Buurrr....

Circumstances have made it possible for me to come up with another justification of purchasing an umbrella: snow. That's right - it snowed yesterday. In the afternoon snow started coming down, mostly just mixed with rain, but then it didn't stop snowing until sometime early this morning. So now there is actually a blanket of snow on the ground. In October! It is not going to stay because it's still too early but I am so glad that I had my umbrella with me last night when I was waiting for the public transportation.

It's funny because the first thing that I thought when I saw it snowing outside was "I wonder if my class will be cancelled?" Then I remembered that I am in Switzerland...classes are not cancelled because of a tiny amount of snow that doesn't even stick to the roads, unlike Oregon. So, I trudged off to my German lesson anyways. I had a horrible bike ride to and from the bus stop though. It was so cold and I was trying to hold up my umbrella as I was riding, with my bag of books on one shoulder, so that the rain and snow didn't keep hitting me in the face as I was riding along, which really hurts! I found myself wishing once again that the bus would just come right to my house's doorstep. I hate the cold.

I thought that the first snowfall of the season is pretty significant so I took some pictures from windows in different parts of the house.

Aargh!

I know that you all have been extremely disappointed in my lack of blog posts lately but honestly, I have not had much to write about. The last week of the kids' vacation from school was pretty uneventful. Daylight Savings was this last Sunday so now it gets dark around 5:00ish which is a bummer. The weather has turned a lot colder and rainier than what it has been all of this month. One thing that I am still trying to get figured out is the temperature in Celsius ... another one of my goals is that by the time I leave Switzerland, I will be able to understand this crazy measurement of temperature.

Fun Fact: I now own my first umbrella ever. As a true blue Oregonian, I have scoffed at the umbrella previous to living in Switzerland.
Since I am taking public transportation almost everywhere I go, it is just more convenient to use an umbrella. There are not covered areas at every bus and tram stop so when it's pouring down rain and I have a half hour to wait for the next bus/tram, the umbrella is a good friend. Also, since it's a good 15-20 minute walk from my house to the nearest bus stop, an umbrella comes in handy when it's pouring then, as well. So it's official: I am an umbrella user.

To add a little imagery for this post, I will talk about a project that I did with the kids last week. We made an ocean aquarium out of an old box, string, and paper. Sanja contributed Ariel and Flounder as you can sort of see in the picture, Nick made the blowfish, Jaime made one of the octopi (is that right?). Anyway, the picture of our creation is seen below.



The kids were on a pirate/ocean frame of mind all week. One night, I went out to eat with the family. This is a huge deal. Eating out is super expensive here (for example, I spent $30 on a hamburger and coke last week...accidentally...but that's another story). I don't think there was any special occasion behind this event but the family, the grandmother and I drove about an hour away to Kaptan Jo's. I debated going and I am soooooo glad that I did. There are three kinds of fondue - cheese, oil, and bouillon - which I have just recently learned. This place had bouillon fondue and it was my first time I tried this. It was amazing. SO GOOD! The pots were full of a bouillon broth and we would dip in thin slices of frozen meat and vegetables for a few minutes until they were cooked. Then there were six different sauces you could choose to dip your meat or veggies in. These sauces were so good and made the meal, in my opinion. We were also served french fries to use with the sauces as well. After the dinner, I had the leftover broth, which they filter, mixed with some sherry for dessert. This was actually pretty good, too even though it sounds very weird.

This place was decked out as a ship on the ocean. The chandeliers were fish bowls with actual fish inside hanging over our table. This was really cool. Also, every night, the ship encounters a "storm". Everyone goes downstairs to a bar-type area where it's a little darker. All of a sudden it gets really dark and smoke starts billowing out of somewhere. A fake rat slides up and down this long rope on the ceiling. There are loud sounds of waves crashing and in the windows is a screen that shows the ocean is very tumultuous. Then, get this!, the walls and tables actually start to move and sway back and forth. No joke! The place was built with moving walls and floors! It only lasted about 5 minutes but it was a really fun thing to experience.
This dinner was the highlight of my week.

Swiss Catholic Potlucks

So you've heard of coffee and rolls, right? After church everyone goes into the cafeteria for a doughnut and a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. Well, let me tell you about "Coffee" as it's called here. I don't think I've mentioned previously that this is a Catholic church in Zurich that has an English mass. I think the church is called St. Anton and it's really really pretty, very cathedral-like. I've really enjoyed the priests, too, who have all been British up until today (there was a guest priest performing the mass from Africa today). Anyways, last week I went to the Saturday night mass where they announced that the coming Sunday morning mass would involve "Coffee" afterwards. I thought that I should go to the Sunday morning mass this week to check it out thinking that there would be coffee and maybe some bread or pastries. Heidi even came with me this week which was really cool since she is not Catholic and I appreciated the company. So after mass, we headed into the forum next door and holy coffee! we were surprised at the amount of food that was laid out. Not only was there coffee and bread, but there was cookies, quiches, cobblers, fried rice, African doughnut hole-type things, pumpkin bread, chocolate chip bread, rolls, soups, chips, chicken wings, spaghetti, brownies, several other foods from other cultures that I don't know the name of but that were delicious, etc etc etc!!!! It was amazing. It wasn't like coffee and rolls, it was like a huge potluck after mass! Heidi and I went back for seconds because we wanted to try everything since it all looked so good and there was so much of it. I thought this was really really cool and something I have not experienced in this way before. Definitely great motivation for getting me up early on a Sunday morning for church!

Just to mention a little bit about my week. Thank goodness there's only one more week left of the kids' school vacation. One day I had to work from 7:30 in the morning until around 7:30 at night! Needless to say, it was a long Friday. Also, thankfully the weather has stayed really nice. The fall is a beautiful season in Switzerland, we've had an amazing October so far. On one of the longer days last week, I piled the kids up with some firewood and a bag of marshmallows and headed down to the lake. We made a fire (after quite an effort) and roasted some 'mallows. I've mentioned the marshmallows they have here before and I took a picture of them so that you can see that they are a little different than ones that we have in the States.








Although we've had great weather almost every day, there was one day last week that just poured down rain. I had the kids most of the day, of course, and they were pretty restless. However, I decided to do something with them to coincide with the Halloween season. We made bats! As you can see in the last picture above, the kids did a great job. Haha, I especially like Sanja's pink and purple bat and Nick's "scary" bat with a huge smiling red mouth bigger than the face. The kids loved this and it killed a couple of hours for me.

I have tomorrow off because I am working so much again this week. If anyone has any ideas of fun, entertaining ways to distract the kids during really long days, just let me know. I would love any suggestions!

It's Fall Time in CH

I had a pretty interesting week last week. It was the start of the kids' three week long vacation from school and kindergarten. (Side note - usually this break is only 2weeks but this year the teachers all have to attend some sort of conference or classes for a week so the kids just get an extra week off!) Jana took off last week from work so that she could enjoy some time with the kids. This was nice for me to have her around all the time because the kids tend to behave better when a parent is here. Also, I didn't have to work quite as many hours last week...however, the downside to this is that for the next 2 weeks, I am spending A LOT more time with the kids. I just hope that we continue having as nice of weather as we have had all last week.
Since we have been having such great weather, last Thursday, Jana and I took the kids on a hiking trip. We went to a place called Braunwald and it's about an hour away from the house. I debated going on this hiking trip because I could have had the day to myself but I am so glad that I decided to go. Although it was a pretty tiring trip (hiking with 4 kids all 7 years old or younger is not an easy thing) the kids did a good job most of the way. We took a couple of lifts up to the top of the mountain and walked down. I can't even begin to describe the amazing views. The place was so gorgeous and everywhere we looked there were huge mountains looming all around us. We stopped for lunch on the way down...there are fire pits set just off the path in a few places. This was handy, we put our sausages on the grill like everyone else and soon were eating a great traditional Swiss meal. The kids' cousin Sherin joined us on the hike. She is Sanja's age and they are good friends. I love Sherin because she is such a good little girl. She's pretty quiet especially compared to the Berger children. Even though she doesn't speak English I really like having her around. It was good for Sanja to have her there because the twins have each other to play with but Sanja is left out sometimes...her brothers often try to antagonize her. I also have to mention the ice cream we had when we reached the bottom of the mountain. It was delicious! It consisted of a scoop of chocolate and strawberry ice cream with these long and skinny pieces of chocolate, about as long as a toothpick but thicker. And there weren't just a few pieces....there were tons of them in the bowl! So good!!
On Friday, I took the boys up the woods across from our house on a little hike. The grandparents live up the hill a ways and it's about a half hour hike through the woods to grandmother's house we go.... It's a pretty hike and not difficult at all. It would take an average adult about 15 or 20 mins to do it. We stopped along the way where a bunch of these flower/bushes were growing on the side of the path. The boys showed me how cool they were. If you lightly press on the bud, which is closed, the petals spring up and shoot out seeds at you! It's the coolest thing! It actually scared me the first time I tried it because I thought the plant was trying to eat my fingers. I have attached a video of the popping of these buds below because I think it's so neat.



When we got to the grandparents' farm, the boys played around while I went inside with "Muerti" as they call her for some coffee. Unfortunately she does not speak English very well and so it was a little bit awkward when just the two of us were having a cup o' joe. We tried to start a conversation but since neither of us speak the others' language, it did not last long. This is unfortunate because I would really like to get to know Muerti better. After coffee, I went outside to watch the boys and the grandfather make apple cider. The boys would throw the apples into the machine and watch them get ground up. Then the juice would pour out and the boys would help with replacing the bucket when it got too full. I took the picture of Nick below in the apple cart collecting more apples to make cider.



Another fun thing that I did with the kids outdoors last week was collected chestnuts. Here these are called "maronnis" and there are many roasted chestnuts sold all over the city in little stands. The kids love these, which I thought was kind of a weird thing for little kids to like. I actually had my first roasted chestnut the other day when I went to Zurich with Jana and the kids. I was a little surprised at the taste of them, I thought that they tasted like potatos. But I digress. The kids took me to an area down by the lake in their backyard to a big chestnut tree. They filled up quite a few sacks of chestnuts. You can see them in their work below. On the way up to the grandparents' the other day, the boys were collecting acorns from a big oak tree, too. They love to collect random nuts.





After my German lesson last Wednesday, it was pouring down rain. Jana was in the city as well for a work thing and offered to pick me up. I, of course, accepted since I did not want to swim my way home at 11 o'clock at night. Jana then asked me if I was tired or if I wanted to go out for a beer when I got in the car. I definitely wanted a beer, so Jana took me to the local bar in Maur. It was a Wednesday night in a small town so the bar was not quite "hoppin'". The typical people were there, older lonely men. Jana left me to talk with a few men who spoke English. They were pretty funny and had lots of questions for me. I think that a lot of people here like to speak English as practice. One of the men I was talking with had been a banker so we talked about this common interest for awhile. Another guy had been born in the States but moved to Switzerland when he was 6. He had not been back since, except for a trip to Hawaii, and that was in the '70s but he still had very good English and not much of an accent. He still holds dual citizenship for the States and CH. I was complimented on my English accent by one of the men. Apparently, since I am from the Northwest, I am very easy to understand because my English is so standard, "unlike someone from Texas or North Dakota" as I was told.

As you can see, I had a pretty fun week. I just hope that the next couple of weeks are as eventful.

Hiking in the Swiss Alps!

Dirndl Dirndl Dirndl!

Wow. I wish I had taken a picture of the mountains today. I tried to yesterday but it was dusk and the Alps were too far away to be seen well. They were looming above the house and you could see them so clearly the last couple of days....they're just amazing! We've had some pretty awesome and rather warm sunny days over the last few.

You know what else was pretty cool? My weekend in Munich at Oktoberfest. Ok, technically I was only at the actual Oktoberfest area for a couple of hours all weekend. This is because Heidi and I didn't believe it when people told us you had to either spend tons of money on reservations for a table in the beer tents way in advance or you had to get there before 7 or 8 in the morning in order to even get in for a few hours. As we now know, this is very true. We tried our best to get into a tent but it was not happening, we went too late in the day. It was also fa-ree-zing! But we did get a half meter long bratwurst while at the fest and it was delicious!

One of the reasons why we were so late in arriving at the Oktoberfest was because Heidi and I were determined to find dirndls. What is a dirndl, you may ask? Well, these are the traditional German dresses that girls wear, similar to the traditional German leiderhosen that boys wear. Almost everyone were wearing the traditional German garb and we definitely wanted to get in on that action. Although the dresses were a little on the spendy side, we wore them and were proud. They are a great souvenier and I absolutely plan on wearing mine again. We went to an area of Munich where there were tons of little shops and where only pedestrians were allowed. This was fun because it gave us a chance to see more of Munich than just the Oktoberfest.





It was kind of funny because we found our drindls in a regular looking department store, like a Macy's in Munich. There was a whole section with tons of dresses, little shirts, and aprons which make up a drindl. Even people who were not at the Oktoberfest but who were just walking around Munich in random places were wearing drindls and leiderhosen, so drindl sellers must make quite a profit.

Heidi and I are being very German in this picture! Heidi of course looks like the most typical German/Swiss girl in her drindl. We started the night off on our own visiting a couple of bars and cafes because it was so cold outside and since we were camping for the weekend, it was definitely warmer in a bar than back at our tent.

On our train ride to Munich we sat by a group of guys from Switzerland who were also going to the Oktoberfest. We talked the whole train ride and actually learned a Swiss card game called "Ciao Sep" which is basically the same as Uno. On Saturday night, we met up with a few of the Swiss guys and a girl from Brazil. We went to an Irish pub where there were tons of people from all over the world. We had a lot of fun talking to all different types of people. One of the Swiss guys took a special liking to Heidi and luckily for us he helped us get a cab for the trip back to our tent which was way on the other side of Munich.

Sunday morning we woke up and planned on doing some sightseeing. We hopped on a tram and worked our way through the city to a few areas that seemed appealing to us. We did really well with the public transportation, I am proud of our progress. There are some really really neat old buildings in Munich (see pic of old builiding). There are some pictures below of the places we visited. One of my favorite spots was this big courtyard garden area where people were walking around and some people were playing bocci ball. It reminded me of a garden where female characters in one of Jane Austen's books would walk with a beau (see pic of trees). It happened to be an amazingly sunny and warm day (especially compared to the snowy and cold one previous) so there were tons of people out. We ended up eating at this German restaurant. It was ok but we were almost late for getting back to the main station to catch a train because the waitress took her time in getting our check. One thing I noticed about eating out here is that people take a lot longer to eat. It isn't like get in, get out, and next customer like in the States. The train ride back was pretty fun since we sat with the Swiss guys we met on the way up to Munich. They were very loud and boisterous since they had been at the Oktoberfest all day and were continuing their drinking on the train.

The TENT was the area that we camped out at. There were hundreds of tents all over this big area. It was a fun place and it had bathrooms and washing machines and a cafeteria so we weren't completely destitute. We got into the place around 11 or 12 on Friday night and had to set up the tent in the dark. I think that it would be a really cool place to go in the summer especially, when it isn't practically snowing, because it's cheap and could be lots of fun with friends. The food in the cafeteria was good and cheap so we didn't have to spend a lot of money on food throughout the weekend, which was really nice.

I definitely had tons of fun this last weekend in Germany. It was nice to get away for a few days but I am still pretty tired from the trip. Unfortunately, Swiss kids have a 3 week break from school starting this week, so I will be having to deal with them a lot more than usual. Jana has this week off from work so I have a little bit of help with her around more but the next 2 weeks, I will be in charge of the kids all day, every day. Yikes!

I'm Really Into Vampires Right Now

Tonight I go to Zurich for my second German lesson. I have just completed my hefty load of homework and even listened to a little bit of the CDs that come with the textbooks. There's this really sweet rap song all about German greetings that we listened to in class last week and I was dying to hear it again....;) I also acquired a CD of the Rosetta Stone for German, which is basically a teach-yourself-a-foreign-language program, before I left the States. I am going to try to start using it more because it's supposed to be a really good program and I definitely need all the help I can get. I forgot to mention in my last post that there are actually two other au pairs in my class. One is from Canada and the other I am not sure about, but she did have an accent so I'm fairly sure she is from another European country. There are also quite a few Indians in the class, as well as someone from Portugal, Chile, and a few other countries, so it's quite a mix of nationalities. The teacher generally speaks German of course but when he is not speaking German he switches to English. Which I am rather thankful for.

Heidi and I have been trying to meet some new people here. I think that we have been doing fairly well so far considering that we don't know very many places to go to meet people or know German. However, last night we met in Zurich to meet up with another au pair from Latvia who Heidi had been talking to online. Well, Heidi and I show up where we say to meet but no Latvian au pair. We were stood up. Maybe she had a good excuse, who knows. The place we chose to meet was the Hauptbahnhof, or the main station. We were surprised to find tons of people gathered around an area with a large dance floor and a bunch of musicians. As we walked around the area we found two long lines of people, all with their hair done up, all wearing fancy clothes, all carrying large bouquets of flowers, and - now this is the kicker - all wearing long black capes! Heidi and I decided they were either there for a vampire graduation or they were teachers at Hogwarts. What other explanation was there? We took a few pictures of them, as did tons of other people since there was a huge crowd curious to see what was going on. As we watched, the lines then filed onto the dance floor and the vampires/Hogwars professors started doing some kind of waltz or other fancy dance I can't do or name. The musicians all started playing and there was a conductor waving his baton. They were also being filmed. Heidi and I were a little confused as to what was going on there in the train station but Jana told me later that it was a big symphony. Random? Yes, very.

One more thing I wanted to mention. Monday night is one night of the week that a group of English speakers get together in a little church in Zurich to read through a play. Heidi and I decided to see what this was all about. We actually tried going the week before but could not find the place because the directions given to us were not very good and it's a little ways off the main streets. But this week we found it. I was surprised to see that a good number of people were there. They were all very friendly, too. The reading started at 8 but people got there a half hour earlier to drink some wine and chat. Most of the people were British but there were a few Americans, too. The play that was performed/read was a little different - I can't remember the name of it but it was something about 2 violas and it was set mainly in Milwaukie. At the end of the play, there was a short discussion. I thought that all the actors were only mediocre excluding one man who was really great. He was one of the main characters and I could tell that he definitely knew what he was doing. This club was something that reminded me of my talented extended family of performers and I plan on attending another session.

This weekend is my trip to Munich for the Oktoberfest! Heidi and I are going together and we plan on camping out (pray for nice weather for us!!). We will be there from Friday to Sunday evening and are traveling by train. I am very excited because this will be my first official trip!