Our first visitor!

Our first visitor was almost two months ago! How time flies - well I figured it was time to recap before our second visitors come this week!

My friend Carolyne from grad school was able to make a quick trip out and we tried to pack in as much as possible into the four days she was here. Lucky for us the timing was perfect to take in some Swiss festivities. Aside from showing off the highlights of Zurich (which really just takes a day), we were able to hit St. Moritz, Luzern, and Interlaken.

St. Moritz is about a 3 hour train ride from Zurich and is in the heart of the Alps. If it sounds familiar to you it's probably because it has been host to the winter Olympics twice and is now more often known for being one of the ritziest ski communities in the Alps. Supposedly if you can afford to go there for a New Year's Eve celebration you're bound to run into a few celebrities. Anyways, we went there to watch White Turf - which is a horse racing competition held for three Sundays in February every year. Yet, it's not just any horse racing track they compete on, it's a track built on a frozen and snowed over lake. And if horse racing on a frozen lake wasn't interesting enough they do different styles of races - some like normal with the jockey riding on the horse, another where the jockeys ride behind the horses in chariots, and even one where the jockeys are being pulled behind the horses on skis!

It was definitely interesting to say the least. Next time we go we will need to figure out how to become a rich Russian horse owner so we can wear our full length fur coats and have a warm fully catered tent to go to in between races!

Second stop during Carolyne's time was Luzern, which is about an hour outside of Zurich. Luzern is a quintessential Swiss town, the true "Heidi Country," sitting on a nice lake with mountains just outside of the city and to top it off Europe's longest covered wooden bridge. Anyways, we went there specifically to take part in Fasnacht - Switzerland's version of Mardi Gras. Well perhaps I should rephrase and say we did not so much "take part" as we just watched the festivities. For the most part Fasnacht involves several large parades (some as early as 5 am) and then music and parties in the street. Perhaps the best part is that not only do the people in the parade get dressed up but the majority of the spectators get dressed up as well, and rumor has it that they work on their costumes for much of the year leading up to the event and it certainly shows!

Finally, we hit Interlaken, about two hours away from Zurich. Interlaken is probably one of the best known places in Switzerland. A starting point for many different ski routes and outdoor activities in some of the highest Alps in Europe. Not to mention many quaint little villages carved into the sides of the mountains. We had an absolutely beautiful day and Carolyne was fortunate enough to be able to venture to the "Top of Europe" the Jungfrau mountain. I'll save that trip for my post-pregnancy days, but even from part of the way to the top I was able to capture some beautiful photos. I was also amazed at how warm it can get when you are 7 or 8 thousand feet high - some people go up there just to sun bathe! Maybe I should have done that instead of having lunch, where I had the luxury of a bird pooping on me, but luckily it missed my lunch and only hit me!

Needless to say we had a great time while Carolyne visited and we hope that down the road we can have just as good of time when all of you come visit!

Better in the U.S. or in Switzerland?

So after living here exactly four months I have accumulated quite a few opinions as to what is better in the U.S. versus what is better in Switzerland. Although my list might lean in favor of the U.S. in terms of size, I might say the quality of things on the list in Switzerland is better... take a look for yourself and then come visit and decide for yourself!

Switzerland

• Outdoor Lifestyle: It simply cannot be beat - mountains, lakes, rivers, and adventure sports abound in this country of the Alps. Not to mention I think I can say that the weather is more reliable. I'm not saying that the weather is always better, but I can guarantee you that the temperature will not range 40 degrees in one 24 hour time span.
• Public Transportation: One word, amazing! It runs on time to just about everywhere you could want across the country. If it is late (which is very rare), there is usually a notification to tell you when it will arrive. The down side - you better learn how to be on time to your stop because the tram or bus won't wait for you!
• Proximity to the rest of Europe: Switzerland is pretty much smack dab in the middle of the continent, which gives it amazing access to every other country. Although Switzerland doesn't have the history of some other countries, you can reach another country that does in any direction within just a few hours. It is the perfect jumping point for exploring so many diverse cultures, histories, and traditions - something the U.S. simply cannot compete with.
• Food: I'm not about to claim that Switzerland has the best food, because I don't think that they do. Especially in Zurich where there is a heavy German influence of meat and potato based foods. However, what I will say is that when the Swiss choose to focus on a certain food they certainly do it well. Here are my favorites:

Cheese - seriously was there any doubt? They have more varieties and ways to prepare it than I ever thought possible. However, they could work on adding a good cheddar cheese to the line-up.

Chocolate - once again, a no-brainer. Good thing I'm pregnant and have a good excuse to eat it.

Bread - many different possibilities here, but butter bread and pretzel bread top my list.

Rosti - you probably haven't heard of this before, but let's just say hashbrowns were never something I would eat regularly before, but the Swiss have found the secret to making this form of potatoes taste better than ever!

United States

• Deodorant: It really is a simple concept - people in the U.S. understand how to wear it and they also sell good brands. I know I'm in for a royal treat come summer and the temperatures get a little warmer, but I've already gotten more than a whiff (or rather lack of it) at the gym.
• Super Target: Or just a regular Target, Walmart, grocery store - you name it. Simply a place that you can buy several things at the same time. Not to mention the ability to drive a car there and buy as much as you want in one trip.
• Trash & Recycling: Trash really isn't too bad in our apartment, but at some apartments you're not allowed to take the trash to the dumpster until the pick-up day, talk about smelly! However, I could do without the $3 garbage bags I have to buy. Also, I miss the good ole American recycling process where I could just put all recyclable materials in one bin and push it to the end of my driveway once a week. Instead I sort it meticulously (which isn't a big deal), and then take glass and plastics to two different drop-off points in my neighborhood, or I wait for the designated paper pick-up day (every other week) or cardboard pick-up (once a month). And let me just say when you're moving into a new place waiting a month to recycle your cardboard it can certainly pile up!
• Gym Attire & Opening Times: In the U.S. for the most part you can wear what you want at the gym. I like this concept - wear what you are comfortable in. At my gym in Switzerland there are two main regulations (although luckily I've noticed they're not as enforced as they could be, just strongly recommended). First, no tank tops and second, wearing pants or shorts that are knee-length. Really? I never even made an attempt at following the shorts rule. And as I've noticed as the temperatures rise (and there is no a/c in most buildings here), I think I will abandon the tank top rule. Oh how I miss wearing what I wanted at 24 hour fitness, and not receiving a dirty look if I went to the gym in my workout attire, not to mention going at any time of the day I wanted. Only two days of the week here does the gym open before 9 am. Oh and finally, why do the Swiss have rules on what you can wear to workout in if before and after they are just going to walk around naked in the locker room for as long as they feel like anyways?
• Owning a house: This one probably isn't fair because I could own a house here, but I'd have to be a millionaire first. So in that respect I'll say that owning a house in the U.S. is better. I miss a good walk-in closet (enough of these wardrobes). And I miss not having "quiet hours," so that I might be allowed to do laundry, run the dishwasher, or my flush my toilet and shower whenever I pleased without being worried that I would "in trouble" with my neighbors.
• Speaking English:What can I say I like being able to understand what people are saying to me? And don't get me wrong I'm learning German, but the problem here is that there are countless numbers of Swiss German dialects and it's more than just having a southern drawl, words and phrases are completely different. And it is just about guaranteed that for every different city or town you go to the language will be slightly different. It's no wonder the Swiss are quiet people - they can't understand one another!
• The Dollar Store: Funny thing is I never really shopped there. However, I miss knowing there is somewhere I could go to shop where prices would be dirt cheap - this simply doesn't exist in Switzerland. In case you missed it, the newest rankings came out a couple months ago and Zurich topped the list of most expensive cities to live in the world!

"Hello, yes please!?"

If you visit Istanbul I can guarantee you that "Hello, yes please?!" is something you will hear more than once on the street corner. Don't get me wrong I was extremely impressed with the amount of English that was spoken, but it quickly became clear that those must be the first three words that are taught in their English classes. And they used that phrase over and over again to try and get you into their store. In other words I think the Turkish are born and bred to be salesmen. It was difficult to walk past a store and not have the store owner step outside and call out to you... this of course was most prominent in the Grand Bazaar, home to over 4,000 vendors of carpets, clothing, leather, jewlery, and other traditional Turkish crafts. Aside from the most common, "Hello, yes please?!" here are perhaps a few of my favorite quotes from our afternoon in the Bazaar:

"It's free!"

"It's almost free!"

"You look American..."

"You can't tell me you don't have money to spend."

But let me take a step back and tell you about our weekend trip from the start.

Istanbul is incredible, and is likely the most interesting and cultural city I have ever visited. As a melting pot of 20 million people it bridges the gap between Europe and Asia as we could sit and have lunch in Europe while looking out over the water and seeing Asia just a short distance away (see the photo with Asia on Steve's left and Europe on his right!). But first of all let me say if you go to Turkey, fly Turkish Airlines. Ok, so maybe both of our flights were a slight bit delayed and the seats seemed a little tighter than on other airlines, but during our 2.5 hour flight we got perhaps the best airplane food that I have ever ate and perhaps better than many restaurants! I would fly it again needless to say.

In our two full days we had in the city we tried to pack in as much as possible. Aside from the first day being rainy and a little cold (we seem to have a theme on our trips so far), the second day was beautiful and we got to visit many incredible sites. Istanbul is a fascinating melting pot of cultures and religions that outdates most of the rest of Europe. We toured the Blue Mosque (also known as the Sultan Ahmed Mosque), which was built in the early 1600's. It is famous for it's 6 minarates (like steeples, or pillars), 9 domes, and an interior designed with over 20,000 handmade ceramic blue tiles. It still is open for prayer and even to enter the mosque you must take off your shoes, and those going in for prayer wash their feet as well (see photo). Here's a look inside the mosque:

We visited the Hagia Sofia (also called the Aya Sophia), which was originally built in 360 A.D. as a Greek Cathedral and then in the 1400's it was converted to a mosque, but today only serves as a museum. It is a spectacular display of Byzantine architecture and was used as a model for many other mosques. It was difficult to distinguish whether the Hagia Sofia or the Blue Mosque was more impressive as both the interiors and exteriors of these buildings were immaculate in size and architectural detail. Here's a look from the inside, which reveals just how massive the Hagia Sofia really is...

Although these two structures topped the list during our visit - we also enjoyed visits to the Basilica Cistern and the Topkapi Palace. The Basilica Cistern is the largest of several hundred ancient underground cisterns in Istanbul. Prior to becoming a cistern a large Basilica sat atop of the grounds but later burned down around 400 A.D. The cistern was reportedly built by more than 7,000 slaves with the purpose of being used as a water filtration system as it has the capacity to store 100,000 tons of water for many nearby structures.

The Topkapi Palace sits on the edge of the Bosphorus Strait and has some of the most specatular views of all of Istanbul, spanning both Europe and Asia. It served as the primary residence of the Ottoman Sultans and has many fascinating artifacts of the Muslim world. Perhaps one of my favorites was the 86 carat diamond... reportedly one of the largest in the world. However, we both found some of the clothing and garments worn by the emperors and sultans very fascinating as they all appeared to be about triple the size of normal clothes. We still cannot understand why they were so very large. It was here when looking at what was reportedly children's clothes that the security guard called me out for being pregnant and laughing was trying to compare my belly to the baby's clothes in Turkish... still not sure what he was trying to say, but I think he was being nice. Guess that means I'm really starting to look pregnant now when a stranger calls me out...

Aside from visiting these four historic sites and spending 3 or 4 hours getting lost in the Grand Bazaar we enjoyed just walking the city and taking in the architecture and culture. At first I was intimated by how quickly the Turkish people approached us trying to sell anything and everything possible, but once I adjusted to it we actually found everyone to be extremely friendly and helpful. One man approached us just outside the Blue Mosque and after telling us several times over that he was not a tour guide he basically gave us a tour and answered many questions about the mosque... the catch? On our way into the mosque he said he was not going in but hoped to see us after we came out and would tell us where his family's carpet store was at just around the corner from the mosque in case we had time to visit. We thought surely we won't run into him again, but there he was waiting for us on the other side as we exited the mosque! And no he wasn't just going to point us in the direction of the store, he walked us there and then we were sat down to a full presentation about rugs! They were beautiful and we found ourselves genuinely being interested, which we did not expect, but then we heard the prices and our mind quickly changed... for a few minutes I was worried they would hold us hostage if we didn't buy one, but instead they just wished us well as we left the store when we told them no.

I also was approached by several 10 or 12 year old students who were anxiously working on improving their english. They asked me a list of questions they had written out in English and took a photo of their interview. Steve was busy taking photos and when he came back and watched me being interviewed he was convinced it was a joke and they were actually videotaping and now I'm probably out there somewhere on the internet as the dumb American trying to help them "learn english."

After these experiences and shopping in the Grand Bazaar we quickly learned that you don't so much even stop to pause and look at something unless you want to be interrogated about buying something or eating at their restaurant. Yet, it wasn't just when walking by stores and restaurants that you had to be prepared, it was also around every tourist site as people tried to sell several items that we noticed were indicative of the weather. On the first rainy day on every street corner people were selling umbrellas. On our second day with good weather the men sold tour books and the women sold scarves. We expected them to be selling sunglasses, but maybe that was on another street corner... regardless if you forget an item when visiting I'm sure you can find someone selling it...

And of course no trip would be complete without trying the local food. We both enjoyed kebaps several times (basically kebab meat served on or with bread, sometimes served with grilled vegetables) and we tried Turkish Delight, which I must say was a bit disappointing and not as "delightful" as I was hoping it would be. Steve tried the one local beer and now knows why Turkey is not famous for their beer. I also tried (with no success) to talk him into trying a local favorite, a Narghile (also called a water pipe or Hookah), which is an instrument for smoking flavored tobacco through a water basin. Instead we settled for just sitting in a coffee shop watching the locals enjoy it and trying to understand how it worked.

Finally, a few last things we learned in Istanbul.

1. There are "evil eyes" everywhere - hanging in shops, restaurants, our hotel, and even the airport where we saw this one! However, these are not in fact evil, but they are actually good luck charms!
2. Feral cats run the city. They are on every street corner like squirrels are in the midwest. It did get very exciting as we saw several cat fights, and we watched as they were a constant nuisance for restaurants with an outdoor patio.
3. Don't be surprised by who you might see in the Grand Bazaar, like Pamela Anderson. Evidently she was in Istanbul for a photo shoot and was just stopping in to do some quick, cheap shopping there like the rest of us.
4. Finally, make sure you are carrying exact change if you know what you want to buy. Although street vendors will take many different forms of currency (Turkish Lira, Euros, and even sometimes US Dollars), they many times will tell you they don't have change in a method to get more money out of you. For us it happened the one time we decided to take a cab instead of the $1 train ride from the city. Steve tried to reason it out with our cab driver (who supposedly didn't speak much English) but after almost 10 minutes we gave up and just gave him more money then we wanted to. Oh well, it just emphasizes why we almost always take public transportation everywhere we go!

We're in Switzerland now!

One of our goals before most of you come visit is to become expert tour guides, so after being here about a month we decided we better start visiting more cities in Switzerland. The first stop for a weekend getaway was about as Swiss as you can get, Zermatt - home of the Matterhorn. I was fortunate enough to have visited the town for a day last summer, but Steve had yet to go. Not many people outside of Europe have probably heard of Zermatt, but for those here it is famous for not only the Matterhorn but some of the best Alpine skiing in Europe with the highest and longest runs. And for those of you that are fans of the Amazing Race, Zermatt was a stop on their run several seasons ago where they had to either deliver an overflowing luggage cart through the snow or else eat the world's largest pot of fondue. Although we participated in both activities while there, we did so in much more reasonable proportions (it was only our luggage we were bringing to the hotel)!

The best way to describe the town of

Zermatt is magical. No matter what time of the year or the weather it is difficult to dampen the spirit of the town. From the train ride there where you just watch the mountains grow outside your window, to your arrival at the train station where you are greeted by only electric vehicles and horse drawn carriages it is a special place. There are no gas vehicles allowed and as a result you see every other form of possible transportation! People ski off the mountains straight to their hotel, parents pull their children on toboggans, or children push parents on sleds. However, this man topped it off when we saw him hiking with skis on his back, a dog tied to his waist, and pulling his child in a makeshift stroller/sled!

We hope to make many more trips back to Zermatt (after all cloudy skies prevented us from actually seeing the Matterhorn), so we thought of this trip as a taste test in more than one way. There was no downhill skiing this go around (we figured our first ski trip in the Alps should probably not be while I was pregnant - well that and my ski pants don't fit very well anymore!), but we did do some cross country skiing. We also took in stunning views on a mountain hike.

And then most importantly we ate fondue and sampled fresh chocolates! After all, it is a necessity that we are experts in chocolate tasting so we can only share the best with all of you!

Needless to say, if there was any doubt before we were fully convinced that we were in Switzerland after this weekend trip. However, I caught Steve looking a little confused on our mountain hike when we found this spot for sunbathing - maybe next time!

Ringing in the New Year in Amsterdam

Lucky for us Steve was scheduled to work in Amsterdam shortly after the New Year, so I was able to tag along for a few days to explore the city. Amsterdam was not originally on either of our "must visit" lists, but we are glad we had the opportunity to visit the land of canals, wooden clogs, windmills, crazy bike riders, and legal marijuana (which to all of your disappointment we did not sample).

We were able to hit several of the big name museums including the Anne Frank House and the Van Gogh Museum on the New Year's weekend while avoiding the firecrackers and fireworks being lit on small, busy side streets. We were glad we did our homework before visiting on New Year's Eve and prepared ourselves to stay out of the way of the people shooting these off while having complete disregard for everyone else around them! We have since heard that Amsterdam has some of the busiest emergency rooms in all of Europe on New Year's Eve... now we fully understand why.

Unfortunately during our trip the weather was less than ideal with some fierce wind and rain (yet evidently 30 and 40 mph wind is still not enough to stop the Dutch from getting on their bikes around town), but we still managed to get in a boat ride on the canals, visit the flower markets, and see some beautiful architecture.

However, perhaps our favorite memory from the trip is the time we spent outside of Amsterdam in the Dutch countryside. We took a day tour that included visiting a wooden clog maker, an old fishermens' village, several authentic windmills, and a cheese factory (good, but not as good as the Swiss). Here are a few photos from the tour...

A pair of Dutch wedding shoes - pretty cool, but not as cool as the thieves' wooden shoes that were made so your footprints looked like they were going in the opposite direction!

Around the fishing villages and windmills...

Inside a windmill on a very windy day...

And of course no trip would be complete without trying new food and Steve's sampling of new beers... I think the highlight (maybe to Steve's surprise) was the Indonesian Rijsttafel. If you are unfamiliar with it, a rijsttafel is a combination of many different side dishes that are a mixture of rice, meat, and vegetable based. We choose 11 different dishes, but many rijsttafel's for large groups can me upwards of 40 or 50 different dishes. It is truly a small feast of many flavors!

However, as with everywhere we visit, there is always a takeaway lesson for us. There were two for us in Amsterdam... first, always buy wooden clogs that fit.

And second, watch out for pickpocketers (or as we decided, just watch out for anyone that is reaching for your rear end)!

Prague + Dresden

So Christmas was a little different this year... we spent Christmas Eve in Dresden, Germany and Christmas Day in Prague, Czech Republic. I can't remember the last time we spent Christmas in Europe - oh wait, that's because we never have before! It definitely was different and hard to not be with our families, but we were able to experience something completely new and unique to us at the European Christmas markets. You'll find a few photos from our trips to both cities in the blog, if you are interested in seeing more photos just let me know and I'll send you a link to all of the photos.

First, we went to Dresden because of the good things we heard about their Christmas market and it was all true. The atmostphere of the European Christmas market is absolutely magical, and in Dresden you can tell that the locals put a lot of time and effort into preparing for this month long celebration. Take a look for yourself...

Aside from the Christmas market we were able to

visit and see some beautiful historical buildings including a palace and opera house - many of which were nearly destroyed during air raids of World War II. Luckily we fit all this in before heavy rain and sleet moved in for the evening and to our surprise everything shut down by about 3 pm on Christmas Eve (we expected things to close early, but not quite everything including the stores in the train station, which meant 3+ long hours of just sitting and waiting), but later we found out that Christmas Eve is the bigger holiday here for many places and many things were instead open on Christmas Day.

Onto Prague and all I can say is if you have not been there is go there. Especially for you history buffs out there... the history there runs very deep and gave us a new appreciation for growing up in the U.S. We were able to visit the castle quarter of the city and walk across the Charles Bridge and learn more about his reign, saw the astronomical clock which was a marvel when it was built hundreds of years ago and still is today, we visited the Jewish Quarter and learned about centuries of discrimination and hardship and visited the communist museum to understand better how the country has come to where it is today.

The evolution from communism to democracy was especially highlighted as Vaclav Havel died just a few days before we came. Havel is one of the most important people in the Czech Republic's history as he was the primary figure in leading the country to a democracy. As a result we were able to more truly see just how much he was respected by the entire country as they came out in mourning.

In addition to receiving a big refresher to our world history studies we tried to partake in as many Czech traditions as possible. We visited the Christmas market here as well and although the crafts and handmade goods were not as impressive as in Dresden, the atmosphere was once again nothing short of magical. Check out these two videos for a taste:

We also had the opportunity to take in one of the locals' favorite operas - Don Giovanni - in the Estates Theatre, which is where Mozart himself premiered his work a few hundred years ago. A beautiful and intimate venue was the perfect introduction to our first opera.

The other local traditions of course involved food! For the most part the food meant dishes of hardy meat and potatoes, especially pig's leg! Coming from Zurich we felt as if we were able to eat like royalty since the food was so cheap (really it was pretty close to the cost of eating out in the midwest), but we are still trying to figure out why on some menus they included the weight of the food. I guess it was a good indicator of what we were going to get, and maybe one we should have paid a little more attention to before ordering - especially when we figured out after Steve received his food that he ordered nearly a one pound hamburger!

In addition to trying all the local foods wherever we visit Steve is going to work on sampling as many different European beers as possible. He did pretty good in Prague, but his tastings were not complete without a trip to a local brewery and beer hall. We visited perhaps a little too early in the evening to get a complete taste of the atmosphere - no crazy drunkards or dancing on tables, but there was some good singing and coins being thrown into the tuba for an encore. Mostly, it allowed us to capture a glimpse of what an European beer hall is like and one that will just get us prepared for a trip to Munich and potentially Oktoberfest down the road...

Finally a few random things that left us pondering as we left Prague. First we saw two wedding parties out taking photos at various historical spots on a Tuesday afternoon. We tried to do some research to see if it is a tradition to get married on a Tuesday in the Czech Republic, but found nothing. Second, in Prague the subway lines seems to be a good three or four stories underground. We're sure that there is a logical reason to this, but still are surprised since we have never seen them so far underground before. We assumed this has something to do with the terrain or the way the city was constructed prior to the subway being introduced, but regardless it still made for a scary and exciting trip down to our line on some very steep and long escalators!

All in all, the trip to Dresden and Prague was considered a success for our first big European adventure and after an exhausting five days we were more than ready to return to Zurich. And although I've never been one to be partial to airlines I'd have to say that Swiss Air left quite an impression on me... for a flight that was less than 1.5 hours we received fresh sandwiches on baguettes made that day (none of those plastic wrapped sandwiches that can be preseved for six months) and we recived swiss chocolate. I look forward to flying in that type of luxury again!

Top 10 Moments...

So my New Year's Resolution was to blog once a week... well that didn't happen right away, so we are going to start a few weeks late and try to catch all of you up on everything that has gone on the last month.

Let me start by saying, it's still surreal. There are many days that I wake up and have a hard time believing that yes in fact I do live in Switzerland and this is now my daily life. I most often realize it when I go for a run. Sometimes it's when I run down by the river and the lake and other times it's when I run up the hill away from the city center where you can get great view of the city below. It's amazing to think that this is my life and I get to experience all these amazing things - we truly are blessed for such an opportunity!

To catch you up on some of the most memorable experiences and learning moments for us in the last month in Zurich I formed a top ten list... here we go.

1. Going to the Movies... I've already mentioned more than once how expensive it is to live here, well I was once again reminded of this when Steve said he really wanted to go see Sherlock Holmes in the theaters. We're not big "going to the movies" type of people to begin with, so usually when one of us wants to really go, we go. And the surprising thing about Zurich is that you can find many American movies not only in a local theater, but in English. Enough people know how to speak English here and they actually prefer to watch the movie in its original language just with subtitles. So we were lucky and able to find a theater close by playing the movie in English. What we didn't quite expect was the price of the movie - about $22 per ticket! We were taking guesses that it would be at least $15 per person, but I think our jaws about dropped when we heard the price. One thing we did learn was that we got assigned seats, and we had a really good seat, maybe next time we go to the theater we will ask for the worse seats available and see how expensive they are for comparison. Regardless, we won't be going back to the movie theater any time soon, it's going to have to be a really good movie!
   
   
2. The Turkish Consulate... Our temporary apartment was across the street from the Turkish Consulate. I didn't really think twice about it or the fact that armed guards stood outside of the building all day. They always looked bored to death and I was more concerned that they were being humored by me when I walked by with my arms full of groceries looking like I was about to drop something. Anyways, that all changed one Friday afternoon when I heard what sounded like chanting going on outside of the apartment, and that is exactly what it was, a protest with several hundred people outside of the consulate. It made my afternoon quite exciting and dull at the same time as I couldn't leave my apartment since the police were out in full patrol with the street blocked off and tear gas guns in hand. Later I found out that the Turkish army had killed many innocent civilians in the middle east and that is why the people had been protesting. Luckily it all ended peacefully, but I still wonder what happens to the very on time Swiss transportation system when something like that happens and a route gets blocked - trust me, I've seen how upset the Swiss can get when their train or bus is running just a few minutes late.
3. When using public transportation... It's amazing the things you see and experience when using public transporation on a daily basis. There have been two highlights for me in the last month. The first moment was while riding by myself and the young man sitting behind me asked me something in German that I didn't understand, when I asked if he could repeat himself in English he asked me if I had "nose paper" he could borrow. I'm guessing he was asking for a Kleenex because then I heard him sniffling, but I couldn't help but almost burst out laughing at his translation. The second highlight was trying to decipher the signage on the trams and buses - for those that have ever assembled Ikea furniture it is kind of like that (more to come on Ikea later), but they are all stick people telling you what you can and can't do. Most of them make perfect sense - don't put your feet on the seats, don't play music (in case you have your guitar with you), etc. But the one that has us most puzzled is this one below... I guess it means to not damage the train, but really I think most people might use a means other than a saw to damage the train or try to take the seat with them!
4. Yes, we're the stupid Americans... We really haven't had that many dumb American moments, well there have maybe been a few, but I think the best one yet was our experience at our first doctor's appointment here. I called to schedule the appointment and the receptionist was nice enough to speak English, but with a very thick German accent. Anyways, the result of this interaction was we showed up on the wrong day for our appointment! We were one day late - I thought she had said the sixth, but I guess she actually said the fifth. Lucky for us they were very nice about it and agreed to still see us if we waited for a little while. I don't know if our doctor in St. Louis would have done the same thing. And more to come on this subject in a later post, but let me just say I can already tell that going to the doctor over here will be a much different experience, much different in a good way.
5. We rented a car and... We survived! Is there any need to say more than that?
6. Ikea "Fun"... The first couple of times I thought it was fun, but when you have been to Ikea seven times within a two week span it starts to seem a little excessive and not so much like "fun." However, I guess that's what happens when you need to buy about half of the furniture you need for your house. It also would not have been as big of a deal, but there are two Ikeas in the suburbs of Zurich and neither one had everything in stock that we wanted - so we had to go to each in order to get what we wanted. Also, that's what happens when you have Ikea deliver your biggest items (so you don't have to rent a car again) and they forget to bring everything and we have to go back yet again to straighten our order out! The one benefit to our numerous trips is they have a "frequent diners" program and that's right, we very quickly earned ourselves a free dinner from eating there on many of nights, but it is after all one of the cheapest places to "eat out" in Zurich, so how can you resist? So now that we have completed most of our shopping trips to Ikea the second batch of "fun" starts as we put the furniture together that came in our 26 boxes!
7. How does my computer always know where I am...? Perhaps this is a little trivial, but I find it rather annoying that my computer always knows where I am. Sometimes I don't want my websites to automatically pop up in German or worse yet in Czech when traveling to Prague! I guess it's pretty a pretty ingenius way to stop us from watching American TV shows via the Internet, but really why can Americans watch Grey's Anatomy or Modern Family for free, but the Swiss cannot? Lucky for us we have slingbox so we can still keep up on all of our favorite shows...
8. Daily shopping... Although most days I do not miss having a car, I do miss it greatly when it comes to running errands and shopping on a daily basis. It gets old very quickly to only be able to buy what you can carry home, especially when you finally come across a store that carries several things you have been looking for! I expect it will get much better once we are settled in, but for now my days often entail going out several times to different stores to only get what I used to be able to get in one quick shopping trip to Target back home.
9. American food we took for granted ... For the most part I think we are pretty lucky with good Swiss food and nothing too different or crazy so far (other than everything just being double the price). And I have surprisingly been able to find many things at the grocery store that I had been told previously that I might not be able to find - like granola bars and Heinz ketchup. However, there are still some things that are a challenge to find or are just not the same at all. For instance, skim milk I think only exists at Starbucks, luckily I have finally found 1.5% milk at one grocery store, at all the others the closest thing I can find is 2.7% milk. I am also adjusting to the fact that eggs aren't refrigerated at the store. And how about the prune flavored yogurt I mistakenly bought at the store? I've definitely never seen that flavor before, but it's actually not bad. Finally, I'm still on a hunt to find baking soda that comes in a box. I can only find it in 2 tbsp packets... now I know when it comes to baking you rarely need more than that for a recipe so it makes perfect sense, but I like to use it to deodorize things - like my kitchen refrigerator - in which case a 2 tbsp packet isn't ideal. And trust me, when you're pregnant you smell everything and really just want to find a box of it to put in your refrigerator.
10. My dryer has a "smoking dry" setting... I think the highlight of my experiences getting settled into our new apartment was trying to use my washer and dryer. I had just gotten used to using the appliances in our temporary apartment when it was time to start translating instruction manuals again and figuring out how to use new ones. Don't get me wrong though I was very anxious for a new dryer as I was hoping that it might actually dry our clothes in under 3 hours time. Well, it didn't work quite that well. Instead within the first minute of starting the dryer it started to emit smoke! I quickly shut it off and tried some different settings with the same result. At that point in time I decided I better not try anymore. Steve asked me if I translated the instructions correctly and was using the correct settings, I responded and said it didn't matter - I'm pretty no dryer should have a "smoking dry" setting! Lucky for us our landlord responded properly to get it inspected and repaired and the repairman said it was much too old to fix (by the looks of it I'm guessing its the same age as the building - 22 years old), and even better he said he thought it would be best to replace the washer at the same time. Now only one more week to wait until we can actually wash our clothes!

Stay tuned... next up our adventures in Prague, Dresden, and Amsterdam over the holidays!