The Circus

Today was a very cool and cloudy Sunday, which made it a perfect day to sit around the house in our pajamas and play.  However, after Claire's nap, she and I were both pretty antsy, so despite the brisk weather, we headed out to the lake.  Claire talked me into letting her ride the carousel, which usually does not end well.  This time, however, she happily stayed on her horse throughout the entire ride and did not insist that I hold her.  I consider that a victory for both of us!  When the carousel ride was over, we walked a bit farther down the lakeside path and happened upon the area where the circus is currently set up.  I had completely forgotten that the circus was in town and was therefore pleasantly surprised to see three elephants hanging out in the Place du Marche, where the Vevey farmers' market is usually held.  Claire was also delighted to see the elephants.  After checking them out for a couple minutes, she said "Mama, I smell like elephants," which is her way of saying that she smells elephants.  But, we'll stick with "I smell like elephants" because it's funnier her way.

Next to the elephants were the zebras and camels, hanging out together behind a makeshift enclosure.  Sometimes, it's very clear to see that we are not in the United States.  The zebras and camels were a perfect example of this in that they were behind a short, flimsy fence and people were feeding them popcorn from their hands and petting them!  No one from the circus was watching or regulating this, so Claire and I kept our distance.  Claire saw the big circus tent and asked if we could go in, but alas, we did not buy tickets, so we could not go in.  Maybe next year!


Here's the tent, which will probably be gone by tomorrow morning.

It's kind of hard to see in this picture, but if you look closely, you can see the camels on the right hand side of the picture, the elephants on the left, and Lake Geneva and the French Alps in the background.

The circus coming to town made for a very interesting Sunday afternoon, even if we didn't buy tickets!

Back at it!

After a little more than 4 weeks back in the US, Claire and I returned to Switzerland last Saturday with big plans.  Fortunately for me and our fellow passengers, Claire was an angel on both flights, sleeping most of the first flight (8 hours to Denmark), and quietly playing with my iPad on the second flight (2 hours from Denmark to Switzerland).  Even though these marathon flights are becoming bizarrely commonplace for me, I am still unable to sleep on the plane, so I was exhausted upon arrival.  Claire, however, was full of energy and ecstatic about seeing her daddy after a month away, running past customs and out into the arrivals area to find him and give him more than a few loving hugs.

Jet lag got the best of me again this time, causing much stress and anxiety.  For the first four nights, Claire slept a few hours, then got up and played for a few hours before sleeping through until the morning when I had to literally drag her out of her bed at about 8:30 a.m.  On that fifth night, though, she slept all the way through the night, surprising and delighting both Gordon and me and allowing us all to get some much needed sleep.

On Tuesday, Claire and I headed to IKEA to get some things for the apartment and as we walked in, she said "Oh, we're going to Target?" to which I replied "Only in my dreams, Claire."

On Wednesday, in a fog of jet lag induced fatigue and grumpiness, I stupidly had my iPhone in my pocket while using the bathroom when the phone fell out of my pocket and into the toilet.  Despite my best efforts to revive it, the phone is now completely broken, never to be used again.  I am going to miss that phone, but really, I should count myself lucky that it worked for a year after Claire put it into the kitchen sink last year while I was washing dishes!

On Thursday, Claire and I went to visit a potential preschool for her.  In our part of Switzerland, these are called "jardin d'enfants", which translates to "kindergarten" in German or "garden of children" in English.  About 6 months ago, when we first considered sending her to preschool, Gordon and I visited 2 other places, neither of which seemed to be a good fit for Claire.  After waiting 6 months and going through the search process again, I was cautiously optimistic about this new place after communicating via email with the director while we were in the US.  Claire was excited about the visit when I told her we were going to look at a school.  As soon as we walked into the jardin d'enfants on Thursday morning, I had a good feeling about the place.  The atmosphere was warm and welcoming, the toys were plentiful, and the kids that were finishing up their mornings were happy.  After talking to the director/teacher and seeing how she interacted with Claire, I was sold.  This place seems to be a great fit for Claire and Gordon and I decided that she will start going there 2 mornings per week beginning November 2.  I have requested that the teacher speak French with Claire unless it is necessary that she speak English.  I am very curious to see how that will play out and I can not wait to hear the French words that Claire will bring home with her!

Friday night in Switzerland

On Friday afternoon, at 4:30, Gordon's boss's wife arrived at our apartment with her two teenage daughters, our baby-sitters for the evening. This was to be our first time leaving Claire with teenaged baby-sitters. I was a bit nervous, mostly about bedtime. I hoped she would go to sleep for them without difficulty. After the girls got acquainted with Claire, we moms headed out to meet our husbands at their office. We had some big plans!

After picking up the guys, we drove up into the mountains to a pig farm. That's right: our big Friday night would happen at a pig farm. Upon arrival at a very swiss house, I was introduced to several of Gordon's coworkers and also to the owner of the farm. The owner is a man who used to work closely with Gordon's group at work, but has since left the corporate world to focus on his passion: ham.

Introductions finished, we got back in the cars and drove farther up the mountain to the actual farm. This was unlike any farm I have ever seen. The pigs were kept in an enormous fenced-in area, perched on the mountainside, overlooking lake Neuchatel and the Swiss Alps.




The pigs themselves were also very unusual. They were very wooly, black pigs which I had only previously seen in the zoo in Switzerland.




The farmer took his time describing to us the way that the pigs are raised. They are fed only locally-grown foods. They are never fed corn or soy, for fear that they will fatten too quickly and their fat will be on the periphery as opposed to in the muscle. A normal pig in Switzerland is ready to be slaughtered after only 4 months because of the amount of corn and soy that they are fed, but these pigs are not ready until they are 18 months old. Clearly, these pigs are a huge investment.

After seeing the pigs and their homes, we drove back to the house and we watched a small presentation on how the pigs become ham. This was bit strange to watch after having just seen the pigs enjoying themselves in the mud. It was also extremely impressive. The amount of pride that these farmers take in their pigs and then their ham is enormous. They have considered every detail, down to using locally produced salt to cure the ham.

After the presentation, we went down to the cellar, where the ham hangs for 18 months to 3 years, aging like a fine wine or cheese.





And finally, after seeing the hams hanging in the cellar, it was time to taste the ham. It was hard for me to get the image of those cute pigs out of my head, but I managed to do just that. The ham was delicious! The way that it was cut and served was what we think of as prosciutto. We tried it all different ways: more and less aged, more and less dried, cut very thin (chiffonade) and cut thick.





And of course, like all Swiss meals, there was an abundance of cheese and wine to be consumed. We tried more and less aged Gruyere as well as some very strong Roquefort (blue cheese), all locally produced. It turned about to be a very interesting and delicious evening with great company.

After finishing the evening with espressos, we headed back to Vevey, where our baby-sitters reported that Claire had had a lot of fun and had gone to bed without a fuss. The apartment was tidy, the dishes were washed, and they asked if they could please baby-sit Claire again some time. Of course we said yes!


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A run with a view

I've recently begun running again after not having done it since we moved to Switzerland. It was shockingly easy to get back into it and I think it has everything to do with what I look at while I run.






Running along the lake, with a view of those still-snow-covered mountains, 3 miles seems like nothing at all.

A friend and I have decided to sign up for a 10k (6 mile) race in June in Bern, another city in Switzerland. Bern is a city I have not yet visited, so this race will not only give me the opportunity to get in shape, but also to see another city in this beautiful country. I hope can keep up my training when I'm in the USA for a month!



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Two!

Last week, while we were in Germany, our sweet girl turned two!  To celebrate with her friends, we had a little party yesterday.  

The party guests and the birthday girl played with play doh,

Then they decorated cupcakes,

Then they tried some of the decorations,

And then decorated some more,

And tried some sprinkles,

And then it was time for gift opening.  Claire was a very gracious recipient of the gifts and said "WOW!" as she opened each one.  She was adorable!

Then it was time to try out one of the gifts...a game called Elefun.  The kids had fun trying to catch the butterflies that flew out of the elephant's trunk.

It was a great party and Claire had a lot of fun.  I still can't believe my baby is two!

License to Drive

After getting all of our paperwork in order, we went to the Swiss equivalent of the DMV today and we are now the proud owners of Swiss drivers' licenses.

It is exciting to finally have these drivers licenses and it is a huge relief.  Fortunately, people from the USA do not have to take a drivers' test in order to obtain a Swiss license.  We just had to get eye tests done at an optometrist, get photos taken at a photo store, get someone from at the Vevey city hall to sign off on a piece of paper verifying our entry date into Switzerland, and then we brought it all to the DMV.  After a less than 10 minute wait, we handed over all of our papers and we were handed our drivers' licenses.  The efficiency with which this happened was truly amazing.  The Illinois DMV could learn a thing or two from the Swiss!

Convenience

There are a lot of things I miss about our house in the US, but the things I miss the most are our clothes dryer and our dishwasher.  Oh, how I miss the days of throwing my clothes in the dryer and pulling them out one hour later, dry as can be.  And if I never had to hand wash another sippy cup again, I would be a happy woman.