So it's come to this

One of our few complaints about life here is the dearth of English-language TV channels (if you have cable here you get several English channels, most importantly including BBC, but because we're on our landlords' German sattelite package and they can't figure out how to change it, we only get CNN). It's not so much a problem for me since I'm at work all day, I try not to watch much TV, and that's not what living abroad is all about anyway. It's a little more difficult for Gretchen, though, since she's home much more often than I am, especially in the cold, dark days of winter.

Anyway, tonight I realised just how desperate she was becoming when she stated that she was really looking forward to seeing Deutschland Sucht Den Superstar, which is the German equivalent of American Idol. Twice the cheesiness, half the talent--and in German, no less. (For the record, I can't stand American Idol.)

Luckily, now that my mom has returned to the States after a really nice visit, we're escaping tomorrow for a long weekend in Rome courtesy of EasyJet. Hopefully our hotel will have several English channels to choose from (because, you know, what else is there to do in Rome?). So, until next week, arrivederci...

Mmmm mmmm good

Last night we had a special treat: Christmas dinner at what is probably our favorite local restaurant, Säge in Flüh. In addition to having exceptional food, it's a really cozy, comfortable place with friendly owners and staff (not always a sure thing here). We had the special Christmas menu that included an amuse-bouche of cream of pumpkin soup with red curry and hazelnut bread, a starter of langoustine and sole with risotto and mandarin oranges, a main course of veal with fresh vegetables and rosemary potatoes, then a surprise from the kitchen of crème Catalan. We were supposed to have a dessert of honey parfait with warm fruit, but at that point we were all ready to explode so we declined. Combine the great food with the good wine (for me) and warm atmosphere and it was a Christmas night to remember.

Memory lane

While walking Grady this afternoon, for some reason I thought back to Christmases of my youth...

Christmas Eve: The first order of business was the preparation of luminarias. Every year our entire community would light luminarias on the evening of Christmas Eve (in retrospect, I don't know that I ever asked my Jewish friends what they thought of this tradition), for which sand was dumped on each street. We would fill our alloted bags with sand and a candle and arrange them along our sidewalk and driveway (I, being particularly anal, would often use a yardstick to maintain precise spacing...clearly not a task to be left to my brother). Once we were finished, we would get in the car for the two-hour drive to my grandparents' house in Newport Beach. There, our entire extended family would gather each year. It's not that I was even that close to my cousins since we only tended to see each other a couple of times a year, but my grandparents really indulged us, and c'mon, it was Christmas so of course it was great! (It was only many years later that we discovered that there was any hint of dysfunction beneath this Norman Rockwell portrait...at the time we were blissfully and thankfully unaware.) We would play with our cousins, eat a good dinner prepared by Grandpa, and open presents--it was pretty much a guarantee that we'd get a combination of pajamas and/or slippers and/or a robe every year. But we couldn't stay too late because we had to make the drive back to San Diego that night. Inevitably, as we were driving back we would listen to a radio station that alternated Christmas carols with reports of alleged Santa sightings, so of course we assumed every airplane we saw had to be the fat man himself. If we were lucky, when we got back to town the luminarias would still be lit (a neighbor always had to light ours for us) and we would take a quick drive through town to see them. Then to bed, where we would try to fight the adrenaline and sleep so that our parents Santa could prepare the house for the next morning.

Christmas Day: Before going to bed the night before, we would engage in negotiations with our parents for a wakeup time. Not surprisingly, we would want to be up at the crack of dawn for presents, and they would want to sleep as late as possible. We'd typically come up with something (completely unreasonable, in our eyes) like 8:30am. Prior to the appointed time, I would wake up and find my Christmas stocking outside my door. Let the fun begin! I would then take my stocking down the hall to my brother's room--being careful not to peek downstairs--to compare our haul and prepare for the big moment. At the agreed time, and not a second later, we would jump up and down and yell and scream to wake up our parents, which was fairly straightforward since my brother's room was right above theirs. We would then have an excrutiating wait as they made themselves presentable, brewed coffee, etc. When at last they were ready, they would light candles that in turn rang a bell, which was the signal that our interminable wait was finally over. We would clamber over each other to get the first glimpse at what came to be known as our "Santa present"--unwrapped, it was usually the thing we wanted most that year. We would tear downstairs, our parents would take embarrassing pictures of us jumping up and down in our pajamas, etc. And then...more waiting around. We were ready to tear into presents right then and there, but no--first came breakfast. We would wait and wait and wait and wait for our parents to fix breakfast, and only then could we finally open our gifts. Usually we were completely finished by noon, after which followed the usual "now what?" sense of disappointment that it was all over. Luckily, when you grow up in a place like San Diego you could typically go straight outside into the sunshine to start playing with your toys. We would generally eat a nice dinner (turkey, if I remember correctly) that evening, but for all intents and purposes Christmas was over and all we could do was start counting down until the next year.

Boxing Day: Just kidding! This was one of those holidays we didn't get in the States. Oh, the unfairness of it all.

Now I reflect on how different things are from when I was growing up, and not just for me. At the time almost my whole extended family lived within close driving range of my grandparents. How true is that for most modern families? In our case, by the time our grandparents passed away, my aunts and uncles were already grandparents themselves who were starting their own family traditions. In addition, divorce and employment have scattered us all over the country (not to mention the world). If this all sounds melancholy, I certainly don't mean it to--in the same vein as another local blogger (who put it much more succinctly and eloquently than I could), I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have already spent so many Christmases with Gretchen. With each passing year hopefully we will build our own traditions.

That's a very long-winded way of wishing those who celebrate it a very Merry Christmas, as well as a Happy Hanukkah and anything else that is meaningful to you this holiday season. (Just don't tell anyone at Fox News, lest they think we've declared war on Christmas...)

Storks

We've written several times about how one of the things we love here are the storks that live in the area and occasionally congregate in the field near our house (they really are quite majestic, especially in flight).

Well, storks now have a whole new meaning for us. Maybe you can guess where I'm going with this? Yes, we're expecting a child in late June. Now that my mom is here and we could tell her in person, it's not a secret anymore. Gretchen just finished her first trimester and so far, so good--here's one big difference between Swiss and American health care: we've had three ultrasounds already in 13 weeks! She felt pretty out of sorts during the first trimester but luckily never actually got sick and is now feeling much better. (Interestingly, during the first trimester I had to see the doctor for stomach issues...sympathy illness or stress, perhaps?) It's really exciting, but quite honestly (speaking as one who can be prone to Angst) it's pretty scary too. Maybe it's just coincidence, but last year when we fell off a T-bar while skiing, it happened immediately after we agreed that it might be time to think about trying to have a child (I left that part out of the story at the time). In any event, at this point we feel incredibly fortunate in light of friends who have had real difficulties in this regard, and we also know we still have a long way to go. Gretchen has always insisted that she doesn't want to be one of those women who can't talk about anything else but her pregnancy, and likewise the blog will hopefully not become overly focused on it either (especially any details that could induce squeamishness). Hopefully we'll have enough other interesting things to still talk about...

Christmas Caril

Despite sounding like she's about to hack up a lung, my mom (Caril) has been a real trooper as we've showed her some of the local sights. After a quick visit to the Basel Weihnachtsmarkt (probably the best of the bunch so far), we then went up to Colmar in the Alsace in France (the market was nothing great, but the city was beautiful and festive):



We also went up to Freiburg, Germany for a Christmas market trifecta. Freiburg is a really great little city. Here are mom and I having Glühwein (hers is naturally non-alcoholic) on a chilly afternoon:



Then today we drove up to the little Alpine town of Engelberg, where the sky was clear, the sun was shining, the air was frigid, the food was fattening, and the snow was a real treat for all of us, especially mom:

Random observations

A couple of completely unrelated things that I've noticed lately:

--I was browsing through a recent issue of The Economist, and there was a short article about a lawsuit involving rapper 50 Cent. Nothing interesting, really, except that throughout the article they referred to him as "Mr Cent", which sounds sort of absurd. I'm just imagining the internal debates about whether and how their Style Guide applies to rappers (would Eminem by "Mr Eminem", or just plain "Eminem", or maybe "Mr Mathers"?).

--I've seen a tram with an advertisement for a local language school specialising in "British and Amercan English". Which, come to think of it, is pretty much how George Bush pronounces "American", so maybe that's not so strange.

--My mom arrived at the Zurich Airport today with a fever and a nasty cough (as far as we know she doesn't have much contact with waterfowl in San Diego, so we're pretty sure it's not bird flu). We seem to have a bad history with December visitors and illness.

--We got our Christmas tree today, and in my unbiased view it's the bestest tree in all the land. Of course, it's twice the price for a tree half the size and of what we would get back home, but all that matters now is that our house has that nice pine tree smell.

Let the fun begin!

I'm officially on vacation (or "holiday" as they say here). I was already planning to take the last two weeks of the year off, but then I realised I had more vacation time that I was going to lose if I didn't use it, so I decided to take today off and start vacation a day early. Other than going to Rome for the New Year, we have no formal plans, which is exactly how I want it. My mom arrives from San Diego tomorrow morning (amazingly, it will be the first time I've seen her in two years...that's one of the downsides of living half a world away). I'm sure we'll find every Christmas market within a 50-mile radius of Basel and try to get up to the mountains at some point, but priority #1 is just to get caught up, relax, recharge my batteries and don't do anything more intellectually taxing than read a novel or do crossword puzzles.

Just call me gorgeous gums

I went to the dentist today. It was my first dentist appointment in two years. In fact, I had never been to a dentist in Basel, and I fully expected a lecture for waiting so long between cleanings. What is it about dentists and their lectures? You never visit enough, floss enough, brush enough, etc. Well, I was very pleasantly surprised. First of all, the dentist (who was very friendly and spoke English quite well) did the entire cleaning himself. And he was right on time at 9:30. I was in and out of there in about 20 minutes. And I got absolutely no lecture. Even better, he told me it was obvious to him that I was going to be one of those "bad customers" who only comes in from time to time for a cleaning and never has any other problems. Sounds good to me! Then he paid me the ultimate compliment of all. I hate to brag, but he told me I had "gorgeous gum tissue". I've always been told that I have very healthy teeth (I'm blessed like that), but nobody has ever complimented me on the beauty of my gums before. How did I get so lucky.

Thai food

One of the best things about visiting Bangkok had to be eating good (and real!) Thai food. We love Thai food (who doesn't) and we miss not having a good selection of Thai restaurants in Basel. Like everything else in Bangkok, we were constantly amazed at how cheap it was for us to go out for a good meal. Relative to Switzerland everything is cheaper in other countries, but this was even compared to the US. And we weren't eating in "budget" restaurants by any means. But it became clear to us that there were plenty of places (eg. street carts) to eat that were much cheaper, and that seemed to be where most Thai ate. The street carts were unlike anything I've seen any other place we've traveled. They're more like mini-restaurants, with full cooking facilities, portable tables and stools, and big buckets of water for washing the dishes. Most of the time, I couldn't even figure out what people were cooking or eating at these street carts, and unfortunately Kirk and I were not brave enough to provoke our delicate systems with food cooked on the streets when we weren't confident about sanitary conditions. Call us crazy, but sometimes we're just wimpy Americans. Then again, when it's 90 degrees and incredibly humid, the last thing I'd want to do is sit on the sidewalk and eat a bowl of hot noodles or soup!

Here are a couple carts that were set-up just outside our hotel.





The weekend market at Chatuchak was also filled with literally hundreds of food stalls. Here's just one example.



I discovered a new favorite Thai dish, and I'm amazed that I've never seen it in any Thai restaurant in the US. In two different restaurants in Bangkok it was served to us as a complimentary appetizer, so I'm guessing it's popular. It's called miang kham. You fix your own little wraps (not sure what kind of leaves they used) with some kind of sauce, and little pieces of toasted coconut, dried shrimp, lime, onion, ginger, and peanuts. I didn't choose to use the chiles because, again, I'm a wimp. It's yummy! Here's what it looks like.



Now we're back in Basel, and we can only dream about the next time we'll get to have Thai food again!

No smoking

How could we forget to mention the most exciting Swiss news I've heard in a long time. As of this past weekend, all Swiss trains are smoke-free! I'm actually quite shocked that the ban is now in place, especially considering how much smoking the Swiss seem to do. I just read in this week's Coop magazine, however, that 62% of the public (at least those polled) support the new policy. I, of course, welcome it heartily. Even though there's usually a door separating the smoking and non-smoking section of train cars, the smoke lingers throughout and you undoubtedly have to walk through the smoke-filled section to get to the toilets. But no longer. Let's hear it for the new SBB smoke-free zone!

Jet lag

I think I can honestly say that I've never before written a post at 7:30 AM. But jet lag has kicked in this morning, we both got up very early, and I already feel like it's time for lunch.

I remember last Christmas when my sister and her family were visiting us, my brother-in-law (who had never traveled overseas before) was talking to me about jet lag. He said something like "I've always heard people talk about it, but I never really believed it was true"... until now, that is! After a couple nights of laying in bed reading, while wide awake, at 3:00 in the morning, he truly believed in the effects of jet lag. Sometimes you can't fight it anymore and you just have to get out of bed.

As I started a load of laundry at 6:30 this morning I was thinking how fortunate we are to live in a house rather than an apartment building with noise regulations and appropriate laundry times. I can do laundry whenever I want, and I usually don't even worry about keeping everything quiet on Sundays. Despite the need to clean ths house, I will, however, refrain from vacuuming this morning at least until the sun is up.

Whenever we travel to a new city, I become obsessed with finding blogs of expats who live there. This morning I'm searching for Bangkok expat blogs and am finding some fascinating stuff, including one all about the street dogs in Bangkok (of which there are many!).

Trouble down under

When we were in Sydney last week, at least one of the tabloid papers ran a series of articles about how a local beach was being taken over by Middle Eastern gangs who were frightening off the locals. It may very well have been true, but the tone of the articles (with pictures of frightened looking blonde Aussie girls) was fairly clear: "they" are taking "our" beach and scaring "our" women and something needs to be done about it--the incitement wasn't explicit, but you could read it pretty clearly even as an outsider. Well, it sounds like things have since gotten way out of control, with nightly rioting and racial attacks. I don't know what any of it means, but it seems really out of place in laid-back Sydney...

No monk-y business

One of the most frustrating things about Bangkok is trying to get around. There's actually an excellent public transportation system in the form of a sky train and subway...but they don't go anywhere near the main tourist sights. So you either have to take a taxi and suffer through some of the worst traffic in the world, or you can take the sky train south of town and then take a public boat (basically a floating bus) up the Chao Phraya river. A bit inconvenient, but a fascinating experience because it wasn't just a touristy thing--most of the people riding the boat were actually locals, and it was a good way to see life along the river. That's how we got to the Grand Palace, and one of the things that struck us was that there are sections of the boat that are reserved for Buddhist monks:



At one point when we were taking the boat back, we happened to be standing next to some monks when we passed Wat Arun (the Temple of Dawn) and were able to take a quick photo. (Hopefully he didn't mind...)

Wat?

One of the highlights of our quick trip to Bangkok was visiting Wat Phra Keaw (a temple is known as a wat in Thailand) at the Grand Palace. If you've ever heard the expression "riot of colour", well, that's pretty much what it was. Words can't really do it justice, so I'll just post a few photos instead.

Chips in Thailand

I've commented before on how I love to check out interesting flavors of chips that sell in other countries. By chips I mean potato chips, not the "fish and chips" variety of french fries. Unfortunately, I forgot to take note of unusual chips in Australia, probably because I was focused instead on my new favorite kind of chips which I've never seen anywhere but Australia-- Lime and Black Pepper. They're simply delicious.

I found a whole host of bizarre chip flavors at the 7-11 across the street from our hotel in Bangkok, none of which sounded appetizing to me. Here they are: Nori Seaweed, Grilled Lobster, Salmon Teriyaki, and Sweet Basil.

What ever happened to plain old BBQ or Sour Cream and Onion?

Down under

Australia has to be one of my favorite places to visit. What is it about that country that I love so much? The friendly people, the charming accents, the sunny weather, the laid-back atmosphere... it's a winning combination. If only it weren't so far away. While I was there, so many people asked me "How long are you here for?", and I was almost embarrassed to say that I had traveled all that way to stay for only a week. But nonetheless, it was worth it. I had about 4 days in Melbourne, and about 4 days in Sydney, and it was fabulous.

While in Melbourne, I stayed with our friends Kristen and Rob, and I got to meet their 14 month-old daughter Skyler for the first time. After a couple days with them, Skyler had warmed up to me enough that she was giving me kisses! They live in a very cool neighborhood in Melbourne, and I loved being able to go for walks along the beach or to the very hip and funky Acland Street. On one of the days, Kristen and I took an excursion out to the Mornington Peninsula. We visited a couple wineries and went strawberry picking! I hadn't realized how much I missed fresh strawberries until I tasted these perfect, fresh-picked Australian berries. Every single one was delicious!



We also went for a walk on Safety Beach, which ironically used to be called "Shark Beach". Apparently, they changed the name because Shark Beach didn't appeal to visitors. Imagine that.





After leaving Melbourne, I met up with Kirk in Sydney. The best thing about Sydney is all the water. And the ferries. I love ferries, and I think it would have to be the best way to commute.



Kirk and I didn't have much time together to play before he started work, but we did manage to squeeze in a quick trip out to Manly Beach. It was a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon and the beach was packed!



The next day I went back to Manly, this time very early in the morning when the surfing is best. No, I don't surf, although sometimes I wish I would've grown up near an ocean so I could've learned as a little girl. I'm fascinated by surfing, but I'm also terrified of it. I met up at Manly with our friends Jen and Jonathan and their little guy Quentin. We (Jen, Q, and I) went for a walk along the beach and had breakfast while Jonathan went for a surf. Who would've thought the beach would be so busy at 7:30 AM?? Jonathan let me pose with his surfboard, which was pretty cool.



At least I have lots of sunny memories and pictures to look back on as I sit inside during this freezing cold winter weather of Basel!

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!

It's a special day in our household. Today, December 12, is Kirk's birthday! Unfortunately, it may feel like just another Monday for him because he's at work, and even worse, I'm sure he's working while suffering from jet lag. What a way to start the week. Nonetheless, I will celebrate and give thanks for his 39 wonderful years of life. Kirk is a smart, funny, generous, and thoughtful man. More importantly, he's a supportive, respectful, and loving husband. He's my best friend and I feel blessed to have him in my life. On top of all of that, thanks to him (and his job) we're getting the chance to see the world together. What more could a girl ask for! Look how cute my birthday boy looks in his goofy hat just a couple days ago while visiting the Chatuchak market in Bangkok. Happy birthday, Kirk!

Back to the tundra

After a long, but thankfully uneventful and stress-free, flight from Bangkok, we arrived home in Basel early this morning. The change in the temperature from last night to this morning was SHOCKING! I just checked Bangkok weather and it's currently 91 degrees. Compare that to a crisp 25 degrees currently in Basel. Brrr. I'm sure people were wondering what was wrong with us as we got off the train in Basel this morning without jackets or hats or gloves...

Overall, it was a great trip. For Kirk, most of the trip was work-related, but for me it was nothing but play. More than anything, it was so rejuvenating to spend a couple weeks in warm and sunny weather. I had such a great time visiting my friends in Australia, and I enjoyed Bangkok even more than I had expected. What a fascinating place. Stories and pictures to come. For now, I have to finish unpacking and try to tackle the endless piles of dirty laundry that we've come home with. The only saving grace about coming back to this freezing weather is that now we can truly get into the Christmas spirit. I have lots of decorating to do before Kirk's Mom arrives later this week from San Diego!

Cool

We were a bit daunted at the prospect of the heat in Bangkok, but after leaving Sydney yesterday in 40-degree weather (that's over 100F), having 30-degree weather here is actually a treat. Still, after walking around the Grand Palace and some shopping areas today, you could fry an egg on our heads. So imagine our surprise this afternoon to see the forecast for today was "cool". I think Basel may have only hit 30 degrees five times all summer, so if this is cool, I'd hate to know what it's like when it gets hot here. (Even better, one of the local papers not only said "cool", but also had a symbol of someone wearing a scarf...as opposed to northern Thailand, which was labeled "cold"--complete with a symbol of someone wearing a scarf and stocking cap--because the temperature was only expected to get into the high 20s.)

Incidentally, we've been here less than 24 hours and our impression is that Bangkok is sprawling, chaotic, congested, hot, loud...and excellent. We can already see where you have to take it in bite-sized pieces if you don't want to be completely overwhelmed, but so far, so good...

An observation

If you were going to rank people by friendliness, Aussies would certainly finish pretty high on the list (which is one reason Gretchen is such a die-hard Australophile). But I'm convinced that Aussie taxi drivers are an even more gregarious sub-population. Granted, it's not the biggest sample since this is only my fourth time in Australia, but in those times I don't think I've taken a single taxi where the driver didn't talk my ear off the entire way. (One of the high points for Gretchen was when we had a cab driver in Brisbane who dressed like the Crocodile Hunter, called her "love", and said "fair dinkum" while regaling us with stories of northern Queensland.) I'm wondering if it's one of the qualifications when you apply for a taxi license here--if you can't keep up a conversation the whole way from the airport to downtown, then you have to go back for remedial instruction.

Make it stop

I've poked gentle fun of cricket in the past, but to give you an idea how popular it is here in Australia, of the 15 TV channels available at the hotel there are currently cricket matches on 3 of them. And for some reason I can't stop watching. I don't understand a single thing about it, yet I find it oddly hypnotic...