Wednesday

Yesterday was Tuesday, which used to be known as laundry day.  Because we have our own washing machine now, any day can be laundry day!  To celebrate, I did not do any laundry yesterday.  Instead, Claire and I went to the beach.  It was a hot day yesterday, so this was just what we needed.  We packed up the beach blanket and toys and walked over to the beach in La-Tour-de-Peilz, which is about a 10 minute walk.  The beach was pretty crowded when we got there because there were a bunch of school kids there for their lunch break.  School doesn't let out till next week here!  After the kids left, we pretty much had the beach to ourselves.  Claire had a blast digging in the pebbles (no sand on these beaches) and splashing in the water.  I don't have any photos this time because I was in the water with her!

This weekend, we have booked a hotel in Italy!  About 3 hours away from us is Verbania, Italy.  It's on Lake Maggiore.  Our hotel is right on the lake and has a pool and a beach, so I hope the weather is good.  I'm looking forward to exploring a new town and, of course, to eating some real Italian food.

Last weekend was awesome.  On Saturday, we drove to Gimmelwald, just outside of Interlaken.  We took a cable car/funicular up to the town of Gimmelwald and explored this little mountain town.  Rick Steves (google him) said it was a must-do and he was right.  We had our lunch at picnic tables that had a magnificent view of the Alps.  Then, we walked through the little village.  I can't even think of the words to describe this town.  All I know is that I loved it and its charm.  Next, we hiked up to Murren, another mountain town.  Charming and adorable, but bigger and more touristy than Gimmelwald.  We explored Murren and enjoyed relaxing here before we got the funicular back down to our car.

On Sunday, we walked over to the beach and let Claire splash around while we dipped our feet in the water.  Then, we set out to find some lunch in Vevey.  We grabbed some "kebab" and fruit from a little shop and walked over to the lakeside path to eat it.  Then, in the evening, we headed over to our friends' house for a barbeque.  It was awesome.  Great food, great company, and a great time had by all.

Monday, we both began our French lessons.  Gordon has one-on-one lessons.  Because I am a spouse of an employee, I am entitled to semi-private, rather than private, lessons.  I have a partner for my lessons.  He is a stay-at-home dad from Mexico and his wife also works for Nestle.  It is very interesting to have French lessons with someone who speaks a different language!  After 1.5 hours, I already felt like I had re-learned quite a bit, so I am confident that by the end of these lessons, I will have improved enormously.

Although I miss my family, friends, and dogs terribly, I am truly enjoying our time here.  I occasionally have a homesick day, but that tends to be on the days where something goes wrong (like the laundry!).  Most days, though, I just can not believe that we are so lucky to be here, doing this.

Craigslist

For some reason, Gordon and I decided that we would not need our pack and play (portable crib/playpen) in Switzerland.  Therefore, we did not bring it with us.  Nor did we ship it with our other belongings.  As we make plans to travel on the weekends, it has become evident that we will in fact need our pack and play.  If you know me well, you know that I love Craigslist.  Fortunately for me, Switzerland has a Craigslist.  After searching the Swiss Craigslist, which is all in French, I found a nice pack and play and went to pick it up today.  Getting there was a harrowing experience as I had to drive through vineyards on teeny, tiny roads with hairpin turns.  However, when I arrived, a very nice French woman was there in the driveway to greet me.  She showed me the pack and play, I agreed to buy it, we chatted a bit about where we were from and found that both of our husbands work for Nestle.  I left her house with a pack and play and an invitation to come back to their house with Gordon soon for drinks and appetizers (aperitifs, as she called them).  I love Craigslist!

Oh happy day!

Today, my knight in shining armor came home with the answer to many of the problems I've had since we arrived in Switzerland. He came home with a washing machine!

After he gets a connector or something tomorrow, I will be able to do laundry in the privacy of my own apartment. No cash card needed!

And the best part...it came with instructions in ENGLISH!!! I'll actually know how to wash my clothes!

Isn't it beautiful?




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Figuring it out

Tuesday has come and gone again.  The dreaded laundry day was awful again this week.  Because the laundry card we were given with our apartment was about to expire, I was unable to fill it with money.  I was also unable to get a new card on short notice.  Therefore, I was unable to do my laundry on Tuesday.  My one day of week to do laundry was not to be this week.  That pretty much ruined my day.  I moped around most of the day, snuggling with Claire in the apartment and longing for my own washing machine.

Today, I woke up with a better attitude, ready for a big play date at my friend's house.  There were 5 moms and 8 kids and it was great.  All of the kids had fun, as did all of us moms!  I am extremely fortunate to have quickly found some wonderful friends here in Switzerland.  So wonderful, in fact, that one of those friends, the host of the play date, said I could bring my laundry over to her house and do it while everyone played.  Problem solved!  I drove home with a sleeping toddler in the back seat and a huge basket full of wet laundry waiting to be hung all over the apartment.

Making these new friends in Switzerland has gotten me to thinking about all of the friends in my life and just how fortunate I have been in this respect.  In every stage of my life, in every place that I have been, I have met amazing people who have become dear friends.  I cherish these friendships and I can only hope that I have been a good friend to those who've been so good to me.  So, to my friends who are reading this, I love you and I cherish you.  And I want you to come visit me in Switzerland.

Things I cannot seem adjust to in Switzerland

There are several things that I can't seem to get used to in Switzerland.

1.  In the grocery store, eggs are not refrigerated.  They sit in their cartons on the shelf.

2.  In the grocery store, a lot of the milk is not refrigerated.  It sits in its cartons on the shelf.

3.  Cars stop for pedestrians at all crosswalks, whether there is a light or not.  I always wait to make sure the car will stop before I begin to cross.  I think the drivers get annoyed with me because it takes me forever to get across this way!

4.  The money.  It still seems like play money to me.

5.  The love of rules in Switzerland.  The Swiss love to make and follow rules.  Just yesterday in the grocery store, there was a man who got into the "12 items or less" line and proceeded to count the amount of items that each person in front of him had in their baskets.  He gave them so much grief if they had more than 12.  It was amusing to Gordon and me.  I was happy that we had not chosen to get into that line as we definitely had more than 12 items.

Lazy day

Today is Sunday, Father's Day, and a very lazy day for us.  We had a slow start to the morning, just playing around the apartment.  After lunch, we headed out to a brocante, or flea market, in a neighboring town.  We were hoping to find some things with which to furnish our apartment, but it was mostly antiques.  Very expensive antiques.  We did find some little books for Claire, all written in French.  After we walked around the flea market, it was time to play at the park.  All of the kids at the park were bigger than Claire, but she did her best to keep up.

Now she is napping and I'm reflecting on the past week.  It was mostly a good week.

Laundry day was, of course, a huge pain.  My clothes got stuck in one of the washing machines and after trying to open the door for about 10 minutes, I looked in the manual that was given to us with this apartment.  The manual said that if the door doesn't open, I should pull on the yellow cord at the bottom of the machine.  To me, the yellow cord looked like exposed wire.  But I pulled on it and alas, the door popped open and my clothes were free at last.  Our apartment looked crazy again with clothes hanging on every available surface.  Gordon came home from work that night with drying racks and saved the day.

On Wednesday, Claire and I met up with some new friends at a beach/park nearby.  I didn't bring Claire's swimsuit because I thought she wouldn't be interested in going in the water, but I was wrong.  She wanted in as soon as we arrived.  One of the other moms gave us an extra swim diaper and I let Claire go in with her t-shirt on.  Here she is, testing the water.

The kids enjoyed the water and the park while the other 3 moms and I enjoyed some good conversation.  We shared a picnic lunch and took advantage of a beautiful day.

After a fun day at the beach, I had a meeting at the language school to discuss my French lessons.  Gordon's company is paying for us to each have French lessons.  Gordon will have private lessons and I'll have lessons with one other student who is around the same level.  I look forward to beginning these lessons as I have forgotten so much of what I had learned!  I am able to have conversations with people in French, but I often struggle to think of a word.  And my grammar is awful!  My French teachers/professors would be horrified!  Soon, I hope that will all change.

On Thursday, one of the other moms and I met up again at a park in Vevey (the town in which we live).  The park has a big kiddie pool right in the middle.  This time, I remembered Claire's swimsuit and she had a blast in the water.

Playing at the park after swimming.

On Friday, I went to a playgroup that is run by wives of men who work at the company where Gordon works.  For some reason, this playgroup left me feeling very homesick.  The other moms were all very nice, so I'm not sure why I was so sad afterwards.

Fortunately, Gordon came home from work early that day.  And he came home with our new (to us) car!  Yep, we only lasted just shy of 3 weeks without a car.  Living here is definitely doable without a car, but it is so much easier with a car.  We will still walk almost everywhere we need to go, but it will be nice to have the car when we need it.  We got a great deal on the car from a family who was moving back to the USA.

Here's our car, a big silver station wagon.  Good luck to me trying to parallel park that thing.  Thankfully, it has those back-up sensors to yell at me when I'm getting too close to another car.

Friday evening, we took advantage of having a car by going out to dinner and doing a bunch of errands.  We came home with full bellies, a rain cover for our umbrella stroller, a GPS for the car, and some delicious Swiss ice cream.  If you have access to Movenpick ice cream, try it.  It's awesome.

Here's a photo of our drive home.

Saturday morning, we woke up to rain.  We had arranged to buy a crib from a family who is moving to London, and we got the car just in time to go pick it up.  Can you imagine bringing a crib home on a train? Me neither.  On the way home from picking up the crib, I decided that it was time for me to try my hand at driving in Switzerland.  I was nervous because there are roundabouts everywhere here and the stoplights can be very confusing.  It went much better than I had anticipated, though, and I feel like I will be fine to drive by myself.

Today, I'm looking forward at the week ahead.  My mom friends and I have talked about taking a boat across Lake Geneva to France on Friday if the weather is nice.  Claire and I will not be returning to the playgroup this week.  Maybe when I've adjusted more.  Tuesday is, of course, laundry day, which I dread. Wednesday, Gordon will have a meeting with a relocation agent who will help us find our permanent apartment.  I can not wait to start looking!

Tuesday

Well, it's Tuesday again.  That means it's laundry day.  My least favorite day of the week.  Yes, it is possible to have a least favorite day of the week after only living somewhere for 2 weeks!  Last laundry day, I worked on the laundry for every minute of my 6 allotted hours.  And after 6 hours, not one single item that I had washed and dried was completely dry.  Not one.  Since then, we have learned that dryers just aren't the same here in Switzerland as they are in the states.  In fact, most people who live in houses here don't even have dryers.  They hang dry everything.  Everything!  Last week when nothing was dry, I had every bit of our laundry hanging on every single hangable surface in the apartment.  Our apartment looked like a Hoarders episode.  At the time, I was too mad to see the humor in it.  Now, however, I can look back on it and laugh.  And buy a bunch of drying racks and clothes pins.

After the dreadful laundry day last week, the week to a turn for the better.  Much, much better.  On Wednesday, I went to a meeting of the American International Women's Club of Lausanne.  This is a club not just for Americans, but for English speaking women of any nationality.  These women were so kind and welcoming.  All of them are "trailing spouses" like me.  We have all moved from our home country with our husbands for our husbands' jobs.  Some of them had just begun their adventure, just like me.  And some of them have been at it for 20 years or more!  Claire and I spent 2 hours chatting with all of these women and we left the meeting with a renewed feeling of excitement for the life that is ahead of us.  Just what we needed after Tuesday!  I will continue to go to these meetings and will probably become a member of the club.  

On Friday, Claire and I took the train to another town to meet up with a mom and her 2 kids at a park.  I had found this mom on an English-speaking forum for expatriates in Switzerland.  She is from Canada and speaks both French and English.  We connected immediately and had a fun time and will get together again this Wednesday with some more moms and kids.  

Then came the weekend.  On Saturday morning, we picked up the car we had rented for the long weekend.  We immediately headed to France.  We did some shopping in France, where things are much less expensive, and then we headed to Annecy.  Annecy is considered the Venice of France.  It was gorgeous.  Beautiful old buildings, canals, mountains in the background.  Just beautiful.

  

On the way back from France, we stopped to do some grocery shopping as the grocery stores would be closed on Sunday (because they always are closed on Sunday) and on Monday, for Pentecost.

Sunday morning, we packed a picnic lunch, got our hiking gear on, and headed out to do our first hike in Switzerland.  We went to Moleson, which was a short drive from Vevey.  We ate our picnic lunch and then got on the funicular, which took us to the top of the mountain.  From there, we snapped some photos, had a look around at the gorgeous view, and took the funicular back halfway down to begin our hike.

It was a gorgeous hike the whole way.  Claire enjoyed riding in her carrier on Gordon's back.  I enjoyed not having to carry her on my back!  

It always amazes me in Europe to see the ease with which Europeans hike down/up these mountains.  They look as though they're walking down a sidewalk while we struggle to maintain our footing!  It is my goal to be like them by the end of our time here.  

On our hike down, we could hear cowbells.  And lots of them.  We found the cows about halfway down.  Claire and Gordon went over to get a closer look.  And then the cows started to walk over to Claire and Gordon to get a closer look.  And then we left because that was kind of freaky!

Monday morning, we had a relaxing morning and then headed to Montreux for the afternoon.  This is the town next to Vevey.  It's considered a resort town and it was beautiful.  There is a boardwalk all along the water.  There were many people out and about, enjoying their day off work.  We had lunch, took in the sights, and played with Claire at a park.

After returning home and having dinner, we headed back out to check out Lutry, a town in which I hope we might find a permanent apartment.  We headed down to the lake and walked along the water, coming to a park and a beach.  Claire enjoyed playing here with some other little ones.  We explored the little town along the water and I loved it!  I really hope we're able to find a place here when we begin our search.

 There was a little picnic table in a little house at the top of the slide.  Claire had a seat here and did not want to leave!

Looking out from the beach in Lutry.

Someday, I will jump off of that diving board on that platform in the lake!

So, today, Gordon is back at work.  Claire is napping.  I am blogging.  And preparing for 12:00 when my laundry time will begin.  I pray that it goes better than last week!

Dessert

One of the benefits of life in Switzerland: bakeries on every corner with loads of delicious treats waiting to be eaten.
One of the drawbacks of life in Switzerland: bakeries on every corner with loads of delicious treats waiting to be eaten.

This is dessert for tonight. If it lasts till then!

Frustration

Today, I am frustrated with learning to live in a new country.  It seems that everything I have tried to do today has not gone well.

First, Claire woke up on the whiny side of the bed.  That's never a pleasant way to start a day.

After having some breakfast, we headed out to knock some things off of our to-do list.  First, I walked 20 minutes to the cell phone store.  Upon arrival at the cell phone store, I was told that before we can get cell phones, Gordon has to print something out at work that verifies his employment.  Until then, we can't begin the process of getting cell phones here.  Strike one.  Furthermore, when we can start the process, it's going to take 2 weeks to actually get the phone because iPhones are on backorder.  Two weeks doesn't seem like a terribly long time, but let me tell you that there is something unsettling about being out and about with just me and Claire in a foreign country and no way to contact anyone.  So I want a cell phone!  Having had a cell phone since my early college years (I don't even want to add up how long that is), I depend on it for a sense of security.  But I will wait...

Next, we walked over to the train station.  I wanted to buy a half fare card.  For a set price, I will be able to buy a card that lasts one year and entitles me to buy all train fares at half price.  Since I will have to take the train to meet with the other moms and kids on Wednesday and Friday, I wanted to get the card today.  Upon arrival at the train station, I was told that I need an passport-sized photo of myself in order to get the card.  I did not have a passport photo.  Strike two.

After leaving the train station, I figured we would head to the grocery store for the supplies we needed for tonight's dinner.  I didn't want to morning to be a total waste.  But alas, I forgot the grocery list.  And Gordon requested fettucini alfredo for dinner.  No way did I have those ingredients memorized.  So I couldn't get our shopping done.  This meant that I would have to go back to the store later during my precious, once-a-week laundry time.  Strike three.

Isn't it supposed to be that after three strikes, you're out?  Well, my luck, or lack thereof, kept going.

We came back to the apartment and I got Claire ready for her nap.  She had her milk and I put her down.  I busied myself with cleaning the apartment and getting the laundry ready for later.  Claire was in there chattering away, taking forever to fall asleep.  After about 40 minutes, she was finally quiet.  When she woke up an hour and a half later, I realized why it took her so long.  I had forgotten to turn off the light!  Strike four.

While Claire napped, it was time to start on the much-needed and much-awaited laundry.  When we move from our temporary apartment to a permanent one of our choosing, we are going to buy our own washer and dryer.  I can not deal with this one time a week laundry deal for very long.  So I carried the laundry down and got started.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  I could not figure out how to work those darn machines.  Everything on them is written in German, French, and Italian.  What's wrong with English?!  After wasting about 3 and a half Swiss Francs trying to figure the machines out (strike five), my clothes were finally washing.

Upstairs I went and prepared lunch for Claire and me.  When Claire awoke from her bright nap, we had lunch and then headed out to the grocery store.  I found all the ingredients for Gordon's fettucini alfredo and boy, were they expensive!  We paid for the groceries and headed out.  Into the pouring rain.  Strike six.  I had remembered the rain cover for Claire's stroller, but I forgot an umbrella for myself.  So I got completely soaked.  Also, I was wearing flip flops.  Do you know how hard it is to walk up the hills of Vevey in wet flip flops?  It's pretty darn hard.

So we got back to the apartment, dried off, and went to check the laundry.  I could not get one of the washing machines open, no matter what I did!  Strike seven.  I tried everything.  After having visions of calling the French-speaking building guy to tell him I broke the washing machine, I tried paying for another spin cycle.  That did the trick.  After spinning the clothes again, to the tune of 1 Swiss Franc, I was able to get my clothes out.  

Did I mention that it's only 3:30 p.m.?

So all of these things by themselves are just little things, but added all together, they're making me a very frustrated American right now.  I long for my own house with my own washing machine and my own dryer and a car that takes me, nice and dry, to and from the grocery store.

Another day, another park

After lunch today, we decided to go for a walk. We came across a large park that we had not seen before. There was a little boy playing there who was probably a year older than Claire. Of course, Claire wanted to do everything that little boy wanted to do. He climbed a hill, she climbed a hill. He ran down a hill, she ran down a hill. He played in the sand, she played in the sand. After she was finished playing with the little boy, we explored a little more and found this fountain. Then it was all over. All Claire wanted to do was play in the fountain. If we had let her, she would have jumped right in! When it was time to leave the park, fountain included, there were plenty of tears. Now we're home, though, and Claire is napping. After dinner, we'll go find another park and hopefully some more little kids. But we'll stay away from fountains.

walking

Because we don't have a car here in Switzerland, we walk everywhere.  It's a very nice change of pace for me.  I like the fact that we can walk to everything we need in less than 15 minutes.  I have probably done more walking in the past week than I had in the previous 2 months.  Already, some pants that were tight on me before we left are no longer tight.

Today, while Claire napped, I ventured out to the grocery store by myself.  I grabbed our reusable bags (Switzerland is all about being green) and took our list and walked to the store.  When I arrived, I put my 2 Swiss franc coin (worth about $2.40 American dollars) in the little slot on the shopping cart, detached my cart from the others (just like Aldi in the states), and went about searching for the things on our list.  As I filled up the cart with these things, I had to constantly remind myself that whatever I bought, I had to carry home in my reusable bags.  The bag of potatoes and the 2 different kinds of milk had me a little bit worried.  However, all of the stores are closed on Sundays in Switzerland.  Sundays in Switzerland are considered a day to do an activity with your family, an activity that does not include shopping.  Therefore I needed to buy all of the food we would need until Monday afternoon when I could go to the store again.  So I would need the potatoes and the milk.  I made my way over to the cashier, paid for my groceries, and put them all into my reusable bags.  I returned my cart, got my 2 Swiss Francs back, and began the trek back to our apartment.  Man, those bags were heavy!  After a slight detour (I'm still learning my way around), I made it back in one piece.  And we will have all of the food we need until Monday!

I feel very accomplished today.

Thoughts

Things that are popular in Switzerland
1.  Razor scooters for adults
2.  Rollerblading
3.  Rat tails on little boys
4.  Mullets on little boys
5.  Bringing dogs into banks, stores, etc.

Some things I forgot...

Some things I forgot to write:

1) Claire has a cold.  So she is now ultra jet lagged and super snotty.  Poor thing.

2) A 2 bedroom apartment is much easier to mess up than a 3 bedroom house.  But it is also much easier to clean.

3) We haven't bought any chocolate yet.  What is wrong with us?!

Okay, more later!

We're here!

Today is Wednesday, June 1.  We have officially lived in Switzerland for 2 days now!  

The flight from Chicago was great.  Claire slept almost the whole time.  She woke up at the very end of the flight just before we landed.  Our layover in England was quick and kind of difficult.  We had to go through security a second time, which proved to be very difficult as we had carried on so much stuff!  

The flight from London to Geneva was easy enough.  Claire was awake the whole time, but she was easily entertained.  We had the shock of the century when we walked out to baggage claim and EVERY SINGLE ONE of our bags was already there on the luggage carousel waiting for us!  

Nestle hired a driver to pick us up at the airport.  It was a good thing he had a little trailer on the back of his van because we needed it for our 7 suitcases and 5 carry-ons!  After a beautiful drive around Lake Geneva, we arrived at our hotel in Vevey.  The hotel was very nice, with a wonderful view of the Lake.  From our window, we could see a beach with a lot of people on it and there were even two swans on the beach (not us, but real swans)!  Beyond the beach were the gorgeous mountains the we can see from all of Vevey.  

After checking into the hotel and getting settled, we walked to a grocery store to get some food for dinner. Going into the grocery store was overwhelming, to say the least.  Everything was written in French and the food is just so different.  We ended up with a baguette, ham, cheese, fruit, and crackers.  We walked over to the beach and enjoyed a little picnic there with a gorgeous view.  Claire loved watching all the kids playing on the beach and at the adjoining park.  This was a perfect first evening in our new town.

We then went back to the hotel and got ready for bed.  At about 8, we were all very tired from our long journey, so we got in bed.  Claire fell asleep pretty easily, as did Gordon.  I was unable to sleep because I can never sleep in new places very well.  At about 10:00, Claire woke up crying, so I gave her some milk and settled her back into her pack and play.  She went back to sleep only to wake up again at about midnight.  This time, she would not go back to sleep.  She stayed up for about 2 hours, just playing around and jumping on the bed.  At about 2, we were finally able to get her to go back down to sleep.  We all had to get up at 8 a.m. because we had a 10 a.m. date with the relocation agent who would take us to our temporary apartment.  

We lugged all of our luggage back down to the lobby and shortly after 10, the agent arrived, as did 2 taxis (for all of our stuff!).  After a short drive, we arrived at our new home for the next three months.  It's a 2 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom apartment.  It's clean and simple and the appliances are TINY!!!  The fridge is about the size of the one I had in my dorm room in college.  The oven is tiny too.  Arriving at our apartment was pretty overwhelming for me.  We had read before we came that the Swiss love to make and follow rules.  Well, it's true!  We are only allowed to use the laundry facilities on Tuesdays from noon to 6 p.m.  I am going to have to get very creative about stain removal for my messy toddler.  The garbage/recycling business is super confusing and we still don't know what we're doing with that.  Food waste goes in one kind of bag, true garbage goes in another, and they separate and recycle everything.  We are not sure exactly what gets recycled and what doesn't, so we have some homework to do.

After getting settled in the apartment and putting Claire down for a nap, we went to the bank to open a bank account.  We officially have a Swiss bank account!  We also went to the grocery store again to get food for dinner.  Next, we went to a big department store to get some necessities.  I can not believe how much French I have spoken already.  Many of the people that we have encountered do not speak English, so I have had to speak French with them.  It's challenging, but do-able.  I am very happy that we chose to relocate to a country in which I could speak the language.  I can not imagine doing this in a place where I didn't know any of the language!  

Last night was pretty rough with Claire.  She went to bed at 8, then woke up at 9:45, wanting to play.  She didn't go back to sleep till about 1:30.  I think that because of jet lag, she thinks bedtime is nap time and she wakes up ready to play.  After she finally fell asleep, we all slept until 10:30 this morning!  After a quick breakfast, we headed out again to finish our business at the bank and then did some more food and necessity shopping.  It is fun to look at all of the different products in the stores here.  Some things are almost the same as in the states, like Pampers diapers.  And some things are so very different.  Planning meals has been pretty challenging, but I think we will quickly get the hang of it. 

So it is now our third evening in Switzerland.  Claire is down for her 8 p.m. nap, I'm blogging, and Gordon is doing some homework on living in Switzerland.  These first three days have been challenging, overwhelming, and difficult, but I do think that we are going to love it here.