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!