Zürich Multimobil

This past Sunday Little Geek Girl and I went to downtown Zürich for the Multimobil street festival.  Essentially a fair to talk about alternative forms of transportation.  The morning started off foggy, but after lunch we had blue sky and it was warm enough that LGG was just in her t-shirt.  

We met a friend and her daughter and had fun watching a street busker (I think I've seen the same act in Boulder and Rome), decorating cookies, stopping for a drink and snack, riding the carousel, and in general being outside.  There were lots of balloons being given away and also being released into the sky.  

Tonight the Zürich Opera will be be performing and broadcasting La Traviata at the main train station.  Unfortunately LGG will hopefully be asleep by then so we won't be able watch some free opera but maybe if she goes to sleep quickly I'll be able to.  

A visit to Atzmännig

The Sunday after the Centennial party we still had the rental car (we couldn't return it until Monday morning).  While we were at the party we asked for recommendations of places to go that were hard to get to by public transportation.  One of the suggestions that sounded like fun was Atzmännig, "home of Switzerland's first and most attractive giant slide."  This is how Little Geek Girl described it to the Swiss friends we met for coffee on Friday.  

1.  You ride up the hill on these cable cars that are open.

2.  They put sleds on the back of the cable cars.

3.  You ride down a big slide.

4.  The sleds go "clickety clack" down the slide.

Our Swiss friend immediately guessed that it was Atzmännig.  She grew up on the other side of the Zürichsee and Atzmännig was a popular school trip destination.  

As we were getting ready to leave we heard from our friends that had suggested the place to us.  Apparently their kids had woke up and insisted on going also.  The more the merrier!  

We had about an hour's drive.  We had directions from the website and Google maps, but even more helpful was the navigation ability of Zürich Daddy Geek's iPhone.  Yes, he now has an iPhone and I have to admit, using it to navigate was quite fun.

Here are ZDG and LGG taking the lift to the top.

A view of the slide from the lift.

And here we are arriving at the bottom.

Little Geek Girl and her friends.

On the way to lunch, we passed by the "Nautic-Jet".  For CHF 2 you sit in a little car that gets pulled up to the top of a slope, is released, and you land in the water.  Here are the geeks in various states of flight.

ZDG at the top.

Here I am midway down.  (It is important to post before your blog partner does so that embarrassing pictures of yourself are not posted).

And LGG in flight.  She was actually the first of the three of us to ride.  Apparently there was just a little squeak from her at the top, but otherwise, she was as brave as she always is.

Afterwards we had a nice stroll to one of the restaurants about 30 minutes away.  The service was slow, but when the food arrived we all enjoyed our rösti, alpermagroni, and spaetzle.  Afterwards, some of us waddled and others skipped back down for more sliding and fun.

A Centennial Party

On Saturday, September 20, we went to help some friends celebrate their centennial.  We were a little puzzled at first until someone explained to us that if you added up the ages of the parents and three kids, they were currently 100 years old.  

In honor of the occasion, the hosts has rented a house in Uzwil, which is about 70 km from Zürich.  Although we could have made it there and back by public transportation, we thought this was a party that warranted a rental car so we wouldn't have to drag anyone away from the party to give us a ride to the train station.  The house was big enough for a lot of the overnight guests from Germany, but we since we sold all of our camping gear, we thought it best to go home and sleep in our own beds.

It was a lovely day.  After the rainy weekend before, it was nice to be outside.  The house was not that far from the the motorway, but we were almost immediately in the woods.  Here are Little Geek Girl and I walking across the bridge (meaning someone had to lug a lot of food and garbage back and forth).

When we arrived I went in search of the kitchen to see where to drop off my cookies and salad, but there was a lot of activity going on so I dropped off my bag to the side.

Outside was a large grassy area with picnic tables, room for games and barbecues.  We had brought a frisbee so we threw that around a little bit.  At one point, the three horses from the neighboring farm decided to come visit, but they were quickly sent away.

After a little volleyball it was time for some coffee and cake.  The hustling activity in the kitchen resulted in several beautiful apple tarts.  This was an organized party.  There was candy for the kids and bags of large soft pretzels.

Here's a picture of the backyard before darkness fell and more eating continued.

Here are the kids baking bread on sticks over the bonfire.  Our main goals were to keep LGG from falling into the fire or poking anyone with a pointy stick.  

Dinner consisted of many grilled meats and lots of yummy salads.  The finale was a scrumptious array of desserts.  We've determined that we'll be able to celebrate our Centennial in six years in between April and July.

New Dishwasher

On Friday evening my cell phone rang around 6 pm.  I answered the phone and it was the appliance people.  

Small diversionary comment:  I still can't used to answering the phone "Frau Mylastname hier", or "Mylastname hier" and I have even more trouble deciding what to say when I call people.  So I still say "hello".  Although I note that the Swiss friend I was visiting answers her phone with her first name, so maybe I'll try that.

They asked if it was okay for the dishwasher to be replaced on Monday between 11 am and 1 pm.  I switched to English because I needed to ask what to do if I had to leave to pick up LGG from kindergarten.  After they found an English speaker, they explained that if I couldn't be at home, I could leave my key in the postbox.  Mailboxes here consist of two parts.  A locked portion where junk mail and letters are deposited and a doored cubby for packages that you don't have to sign for.  I guess you can't really leave the key under the doormat, since there isn't one.

Today the repairman promptly showed up at 11 am and was out of here just in time for me to go up the hill to pick up LGG.  We now have a shiny new Electrolux dishwasher.  And instruction manuals in English, German, French, and Italian.  Which I should probably read to find out what kind of dishwasher salt I need to get for it.  But blogging is much more fun.

Where in the world is ZDG?

I'm on the road again, this time heading to the States. At the moment (16:33 EDT on 26 Sep 2008), I'm liveblogging direct from the United RCC near gate C17 in Washington, D.C.'s Dulles International Airport. Very nice flight over, and amazingly, the customs/immigration circus here took less than 30 minutes -- it regularly takes 90+.

Now, I'm getting ready for the next leg of the journey. With luck, I'll be sleeping in our old town in Colorado in less than 8 hours. I'm spending the week there in an interesting bridge of old and new projects. My old boss has graciously invited me to a closeout meeting for the big project we worked on together, and after that, I go to a series of meetings related to the new project I'm directing.

And then home to what looks to be a busy fall: travel to a number of European and overseas places. Watch this space for updates to the game Where in the World is ZDG?

I don't want a new dishwasher today...

Zürich Daddy Geek thinks I'm strange because I don't like to use the dishwasher.  We don't have that many dishes, if you use the washer you end up having to shake the water out of them and wait for them to dry again, and if it's not too many, it's nice to just wash them by hand and get them all finished.

Well, last week when I was sick, ZDG decided to load up the dishwasher and attempt to run it.  Except that water started pouring out of it.  Water was not draining and we had to scoop the water out of the dishwasher.  So, the next day I called the Hauswart to let him know and he came by to take a look and said he would call the appliance people.  On Friday the appliance company called and luckily she spoke English and we scheduled an appointment for Tuesday afternoon.

On Tuesday, ZDG picks LGG up from morning class, feeds her lunch, and takes her back for afternoon class so I can take an exercise class.  However, this week, ZDG received a call at work from from the appliance guys to see if it was okay if he could come by late Tuesday morning.  He came late enough that I couldn't go to my exercise class.  Darn.  Anyways, he said that they would order a new dishwasher and it would probably be ready to install on Friday, today.

Well, it's Friday and I still haven't heard anything.  And I've made a date to meet a friend for coffee this afternoon.  But I still don't know if I'll get a phone call at some point saying they're ready to install the dishwasher.  And if I say no, I have plans, what will they do?  Or am I expected to cancel my plans?  

Licensed in Switzerland

If you have a US driver's license and apply for a Swiss driver's license within one year of arriving it's a straightforward procedure of filling out a form, getting your eyes checked, and paying a fee.  If you don't do it within one year, you may be required to take additional driving courses and tests so it's in your best interest to get your Swiss license before that year is up.

However, last December when we sold the house, the closing agent decided to lose our licenses.  So we got new ones.  Unfortunately the CO licenses have the date that they were issued, but not how long you have been licensed.  Based on Global Librarian's experience, we knew that we might have to provide some additional paperwork to prove how long we had been licensed.  We decided that we would apply one at a time so one of us would always have a US driver's license.  If we had thought about it at the time we should have ordered our CO driving records, but we were kind of busy with Christmas and getting ready to move out of the country.

Luckily (?) I had received a speeding ticket in 2004 and had ordered a copy of my driving record in hopes of pleading leniency with the judge.  (I ended up paying the fine instead of getting a court date, but it turns out the police officer never turned in the ticket so I got my money back).  I'm really good at following directions, so I returned to the Kreisburo (district office) as instructed to submit my application and driver's license.  I also tried to give her my CA driving record, but she said that the department would contact me if they needed additional information.  A week later I received a letter asking me to call them.  I spoke to someone and explained to her my situation and she said that the CA driving record would be sufficient.  I mailed the CA driving record last Tuesday and on Saturday I received my Swiss license and my CO license back (with a sticker saying not valid in Switzerland which was easily removed).

ZDG is going to CO next week, so he'll order his CO driving record and when he returns I think he'll go directly to the driving department so he won't have the delay of waiting for a letter requesting he call the office.  

Knabenschiessen Carnival

Saturday and Sunday of Knabenschiessen weekend was mostly wet, so when Monday looked dry we decided to go check out the carnival.  On the way there we stopped at Nimmi's restaurant in Kreis 5 for some yummy Indian and Sri Lankan food.  We'll definitely be returning.

I think a lot of people had the same idea as us -- get outside after a rainy weekend.  There were carnival rides, food booths, and game booths.

A view of the carnival as we entered.

The roller coaster, which was a train going up into the Alps.  ZDG and LGG rode on the bumper cars, the roller coaster, went through the fun house (twice) and the big ferris wheel.

Instead of caramel covered apples, there are chocolate covered apples.  Later on we tried some magenbrot, the traditional carnival treat, but we weren't that impressed.  It's chunks of gingerbread-type bread coated with an icing.  Maybe we didn't pick that good of a booth to get it from.

ZDG and LGG on the big ferris wheel.

Oh, yeah there was some sort of shooting event going on (I think it was over by Monday).  Here is a view of the fields from the ferris wheel.

Another walk in the woods -- Felsenegg to Albispass

It was just a short three weeks ago on August 31 when it was warm enough that we wanted to get out of the city and into the woods.  (It's a lot colder now).  Previously in our adventures we had walked from the Uetliberg to Buchenegg down to Sihlau, or from the Uetliberg to Felsenegg and then the cable car down to Adliswil.  This hike would start at Felsenegg and continue pass Buchenegg to Albispass.  The photo at the end of the post will show you the hike as viewed from downtown Zürich.

The weekend before we had gone to Mt. Rigi for a walk down and ZDG had used his Camelbak to carry our water.  LGG liked drinking out of the Camelbak so we tried to see if she could carry her own water in the Camelbak waistpak.  It was too heavy filled with water, but it's never too early to practice wearing a "pack" so she wore it for the hike (with a stuffed buddy inside).  I carried her water pouch in my bag.  Here are LGG and ZDG with their Camelbaks.

Here we are on the hill down to Buchenegg.  It's a pretty little town (but without any bus service as we had found out previously).

A pretty restaurant garden.

And LGG displaying her balancing skills.

After the hike we went to Zürich and here's the view from near Burkliplatz.  If you look at the fountain and then go up to the ridge you can see a tower to the left of a lump.  That is the tower at Felsenegg and where we started our hike (with the help of the cable car from Adliswil).  If you go to the left you'll see a little valley and that's Buchenegg (kind of above the sailboat).  Then you go gradually uphill and then back downhill to the next notch and that's Ablispass where we ended our hike.  We were debating whether to continue, but the next bus was arriving in 5 minutes and we took that as a sign to end the hike.  So we took the bus to Thalwil and the next train back to Zürich.

Grumble, Grumble, Grumble

I'm recovering from my fourth illness of the year.  And I'm a cranky, whiny patient (because normally I don't get sick).  I guess this is what happens when you move to a new continent and get exposed to new viruses.  As usual, Little Geek Girl was hit first and although she still has the cough, she was barely slowed down.  I, on the other hand, spent the whole day in bed yesterday.  Part of it was being sore from body balance class, but mostly resting so I would hopefully get better sooner.  This particular cold has the unpleasant symptom of nausea.  Whine, whine, whine.

Italian Prune Plum Crisp

One of the fun things about living in another country is discovering different foods.  Last month, a small stone fruit started showing up in the stores.  Zwetschgen, or Italian Prune Plums.

About the same time, Tanya wrote about her plum flame tart over on Expat Chow.  Sounded yummy so I thought I would try to bake something too.  I found a recipe for a crisp over on Kitchen Heat and last night I made a smaller scale version.

The plums are easy to pit, so it didn't take long to pit and quarter them.  Here they are waiting for their topping.

And after topping and baking:

Very yummy with some vanilla ice cream.  And it was good for breakfast too.

Edited to say Crisp instead of Tart

We are registered to vote!

Last night I called the County Clerk and Recorder to confirm they had received our Registration and Absentee Ballot Request.  They had and I'm glad I called because they left the "weg" off of my address.  It probably would have found me, but better safe than sorry.  The ballots should be sent at the beginning of October.  Colorado is considered a swing state in this year's election so our votes might make a difference.

To pee or not to pee

There's a saying that you can't make a child pee/poop, eat/drink, or sleep and with Little Geek Girl that is certainly the case.  If you don't want to know anymore about our child's toilet habits, please feel free to skip this post.

Friday morning I was able to secure an appointment for 2:30 pm.  The receptionist said "half past two" and I repeated "halb drei" to confirm that we were talking about the same time.  I picked LGG from Kindergarten and fed her lunch.  On days when she has afternoon class I encourage her to use the toilet before we go back but I didn't encourage her to use the toilet after lunch.  Historically she can hold her pee for a long time and I was hoping she would wait until the doctor's appointment to make her pee for an urine analysis.  Alas, the one time we don't want her to pee and she does, at 1:45 pm.  So I start giving her water to drink -- at home, on the bus, when we get to the doctor's office.  Zürich Daddy Geek meets us at the office and we try several times to get a urine sample.  No luck.  The doctor examines her and she doesn't have a fever, but he needs a urine sample to determine if she does or does not have an infection.  So we've been told to give her liquids and walk to encourage a pee.  She's never had Coke, but it is recommended as a diuretic.  

So ZDG and LGG go to the playground and I go get a Coke.  Did I mention that LGG doesn't like carbonated drinks?  Eventually we get some coke and more water inside her.  She wants to stay and play, but we decide since we're there we'll go shop for some shoes.  We buy some new rain boots and sturdy school shoes (Mary Jane shoes aren't going to keep her feet dry very much longer).  At 4 pm we go back to office to try and make a pee.  No go.  And the office closes at 5 pm.

So we go to Starbucks to get some coffee and hot chocolate.  LGG really wants a donut, but we tell her not until she makes a pee.  We go back to the office around 4:40 pm and finally success.  They test the urine and they're 90% certain that she does not have an infection.  So we'll go back on Tuesday afternoon to test her urine again.  This time I have a cup so I can collect her urine if she pees before we want her to.

Afterwards we went back to the playground and she stayed long enough that she forgot about the donut and I had time to go to the library to pick up a book for me and a movie for LGG.  Later that night ZDG and LGG watched one of my favorite Disney movies -- Robin Hood.  Oh he's so handsome... just like his reward posters.  

We almost went to Paris.

Another busy week here in Zürich.  Actually, some of the hours drag on when I am left alone with Little Geek Girl and she insists that I play with her all of the time.  But when I'm alone it seems like the week has disappeared.  I wonder why that is?

Monday afternoon I tried to take LGG to the shoe store to buy new slippers (her last pair did not last very long) and new rain boots (since both pairs have started cracking).  However, we got sidelined by a playground and never made it to the store.  Tuesday morning Zürich Daddy Geek and I made a quick trip to IKEA to pick up some shelves and installed them while LGG was in afternoon class.  On the bus home we ran into neighbor girl's mom and made plans to go to the GZ (community center) later in the afternoon.  Part of the GZ playground was roped off for construction, but the girls still had fun and of course had ice cream.

ZDG has started evening German classes.  He goes twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6 to 7:50 pm.  I have German class on Wednesday nights from 8 to 9:50 pm.  That means on Wednesday evenings I have to get LGG and myself fed and then meet ZDG to hand her off.  I knew that there would be a concert at the square this past Wednesday so we went a little early to listen to music and play at the playground.

Yesterday we were supposed to babysit our friend's kids so she could go to parent information night, but her daughter was sick so it didn't happen.  So instead ZDG researched options for a long weekend trip, since it's supposed to be a rainy weekend and there's no school on Monday for Knabenschiessen--a marksmanship (ie rifles!) contest for kids aged 12 - 16.  We were very close to buying the tickets when LGG complained again about discomfort while peeing.  Oh yeah.  She might have a UTI.  Hmmmm...maybe we shouldn't go to Paris.  Instead we're going to the doctor this afternoon.  There's supposed to be pretty big carnival for Knabenschiessen, so if it's not too wet we'll go check it out.

And maybe I should do my German homework now before the weekend takes over our lives.

Why can't I stop myself?

Why can't I just read one or two chapters a night?  How come every time I start a new book I end up staying up way too late and finishing it on the second night...  I should know better by now but I still do it.  Good night now.

Another week in Review

I keep reminding myself that this blog is not only for the readers, but also for ourselves, as a journal of our adventure here.  So if we want to write about the last nine days all at once, that's fine.  So here goes.

On Saturday, August 30, we went to Bad Allenmoos for our last outdoor pool adventure of the season.  The air temperature was about 24 °C and the water was around 22 °C.  Little Geek Girl and Zürich Daddy Geek started things off by jumping off the diving boards.  They then went the the non-swimmer pool and the kiddie pool to see if either of them were warmer, but they weren't.  ZDG swam some laps and I convinced LGG to go back in the pool with me.  Sometimes you get in a pool and the longer you stay in the more comfortable it becomes.  Nope, the longer we stayed in the colder it became.  We decided to leave before we got any colder and went home to grill dinner and eat on the terrace.

On Sunday, August 31, we went for another walk in the hills above Zürich.  ZDG may write more about this walk later, but it was nice to be in the cooler air and walk through the woods.  We walked for about 2 hours and then headed into town for some ice cream, coffee, and pastries.

This past week Monday and Tuesday were busy with getting LGG to morning class, home for lunch, and then back for afternoon class.  On Tuesday afternoons they go to the school library and kids can check books out if they'd like.  On Tuesday morning I had gone to the Pestalozzi library to get some English children's books, so she was happy to have new books waiting for her at home.

On Wednesday afternoon we went to visit some friends for a playdate.  On Thursday afternoon we went to a small gathering and then met ZDG in Zürich for dinner.  On Friday we stayed home most of the afternoon.  It was a pleasant afternoon, but LGG really wanted to play with her toys.  However, Friday evening after dinner we went to Oerlikon to listen to some free outdoor concerts.  One was an adult band and the second was the school district band.

This past weekend we've been busy trying to straighten up the apartment.  ZDG borrowed a drill from a colleague so we've been putting pictures up on the walls (which are made of brick).  We've also decided we need to make another IKEA run to purchase some wall shelves.  But the pile of papers have been sorted and at least the Swiss paperwork is organized.  LGG was very patient with us ignoring her most of Saturday, so on Sunday we went to the Zoological museum.  ZDG and LGG looked at animals and I worked on my German homework.  We then went to the lake to feed the birds, stopped for coffee and pastry, and headed home.

And that's all she wrote.

Free Rubber Bands

I know that I can buy them in the store, but I don't want to have to.  The thick purple ones on the broccoli, the thin beige ones on the newspaper, the red ones attached to a flyer on the garage or front door.  We used to have a huge collection of rubber bands because I could never throw away a perfectly good rubber band.  And besides, Little Geek Girl would use them to play with her toys.

Here in Switzerland free rubber bands are not in abundance.  Heck, we have to *buy* string to bundle our recycling.  And we now have one rubber band in our household.  And LGG had claimed it.  We do have a collection of reusable clips to close up bags of food, but sometimes you just want a rubber band.  Every once in a while I'll reclaim the lone rubber band, but somehow it always migrates back to LGG's room.