finally a head set ot talk to people!

Things here are ridiculously expensive. I wanted to buy a cheap noisy fan to help me sleep at night and not only are all the fans SUPER quiet (what's the point?!?), they were soooo expensive. A fan the size of my hand costs 20 SFr. when it would only cost $5. Oh well, maybe they're not made in China . . .


I am so tired and Mrs. said it will take me a week to adjust so that I am not "tired on top of tired" so hopefully soon I shall be able to do more in the evenings and still do my other stuff. ;-)

My morning started at 6 am at which time I thought, "please, not morning yet!" And while the radio BLARED, "come all ye fair and tender ladies", I thought perhaps I ought to crawl out of bed before I woke the whole apartment building. At 6:59 I ran out the door to go to their house. She took off work today to help me with the first day, so she showed me the laundry process (clothes air dry) and the morning duties. Then 7:45 we were running out the door and then on the the Banhof to catch the 7:55 train to arrive in Wetzikon at 8am. Lol, we just barely made it! I've never walked so fast before without running!!! Once in Wetzikon she walked me to the market where the school is held. Bizarre, yeah, but whatever. Lol, like going to school in Walmart!?!

Class was indeed interesting. Haha, so many different nationalities there that the teacher only spoke German so when she asked me a question it was only in German and somehow I had to figure out what she was saying. Truly challenging, but I couldn't help laughing because now I understand how other people felt. Lol, whenever I talk to someone we can only understand each other with hand signals and a few words in english and a few in spanish, if they cannot speak fluent english. So odd, but rather fun too . . .

Class lasted 3 hours (O_O) and then practically jogged to the banhof again to catch the 11:45 train. Tomorrow I must find a shorter route! Once back at their home Mrs. showed me how to make the meal and then we had dessert, cleaned up, went over the week's schedule, and then it was on to recycling the papers.

Nothing is ever wasted here and after we "did the papers" she walked me to the recycling plant where wine bottles and corks, different coloured glasses, wires, metals, computers stuff, these little espresso cups, plastic peanuts, and so many other stuff. Name it and there is a place for it. The even had a trash area for clothing, books, and other misc. items. The papers had to be tied a certain way so that the school groups that got them out of the trash dump things could take them in one bundle . . . lol . . .






After the recycling we walked over to the English women's club where I shall become a member and be able to get english movies to rent and books (to rent a movie for two days is basically $8!). This way I can read to the kiddos and help them to read and write English, hopefully. The club is for women who want their children to be fluent in English and their is a small school there as well, lol, there are schools EVERYWHERE, even a Japanese school of about 20 students.

So after walking back again, lol, maybe 6 miles today in all possibly more, I had a brief break, resisted sleep, and then in was in the car to go to IKEA and the media store in Dietlikon. I now have three pillows!!! Tis so odd, here they only sleep with one pillom and the fold the blankets to make the bed instead of lying them flat?!? Anyways, Mrs. also bought me new curtains, a long mirror, and a scale in kilos! Woo hoo! Haha, how to convert kilos . . . Then I bought a headset for skype so that now I may call everyone very often. Unfortunetely not tonight because I am too exhausted, but tomorrow sounds like a shorter day so possibly then.

It is now after 9pm and I must get ready for bed and do my german homework. O_O

Toodles!

WOW! I am exhausted! It is almost 5pm here and I am taking a short 30 minute break and then must go out again to Ikea and some other places to learn about. :-P

I will definitely try to write more tonight, but we shall see. ;-) I have homework and other stuff to do first. ;-)

The first class went great, except I thought, you know that if I had a question I could ask the teacher in my mother tongue, but NO she spoke throughout the WHOLE class in GERMAN. Lol, thankfully there was a guy from Egypt who spoke English fluently (among 7 other languages) who helped me out tremendously. Haha! Then I rushed back to the train station, but more detail later.

Another thing I am shocked about now is that Americans really waste everything. Tis rather said . . .

Oh, goodness, here I go . . . ;-)

My first party!

Let us start with this morning! Last night I went to bed super late, but got up at 8:30 and had breakfast. My breakfast was cereal, orange juice (definitely not Florida juice), cappuccino, and yogurt (normally I hate yogurt, but this was AWESOME! Didn't have that weird aftertaste). While I ate my lovely meal I opened the windows and heard the gorgeous church bells toll and people chatting . . . Btw, the milk only lasts up to four days here before it goes bad. WOW! Alrighty, so now a tour of the room!

The bathroom


My bed and earring gadget (made by me!)

The bat was made by a friend from my old community college!

The bookshelf

The living area complete with computer, couch, chair, T.V, closet, fridge, microwave, and the garden.

The Foyer

This afternoon the parents brought me with them to a fellowship gathering with other mutual friends. We traveled to Muhen (I think that is spelled correctly. It is pronounced like a cow mooing, "mooin", lol). Muhen is absolutely gorgeous and reminded me of my Grandmother's cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

I was introduced to everyone and now know the European greeting I guess. In the States we just hug or shake hands or whatever, but here they put cheeks together three times or so. :-) A few people spoke English to me briefly but most of the time it was my turn to listen, lol, so while they chatted I listened to German and Spanish and sometimes French find its way into conversation. It was amazing to how even though I have only had maybe a year of Spanish, I was able to recognize certain words and even though it has been at least three years since I've heard ANY Spanish, I remembered! Twas great. So then I listened more carefully and was so funny to listen to the women talk about the children or black hair and so forth. Lol, they could have been talking me, but lol, it was all rather fascinating. :-P




For the meal each family brought their own meat to grill and all the ladies brought various side dishes.



O took me up the trail and we had a nice stroll before dinner.


After supper we listened to the women from Colombia, Uruguay, Peru, and elsewhere, sing and compare folk songs from their countries. A grandmama brought her guitar and sometimes the men would stop talking and join in. It was very neat to hear. They kept saying something about singing an American song but I laughed and said no and just enjoyed their culture.

O and I then played with the napkins before we left and made all sorts of weird and pretty napkins. Lol, we even made a fan with the napkin and a skewer. I proceeded to tell her about the language of the fan, but I shall have to check myself to make sure that it is correct. ;-)



Well, off to get ready for bed and tomorrow's new day. I have my first German classes EVER tomorrow and I officially begin work as an aupair. :-D



Guten Naucht!

Sweet Tea made by a Southern Gal using a Microwave

Yes, I will die from radiation or whatever it is that is bad about microwaves . . .

What does one do when craving Sweet tea and living in Switzerland!?!

So yesterday, I wanted sweet tea. Problem? Yes! Luckily, I'd brought some Luizianne tea bags with me and found some sugar cubes in the drawer (I am NOT going to think of how old they might be!) and attempted to make this work.

So I grabbed a tiny glass bowl which held about 1 1/2 c. of water. Put that in the microwave and steeped my one wee teabag. Then after it was dark enough, proceeding to put in sugar cubes (lol, how many I put in is MY secret. ;-) ) and then found a pint size pitcher (must learn the metric system all over again *sigh* ) and added cold water and was immensely satisfied!

Lol, a bit of home for this southern gal!

Saturday 24 May, 2008

This morning, my day started with breakfast at their house and then the parents left for the gym and O helped me clean up while J got ready for his futbol match. We then walked about 15-20 min. to his match and watched him play. The parents came and then Mrs. and I went to the market and and the cleaners and then back to the house where she made a homemade tomato sauce and we ate dinner and then i had a lovely break and we all went tonight to this absolutely amazing Greek restaurant, fantastic! I had Gyros, which were so much better here than in the states and we had kaffe and again our meal lasted close to three hours. :-P 'Tis amazing how the portions are SO much smaller here and yet the meals are so filling! In the store to, everything sold is in tinier packages. No wonder Americans are so fat . . .

I have arrived!

Hello Everyone!

Friday morning around 8am I arrived in Zurich, got my bags, and made my way through customs where I waited about 30 minutes for a certain someone to pick me up! I will be taking care off her two children, maintaining the laundry, helping around the house, taking the children to futbol and ballet, and whatever other tasks needed to complete. :-) In return she pays for my room, meals, German language classes, and offers the unbelievable experience of cultivating a life in a foriegn country! It is amazing how entirely different everything is here. I have so much to learn and while it is intimidating, simple tasks such going to the market for produce or taking the train or even ordering from a menu become more than rewarding.

Thursday morning a great friend took me to the airport, we had lunch, and chatted for a bit and then she saw me off to embark on this great journey. I flew from the Tri-Cities airport to Atlanta then straight to Zurich. Sleeping on the plane was a joke, but somehow I was able to get an hour of sleep, however difficult and about 2am eastern time found me in Zurich around 8am. I was then shuttled to my studio apartment, took a short break, and then it was on to take a short walk, look at the map, go over a bit of the duties I'll be preforming and then on the the market bymyself to attempt to buy myself some lunch.

The market was great! The market is called "Migros" and is like our Walmart, complete with the grocery area downstairs and above everything else. This area was connected to more shopping areas resulting in a strip of shops. For 2 francs one "rents" a buggy (you get the franc back if you return it. Perhaps this should start in the States? Would help out the baggers immensely!) and the buggies even go up a smooth escalater (they lock into place to prevent rolling over people, lol) up to the 2nd floor. THe shopping experience went alright, I was able to recognize things in the aisles, some of the words are rather similar, and if not of course pictures help immensely. ;-) Anyway, I was hoping to be able to make it in and out without having to mention the fact that I know nothing! Lol, but instead was chastised for not weighing the apple I bought and putting the sticker on the bag (everyone SAVES bags here) and today while shopping with my employer learned that some of the produce displays a number, which after placeing the said fruit upon the scale one pushes the corresponding number and out prints the sticker that tells the cashier how much it is (forget all the produce codes cashiers memorize in the states! *4011 = bananas). So having announced that I am a bloody american I then try looking for the bags, haha, forgetting the fact that Europeans when shopping bring their own bags (here the bags are 30 francs each. Oh and to give you an idea on money 100 dollars egual 94 francs, I believe) and sheepishly gather my items, looking completely foolish stroll out avoiding humerous stares in my direction. Once back to the apartement (3 minute fast walk) inhale my food, collapse on the bed, accidentely sleep for two hours and then wake up to unpack my bags. :-P

Later that evening Mr. And Mrs. X take me to J's judo class (a type of karate?) and then the three of us and O walk to this Italian restaurant where we celebrate with champagne (something starting with the letter"P") and then Mr. walks back to pick up J and we eat a lovely meal on the balcony overlooking the lake of Zurich and see the BEAUTIFUL Alps, covered in SNOW! Ahh! Too lovely! While waiting the children and I walked around in the garden below while O told me about the red "Mund" (Moon) flowers that close in the evenings looking like cresent purse clutches. Finding one, she said, was good luck, I believe, and they are indeed beautiful.

After our meal we walked back, bought a tiny ice cream, and then back to my apartment, eating alone took almost four hours, lol.

More soon, but they are picking me up for supper! Ciao!