Tip #2

Don't leave your freezer door open when you leave for vacation. Apparently I did this just before leaving for New York (I can't even blame it on Kirk because I don't think he's ever been in the freezer...). Kirk did, however, discover the mess when we got home. It's one of those small freezers above the refrigerator and I'm amazed that we didn't have water and/or ice everywhere. Instead the whole freezer space is one big mass of ice. My plan is to start chipping away at it tonight so that I can get all the "frozen foods" into the trash for tomorrow.

Tip of the day

Don't get a manicure when you have a bad cold. Do you have any idea how hard it is to restrain yourself from blowing your nose while you wait for your fingernails to be cleaned, painted, and dried? I so rarely get a manicure because they're sort of a waste of money for me considering I don't like colored polish, and I never like the shape they file my nails. But last week in NYC I decided to indulge in a pedicure (which I love), and got suckered into a manicure too. Bad move. This was at the height of my killer cold (that I'm still getting over...) when I was going through about a pack of Kleenex a day. I was miserable and I'm sure everyone around me just loved the constant sniffling during their relaxing spa visit. To top it all off, most of the almost-clear polish on my fingernails had peeled off by the next day. Oh well, at least I enjoyed the pedicure.

You're scaring the dog

I didn't think it was that funny, but for some reason when Gretchen read this post this afternoon, she laughed harder than I've ever seen her laugh. Ever. No exaggeration. She was literally howling, crying and rolling on the floor (but in a funny way, not in a demented way or anything), to the extent that Grady seemed a bit disturbed.

Lemuel

Of course one of the big highlights of our trip to NYC was seeing our little nephew Lemuel, who is just one of the cutest kids ever. I know everyone thinks their nephew is cute, but in this case it's true--he really is cute and a great kid. A few pictures (including with Gretchen and my brother Derek):

Weather Channel

One of the things I miss about the States is the Weather Channel, especially during a major weather event. It's always reassuring to know that wherever bad weather strikes, the intrepid personalities of the Weather Channel will be there to provide the latest details and suffer along with the locals. So you can imagine our excitement when we walked out of our hotel last Sunday and saw that the Weather Channel was reporting on the New York blizzard right across the street--talk about a brush with celebrity! Anyway, the reporter is in a blue coat right behind me in this picture:

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!

Happy birthday to Gretchen! (My lips are sealed as to how old she is now...) She's having a low-key birthday since we just got back from New York, she's still getting over a wicked cold, and it's almost as cold here as it was in NYC (I don't think it's gotten above freezing since we got back). Tonight we'll go out to dinner with a few friends, but otherwise it will probably be a quiet day inside (at least to the extent that any time spent with Grady can reasonably be described as "quiet").

Potty humor

Maybe I'm the only one that would find any humor whatsoever in this, but I just saw the shopping list in the kitchen and there are only two items on it: Müsli and toilet paper. (If you're not familiar with Müsli, let's just say it's high in fibre...)

Just listen

President Bush will be coming to Europe soon, and although I'm sure he will pay it no heed, Thomas Friedman's advice is spot on.

Big trouble

With the exception of the occasional soccer hooligans, Switzerland tends to be a kinder, gentler place. Even the local police tend to look more like civil servants than your average paramilitary U.S. cop. So it was quite a surprise when I walked over to the train station from my office this evening and found it surrounded by armed police in full-on riot gear, just like this:

Anyway, I wanted to know what was going on, but I didn't think they would take too kindly to me tapping one of them on the shoulder and asking (in English, of course) what the story was. Near as I can tell, there were some sort of protests in Basel against the World Economic Forum in Davos (where we happen to have plans to go skiing in a few weeks). Why they're protesting here when Davos is several hours away is beyond me, but then again I probably wouldn't understand since I suppose I'm one of the evil globalists.

Home at last

It's always great to visit New York, but it's also good to be back, especially since I had to work most of the time, the weather was freezing-ass cold, and Gretchen ended up getting sick. We were lucky coming home because we were supposed to fly in coach and Gretchen was really feeling like crap, so we were able to use miles to upgrade to business class instead so she could get some sleep.

I must be in New York

Yesterday while Kirk and I were doing some shopping in the Union Square area, we walked past a very enthusiastic young man who was soliciting support for a good cause. He shouted out to everyone who walked past "Do you want to help me save the forests from George Bush?" This morning, as I sat down to order breakfast in a diner on the Upper West Side, my waiter's first words to me were "You want coffee lady?" These are the moments that make me love New York.

The city that never sleeps...

The thing I love about New York is that nothing stops or shuts down despite having "the blizzard of the century". OK, it wasn't really that bad, but if DC ever got a storm like this the whole city would be shut down and no one would go out. Yesterday felt like just a normal day in New York, with a little extra snow on the sidewalks. We had no problem making the trek out to Queens to visit the other Odegards, and we had a wonderful afternoon hanging out with them. Baby Lemuel (our 10 month old nephew) is absolutely adorable! The other highlight yesterday was walking past the Weather Channel woman as she broadcast live from Times Square.

Good to be here!

We weren't sure whether or not we would make it to New York given the big snowstorm that hit yesterday. Luckily, though, we were booked on a relatively early flight and got to the airport just as the snow was picking up. The best part about arriving in a blizzard was probably the taxi ride from the airport. Our driver, Kumar, was clearly not used to driving in snowy weather, since we started fishtailing the minute we pulled away from the curb. At times we were driving down the slickened freeway and he would be talking on his cellphone with one hand on the wheel, passing cars like they were standing still, only easing up when the car started to slip and slide. I don't think I've ever been so happy to get to a hotel. After a great dinner with friends last night, we're going to brave the cold (at least the snow looks like it's finally easing up) and venture out to Queens to see Derek, Elizabeth and Lemuel.

Off to NYC

We're up at the crack of dawn for a flight to Frankfurt, then off to New York. We're really looking forward to it, although from looking at the weather forecast we're starting to wonder if we're going to have trouble getting there. Our fingers are crossed...

How quickly life can change

I'm reminded today of how quickly life can change. Just one year ago (it was actually January 23, but I'll always remember it as a Friday) my sister, her daughter Natalie, and I were in a hospital waiting room in Madison while my Mom was having what was supposed to be a routine hysterectomy. Our lives were forever changed when the surgeon came out of surgery to tell us that they had found cancer. He said it was quite advanced, and that he was totally shocked to have found it. We learned later that week (after pathology tests) that it was a rare and aggressive cancer called leiomyosarcoma-- and that there was a chance it would not respond to treatment. He was right. It didn't respond to treatment (although she went through 6 weeks of radiation), and the cancer took my Mom's life just 6 months later. Now, almost a year to the day that we first heard the word leiomyosarcoma, we hear about it again. My sister's 10-year old black lab was just diagnosed with a form of leiomyosarcoma after having a tumor removed from her intestines. My Mom always taught us to enjoy all the simple joys in life. She lived every day of her life that way. At the risk of sounding too cliche, there are a few other things I learned over the last year. Enjoy every day of your life. Cherish the time you have with those you love. Don't sweat the small stuff. Try to find the good in all situations. Life is precious.

Inauguration perspective

I don't think you need to speak German to understand the lead headline in one of the local papers today: Die Welt hat Angst vor George W. Bush

Saint Louis

I went to Saint Louis today. Don't think Missouri, think France. And be sure to pronounce it as if you were speaking French-- it sounds much fancier. Saint Louis the French town just across the border from Basel. Kirk asked me to pick up one of his suits at the cleaners, and I was happy to have an excuse to take my first journey into France with our new license plates. Dry cleaning, like everything else, is much cheaper in France than in Switzerland. On the way home I stopped by Géant, which is one of the big grocery stores in Saint Louis where a lot of Basel "expatters" shop because it's cheaper and bigger than anything you'll find in Switzerland. It's really more of a super store, because it also sells everything from clothes, to hardware, to TVs, to furniture. I've been there just a couple times before, and I have to say that I was totally overwhelmed. I think I've really gotten used to my regular Basel stores where they may not be much selection but I know where everything is and the produce is always good. Géant certainly has much more selection, including lots of interesting products not sold in Swiss stores, but I'm not sure I'll make it a regular thing. It's also hard to say how much cheaper it is because I have trouble converting from Euros to Francs, especially when I still think in terms of dollars. The best part of the whole trip was when I went back through the border into Switzerland I wasn't stopped and slammed with a million questions about our car because we no longer have Virginia tags! Not only did the Zoll (customs) guy just wave me through, he actually gave me a big thumbs up as if he knew I was excited to show him my new Swiss plates.

I want to be a part of it

We leave Saturday morning for a few days in New York, and what a full few days we've got in store. Saturday night out with friends (jet lag be damned!), Sunday visiting with our nephew Lemuel (who Gretchen will be meeting for the first time and I'll be seeing for just the second time...oh, and it'll be great to visit parents Derek and Elizabeth too!), then working long hours the rest of the week (me) and shopping and playing long hours in the city (Gretchen). And somewhere in there I'm sure I'll fit in a trip to a bookstore or two, especially if we have to escape the snow...

Happy Birthday, Kris!

While much of America thinks of January 20 as inauguration day, the Krumbiegel family (that's my maiden name for those of you who didn't know me back in the day...) always had something else to celebrate. Today is my sister's birthday! She turns 39 today. I guess that means next year is a big birthday for her. I hope she doesn't mind me revealing her age... she actually doesn't read the blog that often so she probably won't even know. The best thing about her birthday was that my Mom always believed in "unbirthday" presents. This meant that I also got a present on my sister's birthday. Wasn't that thoughtful of my Mom? I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that I was a bit sassy and demanding as a child and always had to get my way and probably would have thrown a complete tempertantrum had I not had a present to open while my sister had a big party with loads of presents to open from friends.

"Cuts like a kni-i-i-i-fe"

I had to laugh when I read this article (registration required) about the Swiss ski resort of Saas-Fee, because it mentions Bryan Adams not once, but twice. I swear, I hear more Bryan Adams in a week of radio here than in a year back home. If you've been worrying about the career prospects of everybody's favorite Canadian '80s pop-rock icon, fear not--if local airplay is any indicator, he can live like a king off his European royalties. And don't even get me started on Phil Collins...

Nice abs

I don't know about you, but I think Gwen Stefani is pretty cool. (I know Kirk agrees...) The No Doubt greatest hits album (The Singles 1992-2003) is one of my favorites, and now I'm totally digging her solo stuff. Actually, I've only heard the one song, "What You Waiting For" which was just playing on MTV. Every time I see the video for it I think of my niece Natalie. She's 8, but is very up on popular music. (example--I got her the Usher CD for Christmas) Anyway, we saw the video together while she was here in December and I said "I like Gwen Stefani" and she said "Me too. She has nice abs." She went on to say that Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas (another of Kirk's favorites) also has nice abs. It's good to know that 8-year-old girls are thinking about that kind of stuff.

Santa was good to me

I realize that Christmas was a few weeks ago, but I never posted anything about all my cool Christmas presents. With my sister and her family arriving in Basel on December 26, it's taken me some time to enjoy my presents. In fact I haven't even used my favorite present from Kirk-- a fondue set! Hopefully when we come back from New York (we fly there on Saturday) we will have friends over to test it out. Sticking with the Swiss theme, he also gave me a special pot for making Gluhwein (warm, mulled wine). It's actually called "glogg" on the box, because he bought it from Bodum which is a Danish company, and I think glogg is the Scandinavian version of Gluhwein. I also got a few DVDs to satisfy my need to occasionally watch American TV shows. Per my request, Kirk bought me Season 5 of Sex and the City. Although I'm enjoying it, I have to say it's not as good as the early season. Plus there's only 8 episodes. What's up with that? Is this the season when Sarah Jessica Parker is pregnant so it was a short season? Perhaps I'll have to buy Season 6 when I'm back in NYC. Also, my sister bought me one of the Seinfeld seasons on DVD which I love. No matter how many times I've seen an episode I can still watch it again. For the first time ever, Kirk and I both bought each other an identical gift. We now have two DVDs of Da Ali G Show . It's funny, but believe me, you only need one copy. Speaking of HBO shows, we've also been watching The Sopranos. Kirk bought the entire season of the Sopranos on DVD last summer while I was in Wisconsin, but watched only the first season. I wasn't sure I would like it because I figured it would be too violent, but I love it. What a great show. Why did we never have HBO when we lived in DC?

4 more years

Boy, it sure is sad to be missing inauguration week in DC. Not. (Actually, I would have a day off work if we were back there, which would have been small consolation...)

Don't try this at home

Let's just say this is the sort of thing that didn't happen very often growing up in Southern California...

The Olympics

It occured to me recently that the 2006 Winter Olympics will take place just a few hours away from here in Turin (or Torino), Italy. How cool would it be, I thought to myself, to go to the Olympics?? I have no idea if we would actually be able to get tickets, or even if we got tickets where we would stay-- I would imagine hotels are already totally booked-- but I decided to look into it. It appears that the next round of tickets will go on sale on February 10. In the meantime, I've suggested to Kirk that we start looking at the list of events and decide what we'd like to see. The only decision we've made so far is that we will not go to any of the figure skating events.

I love skiing

In contrast to Kirk's newfound uncertainty about skiing, I rediscovered this weekend how much I love it. I really haven't skied much in recent years, other than a trip to Breckenridge a few years ago, and I had completely forgotten how much I enjoy it. I realize that everyone (my dear husband included) may laugh at the ski "hills" I grew up with in the midwest, but regardless, they somehow prepared me for skiing in the Alps! I have lots of fond memories of skiing when I was younger. While we were growing up, my sister and I were members of a ski club in Madison called Snowstar. During the winter we went every Saturday to one of the local ski hills including Tyrol Basin, Cascade, Christmas Mountain (using the term "mountain" very loosely), Wintergreen, and Devils Head. We had lessons every week and we were categorized into groups based on our level of skiing. Each group was named by color and in order to get to the next color you had to pass a test. I can still remember the color progression-- complete beginners started in green, then it went to yellow, blue, red, white, black, and silver. By the time Kris and I were in high school, we had both had gotten to the level where we were trained to teach the beginners (I think it was black). In addition, every year my family would spend the week between Christmas and New Years at our cabin in northern Wisconsin and my Dad would take my sister and me on a couple day trips to the bigger ski hills in the UP (the UP means "upper peninsula" for all you non-midwesterners-- it's in Michigan). Our favorite place was always the Porkies (also called the Porcupine Mountains) which is a state park right on Lake Superior. As you can imagine, it got really cold up there... but the skiing was beautiful and my Dad would tell us stories of how he and his buddies used to drive up there in high school on dirt roads and there was only a couple rope tows to pull you up the "mountain", etc. All this being said, I'll take skiing in Switzerland any day over skiing in the midwest!

All Matterhorn, all the time

Just for the heck of it, here are a couple more pictures of the Matterhorn, first from the gondola riding up from town, then me in front of it on the slopes:

Ciao

One of the cool things about skiing in Zermatt is that you can ski to Italy and back. It's a bit of a chore because you have to take several gondolas up to the top of the area and ski through an incredibly cold, windy, icy stretch to get there, but it was worth it just to say we skied into two different countries on the same day. Here's Gretchen at the border (that's the Matterhorn in the background, which looks totally different from the Italian side):

Regression

I've never been a great skier, but I've been perfectly happy just to be a life-long intermediate. Something seems to have happened to me, though--all of a sudden anything steeper than the bunny slope is a big challenge. Earlier this season I could blame it on ill-fitting boots, but since then I exchanged them for new boots that fit much better. I was doing so poorly and was so unhappy with how I was skiing in Zermatt that Gretchen finally asked if I even liked to ski anymore, and I really couldn't answer either way. In retrospect it probably didn't help that I wasn't feeling great, but I've concluded the biggest problem is that I'm out of shape (big surprise there), especially in terms of leg strength--I'm having trouble holding my skis through turns, which in turn is sapping my confidence. So I guess the obvious solution is to realise I'm not sixteen years old anymore and that if I want to get in shape I have to actually get my lazy Po to the gym...

Wellness

Seeing as how I came down with a cold while in Zermatt this weekend, maybe I could have used a dose of what the Swiss call "wellness". This is the verbatim description given by our hotel (which was excellent, by the way) of their wellness facility. (And yes, I realise I have no business poking fun at someone else's ability to translate something into English when I can barely speak a word of German, but I won't let that stop me):

Wellness

Would you really like to relax after a hard day. Between 4'00 p.m. and 9'00 p.m. you can use the wellness on the 4th floor. You will find there a sauna, a steam bath, whirlpool, adventure shower, feet bath and chairs for relaxing. The wellness is in your arrangement included. Not included is the wellness for special arrangements. Please ask at the desk. It is absolutely forbidden entering to the wellness area with shoes. Also please take note that all the wellness area is a naked area.

We never did make it upstairs to find out what an adventure shower is...

Gross

It's been on my list of movies to watch for some time, but I haven't yet managed to watch Super Size Me. Having stopped into the McDonalds in Zermatt, however--Gretchen was craving ice cream after skiing--I feel like I need to see it ASAP because they were actively promoting a dessert called "Chocoballs", which appeared to be hazelnut chocolate that was breaded and deep-fried. Normally I'm a fan of chocolate in just about any form, but I have to draw the line at Chocoballs...

Good weekend

We just got back from Zermatt, which was great. My skiing was pitiful (more on that later) and I ended up sick most of the time, but it was still an excellent weekend and Gretchen is becoming a rock star skier. Plus, this may be hard to believe, but the real Matterhorn was even more spectacular than the one at Disneyland. Here we are at a very cold 3,900 meters (12,700 feet) getting ready to ski down to Italy, along with the view of the Matterhorn from our favourite lunch spot.

Knackige, again

I walked past a restaurant today that was advertising "Knackige Salads". Considering my recent German lesson on the use of the word knackige, in what context do you suppose they were promoting these salads? Are they sexy? Or are they crunchy and crispy and crackling?

Who's Dave?

I don't know who "Dave" is, (other than the one and only Dave from DC who we all know and love...) but he has a really good and simple salmon recipe on epicurious.com. I've made it a few times, including last night, and it always turns out really well. You should check it out (click on "salmon recipe" above).

Matterhorn

Tomorrow afternoon we're off to Zermatt for a long weekend. I don't think they've had much snow lately, so I'm not sure how good the skiing will be--in any event, hopefully I'll do better than last time. What I'm really looking forward to, though, is seeing the Matterhorn up close. See, I think everybody who grew up in Southern California has a special affinity for the Matterhorn. Why? Because when you were driving to Disneyland along I-5 through the bleak outskirts of Anaheim, all of a sudden in the distance you would spot a glimpse of a snow-capped peak over the top of the business parks, storage facilities, and strip malls. It would fade in and out of view--such a tease when you're seven years old!--until all of a sudden, looming before you was the grandeur of the Matterhorn. Good times, I tell you...

So anyway, now I get to see the real thing, and I have a feeling it just might be even more impressive than the miniature fiberglass version in Anaheim. And if that weren't exciting enough, Vanilla Ninja will be in Zermatt this weekend! Not that I have the slightest clue who Vanilla Ninja actually are, but it sure sounds like a big deal.

Tastes like emu

Yesterday for lunch I had Gebratenes Straussenfilet an einer Paprikasauce--fillet of ostrich in red pepper sauce. Not bad! (It reminded me of a meeting a few years ago at the height of the mad cow scare when beef was a big no-no in Europe, so we were served both ostrich carpaccio and ostrich steak.) I'm not always the boldest of eaters, but I have to give a thumbs-up to our flightless friend the ostrich.

Briticism

There's an old saying that England and America are two countries divided by a common language--when I read The Economist I need a glossary to figure out what half of the expressions mean. But the fact of the matter is, we could benefit from adopting some of the finer British expressions (and I don't just say that because I now use words like "realise" and "programme"). This post (by way of Eschaton), for example, makes an excellent case for the use of "wanker" in the States. Someone should try to make that happen...

Not a good trend

Last week as I was heading out for a quick walk after lunch, one of our admins saw me and said "are you off to get a pastry then?" (She might have actually said "a wee pastry" because she's Scottish, so I've learned that "wee" is still in use...I crack up every time I hear it.) Anyway, yesterday I just happened to find myself at a nearby bakery and when I walked in, the woman behind the counter just said "Schoggiweggli"? Then today, by sheer coincidence I ended up at the exact same bakery (what are the odds of that happening?), and when I walked in she was already putting a Schoggiweggli in a bag without first asking what I wanted. They must be psychic or something...

I did a naughty thing today

I suppose not everybody would consider going to McDonald's naughty, but I take great pride in trying not to visit the few American establishments that exist here while living in Europe (although I have been known to hang out at Starbucks from time to time because I like the nonsmoking atmosphere...). I didn't actually go to McDonald's to eat a meal, but I did have a cone. I just love their ice cream and I was out running some errands downtown and it was a beautiful, sunny, spring-like day (two days in a row!) and the Golden Arches were calling... so I indulged. It was my first time in McDonald's in Basel. A couple observations-- they sell beer, it's very smoky inside (as it is generally everywhere here), and food is very expensive. A "value" meal is close to the equivalent of $10. I noticed a sign announcing that on Friday and Saturday they're now open until 4:30, and I thought, wow, that's a strange time to close. Why wouldn't they stay open at night? Then I realized that 4:30 means 4:30 AM. If they meant 4:30 in the afternoon, the sign would've said 16:30. I am totally shocked to think that McDonald's in Basel is open until 4:30 in the morning on the weekends. I suppose this means there is a whole late-night culture here I know nothing about.

The things you learn...

What do I do when I'm overwhelmed at work and don't know where to begin? Take a minute to check the blog, of course! In so doing, I noticed that our friend Lee had asked what the "CH" on our car stood for. I've known it was the abbreviation for Switzerland, but never really knew why. So, through the wonder of Google, I was able find out the following: CH evidently stands for "Confoederatio Helvetica", which is another name for Switzerland (I just looked at a 5 franc coin and yep, there it is). See, blogging isn't all fun and games--it's educational, too.

Book club

I went to my second book club meeting last night. Apparently I was the only one who was disappointed in the book. We read Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi. I was really looking forward to it because it looked like exactly the kind of book I like. I had even picked it up in a bookstore here in Basel last fall before knowing we'd be reading it for book club. But for some reason I seem to be the only person who had trouble getting through it. Even the reviews on Amazon.com are very favorable. Regardless of my disappointment, I suggest it for others to read. All the women in our book club really enjoyed it. Next we'll be reading The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini which looks really good.

Nice butt

Yesterday in German class we were learning about body parts (don't ask...). We had listed just about all relevant body parts, as well as those I would consider irrelevant such as der Oberschenkel which means thigh, but our teacher hadn't told us the word for butt. So I asked. She gave us three words for butt-- der Hintern, der Po, and der Gesäß --plus different ways they could be used. She said der Po was the most commonly used, although she prefers to use der Hintern. I thought der Po was pretty funny on its own, but her example of using it in a sentence was even better. She told us that you might say "Es ist eine knackige Po!" (and she said it with gusto, believe me.) For some reason she had trouble translating knackige for us, which was unusual because her English is excellent. Eventually she told us that it means "crispy" or "crunchy" or "crackling". WHAT?? What is a "crunchy" butt?? She was insistent on the translation, and only later we discovered that her mammoth English-German dictionary also listed "sexy" as a translation for knackige. So next time you see your loved one, be sure to tell him/her that he/she has a "crackling ass". I tried it out on Kirk last night, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to hear such a thing from me.

Ouch

Despite our high hopes, both the Chargers and Packers were upset at home this weekend. (This must have bothered me more than I realised, because as I was typing that previous sentence I spilled coffee all over my papers and keyboard--I can already tell it's going to be a great Monday!)

Cucumber salad

Do you remember the first time you ever used the Internet? I was just reminded of my first time. I'm making Pad Thai tonight (sort of-- it's out of one of those "Thai Kitchen" boxes) and I decided I'd like to make a cucumber salad with it. My Mom had a perfect recipe for a simple, but delicious salad, but of course I never wrote it down and now I don't remember it. So I decided to go online to look for a recipe. That reminded me of my first Internet experience. It was back when I was working on Capitol Hill, in about 1995 or 1996. For some reason, when our office was first given Internet access it was only on one computer. My friend and coworker, Laura, who was the Congressman's scheduler, was the lucky one. I remember all gathering around Laura's computer in awe. When it was my turn to give it a try, I sat down at her desk, and I remember saying "What do I do?" Somebody said "Just type something in (into a search engine, presumably) and see what it comes up with". For some reason, and I have no idea why, I remember typing "cucumber salad" and being amazed with how this new technology called the Internet came up with a bunch of ideas for recipes for cucumber salad. It's hard to believe that was only about 10 years ago... and it's even harder to imagine what life was like before the Internet. OK, enough procrastinating. Time to find a recipe, and to get started on my German homework for tomorrow.

It's official

Thanks to Gretchen's diligent work and patience with the Basel bureaucracy, we no longer have our Virginia tags. Hopefully people won't stare at us nearly as much, although people here just seem to stare a lot as a general rule. (And yes, we know our car is filthy at the moment...)

Before:


After:

Big game weekend

It's a big sports weekend in our household tonight as the San Diego Chargers try to erase the last ten years of futility when they play the New York Jets in the NFL playoffs. Meanwhile, Sunday afternoon the Green Bay Packers take on the rival Minnesota Vikings and try to restore pride to Wisconsin after the Badgers' end-of-season collapse. And how much of it will we see? Not a single minute, thank you very much. Of course the games will be on in the middle of the night here so I'm not sure how much we'd see anyway, but even if we wanted to watch them, I'm not aware of any options. Oh, wait, I do know one place--we were walking down the main street in Interlaken last week when we stumbled upon, of all things, a Hooters (you know, the owl-themed restaurant) with advertisements for American football games. I don't think I've ever actually been in a Hooters (at least not that Gretchen knows about), but if either the Chargers or Packers make the Super Bowl, well, Interlaken here we come!

Ich bin der König!

Happy Three Kings Day! Tonight we ate more of our Dreikönigskuche, and I found the little man in my piece of bread, which means I'M KING FOR THE DAY! I'm not sure what all that entails, especially since it's already 9:30pm, but it doesn't matter because I AM THE KING! (Now that I look at this picture, I suppose I could have titled this post "Ich bin der Geek".)

News from home

I still get Arlington crime reports at a seldom-used address that I was cleaning out tonight, and while most of them are quite boring, every now and again you get a gem like this:

On 12/18/04, at 2030hrs, the victim, a 31yo male, was walking toward his apartment building when approximately seven subjects wearing masks approached him and demanded his money. The victim struggled with the subjects, but they managed to escape with the victim's rotisserie chicken, his jacket and one of his sandals.

Seven-on-one and all they get is a rotisserie chicken and a sandal?

Pastry

One of the great things about living here is the never-ending supply of good pastries and other baked goods. (I should have known I was hooked when I was walking to the elevator at lunch the other day and one of our admins asked in a very matter-of-fact way if I was going off to get a pastry--can I really be that predictable? Wait, don't answer that. Is it any wonder my waistline is expanding at an exponential rate?) Other than the regular, everyday pastries, there seem to be special pastries for every season--you can almost set your calendar to it. Over the New Year weekend, for example, we walked past bakeries that were filled with bread shaped like a pig with a four-leaf clover (don't ask, because I don't get it either). Then all of a sudden today the bakeries were filled with bread that was topped with a crown. Turns out it's called something like Dreikönigskuche, which makes sense since January 6 is Three Kings Day (Dreikönig means "three kings"). Three Kings Day is supposedly huge in Spain (possibly even bigger than Christmas), but it's not like we get a day off work here or anything. Anyway, we think you're supposed to pull apart the Dreikönigskuche, and if you find a ring cooked into your piece then you get to wear the crown. So you can imagine my excitement when I got home tonight and found that Gretchen had picked one up at the bakery! It's a non-stop party with our Dreikönigskuche! I don't know if we're supposed to wait until tomorrow or not, but we decided to rip into it tonight. No ring yet so we'll have to try again tomorrow--oh, to get to wear the crown!

I love the zoo

I made my first visit of 2005 to the Basel Zoo today. This time I bought an annual pass which is a really good deal if you plan to visit the zoo at least 6 times in a year. One of the nicest things about the zoo is that I can walk to it from our house. Today I got to see the baby rhino (Nashorn in German) named Baabuu. He was born on November 4. You may remember that I visited another baby rhino last fall as well. Her name is Batschii and she was born in September. That's right, the Basel zoo has two baby rhinos! Next time I go I need to plan to be there at 11:00 AM. Supposedly throughout the winter the penguins go for a walk through the zoo at 11:00 each day. I think I'll need to see it to believe it.

A hot dog is a hot dog is a hot dog

If you were to ask my sister and her husband to list their favorite things about their trip to Switzerland, I bet you anything their answer would include "lots of good food!" (I should be clear-- not because of my cooking, but because of all the great restaurants we discovered.) As if I hadn't figured it out before, it became very obvious to me over the past week that my sister and I are indeed from the same family, and that our parents must have taught us to appreciate good food (maybe because they were both such excellent cooks). It worked out well for us that both Kris and Tom supported our idea of finding good restaurants in every city we visited, despite the high prices of European cuisine (especially given the current state of the dollar). I think we all agree that the success of a good vacation is partially based on finding new favorite restaurants! I have to say the kids were such troopers through all of our food exploration. It was fun to see them try to figure out what to eat in Swiss restaurants, in German restaurants, in French restaurants... I learned that no matter where you go, you can always order something that resembles a hot dog with french fries, which means the kids will always be happy. Sure, it may be called a Wienerli, or a Knack, or maybe even Bratwurst, but regardless, put some ketchup on it and it tastes good. As for the adults, we enjoyed lots of schnitzel, some cheese fondue, veal cooked a variety of ways (veal seems to be the Swiss meat of choice), and even some escargot.

Christmas postscript

Seeing the Christmas tree in front of the train station being taken down today reminded me that Basel was a really pleasant place to be for the holiday season. They do it up in terms of decorations, the Christmas market, events, etc., but the whole thing was less...maybe gaudy or tacky is the right word...than what we're used to back home. Of course it's still a commercial affair and you still hear some of the same ridiculous Christmas songs (I'm thinking here of such gems as "Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime" by Paul McCartney and "Last Christmas I Gave You My Heart" by George Michael), but overall it just seemed like a relatively dignified affair. So, Basel, as Ali G might say, big up to you!

From New York to Paris

After a few weeks of showing old episodes of Real World: Back to New York, MTV is now showing the Paris season. Already tonight in the first episode I got to hear son-of-the-Commodores Adam serenade viewers with one of his infamous rap songs. I wait with great anticipation for my favorite Real World line of all time (yelled by CT at Christina after she breaks up his late night pool game because she's trying to sleep in her room which sits beneath the billards room): "I'm trying to win me some EUROS!!"

Welcome back

This is just the sort of thing you like to see on your home page at work when you get back from holidays/vacation -- "Please read: Important information about tuberculosis, a contagious illness. We have a case of tuberculosis..."

We're almost official

Having the Hansons visit us from Milwaukee wasn't the only excitement in our household last week. On Wednesday we became the proud owners of Swiss license plates for our car! It has been quite a process... and it's not quite over yet. In preparation for our inspection which was scheduled for last Wednesday, we took the car to the dealer on Tuesday for a last minute engine cleaning (at their suggestion). This is in addition to the preliminary visit to the dealer in November during which we got the emissions certificate that allowed us to schedule an inspection. Apparently the dealer did a good job of helping to make sure our car was in good shape for the inspection because we passed! After spending about an hour last Wednesday at the Motorfahrzeug-Prufstation watching the Swiss car inspectors check out every inch of our car, I received the papers which allowed me to go to another office on the other side of town to pick up the plates. Now we face an unanticipated obstacle... the plates are a totally different size and shape than our Virginia tags, and there doesn't appear to be anyway to attach the plates to the car. UGH! I may have to make another trip back to the dealer to see if they can help. I can't tell you how much I look forward to going for a drive with our new Swiss plates. Hopefully that means the end of the staring and pointing at our car, and most importantly, it should be the end of the trouble and questions we currently face when crossing the border into Germany and France.

Year in Review

Here's what was hip and happening in Switzerland this year according to several Top 10 lists from a recent 20 Minuten (although I don't know if this is based on sales or critical opinion). Some are in German, which are kind of fun to try to figure out--I'm not sure what Pilotenbrillen is, but if I can have "Der perfekte Pimp-Style", well, sign me up!:

Singles 2004
1. Hey Ya! - Outkast
2. Toxic - Britney Spears
3. Drop It Like It's Hot - Snoop Dogg feat. Pharrell
4. Hungriges Herz - Mia
5. Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand
6. Somewhere Only We Know - Keane
7. Toy Soldiers - Eminem
8. Fingt ds Glück eim - Züri West
9. Die perfekte Welle - Juli
10. I Only Want You - Eagles of Death Metal

Movie 2004
1. Lost in Translation
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. Kill Bill: Volume 2
4. Spider-Man 2
5. The Incredibles
6. The Manchurian Candidate
7. Big Fish
8. 21 Grams
9. Ocean's Twelve
10. Diarios de motocicleta

TV-Serien 2004
1. 24 - Der Echtzeit-Thriller
2. Six Feet Under - Gestorben wird immer
3. Sex and the City - Die Lebens hilfe
4. Monk - Detektiv, psychisch labil
5. Pimp My Ride - Die MTV-Garagisten
6. King of Queens - Trautes Heim

Modetrends 2004
1. UGG-Boots - Hässlich, aber bequem
2. Pink - Das Trauma der Achtzigerjahre ist überwunden
3. Schweizer Mode - Heimische Labels avancieren zum Blickfang
4. Zweifarbiges Haar - Unten pechschwarz, oben knallblond
5. Lipgloss - Für Lippenbekenntnisse mit Glamour
6. Gürtel - Betonen die ganz persönliche Linie7. Hawaii-Look - Aloha from Elvis und Züri West
8. Retro-Bikinis - Ursula Andress stirbt nie
9. Pilotenbrillen - Der perfekte Pimp-Style
10. Baskenmützen - Nicht nur für Spencer-Tracy-Fans

Style-Ikonen 2004
1. Gwen Stefani - Schön, schräg, schrill
2. Sarah Jessica Parker - Sexy Schuhfetischistin
3. Usher - Stets wie aus dem Ei gepellt
4. Jude Law - British is beautiful
5. Markus Kavka - MTV-Ikone
6. Heidi Klum - Trotz Birkenstock-Kollektion

Stop the presses...

...the sun is out! In Basel! For the first time in I don't know how long, there is nary a cloud on the horizon! No rain, no drizzle, no sleet, no snow, no gray, no gloom!

(OK, so I'm stuck inside at work, but I can at least look outside, which is better than nothing...)

Boobs

(Apologies if anyone was offended by my reference to female anatomy in this post, including the title...what will the children think?)

That's what was on the front page of one of yesterday's papers. There was a big ad for a new shop called Swiss World of Erotic that featured, well...boobs. (We actually walked past it before Christmas because it's in a popular shopping area. Out in front of the shopping center was a lone man protesting, but by and large everyone seemed to just take it in stride.) As if we didn't already know it, things like that remind us that Europe really is different from the States...

Back to reality

After having two weeks of "vacation" in Basel, it's back to reality today. Some may argue that my whole life in Basel is a vacation, but the last two weeks have been especially fun. Kirk is back at work after having two weeks off, and my sister and her family are now on a plane back to Wisconsin. It was such a blast having them here... we did lots of traveling (France, Germany, and the mountains of Switzerland) and ate lots of good food everywhere we went. Mainly it was fun for me to spend so much time with the kids. I think they all really enjoyed their first visit to Europe, but by this morning the kids were ready to get back to their regular lives in Milwaukee. (The told me they missed their friends, and other important things like X-Box, PlayStation, and root beer) As for me, I plan to get back to my regular schedule of German class, cooking, walking Grady, and going to the gym, not to mention getting caught up on several weeks worth of laundry and undecorating the Christmas tree. I'm also excited to start a pilates class later this week and to do some reading (I've yet to read the book for the next book club meeting next week). Happy New Year to all!

Update

Thankfully, after a briefly worrisome second day of our family visit, there was (knock on wood) no further vomiting by either children or adults...