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!