Sciopero

This is one way I can tell I live in Europe and not the States--our internal website has the following announcement: "Travelling to/from Italy this week? Various strikes have been announced that could affect your travel." Then there's a link with details about the strikes. Strikes appear to be quite routine--not so much in Switzerland, but definitely in France and Italy--but at least they're polite enough to schedule them in advance and publicise them.

The coolest broom ever

The guys who sweep the streets here use these great brooms--not weenie pre-fab brooms, but huge brooms made with twigs (kind of like what you see witches use). Someone told me the ones they use are actually hand-made so they're hard to find, but a couple of weeks ago we were in the nearby town of Laufen and there in front of a hardware store was one of those brooms for sale! So of course I immediately had to buy it. Definitely my best purchase here so far...

No ghosts around here

Tonight we had another uniquely Swiss experience. We were getting ready to sit down to dinner when our doorbell rang. At the door was a young guy selling something, but of course I couldn't figure out what because I don't speak Swiss German. So Gretchen went and checked it out and it turns out they were selling Mistel, or mistletoe. But these weren't the lame little sprigs that you can buy in stores back in the States--this was a huge flatbed truck loaded down with mistletoe bushes. Evidently it's traditional here to buy fresh-cut mistletoe bushes and hang them up to keep ghosts away. Naturally we bought one (I think we got the smallest one) but now we have no idea what to do with it (if we were to hang it in a doorway we'd never be able to walk through). Plus we think Grady ate one of the berries, and we checked online and it turns out they're highly toxic, so we called our vet back home and they told us not to worry about one. But the good thing is that we don't seem to have any ghosts.

Make it stop!

You know those songs that just get in your head because you hear them constantly? And you know how sometimes they're really fun songs that you can't wait to hear again? But you know how other times they're really lame songs that you can't stand and you're bitter every time you hear them? Well, the latter is the case with what seems to be the latest hit around here: "Call on Me" by Eric Prydz, which is a remix of the old Steve Winwood song "Valerie"--a song was just cryng out for a dance remix.

Time to go home

This is how I know it's time to go back to the States for a visit... we are almost out of Crest toothpaste! As advised by many Americans who had gone before us I was sure to stock up on any brand-specific products I couldn't live without before moving to Basel. This means our shelves are stocked with things like Dial Soap, Paul Mitchell mousse, and our favorite brands of deoderant, lotion, shaving cream, and contact solution. So far, so good. But now we are down to our last travel-size tube of Crest toothpaste and it's a good thing we'll be in DC in a couple weeks so I can buy a new supply. I know this may sound crazy... obviously I can buy toothpaste in Basel... but I like my Crest. Maybe I also just want an excuse to do some Target shopping when I'm home.

A weekend of Weihnacht

Our Saturday was a day full of Christmas celebrations, European style. We visited a total of three Weihnachtsmärkte (Christmas markets), or Marché de Noël as they're called in France. First we drove to the Alsace and visited the town of Kaysersberg, which had a very nice market in a church courtyard. While there we also had a yummy Alsacian lunch of Coq au Riesling and spätzle (for me) and Gratin de Munster for Kirk. Afterward, we drove south a bit on the Route de Vin to Eguisheim which has become one of our favorite towns to visit in the Alsace. Although the market was quite small in Eguisheim, we were happy to be able to stop in to the Meyer winery and pick up a case of Pinot Gris. Word has spread among American and Canadian expats in Basel that Frau/Madame Meyer speaks English, which makes wine tasting much more fun. We finished off the day by an evening visit to the Weihnachtsmarkt right here in Basel. A dinner of gluhwein and a grilled sausage was a perfect ending to our day.

Which is it, evaporated or condensed?

For our Thanksgiving celebration on Thursday, I was in charge of the pumpkin pie. I gladly volunteered making it because I had brought canned pumpkin with me when we moved here in March (knowing you couldn't find it in Switzerland). My only concern was whether I could find evaporated milk. Believe it or not, sometimes it's hard to find some of our regular American products in Swiss grocery stores. You can imagine how pleased I was to find several cans of it among the other baking products at the local Migros. Only after baking two pumpkin pies (on Thursday afternoon) did I realize that I had actually bought condensed milk. I'm sure I'm not the first person to make this mistake-- I always get the two confused! Well, I'm here to tell you that the pie was excellent. In fact, I think it was better with the "ungezuckert" (unsweetened) condensed milk than it had been in past years when I actually followed the recipe. Perhaps I should write to the people at Libby's who can the pumpkin and suggest they change their recipe.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's kind of strange being at work on a major holiday back home that no one here cares about, but tonight we're going to get together with some fellow American expats and eat turkey, pumpkin pie, etc. The only bummer--no football games on TV. Or at least no American football--with any luck we can perhaps find a football (soccer) game to watch.

Anyway, to any of our American friends who happen to read this, we hope you have a very Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels!

No joke

I was able to come back a day early from Luxembourg, which was a nice treat. I didn't have any time to see the city, but I had been once before so no worries. It's really quite beautiful, but I get the sense it makes Basel seem wild and crazy by comparison.

Anyway, I read this in today's Financial Times: "The English like telling Irish jokes; the Italians German jokes; and everybody likes telling Swiss jokes." It got me to thinking, why don't I ever hear any Swiss jokes if everybody likes telling them? Is it because I live in Switzerland so it's taboo to tell Swiss jokes? (Here I think they prefer to tell jokes about the canton of Appenzell, which didn't give women the right to vote until the 1990s, and then only because the courts forced them to do so--I think it's sort of like the West Virginia of Switzerland.) Anyway, I've realised I need to ask my European colleagues what sort of jokes they tell...

Christmas is coming...

Tonight was the official kick-off of the Christmas season in Basel. Unfortunately, Kirk missed the event because he's in Luxembourg, but I met friends downtown this evening for the lighting of the Christmas tree on the Marktplatz. It was quite festive, depsite the light rain showers and the crowds of umbrellas. There was free gluhwein, a beautiful choir, a few trumpets, and too much speaking from someone I presume was a government official. Then the flipped the switch which turned on the lights on a big Christmas tree and on many of the surrounding buildings and everyone "ooooh"d and "aaaah"d. My favorite part of the event was what happened after all the music was finished. As they began to disassemble the stage, there was a rush of people to loot the giant pine branches that had been used to decorate the stage. For a society that is so firmly based on trust and honor (eg. flower and farm markets where you pay on the honor system), it had to be the most rebellious behavior I've ever seen out of the Swiss.

Bold eater?

I'm generally not very adventurous when it comes to eating strange or unfamiliar body parts, but this weekend in Paris I almost threw caution to the wind. When we went to dinner Saturday night at La Petite Pontoise in the Latin Quarter, one of their specialties was joues de cochon, or pig's cheeks. The waitress insisted they were delicious, tender, and lean, and I had read a review of the restaurant that had good things to say about them. Maybe I had too much wine at that point, but for some reason I figured, why not? As it turns out, the waitress came back and told me the cheeks weren't ready--they had to be cooked for another day. So I guess that just wasn't meant to be, and I had a steak instead. (Incidentally, Gretchen had one of the best appetizers she's ever had at that restaurant--chevre au pain d'epices, or warm goat cheese on gingerbread.)

Then, yesterday at our staff restaurant one of the options was tête de veau--calf's head. I wasn't feeling nearly so adventurous and opted instead for the tomato-and-mozzarella salad. So, near as I can tell, did just about everyone else...

What fun!

Tomorrow I'm off to Luxembourg for a couple of days for work. It's a nice enough city, but not exactly the most exciting place--it's sort of like being back home and going to Charlotte. At least I'm looking forward to the train ride...

These are a few of my favorite things...

I was singing that song to myself tonight as I cleaned up dog barf not once, but twice. Both times it was on the dining room carpet, just before I was planning to serve dinner. Ah, yes, such is the life of a hausfrau. Fortunately, Grady is not known to get sick more than once or twice a year. Now I think he's reached his quota. It makes me wonder what he's been eating at the kennel...

Too much cold weather can get to you

I really don't want to tease Gretchen about her beloved Wisconsin, but then I read things like this and, well, how can I not?

(((Because, you know, there's nothing about California that can be made fun of...)))

Asian week 5?

As I was driving to Mumpf today to pick up Grady from the kennel, I passed a McDonald's (a big one that has a "McDrive") with a banner that says "Asian Week 5". What sort of Asian specialties do you suppose they would be selling at a McDonald's in Basel, Switzerland?

We don't need no stinkin' protein

We realised this weekend that it must be next to impossible to be on the Atkins Diet in Europe. Not that there's any shortage of meat--far from it--but the breads are so good and omnipresent that it's futile to resist. Saturday morning I had a croissant for breakfast at the airport. Then they served pain au chocolat (bread with chocolate) on the plane. When we got to Paris we stopped at a local bakery for a chausson aux pommes (apple turnover). From there we walked to a market and picked up a fresh, warm, YUMMY baguette to munch on as we walked. It wasn't until lunch that I had my first protein, and even then the meal came with bread, which I happily devoured...

On the other hand

While there is so much to like about Paris (even the people, despite their reputation, are generally pretty friendly, especially if you make even a half-hearted attempt to speak French), there is one major scar on the city: Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport. I'm convinced that there is a special place in hell for the folks who designed CDG. I remember when I took my first-ever trip to Europe a few years back and asked my boss if she had any advice about itineraries, etc., and she had only one tip: never, ever, ever connect through Paris unless absolutely necessary (naturally, I ignored her advice and ended up stuck in the airport for six hours when my flight was canceled and there was a big strike--lesson learned). Prior to this weekend I had really only been to the international terminal, which was built--and, near as I can tell, last cleaned--in the '50s or '60s, but I had higher hopes for the main terminal. Silly me! While a bit more modern, it still manages to have the charm, efficiency, and cleanliness you might expect from a post-Soviet era Eastern bloc airport (actually, I think both Vilnius and Warsaw may have had more charm and efficiency).

City of Lights

Despite generally lousy weather, we had a great weekend in Paris. (The forecast for Saturday was sun and a high of around 50 degrees with a 0% chance of rain, so naturally by noon it was cold and pouring rain. But a bad day in Paris is better than a good day in most other cities, so we weren't complaining.) We spent lots of time eating, drinking coffee, wandering the Left Bank, eating, shopping, drinking coffee, and eating. We're not big art afficionados by any means, but we nevertheless tried to catch the Turner-Whistler-Monet exhibition at the Grand Palais. It was a mob scene and since we didn't have reservations and didn't feel like waiting in the cold rain to fight the crowds, we went to the much quieter Musée Marmottan instead. More than anything, though, we just wandered semi-aimlessly around the city. Not a bad way to spend a weekend, all things considered. Here is Gretchen (and her new haircut) enjoying a café creme at a patisserie near our hotel in St-Germain-des-Prés:

I have short hair

I got my hair cut today. It was my second visit with Guy, my new Swiss stylist (he's actually French, but I mean "Swiss" in that he's cutting my hair while I'm in Switzerland). I guess it's not really that short, but much shorter than it's been in a while. I define short as no longer being able to wear a ponytail when I go to the gym. When I look back at pictures from the last time I had it this short I realize I looked like a boy (although I think it was even shorter then). My face is really too round to have short hair, but considering Guy is really into making sure I have "shape" and "structure", I think I'll like it this time. If nothing else, I love going to this place to get my haircut because the woman who shampoos my hair gave me a 15 minute scalp massage today and then Guy spent at least an hour making sure my new cut was absolutely perfect. Can't wait to see what Kirk thinks when he gets home (he agreed that my former short hair was quite boy-like).

Because we can

We're going to Paris this weekend... because we can! We just bought our tickets last night, so it's a bit of a last-minute thing. We got really cheap tickets so we're flying up there first thing Saturday morning and coming back Sunday night. Gotta love living in Switzerland where you can fly to Paris for a night because it only takes an hour.

My new favorite German word

Today I was flipping (so to speak) through one of the local papers when I came across an article featuring a grainy picture of a carful of guys flipping off a police camera:

The best thing about it wasn't the picture, but this accompanying statement: "Dabei zeigten sie der Kamera den Stinkefinger." What a great word! It almost makes me want to run out and give someone the Stinkefinger (except I think that would be a very un-Swiss thing to do)...

Heisse Maroni

One of the trademarks of the cooler weather and the upcoming Christmas season in Basel are the "heisse Maroni" stands throughout the city. Heisse Maroni are hot, roasted chestnuts. I've walked by these stands a million times (OK, maybe not that many) but until today had not tried them. After leaving my volunteering job (how's that for an oxymoron) at Centrepoint today, I decided to pick up some heisse Maroni as I walked along the Barfüsserplatz where they are setting up for the Weihnachtsmarkt. Although they smell really good, and I feel like there's something really aesthetically appealing about holding this paper cone of warm, recently-roasted chestnuts, I'm not sure that I like them. They're kind of weird (both in texture and flavor). I'm glad I tried them because now I know what they taste like, but I think from now on I'll look for stands where they sell Glühwein instead.

Lots to look forward to!

I generally feel that life is always more enjoyable when you have something to look forward to and to be excited about. When I look ahead to the next 6 weeks I am very excited about all we have going on. First, 2 weeks from today our friends Kristina and Mike will arrive in Basel for a week-long visit. They will be bringing along their 3 children (all under the age of 5), so, in the words of our landlord, our house will be very "alive"! We are looking into taking an all-day, panoramic train ride through the Alps called the Glacier Express while they're here. When they leave on December 8 I will also be flying across the Atlantic (although not on the same flight) for a visit back to DC! Kirk has a meeting there and I can't pass up the opportunity to have a visit home. I'm looking forward to doing some shopping (for Christmas presents and perhaps for a few things for myself as well) and visiting all of my favorite restaurants, but I am mainly excited about spending time with good friends. Soon after our arrival back in Basel, my sister and her family will be visiting us for the week between Christmas and New Year's. It will be the first trip to Europe for all of them, and I am thrilled to be able to spend Christmas (or at least the 26th) with my sister, her husband, and their 3 kids. As much as my transition to living overseas has been relatively easy, I greatly miss my friends and family. The next couple months will be very special for me.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We'll be having Christmas in Basel this year, and I think it should be nice. Now that the weather has gotten cold, the old town is in the midst of being transformed for Christmas (or Weihnacht)--booths for the market are being constructed, lights are being hung, Christmas trees are being set up, etc. Before long we hope to be drinking glühwein (warm mulled red wine) at the Weihnachtsmarkt...

I-69

I want to say this has to be in jest (courtesy of Wonkette), but I fear it may not be. Ah, American politics at its finest!

Great music

Gretchen has the radio on in the kitchen, and in the past few minutes we've heard the following winners: a remake of the country song "I Hope You Dance" (because, you know, it's at least four years old so it's overdue for a remake); Meat Loaf's "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)", and a remake (sung in German) of the '80s song "Major Tom". (You know it's bad when "Shout" by Tears for Fears just came on and we realised it was the best song we had heard all night...not to diss Tears for Fears, I'm just more partial to their days of "The Hurting" rather than "Shout".)

...and just in time for dinner, a remake of Air Supply's "All Out of Love". Rock on!

We're in the money

I've been thinking about what sorts of investments to make these days, and I think I found the big winner! It's been awhile since I got one of these, but this came to my email at work today and I'm sure it's a can't-miss proposition. (And who knew I'd been promoted to Director?) Sounds like fodder for Gene Weingarten at the Washington Post...

DEAR DIRECTOR.

HOW ARE YOU DOING? I DO HOPE YOU ARE FINE? IF SO GLORY BE TO ALMIGHTY.I GOT YOUR EMAIL ON MY SEARCH THROUGH INTERNET INVESTMENT RESEARCH.THEN I DECIDED TO CONTACT YOU HOPING THAT YOU WILL BE THE RIGHT PERSON TO ASSIST ME AND MY MOTHER ON ANY PROFITABLE INVESTMENT I WANT TO DO IN YOUR COUNTRY.

FIRST AND FOREMOST,I APOLOGIZED USING THIS MEDIUM TO REACH YOU FOR A TRANSACTION/ BUSINESS OF THIS MAGNITUDE. LET ME INTRODUCE MY SELF PROPERLY. MY NAME IS DAREN CARAMA; THE SON OF CHIEF MONTSHO CARAMA , I AM THE BENEFICIARY/NEXT OF KIN OF THE FUND, I AND MY MOTHER ARE LIVING UNDER UNHCR IN DAKAR SENEGAL. AS REFUGEE. MY LATE.FATHER (CHIEF MONTSHO CARAMA) WAS A BUSINESS MAN; HE DEALS ON DIAMOND AND GOLD BEFORE HIS UNTIMELY DEATH,

HE WAS KILLED BY THE REBELS OF R.U.F AND MANY OF OUR PROPERTIES/BUILDINGS WERE DESTROYED BY THEM.WHEN MY LATE FATHER WAS ALIVE HE SENSED OF CONSPIRACY AGAINST HIM AND HE ESCAPED ME AND MY MOTHER TO DAKAR SENEGAL. AND LATER GO BACK TO SIERRA LEONE THAT IS WHEN HE WAS KILLED.THAT TIME THE WAR WAS STILL GOING ON IN MY COUNTRY. WHEN HE WAS A LIVE HE DEPOSITED HIS MONEY(US$13.5 MILLION DOLLARS) WITH MY NAME AS HIS NEST OF KIN IN A PRIVATE FINANCE COMPANY IN SENEGAL..

PRESENTLY,I WANT YOU TO HELP ME TRANSFER THE MONEY INTO YOUR ACCOUNT,SO THAT YOU CAN HELP US TO INVEST IT AND ALSO TO HELP US ACQUIRE NATURIZATION STATUS IN YOUR COUNTRY. PLEASE IF YOU ARE INTERESTED TO HELP US. YOU WILL STAND AS THE BENEFICIARY OF THE MONEY AND AS MY FOREIGN PARTNER. AND ALSO YOU WILL HELP US TO TRANSFER THE MONEY IN ANY OF YOUR FOREIGN ACCOUNT PENDING MY ARRIVAL TO MEET WITH YOU.ALL THE DOCUMENTS THAT MY LATE FATHER USED TO DEPOSIT THE MONEY IS HERE WITH ME AND WILL BE FAX TO YOU ON DEMAND.

I HAVE THE AUTHORITY OF MY MOTHER INVOLVED THAT SHOULD YOU BE WILLING TO ASSIST US IN THE PROCESS OF THE TRANSFER,YOUR SHARE OF THE SUM WILL BE 20% OF THE $13.5 MILLION,THE TRANSACTION IS 100% SAFE,ON YOUR PART PROVIDED YOU TREAT IT WITH UTMOST SECRECY AND CONFIDENTIALITY. ALSO YOUR AREA OF SPECIALIZATION IS NOT A HINDRANCE TO THE SUCCESSFUL EXECUTION OF THIS TRANSACTION.I HAVE REPOSED MY CONFIDENCE IN YOU AND HOPE THAT YOU WILL NOT DISAPPOINT ME.

I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO HEAR FROM YOU.

THANKS,
DAREN CARAMA.

The box game

In addition to spending much time at home this weekend so that Kirk could get himself organized, we also did a bit of socializing. We spent Saturday night with friends who invited us over for enchiladas (which was a nice break from the traditional Swiss fare of Basel), and last night we attended an "apero" at the home of some new friends who recently moved here from New Zealand. I have to admit that I had never heard the word "apero" before moving here, but it seems to be a popular way to describe what I would describe as a very civilized happy hour/reception/open house with drinks and hor d'oeuvres. On Saturday night, after dinner, we learned a new party game (simply called the box game) from our friends' 5-year old daughter. It's great fun for all ages, especially after a drink or two. Here's how you play. Cut the top off a cereal box, set it on the floor (open side up), and try to pick it up with your teeth without letting your hands or knees touch the floor. I encourage you to try it. It's actually quite a challenge. If all players are able to pick up the box, cut it shorter and try again. Repeat this until only one player remains. He/she is the winner!

"They're all wasted!"

I'm not necessarily a big classic rock fan, but I must say The Who's "Baba O'Riley" is a great song to have on the iPod on a freezing morning walk to work...

Spellbound

My #1 goal for this weekend was to get my life organised, since recent travels had left bills unpaid, papers piled up, and my office at home in a shambles. So what better way to start the weekend than dropping my PDA as I was packing up to leave work on Friday, shattering the screen? All of a sudden a good old fashioned paper organiser sounds pretty good. Now I just have to hope I can load my old data onto a new PDA or I'll be a very unhappy camper.

Luckily, things got off to a much better start once I got home. Gretchen had rented Spellbound, which I had wanted to see but never got around to. Highly recommended. A simple story well told, and good on so many different levels. It says a lot about the U.S.--good and bad--without being overt. Sweet but not cloying. Maybe I'm biased because I used to be a bit of a spelling geek, which I'm sure is a big surprise. (I actually competed in the San Diego County spelling bee in 8th grade to try to go to the national spelling bee, but finished out of the money--although I never studied words the way so many kids in the movie did, which I realise after watching this documentary may have been my downfall. And yes, I still remember vividly the word I was eliminated on--BENDAY, which I mistakenly spelled BENDET. But I'm not bitter. Really. Dammit.)

We also began our initial preparations for ski season this weekend--got a roof rack for the car, looked at a place to rent skis for the season, and priced some winter tires (OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive--around CHF 500 ($425) per wheel--but probably necessary). Of course, even if the car is in decent shape, I am unfortunately not...

Buttfisch

Tonight for dinner Gretchen fixed us some buttfisch sandwiches. I have nothing interesting to say about it--I just wanted to say "buttfisch" (which is actually flounder in English).

Fruit of the month

Does anyone know anything about PERSIMMONS? Our local grocery store is advertising them as the fruit of the month or week or something and I'm totally intrigued but I don't think I've ever eaten one. I'd love some insight into what to do with it. Do I just eat it like an apple or is it better for cooking and baking?

The Bachelorette, auf Deutsch

You're not going to believe this, but I discovered a German version of the American reality TV show The Bachelorette last night. I saw it advertised in one of the free daily papers here in Basel, so I thought I should check it out. It's no secret that I was a big Bachelor/Bachelorette fan back in the States, and now it looks like I can watch it here as well! The crazy thing is how strikingly similar it is to the American show. The music, the set, the host... it's eerie how much it's like the one at home. The one big difference is that a lot of the German dudes were wearing really ugly clothes. Some of them looked like they stepped right out of Miami Vice with their white suits and low cut black t-shirts. From what I could tell, last night was the first show in the series and she (Monica) eliminated 10 or the 25 men in the rose ceremony. I wonder if my German teacher would consider watching "Die Bachelorette" for the next several weeks as extra credit homework.

It's good to be pampered

I'm not saying he's a metrosexual or anything (thankfully), but I am proud of Kirk for visiting the spa with me during our stay at the Datai. We splurged (that seemed to be the theme of the vacation) and indulged in what they called the Datai Dreams package. It included a foot polish (modified pedicure), a lavender body scrub, a steam bath, and a 50 minute Balinese massage, all in the privacy of our own little open-air spa house surrounded by the rain forest and a babbling brook (we even spotted a few monkeys on the walk into the spa). I'll let Kirk speak for himself, but I enjoyed it, and I even kept my promise to Kirk not to talk to him during the massage. For any of you who know me, you know how hard it is for me to keep my mouth shut sometimes, even in settings where we're supposed to be relaxing, not talking.

This was our spa house:

That other holiday

With all this talk of Deepavali and Ramadan, I almost forgot we had our first real taste of Christmas last week. The area in Singapore where our friends Tracey and Sean live is one of the bigger shopping districts in Singapore (which is saying something, because the entire city basically seems to be one big shopping district), and it was fully decked out for Christmas. It was strange enough to see it decorated so early--even by U.S. standards, where the Christmas season gets closer to Halloween every year--but it was particularly difficult to comprehend Christmas trees and fake icicles and snowflakes when it was a humid 35 degrees or so (low 90s Fahrenheit). It just felt wrong somehow.


As for the shopping, it was insane. I don't know if I've ever seen malls so crowded, which was especially crazy since the city is one big mall! I guess when it's always so hot and humid you look for any excuse to stay inside. I was on a quest to find more work shirts but didn't have much success before the crowds just became unbearable (not only that, but other than books, the prices weren't that great). This was the scene at one of the malls we visited:

Caning doesn't sound so bad

Say this for Singapore: they don't mess around. When you fill out your immigration form, it says in big red letters WARNING DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKERS UNDER SINGAPORE LAW. And I got the sense that wasn't just an idle threat...

Fashion faux pas

One of the most disturbing things we saw on our trip is what appears to be the latest in beach fashion for men: shorts that are somewhere between Speedos and bicycle shorts (as tight as both, but more like the size of boxer briefs). Maybe these are catching on in the States and I'm behind the times, but I can't help but think this is a Euro and/or Asian trend since the Speedo banana hammock trend never really took hold (so to speak) back home. Gretchen pointed out that these shorts were actually more revealing than Speedos for reasons I can't put on a family-oriented blog--not that she was looking or anything. Thankfully, no picture accompanies this post.

Stay left

We rented a car one day in Langkawi, so I got to experience something new: driving on the left side of the road. I thought I did pretty well other than nearly driving off the road every few minutes and turning on the windshield wipers every time I wanted to use the turn signal (we had the cleanest windshield in Malaysia by the end of the day). It was a wild day, and not just because of my driving. The infrastructure was great as far as roads, etc., but in most other ways it was unlike any place I had ever driven before. First of all, there was the challenge of dodging the ubiquitous motorbikes (many of which were driven by Malay women in full Muslim garb and motorcycle helmets). One interesting trend is that lots of parents were taking their kids to school on the back of their motorbikes, and it seemed like none of the kids--but every adult--wore helmets. Then there was the challenge of figuring out the road signs, all of which were in Malay. I mean, I pretty much figured out a red octagonal sign meant "Stop" even if it said "Berhenti", but beyond that it was a bit of a crapshoot. Finally, we never knew what animals we might see. Of course there were monkeys, but we would also be driving along and all of a sudden there would be a big water buffalo grazing on the side of the road. At one point a herd of cows--but no people--just randomly crossed in front of us, backing up traffic in both directions. It wasn't nearly as chaotic as footage I've seen of places like India or China (or Vanuatu, for that matter), but it certainly wasn't Basel, that's for sure!

Simply Datai For

In Langkawi we stayed at a place called The Datai, and all we have to say is that if you ever have a chance to go there, JUST GO. We've never splurged so much in our lives and probably never will again, but it was worth every ringgit. It's located in the rainforest (hence the monkeys), with about a 10-minute walk through the lush forest to the beach. It reminded us both of the North Shore of Kauai, but with less people and better food. This was the view from our room:


And this is the beach (the island across the water is actually in Thailand):

It's the holiday season

In addition to being in Malaysia and Singapore right before Deepavali/Diwali, we also happened to be there right in the midst of Ramadan, which was quite interesting. I hadn't realised that fasting all day included no liquids, which has to be tough in such a hot climate. We arrived in Langkawi around sunset, and at a stop sign our driver suddenly asked us if we minded if he took a sip of water since it was the end of the fast and he hadn't had anything to drink since the morning. (We probably should have told him he couldn't drink because we preferred that he drive us in a state of thirst-inspired delirium. Oh, and we learned a completely random thing about Ramadan when we checked out of the hotel: evidently women do not have to fast during their period, but they do fast when they're pregnant. And no, we didn't understand the rationale behind that distinction.) Every day in the newspaper there was a list of the exact time to start and break the fast (it varied for each city and province), and even McDonalds got into the act with a daily "Buka Puasa" (which probably means "break fast" in Malay) special. (McDonalds and KFC also both advertised that they serve halal meat.) It probably would have been fun to go to one of the night markets where people would gather to eat yummy Malay food to break the fast, but we were too busy watching monkeys at that time to leave our hotel.

Go Bucky!

From looking at all the recent blog postings by Kirk, one might reach the conclusion that I am extremely busy and he has nothing better to do than update the blog. Of course, this couldn't be further from the truth considering he works hard to bring home the bacon only so I can fry it up in a pan. The unfortunate truth is sometimes I'm just lazy when it comes to blog. I want to tell everyone about everything I've been doing, but sometimes I just don't want to sit down and write about it. I also tend to like Kirk's postings better than my own, so I've been letting him do the vacation recap. I guess it also helps that he knows how to post pictures and I don't. Anyway, I suppose not all of you are following Wisconsin football, so I wanted to let you know that they are currently ranked #4!!! This is truly exciting, and I can't imagine they have ever been ranked so high. I'm not sure what this means in terms of going to a bowl game, but I sure hope I can find a place in Switzerland to watch whatever bowl they end up playing in.

Happy Deepavali...

...or is that Diwali? In any event, it's the Hindu Festival of Lights, and they were getting geared up for it in both Malaysia and Singapore when we were there. We went to Little India in Singapore, and it was amazing--a kaleidoscope of colors, sights, sounds and smells as people prepared for the holiday. We even stopped at a couple of Hindu temples, which were fascinating. I just wish we could have been there for the actual holiday (which I think starts tomorrow).

Treeful of Monkeys

That would be a good name for a band, dontcha think? That inspiration came to me when we were staying in Langkawi, because just about every afternoon/evening when we were there, monkeys would start to appear in the trees near the pool. It became a nightly ritual to watch the monkeys--mostly macaques, but also dusky leaf monkeys (which were much more shy but noticeable because of their bright white eyes and lips). While driving around the island, we would sometimes see groups of them sitting by the side of the road, and when we went to visit a nearby waterfall, we were close enough to reach out and touch a bunch of them (which would not have been advisable, by the way--they're cute little buggers and eerily human-like, but they've got some big, sharp teeth). While they generally kept their distance, when we checked into our hotel they told us to be sure to always keep the door to our balcony latched because otherwise monkeys would come in and steal from our minibar. Sure enough, one night we were out on our balcony and we saw a macaque scurrying along the balconies below us. All of a sudden it vanished, and someone who was watching from a better angle told us that the monkey just pushed someone's door open, ate from their fruit bowl, and raided the minibar. A few minutes later he emerged with a jar of nuts in his hand and proceeded to open the jar and eat the nuts, carefully discarding the shells over the edge of the balcony. Here are some pictures from around the island:

Best part of vacation?

Oh sure, I like the sun, the food, the pampering, etc., but for me the best thing about vacation might be just having time to get engrossed in a book or two. I spent this vacation reading Bangkok 8 by John Burdett, which is a mystery set in (who would have guessed?) Bangkok. A good read, especially while on holiday in Asia. I also read Geoff Dyer's Yoga for People Who Can't Be Bothered to Do It, a sometimes funny and interesting, sometimes banal collection of essays. Toward the end of vacation I started The Da Vinci Code, which I had put off because of all the hype. I'm still not sure what I think of the underlying premise, but it's entertaining if nothing else--good beach reading.

Gretchen also got into the reading spirit. While she would be the first to admit she's not generally much of a reader (especially fiction), if a book engages her she gets really into it. She had good luck in that regard--first she powered through A Special Relationship by Douglas Kennedy, which she didn't know anything about but picked up on a whim one day. Usually I'm the one saying "just let me finish this chapter", but this time around she was the one who wouldn't budge until she got through the part she was reading. Then she read Åsne Seierstad's The Bookseller of Kabul, a nonfiction book about life under the Taliban. I had picked this one up on a whim, and she really seemed to like it so now I'm going to have to find time to read it soon.

Port Vila

We're slowly getting the pictures from our trip downloaded. Here's a sample from Port Vila (which you of course knew is the capital of Vanuatu).

While I never got to go swimming, at least I had a good view of the harbor from my meeting (incidentally, this picture makes Port Vila look far less chaotic than it actually is):


Gretchen took a ferry to a nearby island one day and made a couple of new friends:


One of the most fascinating things we saw was the market, which caters primarily to local people and is open 24 hours--the women working there (and they were all women) sleep, often with their children, on the floor next to their food stalls. It's dimly lit, but you can get a sense of it here:


There were all sorts of exotic tropical fruits and vegetables for sale, as well as these beautiful flowers:

Schnee

After spending two weeks in the tropical sun, what a treat it is to come home and see that tomorrow's forecast includes a chance of schnee (snow). Contrary to stereotypes of pristine Alpine Swiss villages, Basel is at a fairly low elevation and doesn't really get much snow, so this seems a bit unusual. Looking on the bright side, hopefully it means the mountains are due for lots of snow so we can have a good ski season...

???

One of my favorite things about traveling to former British colonies is trying to figure out what the hell cricket is all about. I mean, I realise baseball may be a bit confusing to some, but I find it hard to believe it could be any more confusing than cricket. This is a short example from the Malaysia New Straits Times--I swear I'm not making up a word of this:

Pakistan win by six wickets
KARACHI (Pakistan): Shoaib Malik clobbered 22 runs off five balls to raise his half century and lead Pakistan to a series-leveling six-wicket victory over Sri Lanka on the last day of the Second cricket Test here yesterday.

Pakistan had an early scare yesterday in their 137-run chase off a minimum 50 overs when paceman Chaminda Vaas (2-45) and left-arm spinner Rangana Herath (2-63) had reduced the home team to 65 for four by tea.

Malik (53 off 60 balls) and Abdul Razzaq (35 not out) then combined in a match-winning 82-run partnership in the last session which denied the tourists their hat-trick of series wins on Pakistan soil.

Sri Lanka won the First Test in last week by 201 runs.

Malik hoisted Herath for 4, 4, 6, 4, 4 which proved the last over as Pakistan ended at 139 for four with 13 overs to spare.

Vaas could have dismissed both batsmen but Malik survived a confident lbw shout when he was on 4, while Razzaq was dropped on one by a diving Kumar Sangakkara behind the wickets.

Vaas had earlier defied Pakistan with an unbeaten 32 in a rear-guard innings that took Sri Lanka to 406 in their second innings--an overall lead of 136 runs.

In doing so, he completed a career milestone, reaching his 2,000 test runs--without a century in 82 Test matches--with a cover boundary off Kaneria.

Pakistan, who made 478 in reply to Sri Lanka's first innings of 208, were off to a good start in the case when openers Imran Farhat (19) and Yasir Hameed (15) put on 31 runs.

But the hosts lost four wickets for 26 runs as Vaas had Farhat caught in the slips and captain Marvan Atapattu plucked a splendid catch to dismiss Younis Kahn.

We're home

After 2+ weeks of travel, we arrived home in Basel early this morning. We are shocked by the change in the weather! After spending a couple weeks in a variety of tropical climates, with temperatures primarily in the 80s and 90s, we've returned to temperatures in the 30s and 40s with a chance of snow! I had very chilly toes when I got off the plane this morning in Zurich as I was still wearing sandals. We had lots of great experiences over the past couple weeks and I'm sure we'll have more to share in the coming days (including some pictures). Grady is back home with us now, Kirk is already back to the office, and I have lots of laundry to get to. Although I was so sad for vacation to end (and especially to leave the Datai in Langkawi), it feels good to be home.

Another lousy day in paradise...

We're here in Langkawi, Malaysia, and I have to say it's pretty blissful, especially given the rough summer we had and not taking any real holidays (or "vacation" as you might call it back in the States) other than work-related trips since moving to Basel. Much more later, but suffice it to say we're eating lots of yummy food (especially Thai--we're right on the border, although on an island so the unrest in Southern Thailand isn't an issue here, knock on wood), swimming, walking through the rain forest, and seeing lots of cool monkeys. The only strange thing is that the election is tomorrow and while we have BBC, I'm not sure when we'll find out who will win (although we just found out the Packers beat the Redskins, which is supposed to bode well for Kerry). Anyway, we'll post impressions when we get back, but if it wasn't so far away we'd say everyone should come here!