Limbo's Silver Lining

As defined by Webster:  Limbo: an unknown intermediate place or condition between two extremes

I'd say that's about right!  About a month ago, I would have told you that living in Limbo sucks....and it does.  But, there is a silver lining to it.  I have had so many thoughts (both deep and shallow) over the last few weeks that it's hard to know which is which.  But, one thing that dawned on me the other day: When you are in Limbo you are both 'here' and 'there'.  You are 'here' simply because that's where your physical being is.  However you are also 'there' because that's where you have always been and you are trying to make 'here' more like 'there'.  So, the 'here' is physical and the 'there' is mental/emotional.

As you move out of Limbo and you move into just 'here'; 'there' goes away.  But wait - I kinda liked 'there' so where is it going?  'There' had so many things I like - so why exactly am I 'here' again?  And, oh by the way, everything I know is 'there' and this 'here' is totally foreign and unknown.  Lesson learned: 'Be careful what you wish for because you might just get it.'

I was so eager to get on with this move because it was planned...I LOVE plans and I HATE it when plans get screwed up.  I physically start to sweat when I am late to something - it's a problem I have...

Anyway, back to Limbo.  When we were in Limbo in the weeks prior to and following our long flight to Switzerland, I had the pleasure of physically being in one place while at the same time, emotionally still very deeply entrenched in another.  Yes, living in a hotel sucked but at least I was on the same time zone as my parents.  That, and I knew how to get from point A to point B simply because I could read the street sign!  And after we got here - my body was in Switzerland but my heart and mind were still in the States - plus - people were really interested in what was going on with us.  But, as we move farther from limbo and closer to 'real life' the more I like limbo.  In real life, I am the odd man out.  I am the 'new' kid, the one that doesn't speak the language or like the food.  I am the one who has to comfort my kids when they miss their friends and grandparents, when I miss their friends and grandparents as much, if not more, than they do.  The silver lining to limbo is that you get to be 'here' and 'there' all at the same time and simply pick the best of both...

So here's to limbo...say 'hello' to it for me the next time you are there because for today, I miss it...

RhineFalls

Rhine Falls - Schaffhausen, Switzerland

So, a HUGE reason for this move is to "go and do" as my mother says.  Well, we have wasted no time because on weekend #2 in Switzerland we "wend and did".  Our first trip was a day trip to Rhine Falls in Schaffausen, Switzerland.  We took a bus a train and a boat so we got schooled in a lot of public transportation schedules!  

We were blessed with a beautiful day and a set of new friends named Claire and Tim who are from Atlanta and were are travel agents for the day.  Claire is a teacher at Piper's School and Tim is her husband who also works here in Switzerland.  They are only a few months ahead of us having relocated here in July but are light years ahead of us when it comes to navigating all the Swiss systems!

The girls were TROOPERS as there was much walking and waiting with all the buses and trains.  They really seemed to enjoy the falls, especially the boat ride.

Getting ready for our first train ride!

Piper at the to of the falls

Top of the falls

Bottom of the falls

Random old structure (no, not Kurt - I mean the building behind him)

Crazy Swiss Experiences - part deux

So, I went to an Aldi grocery store.  They have a few of these in the states - basically it's a discount food store.  I was hoping to find some American products there and did.  Namely, Stella's beloved blueberry muffins and Piper's beloved Chips Ahoy style cookies.

Anyway, I loaded up my shopping cart with a few things and headed to the checkout line.  It was a sizable line and the Swiss move fast and don't like delays so I was moving quickly.  I put all my goodies on the belt and after she rung me up, I put my credit card in the machine.  I have done this many times over the past week or so and have never had a problem.  Well, at Aldi...there was a problem.  My heart started pounding and the check out girl is speaking to me in German and I am basically having a mini panic attack.  Since I don't speak or read German, I didn't realize that they were a cash and debit card only establishment.  Due to the language barrier there was a lot of hand gesturing going on to communicate the problem.  Once I figured it out I was so embarrassed.  I had 2 Swiss francs on me - one of which was "in" the grocery cart.

Side note: In order to use a grocery cart you must insert 1 Swiss Franc coin into a slot that unlocks it from the other carts.  You get your Franc back when you put your cart back where it goes.

The checkout girl pushed my cart out of the way with a huff and I used hand gestures to demonstrate that I will go get cash and come back (I was not going down that easily).  I got back onto the street and saw a UBS Bank a block or so down so I walked to it, put in my debit card, got out a hundred francs and went back to the Aldi.  The checkout girl looked surprised but relieved to see me as I am sure she didn't want to spend her time putting up my abandoned groceries.  So, now I can show my face again in the local Aldi - crisis averted.

Crazy Swiss Experiences

So, we've been here 10 days and just about everyday something crazy happens to me - sometimes more than once a day.  I will share one of these with you now.

Laundry: The Swiss are weird about laundry.  For starters, most Swiss don't have a washer and dryer in their home.  They usually have to use a shared laundry room in the basement of their apartment building on a certain day.  Luckily, I am not Swiss so therefore I do have my own washer and dryer and I can do wash on any day I choose.  However, the fun doesn't stop there.  There are about 20 cycles to choose from all of which are written in German.  So, I have NO CLUE which cycle to choose.  Upon choosing a cycle the duration of said cycle is revealed- 2 1/2 hours!  Seriously?!  I now choose cycles based on their duration rather than on the description.  I have no clue if the water is hot or cold, etc because of course the Swiss are on the metric system and it simply doesn't translate very easily.

After choosing a cycle, starting the laundry and walking away for the better part of a day you think you are done.  Alas, you go into check on the laundry to find the washing machine non-responsive with a ton of water and suds inside.  Say what?  The thing just stopped?  Better call the landlord!
Turns out they turn off the water and electricity to the laundry services every day between 11:00 and 1:00 so that people can have more water and electricity to cook.  Seriously?  Eat sandwiches people and keep that laundry going.  So, since I started my load at 10:45, it turned off at 11:00 and started back up at 1:00.  Now, it's time for the dryer...another 2 hours later the dryer is done.  This particular load took me approximately 8 hours to complete!

Piper's First Day of School!

Piper in front of her classroom!

Today was Piper's first day at Zurich International School!  All of the children in her classroom were so excited to meet her that they all met her in the hallway to welcome her to class!  She is the only American in her class so it was funny to hear all the different accents and hear the names the children had.  Piper was a little standoffish at first (I think she was overwhelmed by the attention) but quickly decided we could leave and that she would be just fine in her classroom!  I got an email from the teacher in the middle of the day telling me that Piper said she misses her old friends from Montessori but is doing well and is very sweet.

She had recess and an hour of what's called "multisports" which is where they teach them a variety of different types of sports.  She was exhausted when I picked her up.  The first thing she said was that she misses her old school but then proceeded to tell me about all the kids she met, who she ate lunch with, etc.  I am sure we will have many more times where she misses things but that's to be expected.

Kurt went to work today so in the words of Stella - "Well Mom, I guess it's just you and me!".  We successfully ran a couple of errands, explored a little of Baden on foot and picked up Piper from school on time.  In that time though, I was yelled at by an old Swiss lady on two separate occasions.  I am learning this is a normal experience in Switzerland (to be yelled at by the natives) so I have decided not to take it personally.  The first lady didn't like the way I crossed the street, the other didn't like the way I parked.  I politely smiled and kept about my business.

The view from one side of our terrace (photo by Piper)

This evening, we did what's called an "apartment handover" where the owner of an apartment gives a tenant the keys, does a walk through, etc.  Sounds simple enough, right?  Wrong!  As is typical with the Swiss, this was an intense experience.  They gave us a 5-page document that was basically a manifest of every single scratch on every surface in the apartment.  Then, we had to go through the manifest and inspect each claim to make sure they didn't miss anything.  What?  What did you say?  Oh, you think this is crazy? YEAH - ME TOO!  It took us 2.5 hours!  I knew I was in trouble when Kurt and our real estate agent picked up glasses in the bathroom to inspect them for spots.  I had to get out of there!  I took the kids to the playground, then to McDonald's (that's another story) and then back to the playground.  We finally left at 7:45.

Needless to say, I have had a Swiss kind of day and I am ready to have my life back.  I will take a huge step in that direction tomorrow (Thursday) when we get the first of our household goods delivered.  I can't wait to put all that crap away and have my own space back!

Stay tuned for an update tomorrow when we will celebrate Piper's 6th birthday!!

Photos of our Journey

So, we had a LOT of stuff - 15 checked bags worth...don't ask why - it's a long, boring story.  But, it did make for some good photo ops, including these before photos below:

 

And After - everyone and everything made it - a miracle:

After dinner last night we took a short walk down to the Limmat River which is just a block away from our temporary apartment.  Not a shabby view for a quick walk!  We also walked past Stella's new Montessori school which she will start on the 20th of September!

We made it!!

This is just a quick post to let you all know that we have arrived in Switzerland.  We flew into the Zurich airport at 6:15 AM local time (12:15 Eastern).  What is normally a roughly 9 hour flight was a roughly 8 hour flight thanks to favorable tailwinds.  The girls did really well on both flights.  They both slept on the Atlanta to Zurich leg and Kurt and I caught a few Z's here and there.  We had to rent two cars to get all of our stuff to our temporary apartment but we finally made it.  After lugging all our bags up to the apartment, we changed clothes (into shorts - it's warm here) and went to lunch.  After lunch, we took the kids to the playground across the street from our permanent apartment and they LOVED it!  After a quick stop at the grocery store (which was only half open because it is Sunday - fresh foods only on Sundays) we came back to the temporary apartment for naps.  We all slept for about 3 hours and are now back up and getting ready for dinner.  All restaurants in Switzerland are closed on Sundays so I will be cooking (this should be interesting).

A couple of funny stories already:

The girls still enjoy warm milk, so after nap they woke up asking for some.  I say 'no problem kids' only I can't find the microwave - because their isn't one!  I had to warm water on the stove with their sippy cups floating inside to warm up the milk.

There is no central air in most residences in Switzerland so on a sunny 85 degree day, an apartment can get warm quick - the girls complained of being 'sweaty' and that I was 'sticky'.  Welcome to Europe girls!

Stella took herself into a bathroom stall and insisted on having some 'privacy'.  About a minute later I hear - 'But Mommy - I don't know how to flush' - the flushing is different here.  Also, she managed to temporarily lock herself in the stall  - 'I will be in here forever!'.  I had to stand on the toilet in the stall next door and talk her through unlocking the stall door.

As you can see the adventures come to you in Switzerland and we are already enjoying a bunch of firsts.  I will post again tomorrow.

Deep Thoughts – From the Southern End of the Gene Pool - 2nd Edition

Okay folks - this thing is getting really real.  I am in the final stages of departing this place - the last time to drop the kids off at school, the real last time to see people (not like all the fake last times we have had over the past few weeks), the last time to drive OUT of Chattanooga and to my parents house, the last time to turn right at a red light.

Over the past couple of days, I have found myself getting suddenly weepy...I DON'T do weepy.  People asked me how I feel - actually they say 'are you...(insert adjective here)...' - and no matter what they say, they are right every time.  Yes, 'I am...(insert adjective here)...'  I AM excited, I AM scared, I AM nervous, I AM sad, I AM desperate to crawl in a hole and escape my life if even for a moment (thank you for asking).  I AM dreading the long plane ride with my kids, I DO realize this is a great opportunity for my kids (that's why we are doing this) and YES - by all means, I know my parents will miss me, uhhh, I mean my kids (lets be honest).

But what people probably don't realize is that I DO feel guilty for ripping my children from their grandparents bosom, I AM frightened to drive in Switzerland, I DO NOT know what to buy at the grocery store, I DON'T know what the temperature will be (it's celcius and I don't do math);  I DO NOT speak the language and won't for a VERY long time; I am FRIGHTENED I won't meet people I connect with and will be lonely; I am TERRIFIED that we won't like it there and that this will be a mistake.  I am also sad about what I will miss out on here in the U.S. while I am gone. 

But here is what I KNOW:

My family is healthy (all of us) - I mean that physically and mentally and distance cannot damage the strong emotional bonds we have created over the years.

My kids will be different when we come back.

I will be different when we come back.

We will survive this.

We will see things we otherwise would NEVER have seen.

This is a great opportunity.

This will be fun.

This is a GOOD thing....because we will MAKE it good.

Our Papers are in Order!

We got our Work Permits from the Swiss government on Thursday so we drove to the Swiss Consulate in Atlanta on Friday.  They looked through all of our paperwork, and informed us that we will have our Visas by Thursday - yee ha!  So, we are planning to fly to Switzerland on 9/10.  We are spending the weekend with my parents on the lake in Kingston and will return to Chattanooga on Monday.  That's all the news that is news right now!