A little homesick...

Gorgeous summer evening along the Limmat in Zurich

First of all I caveat this blog by saying yes indeed I am incredibly behind in my blogging efforts, but I think its fair to say the past two months have been a teensy bit busy. So yes I am again going to go a little out of chronological order here but I promise after this blog to update you all on the many amazing places we have visited and things we've done over the past few months very soon...

We have been back in the United States for exactly one week now. Yet, after just one week I am homesick for Switzerland, the place I called home for less than two years and a world away from the majority of our friends and family. Instead we're back in St. Louis, the city I called home for double the amount of time as Zurich, and it can't help but to feel strange as we restart our lives in the same city but as a very different family. Coming back with a child, me without a job, Steve with a very similar but still slightly different job at the same company, getting new cars, finding a new place to live in a different part of the city, the list goes on and on. I feel a bit like a stranger in the city that should be my home.

Don't get me wrong it is so wonderful to see friends and family that we have missed dearly over the last two years and know we can see them on a much more regular basis now. And there is certainly nothing like the familiarities that we find in the country we have grown up in. Not to mention the luxury that I know most anywhere I go I can have a full conversation with a person and understand every word said. I am still getting used to it and find myself surprised every time I realize I can talk to the person standing behind the counter at a store. I even find myself forgetting that I can fully read and understand food package labels and I don't have to just guess what the instructions say!

Grossmuenster Church

However, while I was looking forward to all of the extra amenities and conveniences that we have here, I am quickly finding that maybe I didn't actually miss them all that much. Yes, that garbage disposal in the kitchen sink is nice as is the closet in the bedroom, and oh yes that washer and dryer that can clean my clothes in half the time as the European version, that is very nice indeed! But doing without those things really wasn't that big of a deal, nor was living in a slightly smaller apartment. Going to Target and the ridiculously large grocery store is nice, but now I have a child that doesn't know how to sit still in a shopping cart while I am overwhelmed by the number of choices. While there may have only been two options in my Swiss grocery store, at least they were two relatively high quality options instead of ten low quality options. And yes while it is nice to be able to stock up on food in my super large refrigerator and freezer, I found myself really enjoying the fresh food and small refrigerator that forced me to make trips to the store at least four times a week in Zurich.

I know that I am truly blessed to be able to sit here with first hand experience and reflect on which way is better. When we moved to Switzerland I viewed and judged European life from the American perspective. Now we move back and I judge American life from more of a European perspective. I see and understand why they call us lazy and can't help but to agree sometimes. While it's all relative to what we are familiar with, now that I am familiar with both I'm not sure which direction I'll side with. Yet I know without a doubt that I'll view much of my life differently. And as a result I am both excited and nervous to see what the coming months hold for us and the decisions we make that will shape our next few years.

One of many beautiful Alpine Lakes


In the meantime I am going to miss the precision and neutrality in life that make the Swiss famous. I'll miss the crazy efficient, reliable, and clean public transit. I'll miss the way that they completely mind their own business and let you go about your own business without intruding. I'll miss living in one of the safest countries in the world. I'll miss their amazing chocolate, wonderful cheese, fresh alpine air, and out of this world views and scenery. I'll miss the European architecture and the experience of living in a city and without a car. Not to mention I will greatly miss the access that Zurich gave us to explore the rest of Europe and open our eyes to so much history and natural beauty.

Of course there will be things I won't miss as well like the fact that Zurich is routinely one of the top five most expensive cities to live in, or the fact that Switzerland has one of the highest per capita rates of smokers. And while there are more things I won't miss, the truth is, that the list is short. There is a reason that Zurich often rates as one of the top cities in the quality of life indexes and places to raise a family.

Last weekend in Switzerland

So for now I'm going to try to bring some of the things I learned in Switzerland back to my old/new home and figure out how to make St. Louis a great place for us to raise a family. I am going to try to start fresh and find new things to love here. No, maybe we won't be staying up late on Friday night so we can plan a hike in the Alps on Saturday or finalize the following weekend's travel itinerary, but instead we can discover one of the many reasons people say St. Louis is a great place for families with children. I am looking forward to going out and buying a Missouri tour book and discovering the hidden gems that the area has to offer that I might have overlooked before. Or maybe I'm just going to relax at home with our family and enjoy the fact that we can have a "lazy weekend" to go to the park, take the dog for a walk, and BBQ with friends.

And then in a few years when Emma's old enough to start understanding a few things I'm going to tell her and show her all of the amazing places she's been and people she met. I'm going to teach her that at the end of the day more people in the world are good than bad. Whether we speak the same language, have the same color skin, share the same religious beliefs, we all just want to be happy and to be loved. We were blessed to meet some amazing people the past two years in our travels and they taught me a lot about life.

Yes, it's time for a fresh start in an old city. And while I'm still so very sad to have left behind a place that was truly home to me, I know that I will always have those once in a lifetime memories. I know it won't be easy, but it's time for a new challenge so that we can create some new once in a lifetime memories.

Daughter & Dog finally together!