The world tour rolls on

Tomorrow morning we're off to Amsterdam, where I have a few days of meetings and Gretchen is going to tag along and do a little shopping and exploring (and don't tell anyone, but she's also thinking about taking a guided tour of the Red Light District). It's a drag that I'll be spending so much time in meetings, because I'm a big fan of Amsterdam (and no, I don't smoke pot). The tourist areas aren't so great, but otherwise it's got beautiful houses lining the canals, it's flat so it's great for walking aimlessly for hours, people make riding a bike look effortless and stylish (last time we were there we saw a bachelorette party of 15 or so young women riding their bikes around), they speak English better than half the Americans I know (despite Dutch being even more guttural and hard to understand than Swiss German), the beer is excellent and so are the vlaamse frites (French fries, but better), there are plenty of good Indonesian restaurants, shops are actually open on Sundays, etc. We'll see if Gretchen agrees after spending a few days there on her own...

Our ski weekend (that almost wasn't)

Remember the Föhn? Those crazy mountain winds? Last fall they brought us unseasonably warm and sunny weather. This weekend they almost ruined our perfect ski weekend in the mountains! When we arrived in Wengen around noon on Saturday, we had hoped to take the train up to Kleine Scheidegg or the cable car up to Männlichen for an alpine lunch and a winter hike through the snow. But we quickly learned from the hotel staff, and later confirmed with the train staff, that EVERYTHING up on the mountains was closed due to wind. That means the trains weren't running, the cable cars weren't running, the restaurants up there weren't open, and there certainly was no skiing! Fortunately, we hadn't planned to ski on Saturday anyway, so we kept our fingers crossed that Sunday would be a better day.

Instead, we spent Saturday afternoon eating a leisurely lunch at a restaurant in Wengen while watching men's downhill ski racing on TV, and strolling through town. It's such a charming place and a great place for a visit in either winter or summer. We discovered an ice rink in town where we could watch curling and do some ice skating. Unfortunately, I couldn't convince Kirk to join me on the ice, but he was happy to indulge me as I rented some skates and spent a few minutes gliding around on the ice at the base of the beautiful mountains. I hadn't skated in years, but I guess it's just like riding a bike! You never really forget how to do it. When we were kids, my sister and I used to spend hours over Christmas vacation skating on the lake while we were up at our cabin and I always really loved it. Don't worry, all you scardy-cats-- including Kirk-- it IS safe to skate on frozen lakes in Wisconsin!



Our weekend got even better when we woke up Sunday morning and discovered that the wind had died down and everything was up and running again! Skiing was back on the agenda.



We skied along side of the Eiger...



...and all the way down to the town of Grindelwald.



Who cares if the conditions weren't that great (a little icy with lots of bare patches from all the wind), or if my form wasn't the best (that's what you get when you ski just once a year). The important thing is that I skied! The atmosphere, the views, the surroundings, the weather... all of it was great. Now I can feel OK about packing my skis away for a year, satisfied that I got out on the slopes at least once this season!

We ended our weekend last night with my birthday dinner at a wonderful restaurant at a hotel in town (where we stayed last year). They even put a candle in my dessert and everyone in the restaurant sang happy birthday to me! My birthday is actually today, but I pretended it was yesterday this year because I'd much rather celebrate by skiing with Kirk in the Alps than by sitting inside our house in Basel unpacking and packing again (for tomorrow's trip to Amsterdam) while Kirk is at work and Grady is still in the kennel!

International visitors

When we first created this blog, it was generally intended to keep our family and friends up to date with our adventures while living in Basel. As I'm sure we've pointed out before, the number of readers has expanded significantly over time (although our objective remains the same). I recently checked out our site meter to see who's been visiting our site. I realize this doesn't mean that all these people are actually reading our blog, because they could've just stumbled upon it when doing a search for images of Fergie from Black Eyed Peas (I can't tell you how many people get referred to our site when doing such a search). Anyway, apparently we've had recent visitors from all of the following countries: US, Switzerland (those are the obvious ones), Germany, Canada, Sweden, Netherlands, Begium, Estonia, Denmark, Romania, United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Turkey, Philippines, Mauritius, France, Brunei, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, and Italy. Crazy, huh?

Don't worry, those of you who prefer to remain "stalkers" (anonymous readers)... I don't exactly know who you are or where you are. Site meter just tells me general locations of blog "visitors". Regardless, welcome to all you anonymous readers!

Headed to the mountains!

I'm very excited about this weekend. Tomorrow morning we're heading down to the charming Swiss village of Wengen for what will be my only opportunity for skiing this winter! My love for skiing was rejuvenated last year with 3 ski weekends (Zermatt, Davos, and Verbier), plus a couple of day trips (Engelberg and Sorenberg). But this year, given my pregnancy and our travel schedule (and Kirk's work schedule), we'll have just one winter weekend in the mountains. We went to Wengen for a weekend last summer and just loved it, and although we weren't able to get into the same hotel we stayed in then (that's what we get for planning the trip 2 days in advance...), I'm really looking forward to going back nonetheless.

When I first got pregnant last fall, I read a lot of things that recommended not downhill skiing while pregnant and I thought I was going to have a fit! How could I miss an entire ski season during our short 3 years of living here in the land of the Alps?! Fortunately, since then, I've learned that you don't necessarily need to take all the pregnancy advice you read. More importantly, I've talked to several people who've skied (even snowboarded!) while pregnant, and my doctor said it's absolutely fine, so long as I feel comfortable with it. That being said, I know I won't feel like it as I get much bigger, which is why we're squeezing in a quick trip this weekend, depsite Kirk's crazy work demands right now.

I just got back from taking Grady out to the kennel, and we have a big birthday bash to go to tonight, so it's time for me to dig our ski clothes out of the basement and start packing. Just look at these beautiful mountains we'll be seeing this weekend!

Skeleton

Whoever decided it would be a good idea to ride a sled, face first, at 110 km/hour down an icy bobsled track? Upon sitting down on the couch this afternoon for a little rest, I flipped on the TV and got sucked into watching live coverage of one of the World Cup Skeleton races on Eurosport (our version of ESPN... sort of). Seriously, these guys are crazy! I remember very clearly seriously injuring my face one time when I rode a sled face first down an icy hill outside Spring Harbor elementary (now middle) school in Madison. I was in 3rd grade, and I slipped off my sled during recess, therefore "sledding" down the rest of the hill on my face. Ouch. I had many, many cuts and scrapes, and it took a very long time to heal. You won't find me competing in any Skeleton race anytime soon.

Things I should have learned in school

When I was in high school and decided to take a foreign language, I did the logical thing for a kid growing up a half-hour from the Mexican border: I took French. Très pratique, non? Not surprisingly, after two years I never really mastered it (I think I learned more in two weeks of Spanish immersion in Mexico later in life than two years of classroom French). Still, whenever I go to France I'm always surprised how much of the simple stuff comes back, which is nice because I find it infinitely more appealing to speak French than German.

Today, though, I was reminded how many of the simple things I forget. When I got back from lunch I had a voicemail message from a colleague in Paris, whose assistant left a message for me in French (I'm not entirely sure why, since anyone who reaches my voicemail wouldn't possibly mistake me as anything but American, but that's cool, it's all part of working in an international environment). I figured I could maybe make sense of it and feel like a real citizen of the world (or at least of a partly French-speaking country). I was able to sort out who had called, that they wanted me to call them back, etc, but then she gave the phone number and my brain synapses started firing backwards.

You'd think numbers would be easy, but here's the thing that threw me off: French numbers are pretty simple through the 60s, but then it gets complicated because they really don't have numbers in the 70s, 80s or 90s. Or should I say, they have messed-up numbers at that point. Take the number 72--if it followed the rest of the numbers, it would be something like septante-deux. But no: it's soixante-douze, which basically means 60-12. Even more confusing, one of the numbers on my message was 92. In my book, that should be something like neufante-deux. But NOOOOOOOOO, it's quatre-vingt-douze, which basically translates as 4x20+12. I'm sorry, but is it too much to ask not to have to do mathematics in my head just to figure out what a basic number is? Who can I talk to about that? (Because the French are all about accomodating their language to meet the needs of idiots like me!)

But seriously, good people of France: I love French et j'aime votre pays. Just fix those crazy numbers--that's all I ask. Merci beaucoup.

A snowy day

After many days of very cold weather, I was thrilled to wake up this morning and find an inch of snow on the ground! I really don't mind cold weather (I grew up in Wisconsin, after all) so long as it's accompanied by snow. Even now, at 3:00 in the afternoon, the snow continues to fall. Although at this point the new snow doesn't seem to be sticking anymore.

I was supposed to go on a winter "walk" (AKA "hike" by American standards) with a group of women today just across the border in Germany, but I ended up skipping it (as did several others) knowing it would be up some steep hills, and I really don't feel like taking a chance of slipping on a snowy, icy hill considering my pregnant tummy. I know, I sound really wimpy. Instead, I did take a walk downtown this afternoon to take pictures of snowy Basel. We live in a neighborhood that is at just a slightly higher elevation than downtown Basel, and it's always so amazing how we can have totally different weather up here. We're only a 15 minute walk from downtown, but sometimes it's as if we're in a different climate! By the time I got down to the heart of the city, hardly any snow appeared on the sidewalks or even on the buildings. Nonetheless, I got a couple of nice pictures.

Here's the Tinguely Fountain, which is quite well-known in Basel (as is the museum of the same name). With all the recent cold weather, much of the fountain has frozen. That's the Elisabethenkirche in the background.



A typical view of Kleinbasel from the Mittlere Brücke. Check out the Swiss flag waving with Swiss pride! Boy, it looks cold and gray and miserable... it's actually quite pleasant out, believe me!



Back home in our hood, you can see how much more snow remains on the ground. Here's our famous neighborhood field.



For some reason, Grady doesn't like having his picture taken. But I snuck this one in during our afternoon walk before he noticed what I was doing!



Now I'm back inside, enjoying a nice warm cup of hot cocoa. I've discovered the best kind of hot cocoa ever. It's called Caotina. I think this will be one of those things I will stock up on before moving back to the US next year. It's delicious!

Alles ist in Ordnung

I had my 4th doctor's appointment this morning, and Alles ist in Ordnung with my pregnancy and the baby. That is one of my favorite expressions in German, which essentially means "everything is OK", at least according to my way of translating. I'm very relieved, because for some reason I went into this appointment with a totally irrational paranoia of something being wrong. I had absolutely no reason to think that something was wrong, and I'm normally not a pessimistic person, but I suppose it's only natural to have those thoughts from time to time when you have a living thing growing inside of you, over which you have basically no control.

According to my doctor, I am "young and healthy", and things appear to be as they should be in my 18th week. Once again, we're so impressed with the care we're receiving here. I had my 4th ultrasound today, and if I were in the US, today probably would have been my first. It's finally looking more and more like a baby, even though it's likely only the size of a large sweet potato this week (remember my fruit and vegetable size comparison?). Unfortunately, it looks like we're going to have a very modest baby. Once again today (just as it was 5 weeks ago), this baby would not reveal its gender. Last time his/her legs were crossed, and today he/she was in a sitting position. Yes, we are hoping to find out whether it's a boy or girl. And I was really hoping to know before going to Amsterdam next week! Last week in Madrid I passed up buying so many adorable baby clothes, and it looks like I'll be doing the same thing again next week in Amsterdam. Keeping it all in perspective, I do realize, of course, that the most important thing is that it's a healthy baby, even if the sex is not obvious!

March of the Penguins

I love penguins. They always make me smile. By the way, March of the Penguins is a wonderful movie, and if you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it! Here in Basel we have our very own penguin march, and today I finally saw it! Every day at 11:00 at the Basel zoo, when it's cold enough (below 10 degrees celsius), the penguins go outside for a walk. I got to the zoo just after 10:00 this morning, which left me plenty of time to visit my favorite part of the Basel zoo, the Affenhaus (monkey house) before waiting for the penguins. As I've probably mentioned before, the Basel zoo is famous for having lots of babies, and today I was especially lucky to be able to see Chelewa, the 3 week old gorilla who was born on New Year's Eve. I couldn't get any good pictures (mama was quite protective of her), but here's what she looks like (thanks to the Basel zoo website). They're so humanlike... it's almost eerie.



So back to the penguins. After admiring the gorillas for a while, I headed over to the area outside the penguin house. Already at 10:45 lots of people (mainly lots of little kids with their parents and teachers) were lined up as if they were anticipating a 4th of July parade! Right on time at 11:00, just as you would predict in Switzerland, I watched a zoo worker with a bucket of fish walk into the penguin house. A few minutes later he returned outside with a group of proud penguins following him. Don't penguins always look proud? As soon as the group of penguins came into our view, you could hear everybody "ooh" and "aah" and all the little kids started cheering! I kept thinking that all the people surrounding them would spook the penguins, but they seemed quite comfortable walking through the crowds. At times one or two of them would even lay down for a bit in the sun. Throughout their 25 minute walk, the zoo man (who previously held the bucket of fish) guided the penguins and talked to the audience with a microphone. It was all in Swiss German so I have no idea what he said but it really didn't matter to me. All that mattered was that the experience of having a group of penguins walk right past me was absolutely amazing! I can't stop smiling when I think about it.



How can you not love these guys?

Bad chemistry

Basel has a lot going for it, but one of the less appealing things about it is that while it bears little resemblance to Newark and surrounding environs (if you've ever driven up the New Jersey Turnpike to New York City when the wind is blowing the right way, you know what I mean), there are nevertheless a lot of chemical manufacturers in the area. So, whereas in DC we got used to terrorism alerts, in Basel they evidently have chemical alerts. (There was a massive chemical spill in 1986, and evidently alarms went off and police drove around warning everyone to close their windows, but we're always a bit concerned that if this happened again we would have no idea what's happening. Our neighbors would probably all seal their houses and go to their safe rooms while our we would go on with life as usual until our faces started to melt.)

This is all a long way of saying that while things like this message that appeared on our Intranet this morning are supposed to be reassuring, I still find it just a little bit ominous: "Minor chemical truck incident in Lörrach, Germany. Only very localised disruption to traffic. Basel Police state no health risk."

My new favorite girl

I have a new girl to join the ranks with Gwen Stefani on my list of favorite chick singers-- Anastacia. Actually, for quite some time now, everytime she came on the radio or MTV Kirk would say "Hey, it's your girl", because I've always liked her music, but until now I haven't actually listened to a whole album. The Big Finn recently lent me her "Pieces of a Dream" CD, and now I can't stop listening to it! The amazing thing is that I can't figure out why she's never been a star in the US. She is American after all, right? Has anyone in the States ever heard of her? It's sort of like the Robbie Williams phenomenon (although I don't like him and he's not American).

Speaking of Gwen, I'm very excited to consider her my pregnancy buddy. I recently read that she's also pregnant and due this summer. I'll be interested to compare pictures of her growing pregnant belly to mine. Somehow I suspect they won't look quite the same. I guess that's what I get for not having abs like hers to start with. Oh well. I also heard that Angelina Jolie is having a baby this summer, but I'm not a fan of hers so she's not my pregnancy buddy.

Desperately seeking...

I've always had mixed feelings about whether or not I was ready for a baby, but there's one thing I've envied all of our friends with babies: glider rocking chairs. I think they may be the most comfortable and soothing pieces of furniture on the planet. I tend to be pretty fidgety, but plop me down in one of those things and I can just feel the stress gliding away. (I know the idea is that the mother is supposed to use the chair for nursing, etc, but if we managed to get one of those things Gretchen would have to pry me out of it with a crowbar. I'm sensitive like that--Gretchen may be doing all the hard work, but it's really all about me.)

Anyway, in the States if you go to a store like Babies-R-Us, they have hundreds of them to choose from. I'm getting nervous, though, because we have yet to see them anywhere here (maybe we just need to find out if there is a German or French word for "glider"...or perhaps, like cheap American strollers, they're seen as terrible for the baby). We can't have a baby if we don't have a glider chair--Ich habe Angst! The one thing that gives me hope is that when we were in Madrid, we walked through the bebé section of El Corte Inglés (the major Spanish department store) and, lo and behold, they had a single glider chair for sale. Despite it being part of a display, I immediately plopped down in it and went into a glider-induced stupor. Had Gretchen not dragged me away I think they would have had to call security to kick me out...

Jamón

There's a lot to love about Spain: the history, culture, weather, wine, language, etc. But one of my favorite things is far more mundane than all that: the ham. While I love Italian prosciutto, I still prefer the Spanish variations: jamón serrano, jamón ibérico, jamón jabugo, jamón bellota, etc (I don't know the difference between them--all I know is that they are scrumptious). While Gretchen decided she prefers prosciutto, she still managed to eat a sandwich from the aptly named Museo del Jamón (Museum of Ham) in Madrid:



(Of course, when we went out with Spanish friends who are also expecting a child and Gretchen asked if there were any foods in Spain to be avoided, she basically said the main thing to avoid was the ham...oops! Luckily she seems to have had no ill effects.)

What I'm doing in Madrid

I really like Madrid. I can't say exactly what it is, but I really enjoy the atmosphere and the energy of the city. I also LOVE listening to people speak Spanish. I love the Spanish they speak here which sounds totally different than the Spanish I was used to hearing in DC.

Those who live here might be complaining about the "cool" temperatures, but after leaving an ice storm the morning we left Basel, I'm thrilled with sunny temperatures in the 50s! This is a repeat visit for me, as I spent several days here in September 2004 while Kirk had a week of meetings back then. Because I saw a lot of the big sights here during our last visit (eg. all the big museums), I'm spending this trip soaking in the city by walking and shopping. Or should I say window shopping, since I really can't justify buying any clothes right now unless they're "premama" clothes (that's what they call maternity clothes-- is that cute or what?). I've also expanded my virtually nonexistent Spanish vocubulary by learning the word "rebajas", which means sale. Rebajas signs are plastered in every store window. Similar to Basel, it's sale season, which unlike the weekly sales at the department stores in the US, sales here (in Europe) come only twice a year. By the way, I finally gave in yesterday and bought a bunch of premama clothes at H & M. I can't fight it much longer. And clothes are sure to be cheaper here than in Basel.

The sun is shining, Kirk has left for his day of meetings, and I'm getting hungry so I guess it's time to go downstairs for a good breakfast of tortilla and manchego cheese before heading out for another day of walking and window shopping. I'm living quite a spoiled life, and I love it!

Late dinner

They do things differently in Madrid, especially when it comes to eating times. This was brought home when we were arranging to meet friends for dinner tomorrow night and they said they wouldn't be able to meet us at dinner--at 9:00 or 9:30pm. Half the time we're in bed by not long after 9:30pm, so I'm not quite sure how we're going to manage such a late, and probably long, dinner. (Tonight, by contrast, is positively early: we're meeting at the restaurant at 8:45pm, and I'm willing to bet we'll be the first ones there...)

¡Que bueno!

We're at the point where we've realised Gretchen's traveling days are finite (for the next 18 years?), so she's going to accompany me on a couple of upcoming business trips. Tomorrow morning we're off to Madrid, where I have a meeting and she will...actually, I have no idea what she'll do, but I'm sure it will be fun, whatever it is. We'll also have a chance to get together with our Madrileño amigos Beatriz and Julio, who it turns out are expecting a baby at almost the same time as us. We were in Madrid a little over a year ago and loved it. Plus, although I'm not even close to fluent in Spanish--especially the rapid-fire Castilian spoken in Madrid, which is quite different from the basic Mexican Spanish I learned in SoCal--I know at least enough to get by, so it will be nice to not be dependent on Gretchen's linguistic skills.

Bizarro weather

I guess I can't claim to be an expert on Basel weather after only two years here, but since I'm a self-confessed weather geek, I can't resist the temptation to comment.

When people ask about winter in Basel, I tell them that it's generally gray and damp and chilly (just above or just below freezing) but seldom bitterly cold. This winter started that way, but for the past week or so it's been surprisingly (a) sunny and (b) cold, as in -12C (10F) first thing in the morning. The sun is a really nice treat, although the cold has been such that everything not in the sun is coated in the thickest, heaviest frost I think I've ever seen (although as a native Californian I can't claim extensive frost experience):

Dining with the Finns

I've spend much of the weekend watching skiing (and other winter sports) on TV, getting caught up on laundry (now that our washing machine is fixed), and trying to finish the book that we'll be discussing at tomorrow night's book club meeting. Kirk, as usual, has spent a good part of the weekend in the office, which was expected after staying home sick earlier this week. Thanks to the wonderful hospitality of The Big Finns, we did actually get out of the house for a little socializing this weekend as well! We had a delicious dinner at their house last night, which combined with good company, good wine (or so I hear, since I'm not drinking these days), and good music (spun by Binningen's very own DJ Big Finn), made for a really fun evening. Mrs. TBF impressed us with her culinary talents! Check out this amuse-bouche she served! I can honestly say I've never actually served an amuse-bouche, which is a concept only recently introduced to me now that we're occasionally dining at higher-end restaurants.



The amuse-bouche included a lentil soup, a freshly-squeezed grapefruit juice drizzled with beet juice, and figs with marscapone cheese wrapped in prosciutto ham. That was followed by a first course of a very nice shrimp pasta, and a main course of veal stew served with heart-shaped polenta and baby zucchini. Did I get it right, Mrs TBF? Post-meal, but pre-dessert was a refreshing cucumber, orange and mint salad. Sounds great, doesn't it? I especially loved the ricotta and almond cheese cake and the plate full of yummy chocolates that we finished with. I even came home with a couple extra pieces of cake! All in all, a very fun evening. And to think we met through blogging...



By the way, I think we were all supposed to be kissing in this picture, but I guess Kirk and I didn't quite get to each other before Suzanne (another dinner guest) snapped the picture. We ended up having 5 various pictures of this scene, but I like this one best. Thanks for a great night!

Are you ready for some football?

As much as I miss being able to spend weekends watching football (the American version, that is), I'm happy about one thing: not being in Washington when the Redskins are in the playoffs. The thought of having to wade through 20 articles about them in the Post each day, the bandwagon fans, the obnoxious owner, etc...there's just really nothing to like about them, frankly. And no, I'm not at all bitter just because the San Diego Chargers failed to make the playoffs...

When sign language isn't enough

Despite never having a German lesson in my life, I really don't want to be the ugly American so I almost always try to at least start conversations in German (this is particularly embarrassing to Gretchen when I try it in front of her because she speaks German and I don't). Usually it takes them about two words out of my mouth to figure out I don't know what I'm saying and they either try to speak slowly, switch to English, or when all else fails, revert to body language like pointing at things. Today I realised that this has its limits.

I had to pick up a prescription at the doctor's office, so I went over at lunch time when there was just a young girl working (that sort of sounds like something out of Penthouse magazine, doesn't it?!). Anyway, when I don't know how a particular word translates from English to German, I usually just say the word with a German accent on the off chance that it'll be close enough. So our conversation went something like this:

ME: "Haben Sie mein Preskription?" [note: I didn't know what a prescription was, so I made that up]

FRAULEIN: ((((quizzical blank stare))))

ME: ((((pretend I'm writing a prescription on my hand)))) "Medizin?"

FRAULEIN: ((((hands me a cup to pee in)))) "Ja?"

ME: ((((blushing)))) "Oh, Nein!"

FRAULEIN: ((((quizzical blank stare))))

ME: ((((wracking my brain...)))) "Für die Apotheke?" [Apotheke=pharmacy]

FRAULEIN: "Oh, ja! Rezept!"

And off I went with my prescription in hand, but not before humiliating myself, almost having to pee in a cup, and learning that a prescription is a Rezept. (To redeem myself, at the Apotheke I managed to do the whole thing in German...and at no point did she try to hand me a plastic cup.)

Sticker shock

Yesterday, I gathered my first piece of evidence to prove something that I've suspected for a long time, which is that it's going to be very expensive to have a baby in Switzerland! I'm quickly becoming overwhelmed with how much stuff you need to buy for a baby, and is anyone surprised to hear that it appears everything will cost us multiple times what it would cost if we were doing this in the US? Of course there are also big advantages to having a baby over here, I'm sure. I've heard great things about the health care (and have already been very impressed with the care I've received), and I'm very fortunate to be having a baby when I'm not working and don't have to worry about maternity leave or day care, etc. But it's going to cost a lot of money!

I'm just starting the search for a stroller, or a pram as they're often called here (is that a British term perhaps?). Knowing Switzerland would be the most expensive of the 3 countries in our immediate vicinity, I was happy to have my friend Sabrina take me over to a baby store in Germany to start my search. I have to say that I've been dreading this task. Have you seen the strollers in Europe? It really is a totally different concept than back in the States. They're like the luxury SUVs of the stroller world. That means they're very wonderful, very comfortable, very fancy, and, therefore, very expensive. I often wonder what the poor people do in this country. Not take their babies outside?

At first, I was pleasantly surprised as I walked through a big section of strollers, many of which seemed really nice, that cost around $200 (US) and less. Maybe this won't be so bad, I thought. Then I moved into the next section of more elaborate strollers, where prices (including all "necessary" contraptions and add-ons) ranged from $600-$1000 (US). Well, these are just excessive, I thought.

Later, when we found a very nice woman who could help us in English, I learned that the first section I was looking at (AKA the cheap section) were totally unacceptable for newborns. They are only appropriate for babies 9 months and older, we were told. Which means it is expected that you buy one of the excessive, elaborate, newborn-appropriate (my words, not hers) strollers. And once again, I reached my overwhelmed state of being.

I know that I've just started my search, and that this still plenty of time, so I'm definitely not stressing about it. I will check into finding something second-hand, or checking on eBay, while also looking at many different stores (France is next!) until I figure out the best way to go.

Perhaps the most amusing part of the whole experience was when I asked the woman why the other (AKA cheaper) strollers were not appropriate for newborns. (For those of you who know something about strollers, they all had the reclining seat, etc, so they seemed to be fine to me for laying a baby down flat, as well as for accomodating the baby as he/she grew) She said they weren't good for their backs. They need much more cushioning and something more like a bed. I explained to her that I thought that was a huge difference between the US and Germany (because I have a feeling these strollers would be standard and more than acceptable at home). She exclaimed: "I know! I've been to the US and the strollers are HORRIBLE! Our babies must be much healthier and happier."

Ah, yes, one of the many joys of living in another culture-- finding the differences between "us" and "them". I just had to laugh. Who knows what kind of a contraption my Mom pushed me around in 35 years ago and I seemed to turn out just fine. And I'm sure our baby will too.

Sorry to bore some of you with a long baby post. But this is what's happening in my life at the moment!

And in other news...

In contrast to the top stories on CNN International (bird flu and Ariel Sharon), here are two of the top stories on the local CBS affiliate in my hometown of Madison, Wisconsin (according to their website).

"Home Badger Game Could Spell Trouble for Halloween 2006": Home football games are a BIG DEAL in Madison, and Halloween is CRAZY on the UW campus, so presumably the Madison police are freaking out knowing that a home football game just before all the Halloween parties means even more drunkenness and ugliness than usual.

"Brothers Sentenced for Diluting Milk Sold to Cheesemaker": What more can I say. Sounds like breaking news to me.

Bird flu

I know that bird flu is a big deal, especially now that it's becoming a problem in Turkey which means western Europe is starting to freak out, and I know that I watch too much CNN, especially when I've been home sick with the stomach flu, but really, is it necessary for CNN to continuously (no exaggeration) show footage of the agricultural workers chasing chickens around, carrying them by their necks, and throwing them into bags to be killed (or should I say "culled")? Please stop. It's grossing me out.

My turn

Just when I thought I had escaped the Grippevirus that wiped Gretchen out (and which seems to be making the rounds in Basel), sure enough yesterday evening I had to leave work early because I was feeling so rotten. Luckily I had a far easier time of it than she did, but I still had to stay home from work today, which I never do. Ugh.

Phrase of the day

Another very appropriate entry in my German phrase of the day calendar...

"Hilfe, ich habe den Grippevirus!"

Translated: "Help, I have the flu!"

Just for the record, let me say that the stomach flu is NOT fun. It hit me on Sunday, just hours after Kirk left for Paris. Even worse than having a flu is having it when your husband is out of town and you have a dog who still insists on getting his 3 walks a day. Why don't dogs understand: "I'm sick, just go lay down". I must have said it 25 times in the last couple days. Thankfully, Kirk is home now, and the worst of my 24 hour bug has passed. Not that I'm feeling 100%... those stomach bugs have a lingering effect. I'm now focus on trying to replenish my liquids and eat something. It's a slow road to recovery.

The strangest thing about getting sick is that now I have to also be concerned about the fact that I have a tiny baby inside of me. I've been totally paranoid that I got sick because of something I ate. All the stuff you read about having a healthy pregnancy emphasizes not eating soft or unpasturized cheese because of risk of listeria, and giving up lots of good cheeses has not been easy for me. In fact, it's been harder than giving up wine or Diet Coke! As I've written before, "I like the cheese". Considering how quickly my illness passed, and having talked to my doctor's office, I feel fairly confident that it was just a bad bug. Amazing, how carrying a little avocado-sized baby around can add to the paranoia of every day life!

If you're wondering why I referred to the avocado size of the baby, I stole that from one of my pregnancy books which tracks the pregnancy week by week. For some reason, as a way of tracking the growth of the baby, it often compares the baby to a fruit or vegetable. I find that quite humorous. "This week, your baby is the size of a lime". "This week, your baby is the size of a small plum". I was told that this week, which is week 16, the baby is the size of an avocado.

Good thing I'm feeling better this afternoon. Any minute now the repair man should be here to fix our washing machine. The laundry piles just keep growing...

My latest crush

Hala Gorani, CNN. Discuss.

(Please note that my lovely wife--who is slowly working her way back to health after an awful 24 hours and who is of course my main crush--has deemed this acceptable.)

Taxi driver

I have mad respect for big-city taxi drivers. Not only are they often immigrants who, or all you know, may have been a professor or an engineer back home and are now having to hustle for not a lot of money, constantly facing the risk of getting robbed, but they're also capable of amazing feats of multi-tasking. In Paris I think I had my favorite taxi experience, surpassing Kumar the intrepid snow driver from New York City last year. I got in the taxi at Charles de Gaulle Airport and the driver immediately started going back and forth between two mobile phones (one of which included an earpiece) and the dispatch handset, switching between rapid-fire Vietnamese and French, and sometimes mixing both into the same conversation, all the while passing everyone in sight. Once we got into the city he eased up on the conversation and instead pulled a stack of papers out of his console that were written in Vietnamese and what appeared to be Chinese, scribbling notes whenever we came to a stoplight, then when we got to the hotel started speaking to me in English. I would have liked to have found out what his story was, if only he hadn't been occupied the whole time. (Meanwhile, when I got back to Basel my taxi driver must have been in his 50s or 60s but was listening to a bizarro progressive-rock rendition of H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, which sounded more like something stoned college students in the 1970s would listen to.)

Poor baby

Wouldn't you know it, as soon as I left for Paris this morning, Gretchen got sick as a dog (no offense to Grady). She almost never gets sick (she never even got real morning sickness despite feeling pretty lousy), plus she'll be the first to admit she's high-maintenance when she's not feeling well, so it's too bad I can't be there to take care of her. Now I'm just crossing my fingers that I didn't catch her bug before I left...

Bad Idea Jeans

I don't know if anyone remembers the old sketch from Saturday Night Live for a product called Bad Idea Jeans...it was a faux commercial with guys wearing jeans and saying things like "well, he's an ex free-base addict, and he's trying to turn around, and he needs a place to stay for a couple of months" and "now that I have kids, I feel a lot better having a gun in the house" and "normally I wear protection, but then I thought, 'When am I gonna make it back to Haiti?'" with a graphic saying BAD IDEA after each one. You get the idea (so to speak).

So anyway, I was thinking about this because today I saw a poster for an organisation that (if I understood it correctly) sends clowns into hospitals to cheer up sick kids. Maybe it's just me, but aren't most kids kind of freaked out by clowns? I've never necessarily been full-on scared by them (unlike my dear wife, for whom clows induce heart palpitations), but they've always just kind of given me the creeps. I'm just imagining some poor kid who is already completely bummed out about being sick and having to stay in the hospital, and then some scary clown comes in and sends his Angst off the chart. I mean, why not send in a pit bull while you're at it? I dunno...just sounds like a Bad Idea to me.

Bonne journée

Tomorrow morning I'm off to Paris for a quick overnight work trip. After a nice break from what I thought was going to be a lighter travel schedule, now it turns out that in the next six weeks I have trips planned to Paris, Madrid, Amsterdam, Cairo and Istanbul. The first three are places I enjoy, and I'm intrigued by the latter two (especially Istanbul, which is a place I've been wanting to see), but once again I'll be ready for a break when it's finished. And while I'm sure it will change, for now I don't have a single trip planned in March or April...

Ho ho ho

This is a bit late, but if you regularly read the business press, this parody (of its own stories?) from The Economist may be amusing. Heh heh..."sledge funds" indeed.

How appropriate

One of my stocking stuffers this year (from Kirk) was a day-by-day calendar with German expressions or phrases. I just tore off yesterday's page to reveal today's phrase of the day.

"Hilfe! Meine Jeans ist zu eng!"

Translated: "Help! My jeans are too tight!"

How fitting. Obviously written by someone who is still adjusting to their growing pregnancy waistline.

Root beer

This is what happens when you're an expat living abroad who is desperate for a taste from home. Yesterday, I spent 14 CHF (that's $11 US) on four (yes, I said 4) cans of A & W Root Beer! It's a real treat, because you can't usually get it here, but I found it at the Drinks of the World store in the train station. I've also seen it at the Asian stores in town in the past, but last time I checked they didn't have any. I bought four cans because that's all they had. Four cans. Each can cost 3.50 CHF (about $2.75 US). Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that's what I would pay for a whole 12 pack of root beer at home! Oh well, I will enjoy it. I'm not drinking Diet Coke these days (one of those things I had to give up for pregnancy), and the other drink options here are so limited, so expensive root beer will have to do.

Wellness

After living in Basel for almost two years, I finally joined a real gym this morning! Up until now, I've used the tiny gym in the basement of one of Kirk's office building. It's free (I think) for employees and their families, and it's quite nice, but it's literally just a room 4 levels below street level (ugh) with a bunch of machines. Sometimes it ends up being more of a social engagement for us spouses who are only allowed to use the gym during very restricted hours (whenever actual employees would be least likely to use the facilities). I've had enough of using that gym, especially knowing that now, perhaps more than ever, it's especially important that I try to keep myself healthy and active in preparation for the arrival of the little one in June. I'm hoping that nice facilities (even a pool!), with unrestricted hours (even weekends!) will help keep me motivated. As an added bonus, I suspect I will run into The Big Finn from time to time since he also frequents this gym. See you there, TBF!

By the way, unless you live in Switzerland, you probably wouldn't get the use of the word "wellness" in the title of this post. I think it's a uniquely Swiss word that's often used to describe exercise, swimming and sauna facilities, and overall well-being. They're very into wellness here.

Hausfrau on strike

I'm on strike. Not by choice, but out of necessity. Remember that huge pile of laundry that I mentioned yesterday? Well, I got two loads done, and now our washer is broken. Our landlord tried to fix it, but to no avail, so now I have to wait for the washing machine repair man to come. He can't be here until Tuesday, so I'm strike until next week. Or maybe it's more like a vacation.

On being pregnant

It's been a couple weeks now since we officially went public with our baby news, and I've yet to post anything about it. I suppose there are perhaps a few people out there who are interested in knowing how it's going, and if not, oh well, you don't have to read this post! Here's the latest, in the form of the most frequently asked questions.

Exactly when is the baby due?
Can anyone ever say exactly when a baby is due? I'm not trying to be difficult, but really, isn't it just a guess? The due date the doctor is using is June 23, but I prefer to just say "June".

How are you feeling?
Now that I'm out of the first trimester (I'm in my 15th week), I feel generally pretty good. Most of the time I can hardly tell I'm pregnant, except that I'm hungry all the time, more tired than usual, and I'm gradually expanding. Throughout the first trimester, I felt hungover all the time. That's the best way to describe it. It was miserable. No need to go on... those of you who've experienced it know what it's like.

Any weird cravings?
What's that thing they always say about pregnant women eating pickles and ice cream? I've always loved both, but haven't noticed that I've been craving either one. During the first trimester, I definitely had lots of food avoidances. I couldn't eat yogurt (which is usually what I eat for breakfast every day), and couldn't stand to touch any raw meat. Which means I couldn't cook anything. And then there's my recent addiction to fast food chicken sandwiches. This started a few months ago. Every so often I have to give in and treat myself to a McDonald's fried chicken sandwich. Go ahead, make fun of me if you want (Kirk does), but sometimes you just have to listen to your body. I've even tried the new Burger King in Basel, and I have to say their chicken sandwich was delicious! Better than those in the US!

Are you wearing maternity clothes yet?
No. I'm avoiding that as long as possible. To the average person who passes me on the street, I don't really look pregnant (at least I don't think so). I like to say that I'm just a little thick around the middle. Actually, the thickening started months ago because I ate so much during my first trimester (including chicken sandwiches) and hardly ever exercised which quickly resulted in losing any waist I ever had. I no longer fit into any of my regular pants, but a couple weeks ago I bought a few things at H & M in bigger sizes and that'll do for now. As a side note, my German teacher told me this morning that, in German, I can't describe myself as getting "grösser" (bigger), because that actually means taller. Instead I have to say I'm getting "dicker" (thicker). I'm not sure which is more unattractive, getting grösser or dicker...

Will your baby be a Swiss citizen?
No way. The Swiss are stingy with citizenship. It's not like the US where you become a citizen if you're born there. We'll have a full-blooded American baby born in a Swiss hospital. Hopefully that also means we won't have to worry about picking a name off the approved name list either.

Are you having a boy or a girl?
Don't know yet. We hope to know in the next few weeks, and yes, we are planning to find out (assuming the baby will let us see).

Are you excited?
I always feel like such a jerk when I answer this one. Of course I'm excited. But for some reason, I always start off answering the question with "Yes, but we're also really overwhelmed", which is true. We've enjoyed being a childless, selfish couple for many years now, and it's really hard to imagine how much our lives are going to change. That being said, I also realize it is amazing blessing to be able to be pregnant, and it will be an amazing gift to have a baby this summer. As the days go by, the paranoia and fear are dissipating and the joy and excitement take over more and more.

Did I miss anything? What else do you want to know?

I love the mailman!

And that's not just because they deliver the mail on these cute little mopeds. Today I love the mailman because he brought me (I mean us) a big package! Honestly, there is nothing better than getting a package in the mail, especially when living overseas and receiving a package that contains goodies from home. It's a box full of Christmas presents (now New Year's presents) from my sister and her family. What fun! I looked through a few things already (including the latest People magazine and a comfy-- and expandable-- new outfit from Lands' End that I'm already wearing), but have to wait to open the rest of it until Kirk gets home from work tonight. That's something to look forward to!

Bed time

Local blogger Rebecca raised an interesting point in a comment on Gretchen's dream hotel room. See, most of the time when you get a double bed in a hotel here, it consists of two separate mattresses (and usually frames as well) pushed next to each other. That often means two separate, individual comforters as well. I'm not sure what this says about us, but we LOVE that! (I especially like the separate mattresses because you can flop all you want without causing a disturbance--we have a really bouncy old mattress at home--and Gretchen likes the separate comforters because that way I'm far less likely to steal it during the middle of the night.) I can see where this would be a major problem if you gravitate toward the middle of the bed during the night, but when it comes for sleep I love having my own space. So we're officially supportive of the two-mattress concept, although a nice comfy king-size bed is just as nice.

Three other things I don't like in hotel rooms:

(1) Soft down pillows. I like to sleep with a firm pillow, so a down pillow is a recipe for a sleepless night and sore neck. (I don't expect all pillows to be this way--just as long as I have the option.)

(2) This is kind of stupid, but is it too much to ask to have a phone book in the room? There are some things I'm actually capable of doing for myself, such as looking up the address of a restaurant. I don't mind having someone help with some things (e.g., calling to make a restaurant booking in a foreign language), but I also like to have some modicum of self-sufficiency. (And maybe I'm a bit of a dork--OK, a major dork--but sometimes it's a bit of a guilty pleasure to be in a strange city and look to see if anyone else in the phone book shares your name...)

(3) There seems to be a trend in some of the hotels we've stayed at lately with a half-door on the shower (see below). I suppose it's better than not having one at all, or having a billowing curtain that clings to you, but I've found it's still almost impossible to take a shower like this without drenching half of the bathroom.

If I were queen...

I've mentioned a few times before on this blog that I've become a bit of a travel diva. I've been spoiled by a few long haul flights in business class, and I've also become quite snobby about hotels. Not that I insist we stay in top rated hotels all the time, but we do work hard to find good deals at nice hotels when on our own dime, and I'm generally treated to a good hotel when traveling with Kirk on one of his work trips. I've come to a few conclusions about what I would include in the ideal hotel room if I were queen and had the ability to design them myself. I'm not talking fancy luxuries like a bowl of fresh fruit or a free mini-bar, but just the basics that shouldn't be hard for hotels to include. I'm thinking I should start my own personal rating system for hotels based on the following criteria. There must be other people who care about the same things, don't you think?

First of all, there should be two small reading lamps on either side of the bed. I'm married to a man who often has to read for a long time before falling asleep, and I don't appreciate having to deal with a bright overhead light. I'd also like a digital clock on one of the nightstands so that blind people like me can see what time it is when we wake up in the middle of the night in the usually pitch black hotel room.

Then there's a bathroom. I'm not even going to mention that it should be clean, because that's beyond obvious. I can even survive staying in dump so long as the bed linens and bathroom are clean. Beyond cleanliness...

Can somebody please talk to the hotel people about installing normal hairdryers that aren't attached to the wall with only a 4 inch cord? Why are they so concerned that we'll steal their crappy hairdryers? Even worse is the kind of hairdryer that requires you to continue pressing the "on" button throughout use. How hard is it to provide a hairdryer with a regular on/off switch?

As for bathroom amenities, I'm always amazed that hotels rarely include conditioner. I generally travel with my own products anyway (partly because of this), but regardless, I don't understand. They provide shampoo, shower gel, lotion and all these other random things you never use like a bad nail file and a shower cap and a shoe shine buff, but not conditioner! My hair needs conditioner!

That's all I have for now. According to my hotel rating system, a good hotel should have reading lamps, a digital clock, a normal hairdryer, and conditioner. All these things are in addition to the obvious-- a comfortable bed and pillows and a TV showing at least one English channel!

A good read

Over the weekend I finished reading one of the best books I've ever read. It's called A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. The author tells the true story of his time in a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center when he was 23 years old. It is so compelling, and so disturbing, that at times it's hard to believe it's actually a real experience. Kirk had bought the book a while back, after hearing my Mom talk about how much she enjoyed the book a couple years ago. Now I've learned that it's one of Oprah's books, which means it's probably getting a lot of hype back in the US. Be sure to check it out. I highly recommend it.

My life as a Hausfrau

Last night, as we returned home from Rome, Kirk dumped out the contents of his luggage into a big pile and said (with a big smile) "Someone has a lot of laundry to do this week!" That someone, of course, would be me. He's so cruel. But how can I complain? My gainfully employed husband just took me on a fabulous weekend trip to Rome and, so long as he keeps it up (takes me one more trips), I'm happy to clean his laundry and even iron his shirts!

Now I can add Rome to my list of favorite European cities. It far exceeded my expectations. I think Rome gets a bad rap sometimes. I had this image of it being too loud, too crowded, too dirty, and a haven for pickpockets and scammers. Instead I found it to be charming and full of character and a great city to explore. Not to mention that there's lots of yummy food! I would have loved the city even more had we gotten a bit of a break from the 3 days straight of pouring rain!

Now it's time for this Hausfrau to drive to Mumpf to pick up Grady. Then I had better get started on that laundry...

You better watch out

Lots of subways that we've ridden over the years had warnings of various types, but Rome's Metro trains seemed more specific than most--evidently you have to be very careful not to catch your upper torso, butt or crotch when the doors are closing...

Buon Anno

Too tired to say much now, but Rome was fantastic. I had been before but it was Gretchen's first time, and she had the same reaction I had the first time I went: it far exceeded expectations. Despite copious amounts of rain (what is it about us and rain in Italy?) and deafening noise from a New Year's Eve rock concert at Piazza della Repubblica a half-block from our hotel, it was a lot of fun--lots of history and eating and walking and shopping (for Gretchen's first maternity clothes--yikes!). There's just a lot to love about Italy in general, even if aspects of it can be maddening at times. Anyway, more later...