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.