Jucker Farm and Kurbis Regatta

We went to see a hilarious Zurich tradition today. It was a kurbis (pumpkin) regatta! We went to a nearby farm that does a lot with pumpkins and Halloween, called Jucker Farm. The kids had a great time looking at all the pumpkin "sculptures" and playing on the trampolines and picking out pumpkings. The farm also had lots of snacks, all pumpkin flavored! Around here, when a fruit/veggie is in season, they make full use of it in food products. At the farm, we had pumpkin soup, pumpkin bratwurst and pumpkin beer! There was even pumpkin pizza, pumpkin ravioli, and lots of pumpkin desserts. Most of the restaurants around Zurich have some pumpkin specialty now.
Then, came the funniest part...the boat race. People carved out HUGE pumpkins then they put them into the lake and got inside the pumpkin and rowed it like a boat! Many of the people couldn't even get into their pumpkins without falling into the lake and upturning their "boats".

Only in Europe could this be considered a sport!

Denise is the Winner!

Denise wins the prize for first visitor! She made it here, even having to leave her sweet new baby at home, so no excuses to the rest of you with kids! OK, so maybe she had to come to Germany for work, but still she stayed an extra day and drove 3 hours in a rental car in a foreign country just to see us. What a friend!

Last Friday, after only minimal directional problems, Denise made it to our apartment. Jason and I had a sitter, so we took her out into the city. We didn't make it out until 10, which was great in and of itself since Jason and I haven't been out past street lights in Zurich since our "look-see" trip in June. We went to a nice wine bar where we were given a bunch of tastings before we ordered a bottle (I love this country!) and some food. We stayed until the last train, then stayed up talking until 3 in the morning.

On Saturday, Denise and I set out on a road trip to the Deutsch Weinstrasse (Germany Wine Road) through the Black Forest. Let's just say it was a typical "DD and Stiner" road trip. We didn't leave Zurich until noon, then what was supposed to take 2 1/2 hours took more like 6 or 7! Really, it wasn't our fault-the GPS in her rental was messed up! It would say "turn right" but the arrow on the screen was pointing left! We'd input an address and it would take us somewhere and say "you have arrived", but we weren't even on the correct road. So, Denise and I spent a few hours swearing at a machine instead of tasting wine. The scenery was nice though.

We finally did arrive at a vineyard (which by the way...all the websites and tour books that say there are vineyards all over the B3 and you can't help but stumble across them...LIARS! The vineyards are not along the road, they are tucked in tiny towns with signs off the B3 that you don't even notice until you've passed the exit and then good luck turning around on motorways around here!) Unfortunately, it was closed. Ugh! However, I looked inside and noticed there were people inside, so I went to the door. A lady opened it and in very poor German I asked if they were doing tastings. They were, but it was a private party she told me. The public hours were over. Just our luck.

But, and this is where it becomes more typically DD and Stiner, the private party invited us to join them! It was pretty funny. These Germans were having a 35-year class reunion and we joined them. We did not drive 6 hours in a car to not have some wine! Only with Denise do I end up in these weird (but fun!) situations.

We ended up spending about 45 minutes with this group tasting wine and talking US politics. It amazes me how much Europeans know about US current events and geography. They were more knowledgeable than me about the Presidential/Vice-Presidential candidates and issues-I hate to admit that! Plus, when they asked where we were from, they knew exactly where Michigan is ("The one with the lakes up North, right? With the other part by Wisconsin?"). They told us where in Germany they were from and we were geographically clueless. It was kind of embarassing. But, they were really very nice (even though one guy told me if I was living in Zurich I should learn German...even though I was trying to speak German right in front of him!)

After leaving the vineyard we drove a little further with a stop at an Irish pub where we met more Germans and talked more US politics. We finally made it to our hotel near Baden-Baden after 8pm. We were obviously too late to do any of the spa stuff in the area too, so we settled for going out to dinner.

Even though it didn't work out how I had planned, we had a fun time. It was good to see a familiar face and catch up (and get away from the kids for a night!).

OK, pressure's on...Who's coming to visit next??????

Fun with Friends

Lucy and Lainey
Aidan and James
Aidan, James, Lucy, and Lainey on their ever-present scooters

We have been so lucky to find such good friends in Zurich already. These are a few of my favorite pics of the kids with their Australian friends. We just had another family move in to the next building, from England, with more kids the same ages as ours.

The sound of kids laughing and playing is music to our ears, even if I do wish I could control the volume at times! I just hope the people living near us without kids don't hate us all. So much for the Swiss "quiet hours"- they don't seem to exist around here.

Scooters: Swiss national form of transportation (besides trains!)

Everyone here rides scooters! And, unlike back home, kids here actually use their feet to move it, not gas or batteries. So, Jason and I gave in and bought our kids each a scooter.

It was money well spent! Aidan and Lainey ride them everyday and everywhere. Jason took the kids into the city and Aidan rode his scooter while Lainey rode in the stroller. We take them to the library, to school, all over. It's nice since Aidan can keep up with us. Mostly though, they ride them around our apartment complex with the other kids. They love to go fast down the hills and race their friends, James and Lucy. It's really good exercise, too.

What's really funny around Zurich is to see the bankers in 3 piece suits riding scooters from the train stops to work! James and Lucy's dad just got one and now Jason is thinking about it. Apparently, scooters aren't just for kids anymore!

My Little Ballerina

Lainey started ballet class last week. We found an English speaking woman who does ballet classes and directs musicals and things like that in Zurich. Lainey had so much fun! They do songs like "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "The Wheels on the Bus" but with graceful movements. Then they practiced the foot positions and danced around with scarves and practiced leaping. It's like a combination of a real ballet class and Kindermusik. The best part, of course, is that Lainey gets to wear her leotard and ballet slippers. Sometimes, she is just too much!

Swiss/Italian Border Weekend

We just returned from our rainy weekend in Ticino, Switzerland. We stayed in Lugano and visited Locarno, Bellinzona, and Como, Italy. This part of Switzerland is more "Mediterranean" with palm trees and Italian flare.

This is also the Swiss wine region (the Swiss make good wine, but they don't export it anywhere out of the country) and there was supposed to be a wine festival in Locarno, but it got rained out. Jason and I were sad about that, but we still walked around the stores in the rain on Saturday and made it to one vineyard for wine tasting. It was too nasty to do any of the funicular trains, so that made Aidan sad. We wandered the piazza until we were soaked through our raincoats, but basically we just got our money's worth from the hotel on Saturday.

Sunday was a bit better. After a quick tour of a chocolate factory, we went to Como, Italy (but sadly, no George Clooney sightings). Lake Como and the areas surrounding it are beautiful, but we just drove around to see the sights. Again, it was too rainy to walk around much. The weather cleared up enough in the evening to take a trolley ride around Lugano.

Today was a nice, but chilly day. We went to Swiss Miniatur, which is a park that has scale models of major tourist attractions in Switzerland. The kids loved it, and Jason and I paid attention to cool places to visit on future weekend trips. We also went to some 14th century castles in Bellinoza. They were amazing! It was like walking into a fairy tale. I've never seen a real drawbridge and moat before.

We drove home via St. Gotthard's Pass through the Alps. NEVER AGAIN! This tiny road wound up and over a mountain where it was so cloudy you couldn't see 10 feet in front of the car and it was so cold it was snowing! I was so nervous, especially when we were driving for about 10 minutes without seeing another car on the pass. We had heard that it often closes due to bad weather between Oct-Mar, but the sign said it was open. It was, but not many people were dumb enough to try it on such a foggy day. Let's just say it was an experience.

Next time, when the weather channel predicts rain all weekend, we'll believe them and reschedule our trip.

My kids are trying to get rid of me!

When we first moved here, Aidan kept asking who'd watch him and Lainey when I went to work. So, I explained that I wouldn't be working anymore. That was weird to him. He told me many times that I should find a job. I wasn't quite sure why he wanted me to work, was he worried we wouldn't have enough money or what? I figured he was just jealous that I'd be spending all day with Lainey while he was at school and he didn't like her having me to herself. I still don't know why, but he doesn't comment on it anymore.

But then tonight, as I'm putting Lainey to bed, she says the sweetest thing. She takes my face in her hands and says "you're my best friend, Mommy". Of course, I'm melting. Then, in her next breath, she says "you should go to work so the big girls upstairs can baby-sit me". Gee, thanks.

Maybe we're just not used to all this togetherness! I mean, she and I have been together 24/7 for the last 6 weeks. Maybe I need to take a serious look at pre-schools for her...

I guess we all need a little time alone, or away from someone, to make us appreciate them.

So many different English "languages"!

I've met lots of English speakers here, but not many from America. I've had conversations with Australians, Britons, and even South Africans. The funny thing is that even though English is the first language for all of us, we have had some trouble understanding each other at times.

A few weeks ago, the kids were outside playing and my Australian friend mentioned running inside to get her daughter a jumper because it was getting cold. I was confused, "why would she get her a dress?" I thought. I gave her a weird look, so she said "you know, a pullover." I said back "a sweater?" Yes! So I learned that in Australian you call it a jumper, in English it's a pullover, and in American it's a sweater.

Later, we were talking about other clothes. The English girl kept talking about buying vests for her daughter to wear under her clothes in the winter. The Australian said, "like a singlet?" Again, I was confused. Vests go with a suit, or are like sweaters without sleeves, right?? As for singlet, I'm thinking "onesie" like a baby wears. So I asked her, "do you mean an undershirt?" Both the Australian and English woman had no idea what I was talking about. We were trying to explain to each other and just kept getting more confuse. Finally, the English woman's husband pulled out his cell phone with internet service and used Wikipedia (something I have no understanding of!) and found pictures of what we were talking about, with the term for it in America, England and Australia! Technology is pretty cool. What they were talking about were tank-top undershirts! Of course, then, I had to tell them the slang term "wife-beater". The funniest thing is that both of them have heard of them called that!!!!

It's getting chilly so I better go put a jumper on over my vest/singlet:)!

If you don't know me...why are you here?

So, I set up the "Feedjit" tracker to see who was checking in on my blog. Mostly, it's people from Michigan, of course! But I just looked now and it seems like the world is reading! Why are people from Cairo and Istanbul reading this??? I don't even know how they found it, as I didn't post it on the Blogger weblist. Weird, and a little spooky.

Fitting In

We went out tonight with my Australian friend and her family and some other English speakers that I met at a playgroup last week. We went to a fabulous restaurant on Lake Zurich that had a playground for the kids. I feel like we are really fitting in! We went with a group of about 12 people and the kids, not bad for only being here a month. It's so nice to see the kids meeting friends.

Aidan got invited to a birthday party and to a playdate from school today, too. It's really been much easier than I thought to find a social network here. I think that since there are so many ex-pats around Zurich, everyone has been the new kid at some point so they are more sympathetic. I even met some neighbors who are going to Livonia to visit friends this summer! They are originally from Norway...wild!

The kids have also mastered scooters, which is THE form of transportation in the under 12 set of Zurich. Aidan and Lainey are like dare devils going down hill on their new Mini-Micros. They want to hang with the older girls who live upstairs.

We got our Sling Box TV working today too! I watched Good Morning America this afternoon. That was a nice taste of home. Now though, we are watching the British version of American Idol, The "X" Factor, complete with Simon Cowell on BBC! So similar but so different.

It's a small world after all!