Lucerne

After torturing the kids with tours of IKEA and Media Mart all day Saturday, we headed out on Sunday to the city of Lucerne. It's about a 45 minute train ride from Zurich. We didn't have a lot of time before our train, so we popped into Burger King for a quick, cheap lunch. Well, it was quick. I wouldn't call $47 for two adults meals and three kids meals cheap. The food tasted just like home. I doubt fast food will be a regular event.

We walked around Lucerne for a bit. The kids bitterly complained that all we ever do is walk around cities. Their feet hurt. It was hot. There was nothing interesting to do. Sound familiar? I noticed on the map that there appeared to be a "Great Wall of Switzerland/Lucerne" with a photo opportunity spot. So, figuring that tired, cranky children who didn't want to walk around town just needed some hill work -- we ventured out. It took a group effort. John got us into the right neighborhood. Brendan did some scouting work by running up a hill to see if there was "anything interesting" at the top. Finally, C.J. seized control of the map and got us going the right way. We were just about there, peering into people's private steps, when a nice older gentleman helped us find the right steps. Sure enough, we found a fantastic wall and series of towers to explore. The kids insisted that we climb every step of every single tower. Who needs knee therapy when you can just do about 500 tower steps? We did get some great views. You can see the slideshow and read the commentary here:

Lucerne pictures

On Monday, I got to visit IKEA again. Seems I completely destroyed a pot that was in our temporary living house. I burned popcorn, destroying the inside. That was probably salvageable, but not wanting to put a hot pot on the counter, I rested it on a towel. Who knew that microfiber towels melted? The entire towel melted and melded to the bottom of the pot. I didn't want to risk Swiss Jail by leaving the apartment with one less pot, so I took myself to IKEA to replace it. It was a lot less crowded on a weekend. I see myself visiting IKEA regularly over the next few months. Besides needing closets/wardrobes, we are going to need to supplement the furniture over here. We no longer have our great built ins!

C.J. brought home a permission slip for his first field trip. It read, "Please send a packed lunch and your child's passport." That's a new one for us. He's off to Germany for the day to visit a museum about ancient civilization. Being a great big brother, he was sure to share this news with Brendan. I'm sure you can imagine the manner in which it was shared.

Brendan had the last laugh. At his Parents' Night last night, I was informed that his class would be going on their first field trip of the year at the end of September -- an overnight excursion to a chalet in the mountains. The idea is for the kids to only speak German for 24 hours. They will be matched with native/fluent speakers so that they have a chance to actually say something. To give them something to do/discuss, they'll have arts & crafts, hiking, cooking, singing, etc. They even get a night hike (which was the highlight of C.J's outdoor ed last year). Needless to say, Brendan has a bit of ammunition when C.J. talks about his trip to Germany.

I'm really liking the homework situation over here! Brendan's teacher, like Abbie's, feels that kids need less structured time at home after working hard in school all day. Brendan will need to write in a journal each night and read, but otherwise, he will have very little work at home. Even spelling words are practiced at school. The teacher said that they are no longer working on random lists of words -- they will be learning a spelling rule or two each work and the goal will be for them to apply it at the end of the week. She feels that when you give a kid a list of words for a test, they learn them for Friday and then can't spell them in creative writing. She hopes the "rules" will take them further. Like Abbie, Brendan doesn't have a math "book" per se. He is also taught math through the use of games and manipulatives. It sounds ideal. I didn't get to sign up to volunteer in the classroom, but I will be an assistant Class Parent with two of Brendan's friends' moms. They both seemed very friendly and want to schedule regular class coffee dates.

School Days!

The first day of school went great for everyone. You can see them on their way to school in the top row of the collage. The bottom row shows them on the train ride home. They were just a little tired! We leave the house at 7:15am to walk to the school bus stop which picks them up at 7:30am. The school day runs from about 8:30am to 3:15pm. (It varies per grade.) The bus returns them to the stop around 4:00pm and we get home at 4:15pm. It makes for a long day. It'll be nice on September 1st when we move closer to the school.

C.J. said the first day was "much different than expected." He was very quiet after the New Student Orientation and now talks quite a bit about school, so I believe he finds it "much better than expected." He thinks his tutor is "funny" and enjoys the fact that the majority of his teachers are male, including his tutor. His tutor is a math teacher and believes that math can be boring, so he has to make up for it with a good sense of humor. C.J.'s other favorite class is humanities, especially the discussions about space. He is thrilled that his performing arts class is drama (vs. dance). Classes on his schedule include: tutorial, humanities, english, science, physical education, performing arts, arts (visual), german, french, and technology. He only has 7 periods of classes a day, so not all the classes occur daily. Class sizes range from 11 (tutor group) to a maximum of 20. His closest friend is of Swiss heritage, was born in America, and spent the past 4 years in France. We seem to be the odd ones out only having lived in one country.

Brendan reports that his first day of school was great because he teamed up with the other 3rd graders to play soccer and they completely dominated the 5th graders. He is worried that there won't be enough soccer competition, but I'm sure that won't be a problem! We've already signed him up for a soccer camp held by one of the high school students who is raising funds for his 10th grade expedition trip. It'll be 6 weeks of soccer on Saturdays. Brendan was thrilled to be able to bring his favorite book to class to share.

Abbie has had a great couple days and seems to be friends with everyone in class. We had her Parents' Information Night last night, so I have the most information to share about her class:

• There are 16 kids in her class along with a classroom assistant.
• First grade is the year to learn to read, but the teachers cautioned that kids will read when they are developmentally ready. Our responsibility as parents isn't to push them to read but to foster a love of reading. The teachers responsibility is to teach reading as to each child's ability. They reminded the parents that when your child applies for a job at a Fortune 500 company at the age of 30, no one is going to ask them what age they learned to read.
  
• There are 6 "units of inquiry" for the year. The first unit will be "Work it Out" which is about jobs. They start the unit discussing jobs in the classroom. From there they broaden the discussion to jobs at school. Students take turns shadowing different people at their job, such as the school secretary or custodian. When they discuss jobs in the community, Abbie will need to take a morning and shadow either John or myself at our jobs. Finally, they go on a field trip to the town to visit people at work -- a baker, dry cleaner, police station, fire station, etc. The teacher attempts to tie all subjects into the theme. For example, they may graph the most common jobs for math.
  
• Math is taught with an inquiry approach. There are no math books or workbooks. Instead, math is primarily taught through the use of manipulatives. They supplement with Everyday Math, which is a program we used in the states. Kids will be expected to have their math facts memorized through either 10 or 20 at the end of the year, but they are encouraged to use manipulatives, including fingers for as long as they need them.
• Homework is only 10 minutes a day and should be enjoyable for the child. They reminded the parents that our kids have spent 7 hours in a classroom and time after school should be less structured. Hooray!
• In addition to the regular subjects, Abbie will have German, IT, ARt, PE, library, music, assembly, dance, and cooking each week.
• Parent volunteers were requested to help with literacy centers and handwriting groups. She also requested a parent for the weekly cooking class, which she will do by sending groups of 4 with the parent to the kitchen to prepare and eat their recipe for the week. I volunteered to help out with literacy and handwriting. I held off on cooking, but I'm sure I could be persuaded! I figured I should see what opportunities await at Brendan's Parents' Information Night on Monday before I over-commit.
  

I'm really excited about the school and the kids' education!

Honeymoon is Over

Yesterday was New Student Orientation and John's first day of work. We all went to the school for orientation. Brendan and Abbie had about 45 minutes with their teacher, touring the school and doing a small activity, while John and I listened to the President and Principal speak. After the speakers, we had a Parents' Association Tea/Coffee. Meanwhile, C.J. had been checked into the Secondary School intro program which consisted of 4 hours of meeting his tutor, touring the campus, taking a language test for German, French, and Spanish proficiency, eating lunch with the new kids in his grade, and playing some "get to know you" activities.

John and I left the event very excited. We loved the President's message which went along the lines of "Don't expect this school to be like the one you left. Everything we do here, we have chosen to do for a reason. We don't have any constraints and can design what we feel is the ideal education environment." It's nice to have the company footing the bill for a school with no "constraints" -- much different from the message we hear in California each day. We were also thrilled that someone from the Learning Support group sought us out. She's reviewed Brendan's file and will be pulling him for intervention help during the time the rest of the class gets German. While Brendan is disappointed not to learn German (we'll look for after school lessons), we are grateful that he won't have to miss instructional time. She'll be using the Wilson program which is very similar to the Barton program we used privately back home.

C.J. left the day absolutely exhausted. He spoke very little, fell asleep before dinner, and complained of stomach cramps and dizziness throughout the night. I think the poor guy has realized that the vacation is over. It's scary enough transitioning from elementary school to middle school, but C.J. has to do it in a foreign country with all new students. The good news is that kids at this school have all recently been the "new" kid and rumor has it that they are very quick to adopt the new kids into their friendship circles. The school fosters these relationships by doing a lot of team building activities in the first few weeks of school. I'm sure he'll quickly make friends and his nerves will calm. The surprise to me about C.J.'s schedule is that it is different every day of the week. It must be a private school thing, as John said his schedule in high school was the same way. This way, the school can offer more subjects than the number of periods in each day. Even though C.J. has different teachers for all his classes, he is assigned a primary 'tutor' who will take charge of his schedule and have regular contact with C.J. to see how he is doing.

Brendan seemed fine yesterday, but has spent a good portion of this morning in tears. He is worried about making friends, not being able to take German, and having too much homework. I have asked him to not worry about it until he starts school and sees what it is like, but I know that is advice that I have a hard time following myself. There is one girl who wants to be his friend (I went out with the mother yesterday), but Brendan doesn't consider girls to be friend-eligible. Hopefully, the school will teach him to be less picky. Unfortunately, he has already learned that his class has more girls than boys.

Abbie is the only one who seems to skipping along without a care in the world. She was a bit shy to meet her teacher yesterday, but by the time the 45 minutes were up, she was clinging to the teacher just like she did to Mrs. Campos back at home. Abbie and I met a girl from her class, her old sister (in Brendan's class), and her mother for a playdate at the swim club yesterday afternoon. Abbie is already excited about future playdates. Her new friend has lived in Singapore since birth, but her family is actually from New Zealand -- the parents have just been expats for the past 10 years! She also played with a girl from South London and some kids from Denmark.

As many of you could predict, I signed up for quite a few Parents' Association volunteer activities. It looks like I will be a Class Parent for Abbie and a backup for Brendan. I'll also be helping with the book fairs and the Halloween party. I expressed an interest in joining the dog walking club and the book club as well as starting a dinner/cooking club and a couple's poker group. I figured the school will be a big source of friends for us, so I might as well jump in with both feet.

Tomorrow will be strange as I say goodbye to the kids at the school bus stop and John at the train stop. I'm sure if I were home, I'd be having lunch with friends to celebrate. Instead, I'm hoping to organize the temporary apartment a bit, hit the grocery store, and maybe do a little other shopping. Fortunately, the school is having a Parents' Association Welcome (Back) Coffee at 2pm, so I will have some socializing to anticipate.

Swimming and School

We let the kids plan the activities this weekend. Yesterday, we headed to the local swimming club, Tiefenbrunne, which was only about a 15 minute walk from the apartment. We paid a small entrance fee (6 SFr per adult, 3 SFr per child over 5) and had use of the lawns, slides, water trampoline, kid pool etc. for the day. It was pretty reasonable and a fun afternoon. They actually built a kids' pool into the lake. It's an interesting concept. They put in a dock with a squared off area of floats at the end. In the middle of these docks, they have a metal plank floor so that you end up with a swimming area that is only a couple feet deep. It makes for a fun kiddie pool. Our kids had no interest in that area, though, and immediately headed for the slide. Their shocked expressions at the bottom of the slide aren't because it was a particularly fast slide -- that water is cold! John ended up renting a suit for the day as he hadn't packed one. He would have just bought one, but I think it was over a $100 for a "cheap" suit. I determined the water would be way too cold for me and didn't wear/bring a suit, but I did put my toes in. John and the kids swam out to the trampoline and had a blast. Then, later in the afternoon, C.J. swam out by himself and hung out with a group of boys. He said they spoke to him in German, noticed the blank look, so they switched to English to explain how to play a game. (Teams of 3 trying to knock each other off the trampoline.) Leave it to C.J. to just join in and make some friends! Oh, the boys also practiced some soccer, because there were a set of soccer goals set up on the lawn area. We seen a lot of soccer goals around the city.

At 5pm, we suddenly realized that while we had bought food for Saturday, we had completely forgotten to get anything for Sunday. Our regular store closed at 5pm, but the neighboring store was open until 6pm so we were able to buy supplies for Sunday. Phew! It's going to take a bit longer for me to get used to the early closing hours and nothing open on Sunday.

Today, the kids begged to go back to the school. We packed a picnic lunch and the dog and headed out on the train. We spent a good 3 hours at the playground. The kids had a blast, but it was hot. It was in the high 80s which wouldn't phase us at all at home, but with the humidity it felt like the high 90s. I now understand a bit more how my out of state friends can talk about wearing shorts at 70 degrees and I'm thinking that I might be wearing a sweater! We let the dog off the leash at the school as there was no one around, and she had fun finally getting to play some long distance fetch. The poor dog is wiped and has been sleeping ever since we got home.

You can see pictures from our day here: click here for swim and school pictures

Tomorrow we have the New Student Orientation. I'm really excited for everyone to meet some other expats! (myself included!) John starts working, though, so I'll have to face the reality of living here and no longer being "on vacation" mode. The kids are talking about what we will do on Tuesday (their first day of school is Wednesday) and I'm realizing that I'll need to navigate the 3 kids to some activity by myself. I'll also have to drag some portion of them to the grocery store with me for my daily trip. Oh, and it might rain. I haven't had rain on the first day of school since I was a kid! It just doesn't rain in California in August/September.

Tonight we played the Game of Life. The kids still seem to be enjoying family game night each night, but I think John is getting antsy for English-speaking TV. I keep see him trying to get access via the internet, but all the major networks block IP addresses from outside the country.

Rumor has it that our tenants moved into our Pleasanton house this weekend. It never felt strange to be packing up the house, but it feels really strange to know that someone else is living there.

Lake Zurich Cruise

We finally got Lucky to the vet today, just under our "one week" window we were given at Customs. The vet didn't seem worried. He said that she was already in the country, and they really weren't going to care whether she was in the national registration system or not. This comment was in reference to our lack of a phone number – he wanted to wait to register her until we had a phone number since it is hard to edit the information. We must have looked panic stricken that he wasn't going to meet our deadline; we'd prefer to just follow the rules lest we end up in some Swiss prison or even (worse? better?) Lucky is on the first flight back to the States. In any case, Lucky's chip has been registered (we used John's work phone) and she has a passport! Her passport allows her easy access into EU countries.

After the vet, we decided to take a boat on Lake Zurich. We headed over to the ticket counter and were happily surprised that our tram tickets give us free entrance onto the boat. We had a 1.5 hour boat cruise around the top 1/3 of Lake Zurich. It was fun to see each of the stops around the lake. We got a great view of the swimming clubs. Basically, they section off parts of the lake, installing docks, slides, diving platforms – you name it. There are usually buildings for changing facilities and lots of grassy areas for picnics and lounging. The kids enjoyed the cruise, but they spent part of the time begging to go back to the school. Apparently, the playground is calling in a big way. It's nice to know that they are counting down the days until school starts – even if it is just for playground access. At dinner tonight we asked them what questions they would ask the returning students giving the tour of the school at New Orientation. C.J. and Brendan's top question – "What do you do at recess?" At least they're consistent.

This afternoon, I did my daily load of laundry. I used our new "energy efficient" dryer.

Before moving to Zurich, the outgoing partner's wife discussed the dryer situation. She told me the dryer runs for 2 hours at the hottest temperature imaginable and doesn't actually dry anything, but it did nice job shrinking items. I figured she was just super picky. I owe her an apology. Sure enough, the dryer works exactly as she advertised. So, I'm doing like the Swiss and hang-drying everything. I can only imagine what the house will look like when I get a good 8 loads behind – a regular event for me back in Pleasanton.

In other news, it was our 15 year anniversary tonight. It seems like just yesterday that we got married. We were supposed to be on a romantic house boating trip with the McEntee family. Instead, we took the kids and the dog to a great Italian restaurant. It's amazing how quickly life can change. This restaurant is quite the "deal" for kids – they each got to choose an appetizer, main course, and dessert for a fixed price of 15 SFr. The meals weren't typical "kid meals" either. Abbie had a great tossed green salad to start, and C.J. and Brendan had tomato-mozzarella salads. For a main course, Abbie had spaghetti and the boys had veal with a lemon sauce and pasta. They had ice cream for dessert. I see this restaurant becoming a family favorite. By the time John and I ordered our dinners and some wine, we more than compensated the restaurant for the deal they offered on the kids' meals. Lucky got her own bowl of water. I'm not personally a fan of "take your dog to dinner", but it thrilled the kids. Obviously, we haven't taken them to enough fine dining restaurants as they were tickled pink that their silverware was changed out for every course.

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband. Knowing that I have him by my side as we explore Europe and raise the kids makes it all worthwhile.

Zurich Zoo

Today, we took the kids to the zoo. It's located in the hills of Zurich, and you get some great views. It's also located across the street from FIFA headquarters, so John gave it a little salute of recognition as we passed. We ate lunch at this restaurant:

Unlike zoos at home, this restaurant is a private restaurant operated on zoo grounds. We had some great food – once we figured out how to order. The menus were only in German. I was able to translate the entire children's menu, but neither John nor I could make out anything on the adult menu. We asked if there was an English menu, but the waiter said, "No. Only German. What do you want?" Well, we don't even have enough experience to guess at what might be on the menu, so I did the only thing I know how to do when lost at a restaurant. I asked, "What is your specialty?" He mentioned a veal dish, it sounded good, so we ordered 2. I ordered the kids, using the German words on the menu, chicken nuggets (Brendan), pasta/spaghetti (Abbie), and a hotdog (C.J.).

Here's C.J. eating his hotdog:

Fortunately, he liked it.

After lunch, we took the kids to an amazing playground in the zoo.

We rushed home from the zoo so that John could make a conference call. Guess it isn't all vacation this week. What a surprise! Our internet was down, so I was a bit lost. I probably should have finished some of the boxes, but alas… I just kept trying to reboot the router, even after I figured out that cable was out (probably from the ongoing street construction).

After the conference call, John took the kids and Lucky on a bike ride around the lake. I had a headache, so I stayed back to rest. He said they went quite a distance and they all had a blast. Since we had a big lunch, I did a simple dinner of strawberries and macaroni and cheese (via air shipment) for the kids, and I made a platter for John and I of bread, cheese, salami, and pears. My platter-queen friend, Janette, would be so proud! Of course, John said it didn't measure up to her farewell platter for us. You just can't please 'em.

The best news of the day? The school bus schedule arrived for the kids! I'll have to walk them 2 city blocks to meet their school bus, and then I get to wave goodbye to them until they return… at some point. The schedule didn't seem to indicate when they would be returned to me. I know that C.J. could find his way home, but I like the idea of meeting them the first few days. They seem excited about the bus idea. I hope they make some friends on the ride! Most of the kids seemed to get picked up at their apartment/house, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that will happen for us in our permanent house. Regardless, two city blocks is much easier than the carpool loops at Lydiksen and Hart back at home.

In other important decisions, I need to decide whether Abbie and Brendan will get a hot lunch at school. It's an all or nothing decision for them. I purchase it by the term. I've heard the food is great, but it is typical Swiss where you take your big meal at lunch, so the hot lunch would be more like dinner. C.J., as a middle school student, can buy a booklet of lunch tickets and choose the days he wants to buy. I think I'll see what they say at New Student Orientation. Right now Abbie says that she wants to bring lunch from home, and Brendan just isn't sure. He is lured by the idea of soup with lunch each day, but I don't think he's sure about the hot food itself.

Are gas prices getting you down? Here's a new mode of transportation we spotted on the way home from the zoo today!

Christmas in August

The air shipment arrived today. We're not sure who's more excited – the kids or the dog. The boys coerced John into immediately hooking up the Xbox and pretty soon we had a lovely video of our living room being broadcast to the States as the boys played with their friends online. Technology definitely makes the transition easier. I'm looking forward to the Xbox and its camera relocating to the attic/playroom of our new house. I'll be less likely to get "accidently" broadcast across the ocean. Abbie got out her American Girl doll, put on her Hannah Montana outfit, and thoroughly enjoyed playing by herself. (Guess who else enjoyed her playing by herself?) Lucky found her basket of toys and proceeded to paw through them, leaving toys strewn throughout the apartment. She has dropped every Frisbee and ball at our feet, but we were too busy digging through boxes to play fetch. Plus, I don't think the neighbors below us would enjoy the indoor fetch games we played back in Pleasanton.

Don't feel too sorry for the dog, though. Today, she swam in Lake Zurich. We tied the 30 foot leash to her and let her swim out a bit. Based on her reaction to the ducks, we think she might have swum all the way across the lake in pursuit if left to her own devices. The Swiss thought we were hilariously funny – quite a few dogs here go without leash and I'm quite sure they've never seen a dog swim on leash before. Then again, it looks like their dogs did a bit better in obedience school than our Lucky.

We'd like to thank the American government. It seems the Swiss no longer have any desire to have American clients. They've stopped accepting accounts from U.S. citizens. Much easier than dealing with the legal battles, I suppose. Unfortunately, we don't think we can live here without a bank account. John has asked for assistance from his company, so we're hoping to have a solution in the next few days. In the meantime, the dollar is crashing.

Dinner tonight was steak, broccoli, and baked potatoes. Very American, except the kids insisted we put a little gruyere and emmenthaler (swiss, swiss cheese) on their baked potatoes. They also like the Swiss biscuit/cookies – a little biscuit with a big piece of chocolate on top. I like them too! As I've been saying, a country where their main foods are bread, cheese, and chocolate can't be all that bad! Dinner was only a little later than anticipated, as I only turned the light on the oven instead of turning on the oven itself. It took me a good 30 minutes to notice, as I was playing a game of Facebook.

I'll leave you with this final image of the boys reunited with some of their favorite things from home. Meanwhile, I'll be pondering the math question, "If it takes a full day to unpack a little air shipment, just how long will it take me to do an entire house?"

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My technically-savvy brother suggests that you add this blog to your iGoogle.

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!)

Venturing Out

No pictures today as I left my camera at home attached to the PC.

I forgot to mention last night that the boys stumbled across Star Wars on German TV. They can pretty much fill in the lines themselves, so they found it hilariously funny. That entertained them for a good 5 minutes.

Today we got up at a normal hour – dare I hope that we are all adjusted? I ventured on my daily trip to the grocery store. I was quite impressed with myself because I figured out how to buy oatmeal and rice. Pretty easy, but I was a bit worried that I was getting some other grain as the oatmeal is ground a bit finer here. I brought a shoulder bag and was able to carry more of the heavy liquids than in the past. I really need to get myself a granny cart. My biggest struggle at the store was trying to figure out what garbage bags to buy. Instead of paying for monthly garbage service in Zurich, you pay for the garbage pickup in the price of the garbage bag. There were a lot of different bags and I couldn't figure out which one we were supposed to be using, so I thought I'd try again another day.

We walked to the nearest train ticket center (about ½ mile) and figured out how to buy some tickets. We could have gotten on a bus earlier, but we didn't have tickets and John, already the good Swiss resident, didn't want to board a bus without a ticket. At the center, I bought a monthly pass plus a 3 year ½ off card, John got an annual pass, and the kids all got annual passes. The kids only have to pay $20 to ride any train in Switzerland for the year, assuming they are with either John or myself. What a bargain! Even better, the Swiss don't seem to comprehend the idea of having 3 children in their system, so the 3^rd one is free. Technically, Abbie is free until she is 6, but the person we had helping us understood the quirk of the system and let us process all 3 tickets today. We are still debating on whether Lucky needs a train pass. If she ends up traveling to school with me regularly to join up with the "dog walking club", I'll get her a ticket. While it seems easy to buy a few train tickets, we were quite impressed that we were able to figure out what we wanted/needed and had all the right paperwork with us (passports, temporary address, zones we travel, and passport photos). I held off on getting myself an annual pass until I figure out how much I'll take the train when we move to our permanent housing. It may be cheaper to just use my ½ card to get discounted tickets. If you're wondering why John didn't get an annual pass (I'm figuring Craig will be sure to note the absence), he gets it from work.

From there, we rewarded the kids with a stop at a great toy store on Banhoffstrasse. It is 4 stories and has a slide that runs from the ground floor to the basement. The kids thought it was a fast, fun slide! The boys fell in love with some slot car racing system that was a mere 450 SFr. (around $400 USD). Abbie fell in love with pretty much everything in the store. John had a heart attack over the price of board games ($60 for Monopoly anyone?). We left the store empty handed, but had fun "shopping with our eyes" as John put it.

For lunch, we each had a soda, pizza, and ice cream for dessert. (Ben & Jerrys – mmmm.) C.J. branched out and had the chocolate brownie. Of course, right after we left the pizza restaurant we found an ice cream stand that had mint chip gelato. C.J. made a note of the location since it is his all time favorite ice cream. He plans to make a directory of all necessary stops in Zurich. Smart kid! Lunch set us back $100, so you can get an idea how expensive it is to eat/live here.

After lunch, we knew we had to do an activity – 3 siblings in a small apartment for the afternoon just spells trouble. John had heard about this "Path of the Planets" hiking trail where you hike from Uetliberg, Top of Zurich, to Felsenegg to get a panorama of Lake Zurich, the Alps, and the city of Zurich. There is a scale model of the solar system along the way. We figured the kids would have fun exploring the models, so we purchased the "add on" train tickets that we needed to our monthly passes and took the 20 minute train ride from Zurich city center to Uetilberg. Brendan was happy to finally be riding a "real train" which he voted was definitely a step above BART. The train takes you right to the start of the hiking trail – very convenient. Somehow John and I had both figured that the "scale model of the solar system" would involve planets that the kids could climb, etc. Well, the sun was about 2-3 feet in diameter. By the time we got to earth, the kids realized that they were now searching for "marbles" on our hiking path. The planets were definitely to scale – John and I just hadn't understood how big the sun would need to be to make the other planets into climbing structures. We made it to Uranus (about a one hour hike) and decided to turn around because it was overcast. Turning around was a bit of a shock for the kids who somehow thought that we were on a loop or would magically have a car/train pick us up at the end. Fortunately (?), it started to rain which gave the kids something else to think about. We felt Swiss since we didn't let a little rain stop our hiking (not that we had a choice at that point!). The trail was beautiful, if a bit hilly, and we understood how hiking became a passion for locals. We had beautiful views of the lake and the city as well as some countryside. We even ran into a few cows.

We then took the train, 2 trams, and a bus back to our apartment. We are feeling quite proud of our ability to navigate the Swiss public transit system! I made dinner (chicken and pepper stir fry over rice) and we played some games of Old Maid, Crazy Eights, and Go Fish before putting the kids to bed. John and I are exhausted as well. Lucky is hiding under C.J.'s bed. I think the boys told her about the hike we took without her and she's bitter.

Tomorrow I get to see our permanent house and we're getting registered. We wanted to get a bank account as well, but the relocation person thought that might stretch the kids' patience and we should spread it out a bit. We're having dinner with our first visitors to Zurich from Pleasanton! Our air shipment has arrived in Zurich and is being processed through customs, so we may get that delivery on Wednesday.

What time is it?

The entire family woke up at 12:30pm today. Abbie actually woke up at 6am, but we ordered her back to sleep. We wanted everyone to sleep in. I was hoping for 9am – little did I know that we'd spend half the day in bed! Funny thing, Lucky wouldn't come out from under the bed when we did wake up. Not even for a jingle of the leash. Too bad she didn't feel the same way back at 4am when she was whining to go out – which in our apartment requires a walk around the block.

I decided that it was time to cook. Knowing that today would be Sunday and no stores would be open (something we had to explain to the kids about 5 million times throughout the day), I had made a list and bought everything I needed to cook both breakfast and dinner. I needed to get out of the "vacation" mindset and realize that we were living here and I'd have to cook a few meals one day. So, this morning I dutifully started to fry the food-I-thought-was-bacon for breakfast and scramble some eggs. It was the thinnest bacon I've ever seen. Fortunately, the family liked it and thought it was bacon. Me, I'm not convinced that I didn't buy something else. I got out the german-english dictionary to confirm, and the word on the package wasn't in the book, but the word in the book for bacon wasn't on the package. Go figure. Cooking the bacon was my first realization that I have to start over with a kitchen. You see, I went to put the bacon on a paper towel lined plate to drain the fat, but I didn't have paper towels. I didn't think to buy them. Or napkins. Then, I went to cook the eggs and realized that I didn't have salt and pepper. Similar thing happened when I made the tea yesterday, and didn't have sugar. I managed to buy sugar later in the day, but neglected all the other items I might need. The easy answer would be for me to hit the grocery store and buy everything I could consider using. That's not so easy, though, as I have to carry everything I buy at the store home with me. I needed laundry soap, milk, Pepsi, dishwasher detergent, juice, and the basics for bacon and eggs and dinner. These foods are heavy. I didn't have a lot of carrying capacity left, so even if I'd thought about needing paper products, etc., I don't think I could have managed it. I'm starting to make a list of what I need. It dawned on me that I haven't had to stock a kitchen from nothing since I was in college. Our past moves allowed us to bring basics like flour, sugar, etc. with us.

We got through breakfast, and the kids spent some time doing their favorite activity:

Yes, we "skyped" Nana and checked in on Facebook, email, etc. What would we do without our connection back home?

We decided to venture out and walk down by the lake. Today was gorgeous. That's another thing we'll have to get used to. In California, when it rains, it usually rains for a few days. Not here. Gorgeous on Friday, raining on Saturday, gorgeous today. I usually predict the weather/decide what to wear by remembering how it was the day before. Something tells me I'll need to start checking weather reports in the near future.

Here's an update on the construction in front of our house:

They made a lot of progress. We have new track laid on one side of the street. Construction was much quieter today. I was optimistic that the noise would go away or diminish. Then, John pointed out that they still need to tear up the other side of the street.

I thought you might want to see where we live. These pictures are out of order but it makes more sense to present them together.

Here's how the apartment looks over the main street that is under construction. Normally, there would be a tram stop right on the corner, but it's been relocated to a bus stop a few blocks away.

On the other side of the building, down a little alley-way is the door to the building.

Once inside, we get to walk up the steps.

Take these steps x4. It's advertised as the second floor, but in Switzerland, the ground floor is considered "zero" so it's the third floor to those of us who start counting at 1. Still trying to reconcile the steps x4? Well, the steps turn a lot, so each floor is actually 2 flights. Isn't it a pretty mural?

Back to our walk by the lake (4 blocks away or so), our first stop was to get some ice cream. The worker didn't speak English, but we managed to order by pointing to the pictures. The ice cream was good. The kids all approved. No mint chocolate chip, though, so C.J. got some candy instead.

We kept walking along the lake. Abbie was ticked that we didn't wear swimsuits. We did see a cool swimming area though with a slide into the lake, so we may go swimming if there is a warm day later in the week. Everyone had fun (even if the pictures don't look that way for C.J.) I don't think he smiles for pictures anymore, even though Uncle Craig swears differently. The kids found a ball very similar to one they have at Walt Disney World and played with it for awhile. They also introduced Lucky to Lake Zurich. She was a little confused by the waves at first, but eventually got to the point where she was whining to go swimming. We don't think she's ready to go off-leash yet, though. She does make lots of friends. Everyone stops to pet her.

Back at the apartment, I had to cook dinner. I had planned a really simple meal (pasta with bread), so I didn't think it would be too hard. The oven stumped me a bit, though. There are about 10 ways to turn it on. I found the manual (nicely written in French) and I think that there is a convection feature as well as pizza feature and another 5 options that I didn't translate. I opted for convection and then had to guess a good temperature to use in Celsius since I didn't want to go figure out the conversion. Every day tasks are that much harder when you don't speak the language and appliances don't have the same buttons. We had the same experience yesterday trying to get the washer and dryer to work. I have a lot more empathy for illiterate people. Back to dinner, I got to use my birthday gift from Uncle Craig. It made me realize that I am looking forward to the air shipment arrival. I'll get my spices as well as some kitchen items that I shipped. This kitchen has the bare minimum. We had the kids drinking out of wine glasses yesterday because we were out of regular glasses and we hadn't made it to the store to buy anything to wash the dirty ones.

The kitchen is really small. You can't have too many people in it at the same time. I like the fact that it is really easy to dish up dinner and clear the table. The strange thing about this apartment that John didn't mention is that the kitchen and the family room are on complete opposite sides. You enter the front door and you're looking into C.J. and Brendan's bedroom. Down the hallway to the right is the kitchen, Abbie's room, and 2 bathrooms. Down the hallway to the left is the living room and the master. The living room, boys room, and kitchen all face construction-street. Abbie's room and the master face the alley. The bathrooms are in between the kitchen and Abbie's room and don't have windows.

After dinner, we played some games that I had packed for the airplane for Abbie (which she never needed thanks to Hannah Montana's movie). The kids all loved pick-up-sticks and Old Maid. They begged to play more games. I actually appreciated having no TV. I see more game nights in our future. Good thing we packed a bunch of games in the air shipment!

Tomorrow, we hope to get registered and figure out how to get Lucky an appointment with the vet. Then, I can get a cell phone and we can open a bank account. We need to get some money transferred as our first rent check is due soon. At least we think it is – the lease is in German. John took the week off work, so we're hoping to get a lot accomplished before he goes to work and the kids start school the next week. We have plans to go see a castle as well. The boys are very interested to see a torture chamber. I just hope they aren't making plans for Abbie! Speaking of the princess, John got her a white rose when we arrived. The florist got confused, and put it in with my roses, but Abbie knows it's hers.

Street Parade

In honor of our arrival, Zurich hosted its annual Street Parade. The best way to describe the parade is to take a combination of San Francisco's Castro district on Halloween for costumes, St. Patrick's day in U.S. Irish neighborhoods for drinking, and New Year's Eve for the partying/dancing. 500,000 to 1 million people flood the city each year to party around Lake Zurich. There is a "parade" of techno floats with dancers. The real parade is the people in attendance. Hundreds of food and drink booths line the street. The festivities start in the early afternoon but get progressively "worse" throughout the evening. We figured it would be a perfect opportunity to show the kids the European laissez-faire approach to clothing (or lack thereof). We didn't take pictures of the more daring costumes as I didn't want to draw more attention to them for the kids. Lets just say that one woman made her outfit from fishnet stockings. Her entire outfit. And for those of you who hate boys in low rider pants? Try men and woman wearing just a thong.

Here are a few pictures of some techno floats:

You can see the mobs of people in these pictures:

And disguised behind our little family photo, you can see the Swiss efficiency at work. Why bother with long lines at the men's bathrooms when you can just have urinal troughs lining the streets? Abbie had to use the bathroom. I opted to pay the 1 Swiss Franc that Starbucks was charging to use theirs.

My favorite part of the day was when John got a long lecture on brining the dog to the parade. Apparently, the music is way too loud for our little puppy. No one seemed to mind that the children were there. Somehow I don't see this event becoming a family outing each year.

Quiet Hours?

We have worried for months about Switzerland's observation of quiet hours. You aren't supposed to flush your toilet after 10pm. There is no laundry after 9pm or on Sundays. You really aren't supposed to walk around your apartment at night. We just weren't sure how 3 kids and a dog would learn to be quiet, and I spent way too much time worrying about a quick indoctrination into the Swiss way of life for our little noisy family.

So, upon arrival, we were a bit surprised by the construction that goes on outside our temporary apartment's window. This is the view from our living room:

Here's the street level view:

The construction itself wasn't a surprise. The shuttle drivers said the street was a mess and it was "very noisy." What we failed to understand was that in an attempt to minimize the road closure, the construction is happening 24x7. It's 11pm at night and they are still breaking up concrete, on a Saturday.

I'm no longer worried that my dishwasher didn't finish running until 9:30pm.

Transit Pictures

Checking in the luggage. Can you see how the other business class fliers might not have appreciated the amount of time it took to process us?



Lucky saying good-bye at the oversized luggage check-in and TSA security screening.




























C.J. and Brendan getting comfortable.












Abbie and Marci getting comfortable.










Marci with her birthday delivery -- champagne, a rose, and a "First Class" toiletry kit.

Wir sind angekommen.

Departing from the Bay Area, we had:

• 2 adults
  
• 3 kids
  
• 10 checked bags of luggage
  
• 1 checked booster seat
  
• 1 dog crate with labradoodle
  
• 2 carry on rolling suitcases
  
• 2 backpacks
  
• 3 laptop bags
  
• 1 tote bag
  
• and many explanations of "We're moving – we don't normally pack this way!"
  

  
   

We said our tearful goodbyes to parents/grandparents and had a smooth shuttle ride to the airport – patting ourselves on the back that we fit in one van, until the driver mentioned that he needed a commercial license to haul our lot. We were just thankful that the steering column worked given our recent experience with Super Shuttle. At the airport, we managed to get the luggage inside with the use of just 4 luggage carts (2 bags were wheeled separately). We checked in as quickly as you can with 11 bags to check, 1 crate, and a dog. Since it did take just a few minutes to process (not helped by the missing mileage numbers in the system), we got just a few stares from the business class patrons waiting to check in behind us. I'm sure the stares were accompanied by quiet prayers that they weren't on our flight.

 

We were given 45 minutes to spend with Lucky, and told we could walk her around. In an efficient attempt to wear out both the dog and the children, we sent them all outside the airport to pace in front of the check in area. Their mapped route consisted of one spin around the revolving door, a short walk to the next revolving door, another spin, and a return to the first revolving door. Repeat 50 times. Apparently, it was just a wee bit entertaining, as we noticed a few Japanese businessmen taking pictures of the site. Alas it was time to take Lucky to the "oversized baggage" check in area where her crate was searched. Lucky was calm throughout the process, unlike the rather large, continuously barking dog who we prayed wasn't destined for the same flight as Lucky. Even the TSA guy commented that the dog would make the flight miserable for all the other dogs. There were 4 dogs slated for our flight.

 

Next stop was the business class lounge. I'm sure they were thrilled to see us walk in with the kids, raid the soda and cracker station, and boot up Skype. John calmly explained to C.J. that he wouldn't be able to get free internet service, but C.J. figured out a way. I think Macs make it easier, as I have never gotten a connection on my PC. Just another reason to go with Mac. John brought back 2 margaritas which helped with the comments. Instead of glares at the kids, people said, "I didn't know they'd make margaritas for you!" See how helpful we are?

 

On to the boarding gate. The kids were on great behavior, but it didn't stop the people behind us to ask "Do you know this is the First/Business Class line?" We smiled and said, "Sure do!" I'm sure they prayed we were far away. We quickly found our seats and settled. C.J. and Brendan sat by the windows, John, Abbie and I were in the middle. We all had the bulkhead seats, so there was lots of room. The downside – the darn family next to us with a baby who cried throughout the take-off process. Abbie progressed from asking, "Was I like that?" to "Could you help me put in these earplugs?" I cheerfully said to John, "I doubt anyone is worried about our 3 anymore!"

 

Small problem. C.J.'s headphones didn't work. The flight attendant swapped them out 6 times before she got a working pair. I'm pretty sure he got extra attention for being a kid. John or I would have been told to suck it up and read a book. The boys each watched one movie. Abbie watched the Hanna Montana movie twice. John watched an alien movie, and I got to see some chick flicks – Confessions of a Shopaholic and 17 Again. Okay, 17 Again wasn't a chick flick, but it was funny. 2 out of 3 kids got kids meals. Not sure what happened with the 3^rd kid. I guess that request got filed with our mileage numbers. After eating and movie time, all 3 kids went to sleep and did John and I. We had to wake Abbie for pancakes, knowing that she would be furious about missing a meal. Brendan was allowed to sleep until we landed. Ha! Take that worried business class travelers – you barely noticed our brood. The crying baby did eventually stop and actually slept most of the trip.

 

We arrived in Frankfort to terrorize another Business Class lounge. This time, they had a jar of german candy and I spent my time digging through it, picking out the favored gummy bears. The kids loaded up on soda, and C.J. complained that there was no place to charge his dying laptop. Guess he didn't sleep the whole time John and I did afterall.

 

Second flight was short and easy. C.J. and John both saw Lucky get loaded, so we knew that all would be good. No one sat next to each other, but all survived.

 

We landed in Zurich and quickly retrieved our luggage and went on to pick up the dog. This time we used 5 luggage carts since the price was right. (SFO at $4 a cart is ridiculous!) Lucky was happy to see us, but a bit disgruntled over the 3 meowing cats she had with her on the second leg of the flight. She didn't comment about the barking dog, so we don't know if it was on the first leg or not. We presented Lucky's papers, paid the entrance tax, and rushed her outside to a nice patch of weeds so that she could do her business. We had 2 shuttle vans for us and the luggage. Lucky was thrilled to be reunited with us and laid at our feet.

 

Hauling the luggage up to the 3^rd floor temporary apartment was fun. One shuttle driver had a bad hip, so John got quite the workout. I did my share – especially considering I'm still not supposed to be lifting anything over 20 pounds.

 

The kids fought over room allocations. We knew all was normal in the universe. Lucky got another walk, and we picked up some essentials from the store (milk, yogurt, Frosted Flakes, soda, chips).

 

We went out to dinner to celebrate my birthday. John really outdid himself trying to make the day nice for my birthday. I got champagne, a rose, and a "First Class" toiletry bag delivered on the flight. There were roses waiting for in the temporary apartment. He had given me a Kindle before we left the States, but he followed it up with a purse and wallet at dinner. After dinner, the waiters brought me a brownie complete with sparklers.

 

Pictures to follow as everyone is asleep and I'm thinking that I should join them.