My turn

Now that I've confirmed that Gretchen made it safely halfway around the world to Melbourne (where she tells me the weather is gorgeous), it's my turn to get ready. I need to leave the house in 12 hours and I haven't started packing yet...yep, right on schedule! The last thing I should do is gripe about anything because no one will have sympathy (I wouldn't either), but I'm going to anyway: I'm DREADING the flight there. It's a bit of a conundrum: I love to travel, but I kinda hate traveling (if that makes any sense). I'm not actually afraid of flying, per se, but without getting into details I have issues with Angst that have more to do with feeling trapped for long periods of time than with the actual flying itself. And let me tell ya, a 12-hour flight is NOT the place to be when the Angst kicks in (let alone back-to-back 12-hour flights to get to Australia). But hey, that's what sedatives are for! So, off to Sydney via Bangkok in the morning, and now I'd better go pack my bags...

Who knew?

I was driving home from work today when I heard "YMCA" by the Village People on the radio, and it made me wonder something: how on earth did we not know they were gay at the time? I think everyone I knew was shocked when we found out. I mean, c'mon--the lyrics, the costumes, the mustaches...were we THAT sheltered in our little suburban world? (I think I know the answer to that.) And how is it if you play "YMCA" at a ballgame you're guaranteed to have everyone on their feet making the letters with their arms, even in the most conservative, un-gay-friendly towns in the States? There's probably a deep meaning in this somewhere.

Blahsel

After last week's snow (which continued through the weekend but didn't really stick), we've reverted to the more typical gray, wet and dreary Basel weather. While winters probably aren't as bad as Seattle or the U.K. or Holland in that regard, I still find it hard to get used to these long stretches where it's cold and wet--not quite cold enough to snow, but damp enough that the chill goes right through you, and you're constantly hanging coats to dry and tracking water into the house. And I have been told that Basel is one of the sunniest cities in Switzerland! Blah, I say. Blah.

Packed and ready to go

Tomorrow I embark on a very exciting trip! I'm flying to Sydney (via Singapore), and then down to Melbourne for a few days. I'll be back in Sydney on the weekend to meet up with Kirk. On our way home from Australia, we'll be spending 3 days in Bangkok which should also be an amazing experience. I'm very excited about this trip because I LOVE Australia, but also because I'm thrilled that I'll be able to spend some time with two of my dear friends from college, Kristen and Jen, both of whom live with their husbands and babies in Australia. What a treat it will be to see them all. Right now it's really hard to imagine that I could be on the beach later this week, especially considering it was snowing on and off all day today in Basel! I really can't even complain about the upcoming 24 hours of travel, because, thanks to my amazing (and generous) husband, I'm flying business class all the way. Believe me, that took a lot of his hard-earned miles on Lufthansa! For that, and many other things, I'm very thankful. Bon voyage to me!

Exercising vicariously

It's hard to believe (especially for Gretchen, who is most familiar with my couch potato ways), but I used to be a runner (junior varsity cross country team, locak 10K races, etc) back in the day. Nowadays I get winded walking up the hill to our house. I was reminded of this last night when we went down to watch the Basler Stadtlauf, a 5K race that starts and finishes in the newly-holiday-decorated downtown. Our friends Sabrina, Marlis and Jeff were running, so we went down to cheer and hang on to warm clothes for them. As much as I can't imagine myself running anywhere these days, I especially can't imagine running anywhere in sub-freezing temperatures. It was cold enough just standing around in our heavy coats, but then watching everyone strip down to their running gear made me want to immediately find a fireplace and a cup of hot chocolate.

Anyway, while our more athletic friends were celebrating the finish of the race...



...we took a slightly less healthy approach to the evening.

Amen

For some reason I was really struck by this op-ed piece from the Washington Post. I'm not so naive as to believe that US foreign policy has always been benign over the years, but it just seems that ever since 9/11 the nation has lost a big part of what it used to stand for. (And as someone whose house is only a couple of miles from the Pentagon and who used to work a few blocks from the World Trade Center, I don't mean to minimise the profound effect of 9/11.) We have a vice president fighting for the right to use torture, getting through most US airports is about as appealing as a dental examination, we're making it much more difficult and unpleasant for foreign students to attend US universities, Washington is a city of cement barricades...something about it all is just really unfortunate and sad.

A snowy morning

Look what we woke up to this morning!

Pumpkin pie

[UPDATE...I JUST NOTICED GRETCHEN POSTED THE EXACT SAME STORY ABOUT OUR ILL-FATED OVEN--WE MUST THINK ALIKE--SO I'M DELETING MY RENDITION.]

I will add to her story, however, that one year when we were dating we spent Thanksgiving together at my apartment in New York and when we tried to cook pumpkin pie our oven died then too. I guess we have bad Thanksgiving karma.

A couple of years ago we happened to be going to Australia around Thanksgiving, so one of Gretchen's good friends asked us to bring some food for the holiday. If you've ever flown to Australia, they're quite particular about what can and can't be brought into the country (I suppose when you're basically a huge island where native species have been wiped out by non-native species that were imported, you have a right to be fussy.) So we were honest when we went through customs and told them that we had some food in our bag. The guy asked what we had, and when we told them we had canned pumpkin, he just laughed and said this must have something to do with an American holiday because he'd had a bunch of Yanks recently declaring canned pumpkin upon entry. (We were indeed allowed to keep it.)

The heat is on

Fortunately, my oven decided to work this afternoon and the pumpkin pie crisis was averted. The pie is cooling, and I'm getting ready to head over to our friends' house to watch The Sound of Music with their 3 little girls. It's not exactly the same as watching Thanksgiving Day football games at home, but it'll be good to be spending the day with friends here in Basel.

The smell of pumpkin pie baking in the house has brought all sorts of wonderful holiday memories of "home" flooding to my mind. Growing up, our family (just the 4 of us-- Mom, Dad, me and my sister) always celebrated Thanksgiving up at our cabin in northern Wisconsin. Sometimes the lake would be frozen, sometimes not. Sometimes there would be snow on the ground, sometimes not. But always, every year, my Dad would put up his "Charlie Brown Christmas Tree". He would cut down a big pine branch (not even a tree) from our woods, attach it to the deck on the front of our house and decorate it with colored lights so that you could see it from across the lake. It would be there waiting for us when we came back up to the cabin for Christmas. I loved those funny little trees and the Thanksgiving memories that go along with it.

The near-crisis this morning with the oven reminds me of a more recent Thanksgiving memory. It was 1998. Kirk and I had been married just over a month. We were having our first Thanksgiving as a married couple in our first apartment in Arlington. I decided to cook the whole meal (turkey and fixins' included) even though it would just be the two of us at dinner. Halfway through cooking the turkey, the oven died. Just like that. I think all of our friends were out of town, and we couldn't figure out any other place to cook it, and we certainly couldn't call our landlord on Thanksgiving, so we had to throw out the turkey. That year we ate just fixins' for dinner (stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberries, and pumpkin pie).

For those of you out there celebrating Thanksgiving today, I wish you lots of wonderful holiday memories with your loved ones.

Skihose

There's one local place whose business model I've never entirely understood. Tchibo makes an excellent cup of coffee/cappuccino/etc (it's where Gretchen started to develop a taste for coffee)...but then they also sell completely random merchandise that basically changes every week. Imagine if Starbucks sold ski equipment one week, toiletry items the next, etc. Anyway, that's Tchibo. Do they have loyal shoppers who go every week to see what the new merchandise is? Or do they use coffee to get people in the door and hope they make impulse purchases of whatever is available? I dunno, but today I got sucked in. Last night was the annual meeting for the ski club at work, so I guess I have skiing on the brain. As I was walking past the new Tchibo next to the train station today, I saw they had a bunch of ski stuff. Next thing I knew, I was walking out of there with a pair of ski pants (or Skihose as they're called here) that cost 1/3 of what Gretchen priced at a local ski store earlier this week (when getting out my winter clothes this weekend I found a big tear in my old pair, which I actually got from Gretchen's dad so they must be at least 10 years old). I still don't know if they fit or if they're really crappy quality since I bought them at a coffee house, but at least for now the Tchibo experience has been slightly de-mystified.

Speaking of Thanksgiving...

...I'm celebrating in high style today. Oh sure, I'm at work like everyone else, but get this: I'M NOT WEARING A TIE! Hooooooeeeeee, it doesn't get much crazier than that! Maybe I'll even get really wild tonight and have two glasses of wine instead of one...

Happy Thanksgiving!

For all of us Americans, today is Thanksgiving. Of course in Switzlerand it's just another Thursday, except that lots of Americans will be eating turkey for dinner. We'll be gathering this evening with a group of American friends (clearly not at our house...I wouldn't be blogging if that were the case...), and everyone will be bringing something. I'm in charge of pumpkin pie and apple crisp.

But now I'm stressing. This could be a mess of a Thanksgiving for me, because currently our crazy oven isn't working! I've tried starting it about 10 times this morning and the pilot light won't come on. It's not a normal oven that you just turn on. You have to turn the knob very slowly, then count to 5 once you get to the "A", then continue to turn slowly, etc. This was quite a lesson we had learn upon moving in. Fortunately, it's only 10:00 AM, but what will I do if I can't make pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving??

Sunday bloody Sunday

Could it be that we might someday be able to go shopping on Sundays in actual stores rather than having to go to the train station? It sounds like we should find out soon...

Not that kind of crack

Check out this item which is one of the advertised specials this week at Coop:



Can anyone (perhaps a German speaker) explain to me why fish sticks would be called "Crack Sticks"?

It's snowing! It's snowing!

I have seen the first snowflakes of the year falling in Basel! OK, so they may be really tiny, lame snowflakes, and it may have lasted only about 10 minutes, but it is (or was) snowing nonetheless. At least it was a few minutes ago while I was walking Grady. I saw lots of very little white snowflakes fall onto Grady's black fur. What is it about the first snowfall that's so exciting?

Just because

I think it's been a while since Grady made an appearance on the blog. So here he is, looking especially handsome with his gray beard as we walked through our neighborhood field earlier today.





(Truth be told, I took the camera to the field because I had been meaning for weeks to take a picture of the sign at the community gardens advertising cow and chicken poop, or should I say Mist, for sale. Unfortunatetly, the sign is now gone, so why not take a few photos of Grady?)

Maybe next time

Today in our staff restaurant one of the lunch options was tête de veau, or calf's head. A French colleague insists it's delicious and I'm sure I'm betraying my unrefined palate, but I have my limits on what body parts I will and won't eat. Let's just say I was happy that there was also a tomato-mozzarella salad on the menu.

In other bad food-related news, last week a Burger King opened next to the train station and when I walked past, there must have been close to 100 people waiting in lines that went out the door. For freakin' Burger King! At least it gave me some comfort that Americans aren't the only ones who love to stuff their faces with fast food...

The tipping point

I think I may have figured out the signal that we've moved from fall into winter (other than the leaves being off the trees, having to scrape frost off of the windshield in the morning, and seeing Christmas decorations start to go up around town). In fall, when the weather first starts to get crisp, you bundle up to go out but inevitably it's warmer than you first think and you curse yourself for bringing a jacket that's just a bit too heavy, and why on earth did you grab a stocking cap on the way out the door? Once it turns to winter, you bundle up to go out and it turns out to be colder than you thought. Why didn't you wear a heavier jacket, and why did you grab your lightest pair of gloves? I'm afraid we've reached that tipping point here...we drove to Bern yesterday and as we walked around we kept waiting to warm up, but even when we found an isolated patch of sun we got colder and colder the longer we stayed out. On the plus side, that means ski season should be just around the corner.

High tech

This is a really minor thing, but one of the things that I love is that probably 80% of the time when I use my debit card here, the machine can detect that I speak English. The pay point at the register may be in German, but once it reads my card it switches to English, and at ATM machines I don't have to choose English since it comes up automatically. Not that it's that hard to figure it out in German, and I know it's probably just one small data field that isn't at all technologically sophisticated, but I don't care--props to the engineers who make my life just a little bit easier.

Get a Handel on things

Last night we started to get in the Christmas spirit by attending a performance of Handel's The Messiah. Some observations:

• While I enjoy classical music, I'm certainly no afficionado. So while I'm sure The Messiah is probably viewed by many as the classical equivalent of Top 40 pop music, I don't care--I find it to be beautiful and moving.


• We almost laughed when one of the soloists, a guy around our age, started to sing and sounded exactly like a woman (turns out he was the alto...as if I would know what that was). I know there are long traditions of men singing like this (castrati and Japanese kabuki and all that), but there's still nothing to prepare you for the first time you hear a beautiful, high voice coming from someone who looks like he could be a local football player.


• I've always liked the cello, but this time I really watched one of the cellists throughout the concert and I'm even more impressed than I was before. She was working it! And it amazed me how much she looked to the conductor for cues...to the uninitiated (e.g., me), the conductor seems superfluous--they all have the sheet music, so why do they need a guy with a baton throwing his arms around? But you could really see that whatever he was doing, the cellist took it very seriously. Or maybe she just has a crush on him.


• Despite being a two-and-a-half hour performance, there were no intermissions. Instead, between parts the conductor simply sat down, the musicians re-tuned their instruments, the audience fidgeted and stretched, and a couple of minutes later they were back at it again. It was quite efficient, but after sitting that long on wooden chairs in an old church we each had a serious case of booty-lock.


• The audience was so much more stoic than in the States, and I'm not sure if that says more about the seriousness of the Swiss or the lack of culture in the States. When the Hallelujah chorus began, for example, I expected everyone to stand up like they would at home, but nope. And surely when the chorus finished, everyone would be swept away by the joyousness of it and erupt in an ovation, right? Nope. They finished in silence, and there was no applause until the very end of the performance. Nothing wrong with that, I suppose, just a bit different.


• You had to like the drum (tympani?) player. He basically only played in two pieces all night--the Hallelujah chorus and the finale. And yet, every time the orchestra was playing he would tweak the tension on his drums, tap them with his fingers, put his ear to them, tweak them some more, etc. I suppose if you only get to play twice you want it to be really good.

(Wow, I don't think I've ever said that much about classical music in my life.) Anyway, now that we've done that, I think I can officially get into the holiday spirit since we don't have Thanksgiving as a traditional starting point here.

And now for something completely different

For some reason today one of my colleagues showed us how if you enter certain characters in Microsoft Word, the result is hundreds of pages of "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." This is, of course, the standard sentence used in typing classes (in the States at least) because it includes all 26 letters. How he found this out, I have no idea, but what was really interesting is that he shared with us the German equivalent: "Franz jagt im komplett verwahrlosten Taxi quer durch Bayern." Type that 10 times quickly. So there's something I can honestly say I never expected to learn...

Attention à moi

Gretchen was just flipping channels and came across a German TV program about Igels (hedgehogs), which reminded me that I took this picture at the baggage carousel at the Basel Airport last week...three billboards telling us to watch out for hedgehogs:

Aftermath

Hmm, sounds like there was a bit of trouble surrounding last night's Switzerland-Turkey match. I'm sure that will do wonders for Swiss-Turkish relations (there is a fairly sizeable Turkish population in Switzerland, and my sense is that there is sometimes a bit of tension between the two communities). The front page of one of the local papers this morning even had a headline about how "Basel police calmed frustrated Turks"...

(The nice thing is that even though Norway was eliminated, their color is red like Switzerland, so I can wear my jersey and pretend I'm a Swiss fan this summer. Now I just need to find a way to get World Cup tickets...)

A welcome break

In my whirlwind of travel, I've got three trips down and just one to go...I don't know that I've ever been so excited at the prospect of actually getting to stay at home for two straight weeks. (Luckily life isn't always like this--next year is already looking lighter on the traveling...)

Air Kazakh

When we were watching the MTV Euro music awards recently, Gretchen pondered what Kazakhstan thought of the Borat character (who we rather enjoy). Reading the paper on the way home from Amsterdam tonight, I found the answer:

Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry has threatened "legal action" against the British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, who wins laughs by portraying the Central Asian state as a country populated by drunks who enjoy cow-punching as a sport. Baron Cohen, who portrays a fictitious Kazakh television host, Borat, in his "Da Ali G Show," has won fame ridiculing Kazakhstan. Baron Cohen appears to have drawn official Kazakh ire after he served as host of the annual MTV Europe Music Awards show in Lisbon earlier this month, when Borat arrived aboard an "Air Kazakh" propeller plane controlled by a one-eyed pilot clutching a vodka bottle. "We do not rule out that Mr. Cohen is serving someone's political order designed to present Kazakhstan and its people in a derogatory way," a Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman, Yerzhan Ashykbayev, said at a news briefing. "We reserve the right to any legal action to prevent new pranks of the kind." He declined to elaborate.(Reuters)

(In fairness I guess I wouldn't be happy about Borat's character if I were in their shoes, but their reaction reads like something you would see in The Onion...)

A big night

Well, if this is correct it looks like the underdog Swiss national team qualified for the 2006 World Cup despite losing to Turkey tonight--I'm sure downtown Basel was festive this evening. Likewise, Gretchen will be happy to know that the Aussies qualified today as well, despite having to overcome the shame that must come with being called the "Socceroos". The only bad news is that despite wearing my Norway jersey tonight, they're in a 2-0 hole on the road so it's not looking so good for them.

A great reward for shopping

Not long after moving here in early 2004 I noticed that most people at the grocery stores had customer cards that they gave to the cashier when ringing up their purchases. I figured they were something like my VIC (Very Important Customer) card from Harris Teeter back in Virginia. At Harris Teeter, you can only get the good sale prices with a VIC card. (Side note: I was pleased to find out that I was still able to get the sale prices last month when visiting Arlington. They just looked up my old, no-longer-in-use, phone number and found my account!) So I promptly signed up for customer cards at both Coop and Migros, only to realize later that it seemed like nothing but a big sham. You don't get better prices by having a Coop Supercard, for example, you just collect all these points for every purchase you make. Nonetheless, for over a year now, I've religiously used my customer cards and continue to rack up the points-- primarily at Coop because I'm not much of a Migros customer. It's just one of those things you do when living in a foreign country just because it makes you feel a bit more like you know what you're doing.

I recently discovered the value of a Coop Supercard. You can cash in your points for lots of great prizes. They put out a huge catalog every year with everything from kitchen goodies, to toys and games, to travel accessories. For months now I've been trying to decide what to get with my points. I'm now very thankful that I held out as long as I did, because just this month they came out with a great promotion. This morning I cashed in 10,000 Coop points for 10,000 frequent flyer miles on Swiss! Nothing is more valuable to me than accumulating miles. More miles means free flights! Of course miles on Swiss might not be that valuable considering all the trouble Swiss is having, but they recently merged with Lufthansa where I've been collecting lots of miles. Pretty cool, huh?

Probably the most interesting thing I learned from this experience is that I've spent more than $10,000 at Coop in the last year or so. It's scary to think about how much you spend on groceries, alhtough I guess it shouldn't be a surprise considering Swiss prices and how much we love to eat!

Let's compare

One of my American friends here in Basel just told me about a great website where you can order some of your favorite American food items online, from Switzerland, and they'll be shipped right to your door (for a delivery fee of only 4 CHF). Right now they're promoting special Thanksgiving items, knowing that Americans in Switzerland are scrambling to find a can of Libby's pumpkin in order to make pumpkin pie for next Thursday's Thanksgiving dinner. We've often talked about the high cost of everything in Switzerland, but I'm totally floored by the prices for the American products sold on this website. My friend described this as "shopping in desperation". Even Jell-O becomes a delicacy when you can't buy it at your neighborhood store!

Let's compare a few prices. I picked out a list of things I would like to buy from Taste of America and compared their prices to those available at Safeway (one of the grocery store chains I shop at back in DC).

Libby's Canned Pumpkin: 6 CHF (equivalent to $4.50), $1.59 at Safeway
Stove Top Stuffing Mix: 7.70 CHF (eq. to $5.80), $1.50 at Safeway
Jello: 2.80 CHF (eq. to $2.10), $.50 at Safeway
Duncan Hines Blueberry Muffin Mix: 11 CHF (eq. to $8.35), $3.19 at Safeway
Duncan Hines Yellow Cake Mix: 9.10 CHF (eq. to $6.90), $2.29 at Safeway
Duncan Hines Chocolate Frosting: 8.70 CHF (eq. to $6.60), $2.19 at Safeway
Quaker Instant Oatmal: 11.50 CHF (eq. to $8.70), $1.99 at Safeway
Kraft Macaroni and Cheese: 5 CHF (eq. to $3.80), $.79 at Safeway
Campbell's Tomato Soup: 4.50 CHF (eq. to $3.40), $.89 at Safeway

Grand total? Taste of America: 66.30 CHF (equivalent to $50.35). Safeway: $14.93!

I'm not sure which is more shocking; these prices, or the fact that I just took the time to look all of this up and post in on our blog. What can I say. Winter evenings are long when Kirk is out of town. I'm just wondering why I didn't think of this fabulous idea of importing American food products and selling them online. I could be rich!

Things are getting ugly

There's been a lot of talk the last few days about Switzerland's big win over Turkey in the World Cup soccer playoff match last Saturday. Not that I really ever know if something is the talk of the town here, but I think it's been a big deal. Sounds like things have gotten ugly between these two teams. Following Turkey's complaints that Swiss fans "whistled and jeered" during the Turkish national anthem on Saturday in Bern, the Swiss team was given a hostile reception upon arriving in Turkey yesterday. According to CNN, Turkish fans threw eggs and tomatoes at the bus carrying the Swiss players as it left the airport. Can't we all just get along?

A lucky girl

How old were you when you went to your first concert? My first live show was in 8th grade when I went with some friends to see Big Country at the Madison Civic Center. The next year I got to see the Violent Femmes, also in Madison.

I just found out that my 9-year old niece, Natalie, went to her first concert last night. Her Mom (my sister) took her to see Gwen Stefani and the Black Eyed Peas together at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee! She is a very lucky girl, don't you think? Natalie knows that I also love both Gwen Stefani and the Black Eyed Peas and everytime we were in the car together this summer in Wisconsin Natalie would ask her Mom to put in one of their CDs so the 3 of us could sing along. What a girl.

I wonder if those two will ever tour in Switzerland. I bet I could even convince Kirk to go that show with me considering how much he likes Gwen and Fergie...

Christmas is coming

You can deny it all you want, but Christmas is really just over a month away. I agree that it still seems a little early for decorations and Christmas sales (I think they should start after Thanksgiving), but it'll be here before you know it. I even got sucked into the spirit this afternoon on my shopping trip to Ikea. I went out there to pick up a new rug for our kitchen, but as it always goes with Ikea you can never buy just those few things on your list. It reminds me of shopping at Target. Those two stores have the best strategy for enticing buyers into spending at least $100 even when you intended to spend just $25. Anyway, I gave in to my impulse to buy a few new Christmas decorations at Ikea knowing I really don't want to go back there as it gets closer to Christmas when all the stores are mobbed with people. I will, however, keep them stashed away until after our trip to Australia and Bangkok. By then it'll be December 11 and then it's definitely time to decorate.

In other winter related news, they're forecasting snow for Basel by the end of the week! At first I thought it seeed a bit far-fetched, but today was really cold and gray and damp and it didn't get out of the 40s. Feels like winter to me. Bring on the snow!

Scenes from Dakar

Unfortunately, I spent most of my trip to Dakar working in the hotel, but I did manage to sneak out and take a taxi downtown for an informal tour. Let's just say it wasn't Basel! I've only traveled a little bit in the developing world, so it was a bit jarring but not as overwhelming as I thought it might be. I'm a little bit upset with myself because I let myself get too intimidated (especially for health reasons) to really get into it--lesson learned for next time. Anyway, driving into the city was such visual overload...goats and chickens wandering around, scrawny horses pulling carts loaded with goods, anything you could possibly want (or not) for sale, children playing and/or begging, cars swerving every which way and honking, a truck with sides of meat hanging from the roof in the 35-degree heat, and perhaps worst of all, a massive traffic jam with no air conditioning and lots of exhaust fumes. I wish I'd taken time to walk around and explore, but I still managed to see some interesting sights from the taxi, like:

A mosque right on the beach--this has to rank as one of the nicer settings in which to worship that I've seen...



...lots of vibrant and colorful clothing worn by both women and men...



...brightly painted minibuses known as Alhamdoulilahi ("Thanks to God"), usually so packed with people that guys were hanging off the back--unfortunately the only one I could get a good picture of was empty...



...and finally, the fish market in Soumbedioune, where the boats were coming in and women were taking the fish directly to be sold right there on the beach...

Corny

Whenever I've been to tropical destinations I've always found white girls with cornrows to look utterly ridiculous. But at the Dakar airport I saw something even more ridiculous: a thirty-something French guy with waist-length cornrows. Picture Kenny G with cornrows and you've almost got the picture. (And yes, I'm horrified that I just googled Kenny G.)

World travelers

Conversation overheard today among a group of middle-aged American women in the line to get through passport control at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris:

WOMAN #1: What did you put for your nationality on the entry card? I must have at least five nationalities.

WOMAN #2: Well, aren't you a U.S. citizen?

WOMAN #1: Oh, do you think that's what they mean by nationality?

WOMAN #3: Oops, I did the same thing--I wrote that I was Italian.

(I suppose there may be a legitimate difference between citizenship and nationality, but come on now!)

(That also reminded me of someone I knew who, on her college application, checked "Native American" where they asked for ethnicity--since she was born in America, that made her native. Turns out she got invited to all of the special ethnic study programs even though she was 100% white, 100% blonde, and 100% NOT Native American...)

Looking good

I can't say I have jet lag upon return from Senegal because it's only one hour behind Basel time, but since it was a fairly short red-eye flight, I didn't get much sleep and am feeling exhausted. I guess I look especially wrecked, because as my Canadian colleague was on the way out this evening, he said "as we say back home, your eyes look like two pee-holes in the snow." So with that vivid image, I think it's time to go home and get some sleep...

Hung up

I just saw Madonna's performance of Hung Up on the recent MTV Europe Music Awards for the fifth or sixth time (MTV has been replaying the broadcast A LOT) and it is still amazing! Or should I say she is still amazing. I just love that song and can't wait for the whole album to come out. I may have to breakdown and pay Swiss prices so I can get it right away.

Smilin' on the Highway

I saw some clever new signs on the Swiss motorway today as I drove Grady to yet another surgery follow-up appointment with his vet in Zurich. There was quite a bit of construction along the way, which means there were also lane shifts and slow stretches. All of this makes for not-so-fun driving. During one of the bad stretches, I noticed a new sign that said "Noch 5 km", meaning 5 more kilometers (presumably of the same mess), and underneath that was a frowning face. Like one of these :( . A bit further, there was another sign that said "Noch 3 km", giving me hope that it was almost over. Unfortunately I can't figure out a way to type the face that appeared at this point, but it was with a straight line (something like this :/). Keep on driving, and soon I was greeted with a smiley face :) that said "Noch 1 km"! Something to be happy about it! It's almost over! How thoughtful of the Swiss motorway people to be concerned about our well-being.

As for Grady, his vet was pleased with his progress despite still having a limp. It looks like he will always have a limp, but it doesn't seem to stop him from acting like a crazy puppy rather than a 9.5 year old. I was proud to hear that he successfully lost 1 kg since our last visit! Not that he's fat, but the vet wants him to lose 4 more kgs within the next few months to help reduce stress on his bad elbow. Do you know how hard it is to limit a lab's food intake? I'll say this much, as much as I like this vet (the best we've ever been to), having a sick dog in Switzerland is a real rip-off. We left this visit a few hundred dollars (I mean francs) poorer after buying more medicine and a new type of food for Grady that's supposed to be good for his joints. It's all about you, Grady...

In case you were wondering...

Kirk is home from Senegal and, unfortunately, my necklace/bracelet combo is a big disappointment. Not that I was expecting anything nice, but I thought it might be unique and at least it would have an interesting story behind it. But no. Kirk actually brought several necklaces and bracelets (all for the bargain price of $18!) and they will go in our "toy box" that I keep in the basement for whenever friends with kids come over. Thanks for trying, Abdullah...

It's a small world after all

Turns out one of the key people at the conference I'm attending is the sister of my boss back in Washington--even with six degrees of separation I didn't imagine meeting anyone I (sort of) knew in Dakar, Senegal. Globalisation indeed.

Open letters

Dear Mr. French Businessman:

When you're eating outdoors and it's close to 30 degrees (high 80s F) and humid, please don't wear a sweater tied around your neck. Not only is it unnecessary and unsightly, but you made me sweat even more--which is saying something because I was already sweating through my shirt--just looking at you. Merci beaucoup.

Cordialement,
Moi

* * *

Dear Restaurant Band:

I'm not sure who told you it was a good idea to play classics like Louis Armstrong ("And I sinks to myself, what a wonderful world") and George Michael (instrumental version of "Careless Whisper"), but please--STOP. You're clearly very talented and you live in a country that is world-renowned for having a vibrant music scene, so would it trouble you to perhaps play something more...local and interesting? (And the same goes for you, Caribbean Bar Band that only plays cheesy versions of Bob Marley songs.) Oh, sure, you play songs in both French and English, but they're songs that we can hear at home any time we want...and usually we don't want to hear them. Our food would go down much better with something, well, African, and I'm sure you'd be much happier playing music that you know isn't crap.

Cheers,
A Fan

This is why I love the Internet

This afternoon I was watching BBC News and there was Tony Blair and seemingly everyone else in the House of Commons wearing red flowers on their lapels. I remember seeing a bunch of people wearing these flowers when I was in London a few years ago and it bugged me at the time that I didn't know what they were, so when I saw them today I immediately Googled "red flower" and "lapel" and voila--I got an answer immediately...

Chinese food, Basel style

Tonight my friend Marlis and I went out for dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant since both of our boys are on business travel this week. It's actually pretty good, although it's a far cry from the carryout kung-pao chicken you can get in the States for $6.95. For dinner, they offer a special menu for 29 CHF (about $27) and you can choose one soup, one appetizer, and one chicken/pork/beef entree. Not bad for Swiss prices! I knew it would be too much food, but what's better than Chinese leftovers the next day?! I purposely left some of my chicken with ginger and leek on the plate so I could take it home with me. When we asked for the check, I told the waitress I'd like the rest of my chicken and rice zum mitnehmen (to go). She said "No, sorry". I figured she didn't hear me correctly, or that I didn't hear her correctly. So I repeated myself, this time in English, and said I'd like to save the rest for tomorrow. She confirmed with me that because I ordered off the special "menu", I wasn't allowed to take any of it zum mitnehmen. I'm serious. I was already full, as was Marlis, so they threw away the rest of my yummy chicken. I was appalled. Have you ever heard of such a thing? I know the Swiss aren't into taking home doggie bags like Americans are, but this restaurant has a huge sign on the door that says "Chinese Food Take Away", so clearly they're equipped to do so. Bah humbug. No Chinese leftovers for me.

Sucker

One of my colleagues was in Dakar about a month ago, and he said the worst thing by far was the number of hawkers/hustlers who would mob him every time he left his hotel. So I was sort of expecting that, but since I'm actually staying on the outskirts of the city I thought maybe it wouldn't be such a problem. So this afternoon I decided I needed to finally leave the hotel grounds (I've been working all day) to walk just down the street to Pointe des Almadies, which is supposedly the westernmost point of the African continent. Sure enough, I wasn't more than a minute off the hotel grounds when I was met by Abdullah. He was of course glad to meet an American, loves Americans, Bill Clinton visited Senegal, let me give you this necklace and bracelet as a "gift", why don't you give me a 10000CFA note instead a 1000CFA note so I can make change for you, I'm Muslim and will pray over it, tomorrow I'm going to kill a goat for my village in honor of my son and the American ambassador will be there, please come try this restaurant, can I take you to my father's market just up the street here? And so on.

It was sort of irritating but I figured, you know what? That's just part of the experience. I mean, I'm walking around wearing a bracelet for the One campaign to end extreme poverty, so I'm feeling a little silly about getting too worked up about someone who obviously has a hustle going, but I have a feeling he's not exactly getting rich off it. And he was an interesting character. So in the end I was a sucker and gave him the 10000CFA note (about $18, but I got some cheap necklaces out of it--honey, I'm bringing you a present!). Needless to say, he didn't offer to pray over it or make change like he originally offered, and he actually asked me for another 1000CFA to buy a coke, but even a sucker like me has limits. So now I've seen the westernmost point in Africa and I've made a new friend. But I don't know how I'm going to deal with it if I go into town tomorrow and the crowds are even more aggressive...

I'm in Africa

I don't really have anything to say since I got in late last night and haven't had a chance to leave the hotel yet, but I just thought it would be fun to blog from Africa (I keep hearing that song by Toto about Africa in my head...). My only impression so far: it's just a little bit warmer than Switzerland--28 degrees and humid when we landed at 9:30pm last night. More later if I manage to see anything other than the hotel and airport...

Election Day!

Today is election day in the US. It's not getting much attention worldwide, of course, because very few states actually have elections this year (it's an "off" year). But it is a big deal for us, as we continue to be Virginia residents, and Virginia is one of two states (the other being New Jersey) that will elect a new Governor today. Virginia has this crazy law that restricts Governors from serving more than one consecutive term. I guess it's not a bad law when you don't like the Governor, but when you do like the current Governor, as I do, it becomes quite ridiculous that he can only be Governor for 4 years. According to the latest polling, this year's gubernatorial race between Kaine and Kilgore is still neck and neck. Good thing we sent in our absentee ballots early-- every vote will count!

Herbstmesse

For me, it was the weekend of the Herbstmesse. Herbstmesse is the big fall festival in Basel. Although it's totally different from Fasnacht, it reminds me of it in a way because it seems to be the one other time of the year when all Baslers go out downtown to enjoy what the city has to offer. On Saturday, we had a lovely visit from the Macs. We visited the areas around the Munsterplatz and the Messeplatz that were crowded with rides. I came the conclusion that all rides are the same throughout the world. It was funny to see these rides in Basel that looked just like the ones I would've gone on as a teenager at the Vilas County Fair in Eagle River, Wisconsin. I only took a few pictures, but if you'd like to see some fun ones, you should visit Ms. Mac's blog . She has lots of good ones! Here we are enjoying a sausage at Barfüsserplatz. I wonder how many pictures I have of me eating sausages in Europe...



On Sunday, I went back downtown to visit Herbstmesse with my friend Sharon, but this time we explored Petersplatz. This is where there are literally hundreds of stalls selling stuff (including lots of food). It was somewhat like the Basel Christmas market, except that it's not quite winter. I really enjoyed it, but it was an absolute mobscene so I'll need to go back later this week when I can stroll through leisurely, take some pictures, and perhaps buy a few goodies. Nonetheless, I did manage to buy myself another cool scarf to add to my Euro scarf collection (I think I've become obsessed with scarves).

And let's talk about the food for a minute! In addition to the dozens of sausage stands, it's clear that the other big specialities of Herbstmesse are Magenbrot (sort of like gingerbread) and carmelized, roasted almonds. I love the almonds but am not so crazy about the Magenbrot. They also sell lots of chocolate covered fruit and fried apple slices (called Äpfelchuechli or something like that)-- both of which I tried, of course. It reminds me of the Wisconsin State Fair where everything (including fruit) is available fried and on a stick! The eating highlight, however, was Raclette. I had to wait in a long line yesterday and pay 8 CHF for a tiny plate of potatoes, onions, and pickles topped with melty cheese, but it was worth it!

It's a girl!

We just heard good news from DC today that Chris and Sonali--whose baby shower we attended last weekend--are the proud parents of a bouncing baby girl named Janhvi (spelling may be wrong, but it evidently refers to the Ganges River), who was born last night. Cheers!

Am I ready for this?

So Tuesday morning I leave for Dakar, Senegal to give a presentation and I have to say I don't really know what I'm in for. It will be my first time in Africa, which is really intriguing (I've always wanted to go), but it will only be for two days so I probably won't see much. I've got my vaccines and I start taking malaria pills tomorrow, but I'm still a bit concerned about health issues since I've been feeling queasy for the past few days. I guess I just have to prepare myself for sensory overload and relax and go with the flow.

Cat scratch fever

We often see cats hanging out in the big field near our flat, but I wasn't quite prepared for what I saw today. Grady and I were on a walk this afternoon and the (newly tilled) field was filled with crows and pigeons contendedly grazing away. All at once the birds suddenly flew away--the pigeons simply vanished, and the crows started circling overhead and squawking. This seemed strange until I saw a cat running across the street with a pigeon in its mouth, wings still flapping. I have ZERO love for pigeons (they're rats with wings), but it was still a bit disturbing to see. I must say, though, that it was one ballsy cat because the pigeon was probably bigger than the cat. I'm just glad Grady didn't want to go chase them...

Surf's up

Thanks to Dave for pointing out that our alma mater is now the proud home of the first on-campus surf shop in the U.S. It makes sense, actually--you could look out from our dorms and see if a really good swell was rolling in. The truly dedicated would be up at the crack of dawn, throw on their wetsuits, grab their boards, walk down and surf, and be back in time for class. (Personally I never quite got the hang of surfing and instead stuck to body surfing and boogie boarding...)

Meeting the Macs, Basel edition

After Gretchen's visit with the Macs in Zurich, today we're returning the favor as ms. mac, mr. mac, and their kids pay a visit to Basel and we'll take them downtown to the Herbstmesse (Autumn fair...a big deal every year here with rides, food, crafts, etc). After pouring rain all night long I can actually see a patch of blue sky so hopefully we won't be rained out and they'll get a good impression of our adopted home...

Good things in DC

In addition to visiting our friends, which was clearly the best part of our recent trip back to Washington, there were lots of other things that made me happy as well.

Dog friends. We visited Grady's 3 best friends from back in the day, Porter, Shelby, and Spot. Here I am getting a big smooch from Spotty.



Shopping. I become a complete shop-a-holic when I go back to the States. Fortunately, I had already done a ton of clothes shopping when I was in Wisconsin in August, but nonetheless, I go completely crazy upon stepping into a mall (or better yet a Marshalls or Target). In the non-clothes department, I picked up the first season of Laguna Beach on DVD, more Crest toothpaste, Orville Redenbacher's Microwave Kettle Corn, Jello (don't laugh), my favorite hairspray, and the new fall color (Beach Plum) of Lancome's Juicy Tubes (among other random things). I restrained myself from going to DSW Shoe Warehouse knowing I can't walk out of there with at least a couple new pairs of shoes.

The Washington Post. We miss reading the newspaper here. Reading online is just not the same. Plus we were there when the "Scooter" case broke and when Alito was nominated to the Supreme Court which made for lots of good reading.

Church. We belong to a really great church in McLean, Virginia, and it was really nice to go back. Even though it was a bit embarrassing when our Pastor made a point of announcing our presence to the whole congregation during the service. We prefer to be anonymous.

Halloween. Halloween is HUGE in Arlington, especially in our friends' neighborhood where we hung out on Monday night. Lots of people decorate their houses and when we were kids all I remember was putting a pumpkin out front. Check out these cute kids all psyched to start trick-or-treating!



Food, food, food. Of course we love Swiss cuisine, but it's always good to go back to the US and eat a cheeseburger. We also had bagels. And I ate at many of our favorite restaurants, including Lost Dog, Raaga, Lebanese Taverna, and Sawatdee. Yum! I also discovered that Starbucks is offering a delicious Pumpkin Spice Latte right now to celebrate the fall season. Why doesn't the Basel Starbucks make it?

TV. I am scared for what my first few days back in the States will be like. I could honestly sit on the couch for hours and just flip around on the remote. All the channels are in English! (except for a few Spanish channels, and I also came across Deustche Welle at one point) Seriously, I even caught myself watching bad game shows on the Game Show Network like Password, $25,000 Pyramid, and Match Game, and reruns of America's Next Top Model on VH1. I also got to see an episode of the current Amazing Race, and Real World Austin so that was pretty cool.

I want my MTV

So tonight it's the MTV Europe Music Awards, and after watching the first half-hour I have a few questions:

--Why is Borat from Da Ali G Show hosting? Personally, I think Borat is hilarious, but I'm just not sure how well it translates here. It's kinda like when a friend of ours from Minnesota saw Fargo with her parents, and they failed to see any humor in it whatsoever.

--What's the deal with Robbie Williams? He's HUGE in Europe. Heck, when my mom lived in Lithuania a few years ago she was way into him. And yet, I don't think most people in the States have ever even heard his name. How can someone so popular here (English speaking, no less!) be so obscure in the States?

--Same with Anastacia--does anyone back home know who she is?

--How does Madonna still do it? She opened the show and looked amazing, but isn't she like 50 years old by now?

--Why haven't we been to Lisbon yet?

What a trip!

I'm back from my whirlwind trip to DC. It could be described as a weekend of screams, considering all the people we surprised! What fun! It was great to be back home in the familiar surroundings of DC (or should I say Arlington considering I hardly spend any time in DC), to do a little shopping, and to eat lots of my favorite foods and visit favorite restaurants that I miss so much. But most of all, it was wonderful to spend time with friends. We are truly blessed with so many great friendships and we were reminded of this again over the past weekend. We love you guys!