Last Friday, Claire and I went to one of our friends' houses to play and hang out with a group of moms and kids. In the group of moms were 2 moms from Ireland, one from South Africa, and me. At some point, the conversation turned to talk of bread. The South African mom said that she bought some bread the other day that was called "American Sandwich Bread" because it was already sliced and seemed easier. But then she was disgusted when she realized that after 5 days of being in the pantry, the bread had not grown any mold and was just as soft as when she had put it in there. One of the other moms said "Can you imagine the preservatives that are in that bread? I am sure that bread is not really like that in America!" Sheepishly, I said "Yes, that is how the bread is in America unless you buy the organic stuff that specifically says it contains no preservatives." Cue the looks of shock and disgust from the other moms. That got me thinking about the food in Switzerland compared to the food in the US. In our apartment here, the pantry is tiny and the refrigerator is even tinier. At first, this seemed like a big annoyance to me because I would have to go to the grocery store much more often. Now, however, I realize that the food here spoils much quicker than it does in the US. Because everything is so much more natural here, it behaves as food should. It is for that reason that I have to go to the store at least every other day to get our groceries, not because of the small refrigerator. Furthermore, when I'm at the grocery store, choosing produce or meat or milk, it is rare that I see a sign for the name and price food that does not have a Swiss flag on it. Almost everything I find in the grocery store was grown locally, right here in Switzerland. After having to make such an effort to buy locally grown produce in the Chicago area, it is nice to be able to walk right into the big supermarket and find it right there on the shelf, and so clearly marked. I feel happy and proud to feed my family and myself this food, knowing that it's fresh and natural. And, of course, super delicious after I cook it for them. Ha! Actually, my cooking skills are improving rapidly now that I cook every meal at home. So when you come visit, and I know you all will, you'll get to have some delicious, locally grown food prepared by yours truly!
Yesterday, I was washing dishes, listening to my favorite Phoenix morning radio show on my brand new iPhone, and Claire was playing around in the kitchen. Suddenly, I felt her standing next to me, and I saw my iPhone drop from her little hand right into the dish water. I quickly took it out of the water and dried it off and put it into a bag of dry rice, which is what the internet said to do. The thing is that it would not shut off! I would turn it off and it would turn itself right back on. Then, it started making crazy noises and I realized it was randomly calling people! I don't even know how many times it called one of my new Swiss friends before I realized it was doing it. That was embarrassing! Later in the evening, when it called her again, Gordon tried to get it to stop that and we realized that more of the features were working than before, so I have high hopes that its functioning will continue to improve as it rests in its bag of rice.
After dealing with the phone debacle, I had to head off to my French lesson. I hopped on my bike and tried to forget about the phone as I rode to my lesson. My French lesson partner and I were told last time that we would have a new addition to our French class beginning this week and that the new addition would be at the same level as us. The new addition happened to be one of Gordon's coworkers who Gordon had told me about and I had invited to come out with my friends and me for a girls' night out this Thursday, but it took me a while to figure out that it was her because I had never met her. Gordon had told me that she had recently moved here by herself from Chile and didn't know too many people, so I should ask her to come along with us. So I sent the email to Gordon and he forwarded it on to her. After learning her name, her nationality, and some personal details throughout the French lesson yesterday, I realized that the girl in the class was the girl Gordon had told me about. So at the end of class, I asked her and it was indeed the same person. It was good to meet her in person and I was happy to hear that she will indeed be joining us for dinner on Thursday. What a coincidence!
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