My quiet weekend . . .

Friday night I babysat while the parents went out and we had supper, sang opera, had drinking contests (water only ;-) ) and ate popcorn while watching 10,000 B.C. in German of course. Never have seen this movie so I was a bit confused . . .

Saturday, I slept in super late, laid in bed wondering if I should get up and be productive, lol, and decided to check my facebook and decided to meet some of the aupairs in Zurich. We then walked down to the lake and lounged in the shade talking and people watching for about three hours. Another aupair came to join us for awhile, and then we all ended up parting ways. While walking to the other station one of the aupairs showed me the old town area. They call it the Neaderdorf (not sure if that is spelled right!) and it is absolutely adorable. Most places were closing at 5.oo uhr so, or rather 17.00 uhr, so we rambled through this Indian bazaar thing, she showed me a few nice bars, and then we window shopped and went home.

We also saw a few crazy people at the park area and there was an interesting indian parade passing by, not really sure what that was all about, but they were throwing fruit at people so it was highly amusing! Did they have a Rajai!?!

Today one of the aupairs and I met at the station and then walked to the International Protestant church of Zurich for my first service here. It was a lot of fun and really encouraging as my week had not been that great. Of all things to speak about, I found it amusing the Pastor spoke about finding a good wife, and praying for one's future spouse. Lol. Was really nice to be in that atmosphere again and while I may not go every week due to traveling, it is nice to know that there is a good English church, which is more that open and accomodating to newcomers. Haha, had to stand up and introduce myself. :-D

Afterwards, the aupair and I went out for cake at this great little specialty shop, devoted to desserts and drinks. We talked for while and made tentative plans for the upcoming week. It was really nice to talk to somebody about everything and listen to other "horror" stories about other aupairs. While this is an amazing experience and one I will take advantage of as long as I am able, I am beginning to realize that it isn't as romantic as it sounded. But thankfully they haven't put spiders in my bed, or frogs in my pockets, or pine cones in my chair. ;-) Lol, the kids aren't that bad, but aupairs are definitely left to the mercy of "their kids" and really I do believe one ought to feel sorry for them because it has to be hard for them to always have to readjust to new aupairs. No wonder they sometimes make it difficult for us.

The huge summer ball they were having inside the HaubtBahnhof. This sign basically says the event is on Saturday evening, Free entry, and from 8pm-2am. :-D

Another thing of interest. I was on my way home on the train tonight, of course, when all of a sudden I realized I had not stamped my ticket. I bought a 6 times ticket into Zurich and had punched it yesterday at 1.50 which meant that I had to be back in Uster today by 1.50 or else I'd have to punch it a second time. Once realizing I'd forgotten to do so I started praying furvently that the ticket man would not make his way to my section before I got off or I would have been fined a large sum for not paying for the ride! I was so lucky since I do not believe they were making their checks today for some reason. Eek! So glad though I was able to save a trip! :-P

Tis getting better

A lot has been happening, but I am determined to get over my homesickness and to make this work. ;-)

One more week of class and then about 6 weeks or so of holidays (school is out). The kiddos get out the 14th of July and don't go back until the 18th of August. For a few of those weeks I shall be watching them all day and hopefully we can stay busy at the pool and go to the Zoo in Zurich and the Dinosaur museum in Aathal. During the holidays the family will be taking me with them on there 2 1/2 week vacay in Italy, Spain, and France. Not really sure yet all we will be doing, but I am really excited to have something to look forward too!

This past week started rather rough for me, but towards the end it is getting better and Saturday and Sunday are at my disposal, so I shall see what sort of damage I can get into before a new week begins. ;-)

Just wanted to mention that I bought J a Dr. Suess ("To Think that I saw it on Mulberry Street") book for his birthday and although I am not really sure if he likes it or not I cannot fathom how much the paperbook cost!!! It was 16 Fr.! If I come back for another year the next time I come home, I am going to all the bargain sales and shall have my own singing parade throughout the Walmart and Target stores. Beautiful 'walmartz" in a one redlight town . . . (inside joke)

*Sigh*

The weekend was a great time to get to know some of the girls really well. Got back safely and will post details and pics later.

I am really really starting to miss familiar faces and places. Today was just rather hard for various reasons and I feel a bit down. Haha, crazy I know, I'm in Europe!?! Ah well, tomorrow is a new day . . .

It's been a month!?! Plus pics of me classmates

Our teacher!


2/3 of the class. As the weeks passed the class became smaller and smaller. It was a bit intese. ;-)
It hardly seems possible that I've been gone for over a month now. Wow!

I absolutely love this place and my classes and everything. I cannot believe that I am learning another language and have the opportunity to travel anywhere, as long as it fits into the schedule. ;-)

This morning was the last day of classes for the first half of the A1 German Deutschkurs!!! We took some pictures and then after class some of us went across the street for an espresso in this Italian cafe while the Italian waitor tried talking to us in German. We both spoke "Deutsch nich so gut" so it was really funny. He did however tell me my name was "ganz schon!" Haha, which whether he meant it or not was nice because lol, EVERYONE here spells it "Down" and I try to tell people, "no it isn't walking 'down' the stairs! it is 'Dawn' like 'morgen tag'!!!" Oh well! :-D

After our espressos one of the guys bought me a spinach wahen (I think, spinach cheesecake) to take home and now this afternoon, I am just messing around and shall get ready for this weekend trip with the girls. I swear if I see a rat, I shall just die!!! Should be fun though. :-P

Last week myself and the Mrs checked out some schools in Zurich. There was one in an area which she said many different cultures resided in these few blocks because it was cheaper. She then told me that there are occasionally prostitutes walking around. This area was actually fairly clean, surprisingly. That is one thing that is so surprising about Zurich. Despite the fact that is is an International city, it is realtively small and one can run it to people they know all the time. Twice I've passed aupairs just rambling around. One of the girls said it was NOTHING like Atlanta, lol. The other school is nearby the Starbucks by Bahnhofstrasse so I think I am leaning towards the latter. It does seem to fit into our schedule much better than the other so that is great. If everything works out then after the break during the holidays I will take an assessment test and will hopefully have completed the first part of A1 German and the Last week of September start classes in Zurich!

Last week I also was somewhat successful in taking a message!!! Haha! Somebody called and of course I answered it and said "Hallo" and then there were several German questions. I asked the gentleman if he spoke English, he said no, and then proceeded to ask me if I spoke Italian? No. French? No. Spanish!?! No. Then laughter . . . I proceeded to ask him, "name", which he gave and just my luck it sounded difficult. So I then tried to get him to spell it out and finding that hopeless, scribbled something that would remind me what it sounded like. Lol. So then I was able to ask him his telefonnummer. Yay! I can do numbers! null . . . sieben . . . acht . . . drei . . . He then said bravo and asked me where I was from. Hehehe, so it worked out. Lol. He wished me luck and said in 7 months I should be just fine. We shall see. :-P

This weekend will be lots of fun as I think on our way to the barn we will see a monastery, possibly, and then on Sunday coming back we will do something else and then the huge game is Sunday night. I am going to be exhausted Monday . . . ;-) Spain won yesterday 3-0 and will play against Germany!!! Apparantly this will be a great game!

Habst du gut wochend! Not sure if this was right . . . Have a good weekend! ;-)

Pictures of Italy!!! Sorry the pics are a it out of order . . .

Eating at the Ristorante del Monte
Crossing the Italian border into Switzerland. They did not check our passports.
The Alps!!!!

The garden at the Castello di Masino

The back of the Masino
On of the doors in the Masino. There were these delicate white decorations all over everything and this chinese hand-painted "wall paper" on the walls of some of the rooms. When asked what the white stuff was made of the guide said rice flour, water, and glue. Lol, it was amazing!

The town next to the Masino

Getting a glass of champagne at the Masino Restaurant

On the back steps of the La Venaria Reale
The city were the Reale was.
The back balcony of the Masino and the views around the Masino


A gorgeous hall in the Reale, I almost got in trouble for this one. ;-)

The courtyard outside the Reale
Eating our paninis
There was a wedding in the Villa on Saturday
The front of the Masino

Waitors! They are so good caring all those plates!

The parlous of the Villa


Walking around the Reale
The Gelato place!

O modeling! ;-)

Mwahaha . . .
The GORGEOUS Villa from the front
Once inside the lobby the parlour area

Deutschland vs. Turkei = 3 to 2

Oh my! It was a blast! One of the gals said that this fan area was a bit more civilized than the one she went to last week where she got stuck in a mosh pit with fog horns. :-P There were so many in our area cherring for Germany, it was so neat to feel the energy and then waiting forever for my evening train was hilarious because these drunk Germans kept roaming around singing, lol. Here are some pics and then off to bed for me because I have class in the morning, woo hoo, and the girl from Turkey will not be happy.

Paintings I snapped at the Kunshaus!

Yesterday went great!

One awesome thing was that after class I was making my way to my usual train and it said "18 Minuten Spater" and I could understand it!!! Since it was going to be 18 mins. late I found another train and was only 5 minutes later coming home for lunch. :-D

The kiddos and I did the usual and then I left for an evening of Scottish Country dancing in Zurich. Since I have to pay for my train tickets into Zurich (around 10 CHF) this worked out perfectly because I could cram dancing, aupair meeting, and a bit of afternoon touring into one 24 hour trip ticket! I became extremely lost due to getting on the wrong bus, lol, it was the right number, but I got on on the wrong side and then had to get off in some crazy area and wait forever for the next #31 bus going in the other direction. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was absolutely right when he said that one could set the time by the trains, however buses are an entirely different matter.

I then found the right stop and had to walk to the St. Andrews Church and after having a kind Italian (who didn't speak English, lol) point me in the right direction and calling the dance instructor I realized it was under the church. I then made the huge mistake of walking into the main church area and after smelling insence I realized not the right entrance, lol. I finally walked into the dance 30 mins later. :-P It was great fun and everyone was surprised that I came a second time especially since the last group fell apart. I think I much prefer contra as it is easier for me because for some reason I cannot think in terms of squares and so it was a bit confusing, but they all said I caught on quickly so that was great. I was invited to sing in the choir and join the international women's club, so I shall find out more info about that. :-)

I was then chaperoned to the Stadelhofen bahnhof which is so much closer than the Haubtbahnhof and was incouraged to go to Germany for Christmas to experiance a true German Christmas. :-D

This morning I went to the aupair meeting and tonight if I do not work too late I am going to meet the gals and we are going to go to an area in Zurich with big screens to watch Germany and Turkey play in the Euro 2008. Tonight they play and tomorrow Russia and Spain play and then if I understand it correctly, on Sunday the winners play for the final Euro 2008 games, so it shall be CRAZY! I am so excited! I was also planning on going to the Contra dance on Saturday, but I think instead I shall experiance sleeping in a mouse infested barn somewhere in the Alps(?) with the aupairs. :-P It will definitely be interesting. I found out today that I need to buy a certain pass for a year for 150 Fr. so that since I am 21 I can travel anywhere in Switzerland after 7pm for free which will save me soooo much!

This afternoon I went to the Kunshaus of Zurich, which was an art museum. I was a bit disappointed due to amount of modern art everywhere, but there were some lovely paintings of Delacroix's and all the Impressionists artists, as well as some I'd never heard which I loved. I was lucky at first to sneak some pictures in before I was told to put my bag in the lockers! The pictures are above and the new artists I love are; Heinrich Fussli, Albert Anker, and Albert Welti. The one below cracked me up! I personally do not understand modern art (maybe I am an idoit) but I loved watching this guy listen to an audio guide while studying this "work of art". :-P