A Griswold Family Thanksgiving

Things just keep getting more interesting for our Griswold Family Thanksgiving.  After our lasagna fiasco, feast, we were really looking forward to getting together with the other ex-pats from the school and bringing some sense of normalcy to the holiday.  Tom managed to whip up a batch of toll-house morsel bars and rice krispy treats with our sparce kitchen supplies.  The girls helped as usual. 

It's funny what you miss when you go overseas, and everyone pulled out their special treat supplies that they have been hoarding.  We feasted on M&M's, barbeque potatoe chips, and cheetos to start.  Check out the centerpiece, they were gone in no time!

There is a lot of hoop-la about the turkey, but let's face it, Thanksgiving is all about the side dishes...

We ate, played, socialized, and then we ate again. 

We stuffed ourselves silly, and stuck around to help clean up, and "help" clean up the leftovers.  I snagged a little scrap of turkey, and lots of stuffing planning to use it as a side dish for my own anorexic 5.5 lb turkey waiting to be cooked at home.  Tom took pumpkin pie (it's not just for breakfast anymore!) and went home for a wonderful seratonin induced snooze. 


Sunday's highlight was a birthday party for Nicole and Samantha's taxi partner, Florian.  He is a adorable kindergartener, with a Mexican mother, German father, who just returned from a four year assignment in Taiwan.  This kid speaks four languages.  It was a pirate theme, but it basically was torture for me.  Eight preschool/kindergarten aged little boys, hiped up on sugar, screaming and swinging pointed swords and knives at each other for two hours.  I was a mess.  We escaped with no major eye injuries to find there was a village festival on our street. 

Today was the first day of advent, and "Sammi Claus" had a parade.  It was led by people cracking whips, carrying torches, and playing brass instruments.  (I know there is a joke here comparing this to my college years, but my mother reads this blog!)  Our highlight was people marching with what looked like stained glass windows on their heads.  They were 4 feet high, 3 feet wide, cut outs with colors with several large candles stuck inside to illuminate the "windows".  They were works of art, and I have no idea how they didn't all catch on fire. 

I returned home to conquer the turkey.  This tiny little thing fit in a 9x12 pan, and should have cooked in no more than 1hour 45 min.  3 hours later, this sucker still wasn't done.  It's all about the side dishes, remember?  I sliced my tiny sliver of left over turkey in 4 pieces, and we stuffed ourselves with stuffing, salad, and pita bread.  30 minutes after the meal was over, the turkey was done.  Check out this scrawny little turkey leg...

Ok, maybe that's not a nice thing to call my husband!

A Swiss Thanksgiving

The weather channel did not dissapoint and we did have a "White Thanksgiving."

Eat your heart out Heather and Mark!  This is our view from the side yard.  The girls were thrilled, but less so when they found out that school continues here despite 3 inches of snow.  We had quite an unusual Thanksgiving.  There is a certain advantage to having no basic cookware, dishes, etc.  The Thanksgiving meal cannot be a big production, so there was more time to relax.  How does one put together a meal in Switzerland with very few supplies you ask?  First, you need a computer...

All the directions on packages are in German, so every good Frau needs "Google Translate" by her side.  We had the traditional Thanksgiving Lasagna, straight from Aldi.  The microwaves here actually have a grill function too, so you can nuke and brown at the same time.  Washclothes make perfectly good oven mitts, and a cutting board doubles as a trivet. I Found a sample piece of our granite countertop in the attic, and that is a very good trivet also.  I mixed a salad in an old cookie container, and presented it all elegantly on crumbling plastic plates.  Note the mobile pole lamp on the extension cord to provide ambience in any room you desire.  Martha Stewart, eat your heart out!

We had broccoli nuked and presented in an old measuring cup (didn't I used to use that to clean out the fish tank, gross!) We have to keep styrofoam plates under the plastic plates so they don't drip.  Why not just use the styrofoam plates, you ask?  Because they melt...

Yes, we are still using that plate. 

Nicole's classmate came to school and gave all the ex-pats a turkey from Germany.  Nicole came into the house declaring "we can have turkey for Thanksgiving!" while she presented me with a sticky, dripping, mostly frozen 6 lb turkey.  She was very dissapointed when I told her that it had to be defrosted first.  I'll tackle that project when our things arrive from the States. 

Speaking of things from the States, the current plan is that the sea shipment will be here Monday, 8 am.  I have been obscessing over the layout of the furniture, and making to scale drawings with German and American words so we can communicate with the movers.  My father would be so proud. 

It was wonderful seeing everyone on Skype yesterday.  Have a great holiday weekend.

A White Thanksgiving?!

The girls woke us up this morning with frantic shouts of, "it's snowing, it's snowing!"  Yes, winter has started here in Switzerland.  When I look at weather.com (which I do obscessively) it is getting rather monotonous...

You see this every single day. 

Luckily it is hovering around and above freezing, so we have not been inconvenienced yet.   The girls asked if school was canceled.  Not any more ladies, this is a new way of life.  I got salt for our sidewalk as insurance that there will be no significant accumulation. (Hey, that insurance worked in North Carolina, why not here?)

We had a break from precipitation this afternoon, and I decided to tackle yet more leaves in the front yard.  They never dry, they only decompose, smothering your grass.  Takes about five passes with a rake to dislodge the muddy, leafy goo and transfer it, one rake full at a time, to my trusty moving box. It took me one hour to do the front walkway area (approx 250 square feet)  Do I hear violins playing?

Switzerland is famous for working efficiently, so I couldn't understand why they used brooms resembling witches brooms for all of the sweeping.  Our house came with two of them.  Here are the girls riding the latest version of the "Nimbus 2010". 

These brooms rock!  I need one when we return to the states.  Note also my trusted leaf box and muddy boots.  We are really taking this "being green" thing to heart using this poor box over and over. 

We wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving.  Unfortunately it is not a holiday for us, but I thing Tom is going to subscribe to NFL online, and watch some football tommorrow.  We'll eat too much and obscess about holiday shopping in honor of everyone in the States. 

Thirty minutes and counting...

Thirty minutes and counting of non-stop internet access.  We are elated, we are overjoyed, and we are suspicious.  Why should buying a new wireless router fix everything?  I don't know, but it feels great.

I decided not to test the IKEA curse and went a different path to find a cure for my shower curtain and curtain woes.  I discovered "Swiss Home Depot", better known as Bauhaus, complete with an orange color scheme and aprons.  Have you ever been overwhelmed at a "do-it-yourself" store, because you know just enough to get yourself in trouble?  Try it in German. 

I ran across the selection of toilet seat covers.  Here is one-third of the selection available.  Why would anyone want to sit on kittens and dolphins?  

Just another Swiss mystery...

I think we may have finally gotten our banking situation all settled.  We went into the main branch asking for a joint account, online capabilities, and credit cards that you can use in Europe without bankrupting you.  What we ended up with was: (sung to the tune of "Partridge in a Pear tree")

6 separate accounts,
5 maestro cards,
4 phone calls,
3 migraines,  
2 credit cards,
and a debit card we really don't need. 

No wonder everyone is moving their money to Asia and Singapore.  These new laws to prevent Americans from hiding money in Europe are unreal.  I tried to explain that I am a Pediatric Ophthalmologist, hence, no money, but they didn't listen. 

The holiday season is in full force here.  No, we do not get time off for Thanksgiving, and at $16/lb, I will not be cooking a turkey.  We will join other ex-pats at a holiday pot-luck on Saturday, while the rest of you will be recovering from Black Friday shopping. 

Speaking of shopping, our grand plan to send special Swiss gifts to our loved ones will not happen.  Shipping is obscenely expensive (3lb package to States $40), and any package sent or received is subject to 7% VAT tax for a value over $100.   Anything not documents is subject to search, and economy shipping (half-price) takes 4-6 weeks to arrive.  Amazon.com and Amazon.de is our new friend. Amazon.de even managed to send two very happy little girls a new Wii after we fried their last one. 

Simple pleasures make all the difference, like a internet that has been up for a whole hour. 

Our New Jedi Master

Bonnie has a sister, and this force guides even the most novice apprentice through the maze of Zurich.  Meet Ovi-wan-can-go-be, the powerful GPS on Tom's new cell phone. 

Ovi guided me to the Zurich DMV where I was finally able to take possession of our new car!



We are now the proud owners of a BMW 330xi, a zippy little station wagon.  All the soccer frau's have one.  Our first mission:  pick up a used tumbler south of Zurich.  Ovi guided me faithfully once, but this was more difficult.  "Patience, use the force, think" he said, and we found our way and now have our very own tumbler.  No more crunchy socks, no more wet unmentionables.  The best part?  We only paid $100, as apposed to the $2700 quote from the rental management company, or $1500 from the local electronics store.  Feel the force Tom, install the tumbler...

All was well, with towels happily being fluffed, when the Frau decided it was time to do some vacumning.  Oops, blew a fuse, guess a hundred year old house was not built for this amount of current.  Off I go into the basement.  Crap. 

Ceramic circuits, all in German, never seen such a beast before.  Then a great Jedi Master reminded me "do or do not, there is no try."  I slayed the beast, completed the mission, fixed the fuse, and lived to tell the tale. 

Who's your Jedi Master now?



You Never Need a Watch in Switzerland...

Switzerland is famous for quality timepieces, and for being punctual.  You don't have to have a watch, however.  Just listen for the bells.

Every small township has one or more Catholic Churches, and this is the church in our town center. Most churches have belltowers that ring day and night.  One ring for 15 past the hour, two for half past the hour, you see the trend.  At the top of the hour they ring at a lower tone for the hour number, and at 7am and 5pm they merrily chime for five minutes to tell you to get out of bed, or to go home.  Yes, they chime all night long.  On a clear day when your church is done, you can hear the next one down the valley.  You find yourself subconciously counting the chimes to figure out what time it is, even when you have a watch on. 

I have braved the public transportation system again, was carded, and passed.  We have discovered that the tram line outside our road is very convenient when the weather is poor. 

But for the most part we have had very good weather by Swiss standards.

So no more run ins with power-hungry ticket checkers, or the garbage police.  Nothing to unleash the "Frau Monster."

The Curse of IKEA

My tale begins November 1, when I decided it would be best to provide curtains for the children to protect them from the pedophiles of the world, and to get a shower curtain.  What better place to go than IKEA, right?  WRONG.  Our local IKEA is approximately three times the size of WalMart, on separate floors.  There are no neat isles, they create a maze of turns so you are forced to see all the "mock-up" rooms.  A smart Frau looks at the directory to work her way through the maze efficiently.  Great idea, if you can read German!  So off I go, my quest for house linens.

I had 11/2 hours to complete my expedition.  The IKEA terminology/names of products are all created in honor of who invented them, so eventually I narrowed my search down to the KVARTAL system of hanging curtains to be compatible with what is in my house.  Running a little short on time, I battled my way to shower curtains, only to find out that the one I need is totally non standard.  Any one know where I can find a seven foot long shower curtain? 

I decided not to push my luck with time, and eventually found the exit, deciding that it was best to return another day.   You have to pay for parking here, and I could not find the kiosk to pay for parking anywhere.  I went in the store, out of the store, at the registers, outside the front.  Eventually a soul took pity on me and showed me that the kiosk is in the basement.  Logical, since most of the parking is on the first floor. 

Yesterday, I decided I would slay the IKEA beast.  I had four hours, measurements in hand, tracings of my narrow curtain railings, researched all different curtain hanging systems, and had even stretched out.  I was ready.  I went to the local train station, purchased a ticket that she said would cover me for bus/train out of Dietikon for the next 24 hours, and I was off.

The bus was bouncing through the picturesque Swiss countryside when the bus driver pulled over suddenly, and the driver made an announcement.  Four imposing looking men, dressed in blue boarded the bus.  Two on the front, two on the back, trapping the riders.  I figured out that they were ticket checkers, since the transit system is on a honor system, with periodic inspections.  No prob, just got the ticket, got it validated, I have this under control.  WRONG AGAIN!  The woman at the counter sold me the wrong ticket.  I was pulled off the bus, interrogated, forced to show my identification (thank God I had my passport), all in German.  The bus pulled away, and the men continued to harass me.  One of them spoke broken English, and I explained that I had just bought the ticket, look at the time on the ticket, I did what I was told.  No mercy, gave me a $80 bill, berated me for not knowing that had just crossed into the Canton of Argyle, and that I may not continue on my journey in the same direction. 

OK, I wept like a baby, I admit it.  I could never be a criminal.

I trudged two miles back into Dietikon, legally caught a bus, and went back to the train station that sold me the ticket.  Luckily the manager there had witnessed me buying the ticket, saw the problem, and arranged a pardon for my fine.  I was a mess. 

I still have to go to IKEA.  Next time I will be prepared with a stiff drink. 

The Uetliberg



We finally decided to act like tourists and visited the most famous mountain overlooking Zurich, the Uetliberg ("oot lee burg").  There is a tram dedicated to this trip from downtown Zurich, and many people go there on a cloudy day to get above the cloud line, but more people go there on a sunny day to enjoy the view!  We and thousands of our closest friends took the Ueitliberg tram:



We hiked up some long hills (but no monkeys!), and along the way they had a very neat 1:100,000 mock down scale of the solar system.  First there was the sun about 1 meter across, then approx 100 meters up the path, there was mercury, the size of a BB!

At the top, the views of Lake Zurich and the Alps did not dissapoint. 

Those pointy little things are the alps!

There were people, bikes and dogs scattered everywhere.  After that hike we all could have used a nap!

We posed for a picture, then it was snack time. 



We have now had Maronis, a delicacy here served by many street vendors during the fall.  We believe that they are roasted chestnuts.  They have a soft shell that splits, and inside is this etheral mixture of nutty, meaty, buttery flavor that finishes with a sweet aftertaste.  Bon Appetite!

Baby's First "Tat", and Other School Tales

Yes, the girls got their very first "tat", henna tatoo that is.  Part of the appeal of going to an International School is you get to experience holidays far and wide.  We went to a celebration of Ditwalli, the Indian festival of light.  It is a celebration of the symbolic victory of light over dark, good over evil.  The children sang a song, and ten children danced in native costume.  There were candles, and a Indian dessert made with bulgar wheat and sugar water flavored with cardamon.  The Indian mothers were very impressed that I knew that it was cardamon, and I explained that I was actually Syrian now, despite my appearance. 

The best part was henna tatoos for all!  Nicole got two, Samantha got three.  If you have never had one, they basically "piped" the design on your hand, and you wait for it to dry, where it matures to a darker brown.  This was very interesting, because it took about one hour for it to dry, most tatoos were placed on the palm of the hand, and all the children were very tempted to play with the mud that had been intentionally put on their bodies.  Most kids ended up with a big henna splotch. 

The girls seem to be very happy in school, but they miss their friends in the States greatly.  Keep those e-mails coming!  Samantha's class has the typical "cliques", and Nicole actually has a classmate similar in size to herself. 

Poor Nicole had the day of a lifetime when we first arrived.  Her very first day of school, in this very science class, she saw a film that she will never forget...

Yes, her very first Science class she saw a explicit cartoon on sex ed.  Now animal planet has helped me immensely prepare the children for this subject, but I can only imagine her poor little mind when she had to deal with the visuals. 

Nicole and Samantha are in the same "school", but the middle and lower schools are separated by floors.  Nicole even has a cool middle school lounge to hang out in.

Yes, that is a foosball table, it's very popular here. 

I'm off to school now to help Samantha's class celebrate Rabelichtli, the Swiss holiday.  This marks the end of the harvest season, celebrating the last root vegetable that comes out of the ground, the often forgotten turnip.  You carve the turnip to accept a candle, then thin the rind so the light glows through the sides.  There are parades of people carrying these turnips around to also commemorate the beginning of the winter season. 

The girls have already gotten involved with after school activities.  Samantha is doing indoor soccer (less running!), and Nicole is joining the swim team.  Yes, the school has a pool!

Not that we need one, because we are already swimming outside. 

Happy Poppy Sunday!

I thought I had heard of every iteration of church holidays, but today I learned about a new one.  Happy Poppy Sunday!  Poppy Sunday is the Sunday closest to November 11, the last day of WWI.  There was much fighting in northern France, where the poppies were growing in the fields.  Todays service was dedicated to those who have given their lives in war, and have suffered because of war.  The whole concept seems so much closer to our daily lives here, with reminders of revolutions all around.  I have never been a big history fan, but even the most die-hard science geek is moved by all this European culture. 

You will be pleased to know that dysfunctional churches exist on both sides of the Atlantic.  We have had a very interesting experience trying to acclimate to a new church.   The girls jumped right in to the rehearsals for the Christmas play, but Tom and I have had to basically beg to be in the choir.  Three weeks after asking, we have finally gotten permission to go to a rehearsal.  On the first day, the first person we met at coffee hour basically said, "you are new, so that means I haven't asked you to bring a cake to the holiday bazaar yet".  No introduction, no greetings.  When I told her at that point that we were still in a hotel and had no bakeware, she retorted that it would not be hard to get together fillings for finger sandwiches, and she would need them by 9am.  I was speechless, and I did not fufill her request.  Tom met someone today who requested that he help with the assembly and disassembly of the Christmas program set.  We counted up and we are now at a 60% request for help per introduction ratio. 

Communion has been very interesting.  First, they sip, never dip.  Dipping can spread the glutens of the wafer in the wine, affecting those with celiac disease in the congregation.  They are shocked that the girls take communion, and ask every time we are at the rail.  The girls were a little shocked too when they got their first big sip of real port from the Chalice.  Lots of face making and groaning.  You have to leave something in your seat when you go to communion, because people take your seat while you are gone!   

All these complaints, and I'm not even on the Vestry.  Remember the Church Bazaar where we paid $4 for children's books?  They made over $70,000 yesterday, by selling only donated goods. 

Well churches will never be perfect, and we will continue with our new church family.

  Happy Poppy Sunday!

Internet Woes and Flea Markets

Our internet is really funky.  It cuts out every 3.5 minutes, like clockwork.  This makes Skype conversations really interesting, surfing next to impossible, and this blog, well, iffy.  Have you ever noticed that companies say things like "if you are having problems with your internet, go to this web site," and "if you are having problems with your phone, call this number."  At least our computers are working well enough for Tom to get a virus and send an advertisement for Viagra to everyone in our church congregation.  Our VDSL connection does not refresh correctly with our DHCP, and SwissCom won't give us a Static IP address.  Tom spent two hours working on it last night, and it is a real headache. 

We decided to interact with the non-virtual world this morning and went to a yearly Holiday Bazaar sponsored by our new church.  It was advertised to be an english speaking flea market, rich in books, clothes, and baked goods.  I let the girls get as many children's books as they wanted, because they are hard to find here and typically twice the States list price.  What does a skinny little "Captain Underpants" paperback cost at a Swiss flea market?  $4.  We tried bargaining for items and were met with "but it is for the church".  Damn, it's hard to get a good deal that way.  I ended up with some "blingy" curtains for the girls room, a rug for the girls to sit on while watching "Hannah Montana" in German, lots of books, and a  puzzle for the family. 

Back home, and it's off to a new park!   Never to miss a picture opportunity, the girls posed for me. 

Nicole had lots of German homework (she's singing German Christmas Carols on Swiss radio on Monday), so Samantha had some fun with the critters.

 Guess who smiled first?

Ever wonder what the best way is to torture a cat?  Give him an outdoor aviary.   

And I thought our internet problems were difficult!

The Garbage Police

All right, all right, I know that the title of this section is not politically correct, but there is no better way to describe life here.  The good news is that Switzerland has one of the highest rates of recyling in the world, but the bad news is that they go to extremes to make sure that you are cooperating fully.  Over 90% of recycleable goods are returned, and that figure includes EVERYTHING you can think of, and many things that you never imagined could be recycled.  Here is our new recycling list and rules, posted for daily reference. 

Ok, we have the typical newspaper, magazines, and cardboard, which must be broken down to folded newspaper sized bundles, no more than 25 cm thick, and secured with special non-plastic twine.  No big deal, right?  Wrong.  A expat friend was taking her recycleables to the appropriate area, when it was discovered by the garbage police that she had accidentally enclosed a magazine with her cardboard bundle (I can hear the audible gasp across the Atlantic!)  That is an automatic $500 fine.  Allow your glass to go into the recycle bin and make a noise 1 minute before it is allowed?  $150 fine.  The garbage police will go through your bags, making sure everything is properly disposed of.  If they catch a "bad bag", they will search through the bag, to get clues to your identity to fine you. 

Some of the things that must be recycled include:

Tin cans, rinsed, dried, tops and bottoms cut out, and crushed flat:

Batteries, returned to the store which sells them
Any ceramic ware, drinking glasses
Cooking oil, used
Fluorescent and halogen bulbs
Broken electronics, returned to the store which sells them (guess this doesn't include our US Wii which we fried the first day)
Styrofoam
All plastic beverage containers, rinsed, never crushed, and returned to the store (they are washed, filled back up, and put back on the shelves!)
Any metal, old furniture, old clothes,
Any vegetable matter, including table scraps

All garbage drawers have a built in compost bin, in which all your vegetable matter, scraps, peelings, egg shells, etc. are placed.  Once it is good and rancid, you take it to your neighborhood compost bin pile, where the community will generate good soil for use.  We are lucky to have a large yard and our own compost pile, rich with fertilizer for my new rose garden.

There are strict rules on what can go in the neighborhood compost, nothing more than 2 cm long, so you see people on the side of the road with scissors and clippers, cutting the banana peels and branches into the correct size.

All this recyling has led to an interesting phenomenon.  The Swiss hate extra packaging.  There are large bins at the front of the store where you can throw boxes, styrofoam inserts, plastic wrapping or whatever may be protecting your new trinket.  The first time I saw people "debulking" their purchases, I was reminded of the chaos at Bloomingdales the day after Christmas.  Everything is packaged differently here.  There are no boxes on the cereals, meats are in bags, not styrofoam plates, so the presentation at the grocery store is very different.  

There are a few things here that are not recycleable.  Plastic bags for one.  Apparently the energy it takes to chew them up and reprocess them is not worth the recyling.  Cardboard with any waxy, waterproof coating is also rejected.  So what do you do with the few things that are not being recycled you ask?  We have rubbish collection, once a week, and you pay by the bag-full.  Literally you must put your garbage in a canton (town) approved garbage bag, and you pay $2.00/bag.  You would be amazed at how much stuff you can crush in a 35L bag (slightly smaller than one "tall garbage bag" in the US).  We can get away with one bag a week now.  Here is all the neighborhood garbage for one week:

So far we have managed to avoid the garbage police, but our adventure is just beginning...

Who's the Frau Now?

Before we set off on this adventure, my friends teased me that I would become the "Frau Betor".  Guess what?  My new title is truly Frau Betor.

What does a Frau do all day, other than skipping through the hills with her curtain-clad children, singing.  Well, mostly catch up on email, trying despirately to rent our house, and learn German through Rosetta Stone.

Don't forget the laundry, a good Frau always has her families clothes smelling springtime fresh and shirts ironed lovingly.  Well, problem folks, don't have a dryer, better known as a "tumbler" here.  They are very "unswiss" in that they use lots of energy, and it will cost us at least $1500 to get one.  Instead, I have a drying room.  Yep, a 14ft x 14ft square room dedicated to drying clothes.  Oh, a good frau loves to hang up the unmentionables!

But wait, it gets better!  It takes about 2 days for your clothes to dry by this method, and the unmentionables previously mentioned get a little, should we say, stiff?  So off I go to get fabric softener.  This is highly "unswiss" of me, ruins the water supply, promotes unrecyclable garbage, etc.  My purchase of said product was met with considerable distain.  Enough is enough, life is too short for stiff undergarments.  Perhaps I have discovered why the Germans are not the cheeriest people, but I digress!

So it is on to homework time, but that has been a little difficult without furniture.  Check out Nicole's favorite reading spot...

Yep, the kitchen counter.  That sea shipment can't come soon enough!  We do have a "new" dining room table, and lots of rosemary bushes that we have gotten from other ex-pats:

Notice the standing lamp in the foreground.  This bad boy gets moved on it's extension cord whereever we need it, because there are no permanent light fixtures in this house.  Just like no curtains, you get no light fixtures.  Not a big deal, but because all the ceilings and walls are made of concrete, you must drill into the concrete to install a light, which means you have to repair the concrete and remove the lights when you leave.  Our house was somewhat unique because on some of  the walls we have this elegant fixture...

We don't have any lights our the living room, so we depend on our huge windows.  Crap, we have another leaf situation!

A Frau's work is never done!