Last May 2008 Post

The last couple of nights we've had some spectacular evening lightning/thunder/rainstorms.  The bonus is that it's cooled down a little bit and we're not wilting anymore.  We will probably need to get some fans soon, but for the most part the apartment stays relatively cool.

Also, today we purchased some patio furniture so we can start using our rooftop terrace more frequently.  

Atomic Web G

I've been traveling most of the past three weeks, so I haven't had much time to post. I'm back in Zurich today and trying to get past the jet lag, and right now, I'm sitting on the couch with LGG as she draws a series of pictures for me. Including this one:

According to LGG, that is the Atomic Web G family going from mid-right to lower center (the other bits are the Atomic Web G family's web and a spider, for those who are keeping track).

So now you are probably asking: 'ZDG, what is an Atomic Web G?'

Two weeks ago, I was visiting my parents, sister, and nephews (LGG's cousins) back in the US. I got to spend a lot of time roughhousing with my nephews, who are great fun. They kept saying, "Do it again, Uncle ZDG!", especially when I was throwing my oldest nephew into the air so he could splash down in the pool. However, there was one thing he was not so keen on: "Uncle ZDG, please no more Atomic Wedgies of Death!"

As a responsible uncle, I would never actually give anything beyond a standard wedgie (I can't believe I'm writing "standard wedgie", but I also can't say I'm shocked that Wikipedia has a page on all this). However, my nephew doesn't know this, so he accepted my label for it.

No doubt you can see where this is going. LGG heard about the Atomic Wedgie from her cousin over Skype, and not having heard it before, she translated it herself as Atomic Web G. As you can see from the picture above, Atomic Web G is a reverse-G-shaped figure with a face and is (according to LGG) "very strong, Dada, that's why it's atomic!" And now Atomic Web G and his (her?) family regularly appear in LGG's drawings.

We think this one is much too funny to correct.

It turns out there is a term for this kind of thing: mondegreen. I'd love to hear more of these things, dear readers, so please post your favorites in the comments.

Also, if you're interested, here's a Portrait of the Atomic Web G Artist as a Young Girl:

Time to pay attention to more drawings - tonight is a saga in Animal Land involving ducks "with bill-length hair", ducks pretending to be hammerhead sharks, octopi with the correct number of legs but unusual numbers of heads, hippos eating starfish, and other oddities.

Weather Report

It's 7:30 am.

64 °F.  Not too bad.

83% relative humidity.  Ick.

Can you tell I'm a humidity wimp?

Actually they're more like high clouds

I guess you can't really call it overcast if there are shadows on the ground.  But the sky is not blue, there are high clouds up there.  And it's warm.

After lunch we called the neighbor girl to see if she wanted to play ball.  Wednesday afternoons there are no classes at all at the primary school, so we knew the soccer court would be available.  We played a little bit of soccer, the girls climbed the soccer goals, and we learned our German word for the day: Goalie = der Torwart.  

We also played a little hide and seek (hide = verstecken), but it was hot, so we decided to come back to our house to play.  

It's warm, but not sunny

We've been having highs in the upper 70s (°F) with humidity, so it's warm.  However it's also overcast, so it kind of confuses me.  Having lived in California and Colorado, I'm used to sunshine accompanying my warmth.  But I guess overcast and warm is also a common occurrence in other parts of the US.  

We had a whirlwind couple of days while ZDG was back and now he's been gone a couple of days.  While he was here we finally went to Zeughauskeller, which is a restaurant in the old armory.  Little Geek Girl had chicken nuggets, ZDG has a spicy hungarian sausage and potato salad, and I had the "Kalbsgeschnetzeltes" Zürich style (sliced veal and mushrooms in creamy white-wine sauce) with rosti.  Call me a heathen, but I thought it was just okay.  

Sunday we took ZDG to the airport and then LGG and I went to the zoo.  We had a good time looking at all of the painted camels and then played at Bug World and visited the petting zoo.  

Monday afternoon we met LGF and her dad in downtown Zürich.  We fed ducks at Bellevue and Burkliplatz and showed them our favorite tree to climb in the Arboretum and went to Globus am Bellevue for dinner.

A sight I'm still not used too...

One of the goals of kindergarten is to teach the kids to be independent enough to walk to school by themselves.  For the most part there are kindergartens situated so that most kids won't have to walk very far to class.  We're an unusual case because even though we live right by one primary school that has a couple of kindergarten classes, Little Geek Girl is actually going to a kindergarten about half a mile away (sorry ZDG I can do metric in the lab and in the grocery store but still not for distances).  On my way to picking up LGG from school today I passed by a group of kindergarten kids (easily identified by their bright orange "V"s).  I'm guessing that they went up the hill to the primary school by LGG's kindergarten to use the gym for P.E.  Nineteen kids between five and seven years old walking down the street in pairs and threes, without a supervising adult.  I don't think I'll ever get used to that sight.

Wood floors are nice, but...

How come every time I turn off the vacuum, I look around and see another hair or speck of dust that I missed?  Even if I try to psyche out the vacuum cleaner, something still turns up.  Wood floors are nice, but they sure do show dirt, crumbs, and my hair like you wouldn't believe.  Also LGG tends to eat crumbly things like crackers and bread sticks and that's just how the cookie crumbles.

The last couple of days I've tried to tire LGG out to help her fall asleep more easily, but I think she just misses her dad.  Tuesday afternoon we went to the zoo and yesterday we went to play and have dinner with the family of one of her kindergarten classmates.  Today after kindergarten we're going to head to the airport to "surprise" Zurich Daddy Geek.  Today's goal is to keep him awake as long as possible so he can adjust back to this time zone before he heads to Florida on Sunday.

Ah Choo (lather, rinse, repeat)

I am very tired of sneezing all of the time.  The weather has turned cooler and the wind has picked up.  My cold is gone, but I am still congested, and very sneezy.  For some reason I'm also waking up an hour earlier than I need to.  Growl.

A little boo boo

Last week Global Librarian posted about cultural differences in treating boo boos.  I thought about that today as I dealt with a hurt child in the middle of Zürich and knew there wasn't a chance I'd find any ice easily.

First a little recap of the last several days.

On Friday LGG attended a music class at the local community center.  When we first received the flyer I suggested it to LGG and of course she said that she didn't want to take it.  But she needs exposure to Swiss-German and other kids so we decided to just sign her up for it and not make it an option.  It helped that we had to buy her a pair of no-slip socks for the class and they had ducks on them.  One of the neighbor girls was also in the class so that was nice for them to start to get to know each other. I spoke to neighbor girl's mom (in English) and to two other moms (in German).  I really need to get the German classes going so I can move beyond "My name is...", "We moved here...", and "We'll be here..".  The challenge is finding the right class and schedule.

On Saturday evening we went over to LGF's house for dinner.  LGG and I headed to the city earlier in the afternoon.  It wasn't raining when we left home, but by the time we got to the train station it was raining.  LGG was ready for a snack, but I knew there wouldn't be anyplace to sit and eat in the train station and it would be all wet outside.  (LGG likes to sit when she eats.  Sometimes this is good.  Sometimes this is a pain).  The "stuffed animal museum" was open and near LGF's apartment, so we headed over there to eat snack and visit the stuffed animals.  We then went to LGF's house and had a nice evening playing outside, eating vegetable lasagna, and listening to the girls shriek in delight while playing.  

Today the weather service predicted a 90% chance for rain, but I was still determined to go out for a little bit.  And it stayed clear even until after lunch.  We took the bus and tram down to Burkliplatz so we could feed some bread to the ducks.  Running, sloped cobblestones, and rain boots do not mix and LGG fell.  She got some scratches on her nose and bit her lip.  Now last year, when I opened the car door on LGG's face (it was a borrowed car) we just went into the Target and they gave us a bag of ice and a scoop of ice cream for LGG.  I didn't think it would be that easy to find ice in Zürich, so I decided to get her a popsicle to ice her nose and her lip (It's a floor wax and a dessert topping!).

It hadn't started raining yet, but LGG was too cold in just a t-shirt and rain jacket, so I decided to head home.  It started raining on the way home.  Now she's watching Schoolhouse Rock on You Tube.  She prefer Multiplication Rock and Interplanet Janet.  I haven't managed to convince her to watch any of the Grammer Rock videos.

Princess Playdate

Last night we had LGF and her parents over for playtime and dinner.  Almost immediately the girls were dressing up as princesses.  Here they are:

Note:  later on they put bandanas on and became pirate princesses.  

On our own

Back in the US, ZDG would travel a lot.  Today, ZDG is leaving us for the first time in four months.  LGG was a little sad when he dropped her off at kindergarten this morning.  We should be okay, but it will be different since I don't have the same support system here as I had in the US.

A short recap of the the past half of a week.

On Saturday we went to buy LGG a new pair of sneakers.  And they were only CHF 15!  We decided she's an European size 28, which is around a 10.5 in US.  ZDG might still pick up some sandals for her in the US.  We also went by the farmer's market and ran into a family from LGG's old kindergarten.  The mom recommended a bakery stand and told us which stand had the best meat.  We bought some strawberries but were a little disappointed.  We stopped by the Migros and the store itself wasn't crazy, but the lines to pay were very long since Saturday was the last day to grocery shop before the long weekend.  This past weekend was Pentecost and that meant the shops would be closed for Whit Monday.  LGG had a runny nose and I was really tired, so Saturday afternoon I stayed home and rested and ZDG and LGG went in search of a cell phone for him to use for the US trip and visit a playground.

Sunday was Mother's Day and we had a very relaxed day around the house.  In the afternoon we rode our bikes to the Katzensee.   We didn't bring our swimsuits this time, but we will the next.  LGG was happy enough just wading around in the water.  ZDG and I took turns watching LGG and relaxing on the towel with our books.  For the last year we have been so focused on painting the house, selling the house, and moving to Zürich that we feel almost lost now without a purpose.  There are still things we need to take care of, but now we have time to actually live.  

Monday was another around the house day.  In the afternoon ZDG and LGG went to the forest to play and go for a long walk and that evening I went down to the river to play some beach volleyball.  I was very tempted to chicken out, but I found the English-speaking folks and was able to play a couple of games.  

Last night I went to the local Migros Klubschule to determine which level of German class I should take.  It's a 36 question multiple choice test, so you have a 25% chance of getting the right answer.  I got 12/12 right in the first third, 6/12 in the middle third, and 2/12 in the last third, so I should take A1/3.  There's a semi-intensive class that meets two afternoons a week starting this afternoon, but I don't think I'll be able to find babysitting that quickly.  We'll see if I try to join a class in progress or wait until the fall to start classes.  

We all have a cold and as usual, LGG is not slowed down by it at all.  I think I've been hardest hit with the scratchy throat, congestion, and sinus headache.  Last night I took the wonder drug Nyquil and had a good night's sleep, so hopefully I'll be able to keep up with LGG for the next week.

A note about sending mail

The other day we received a package in the mail from ZDG's mom.  Included in the package was another letter from ZDG's sister.  However, if that letter had been mailed independently, we might not have received it.  It had our first names, but not our last names.

In Switzerland, mail is delivered to a mailbox with your name on it.  Our mailbox is labeled with our first initials and last names.  Unless the mail has our last names on it, we won't get it.  

Of course that doesn't mean we don't get lots of junk mail.  Since we're still trying to furnish the apartment and getting to know the stores I don't mind the adverts too much.  Some of our neighbors have "please no junk mail" stickers on their mailboxes and one day we may put one on ours to see if it works.  

Late night encounter on the Zürich tram system

This evening, LGG and I went to meet ZDG at his work.  We weren't sure if we were going to go out to dinner, or go for a walk and then go home for dinner.  However, LGG's shoe decided for us.  The front of her right sneaker sole has been loose for a while and this evening about half of it detached.  We surgically repaired it with a couple of rubber bands and headed home.  ZDG is heading to the US  soon and we had planned on having him pick up some new sneakers for LGG then, but I think we're going shoe shopping tomorrow.

We decided to have dinner at home and go to the city for dessert.  We took the bus and tram to the Central tram station and then walked through the Niederdorf.  We stopped for dessert at Cake Friends, which is a block away from the Bellevue tram stop.  Cake Friends has the bonus of being non-smoking.  We decided to share the sampler platter, which consisted of slices of cake (baked in a loaf pan) served with syrups, fruit, and creams.  LGG has been with me a couple of times and we know she can easily scarf down two slices of cake with no hesitation.  

It was getting late (for us) so we went to catch the tram towards home.  I thought that LGG was going to sit next to me so I sat in a bench seat for two, but LGG sat in the back of the tram with ZDG.  I noticed that in the single seat across the aisle from me there was a bag from a bakery and when a woman sat down in the seat, she looked down and grimaced.  I'm not sure if it contained rubbish or something else, but I didn't think much else of it.  At the next tram stop someone sat next to me.  The first thing I noticed was the body odor.  I carefully glanced sideways and the person appeared respectable, but pretty soon it was obvious that he was intoxicated by something.  He leaned forward and rested his head against the seat ahead of us and was swaying from side to side.  I turned around to catch ZDG's eye to let him know that I was potentially in an awkward position.  

After a couple of stops, ZDG came over to help me climb over the back of my seat.  At that same stop the woman who was sitting across the aisle got off the tram and the man moved across to that seat.  Ticket control came on board and we showed our monthly passes (I've been checked multiple times, but that was ZDG's second check in the whole time we've been here).  The guy woke up enough to show his pass.  

The funny thing is that when he got off the tram, I noticed that he was carrying the bakery bag.  Did we just witness a very risky dead drop?  Or was he just so out of it that he assumed that it was his bag?

Canadian oil, low acid

When we first arrived in Zürich we stayed in a temporary apartment which we subletted from one of ZDG's colleagues.  When I investigated the oil and vinegar cupboard, I found a couple different bottles of Rapsöl, which translated as rapeseed oil.  We weren't sure if it was more a salad oil or a cooking oil, so we purchased some olive oil and have been using it for everything, including cooking Asian food.  We looked for Canola oil, but could never find any at the grocery store.

Today ZDG learned that Canola is actually a short form for "Canadian oil, low acid" and is a type of rapeseed oil.  And now you know too, if you didn't already know.

Presenting Sleeping Beauty

I have remembered that we do have a camera.  Both the laptop and the desktop have a built-in camera.  So, for those of you who have been wondering how LGG has been looking, here she is, dressed up as Sleeping Beauty.  Also notice in the first picture our spiral staircase that doubles as a clothes rack.

It's wishpuff season

The dandelions are blooming and that means there are dandelion clocks, aka wishpuffs, everywhere.  That means that it takes much longer to get anywhere, because there is a strong biological urge in LGG to pick and blow every wishpuff.  ZDG does a pretty good job of dragging her to kindergarten and not letting her dawdle.  But on the way home she knows we don't have anyplace to be and she feels like it is her duty to help the dandelions propagate.  She's decided that the fastest way to distribute the wishes is to clap her hands around the wishpuffs.  

Laundry in Switzerland

Believe it or not, but laundry can be a source of stress in apartment living in Switzerland.

When we owned our own home, we had our own washer and dryer and we could do laundry whenever we wanted (at least until that last month when the washer broke down).  Before that we lived in an apartment building.  There were four washers/dryers for 41 apartments and it was first come first served.  We usually woke up early on the weekends and did our laundry then.

However, in Switzerland, or at least Zürich, things can be drastically different.  First of all, theoretically Sunday is a day of rest, so no laundry should be done.  In many buildings there are laundry schedules.  Some of the apartments that ZDG looked at had designated wash days of only two days a month.  One apartment that we really liked was in a building with four other units.  So you would get two days in a row for wash, and then you would have to wait nine days until the next time you could do laundry again (remember, no wash on Sunday).  And the laundry at that place consisted of two washers and no dryer, just a large drying room with a blower.  Some buildings had what was called an "open wash plan".  Basically the day was broken up into three chunks of five hours, for example, 7 am - 12 noon, 12 noon - 5 pm, and 5 pm - 10 pm and it was first come first served to sign up for a chunk of time.  When we were looking for an apartment we were hoping to find a place with an open wash plan or its own washer and dryer.

While we were apartment hunting, we were fortunate to be staying in a place with its own washer and dryer in its own laundry room a floor below.  These were pretty new appliances, so we were surprised at how ineffective they seemed.  First off, the capacity seemed to be 2/3 of what we were used to in the US.  There were many wash programs to choose from, but essentially I had to choose between a 120 minute cycle that would spin at max speed, or an 80 minute cycle that spun at less than max speed.  Okay, we'll do the 80 minute cycle.  Now let's throw these things in the dryer.  In the dryer, you can choose degree of dryness, based on if you plan to iron right out of the dryer, you plan to fold and put away the laundry, if you want them bone dry, etc.  We chose storage dry, but using the "delicate" option, so they would be dried using low rather than medium heat.  After 80 minutes, clothes would still come out damp.  Why do you suppose that is?  Because the darn dryers don't vent the moisture anywhere--so how are the clothes supposed to dry if there isn't anywhere for the moisture to go?!  There was a condensation tank that you were supposed to empty, but it never had anything in it.  Luckily the washer and dryer was in its own room with drying lines and racks, so after a 80 minute wash, and 80+ minute dry, there was a place to hang all the clothes to finish drying.  Also, in addition to cleaning out the lint in the usual places, you have to occasionally clean out the heat exchanger, which is hidden behind a panel that looks like only repair people open.  Thank you Global Librarian for that tip.

Now we're in our own apartment and we are lucky to have our washer and dryer and also to be in a building relaxed enough that people do laundry on Sundays.  Our washer works reasonably well and so does the dryer.  In fact, it dries clothes completely and water actually collects in the condensate tank.  However there is only one dryer heat setting and it definitely is not low, so for our "cold" clothes I prefer to hang them to dry.  There's a big room with eight drying lines.  Hmmmm, there are eight apartments in our building so that should work out pretty well.  One of our loads will usually fill two drying lines.  As long as people are good about removing their dried clothing there should be enough drying lines for everyone.  NOT!  I think at least one neighbor permanently claims two lines by leaving clothes on them at all times.  For the last couple of days there haven't been any drying lines available.  Maybe someone went on vacation and accumulated a lot of laundry and have been busy with work and hasn't had time to take the laundry down.  We do have a drying rack that we use in the apartment, but I prefer to use a drying line if possible.  Today there was space and I claimed a line.  So now I have to decide if I should permanently claim it by always leaving clothes up, or be a good citizen and take it down. 

Please make it stop

Living overseas probably does insulate us somewhat from the election process in the States, but what we get here is still annoying enough to prompt this post.

My European friends have been asking a very good question: why do American Presidential elections have to take two years, and why does "primary season" take six months? No matter how hard I've tried, I can't really give them a good answer. Fundamentally, I think it boils down to three things: money, power, and hype.

The political establishment has a strong vested interest in dragging this process out, to bring in money and enhance their power. The media loves it because they can spend 2 years arguing about whether or not Senator Clinton took sniper fire in Bosnia and if it's OK that Senator Obama doesn't wear a US flag lapel pin (because, you know, it's not like there are actually any deeper issues than that to deal with). Oh, and that also brings in lots of money. And all of that together draws the power brokers in with a sound reminiscent of Ross Perot's famous line about NAFTA.

Yes, that was hyperbole.

Frankly, I would rather ditch the US election system and adopt a modified British one. Something like this:

• Direct elections, no archaic Electoral College.
• The campaign starts on a specific date. Absolutely no campaigning, fund raising, back-room dealing, etc. can happen before that date. Anyone who does is automatically ineligible.
  
• All states (and equivalents) hold primaries/caucuses on the same single day, one month after the start of the campaign.
  
• Those primaries are open: if you're a registered Democrat and decide you want to vote Republican, or a Republican who wants to vote Green, or a Green member who wants to vote Libertarian, you can vote for whomever you like.
  
• The election is held two months after the primary. The candidate for a given party is the candidate who won the most votes during the primaries. Again, it's a direct election.
• The winner takes office one month after the election.
  
• No government official (elected, appointed, drafted, paid government employee, volunteer, etc.) may be elected to another government post without resigning their current position at least one year in advance of the start of the election campaign. You're a Senator who wants to run for President? Great: resign, wait one year, then start your campaign. Don't want to give up your cushy Senate post at the risk of not being elected President? Too bad - you can't have it both ways, amigo. You can be re-elected to your current job, but no moving up, down, or sideways without resigning for at least one year.
  
• Public funding of campaigns only, with funding distributed equally among all registered parties exceeding a certain percentage return in the preceding election.
  

Yeah, it'll never happen.

So, failing that sort of wholesale change, how about this: let's just choose a Democratic candidate already, OK? Please, make it stop.

So there are three

Yesterday afternoon I heard the distinctive sound of little girls giggling.  I looked out the window and saw three girls cycling and scootering up the the path that goes towards the back of our apartment buildings.  I convinced LGG that we should go outside and we wandered out.

We went up the path and ran into a mom and four girls.  Unfortunately one girl was unhappy and the mother was comforting her.  The mom spoke a little English and she said that they were heading inside.  The mother also told me that they had been told that the little playground behind our building was only for the children that lived in the three connected apartment buildings.  I don't know if the other three girls had been playing with that girl and had been sent away from the playground or what.  When the mom told me that they were going inside, I thought she meant all of them.

LGG and I decided to go to the playground anyways.  There were people sitting on several of the ground floor apartments that face the playground and I said "Hallo" to one of them that had a family.  Then we realized that the three little girls had followed us to the playground and started playing.  I probably should have told them to go away, but my German is still not good enough for that.  At one point one of the little girls tried to talk to me, and at that point I asked the woman on the terrace for help.  I told her that I spoke only a little bit of German and since she didn't speak any English we decided to speak German slowly.  

It turns out that the three little girls were from the neighboring apartment building which did not have a playground.  The girls probably had started playing at the playground with one of the kids in the building, but then started coming over on their own.  I don't know if it's because of the noise or the liability issue, but it's been decided that the playground is only for the children of the apartment's residents.  Which makes sense, except that it's a shame that your child can't have a friend over to play at the playground.

Also I'm not sure what that means with us playing at other apartment playgrounds.  There are not that many official playgrounds nearby, but there are many apartment playgrounds in the vicinity.

Well, the useful fact that we learned from this was that there a total of three school-aged kids in the three connected buildings, all girls.  Maybe we'll get a chance to meet them again another time.

First Weekend of May

Well, I think the camera will not be easily fixed.  We've tried all of the suggested methods to fix it except for taking it apart.  Maybe after we get a new camera I'll take it apart so we can look at the innards.  So not too many pictures for now.

This past Saturday we and LGF's family were invited to a grilling party at the home of one of ZDG's colleagues.  The hosts have three kids so there were plenty of toys for LGG and LGF to play with.  We brought some ice cream treats for dessert, but the freezer was small and filled, so we started off the party with ice cream.  The kids played and the adults had coffee and conversation and then sausages and other meats were grilled.  We're close to 47° latitude so it stays light for a long time.  In fact, these days we have to close all of the blinds to convince LGG to go to sleep.

On Sunday we wanted to be out, but not go too far that we would get home late.  We decided to go up to the Uetliberg for the planet walk (after confirming multiple times that the gondola at Felsenegg was indeed running again).  Coincidently we ran into LGF and her parents at the train stop and LGG and LGF played for a little bit.  They then headed home for a nap and we went to the top for lunch.  We had packed a picnic lunch for the parents and picked up some Chicken Nuggets for LGG.  

Then it was time to continue the Planet Walk.  LGG kept insisting that she was leading the way, because she had all of the "good ideas" of which way to go.  This walk was a little different than the last time we walked it in February.  All that April rain had turned the woods into a beautiful shaded green.  LGG walked the whole four miles and still had energy at the end to play at the playground at the Restaurant Felsenegg.  We stopped for some coffees and ice cream and then rode the gondola down the hill to Adliswil, where we caught the train back to Zürich Hauptbahnhof and then headed home.

During the walk we could see some paragliders.  At one point of the walk, we were able to watch a paraglider prepare to take off.  Afterwards LGG was disappointed that I had not packed her Doodle Pro, but she insisted that I write on my list "Duck Paraglider" so she would remember to draw one when she got home.  (And she did).

Now that it is warmer, almost everywhere you go there are ice cream stands.  One of the popular popsicle treats that kids get is called a "twister".  The "stick" of the popsicle is actually a cylinder with a plunger, so it can be used as a squirt gun.  At the zoo on Friday LGG had one of the twisters, and during the walk we filled up the squirter and she had lots of fun spraying ZDG (and innocent bystanders).

A little peace

Ahhhhh....  LGG is back in school!

LGG is wonderful, but sometimes she just will not stop talking.  Fortunately the first week I had a break when ZDG watched her because I had a dentist appointment and then last week ZDG was home on May Day.  But now I am truly home alone.  

This morning I went for a walk in the woods listening to a German lesson on my iPod.  My plan was to go by the nearby Asian grocery on my way home.  It had a variety of stuff, but still no Asian grocery will ever be like 99 Ranch in California.  Oh well, it just means I have to visit multiple Asian grocery stores to get what I want, but what's new?

By the way, the weather is very lovely right now.  We sent LGG to school in just a fleece lined windbreaker.  It was probably more than she needed, but she does get cold.  Maybe it's time to put the hats, scarves, and gloves/mittens away.

The call of sand and water

After our marathon day of building yesterday, it was definitely time to get LGG out of the apartment.  ZDG stayed behind to finish some building and other chores around the house, while LGG and I headed for the Zoo.

We started off the visit looking at some animals.  Last time they were there, ZDG explained to LGG that the blue frog in the red triangle meant endangered amphibian, so she was eager to go through the aquarium to find all of the endangered amphibians.  She was disappointed that the corn snake wasn't on display to touch.  A fun part of the visit was the camel parade.  Did you know that the first cow parade originated in Zürich?  Since then they have been in many cities, and there have also been Teddy Bear parades, and currently the Zürich Zoo has been invaded by camels. 

Then it was time for the playground.  After spending time at the spider's web and the anthill, we wandered over to the salamander.  This time, the salamander was a little different.  There is now water available for the salamander to drink.  I wish I had a photo but you'll just have to believe me on this one.  The body of the salamander is a huge trough, and the lower jaw of the salamander can be lowered into a pool of water to "drink" and pour water into the trough.  The salamander is in a big sand box.  I'm guessing you can see where this is leading.  At first LGG was just interested in watching, then helping the salamander drink, and then she started playing with the sand.  Most of the kids were working together to build dams and then watch them overflow.  LGG sometimes helped and sometimes didn't.  As she got more involved with moving sand around she got more and more covered with sand.  Fortunately ZDG was still at home and was summoned with a change of clothes.  

We've noticed that a lot of the Zürich playgrounds seem to have a water element to them.  I guess we need to start bringing a change of clothes with us.

Be careful what you post

So, we've been busy building.  Our first task was the wardrobes.  The TV and internet occupied LGG while we were "admiring" the "sturdy" construction of the things.  We still have to decide how we'll want to arrange the drawers, shelves, and hanging rods, but at least the frame parts are no longer spread all over our living room.

Next step was the TV stand and LGG has been recruited to help.  She has her tool kit and she's helping sort the screws.  Obviously a Kodak moment.

However, now the camera is giving us an error code.  Barrel Extension.  Obviously right now is not the time to try to fix the camera, but this is what I get for telling ZDG we didn't need a newer smaller camera in the previous post.  

Hopefully the camera can be rescued.  At least it lasted four years.  Our two previous cameras didn't last as long.  Our first digital camera was dropped by me in the hospital right after LGG was born.  The second digital camera was dropped by ZDG around LGG's first birthday.  

If we do get a new digital camera, I definitely want the kind with the built in rechargeable battery.