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.