What do I do all day?

My mom asked the question on Sunday of what do I do all day while Mike is at work. I think this is a very good question as one would assume that a woman with no children and no job could sit around eating cheese and chocolate and drinking wine all day. Unfortunately, not so. Things are a little less... convenient here.



6:30 Mike's alarm sounds and I roll over and go back to sleep

7:30 Mike leaves for work

7:45 I get up and start to pick up the house. The putzfrau will be in today and I need to pick up the mess from the weekend. I have a glass of water and a glass of orange juice while I straigten the living room, kitchen, entry and put away the clean clothes.

8:30 I take a quick shower without washing my hair.

9:15 I take the trash down to the curb and walk to the bus stop and wiat for the bus. Take the bus to the tram. Take the tram to the Marktplatz. I grab a chocolate Schoggiweggli and walk toward the next tram stop. There is an outdoor supply store so a stop and grab a back-pack.

9:45 I'm at the Bancverien tram stop and catch the Tram 3 to Birsfelden.

10:00 I meet up with a group of English speeking residents of the Basel area and we set out for a 2 hour walk in the woods. We stop at about 11:00 for coffee (wine for me please) and the head out for the end of the walk.

12:00 We arrive back in Basel and I have a Wednesday lunch date with a very nice lady from Korea. A lady from New Zealand needs to go to the store and get a gift and the send it out. I am totally confused about the mailing of packages, so I ask if I can tag along. I picked up some cheese for dinner and learned a very slick way of sending back a small gift.

12:45 We part ways and I head for the Grocery. I keep my grocery list (which has become more of a guideline than a strict list) in my phone and my shopping bags on me at all times. The store has some nice tomatoes and fresh basil so I get what I need to make a Margherita Pizza and green salad with herbed chicken. I also pick up some coffee, OJ, milk and apple cider.

14:00 I'm headed home and holy moley this stuff is heavy! Tram 8 to bus 11 and then 2.5 blocks of walking.

14:30 We have an appointment to see an apartment at 6:15 so I need to prep dinner. I cut the tomatoes, basil, cheese for the pizza. I cut the chicken and mix in the rub. I open the vinegar and oil for the pizza and salad dressing... oh no! I bought lemon infused olive oil!!!! Does anyone know what I can do with this lemon olive oil????!!!!! I watch a little TV in between cutting and see that the US market is taking a huge beating.

16:30 Walk to the bus stop. Bus 11 to Tram 11 to meet Mike at work by 5.

17:30 We stop at a small Thai restaurant and order Spring rolls as a snack and I accidentally order huge Cokes for both of us (huge by standards here; they would be quite normal in the US). OOPS! That wasn't a cheap mistake.

18:15 We look through the two-level apartment and find that it has nice space for entertaining including a private patio off of the dining area. The bed-rooms are a little small, but we decide that we can make-do with the space. The washing situation is a shared room, but we would have 3 to 4 days a month.

18:45 We walk to the tram and change trams at Barfuesserplatz. There is a Coop convenience store, so I grab some olive oil (without the lemon) and Mike gets a magazine.

19:00 Tram to the bus to the walk home, and I am exhausted, but we haven't had dinner. Cheese plate to hold us over, and I work on the salad.

20:00 Pizza is ready! Its good, but the ready-made dough from the grocery store is a little tough.

21:30 After picking up the kitchen a little bit, I am ready for bed. Tomorrow looks about the same and I'm going to need my strength.

Locarno, Ticino, Switzerland

http://picasaweb.google.com/cararose1977/LocarnoSept2008

Please follow the link to see pictures from our trip. I suggest that you also open a window with a Google Map of Locarno to see what I'm describing.

Innsbruck, Austria

Mike reminds me everyday what an amazing place Europe is. There is something seriously mind blowing (for an American, not to mention one from a small farm town in Ohio) around every corner.
This past Friday Mike and I went on a little road trip and stopped in Innsbruck Austria. The picture below is of the balcony with a golden roof where emporer Maximilian I would sit and watch the goings-on in the square below.
The name of the city is an adaptation of its name during the Roman Empire and reflects its importance as a crossing point for travelers. But don't get me wrong, there is evidence of the area being inhabited during the Stone Ages. For more information see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innsbruck or just search for Innsbruck on the web.

We drove back along the southern ridge of the mountains and were in a hurry to get back to Basel to return the rental car before the office closed. I took some pictures out the car window... didn't do too bad with this one. That is the Inn River and those little specs on the mountain are houses and churches and such. There are more pictures on my phone and I will get them posted when I can sync the phone with the computer. I now have (outrageously expensive) batteries for the camera, so I'll take that on this weekend's adventure.

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=innsbruk

It's Pretty Here

We went on a day trip to Strasbourg, France two weekends ago. It is a very cool place. I have pictures in my phone, but I'm not able to sync them to the computer yet because of something that I have no control over and is too boring to explain. We are hoping that we can sync the phone next week. At that time, I'll get all of the pictures in. I've loaded 2 for now. One is of Mike and I taken in front of the Cathedral. The other is of the "Petite France" area where we had coffee. Here is a link to a Flicker search of other people's pictures of Strasbourg... http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=strasbourg

Strasbourg is currently located in France on the border it shares with Germany. I say currently because the Alsace region has changed hands between the countries several times over the centuries. Most of the architecture in the older parts of the city are decidedly German and I was able to find Gingerbread very easily. However, the language is French.The whole experience was great and we look forward to going back and taking the boat tour.

Speaking of Gingerbread... I think I'll have Gingerbread and a Mocha for lunch. Yum!

Mike at Work

Of course, everyone wants to know how my wonderful husband is dong at his new job. To answer you questions, he is doing very well... meeting new people and developing his project strategy. One of the activities that new employees at his company are provided is hands-on product training.

This is a picture of Mike in the Lab


This is a picture of Mike with a pig's jaw.


This is a picture of Mike preparing to place a dental implant in the pig's jaw.


This is a picture of Mike drilling into the bone of the pig's jaw.

Major events for someone as sensitive as Mike. I am soooo proud of him for all that he has accomplished... even hacking away at a poor defensless pig :)

We Will Not Forget

Monday's Post about the Weekend

Good Morning everyone! Mike left for Munich this morning at about 7. I went back to bed and woke up to the sound of a Jack-Hammer outside my bedroom window. I really do live in the city.

It rained most of the day Saturday. Mike and I stayed in Basel and stopped by one of the apartments that I looked at this past week. We also went to the Jean Tinguely Museum. Here is a link for you... http://www.tinguely.ch/ He seemed to specialize in assembling found items into moving sculptures. Very interesting stuff.

Sunday we went to Luzern. It is beautiful city on a lake. It rained most of the time we were there... except the sun came out when we were ready to leave. We went to a Picasso Museum... http://www.rosengart.ch/index_e.html this was amazing. The Ms. Rosengart and her father were friends of the artist, and the museum is full of her collection... including several portraits that Picasso created of her! Luzern is a beautiful place but because of the weather, the pictures Mike took of the scenery didn't run out very well. So I am attaching a picture he took of me while we were on the site-seeing cruise on the lake. If you want to learn more about Luzern (also spelled Lucerne) you can go to http://www.luzern.com/en/welcome.cfm. We plan to go back on a day that the weather is better. We also didn't have the right clothes with us for this kind of day. When we get our shipment, things will be easier.

OK, I'm going to IKEA today to look around at furniture. I also need a plastic container to store Orange juice in. Mayo comes in a tube, Milk and OJ come in a cardboard "brick" or bag that you cut open (making it messy to use and store), and granola comes in a bag. Someone warned me that packaging would be different... was it Kathryn or Mari?

Ciao!!!

Its Friday!!!

I woke up at 4 this morning with a stomach ache and am still not over it. Mike and I both ate Thai Red Curry that I fixed and he is fine, thankfully. I think that eating spicy foods and having a cup of coffee caused heart burn. I don't have time to get old.

So I was intending to tell you a long story about going to the store to buy toilet paper and a compost bin, but I think I'll just get to the point. I learned how to rent a shopping cart at the store yesterday... I have the pictures to prove it.
The bizarre overview of the situation is this...

I rented a shopping cart for 2CHF
in downtown Basel, Switzerland
and took a picture of myself with
my iPhone while riding the
"Rollband" (which is like a specialized
conveyor belt) between the floors of the store.

What?
No wonder I have heartburn!

Oh, BTW if you are ever in Basel and find yourself searching for snowpeas to put in your Thai Curry, don't bother. ;-)

What else? I think we are going to Bern tomorrow for a change of scenery. I'll take some pictures.

I forgot to pack an extra deoderant for Mike; it is all in the shipping containers. So, I'm off to the store. This should take me at least 2 hours!!!

Ciao!

Laundry Day

I found this picture on the internet. I thought that you would enjoy it.

Ok, I admit it, yesterday wasn't really my laundry day. But we were running low on the essentials... and no one got mad (that I know of). Seriously, my posted laundry day isn't until the 16th!!! Toto, we're not in Tampa anymore.

I had some laundry day issues, of course. Like I couldn't figure out how to turn the washing machine on... one Swiss man, one Turkish woman, and 3 hours later... wow its running, but I have no idea if I put the soap and softener in the right place... and should I have set the water temp to 20 or 40? Oh well.

Once the wash cycle was finished, on to the dyer. It only took me 30 minutes to figure out how to turn on the dyer! Don't laugh... it could happen to you (probably not). I am not going to load a picture of the laundry dungeon for your viewing pleasure. Instead, I will provide you with a link that made me laugh so hard, I was crying...

http://www.englishforum.ch/language-corner/29003-someone-pinched-my-trousers.html

I suggest you take a look when you have time to really enjoy the hillarity of the thread. And make sure you click on the picture link and watch the video.

Am I on a Reality TV Show

First... Thank You Miss Brittnee! The tip about the Language Tools available through Google has been very helpful... even helped me figure out how to bake the "gipfle" dough I bough yesterday.

And that brings me to recount a series of events that I would rather just forget. You see... I have no clue what the hell is going on around me, and I just have to chuckle and shake my head. Yesterday was my first serious trip(s) to the Migros grocery store. Let me set the stage...

1) No car, no bag-lady cart

2) No baggers at the check-out stand

3) No Comprendo!!! Everything is written in German, French, and Italian.

OK... so I spent the morning looking for permenant housing and realized at about noon that I was starving because there was no food in the house save a Kashi granola bar. I composed a list of what I absolutely needed, got the new bank card and headed to the tram stop. There I bought my tram ticket and headed to MarktPlatz to get some cash and a SchokkiBrotli. Uh, Oh! I forgot the shopping bags!

Back on the tram to the apartment to get the bags then back to MarktPlatz to the Migros. If I go to this one, it is close enough that my cold stuff stays cold and I don't have to change trams. Then I realize that this is a small store... how small? um... 1500 square feet?

I grab what I can find.. *No cheddar? OK Manchego it is*Milk will be a whole seperate story*Thank god they put pictures on the Yogurt containers* and head to the check-out. I only got 100 CHF out of the bank, but I should be safe, right? Ya! Guet... Total is only 70... Let me refer you back to point number 2 above. I should have gone the larger store. There was only one lane open and I felt like I was in the middle of one of those check-card commercials where the whole place comes to a screaching halt while I loaded all of my food into bags. Lesson learned... the small Migros is kind of like the 7 items or less check-out lane in the U.S.

Once I finally had everything in the bags (2 large totes, a Target bag, a hot/cold thermal tote) I went out to get on the tram. Can you say heavy? OK this is where a car would have been good. I missed my stop and had to walk an extra 50 yards to the aparment past one of the old city gates pictured above. When I got back to the apartment, I was hot and tired and my feet hurt, but I still needed to get some things that the small store didn't have.

Back on the tram to the large MMM Migros on Reingasse. This store is huge! Think Super Target in downtown New York City. Escalators and elevators, restaurants, clothes, appliances. 2nd floor has household goods and I needed Dishwasher Tabs and Laundry Detergent. Doesn't sound difficult until (refer to #3) I need to get fabric softener. 15 minutes of staring at the bottles and finally I broke down and asked a young lady if she speaks english (of course she speaks english, duh!). She helped me. Thank God!!!

Oh, plastic wrap and some little zipper baggies for the food. My hands were sort-of full, but I thought I would be OK until I got to the gorcery area in the basement. Apparently a very helpful, loud Swiss man who doesn't speak english thought I needed a hand basket. Lets go back to #3. I'm pretty sure he was telling everyone in the store what an idiot I am while I unloaded my arms into the basket. A humble "Merci" and I was on my way to the basement.

Lime... hot pepper... instant coffee (another 15 minute #3 moment)... OK back to the check out. Oh crap... I was supposed to weigh my produce downstairs. And again the American holds-up the line. Another lesson learned. Huh... it was obvious my remaining 20 CHF wasn't going to cut it. I held up the new bank card and ask "werk?" "Ya" replies the cashier. *sigh*

Back on the tram to our aparment...

I made home-made salsa and Fajitas for dinner. They were sooooo good. I'm looking forward to left-overs. I don't know that I have ever worked so hard mentally and physically. No wonder I was ready for bed at 9:30 last night!

Welcome to my Life Abroad

Greetings from Basel! A week ago today, Mike and I flew to Switzerland. We are finally in our apartment, but a lot has happened in the past few days.

We rented an SUV from Hertz and drove from Tampa to the Orlando airport. The movers were 5.5 hours late on Monday, so our schedule was totally messed up and we ended up keeping the SUV for an extra hour... which of course means that we were charged for an extra day! It was a gorgeous day for a drive across the state and the traffic was very manageable.

We met with Mike's financial planner folks at the airport. It's a little bit of a blur right now, but that reminds me that I need to extend the contract on the Post Box in St Petersburg... Add that to my to-do list.

The flight from Orlando to Tampa was memorable. We had booked our flights on short notice because our Visas had been rushed through the system. We were assigned seats on the plane only at check-in and although we were in the same row, Mike was on the isle near the window and I was the meat in a soda-bread sandwich. A nice Irish family switched seats with us so that Mike and I could sit together. Then the screaming started. I would guess the little darling was about 3 years old and that she SCREAMED (not cried) about 80% of the flight. The flight was bumpy for about 15 to 20 minutes around Maine, but we landed safely all the same.

And wow were we tired! Mike didn't sleep on the flight at all, so I found a spot in the airport where we could eat and Mike could get a little bit of sleep. The flight from Dublin to Zurich was only an hour and 45 minutes. Everything runs just like clockwork... like a fine Swiss timepiece. We got off of the plane, walked through immigrations, collected our bags almost immediately (they came off the belt together!), breezed through customs. Then to the platform for the Train to Basel and **POOF** we are off to our new home.

We caught a taxi from the the Basel Train Station (SBB) to our hotel. We stayed at the Best Western Hotel Merian Spitz for the first few days until our temporary apartment became available. The picture above is from our the balcony of our hotel room. I'm sure we had dinner that night, but I dont remember where. I do know that we slept very well.

OK, its time to go out into the city and find something to eat. Ciao!