Kreisbüro and Airport all on the same day

Our residence permits expire in January and we've been waiting for paperwork to renew them.  Zürich Daddy Geek's department secretary assured us that everything would be fine.

Well, we finally got a letter from the Bevölkerungsamt today.  Since I didn't have anything better to do other than pack and clean to get ready for our trip to the U.S., Little Geek Girl and I went downtown to hand the letter off to ZDG.  Since he was interviewing prospective new hires the plan was for me to slip the letter under the door.  But that wasn't possible, so I had to hunt down the department mailboxes.  We ran into ZDG's boss in the elevator and LGG asked him why wasn't there an "A" floor.  Turns out there is one, but the military gets one floor of all federal buildings and that's why we can't access the A floor.

Anyways, it turns out that they should have sent us a form with the letter.  But they didn't.  And since we're going to be gone for almost three weeks, ZDG needs to get to the Kreisbüro when it opens tomorrow at 8:30 am to get the form, fill it out, and mail it to the department secretary so the paperwork will be waiting for us when we return.  Did I mention we have a flight leaving at 11:55 am?  We should be able to make it, but it will definitely not be good for my anxiety.  Did I mention I really really really really don't like it when things like this happen.

Even in kindergarten you have to write a letter to the school president asking permission for your child to miss school.  We figured that since this was our last year to get an easy approval and since ZDG had a conference in San Francisco the week before LGG's winter break we would all go.  It will be nice to see family, do a little shopping, and read all the library books that my sister's checking out for me.

Better than a check...

Today the buzzer rang. I answered. Someone said "blah blah blah blah". Okay, they said it in German and I wasn't concentrating. I know I shouldn't have, but I just buzzed them in because I thought it might be the heating oil guy. But they didn't come inside, so I went downstairs to look.

It was the postman and he had something for me. He said something about 90 CHF. Who sent us something that required 90 CHF duty? No, he had 90 CHF for us. I needed to sign something. And then I asked him "Was machen wir jetzt?" Oh, he gives us the cash. 90 CHF refund on our nebenkosten (Every month we pay a fixed amount for things like heating, etc. At the end of the year they determine how much we actually use and you either have to pay the difference or get a credit). Woo hoo, this means we can go another day before visiting the ATM!

An afternoon out

Well, someone must have listening to my complaining, because about a week and a half ago I found out about a performance of "A Little Princess" and the bonus was that it was performed in English! The tickets were 20 CHF for kids and 40 CHF for adults, but adult tickets were half-priced if you baked something for the refreshment table. You can guess what I did.

Little Geek Girl still fits her Christmas dress from last year and decided to wear it to the performance. Here we are before leaving for the show:


Did I mention she's a tiger?


LGG did a great job. We got there early to get seats (end of the front row) and had to wait a little bit, but she was very good. During the performance she seemed tired (leaning into me) but she was paying attention the whole time. During the "pause" I thought it would be kind of funny to pay for my own cake, so I purchased a cupcake and cookie instead. Actually, my cake had a role in the performance -- when Sarah took cake out to share with Ermengard and Becky she pulled out some slices of my cake.

We've been able to download the text of A Little Princess and now we're reading it for our bedtime book. LGG is a little disappointed that there are no pictures, but we just remember the scenes from the play.

Why we're not Christmas shopping in Switzerland

Zürich Daddy Geek's office has moved to downtown Zürich, so on Friday afternoon, Little Geek Girl and I decided to pay a visit to the new digs. ZDG has a nice view of the Limmat River and the Käferberg/Chäferberg (I've seen it spelled both ways).

Then LGG and I went to check out the Singing Christmas Tree. Before the kids started singing, LGG had a ride on the tiger on the little carousel. LGG these days believes she's a cat, a tiger specifically, so when she saw the tiger she definitely wanted to ride on it. Then we met ZDG for dinner and went to the Hauptbahnhof to look at the Christmas Market and the Christmas tree. The Christmas tree was quite beautiful, covered in Swarovski crystals and lit up. At the base of the Christmas tree were numerous examples of Swarovski figurines.

As we wandered through the market, we ran across a booth selling novelties, and this little guy:


Now, considering Saturday was the 6th of December and the day Samichlaus visits kids in Switzerland, I made up an excuse to separate from ZDG and LGG and went back to purchase it. However, at first I wasn't going to, because it was CHF 15. As in 12.40 USD. But, I knew LGG would love him and I decided to try not to think about it too much and just buy it. I have purposely avoided searching on the internet to see how much it would be because I just don't want to know. But that is why we're waiting until we get to the US to do our Christmas shopping.

So, apparently organized parents arrange for Samichlaus to come to their house or meet him in the forest on the 6th of December. The other option, and the one went went with, is to leave your boots out the night before. Amazingly when she woke up, she had forgotten about them and we actually had to point them out to her. It was pretty funny actually. "My leg hurts, I can't walk." And then she saw the boots and miraculously could walk again.

When she found the tiger duck she was thrilled. "Samichlaus knew the right kid to give this duck to. Because I'm a tiger. Roar."

On prime numbers and maps

Now for a little bit about the geek portion of the blog.  Little Geek Girl is, we think, a pretty normal 5.75 yo girl.  She brings home sticks and rocks from kindergarten.  She likes to play with her My Little Ponies.  Sometimes you think she is so grown up and then the lack of impulse control kicks in.  But then, sometimes she is suuuuuuuccccchhhh a geek, and I lay most of the blame on Zürich Daddy Geek. 

I don't remember how it came up, but yesterday she started talking about prime numbers and asked me to list them for her.  I started listing them and then decided it might easier to find something on the wonderful internet.  Well, it turns out 1 is not a prime number.  I, as an adult, can accept rules like that.  But LGG is really bothered by the fact that 1 is not a prime number.  "But mama, what times what equals 1?"

Later in the evening we were watching the The Simpsons.  I am not a supporter of this habit, but is has long been a tradition with her and ZDG and when given a choice she'll always want to watch the Simpsons.  At some point Nepal came up.  "Mama, will you show me where Nepal is on the map."  I tell her to go look for her paperback atlas and I also decide to use Google Maps or Google Earth.  "Mama, I want you to show me on the map.  Not in the book, not on the computer, on the map!"  I think to myself, "What is she talking about?"  Then I remember those old-fashioned things that came in our National Geographic magazines and I pull out our world map.

Tuesday afternoon a specialist came to evaluate the kindergarten class students for their German comprehension.  He gave them instructions to draw things or to manipulate a doll and asked them questions.  LGG did fine.  Both he and her kindergarten teacher think that at some point soon the switch will turn on and LGG will start speaking German all of the time.  Apparently more and more frequently she lets her guard down and responds to the teacher in German.  When ZDG asked LGG if the man spoke in English or German, she replied "He spoke in German, but that was so the other kids could understand."  

The amazing herding abilities of kindergarten teachers

Yesterday Little Geek Girl came home with a flyer in her message tube.  The upstairs and downstairs kindergarten classes were going to a play and they needed to be at school by 8:15 am or they would have to go back home.  Normally, kindergarten arrival time is between 8:10 am and 8:35 am and we usually get her there between 8:20 and 8:25 am.  To make things easier we picked her clothes and packed her snack last night so we could get out the door by 8 am and her to kindergarten by 8:10 am.

Normally Zürich Daddy Geek walks with her to school in a timely manner, and then we walk home together, with her mostly dawdling (stepping on all of the snow, balancing on all of the rock edging).  Since I wanted to get her to school on time I was holding her arm and pulling her steadily.  I meant to give her a pep talk on remembering her hat and gloves, but I forgot.  The knit gloves would be easy to replace because we got them here, but she didn't like any of the Swiss hats (too itchy) so the one she wears is from the US.

On my way home I was trying to decide whether to go back to the kindergarten or to meet them at the train station.  I decided to meet them at the train station, and there they were, two teachers, one parent, and 25 - 28 four to six year olds.  Most of the kids were sitting on the two available benches, but some of the kids were standing and LGG was one of them.  I said hi to the teacher and then I went to give LGG a kiss and a reminder about her hat and gloves.  She kind of shooed me away, because I guess mom's weren't supposed to be there.

I walked away and watched in awe as the three adults herded the crowd onto the train.  They're going to see a play about the First Christmas which means I'll get to field a bunch of new questions this afternoon.  Yesterday's questions were, who brings the presents in Switzerland and what's an angel, etc. etc.  I was worried when she came home at lunch talking about what present she was going to get since it was the first day of Advent.  However after calling a friend and asking another kindergarten mom I decided that they must have been talking about opening the first door of the Advent calendar and she was confused about getting a present.