into her small car, and dashed off to see our permanent housing, as I am much too nosey to wait until the actual walk through appointment at the end of the month. The house is still under major construction – hard wood floors are being redone and the bathrooms are all getting new fixtures and tiles, but it is an absolutely gorgeous house. I gave it a huge thumbs up, which thrilled John. 4 thumbs in one day – you can't get better than that. For the record, the kids loved the house too; although, Brendan and Abbie immediately started bickering over bedroom allocations, so we know all is right in the world of sibling relations. I'm already making a list of new furniture we need for the house (stools for the kitchen counter, desks for the kids' bedrooms, wardrobes for our bedroom, a table for the attic). I may be spending my days at Ikea shopping and night assembling furniture!

We then went to a really cute downtown area of Zumikon to register. The registration process was relatively easy. Our relocation person spoke in German (or Swiss German, we sure didn't note which one), and we would occasionally hand over a marriage certificate, birth certificate, passport, passport photo (without smiles!), or signature. The kids were able to play on a playground outside until they were needed for signatures. We said farewell to our relocation advisor, and grabbed a quick tram ride home where we let Lucky out to do her business before dashing into the city to see our very first visitors – the Kienhofers. They happened to be in Switzerland of a family vacation, and they were in Zurich for their last night.

We met them at the main train station (no kisses, lots of hugs), and went to a fondue restaurant for dinner. The boys sat at one table, girls at another, and adults at a third. When the kids got restless, we sent them all off for a walk while the adults finished their wine and ordered dessert. We sure do love the safety of this country! After dinner, we wandered around the city. I got a granny cart, so shopping will be much easier tomorrow!

Instead of imbedding the pictures, I've linked them here:

http://marcicassidy.smugmug.com/photos/swfpopup.mg?AlbumID=9244324&AlbumKey=RJtXU

photos

(I think you'll need to copy and paste the link, as I've spent about a half hour trying to figure out how to imbed the slideshow and it isn't working!)