Delayed

So yeah.... I guess I slacked a little with the blogging towards the end of my trip.  Admittedly, I became overwhelmed.  So many things were happening to me, every weekend was filled with adventure, everyday was filled with a new challenge.  Therefore, yes the writing took a hit, and so did a lot of things in my life I suppose.  Did I get caught up?  I would prefer to say I caught a groove and attempted to ride it to its fullest potential.  So here are a few entries from my journal, post Switzerland.



Feels weird.  To be back that is.  I always figured living in a different country for a while would change things.  How could it not.  Your whole environment, way of life, mentality changes.  Your forced to adapt, to fit in, to function in a foreign society.  How do I get from point A to point B without looking too lost?  What is a Frank, and why does it cost two of them to go to the bathroom?  The story Heidi was actually based off a real place?  People will pay ridiculous amounts of cash to have a certain number combination on their license plates?  They actually don't drive on the left side of the road here, only in England?  And so the questions ensue and some get answered and some unravel in your mind into something more convoluted, some obscure, thought pravocing querei on the ways of life and how the world works.  But alas I am here, back in Minneapolis floating in the questions, not swimming, nor drowning. Merely gliding the surface rippling beneith me.  What happens next?  If I do not fly, I will surely drown...



Has my heart gone flat again, and is now too comfortable laying, snuggling in the warm comfort of these silver skyscrapers?  home. safe. familiar. No.

German Class, Bern, and Spring?

So today I am happily writing that the past couple of days have felt like a Minnesota spring.  It is drizzling rain but the temperatures are in the upper 40's.  Bohdanna told me this morning that it will not stay that way, winter will come back.  Oh well, at least its not -30 F.... I had my second German class last night and I am pleasantly surprised at how much I actually enjoy it!  There are about ten students all different ages and nationalities.  I sit next to a girl from Sweden who is also an Au Pair, we are getting to be close friends and even went out together last weekend.  There are a few Italians, a Hungarian, two girls from the Philippines, a guy from India, and one guy from Texas :]  It is such a new experience for me to be surrounded by so many different languages, its interesting because no one can understand each other and we are all there to learn a language that none of us understand, but eventually we will be able to communicate with one another in that common denominator of said unknown language.  I feel like we are all bonding already, the class is pretty laid back and the teachers take things slow.  I think I am towards the top of the class since I already have 3 years of High School German under my belt, although thats not saying much...  There is a lot of laughter and smiling, which is nice, at least we all know what a smile means.  Hopefully by the end of this trip I will be able to have a conversation with a native Swiss and have it last at least a minute or two.

Last weekend was a lot of fun!  Saturday I spent the day shopping in Zurich with Alice and Natalie, (the two from England).  Things are so expensive here!!! I spent over 100 CHF at one place and that was it for me.  Then that night we went out to a place called the Heineken bar and met up with Liennea (the Swedish girl) and had a few drinks.  It was nice, much like going to an American bar, but once again everyone is speaking a language you don't understand, and the drinks are twice as much.  I haven't been to a disco tech yet, maybe this weekend :]  The next day I went to the capital city, Bern, with Natalie and her friend Hannah from Austria.  The city of Bern was pretty breathtaking with the old buildings, cobblestone roads, and the river running through the town.  Me and the two girls got along so well, lots of laughter and coffee drinking.  Hannah is not so good at English, and we ended up spending a lot of time trying each others accents and mostly mocking one another, apparently my British accent is quite terrible.  My favorite English phrase so far is, "Im busting for a wee."  Also when they are too lazy to do something they say, "I couldn't be bothered."

Alice (left) & Natalie (right) eating Mc Donalds downtown Zurich 

Main street of the Old Town in Bern

Typical street in Bern

Clock towers everywhere

I am getting closer with the wife and kids.  And I

Anna & Julie

can tell that they are starting to warm up to me too, especially Julie.  I spend most of my time with her and she is great, they both are.  I really couldn't have asked for better kids to watch after.  They are both very smart, funny, eager to learn, and responsible, (as responsible as one could be when they are 5).  They love to play and always force me to play legos with them or other random games.  It is odd that as a child I used to play by myself for hours pretending.  I could entertain myself with anything and now it is a challenge to "pretend" and play with dolls and feel like I am on the same level as the girls.  Saturday is Anna's birthday party, should be interesting, although I might be off in the Alps somewhere, hopefully :]

Fountain in front of Zurich HB (main train station)

Zurich, Burkliplatz 

Becoming a regular at this Cafe in Horgen

Zurich

See one of these in every vending machine, tastes good!

A Porsche, Laughter, and New Friends

So life is turning from challenging to amazing!  Catching you up from my last post a few things have happened.  Im getting fairly comfortable in my new home, the girls make me smile.  Julie loves to sing songs and play games constantly, she makes me laugh and pushes me to be a good nanny.  Anna is also playful but in a wittier way, I am growing to love the walks I go on with them everyday to the train station, they are usually filled with singing, talking, or the alphabet in three different languages.  Monday Julie stayed home from school as her teacher was on holiday for the day or something, so we decided to walk to the farm up on the hill.  It was a cute adventure, Julie's favorite game was to follow in each others footprints that were made in the snow.  She can be quite demanding and would let me know when I wasn't playing the game right.  Being an Au Pair is the most humbling experience I've had in quite a while.  Anyways, last weekend I attempted to go out and lets just say it ended up in a disturbing experience involving a Turkish boy and being dropped off back home in Kilchberg at like 10:00 PM in his brand new Porsche and me not accomplishing anything fun.  The family and I also went to a glass museum which was semi interesting.  You got to see the employees blowing glass which was probably the coolest part for me.  Yesterday was sunny and you could see a magnificent view of the mountains.  It still baffles my mind when the clouds finally decide to give you a glimpse of the amazingly huge Alps just hiding beyond the lake, that they are always there you just can't see them.  I have been frequently going to the same coffee shop in Horgen while the girls are in English school and the locals there are starting to recognize me as the American Au Pair that nobody can understand.  There is one old lady there that has very broken English but I think she really loves talking to me.  As I also enjoy her conversations on the Dead Sea and how her and her husband have 9 great grandchildren.  .. On to the most exciting thing so far.  I made some friends!  I met a girl, Sophie, on an English Forum online and she organized a meeting for us and two other Au Pair's at a Japanese restaurant last night.  It was a blast!  All three girls are from England and around my age and all speak in magnificent British accents.  They all said that I have a way cooler accent than them, its funny how you don't realize how different you probably sound to foreigners.  In about an hour I am meeting the 3 of them at an Au Pair meeting/club in Zurich with other Au Pairs from the area.  Should be interesting.  As for plans in the future, tomorrow I start German classes, Sunday me and the English girls are taking a train to Lucern to explore the old city, next weekend we are going sledding in the Alps, and Feb 9th I start my week of vacation.  Not sure where to go yet, leaning towards buying a Europass for all of Europe and take a train to Barcelona, Spain, stopping in Paris along the way!

At the glass museum..

Getting Settled

  Things are starting to get easier, I am getting into my groove here.  I am learning the transport system, its actually a lot easier than you would think, just have to use your common sense and you can pretty much get yourself anywhere in Switzerland fairly easily.  I've been trying to explore more and more of Zurich everyday and have checked out three different German language schools.  I think I will hopefully be starting classes on the 24th!  Last night I experienced rush hour in Zurich and well, what a rush!  Picture rush hour in America except the cars are humans.  People everywhere around you speed walking in different directions catching that bus over there or the tram over here, running to catch the train in HB on time.  It was just the experience I needed, to feel the life of a big city pump adrenalin through me.  In addition I have no idea where I really am or what I'm doing and can't understand anyone, makes for an exciting challenge :]  I am bonding with the girls quite a bit, especially after I bought them looms and taught them how to knit hats.  Other than exploring and hanging out with Anna and Julie I have been carrying out my duties of cleaning and doing laundry almost everyday and making sure there is food in the fridge by stopping by the Denner (corner store across the street).  Bohdanna also helped me buy a day pass transport ticket for the 27th to use to go anywhere I want in Switzerland.  I am excited to explore more of this beautiful country!  I can't decide if I want to flee to somewhere warm like Lugano which is almost in Italy, or somewhere with a lot of art and history like Bern, or check out the Chillon castle in Geneva...  Regardless of where I go, I am happy to go and sit on a train for hours looking out the window, listening to my ipod, and getting lost in the beautiful landscape around me.

Just to give you an idea of what shopping is like in Switzerland....

 And some more pictures

What you see in every vending machine... Pregnancy test, cigarettes, sausage sticks and cannabis tea 

Songs, Trains, and Grocery Shopping

Today I got to hang out with Julie the youngest. 

 I made them lunch then took Julie to Horgen for her English class.  Despite getting on the wrong train we managed to find the school two bus rides later.  Julie is such a sweet heart, she has such a peaceful voice and an innocent, yet smart demeanor.  We played games and sang songs all the while altering between English, Czech, and German.  I helped her with English and she helped me with German.  Both girls are very smart and know much more than I do about everything here, so my job so far has been to shut it and follow their lead.  After returning from English school we played a Swiss version of the Candy Land board game then it was off to shopping and dinner with the family.  Helping Bohdana in the grocery store was interesting.  In Switzerland I guess you have to buy the cart, then take your own personal scanner and scan each item as you put it in your cart, thus avoiding long check out lines.  At the end you just hand your scanner to the cashier and pay!  I am discovering they are much more efficient here than in America.  The groceries are also all about half the size, I don't think they have such things as buying in bulk here in Switzerland...  Also the parking ramps are interesting, they tell you how many spots are open as you drive by each level and there are green or red lights above each spot so you can see from afar which spaces are open.  Also cool, however it is 3.50 CHF an hour, once again Switzerland is expensive!  Well it is the weekend and the girls are having a sleepover and watching a Czech movie in their room on a projector screen.  Here are a few photos/videos of the past couple of days.  

Wildlife at lake Zurich..

This is Anna holding the giant piece of chocolate the family got me as a welcome gift!

Yes, they drink marijuana infused iced tea :]

Julie sporting a custom made Kerri Derr hat 

On our walk home from the Kilchberg train station, photo taken by Julie 

There are fountains everywhere

Ok so after receiving several requests for a blog on my stay in Switzerland, (mostly just from my mom), I've decided it would be a good idea.  So I guess I will start with the arrival.  I have never been outside of America before so arriving in the Zurich airport after a 7 hour plane ride, jet-leg, an uncontrollable cough, and feeling ultimately exhausted, was almost an out of body experience.  (I am starting to understand what it is like to just let your body take over and trust your instincts...)  I remember walking through customs and just basically following the crowd not really knowing any other way to go.  Somehow I made it to baggage claim and from there went to where I thought Tomas was going to meet me.  However, after sitting there for a while I read an email he sent and it said to meet at a certain Starbucks somewhere in the airport.  So I lug up my heavy pack full of camera gear, my carry on luggage, and my suitcase and ask someone if they spoke English.  He said a little and attempted to help me find the Starbucks.  Somehow I ended up wondering long enough to run into Tomas.
On Kilchberg:
The family lives in the "Beverly Hills" of Switzerland, but more like wealthy village style.  It is hard to explain.  Everything is really cozy and close together, the streets are small and intertwining through alleys and neighborhoods.  Everything is small community based, very quaint.  The girls' school is only a short walk away from their flat and everyone seems to know each other.  I would feel very safe walking around Kilchberg by myself at night if I had to.  There is a farm that the family walks to to get their milk.  It may sound like they are country folk but very far from it.

It is like a suburb of a big city but still remains calm and quiet.  Zurich is only a ten minute train ride away.  There are a lot of side streets that are cobble stone and most yards are surrounded by a picket fence or wrought iron.  The yards are sparse however, as land in Switzerland is VERY expensive.  As Tomas said earlier, Switzerland is like driving through a giant resort town, which I am starting to understand, at least the surrounding areas of Zurich.  Every thing is so well kept and pristine.  There is a lot of green here, even in the winter, I don't think they get very much snow.  Still cold however, today I started off walking and feeling comfortable in my coat, scarf, and hat, but towards the end of my 4 hour adventure my bones were chilled.  The air is much more damp.  Ok so on to what I did today...
1/9
I woke up around 9:30 not feeling as jet lagged, I had a few hours to myself before the girls came home from their first round of school for the day.  My duties were to prepare them a lunch of Ikea meatballs and instant mashed potatoes, lol ok easy enough.  This is when I discovered strawberry juice in their fridge, yes I said it, straight up strawberry juice, so amazingly tasty.

Anyways, the girls got home, I fed them, they did as much homework as they could then we were off to catch the train to Wallisellen, where they go to Czech school.  We realized we were running very late so we had to run the entire way to the station which is about a 15 min walk and we needed to catch the train in 5.  Alas we made it in time with 3 minutes to spare, (Europe is very time regulated, the trains and busses are always on time).  Then after dropping the girls of at their Czech school, it was my time to explore.  I remember saying goodbye to Julie and her turning around asking in her sweet voice, "do you know the way?"  I said no and smiled and walked away. lol.  Somehow I found my way to the station in Wallisellen and took the train to the Bahnhofstrasse, the main train station in Zurich.  From there I explored on foot, walking through side streets and looking into expensive shops.  I am still too nervous to actually go into any of them but we will get there lol.  Zurich is a whirlwind of trains, trams, and busses and each one seems to arrive exactly when you need it to.  I ended up taking a tram from the Bahnhofstrasse to another stop called Burkliplatz, and from there immediately caught a bus back to Kilchberg.  I hope all of my other public transport adventures are this easy but somehow I doubt it.  Oh well at least it gives me a much needed confidence boost knowing that somehow I navigated my way through Zurich and back to Kilchberg without getting lost or dying. :]

Some pictures of Zurich and the train ride..