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.