Blogosphere

For fans of the Daily Show (and how can you not be?), here's Jon Stewart on blogging.

The wet spot

Don't you love it when you track snow into the house and forget to take your shoes off right away so you leave a trail of it on the floor that promptly forms small pools of water? And then don't you love it when you forget about it and step in these little pools of water and get your socks wet? And then don't you love it when your wife doesn't know that there's still a little water on the floor (because you naively assumed your socks had soaked it all up) and she's wearing flat-soled shoes so when she brings the dinner salads in from the kitchen she slips and falls and the salads go flying? Yeah, me too.

Brats

One of the things I love about skiing in Switzerland is that I can always find a good brat (as in bratwurst) and some pommes frites for lunch. Brats are right up there with cheese curds as one of my favorite Wisconsin foods, and there's nothing better than the smell of sausages cooking on the grill, especially after a morning of skiing. Yesterday I took a break from the brats, however, and had an awesome Chäs Spätzli dish. In very simplistic terms, you could say it's like a fancy Swiss version of mac and cheese. I've eaten Spätzli many times, and it's delicious as a side dish (especially in the Alsace with Coq au Riesling ), but I now know it's even better when baked with some really good cheese and served steaming hot at the Skihütte Groubenalp in Davos.

From Davos to Tokyo

My ski weekend in Davos was wonderful, except for the incredibly cold temperatures! Of course it would've been perfect had my husband been with me... but I managed to have fun skiing on my own (and with a couple friends for part of the time). I've always been more of a morning person than a night owl, and apparently this holds true for skiing as well. Both mornings I was the first person at the hotel to eat breakfast and I was on the first train going up the mountain at 8:15 am. It is such a thrill to be among the first to ski down the freshly groomed trails! On Sunday morning I felt like I was skiing "off piste" (as they call it here) because I was making new tracks in a few inches of untouched, fresh snow that had fallen overnight. Wow, it was beautiful (despite feeling like my nose had frozen solid after the first 15 minutes). Skiing in the Alps is really like a dream come true for me.

Now we're off to Japan and I am so excited to finally be going there. As Kirk mentioned, twice in recent years I had to cancel work trips to Japan at the very last minute-- in 2002 because it was right after my Dad died and I had just spent several weeks in Wisconsin, and in 2003 because of new work responsibilities that were keeping me busy (which turned out to be a good thing because that was about the same time that we were making a decision about our potential move to Basel and we had already had plenty on our minds).

I think it's time that I start packing. It's interesting how much easier it's gotten for me to pack for trips. As Kirk can attest to, back in our DC days, I used to start putting out clothes for upcoming trips almost a week in advance. Compare this to when we went to London/Dublin a couple weeks ago. I had to leave the house at 10:30 am that day and I was packing at 10:00. I still have a lot of work to do, however, on reducing the size of my suitcase. I am so envious of people who can just take carry on for every trip, even if it's 10 days in Japan. (Kirk, you weren't thinking we would do that for this trip, were you??)

Mein Skihäschen

(I think that translates as "my ski bunny".) While I was spending the weekend at work, cleaning Grady's barf and walking him in the snow, etc. (woe is me), this is what Gretchen was doing:

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

We're havin' us a good ol' fashioned snowstorm today, which isn't all that common--it actually seems to snow more often than in DC, but usually it's very light and melts within a day or two. Since I'm working at the office this afternoon, hopefully our landlord isn't worried that I'm not home to "put the snow away", and hopefully Gretchen doesn't have trouble getting home from Davos (where she said the temperature was -27 celsius, or -16 fahrenheit, on the mountain this morning).

Turning Japanese

With all that's been going on I almost forgot we leave for Tokyo on Tuesday. I have to work but have planned to squeeze in a couple of days for a side trip to Kyoto. We were able to cash in some United miles (I need to use them before United goes belly-up) so Gretchen can come along. That's especially nice because she was supposed to have her own work trips to Japan for two years in a row and had to cancel both times, once because her dad was seriously ill and once because of other work commitments. I have a feeling it will be some time before we complain again about not having good Asian food...

Baseldytsch

Even German speakers will typically admit that German is a pretty difficult language to learn (Gretchen would agree--so would I, but since I'm not even trying that hard I'm really not in a position to complain, although if I scan a news article I can usually figure out roughly what it's about). It only makes it that much more difficult that the local dialect, Baseldytsch (basically the Basel version of Swiss German), bears only passing resemblance to high German. This probably won't mean anything to you unless you've studied German, but here's a passage from a flier that was handed out during one of the Fasnacht parades (part of Fasnacht involves reciting satirical poems that can evidently be quite clever if you understand the language--this is known as Schnitzelbängg, which wouldn't be a bad name for a band now that I think about it). Anyway, see if you have even the slightest clue what this is about:

Kulturschogg: Speue isch jetz Kult,
bim Sport, bim Strytte -- ei Tumult!
Jä überaal, wo d aane gohsch,
bis zu de Kneu in Gspeutem stohsch.

D Mamme stoot näb ihrem Sohn
und dää speut -- isch das nit e Hohn
uffs Trottoirräandli aabe...
schlyymig laufts in Stroosegraabe.

Überaal hets Gspeuts no dra, Gspeuts no dra, Gspeuts no dra!
Überaal hets Gspeuts no dra, Gspeuts no dra, Gspeuts no dra!

Zur Dramstation dr Babbe lauft,
är het sich non e Gipfel kauft.
Uffs Bänggli het är welle sitze,
doch s gläbbt scho Gspeuts in alle Ritze.

D Regierig froggt: was ka me mache?
und speut no schnäll e glaini Lache:
Die hüttig Jugend -- s isch nümm schöön,
das sinn doch alles nur no Glöön!

More Onion

In a week in which we learned that Iran is evidently not Iraq and that freedom fries are no more, here's one last little snippet from my Onion calendar before hitting the sack:

U.S. To Arab World: 'Stop Hating Us Or Suffer The Consequences'

WASHINGTON, DC - In a strongly worded ultimatum Tuesday, President Bush warned the Arab world to "stop hating the United States or suffer the consequences." "You have exactly 10 days to put aside your deep-rooted resentment and rage toward America and learn to like us," said Bush in a message broadcast live to 17 nations via Al-Jazeera. "If you fail to comply, prepare to have the full might of the U.S. military brought down upon you." Bush also threatened to carpet-bomb any Arab region whose populace continues to be angry about America's longtime campaign against Iraq and the decade-long U.S. sanctions that have led to the malnutrition deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqi children.

A little more color

(Or should I say "colour" since I now spell most things in the British way?)

Anyway, here's a pretty bad self-portrait of us (me, Gretchen, and my double chin) having a pint of Guinness (which really does taste better in Ireland) at a fun pub in Dublin:

A little color

Gretchen was complaining that we haven't posted pictures in a while, so here are a bunch to spice things up. First, some scenes from the Fasnacht Morgestraich at 4:00am:



Here are a couple of big Fasnacht lanterns:



Here are some scenes from the parades and processions during Fasnacht:

Expressions

There are some words that could only be German, my personal favorite being Schadenfreude (joy in the misfortune of others). Obviously the folks at The Onion agree, because my calendar had this entry the other day:

What Are We Feeling That Would Be Better Expressed In German?

1. Dread of something inevitable yet benign
Fuerchtenünabwendbarfreundlich

2. The wish to see all suffer for the crimes of one
Schadenallemeinverbrechten

3. Laughter at something one knows in one's soul is not funny
Lachenaüfkomischsnichtspaßheit

4. Shame over eating the last piece of Black Forest cherry cake
Schwarzschamekirschkuchenessen

Mysteries of life

Why is at that if I puke I never again in my life want to eat or even see whatever I ate that day, and yet when Grady pukes he can't wait three minutes without trying to eat what he just hurled?

(Not that this happened tonight or anything, nosiree...)

Rules of the game

One of the things that expats here seem to have the most difficult time dealing with is the plethora of rules, written and unwritten, that govern life here. As much as we joke about the sometimes anal rules of Swiss life, the reality is we're pretty lucky--our landlords don't care if we vacuum or do laundry on Sundays, for example, and the neighbors we've met have all been pretty nice. Many of my colleagues, however, have stories of neighbors calling the police because they closed doors too loudly or cooked food that smelled funny, asking them to turn their lights off after 11:00pm because they're too bright, and perhaps worst of all, slipping fliers under the door asking them not to pee standing up. (Needless to say, adjustment to life can be especially difficult for folks from places like Italy and Spain that are, shall we say, a little less orderly.) That's a long way of saying that we both got a laugh out of this post from ms. mac (especially the note), since we have friends who have been in the same situation...

Complete chaos

I'm guessing that this is a good way to describe the streets of Washington, DC right now. I see that the city is under a winter storm warning with the threat of-- brace yourself-- 4 to 8 inches! We lived through enough "winter storms" in Washington to know that sending the federal government home 2 hours early is a sure way to produce complete chaos on every road in the metropolitan area (this is because just about every other company and/or organization in the city follows the federal government leave policy). Having grown up in a northern, snowy state like Wisconsin I always had a good laugh at how panicked people in DC get at even the slightest mention of snow. I'm sure by now all the grocery stores are out of toilet paper, milk, and bread. So tell me, those of you in DC, are you home on a snow day?

Good to be home

I'll be the first to admit that sometimes the traveling part of my job can be cool, like having a meeting in London last week that also allowed us to hop up to Dublin for the weekend. But for every fun trip like that, there's...a week in Frankfurt. I don't really have anything against Frankfurt, but it reminds me a little bit of Atlanta--it's big and important and probably a nice place to live, but it's also unattractive, lacks character and is pretty boring to visit. (In fairness to Frankfurt, it was more or less destroyed during WWII, and on top of that it's populated by bankers.) So it's great to be home, even if I have to work this weekend and so can't go with Gretchen to Davos for a ski weekend...

Spelling

Does anyone else have a word that they can never remember how to spell no matter how many times you write it in your life? Mine is "occasion" and all variations such as occasionally, occasional, etc. I always have to use spell check whenever I write it and I find that really frustrating! Why can't I remember how to spell it?

My boyfriend's back

Kirk is on his way back from Frankfurt so my crazy days as a single girl in Basel will soon be over. Don't be concerned, that was a total exaggeration. Frankly, my days aren't much different from when he's in town, except that I don't really cook dinner while he's gone. That's kind of a treat. And I may watch the occasional chick flick while he's gone. I watched a good one last night-- How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days. Kirk's reaction was "That's such a stupid movie". I agree, but I thought it was entertaining and cute even though it was totally predictable. Anyway, it'll be good to see him for at least one night before we spend a weekend apart. I'm going to Davos to go skiing tomorrow with our ski club, and he's staying home to get caught up on work and stuff and to do some relaxing after two weeks of travel (before another 2 weeks of travel). I'm sad that he's not going with me, but the good thing is that since I don't have to wait for him to get off work I can leave first thing in the morning and be skiing by the afternoon!

A fondue burger?

McDonald's latest promotion in Switzerland DOES NOT look appetizing. I wish I was able to figure out how to cut and paste their ad so you could see for yourself how disgusting it looks, but I'm not good at all the fancy blogging techniques and Kirk is still out of town. If you really want to see it, you can go to the McDonald's website for Switzerland. I can't even direct you to that because something weird happened to our tool bar and I can't figure out how to fix it! Kirk-- please come home!! Anyway, back to the burgers. During the months of February and March, they are promoting 3 special cheeseburgers, including the "Fondue Extra" and the "Rösti Special". I can't quite figure it out from the picture in the ad, but does that mean the Fondue Extra is topped with fondue cheese? I have to say that would be gross. Cheese fondue is delicious, but it should stay in the fondue pot. Rösti, as some of you may know, is a yummy Swiss dish that basically consists of fried, shredded potatoes (somewhat like hash browns). They're often topped with cheese and bacon pieces (yum), or a fried egg (yuck). It looks to me that the Rösti Special is a burger topped with a hash brown and some cheese. I think I'd have to pass on that one too. Have any of you Swiss readers (or should I say readers in Switzerland) tried one of these?

"Popped his clogs"

This is my new favorite British expression. I first heard it this afternoon during a conversation with a couple women I was volunteering with at Centrepoint. After I heard it, I had to ask: "What did he do?" and the response was "You know, pushing up daisies... he died". So that's what it means.

Grossness

So here I am in lovely Frankfurt for more meetings. Getting to work entails a short walk through Frankfurt's red light district, which is probably perfectly safe or they wouldn't have put us up in this hotel, but it's still pretty seedy. Anyway, yesterday I got to my meeting and I was settling in I noticed a band-aid stuck to the bottom of my shoe. Maybe it's just me, but there's something distinctly unpleasant about finding a band-aid from the Frankfurt red light district on your person. Fortunately I was able to use my other shoe to scrape it off without having to make physical contact, but still...

Only in DC

The DC public schools have always had more than their share of problems, but I think this story takes the cake. Can you imagine going to school with the smell of cat urine all day?

Poor Grady

The only downside of all the travel we're doing while living in Basel is that it means Grady has to spend a lot of time at his kennel in Mumpf. I feel like he's generally happy there, or at least he puts on a good act every time I drop him off to make me think so, but still, it can't be as nice as sleeping on the couch in a heated apartment in Basel. Yesterday when I picked him up I gave the woman at the kennel all the dates I know of in March and April that Grady will need to be staying with them. It seemed like a lot, so out of curiosity I just counted the days and it turns out he will be there 31 of the 61 days in March and April! I guess that's enough to make it his second home. The only problem with his kennel stays is that lately he's been coming home with a bloody tail. It sounds worse than it is-- it's just a sore on the very tip of his tail-- but regardless, it can be a real mess to clean up in our house. The kennel people have told me that he's always wagging his tail so they've tried to solve the problem by putting a towel or something on the wall of his kennel (I think that's what I understood them to say-- I try to speak to them only in German which means we don't always have clear communication). Nonetheless, I noticed blood in our house again today. So now he's wearing a bandage around the tip of his tail, and I think I'll have to send a few along with him when he goes back to Mumpf on Monday.

The next book

Last night at book club we discussed The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I know I've mentioned before how much I enjoyed it. I was definitely not alone. Everyone in our book club gave it a big two thumbs up. Unfortunately we did not have our discussion over a fondue dinner as planned because the sports club restaurant is no longer serving it (it's a seasonal thing for them). Next in line for book club: The Professor and the Madman which is about the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. I've never heard of it and don't know what to expect...

Can't forget about London

I've already mentioned that we had a great weekend in Dublin, but I can't forget to mention a few things about London as well. Kirk was there for work, but I was able to enjoy a few days of my very spoiled life-as-an-unemployed-spouse life. That means I get to travel with Kirk and spend my days exploring different cities while he has meetings about various things that I don't understand. I used to dream about this back when we were living in DC and I had to go to work every day! Somedays I still have to pinch myself to remember that it's for real. Anyway, I really like London and it's always good to have a few days in an English-speaking country where I don't have to think about anything in German. While Kirk was working, I did some shopping (books, maps, CDs, DVDs), went to see Stomp, (which I've been wanting to see for a long time and it definitely lived up to my expectations), and spent a bunch of time with my old friend Kelly who used to live in DC but now lives in London. Kirk and I also went out for an excellent dinner at Nahm, a fairly nontraditional, but delicious Thai restaurant. One of my favorite things about London is the charming accents and their clever way of saying things (I'm still trying to decide which accent is more charming-- British or Irish...). I definitely prefer the British expression "Way Out" to our boring "Exit", and a my new favorite British phrase as of this weekend is "Alight", as in "Alight here for Westminster Abbey" as the pleasant voice on the Underground might say.

Chips/crisps

Following our recent travels to London and Dublin I've decided I should start a regular feature on the blog about the strange flavors of chips you can find around the world. By chips, I mean potato chips, or crisps as they're called many places (I guess those are the same places that mean "french fries" when they say "chips"). At home, we have flavors like BBQ, Sour Cream and Onion, Salt and Vinegar, and I think that's about it. Living in Basel I've gotten used to seeing Paprika, Ketchup, and Chicken flavored chips. I've never tried Chicken but I think it sounds disgusting. I haven't tried Ketchup either, but I remember dipping chips into ketchup when I was a kid, so they might be OK. In Dublin I saw two of the strangest flavors I could ever imagine for chips: Buffalo, and Flame Grilled Steak. I asked the woman who was working at the convenience store where I spotted them what Buffalo was like (there was literally a picture of a Buffalo on the bag). She said to me (in a very beautiful Irish accent and a big smile): "Oh, I think they're just gorgeous". That didn't exacty answer my question about what they tasted like, but it was good enough for me.

Mending fences

There's been lots of talk this week on the news and in the papers about "mending fences" as President Bush starts his European visit. (As I'm writing this I have CNN on and can hear him making a speech in Brussels.) Kirk may get to experience a bit of this fence-mending up close and personal as he's now on his way to Frankfurt for meetings this week. (Not with the President, I might add...) Supposedly the small town of Mainz, which is just outside of Frankfurt, is making security preparations for his visit (Bush's visit, not Kirk's) unlike never before. Hopefully, Kirk will be able to steer clear of all the expected protests (although perhaps he'd rather join in?).

A new favorite

We're back from our weekend in Dublin (preceeded by a few days in London) and I think we've found a new favorite city to visit. We both give Dublin a big thumbs up! How could we describe it... a city with lots of energy, yet a laid-back atmosphere, filled with friendly people with charming accents. We also enjoyed the famous Guinness. I'm not sure if I've ever actually had one before because it always scared me a bit (it's so dark-- and remember I grew up in a state where Miller Lite is the beer of choice!), but I'll admit that it tasted good. What I really liked about it, though, was how the bartender has to take a break halfway through pouring it so that it can settle into the class. I may have enjoyed watching it settle into the glass more than drinking it! Contrary to the old image of Irish food being nothing more than corned beef and cabbage, there is clearly a wide variety of good restaurants in Dublin. Eating highlights included some good Lebanese food at the Cedar Tree, a delicious fish dinner at The Mermaid Cafe (I had the monkfish and pumpkin risotto special), and a yummy lunch at a place called Gruel (sounds appetizing, doesn't it?) We also appreciated the recently enacted smoking ban in bars and restaurants. I'm sure there are many in Ireland who aren't so pleased with the new law, but it certainly made our drinking and eating more enjoyable!

I love this place

There are so many things I love about London--the energy, the diversity, the charming accents--but sometimes it's the little things that make it so fun, like the names of things. For example, to get back to our hotel last night after a yummy Thai dinner, we had to take the Picadilly line in the direction of Cockfosters and transfer to the Bakerloo line in the direction of Elephant & Castle. That would sound absurd back home, but it works here...

I'm all Fasnacht'd out

It's a good thing we're leaving London today because I'm not sure I could handle another day of Fasnacht. (The celebration continues today and wraps up at 4:00 am Thursday morning) The verdict is in, however, and I give it the big thumbs up! Yesterday was a day full of an atmosphere I'd never experienced before in Switzerland-- one could almost call it Gemutlichkeit. It was "kids day", and the streets of downtown were filled with kids in costumes throwing confetti everywhere. By last night when Kirk and I went back downtown to listen to the bands and see the display of lanterns the confetti was almost an inch thick on some of the streets! We'll be sure to post pictures of our Fasnacht experience next week when we return from London. Until then...

The condo

It's now been about six months since Hurricane Ivan tore through the Gulf Coast of Florida and Alabama. You may remember that my parents had owned a condo in beautiful Perdido Key, Florida that suffered extensive damage in the hurricane. With both of my parents now gone, I guess this condo could now be considered "ours" (mine and my sister's), although fortunately for me my sister has been dealing with all the reconstruction and insurance matters. We were very fortunate that the building itself was still standing post-Ivan, but we were not so fortunate when it came to interior damage. We own a ground floor unit so it suffered serious wind and water damage. My sister and her husband went down there last fall to clear out the furniture (which all had to be thrown out because of mold, etc) and to salvage any personal items (which were few because my parents used it as a rental property for much of the year so they left very few personal things behind). The unit had to be gutted and hopefully the contractors will soon start work to rebuild the interior, after which we will need to redecorate and refurnish. As you can see from the recent attached photo they're also working on clearing the pool of sand. It's clear that the hurricane recovery will be a long process throughout the area. We've been told it could be up to a year from now before our condo will be ready. We're trying to be optimistic that it won't be quite that long! My understanding is that much of Perdido Key has just recently had water and sewer service restored, and that phone service is still spotty. According to the Perdido Key Chamber of Commerce website, "there is no longer a curfew for for the Perdido Key area". Keeping it all in perspective, we realize this is just a vacation home and that so many people have suffered much greater losses from the storms last fall.

Life lessons

One of the things that was funny to see at yesterday's Fasnacht parade was how sometimes the guys on the floats (see pictures) would lure kids over with a handful of candy, and when the kids got close enough, all of a sudden they would dump confetti all over them with the other hand instead. That's the story of life, isn't it? Since this is also a place where children grow up thinking they may be hauled off to the Black Forest in a sack at Christmas by a guy named Schmutzli, it seems to me that Swiss kids are probably instilled with a baseline level of Angst at an early age. What better preparation for adulthood?

Confetti, chocolate, a flower, and a carrot

I came home from the Fasnacht parade with these things in my pockets. Actually, the confetti wasn't just in my pockets, but also in my hair, in the hood of my jacket, on my shoes, and inside my turtleneck sweater. Unlike the 4th of July parades at home where they generally throw no more than candy, I was very amused at the things they hand out (or throw at you) on the parade route here in Basel. Oranges seem to be the most popular thing to throw, followed by candy, flowers, small toys/stuffed animals, and bananas. I also saw a few other random fruits including a coconut and a kiwi. And, as I mentioned, I got a carrot. I've never been a big fan of masks and costumes (I don't particularly like Halloween or clowns), but I love the Fasnacht costumes I've seen. They are so elaborate and beautiful. Too bad our camera wasn't working this afternoon!

Beirut

Having visited Beirut last fall and seeing how the city is trying to rebuild itself, and having a good friend who grew up there and whose family still lives there, it was quite disturbing to hear about today's bombing. (When I was there I had dinner one night at the Phoenicia-Intercontinental, which is evidently right where the blast was.)

Doh!

There's nothing like getting to the Fasnacht parade to see all the craziness, turning your camera on, and having it say "Recharge Battery Pack". (Speaking of craziness, when I left the parade to walk back to my office it was sunny. Ten minutes later it's snowing so hard I can hardly see out my window. Weird.)

No valentine for you

Since it's pretty much a Hallmark holiday, neither of us have ever been big on Valentine's Day (no, really--it's not just a guy thing for us!). It's certainly easy to be a curmudgeon about it here because other than a few florists, Basel is all about Fasnacht this week. You could walk around downtown and really not notice any big red hearts, Valentine cards, heart-shaped balloons, etc. I'm sure they're there somewhere, but you'd be so busy looking at all the funny masks that you'd be hard-pressed to notice anything else.

Phase two

Now that I'm up from a nice nap I'm starting to feel human again and am ready for the next Fasnacht event. (Please note that despite getting only 4 hours of sleep last night Kirk was still in the office by 8:00 am as usual!) I plan to meet Kirk dowtown this afternoon for one of the big parades which starts at 1:30. Considering how much I enjoyed Morgenstreich this morning I am very excited about more costumes, more parades, more music-- and today it will be in the daylight!

Morning came early

I was questioning our sanity when the alarm went off at 2:40 (!) this snowy morning, but WOW. We could tell Morgestraich (as the Monday morning event is known) was going to be interesting when we got on the tram at around 3:00am and it was completely packed with people, most of whom were wearing funny costumes and carrying masks and/or drums. (We live near the start of the tram line, so even on the busiest of days the tram is no more than 10% full by the time it gets to our stop.) Within a few stops there was absolutely no more room on the tram. AT 3:00 IN THE FREAKIN' MORNING! When we got off the tram downtown, it was absolutely bustling with people in garish costumes--the busiest I've ever seen downtown Basel. And did I mention that this was at 3:00 in the morning?

Anyway, our friends Chris and Suzanne live in an apartment along one of the main areas for Morgestraich, so we got to their place around 3:45 (and boy, was everyone happy to see us since we brought our coffee maker). At this point there were thousands of people milling about the streets of Basel with no sense of what was to come. Then, promptly at 4:00am, all of the lights downtown went out. As if on cue, a deafening blast of fife-and-drum music arose from the streets. This continued for the next couple of hours as fife-and-drum cliques (as they're known) marched randomly through the narrow old streets of the old city. The only light was provided by giant painted lanterns that were hauled along, and by smaller lanterns that were either carried or worn on top of peoples' masks. We dedided to walk through the crowds on our way back to the tram, and at times it was breathtaking to be standing on a dark street amidst the cacophony of music and see nothing but colorfully painted lanterns in all directions. Definitely a big thumbs-up, even if it meant getting out of bed at the crack of dawn. And we'll post a few pictures later...

Morning comes early

Tomorrow is the beginning of the three-day celebration of Fasnacht in Basel, which for some reason begins at the ungodly hour of 4:00am Monday morning. It's evidently quite a spectacle and this may be our only chance to see it. We're lucky enough to have friends who live along the route, and we plan to be at their place (with our coffee maker) by 4:00, which may entail getting on a tram around 3:00am. (!) So even though it's only 8:15pm now, I'm already starting to think about bed time...

Movie day

Today was kind of cold and rainy and dreary so it ended up being a good day for movies. First we watched Lost in Translation at home. We saw it in the theatre back home and loved it, but wanted to watch it again because we're going to Tokyo next month. Loved it the second time as well. (For me, I think what clinched it was Bill Murray singing a karaoke version of Roxy Music's "More Than This", which is one of the great romantic-yet-melancholy songs of all time.) (Interestingly, my two Japanese colleagues were divided on this film--one liked it, but the other didn't like that the film--or rather, the characters in the film--didn't make any attempt to actually understand the local culture.)

Then this afternoon we went downtown and saw Sideways at one of the local theatres. We both really enjoyed it (and all the Southern California scenery made me homesick!).

As an aside, in some ways seeing a movie here can be a very different experience from back home. For starters, your seat is assigned. On the one hand, you don't have to get there early to find a good seat (indeed, everyone seems to pour in two minutes before it starts). On the other hand, they'll seat everyone together no matter how full the theatre. So when we went to see The Incredibles (or as it was called here, Die Unglaublichen), the theatre was only about a quarter full, but everyone was clustered together in the middle of the theatre. We decided to be rebellious and sit off to the side by ourselves because we had a talker next to us, and we definitely threw off the whole symmetry of the audience. Anyway, they also take intermissions during movies (although thankfully the theatre where we saw Sideways this afternoon is evidently the one exception in town). All of a sudden the film will stop, sometimes in mid-scene, and everyone will pour out and have a cigarette. And despite what seems like even more advertisements before the movie than back home, the cost seems higher--our tickets were 17 francs each, or $14 per person.

Toby

This is Grady's new friend Toby from across the street:

Yum

Our first fondue was a success! As you can see from the picture, we emptied the bowl. One thing I've learned from the process of researching how to make fondue is that everyone has a bit of advice or their own personal touch that they like to share. Things like: "Always stir the cheese in a figure eight pattern as it melts" (rather than in a circular motion), "Always cut the bread so that each piece has some crust", "In addition to dipping bread I like to dip boiled potatoes, apples, and pears", "If the fondue starts to separate, turn up the heat, add more corn starch and whisk briskly", "Never drink water with fondue--instead drink white wine (preferably a Swiss Fendant) or black tea"[note from Kirk--this is a critical piece of advice, as the combination of water and melted cheese can result in, umm...gastrointestinal distress], "Use the same Fendant in the fondue as you plan to drink during the meal", etc. Believe me, all tips came in handy and I followed them all. [Another note from Kirk--we also didn't follow the advice of first dipping each piece of bread in Kirsch, which is a quite strong cherry brandy, or Schnapps as they call it here (unlike our relatively sweet Schnapps back home, this stuff will put hair on your chest in a hurry).] The best advice I got was to buy the Hausmischung (house mix) of cheese at the Milchhüsli Allschwil (thanks, Chris!) It was delicious. If you'd like to try it at home, here are a couple of recipes that I found helpful.

Bloggers beware

Do you have a blog AND a job? If so, you may find this article in today's Washington Post interesting. Good thing I have no employer so I don't have to be concerned about what I say about anyone!

Grady and Toby

Finally, almost a year after moving to Basel, Grady has a friend to play with! He's spent months sniffing Toby through a fence as we walk by Toby's yard, but this morning was the first time they were both off leash in our yard together. Toby is a 9-month old, 120 lb., yet-to-be-fixed Greater Swiss Mountain Dog (Schweizer Sennenhund in German) who belongs to our neighbors across the street-- a Scottish woman and a Swiss man and their little boy. They had a great time together, but Grady was primarily interested in the dog cookies in Irene's pocket. He's all about the food, as are most labs. I know that Grady has really missed playing with his Arlington friends Porter and Shelby and Spot, so I'm very happy about his new Swiss friend!

Does anybody really care...

...about Charles and Camilla? I was feeling annoyed that it was a top story all day on CNN International, but I figured that's probably because they're based in London. But now I see it is a top story on the Washington Post, too! I've just never been a big fan of the whole royal family hoopla and I really don't care. I do like London, however, and am looking forward to traveling there next week.

I'm making fondue!!

I'm excited that Saturday night I will be making my first official Swiss fondue. Kirk got me a really cool fondue pot for Christmas that I haven't used yet, and then I got another one from friends for my birthday, so I am all set. We've invited friends over for fondue on Saturday night and now I just need to make my shopping list. Any of you fondue experts out there, please feel free to offer advice.

Meat

One of the hardest things for me about living in another country is trying to figure out the different cuts of meat in another language. I would give anything to have someone walk me through a meat section of a grocery store, or better yet a butcher shop, and tell me the American equivelant of all the meat. I tried to buy sirloin today (following a recipe for an Asian noodle stir-fry dish) and the English-speaking butcher man at the store told me he had never heard of that cut. (!) As he tried to figure out what I needed, he asked how I was planning to cook it. I explained I would be making a stir-fry and that I would be cooking it in small pieces. He looked confused, and said "But how long will you be cooking it for?" I went on to explain that I would be making it in a wok so it would be cooked very quickly and then I think I used some sort of strange hand motions to demonstrate what I meant by "stir-fry". Finally he got it. "Oh, you will make China food!" Yes, I guess you could say that. He suggested something called Rindshuft, and sort of pointed to his butt, which I guess means that's the part of the cow that the Rindshuft comes from. I'm sure that years from now, after we've returned to the US from our Swiss adventure, these are the kind of experiences I will miss. Or maybe I will just be really happy to go back to shopping at Harris Teeter.

Go to hell, Carolina!

It's probably for the best that I couldn't watch the game because it was a nail-biter and I probably would have ended up with an ulcer, but Duke held on to beat the dreaded Tar Heels last night. Finding that out this morning was a nice way to start the day...

Paris, again?

As I've probably mentioned before, we have very few options for English-speaking TV here. Unlike most of expats in Basel, we don't even have BBC! I do like to be entertained by the TV sometimes, which is why I've started to watch some of my favorite shows (eg. Sex and the City) on DVD. Other than CNN, my only other option seems to be MTV (plus Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien on CNBC every Saturday and Sunday night). Every day at 5:30 I like to watch old episodes of Real World. I know it's pathetic, but I like it! So here's the disappointing thing. After showing the final episode of Real World: Paris on Friday, it now appears that they're showing the entire season again! I would think that there are enough seasons that they could find a different one to air now. Speaking of bad TV, I discovered one night last week that one of the German channels shows The OC-- dubbed in German, of course, but I watched it nonetheless!

Ballsy move

As much as I like to think I'm a sports fan, I certainly have my limits. So, for example, I'll be really happy if Duke beats North Carolina this week, but I certainly won't go this far to celebrate...

Speaking of cowboys

To follow up Gretchen's post, When we were in Sörenberg this weekend I was getting a cup of coffee at one of the lodges and on the radio in the background was a German version of Dwight Yoakam's "Guitars, Cadillacs." Well, it was actually sung in English but it was heavily accented--imagine Arnold Schwarzenegger singing Dwight Yoakam. (If no one else appreciates that, Ganis will...)

I have to clean?

I've discovered that it's very easy to become very lazy about cleaning once you've hired a cleaning lady. Of course, we (or should I say Kirk) originally hired Henriette to iron Kirk's shirts last summer while I was gone, but now we've really gotten used to her coming to the house every Tuesday morning for a few hours and I can't imagine having to do all the cleaning by myself. It occurred to me yesterday, however, that there are still some things I need to do around the house, like getting rid of all the cobwebs that have formed in the ceiling corners. (Let me just add here that I think Kirk would agree that such a thing would never occur to him. Good thing I'm in charge of managing the household.) So after using the vacuum to suck up the cobwebs, I decided I'd also vacuum up all the Grady furballs that had formed under the couch. You can imagine my surprise when I also found a sock that I believe belongs to my nephew Bennett! The reality of being a hausfrau really struck me this morning when Henriette called to say she has the "Grippe" (the flu). I suppose I could be lazy and wait for her to come back next Tuesday, but I don't think I can look at the piles of Grady hair on our floor for another day. Looks like I'll be doing some vacuuming tonight. See, life in Switzerland isn't ALWAYS glamorous...

I want to be a cowboy

Every week we get free magazines mailed to us from the two major grocery store chains in Basel (Migros and Coop). I like reading them not only to find out what's on sale that week, but also because I figure it's almost like extra credit German homework if I try to read German newspapers and magazines. In today's Migros magazine, there's an article about a Swiss girl who's trying to make it as a country music singer. The best part of the article is a section about the "Country Lifestyle", where it lists Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Garth Brooks, and Shania Twain (who happens to own a house in Switzerland) as the most important representatives of country music. It lists others who are also considered popular, but not by the true country "purists", as Emmylou Harris, LeAnn Rimes, and the Dixie Chicks (who are pointed out as having made a name for themselves in Europe for being anti-Bush). Even better is the list of favorite foods of the country music "community": spare ribs, chicken wings, and hamburgers. They suggest you wash down your favorite country foods with either Cabernet Sauvignon "aus Kalifnornien" or "Miller's Beer". Didn't you know it's all about California wine and Wisconsin beer?

"Fahrschein, bitte"

I ran into the undercover ticket checkers yesterday on the tram. As you would expect in Switzerland, the trams in Basel operate on the honor system. It is assumed that you will buy a ticket before riding a tram, but you technically could risk it because chances are there won't be anybody on board who will check it. I've been checked a number of times since living here, which isn't surprising considering how often I ride trams. I always find it to be a rather exciting experience. It always happens just as you leave a stop. All of a sudden a plain-clothed man will stand up and say something loud (which is very unusual for the orderly Swiss). I never have no idea what they say, considering it's in Swiss German, but I generally figure it out and follow the lead of the crowd as they all open up their wallets and show their tickets. I don't know why, but I always get nervous as the ticket checker walks around the tram, even though I carry an annual pass and have no chance of being fined for riding without a ticket. It's probably because it reminds me of my days of living in Vienna during my semester abroad in college. Public transporation was also on the honor system, and so many of my friends frequently rode without paying (as American college students might do...). I was always too paranoid about hearing "Fahrschein, bitte" (that's how they asked for the tickets in Vienna) so I chose to be honest and I always bought a ticket. Must be those good midwestern values.

Some of you might like this...

I just read a funny quote from Mo Rocca in my Travel and Leisure magazine. "If Washington, DC were a pet, it would be overly domesticated, boxy, tightly wound--and terribly jealous of New York dogs".

Preview

Unless we wimp out, this is what we'll be doing next Monday morning at 4:00am as we celebrate our first Basel Fasnacht.

It's all an experiment

I can't tell you how many times I say to Kirk "this is all an experiment" as I set our dinner on the table each night. I'm trying to use some of the free time I have in Basel to improve my cooking skills which I have to say has been really fun (and Kirk is always a really good sport about trying my "experiments"-- and not complaining). So I tried cooking a few of the new recipes from my recent Indian cooking class on Saturday night, and I was generally pretty disappointed. Suffice it to say that I am far from a master Indian chef after having just one lesson (which is no surprise, of course...). I feel like I followed exactly how we did it in class, so I don't know what the problem was. The chicken was actually not too bad, and both the raita and the rice turned out pretty well, but the chick peas were an absolute disaster. I threw them (the chick peas) out after we each tried one bite.

Too much freedom?

When we got home from skiing last night, we had a message from my German class partner saying that she had decided we should cancel our German classes for the week because her 2 sisters surprised her by coming to Basel (from Beirut and Dubai) to celebrate her birthday this week (all was arranged by her husband). How 'bout that for a birthday present?? Anyway, this is the luxury of having private German lessons. We end up cancelling them quite often whenever one of us is traveling, etc. Having no German lessons means I have no commitments all week other than volunteering on Wednesday afternoon. Not that I'm complaining-- this is a good life-- but I do usually like to have a little bit of structure to my day so I don't just lounge around the house all day and watch my Sex and the City DVDs. This morning I plan to sit down and write a list of all the odd jobs I want to do around the house along with the errands I need to run this week. This will include things like go to Media Markt to buy a printer cartridge, return the unused drapery rods to Ikea, pick up Kirk's suit at the dry cleaners in France, vacuum the basement laundry room which is somehow covered in Grady hair, etc. Sound exciting?

That's more like it

After a rough couple of ski outings, I did much better on a day trip to Sörenberg today. For starters, it probably helped that unlike earlier trips, my boots actually fit and I wasn't sick, plus the snow was much better than earlier trips. We didn't ski anything too difficult, and my skiing form is still pretty crappy, but it was just nice to be able to ski for a day without feeling like a total spaz (with one major exception--read on). The big downside of the ski area was that there were no chairlifts--just T-bars, which are tough because on a chairlift your feet and legs get a break, whereas on a T-bar you pretty much don't ever get a rest. Which brings me to the highlight of the day...

After lunch we were taking a long T-bar ride when Gretchen said something to me. I don't remember what she said, but at the time I thought she asked me to move. What happened next is a bit of a blur, but I think either our skis crossed or we bumped into each other--in any event, all of a sudden I lost my grip on the T-bar and went flying off it, and not especially gracefully either. Of course, once I did that it was impossible for Gretchen to hang on, so she went flying off as well. I can't even imagine how funny it must have looked to the people behind us as everything was going along smoothly and all of a sudden for no reason we both went flying off. I think everyone was laughing at us, but at least it was in Swiss German so we couldn't understand a word of the ridicule. (I initially blamed Gretchen for the whole fiasco and she of course blamed me...given my relative clumsiness, though, I can pretty much guess who was really at fault.) There we were sitting off to the side of the T-bar, trying to stay out of everyone else's way and trying to decide whether to walk the rest of the way uphill or cut across a relatively short ungroomed area to one of the trails. Naturally we opted for the latter, and we knew we were in trouble when Gretchen took her first step and promptly had snow up to mid-thigh. As hard as the skiing and T-bars were, nothing was as difficult as trying to walk fifty yards through a couple of feet of snow in ski boots while carrying skis and poles. I'll be feeling that for at least the next few days...

'Tis the season...

...of Fastnacht in Germany (as opposed to Fasnacht in Basel, which is coming up soon, and about which I'm sure we'll have much more to say). I remember when I first moved here last year and I would turn on the TV and some of the German channels would have this bizarre variety show on, which I finally figured out was Carnival, or Fastnacht. Gretchen hadn't arrived yet so I tried to tell her how strange it was, but I don't think I found the right words because now that she's seen it this year, she agrees that it's quite difficult to describe. Imagine, if you can, combining Halloween, the Lawrence Welk Show, Up With People, Sabado Gigante, Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus, the Tonight Show, a cheerleading competition, and a German beer hall. Well, that still doesn't convey how strange it is if you don't know what's going on. And it's HUGE! This time of year there's a different one on TV every night (each city has its own festival, and of course all the big cities evidently think theirs is the best).

Good book

I just started reading a new book-- the one we're reviewing at the next book club meeting. It's the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I'm only 85 pages into it but I already love it and I highly recommend it. The other good thing about the next book club meeting is that we're meeting over a fondue dinner at the Sports Club (which I describe as the very low-key country club for employees of Kirk's office and their families).

Travel tips?

It just occured to us that we have a long weekend over Easter (March 25-29) because Kirk doesn't have to work on Good Friday and Easter Monday (both days are considered holidays in Switzerland and EVERYTHING is closed). Kirk has left it up to me to decide where we should go for the weekend and I'm totally undecided. I guess the problem is that the options are limitless! We could go for a long ski weekend in Switzerland (or perhaps in Austria), or we could choose to travel to one of the many European cities we haven't yet visited (eg. Barcelona, Rome, Copenhagen, Budapest). Who wants to give me some suggestions?

A sunny day!

The sun is out in Basel today! That's reason enough to celebrate. It feels like it's been gray and gloomy forever. Even though it's still cool, having the sun shining in my face as I walked Grady through the big field in our neighborhood gave me a glimmer of hope that spring might be just around the corner. I moved here in March last year and I have such good memories of sunny days in the spring (at least for the month that I lived here before returning to Wisconsin for the summer). Now I'm going to walk to the Indian store (which is supposedly actually owned by Sri Lankans) to pick up the final ingredients I need so I can try out my new Indian culinary skills this weekend.

More Wisconsin humor

Just because I know you all love to make fun of Wisconsin, I decided to join in the fun and tell you about the results of the First Annual Top Ice Fishing Shanty contest. Do you even know what a "shanty" is? I think the funniest part of the story is that the winning shanty has started to sink into the frozen lake.

"Life's So Good"

Apparently the state of Wisconsin has decided on a new tourism campaign titled "Life's So Good". I like the old one better-- "Escape to Wisconsin". Go ahead and laugh. I know you want to.

Brats rule!

I'm so proud that Madison's own State Street Brats has made Sports Illustrated's list of the top 25 sports bars. Even Kirk would agree that it's a great place to go for a brat and fried cheese curds!

Priorities

If there's one thing I learned over the past year, it's to try and remember to keep things in perspective. So instead of getting worked up about the pressing political issues of the day, (like the State of the Union) I want to use this blog to focus on what's affecting me right here, right now (I can say this because last night was the first time in 10 years that I didn't watch that traditionally painful speech!). I got my hair cut (and highlighted) today. I was really unhappy with my last cut, which I got just before Christmas, but I wasn't ready to give up on Guy because I really like him and he's done such a good job with Kirk's hair. Anyway, I was all prepared to tell Guy today about how I didn't like my hair, and how it was starting to look like a mullet, but I just couldn't be mean about it. When I eventually worked up the courage to tell him that I thought it was too short last time, he agreed and said he must have been having a bad week because he's had a lot of people tell him that that they were "shocked" with the how their hair turned out that week. What's up with that?

Call on me

One of the songs that is getting played to death here is "Call on Me" by Eric Prydz, which is basically a dance remix of Steve Winwood's "Valerie" that has an evil way of staying in your head. Likewise, the video--which is an affectionate homage to the aerobics boom of the 1980s, but Gretchen thinks is basically soft porn (c'mon, aren't all aerobics classes like that?)--is constantly on the music channels. Anyway, if you want to see for yourself, go to this website, enter prydz (not in quotes) in the space to the left of where it says Suchen at the bottom, hit enter, and assuming it works correctly, click on play for Eric Prydz' "Call on Me". It might not work through a firewall, and you probably don't want it playing on your desktop at work either--like I said, it's on all the time here, but unlike back home, things aren't quite so Puritanical here.

SOTU

I've never cared for presidential State of the Union addresses, no matter who is in office (I'm an equal opportunity cynic--I equally disliked Clinton's SOTU addresses). It's basically a big, hyped-up political rally in which the president's supporters mindlessly stand and spastically applaud like trained monkeys every third sentence while the other side sits and tries to look simultaneously respectful and disdainful, which looks more or less like constipation. Other than offering a national pulpit for the president, I'm not sure what it accomplishes. Wouldn't it be more fun to have the British system, in which members get to question each other and hoot and holler and jeer? Every year Gretchen has had to watch it for work because she was in the political world, so even if I didn't watch the whole thing I would inevitably catch enough bits and pieces to justify my decision to spend my time doing something more meaningful, like watching paint dry. Still, a bit of guilt would gnaw at me because I did, after all, live in Washington and have a background in political science and public policy. It was nice, then, to be here where the address was in the middle of the night and there was no feeling of duty whatsoever to watch.

Having said all that, for some reason I was even more repulsed than usual to read this morning that Congressional Republicans dipped their fingers in ink to display during the address. What, exactly, was the point of that? Are they trying to infer that they're as courageous as those who braved car bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan to vote? For some reason that gesture turned my stomach on a number of different levels.

State pride

When Gretchen saw the California quarter, she said she didn't know what the Wisconsin quarter looked like. Well, here it is. No comment.

That should about cover it

A new store opened in Basel today, and the ad in the local paper indicated that they sell both "Food" and "Non-food".

Molly McButter

You may remember that last summer, after my Mom died, we had to find a new home for her loving canine companion, Molly (Kirk liked to call her Molly McButter, I called her Miss Molly). I recently got a few updated pictures from Molly's new owners who live just outside of Madison. Doesn't she look happy? It just makes my day to know that she's doing well.

Yummy food

I had a really fun experience today. I spent the day learning how to cook Indian food! It was organized through the "spouses program" from Kirk's office (I could write a whole lot more about how weird it is to be a "spouse"...). Anyway, it was just 5 women plus the Indian woman who hosted us in her home to teach us some of the basics of Indian cooking. We made quite a few dishes-- including a shrimp curry (Jhinga Masala), a lamb curry (Bhuna Ghosht), two versions of chicken tikka, daal, raita, and rice. Everything turned out to be delicious. Of course the real test will be whether I can do it myself. Kirk and I have really missed eating Indian food since moving to Basel so maybe now we can satisfy that craving with cooking at home!

John Muir

The official California quarter was evidently just put into circulation, and it's nice to see that it honors the namesake of my undergraduate college at UCSD.