The last place you look...

You know that silly saying, "You always find something in the last place you look"?  Well, that was the case for us.

The weather has been gorgeous and we definitely need to take the bikes out for a spin.  Little Geek Girl's helmet came on the air shipment, but we needed to find the adult helmets.  Yes, we could ride without them, but, what kind of example are we setting, and did anyone notice I am a total klutz?

We thought they would be in one of the boxes marked "toys", but nope.  "Ornaments", no.  Finally, every box has been unpacked (unfortunately not put away yet), except the four boxes labeled living room books.  I open three boxes and they mostly have books (hooray, my cookbooks!).  I get to the last unopened box and I note that it's kind of light for having books.  And there they are, two helmets, the video camera, and miscellaneous toiletries.  Interesting interpretation of living room books.  At least it motivated me to finish unpacking.

!@#$% Check Engine Light

During grad school and our postdocs we were a one car family. However, when we moved to the suburbs in Colorado, we had to become a two car family. And when we moved to Zürich, we happily became a no car family. No paying for a parking space, no maintenance, no insurance, no worries.

However, back in the U.S., we could survive without a car, but it might mean no ice cream or milk in the summer, because the grocery store is 2 miles away and the buses aren't reliable. Yes, there are grocery delivery services, taxicabs, and insulated bags, so a car is not necessary, but it sure makes life easier. Thankfully we only needed one car because Zürich Daddy Geek can use public transport (when it's on time) to get to work.

It had been many, many years since we shopped for a car. Back in 1993 when we were living in different states, I bought a car from a colleague of ZDG's uncle and ZDG's dad helped him buy a truck. After that we kind of just inherited cars from various family members. And beggers can't be choosers so you take what you can get.

And now we had to choose a car. But we decided to look for an older car on Craigslist. And who knew that there was such a glut of 2000 - 2002 Honda Civics out there. But first things first, we had to get a local bank account. Because no one is going to accept an out of state personal check. And unlike Switzerland, where ebanking between personal accounts is a piece of cake, it's not as easy here. So after a first weekend of preliminary test driving, we realized we better get some moolah out of our old accounts into an easily accesible location -- how about the credit union in ZDG's building?

Okay, now we can shop for a car. After a couple more test drives, we made an offer on a vehicle, the guy wanted cash (as in lots and lots of hundred dollar bills) and we arranged a handover. I drove ZDG to the handover spot and headed home to feed LGG dinner and ZDG took the car for another spin and took care of the paperwork and the seller drove off. And the car wouldn't start. And did I mention it is now pouring rain?

Fortunately, the seller came back after ZDG called him and gave him a jumpstart and ZDG got the car home. However, the next morning, the car still wouldn't start, so I went across the street to the handy dandy auto part store to buy a new battery for ZDG to install. And we also joined AAA.

Luckily, city hall is in walking distance, so I can easily register the car. Except that it needs the emissions tested, so they give us license plates and we have a month and half to get the emissions tested. Something else to do. And, oh yeah, maybe we should have the 60K service done. That was done last Thursday. (And they recommend changing the timing belt, but we're hoping we can go a little bit longer before we have to do that expensive maintenance). And then last night (Monday), the !@#% check engine light turned on.

So this morning I called the mechanic to drop the car off. The code said transmision torque convertor circuit (gulp), but we hope that it was just a fluke. They reset the code and took it for a long drive and so far so good. So please keep your fingers crossed.

In the meantime, I got some good walks in. The weather has been lovely, with blue skies, 70 deg, and a light breeze. So I walked 2 miles home from the mechanic's. Then 3.2 miles to the hosptial for a doctor's appointment, and then 1.2 miles to pick up the car. So I got to check out some more neighborhoods.

But life was a little less complicated without a car. Let's hope that I won't be writing about the car again any time soon.

A Quick Grandparental Visit

My parents were in the area as part of an 8-day bus tour. Last night we drove up to meet them at their hotel to say hello and get some hugs and kisses.



It's always good to see Agong and Wai-Po. Hopefully they'll be back soon and for longer.

Um, excuse me?

When it was time to get ready for the movers, I thought about leaving Little Geek Girl's German books behind.  However, she wanted to keep them and after leaving so many of her toys behind in Colorado when we moved to Zürich, I decided not to make too many things disappear.

Now remember, LGG refused to speak German in kindergarten, even though she would frequently correct our pronunciation.  But now, for her before the lights turn off book, she's looking and trying to read a German book on fairies.  She's a weird one.  But look at her parents.

So much to blog about...

...so little motivation.

Well, first I wasn't motivated because I would have to go down to the lounge to blog. Now, I have so much that I don't know where to start. The loud noises of the new apartment? The fact that my new kitchen is probably twice as big as my Zürich kitchen but has less storage space? Buying a used car and not having it start after the seller drives off (okay after new battery, at the mechanics right now for a check-up)? The beautiful azaleas, rhododendrons, and irises blooming?

How about some pictures of Little Geek Girl for now and hopefully I'll catch up soon.

Springtime is for pretty dresses:


LGG is happy to be reunited with her trains. Henry the tank engine's plastic face fell off as a result of the move, but that should be easily repaired with some Superglue.


My lovely Mother's Day painting.


Another pretty girl in a pretty dress.


We're having one of LGG's classmates who also lives in the building over for a playdate this afternoon, so I need to straighten up and resist the internet and the books.

Online again!

Woohoo!  Twenty days after ordering our internet, we finally have it.  Unfortunately I had to miss Little Geek Girl's Music Show, but she seemed okay with the idea.  She's very excited about the chicks hatching out of the incubator at kindergarten.  Three out of the ten chicks have hatched.  So far they have been named Peep, Shadow, and Diamond.

Now I have to be careful not to be sucked into the internet.  There's unpacking to be done!

When all else fails, call them toys

After the movers left, we were kind of amazed to see that there were 13 boxes marked toys.  I knew that Little Geek Girl had a lot of toys, and that there were probably books and clothes mixed in with the toys, but 13 boxes of the medium and large size!  

However, when we started unpacking, we realized that the movers decided near the end of packing decided that if they couldn't decide what to call the stuff in the boxes, they would call them toys -- ie towels, misc tubs, definitely not toys.  Kind of like what Angela ran into with the packers calling everything "linens" over on Continental Drift.  I was thinking that I was going to have to do a serious weeding out of toys, but there weren't as many as we thought.  And we've already decided to give the Duplos to a friend's son, so there's hope that we can try to thin out the toys a little bit.  In the meantime, LGG is thrilled to be with her toys again and there are toys everywhere.  Zürich Daddy Geek leaves for a business trip tomorrow, so we have tomorrow to play and straighten up.

When we moved from Colorado to Zürich, we were afraid we might have to pay for some of the shipping, so we went through everything to make sure nothing was packed that we didn't want move.  During this last move, things were so hectic that we tried to thin things out, but we didn't go through the rooms as thoroughly as we should have.  And therefore an ant trap was packed with LGG's toys.  Fortunately the icky stuff didn't get all over her toys, but next time, look for ant traps before the movers come.  Hopefully we don't find too many more unpleasant surprises.  I'm a little disappointed they didn't pack her books by themselves (they were mixed up with clothes and toys so some of the paperbacks are bent) but I know our books were packed separately and hopefully survived the journey.

Nein, danke

We've been here four weeks and I haven't had any of the usual language difficulties I run into (of course it might help that we're in the country of my mother tongue rather than switching from German to Italian or French).  Except that tonight when the waitress came to take our check, I told her "Nein, danke.  We're not ready yet."  I didn't even know I said the first part, but Zürich Daddy Geek was nearby and heard me.

However, Little Geek Girl is learning Spanish in kindergarten, so when I find my big pile of notecards it will be time to make new notecards.

The movers came early and unloaded and assembled.  We took LGG to the doctor and she has a tickle in her throat that seems to be bothering her, but she probably makes it worse trying to get rid of it.  I had called my doctor earlier and she prescribed some cough syrup with codeine for me, so hopefully I'll sleep tonight.

Stuff, stuff, and more stuff!

So the doctor diagnosed an ear infection, and possibly a sinus infection too, so I'm on antibiotics.  My hearing is still diminished in that ear, so I'm going to call and see if that's normal.  I'm also going to call because both Little Geek Girl and I are still coughing an awful lot at night.  Her cold ended about two weeks ago, but she's still coughing.  My nighttime cough sounds different than the daytime cough and it sucks.  

Tomorrow the rest of our household goods arrive!  I look forward to having furniture, but I'm not looking forward to unpacking and dealing with the stuff I put off dealing with in Zürich before we left.  We moved some broken electronics (iPod and camera) but I thought it would be easier to Freecycle (there's got to be a kid out there that wants to take them apart) or dispose of here than in Zürich.

Five days until internet in the apartment...

Okay, okay, I'm going to the doctor

Dear aunties and cousins, I have scheduled an appointment for tomorrow to have my ears checked.  No more fevers at night and I think it's getting better, but yes, it's better to be safe than sorry.

So, now for the compare and contrast with Switzerland part of the post.  In Switzerland, everyone is required to have health care and you are required to prove it within three months of arrival.  We actually didn't choose our company right away, because we were waiting until we had a permanent address and the insurance rates are dependent on your residence.  So even though we arrived in the country on January 10, we didn't sign up for insurance until the beginning of April.  But if anything had happened health-wise in those first three months, it would have covered it retroactively (because of course we had to pay the premiums for those months).  

Zürich Daddy Geek and I never had a need to go to the doctor while we were there, so we don't know how hard it would have been to get an appointment, but it was pretty easy to get Little Geek Girl in with a pediatrician. 

Now we're in the U.S.  In California and Colorado we had always been pretty happy with Kaiser, but we weren't sure how good it was here and so we decided to go with a PPO.  I sent a couple emails out over the weekend asking locals for practice recommendations.  I call the first one, they're accepting new patients, but not until July.  The second practice, no appointments for two weeks, but I can call back this afternoon to see if they have any cancellations for tomorrow.  Finally, third practice, I can get an appointment for tomorrow.  What if I was in excruciating pain?  I think I need to call LGG's pediatric office to find out their policy on same day appointments.

Ear Infection

We have been very lucky that Little Geek Girl has only had one ear infection.  Well, this time it's my turn to have the ear infection.  Thursday night my ear was completely plugged up and quite painful.  It got a little better after some decongestant and ibuprofen.  Friday night I had a high fever.  I think they usually work themselves out even without antibiotics so it just depends on how painful it gets.  At least our health care cards arrived in the mail yesterdy so I don't have to explain to someone that we *do* have insurance, just not the cards.  

Just another little stumbling block on the transition back to life in the U.S.  

And ten more days until internet in the apartment.  We're not counting or anything.