Gruyere and Gruyere Castle

We still didn't have a car and it was really getting frustrating!  All the little day trips that should take an hour or an hour and a half were twice as long by public transportation.  You can get anywhere you need to go in Switzerland, it just may take you a lot longer to get there.

One place I had heard lots about was Gruyere.  For you cheese lovers, you may recognize the name of the famous cheese.  There is also a castle there that is supposed to be pretty neat. 

So we hopped on the train and then took a bus and then took a tram and 3 hours later - voila, we were there!  I know - 3 hours - and for that reason we almost didn't do it.  But we were really glad that we did.  Taking the train is far different than jumping in the car in that you can play games and talk and enjoy being together.  We brought along some games and cards and had a good trip.  Plus, it was really good for us to get out and see something different.  I felt like that was why we were in Europe and I really disliked that we had been there for almost two months and had done close to nothing.

When we arrived in Gruyere, we toured the cheese factory, which was interesting and included yummy cheese samples.  And then we hiked up the hill to the castle.  What I wasn't expecting was this cute little town.  I loved this town purched on the top of a small mountain surrounded by mountains on one side and overlooking the valley on the other. 

We enjoyed the sites and then had dinner at a really good fondue place... and then got on a tram, and then a bus, and then a train and.... voila, (yawn) we were home.

Trip to to the top of Mt. Rigi

We had a great time taking this trip up to the top of Mt. Rigi.  Our car hadn't arrived, but we rented a car and drove about an hour to the base of the mountain and then hopped on a cable car and then onto a train that steeply climbed the rest of the way to this tiny town at the top. 

The Swiss people are in crazy shape, largely because hiking up a mountain seems to be a regular event.  There are 70 year old people hiking up the side of the mountain with their hiking sticks in hand. 
They may not be fast, but they are certainly capable!  And then there are the simply crazy hikers that are all decked out in their skin tight gear and ready to dangle off the side of a mountain.  I try to stay far away from them just in case it might be contagious.  We did hike up the top part of the mountain and that was enough for us!

We had such a nice day.  The weather was beautiful and pretty warm, even up high.  From the top, one side looks back over the mountains and the other side overlooks a large valley with rivers and some small lakes. 


This may be one of my favorite pictures and views.  It was amazing.



Here is the train that took us up the hill.

Raben-chilbi Parades

We have been having a lot of fun lately.  I am past some of the culture shock and homesickness and have been really enjoying myself.  I still have some pangs of sadness when I miss something back home, but I reallly do find myself liking lots of things here and getting excited about things to come.  We are really looking forward to trips to other countries, but lately we have been enjoying all that Switzerland has to offer locally.

One tradition that sounds a little bizarre, but ended up being really impressive is the Rabenchilbi parades and activities.  Where we carve pumpkins, they carve turnips.  Seriously.  And since turnips are firm, they can be carved very elaborately which is neat.  But what they mainly do with these turnips is carve out a hole and put in a candle and they glow beautifully.  Then they take these turnips and put them with a bunch of other turnips and create a picture or design on a float for the parade.  They will also decorate houses and pathways and archways. 

All the little towns here do them, but the biggest is one in a town just a few minutes from us called Richterswil.  At exactly 7 pm, they turn off all the lights in the town and everything is only illuminated by the glowing turnips.  I know it is hard to make turnips sound lovely, but it really was.  There is a big parage with all kinds of marching bands (sounding a bit like polka music) and these elaborate floats.  There is something magical about no electricty or power.  Even the floats were on carts that people pushed.

You can see really great pictures of much better quality by follwoing this link, but here are some pictures from our night:



This is an Alpine Horn.  It is really a pretty sound when it is played.  Not at all the sound I was expecting. 



These two walked the parade and stopped every once and a while and played.

Swiss Will

Will started Swiss school.  He has been attending for two weeks and loves it! 

I agonized over sending him to an all speaking German school, I think largely because it was new and different and I wasn't sure what to expect.  But I also agonized over the fact that he wasn't in school since there was no room at the International School and wouldn't be until after the first of the year.  Plus, he wanted to make new friends and he was eager to go the local school.  We had heard very good reports on the local school and that people often move to our area simply because the school is so good.  So Rich and I went and visited the school.  The principal was a young, kind man who we thought presented us with a realistic picture of what to expect, what their school was like and the challenges for an only English speaking kid.  He assigned Will to a teacher who so far strikes me as one of the warmest, kindest, approachable, helpful and lovely people I have ever met.  She is one of those people who you believe is born to teach.  She speaks perfect English and has gone out of her way to help me.  She has a guitar in her room and sings with the kids in addition to spending one afternoon a week doing what they call "forest teaching" where they go out into the forest here (just a 5 minute walk from the school) and do their studies there, often involving nature and science.  It is really pretty neat and he is enjoying himself. 

Since Jack and Will are in different schools, I worried about them having different vacation schedules, but they actually match up really well.  Will has more vacation days during the year and gets out of school after Jack, but Will's vacation overlaps all of Jack's which means I have already started planning trips during those times!  :)

As part of school, Will has swimming once a week and he was shocked that all the kids simply get naked and change into their swimsuits. I hadn't thought about it before, but there are not many opportunities where Will has been naked in front of other kids!  Here, nudity is not much of an issue and there are pictures of naked people to be found in random places and there are opportuntities to be naked in front of other people at the sauna or even changing clothes on the beach (that's a story for another blog).

He walks to and from school every day.  That is a big thing here in Switzerland - every Swiss child is expected to walk to school on their own, even the kindergarteners.  I walked him the first couple of days and then I let him do it on his own.  It was really hard to do, but all the kids do it and he has been fine with it.  I don't worry about his safetly as that apparently is not an issue here.

Will was assigned a private German teacher at the school and he meets 4 times a week with her.  The rest he is learning through immersion which for whatever reason is not frustrating him.  He had three other kids in his class that speak English as their mother tongue and they help explain things to him and have become his good friends already. He joined the swim team and will soon sign up for soccer. 

And the really nice thing is that I wanted my kids to learn another language while here.  For Jack, he is learning German, but he rarely gets the chance to practice it as he is surrounded by English speaking people.  By the end of the school year, Will should be pretty fluent in German and in Swiss German.  Plus, he will make friends with local kids and have friends within walkign distance.  Jack's friends are spread out all over the area and are a car ride away. There are certainly advantages to Jack's school, but Will's has advantages as well and I think the school fits his personality. 

So far so good!

Unpacking and repacking

Apparently I am in a bit of trouble for not having updated our blog recently.  People I barely know are wondering why I am such a slacker!.  Let me start by telling you that our furniture and belongings arrived last week and I have been unpacking and then unpacking some more.  It took the movers two days to cram all of our stuff in this little apartment and I finally told them to simply leave the rest of the boxes until I could finally put some things away to make room for more things to put away.

Watching them move our stuff to our apartment was wild.  They had an outside lift that attached to the balcony of our apartment and went from the garage entrance up 4 stories to our apartment balcony.  For some reason, the local movers here didn't realize a piano was coming and all 6 of them stood around and warily watched as the piano (which exceeded the weight maximum) slowly climbed the side of the building and was lifted over the balcony. 

Unpacking included its own humor as I would find random things we brought such as a large griddle for a gas stove that is larger than my entire electric ceramic cooktop.  There are also the numerous large cookie sheets that, even if I got a running start, I couldn't jam into my tiny oven.  Thank goodness the martini and margarita glasses made it (absolutely no sarcasm there).  I WILL find a way to make margaritas here if it kills me (I can always consult my Aunt Di on that one).  I brought something like 20 wine glass with me.  Huh? Not only do I not have room for 20 people drinking wine in my place, but if I put all of those in my cabinets, about 1/4 of my cabinet space would be gone :).   So I have a couple of boxes in our storage space that are labeled: "Should not have brought" and then list the contents.

What didn't make it is my silverware.  We have been eating with plastic forks, spoons and knives until I find out from the moving company how to replace them.  I've been throwing the plastic cutlery in the dishwasher - amazing how well it has held up.  However, I made baked potatoes two nights ago and that was a bit of a challenge.  Plastic forks don't smash up potatoes very well.

We are also missing some of Jack's clothes, but I can't tell you what happened to them.  I am actually wondering if we left a suitcase at the airport or a carry-on on the plane.  We had so many of them it was hard to keep track!   I was just happy we made it here with all of our kids.


I will also tell you that the last week has been tough for me.  With the exception of getting all of our own things which was comforting, I think homesickness really set in and I looked around and wondered "What have we done?"  I have spent far too much of my time wondering how we are going to do without (fill in the blank) instead of focusing on the good things in my life and looking forward to the new and different things we are going to experience. Right now "new and different" is so abundant that I find it overwhelming at times. We have had beautiful weather and for the most part, each day has been stunning.  I know I haven't done a good job of thanking God for my blessings.

To put it all in perspective, I talked to my mother-n-law.  Rich's mom is one of my most favorite people in the world.  I certainly don't let her know that enough.  And she probably has no idea the imprint she leaves on me every time I speak with her.  For those of you who don't know, she had undetected Grave's Disease for decades which led to Glaucoma.  Her health and vision have been severely impaired.  If that wasn't enough, she recently had shingles that then went to her eyes!  She has been completely blind for the last few weeks and is slowly recovering, but we don't know how much of her vision was damaged further.


There is nothing that makes me feel more like a whiny baby than to complain to her about something. 
That's not her fault - it's my own.  She always comforts me and gives great perspective and then at some point I realize that I am complaining to her about something that is so irrelevant.  I never hear her complain. She always tells me that if I can't control it, then don't worry about it.  Such great advice - I simply wish I was better at doing that.  And when we are done talking I always feel better.  Always.  I don't know how she does it, but she rearranges my life in my head enough to know what is really important and what isn't.


So as I unpack my boxes and wonder where in the world I am going to put my bundt pan that I was sure I needed to bring (at least if fits in my oven!), I am trying to do a better job of placing things where they need to be.  There are some unnecessary things on which I have been dwelling that I am doing my best to repack and put away where I don't need them.  There are some things I realize I can place on a back shelf to think about another day and there are those I need quick access to because they are more important to living a truly good life.

Body Issues

Jack has been in school for the last week and he loves it.  I'll write more on that later when I have the chance.  Will is still waiting to get in, but he is guaranteed to be in by December 17 and maybe earlier.  So a little more home schooling for him, I'm afraid. 

Today's blog is about nothing much but a couple of little things.  I don't know that my mom or others will like this blog much, but for some reason I am writing about these random things...

Right now we go to the grocery store almost every day.   The grocery story here, Coop, was running a promotion and handing out bags of small items.  It was really nice as it included a Swiffer duster, some dish washing tablets and other items.  As soon as we got home, Josi loved rummaging through the bag and dusting all of our items and immediately using all products - she is a consumer marketer's dream!  One of the items was a little sanitary pad (sorry any men reading) and she wanted to know what it was. I started on the long story about it while answering 4 year old questions and realized part way through that I was not making any sense.  So I simply said - "It is a padded sticker!"  And we opened it up, stuck it to her shirt and she walked around for couple of hours with it stuck to her shirt!  Thank heavens we had no place we had to go!

Chocolate and cheese - I could eat only those two things for the rest of my life and be a very happy girl.  They are everywhere in everything and in every form.  I have no idea how these skinny little Swiss people can be eating both of these things all the time, but they must because they are EVERYWHERE!  I had made a previous post about how healthy all the food is here and lacking in hormones and preservatives.  Let me state that I think it is not possible to lose weight if all you ever do is eat chocolate and cheese.

And lastly, we have run out of the U.S. toilet paper that we brought with us from home.  So now it is on to European toilet paper.  Need I blog more?

Ode to the Alps

Ahhhh, the Alps.  How amazing to see these mountains as a backdrop to the lake and hills outside our home.  It still amazes me how they are in full view one day and completely hidden the next because it doesn't appear as if they are covered by clouds - they simply cease to be visibile.  It is truly as if God plucks them up and then drops them back down again on another day.  It's as if they are only here visiting.  If that is the case and they travel around, I hope they decide to stop by and visit you!

This week has been beautiful.  At different times during the day I think "Oh, I need to take a picture of the mountains - they are beautiful."  About an hour later they have changed and seem even more beautiful and I want to take another picture.  I only wish I was a better photographer with a better camera to do them justice.  Here are a few from our balcony that I wanted to share with you:

Alps at sunrise - about 7 am

Still morning

Morning on a different day

Another morning

During the day

During the day

Dusk - this was far more beautiful than picture suggests. 

Dusk

Almost night - love the moon in this one.  Later in the evening, you could still vaguely see the mountains in the light of the full moon. 

 Rich has been gone all week and came home today to finally see the mountains in full view.  We were so glad he was finally home after a long week's worth of work - and happy the mountains were here to help greet him!

Boat Ride

Lazy, easy day today.  Took the train to the city center and then took a boat ride down the river and out on Lake Zurich.  It was a cloudy day, but we really enjoyed ourselves.  Thought I would post a couple of pictures since I haven't yet.  Part of the reason there have been no pics is that someone who will remain nameless (although his name rhymes with "itch" and he was super happy Wisconsin beat Ohio State) lost the camera on our first outing.  We bought a new one on Friday so I can finally share some photos:

Jack on the boat

Will on the boat on the river

Josi on the boat on Lake Zurich

All three on the train.  Note: Will is wearing a t-shirt, Josi is wearing long sleeves and Jack is in a winter coat.  You'd think we were in three different climates!  Actually, we did break out the winter coats today to stay plenty warm.

Josi at the kitchen table

The Man on the Bus

Now that we have adjusted to the time change and are beginning to figure things out a little, I am looking forward to beginning a routine.  Jack starts school on Wednesday which is the International School's first day back after mid-October break.  I am hoping some second grader doesn't show up after the break so Will has a spot soon as well.  I am looking into a preschool a couple of mornings or so for Josi - I think she would do really well in a bi-lingual school so that she is taught part of the time in German.  I can't wait to hear the kids speak German.  It is one of things I am looking forward to the most.

We bought our train passes yesterday.  They are one of the few things that are reasonably affordable for adults and very affordable for the children and a much better deal than daily or round trip rates ... and it simply feels better to not have to hand over money to travel to the grocery store!

We normally walk about a half mile to the train station and head out from there.  It is a really nice walk and we are trying to do more of that.  On the way back it was raining so we skipped the train completely and took the bus that drops off about a half a block from our home. 

As we were waiting for the bus, a gentleman of about 70 years of age sat down by Jack and spoke to him in Swiss German. When Jack answered in English, he spoke to him in English and began a conversation.  I told him it was our first time to ride the bus here and wondered if we needed to push the button before our stop or if the bus automatically stops at each stop - one of those little things that makes you feel better once you know what to do.

The kids began talking to him.  They told him we had moved here last week.  Josi told him her dad was in Paris for a whole week.  Will (who stood up every time he spoke and sat down afterwards) told him that he had never been here before we moved here.  He told the kids how much fun they would have learning a new language and that his little granddaughter is five and speaks four languages.  He seemed to be a genuinely kind man who sat across from us as we boarded the bus.  Right before his stop, he asked if I had a pen and he took it and wrote down his name and number.  He said, "My name is the same as the famous ketchup - Heinz.  If you need anything at all, please call me.  Please do not hesitate.  Even if you and your husband are looking for a place to eat.  I have llived in your town for 14 years and now live in the neighboring one.  I would be happy to help."

I was genuinely touched by the gesture.  I teared up a little as he handed me his name and number.  It was such a random act of kindness, one of many that I have experienced here. 

I often wonder why we are here - what we will gain from this experience that will make us better people and make it worth all the effort?  I keep thinking it will be obvious things like travel and culture.   But maybe it will be the small things such as a greater understanding of the value of small acts of kindness.  I thought I knew those before, but I have been dramatically educated in that area by our friends back in St. Louis and a number of virtual strangers here who have been so kind to help in any way they can.  And since my life has slowed down to a crawl here for the moment, I am able to say hello in my terrible Swiss German to every person we pass on the street and appreciate each kindness, regardless of how small or simple. I hope that is a lesson our family has learned for life.

Basic Day

Nothing exciting today, but it was a very nice day.  It started out cool and then the sun came out and the clouds cleared.  The Alps poked out a bit over the hills and it was beautiful.  I am surprised by how much the kids like it here.  They have not met any kids yet because school is on mid-October break and they have limited toys (and no television ), but they are extremely happy and doing very well.  MUCH better than expected.

For those of you who don't know, Sara (our sitter from the states) is here with us until the middle of December.  Thank heavens for her.  Not only is she great with the kids, but she is also a good friend and lots of fun.  She is finishing her college classes online and able to take classes from here.  Rich is gone this week to Dusseldorf and Oslo until Thursday night, then leaves again on Saturday for Paris and is gone until the following Saturday.  It is so nice to have Sara here to have another adult around and to figure out cooking and the train station and all those things that are always more intimidating to do on your own.

We successfully used the Combi steamer oven tonight for the first time.  I am still not sure what the heck it really is, but it looks like a mini oven for munchkins.  I have no instructions for it and what I can find is in German.  However, it did makes some excellent food even though I don't think we used it exactly as was intended.

I have to say that I am really liking our kitchen.  It is has a lot more space and storage than I thought it would.  The little refrigerator reminds of the Mary Poppins suitcase as things seem to fit in it that shouldn't and apparently our freezer is super-sized compared to others.  I really think we are good on space.

Laundry is a new experience.  The water is heated by the laundry machine itself so it takes more than an hour and a half to wash a load of laundry.  The Swiss claim it is energy efficient and the clothes are especially clean.  I guess I always thought our clothes were pretty clean before :). 

I feel a little in limbo right now as I need to register with the local village to become an official resident.  I can't do that until the entire family can go together and prove that everything is in order.  Keep in mind, I have given this information already to the country of Switzerland and the Swiss embassy in Chicago, but I still need to show up with our Passports, birth certificates, marriage license, drivers licenses, work permit, apartment lease, passport pictures and visas.  That has to come first before we can open a bank account, get a cell phone and buy a car, plus a number of other things.  We will do that if Rich gets home in time on Thursday or first thing on Friday.

Hello Zurich!

Overall, today was a very good day.  There were some not so good moments - mainly trying to go through TSA security (think shoes off all kids, handfuls of coats, three laptop computers and eight carryons and personal bags) but I can't imagine it having gone much better.  The kids were very excited.  Jack was a little sad at first, but once on the big plane out of O'Hare with a personal television and choice of movies and games, everyone was pretty darn happy. 

Our superhuman relocation person, Claudia, picked us up at the aiport and we headed off to our new apartment, about 7 miles from the city center of Zurich.  We hadn't seen the apartment since construction was finished and so I was a little concerned, but it really looked great.  The kitchen has a lot more cabinet space than I expected and the appliances are pretty neat and everything is high quality.  Claudia already had rental furniture, cooking utensils and linens in place so we are able to settle in to our new home and learn about the area.  The place is pretty modern - much more so than to which I am accustomed.  It has this modern parquet floor - not sure how to describe it but it is really pretty.  The ceiling is basically a cement ceiling - it is the only thing I don't like about the apartment, but I guess it considered a "cool" thing here. I just want to paint it white!

After Claudia left, we headed to the little grocery store about a half mile from our home and we headed there on foot.  I must say, that was a pretty comical experience.  Nobody spoke English - and of course we don't speak any German yet.  We wanted to purchase fruit, but needed to weigh it and put a label on it, but we had no clue we were supposed to do that.  There was one checker and we held up the line trying to take care of all the dumb things we did wrong.  You have to buy special garbage bags at the grocery store - they cost $2 each and are about the size of a standard kitchen bag.  They are expensive in part to try and minimize waste so that you recycle more.  If you put out your trash and don't use the special bags, you are fined $1000.  Seriously!  The grocery stores keeps the bags behind the counter, probably because they are worth their weight in gold, and we had no idea how to ask for them and miming out the explanation didn't work.  I finally found a random customer to help translate.  Both Rich and I were sweating by the time we got out of there!

We came back to our place and had spaghetti for dinner, during which the kids talked about how happy they were to be there and that they thought they were going to like it here.  That was a nice thing to hear.
We then unpacked and the kids were all asleep by 9 pm, which is great considering that it is 2 pm their bodies' times.  I am hoping that is a good sign for less jetlag. 

I feel such relief simply being here.  It is really beautiful and I am feeling optimistic.  The adventure has begun!

The Gift of Good-Byes

One of the hardest parts about the moments of the last week are the constant good-byes.  These don't count just people, but saying good-bye to places, sites of important memories such as the home where we brought home each of our kids.  But most frighteningly is saying good-bye to a way of life in which I am very content.  I like our house, our neighbors, our church, our schools and all the lovely people who are a part of our lives here in St. Louis. 

I think maybe the most wonderful and unexpected gift of the whole process has been how amazing it is to experience a challenge that results in such support from friends and family.  This has allowed us to witness the depth and extent of the friendships we have created. I am humbled by our friends' acts of kindnesses...  Will's soccer coach giving him a soccer ball signed by the team, Catherine Cox giving me a journal to record my thoughts (and one of the kindest cards I have ever received), Marie Wesolowski (who wins the award for most helpful friend) and Susan Conley offering time and time again to take the kids, the Johnsons taking the boys fishing for the day, Jennifer McGillivery taking Josi to play, the teachers at school creating booklets for the kids to do on the plane and working to keep a network in place for the kids with their classmates, the calendar of pictures from the Cub Scouts for Jack, Cubmaster Steve Gum who made sure the kids know they will be missed and encouraging them with their move, my neighbor Sandy offering her basement for storage, Ann Mabry (who also deserves an award) coming over to help me pack and making us a farewell dinner and helping dispose of our furniture. Friends who have helped organize and throw farewell celebrations like the Williams, Mosses and Sigmunds.   I know there are others I have forgotten to mention, but I felt like I needed to mention some of the friends who have been so selfless with their time and showed their support through their actions. It is so bittersweet because the kindness of these people make it even harder to say good-bye.  My only saving grace is to believe that we hope to be back to continue those friendships and hopefully make new friends to add to the treasuretrove already in place.

So it is with a sad but very grateful heart that I look around my house that I have loved so much and count my blessings.  Tonight, the house is mostly packed up and we are close to being ready to go.  The furniture is on its way by sea.  We will travel with 11 bags that can weigh up to 70 pounds each plus 5 carry-ons and a few personal bags that will go with us on the plane.  Can you imagine the number of tiny little Swiss cars it will take to get all our luggage to our apartment? :) 

I am ready to be there and for the adventure to begin!

It's All About the View

Zurich is situated on the northern banks of Lake Zurich and surrounded by hills with the Alps jutting out to the south and a bit to the east.  When the Alps are visible, they are stunning, but at times you can't see them because the clouds are low enough they hiding them.  That seems a bit strange because it doesn't look cloudy, the mountains simply disappear and then reappear at another time as is if they were off visiting another country.

City of Zurich with Alps in the background

I feel some relief as things begin to fall in place, at least just a little bit.  The apartment is secure and Rich measured all the key places so I can begin to figure out furniture including what to buy and what to leave behind and what furniture is about to become a world traveler.

We picked our apartment location based on its proximity to the school we wanted the kids to attend (Zurich International School) and because of its view.

I can sum up our house hunting experience in one word: TINY.  Like most of Europe, homes are much smaller than we are accustomed.  As I understand it, the Swiss do not entertain in their homes much.  If they spend time with friends, they do it outside of their homes.  Child bedrooms are often very small.  And the majority of people rent, most commonly apartments instead of homes.  My vision for our Swiss home was a little Swiss Chalet style home with a cute little yard - what we ended up with is a new construction penthouse apartment with no yard in site.  The word penthouse relative to Zurich simply means that it is a third floor apartment as that is the tallest that any building can be built in the suburbs of Zurich. 

Our four bedroom apartment is very modern looking and smaller than half the size of our current home.  I was complaining about that for awhile until I realized it is still one and a half times larger than my grandmother's house where she raised five children.  That home was one of my most favorite places and I never heard her complain so figured I should put an end to that right away.   However,  it will take some adjusting to get used to more confined quarters.

Apartments, especially the kitchens, lack the storage space to which I am accustomed.  Our kitchen is very small.  Small kitchens are based on the idea that the woman stays home, goes to the store EVERY day and  buys fresh produce and makes fresh homemade meals every night.  HA!  We'll see how that goes for me!  With that in mind, there is no reason for large pantries and lots of storage area in the kitchens.  There are no preservatives in the food.  Huge refrigerators are not needed and food spoils very quickly.  Most foreigners in Zurich tell us this forced healthy way of eating results in losing weight whether you want to or not.  (I will be so ticked if I end up being the only American in Zurich that gains weight!)

Part of the kitchen - without the back-splash and still under construction.  That is the refrigerator on the far right with the handle and the freezer underneath it.  The other handle on the right is the dishwasher. 

Ahh, but the view!  The apartment has two balconies that total 800 square feet.  They offer a view to the North over Lake Zurich and the little towns that dot its shores.  And the view to the South is one that makes me sigh in appreciation of its beauty.  It is of the Lake Zurich surrounded by hills with the Alps standing majestically behind them.

The view from our north balcony

The view from our south Balcony.

Another view from our south balcony.  You can barely see the Alps in the background.

When Rich was there, the Alps were visible, but our little digital camera didn't capture them well so you will have to use your imagination. In person, they are stunning.

Part of the south balcony, still under construction.

 This long balcony runs the length of the family room and three of the bedrooms.  The entire south side of the apartment has floor to ceiling glass walls. 

Glass wall/door off of the family room

Boys' bedroom

I hope while we are there, that we appreciate the view each and every day.  I hope we never get accustomed to it.  I hope that every day we pause to take a moment and look out a window and think:  THAT is spectacular. Thank you for this view.

"Beauty is God’s handwriting." ~ Charles Kingsley

Everything in Motion

As I sit down to blog for the first time, the main thing I notice is that I am sitting still.  I feel like the last three weeks have been in constant motion.  I'm physically sore all over from cleaning out closets and ridding our house of junk in preparation for moving to a house half the size of our current one.  I had the first garage sale of my life this week, which I might add was quite a success.  I had been warned that it would be a miserable experience, but I actually enjoyed it, probably because I like talking to complete strangers.  The fact that I like talking to strangers is a VERY good thing considering that, aside from those living with me, everyone I will encounter is about to become a perfect stranger.

The hardest part to keep from being in motion is my brain.  I can't fall asleep because I am worried about too many things and I awake at 4:00 am with lists in my mind of things I need to do.  My sleep is suffering dramatically and it is finally catching up with me.

Rich is in motion as he is currently on a plane somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean on his way to Zurich.  He needs to be there for meetings that are his responsibility area for his new job.  While there, he will check out the new apartment and measure walls and spaces so that we can formulate a better plan on what to bring and what to leave behind.  He is also taking pictures and once I receive those, I'll include them in another posting and describe the apartment.

But it is all the moving pieces that I need to come together that gives me the most distress.  Some of those pieces seem to swirl around me in a blur as they are dependent on other pieces falling into place.  For instance, we cannot move until the kids are accepted to the Zurich International School.  Jack is first on the list and will have a spot shortly, but Will is further down on the list and it may take more time.  Once Jack is accepted, that moves Will up to the top position unless there is another child who has a sibling that has already been accepted.  We can't schedule the movers until we have a moving date.  We currently plan to list the house next weekend to lease or sell and see which happens first (we go back and forth whether to sell or rent) but if we do get a bidder, we don't know when to tell them we want to close as it is dependent on when we move and that is dependent on the school.  If we could get all the pieces to fit together, we would like to move the first part of October.

And then there is the e-motion involved in the physical movement of our family that brings me excitement, sadness, anticipation and fear all rolled up into one.  I find the impact of our decision to move sweep over me in waves sometimes and I am truly overwhelmed. I find the best way in dealing with it is to focus on the little tasks that need to get done.  To sort through my clothes, paint the garage door trim, complete forms and applications.  Other times, I think of the excitement of skiing in the Alps, taking the kids to Paris or visiting the Coliseum in Rome. 

At some point, I look forward to standing still on top of a mountain in Switzerland and enjoying God's beauty laid out before me.  But I don't have time to think about that right now, there's too much to do!  I better get a move on!