Thanksgiving Day 2009

Even though Thankgiving Day is not celebrated in Switzerland, we still had a FEAST! Last year, we were a little sad on Turkey Day since it was just the four of us. No family or friends to share our feast with. This year, we didn't have our whole family with us, we did at least have a few of the "Griswold" clan here!

Jenni, Tyler, Missy and Chris have been spending the week with us and we were thrilled to celebrate with them, even though we still missed the rest of our family. We also invited our friends and neighbors Kirsten, Bob, William, and Teddy this year. As they are English, they've never experienced a Thanksgiving dinner before! I think they were amazed by the amount of food we had, and most of our traditional dishes were new to them. I'm pretty sure we convinced them how much fun and how filling Thanksgiving can be! And, the guys introduced Bob to the NFL and the tradition of watching the Lions lose on Thanksgiving Day. Our festive table

The "kid" table! I haven't had one of these since Erin and I had to sit at one!

The "grown-up" table

Jason and Missy with the magnum of wine we brought back from Italy with us. That bottle didn't last long!!

I am very thankful for my family and friends here and afar. I am truly blessed.

Rumors, Rumors, and more Rumors!

Will we stay or will we go? Ask me tomorrow, by then the answer will have changed!

"We will probably be sent home in October, should we just move home in the summer and let the kids start school there?" That was the first "rumor". Obviously we are still here.

"I think we're good until Christmas." Jason told me this in October based on rumors at work. That's why we didn't buy plane tickets to come home for the holidays this year. We figured it would be on the company dime, in first class, and all our belongings trailing behind us on a slow boat. So I warned Jen not to buy tickets to come see us for New Year's.

"It's looking good for us to stay through February break...go ahead and book ski lessons for the kids." Rumor had it in late October that this was the case. By the time the deal went through, Jason would be needed to finish up year end stuff. That's when my mom booked her flight to come at Christmas. By then fares had gone up and Jen decided to wait to visit. Rumor had it we'd be moving back to the US at that time.

So, the latest in our saga is that the deal didn't happen. Good, for us I think. I think that means we can stay in Europe a bit longer. However, WHERE in Europe is still up for grabs. Let the rumors start flowing again!

Yesterday, I received an email from someone at school saying how sad they were that we were moving and that if I needed any help, to let them know. Then they attached a link to an article about it.

Huh? Not so fast. That's just a rumor. SOME of the work is moving to Germany, but as of now Jason's part isn't. At least for now. Now he thinks we're good until Easter break. Or maybe summer vacation. Or maybe Easter break. Or maybe finance will stay in Zurich for good. Or maybe Jason will work a few months in Germany and we'll finish the school year here. Or maybe they won't need him in Germany at all and we'll go back to the US. Or maybe, or maybe, or maybe....

It's Official...

...this place is insane! I just was at a market that boasts carrying American goods. I just saw a spray can of PAM for 13.50 and a box of Duncan Hines cake mix for 12.50 and a can of Libby's Pumpkin Pie filling for 16.50. Please remember that Swiss Francs are just about equal to USD!!! (I would have taken pictures as proof of the prices, but the grocer was already looking at me funny because I was gasping so loud...)

Now you all see why it is your civic duty to bring me a suitcase loaded to the 50lb. maximum with goods from the States when you come visit me!!!

Please excuse me while I now go snack on my 7.50 tortilla chips and 5.00 Dixie cup of hummus.

Raebeliechti

Yesterday, we experienced a Swiss tradition called Raebeliechti. I'm not sure of the actual origins and purpose of the holiday, but according to Aidan (who learned about it in school) it's about adding light to darkness in the short days of fall. Whatever it's origins and purpose, all Swiss kids carve turnip lanterns and then there is an evening where the community gathers together and walks through the village with their lanterns.

Aidan was given a turnip to carve at school. We had to do the carving at home and let me tell you, turnips are not as easy to carve as pumpkins! I basically had to do all the work, but Aidan designed it. I had to scoop out most of the insides, but then for the decorations, you don't cut through the skin like you do for a jack o'lantern. You peel away the purple skin of the turnip, but leave some of the white insides. Then, when you put a candle inside, the light glows through the thin layer of white turnip. Here's a picture of Aidan trying his hand at scooping out the insides: Here's a picture of the finished lantern! It was pretty cool. We had stars and Aidan's name and a maple leaf on it:

Aidan's class performed a German song at their school assembly and showed off their lanterns on Friday. Then, yesterday night, we joined the community in their Raebeliechtiumzug, which is the turnip lantern parade. Here is the advertisement about the parade that was posted in the village center (you can see the illustration of kids walking with their lanterns through the village):

It was hard to get good pictures in the dark at the parade, but here is the lead cart of lanterns. We followed this cart and a man who was beating a drum as we walked through the neighborhood.

Here are Aidan and Lainey just before the parade:

It was a cold night, and we didn't do the whole parade. We didn't know how far they'd actually go and they weren't singing or anything like we expected. But, we did feel like we got the gist of the "experience". (I took some video, so hopefully we'll be able to see the procession better on it in the dark.)

Wine Boats - Year 2

Jason and I went to the ExpoVina Wine Boats at Burkliplatz last night. We went last year as well. It's quite an event. 5 boats docked in the lake filled completely with wine tasting bars. 20chf gets you in and you can taste as many wines as you can/like.

Last year, we did not prepare ourselves well. Jason met me right after work but we arrived just an hour before they closed for the night and decided we had to "get our money's worth". So we went on a super fast tasting spree involving too many wines to count and ordering 3 cases of wine which showed up at our house a week later. (That's their trick...you get sloshed on wine then they give you an order form and you think it's a great idea to stock up since they deliver right to your door and all...then you get the bill a few weeks later and go "how much did we buy???") We planned to eat dinner after the boats, which ended up NOT being a good idea. It was definitely a rough night and rougher morning last year.

This year, though, I was prepared! We went to dinner BEFORE hitting the boats. Lots of pasta and bread and only water to stay hydrated during the "main event". We also made sure to leave ourselves more than one hour so we didn't feel rushed to get our 20chf worth! This year, we really enjoyed ourselves and didn't over sample. We planned out our tasting strategy by focusing on the Piedmont wines from Italy (where we're going later this month with Missy) and tasting a bit of home in the Californian wines. We showed good judgement and restraint by only ordering one case of wine this year!

If you're interested in learning more about the wine boats check out this site www.expovina.ch (it's in German, but you can see lots of pictures). It's really a cool experience!

I survived Halloween Weekend!!!

Barely. I survived but I am exhausted. So excuse me for not including pictures with this post. Look on my Facebook profile for pics or chances are you got my snapfish album emailed to you already. (if you didn't and you want pics, let me know)

Thursday's carving extravaganza was fun. I went into Lainey's class in the morning and carved a giant pumpkin. The kids were amazed. Most of them had never carved a pumpkin before so they were so enthralled. They all had turns feeling the "guts" and carving. I was a big hit with the kids according to the parents. Some of the comments from the little ones were: "Lainey's mom made us a giant pumpkin with a face!", and "I love Lainey's mom! She's fun!" One of the little boys in her class really thinks I'm cool because he thinks Gymboree is our house (after Lainey's birthday party). He told his mom that he wants to have a playdate with "Lainey and her mom at her fun house with all the toys!" I'm a cool kid in EY1! The kids also liked trying pumpkin seeds, the 3 teachers hadn't tasted them before either. Brits just don't know what they're missing!

I spent the afternoon in Aidan's class doing more carving. We had 6 pumpkins, 6 adults, and 16 kids. They all had a great time and enjoyed some fresh baked seeds too. This year, there are just 3 Americans in Aidan's class so it was a pretty novel experience for most of the first graders too. Sometimes, it's so easy to make kids happy!

Friday was the parties. 3 of them! Lainey's class did a performance that could not have been any cuter. 15 little kids dressed in costume singing songs and doing dances about scarecrows and pumpkins. ADORABLE! I video taped the whole thing (of course) but it's way too long to post. Then we had our apero. Cookies and juice for kids, cookies and prosecco for parents. I love this school.

Lainey and I then headed back to the "big school" to decorate for the school party that night. She sat in the middle of the half-done haunted house watching Halloween movies and coloring while I dripped blood all over the pumpkin her class carved the day before. She is such a good girl. The other parents were commenting on how good she is at entertaining herself. She wasn't acting up or getting in the way. When she did want to help, she really was helpful! She helped me set up the snack and drink tables and put cobwebs all over everything. I popped out to check on Aidan's party and drop off some eyeball and candy corn cookies for just a bit.

I took the kids home right after school and even got Lainey to take a nap! Then we headed back for the big event at 5. Jason met us up at school and saved the day by picking up 9 pizzas at Migros on his way. There was a bit of a snafu with the pizza order and we'd have run out of food if not for my sweet husband who will do anything for me, except put on a decent Halloween costume. (Seriously, next year I'm getting him something and making him wear it. I will never leave it to him to take care of again. Lame. Glasses with big nose and moustache is NOT a costume, my dear.) We all had fun getting candy and checking out the eerily decorated trunks. After the candy collecting, I went on duty making sure things were running smoothly and Jason took the kids to do crafts and watch, what else, a Scooby-Doo movie. He took the kids home around 8 and I stayed to clean up till 9:30.

Saturday was another party day! 2 more parties, one at Lainey's friend's house and one at our friends' house. I decided Jason needed a better costume so I made him go to the mall with me. He is hopeless though, and came home with a pirate head scarf and a vampire medallion. WHAT are you going to make of that?? 45 minutes before the party he is standing there with 3 lame bits of accessory but no costume. I gave up. Whatever. I however, had hit the jackpot at Claire's that morning. 1984 must have came to Claire's and dropped off all it's left over neon. I bought neon leg warmers, necklaces, hair barrette, fingerless gloves and earrings all for 10chf! Black leggings and a cut neck t-shirt a la Flashdance and I was ready to go! (I was a black cat the night before, not nearly as much fun!) Finally, Jason threw on his tuxedo and vampire medallion 2 minutes before we had to leave. He wouldn't even let me do any white make up or anything. But, at least the tux saw some action outside of the closet! We were finally off!

The party was unbelievable. This was an example of how weird it is for us here sometimes. I mean, I think we are doing quite fine these days, but then we go to a party at a house of another school family and we think "wow, this is how the other half (well 1%) live". I've been to weddings that were less extravagant. There was a huge heated tent that I'm not exaggerating was bigger than our apartment, a clown/magician show, a bouncy slide, and more candy than I have ever seen in one place! They had tons of food ranging from bratwursts to sushi and everything in between. It was amazing. The kids are still talking about how much candy they got and how much fun they had. Jason compared it to the kids' birthday party in the movie "Old School". Pretty dead on comparison, minus the tranquilizer dart in the neck!

After that shindig, we went to a party at our friends' house. Kids were welcome, but it was more of an adult party. Everyone there, for the most part, was British. And, in Britain, they don't really do Halloween much but if they do they only dress as scary stuff. So I go to this party as an 80's girl and am surrounded by witches, vampires and the like. I don't think most of them "got" me. Oh well, at least I was original. We had a great time with great friends. The kids tried bobbing for apples for the first time and just ran wild from sugar. All in all a great time was had by all!

Today, we topped off the weekend with breakfast before church (which is more surprising that we made it to church today or that our breakfast of one order of pancakes, one omelette, and one basic bacon and egg plate cost us 80chf?) and then swimming at the pool. Jason and I even both squeezed in a short run before dinner and putting the kids to bed. So much for my plan of staying in my pajamas all day today.