Random pregnancy facts

I'm just starting my 28th week of pregnancy, which means I'm starting my 7th month, just entering the third trimester, and am 2/3 of the way there! Sometimes I feel like I've been pregnant forever. Other than this week, when I've had a terrible time recovering from jet lag (or was it just depression after leaving the beauty of Phuket?), I've been feeling really good. I'm thankful for that because I know there can be lots of complications and troubles with pregnancies. Here are a few random facts about what's happening with me these days...

--I can no longer be mistaken for slightly overweight or just a little thick around the middle. I clearly look pregnant. And it's obvious to me that everyone notices, because everyone stares at my tummy (and sometimes they smile). Earlier today, I was shopping with a pregnant friend (who is due 4 weeks before me) and we actually passed a woman who stopped what she was doing to turn and point us out to her shopping companion. Yes, we're both pregnant. Earlier this week, a woman at the grocery store asked me when the baby was due (Wann kommt Ihr Baby?), so you know there's absolutely no doubt that I'm pregnant!

--We started prenatal (or antenatal as they say here) classes this week. There are a total of 6 couples in the class, all English speakers, including the instructor. It was a bit overwhelming because I've done absolutely no reading, etc about labor and delivery at this point. After all, I still have a few months to go! Afterward, I asked Kirk what he thought... what surprised him, what was overwhelming, what did he learn, what did he think overall... and his response was this: "Well, that was certainly more discussion about the cervix than I've ever heard before!" So true.

--Next week we'll take a tour of the hospital where I'll be delivering. Every time we talk with my doctor about the hospital he says: "Good kitchen". I guess he knows I like good food. I suppose it's important that you like the food considering 5 days is the standard post-delivery hospital stay in Switzerland!

--I can no longer see my belly button.

--It's become difficult to shave my legs in the shower because I can't really reach down that far.

--I don't think I'd be able to paint my toenails any longer. I need to find a place to get a pedicure and it's not like I can just run over the local mall and pay $30 for a great pedicure (with no appointment) as I could in the US.

--We haven't decided on a name yet, but even if we had, you wouldn't know it. We're not planning to share that information with anyone, mainly because everyone feels they have to register their opinion of chosen names. Those of you with children know what I mean. Do I really care to know that the name I like reminds you of the snotty cheerleader you knew in high school? Or your psycho ex-girlfriend? Or the naughtiest kid in 1st grade? Keep it to yourself, please.

--If you thought I had a small bladder and had to pee often before, you should see me now. It's ridiculous. And to think my bladder will only get smaller as the baby grows bigger...

--Baby loved Thailand. How do I know this? Because she moved around ALL THE TIME while we were there. Especially when I went swimming. Or when I ate yummy Thai food. Or when I ate the refreshing watermelon that they were always serving us. This week she's much more subdued. I think she misses the ocean just like I do.

That's all for now. Time for a nap. I never napped before being pregnant but now I love it!

What season is it?

Growing up in Wisconsin, people used to joke that there were only two seasons: winter, and road construction. The same seems to be true in Basel this year (or at least in our neighborhood). I've yet to figure out exactly what they're doing, but for a couple months now it seems all the roads and sidewalk in our neighborhood have been completely torn up. I've seen some signs from the cable company saying something about how they're "building for our future", but then it also says "through January 2006", so certainly it can't be the cable company that's still at work here. That means they would be working past their deadline and that doesn't seem very Swiss, does it?!

As of this week, the construction has moved onto our street and the immediate block around us. It is so ugly, so messy, and SO LOUD! A few minutes ago, I could tell the clock struck 8:00 AM, as the jackhammers started up again. This forces me to close all my windows because the noise gives me such a headache. This is especially unfortunate considering the sun just came out for the first time in 5 days and I would love to let some fresh air into the house!

One of my neighbors pointed out to me the other day that it's quite remarkable that these construction guys don't seem to be wearing anything protecting their ears or their hands. Can you imagine the damage their causing their bodies? Then again, I also noticed a guy using a jackhammer the other day with a lit cigarette hanging out of his mouth, so I suppose facing eventual deafness is no worse than lung cancer in his book.

Is anyone else in Basel experiencing this massive wave of street construction? MAKE IT STOP BEFORE I GO CRAZY!

The tights: The final chapter

Goodbye, my good friend (aka "the tights from hell"). After delicately hand-washing you yesterday, I was not sad at all to pack you away in your little box this morning in hopes of never seeing you again. Granted, you protected my legs from blood clots on two recent trips, and successfully traveled with me to both Wisconsin and Thailand, but two journeys with you was more than enough for me. You were an especially difficult travel companion this past Sunday when we had to sit together on a plane for 12 hours on the way back from Phuket. You made my legs feel like sausages and that poor little baby in my tummy could hardly breathe. I don't think I felt her move the entire day! I hope you weren't too offended when I ripped you off (or peeled you off) my aching legs as soon as I entered the Zurich airport Sunday night. May you never be prescribed to me again!

Fellow travelers

When you spend a week at a resort, you begin to see some of the same people over and over again. After a while (if you're us, anyway) you start wondering what their story is and maybe (again, if you're us) you come up with shorthand ways to refer to them. These were some of the regulars we identified:

The Couple: An extremely large middle-aged man accompanied by a young, slender and beautiful Asian woman with no apparent verbal communication taking place between them. Make your own assumptions about may have been going on there.

Spiral: A middle-aged (French, we think) and not especially attractive woman who wore a bathing suit consisting of a thong and a bikini with material that spiraled into dots that barely covered her nipples. Oh, and she also spent much of the time topless, in a place where modesty is a virtue. Ewwww.

The Russians: Every morning we would go down to the pool near our room and shortly thereafter a family of five Russian speakers would show up--one older couple, one younger couple, and what appeared to be a teenage daughter. Notable not only because they were perpetually smoking, but also because one day they shattered the idyllic calm by cranking up a CD player of loud, grating pop music while dancing in the pool. Have you ever been at a concert, or maybe in a movie, where people all of a sudden talk so loudly that you can't concentrate on anything else? Similar deal.

The Norwegers: A ruggedly attractive family of blondes who spoke a Nordic language of some sort. Not sure if they were actually from Norway, but close enough.

The Boys: Three young boys wearing matching blue rashies (swim shirts) and snorkel masks who spent every waking minute in the pool.

The Dudes: Muscle-bound gay couple with pierced nipples. (Which reminds me, I can't believe we forgot to send a postcard to The Boys! Next time.)

The Brits: There were two very nice older British couples we met one day at the beach when one of them asked if we had found her sunglasses. One of the women took a particular interest in Gretchen's pregnancy, to the extent that every time we saw her she would ask if we had picked a name yet because she simply had to know. That's the kind of thing that could be really obnoxious, but she was really quite sweet about it so no worries (and luckily we managed to duck the name thing each time she brought it up).

The Americans: I'll say this--we were stunned by how many Americans there were in general. Granted, it was an American hotel chain, but I don't think of Phuket as being a place many Americans go for holiday. Our guess was that a lot of them may have been expats living in Singapore, Bangkok, Tokyo, etc. The presence of lots of Americans is often a major downer, but at least in this case the obnoxiousness quotient was fairly low.

(Meanwhile, someone somewhere is probably blogging about the pregnant lady who wouldn't get out of the pool and her strange husband who would go to extraordinary lengths to stay out of the sun.)

How to get in trouble with your wife

Let me preface this by saying that Gretchen looks great. You know that thing about how pregnant women "glow"? Well, in her case it's true (it probably helps that she's got a nice tan to go with it). But, as befits a woman who is 6 months pregnant, she's getting a big belly. Last time we were at the doctor, she weighed herself and for the first time weighed more than me--certainly to be expected.

Fast forward to the flight home from Thailand. At one point we were both reading, our elbows bumped, and she apologised for taking too much room. My oh-so-sensitive response? "Don't worry about it...I know you need more room now that you're bigger than me."

Is that so wrong?

Hurts so good

Since I can never experience the pain of childbirth, I decided to do the next best thing when I was in Thailand: I got a Thai massage.

It started so innocently. I was met by my masseuse, Wat (or as she pronounced it, Waaaaaaht), who fit every stereotype of Thai women: petite, delicate, charming, soft voice, beautiful (the staff at the hotel was so gorgeous that at one point Gretchen asked out of the blue "how does Thailand not win Miss Universe every year?")...but what you don't realise initially is that this stereotype masks a hidden reality: this delicate flower could easily snap your neck with just her thumb and forefinger. So it was with Wat.

After putting on some light pajamas (Thai massage doesn't use oils) and getting a nice foot soak, the fun began. I asked for medium strength, but I also added that I'm not very flexible--seriously, if I can bend down and touch more than my knees then that's pretty limber by my standards. I thought this was an important piece of information since Thai massage is sort of a combination of accupressure, Greco-Roman wrestling, yoga and pretzel-making. My stream of consciousness thoughts during what ensued went something like this:

"Hey, this feels pretty nice and OW OW OW OW OW!!!"..."I wonder if my medical insurance will cover the flight evacuation when she breaks my hip in its socket?"..."Wow, who knew I had nerve endings there?"..."AAAAAHHH! AAAAAHHH! STOP! AAAAHHH!"..."I really hope I don't have to fart"..."Are joints really supposed to bend like that?"..."NO NO NO NO OW OW OW OW!!!"..."I wonder if I'll be the first person ever to fit his whole head through this little face hole to try to escape the pain"...

By the time I was finished, I felt like I had finished a 15-round heavyweight fight followed by a rugby scrum. When I asked her if I had a lot of tension, she said maybe an oil massage would be better for my body, and that basically I had tension everywhere (that would have been nice to know before actually choosing the massage). It was relaxing in a certain way, but my whole body was sore for the next 48 hours. Note to self: next time you decide you deserve some pampering, choose something that doesn't leave you in more pain when you finish than when you start.

My Thai

It seems a bit odd to say we really like Thailand when we've just spent a week basically sequestered in an isolated 5-star resort and so hardly had a "real" experience, but since we really liked Bangkok last year, I think we can get away with saying it. Plus, we at least managed to have a small taste of Thailand despite being in a bubble for most of the week. For example, in the early evening we were treated to Thai music and dance at the hotel:





And despite our avowal to do nothing more strenuous than swimming from one end of the pool to the other, one day we decided to rent a car and see what was going on outside our little shangri-la. There's nothing like driving in another country to get your adrenaline pumping, especially since it was only my second time driving on the left side of the road. I think I did much better than the first time, although I still managed to elicit a few gasps of intense anxiety from Gretchen when she was convinced I was going to drive off the side of the road. One of the biggest challenges was trying not to clip the hundreds of motorcycles laden with food, passengers, heavy equipment, etc. Some of them were incredibly elaborate (basically, full food carts with all the accoutrements), but this was pretty typical:



And if I thought signs were hard to read in Malaysia, they had nothing on Thailand (luckily most signs included at least a little bit in English):



Most of what we saw couldn't really be captured with a camera, but suffice it to say it was a whirlwind of sensual overload. We managed to visit the main temple on the islantd, which we had heard was relatively mundane, but after seeing lots of dour European churches, it didn't seem especially mundane to us:



On a more somber note, we saw a marker serving as a reminder of the December 2004 tsunami (in an area that was not hit as hard comparatively as some others). When we were first thinking about the trip, I wondered whether it would be strange to visit an area that had been hit by the tsunami. In doing research, though, what came through was that: (a) despite the extent of damage (over 200 were killed on Phuket), most of the island was relatively unscathed; and (b) for an economy that relies heavily on tourism, people staying away is one of the worst things that can happen. (Our sense is that Phuket has almost entirely bounced back not only in terms of reconstruction, but also in terms of tourism.)



So, with the exception of a long flight and rotten jet lag, we give a big thumbs-up to Thailand in both its hermetically sealed luxury resort sense and in its in-your-face-but-with-a-smile, grittier, real-world form.

The perfect babymoon

I'm in complete withdrawl today. Having returned last night from the most perfect babymoon, I am missing the heat, the pool, the fruity drinks, the friendly Thai greetings, the sun... I'm missing it all. Phuket was wonderful. The resort we stayed at was out of this world. About a year and a half ago, in November 2004, we went on an exquisite beach vacation to Langkawi, Malaysia, and I never thought we could find a place we loved as much as that place. But we did!

Here's a quick summary of our babymoon. Our days went something like this...

Wake up leisurely (with no alarms!) after a totally restful night's sleep in one of the most comfortable beds I've ever slept in. (By the way, a restful night's sleep is hard to come by for a woman who's 6 months pregnant, so this was something to celebrate!) Walk out on the balcony to check the weather conditions... let's see, today it'll be hot and humid and mostly sunny, just like every day in Phuket! (except for one day when it rained all morning, but we won't complain) Here's the view from our balcony. This is one of the 3 resort pools.



Stroll over to the cafe for the scrumptious breakfast buffet, featuring lots of local fresh fruits, including watermelon, pineapple, mango, papaya, and bananas. Comment several times during the walk to the breakfast about how good everything smells. There was this amazing floral scent everywhere we walked. We later learned it was all the jasmine growing around the resort. The only thing that smelled better were the cool lemongrass towels that were served to us before every meal. We were pampered!

After breakfast, stake out a good place at one of the magnificent pools. "Where should we start today?" was a typical breakfast conversation. Let me say this. I LOVE nice pools. I love floating around in the refreshing water with the sun shining down on me. Nothing is better or more peaceful. Here's the view from one of our common pool seats.



One section of the pool had these cool elephant statues spraying water everywhere. In the kids section of the pool, there were also turtles and fish doing the same thing. How great are these elephants?



With the exception of one day when we rented a car and drove around the island (more about that later), we spent the bulk of every day camped out at the pool. Kirk would stay in the shade of an umbrella and I would alternate between sun and shade, mainly staying cool by flopping into the water every few minutes. Continuing on, our days went like this...

Relax by the pool. Read lots of books. Nap occasionally. Cool off with ice water and cool lemongrass towels delivered throughout the day by the pool boys. At some point, order lunch. At some other point, order fruity drinks (there are even good non-alcoholic fruity drinks for pregnant women like me such as virgin pina coladas and virgin mango daquiris!). Swim. A lot. Enjoy the fresh watermelon delivered a couple times a day by the pool boys.



At some point during the day, take a break from the pool and head down to the virtually deserted beach to take a swim in the Andaman Sea. Hold on tight to your husband as you float in the waves because the currents are strong!



After a relaxing day in the sun, cool off in your lovely air conditioned room and get ready for dinner. There were several restaurants at our resort, but we steered away from the Italian option (we live in Switzerland, after all...) and chose either Thai or Japanese every night. What a treat! We ate lots and lots of fish. And I ate lots and lots of shrimp. Considering we don't get much seafood or Asian food of any kind in Basel, we were thrilled with our meals. At the Thai restaurant, you could choose your own fresh fish from this fish cooler.



A few days ago, a letter from our travel company was delivered to our hotel room informing us of what time the airport shuttle would pick us up on Sunday morning (we booked the vacation through a Swiss travel agent). Assuming we were Swiss, it was all written in German. It started like this: "Alles schöne hat ein Ende...", meaning all good things must come to an end. That was certainly true for this trip! One week was hardly enough. At least we have lots of good memories and lots of beautiful pictures...

Home at last...

Relaxed...exhausted...jet-lagged...tanned/bronzed/sunburned...not tired of Thai food...sad that vacation is finished...glad to be home, especially since daylight saving time started today...much more later when we're awake and semi-coherent...

Back in a week!

Bracketology

Not such a good first round of the NCAA Tournament for me. I entered two brackets. In one of them I got 21 games right and 11 wrong, and while all of the Final Four teams are still alive, three of my Elite Eight teams (Cal, Kansas, Michigan State) are gone. In my other bracket I got 22 right and 10 wrong, and have already lost one of my Final Four teams (Kansas). So, once again it's looking like I can't count on winning anything. Hopefully I can find scores when we're in Thailand...

Sound advice

Gretchen's obstetrician is great--kind of an older guy with a really nice manner (truth be told, he's the first obstetrician I've ever met so I can't really compare, but we both like him so that's good enough for me). Whenever we ask him a question about anything, he loves to cite studies that have been published. If we ask, "should she be eating more fish?", he'll say "well, the New England Journal of Medicine says not really, but a British study said yes, and a study in Zurich said you should eat rösti instead." But he's not at all pompous or self-important about it--I think he just doesn't have the "I'm the doctor and I said so" attitude.

Anyway, that's a long way of getting to today. We were talking to him about our trip to Thailand--what to avoid (malaria, raw food and too much sun) and what not to worry about (all other food, swimming, boats). Half in jest, I asked him "what about riding on an elephant?" since I've read that elephant rides are quite popular there, although I wasn't expecting we would actually do it. He was quiet for a second, then said "There aren't any studies about riding elephants." Then he was quiet for another second and said "but there are studies in France of farm wives riding tractors and there was a higher incidence of premature delivery...so I wouldn't ride an elephant." The scary thing is that while he had a smile on his face when he said it, I think he was serious. I really wouldn't be surprised if he goes home this weekend and does some research just to see if there is a study out of India or someplace about the perils and/or benefits of riding an elephant while pregnant.

Good things

I woke up in a foul mood this morning. That is very rare for me. Even if I'm really tired in the AM, I'm generally not feeling foul. But this morning I felt like I should have been wearing my nephew Bennett's T-shirt that says "Don't bother me, I'm crabby!". I was feeling especially crabby, because a) I was really unhappy with the haircut I got the other day, and b) I knew I had to give a bunch of blood today at the doctor's office. As a pregnant woman who already feels huge, it doesn't help when my new haircut makes me feel like a pinhead. This was a strange occurance-- we're generally very happy with Guy (our hairstylist). I think he was having a bad day when I saw him Tuesday, which means he did a little too much talking, and not quite enough paying attention to me.

I'm pleased to report that the foul mood has passed, and now I have several good things to talk about!

--I survived my blood tests. I absolutely hate giving blood. Back in DC I would always ask the nurse at my doctor's office if I could do it lying down because I always felt like I was going to pass out. Today I had to give TWO samples for the dreaded glucose test. The first one was at 8:30, then I had to drink a gallon (no, really, it was just a glass) of disgustingly-sweet sugar water, and the second tube of blood was taken at 9:30. Thankfully, Kirk was there to hold my hand for the second one. The ladies who work at my doctor's office get a kick out of that. But seriously, it helps!

--Our baby seems to be healthy and active. After the yucky blood tests, I had my sixth ultrasound! I love Swiss health care. It's so reassuring to be able to see the baby every time. As usual, the doctor (who is very soft-spoken) offered us many positive comments like "very nice", "perfect", "everything looks good". What a blessing. He also pointed out various organs that we really couldn't see, including the lungs, the liver, the nose (really?), and the heart (which of course we could recognize). He also commented on the nice muscles that appear to be forming in her legs. "Maybe she will be a ballet dancer", he said. That's right, I did say her legs.

--A much improved haircut. After leaving the doctor's office, I stopped in to see Guy to discuss my unhappy attitude with my hair. In no time at all he fixed it up, after admitting that he did possibly give me a few too many layers this time.

--A new CD. Kirk bought me several treats this week, including 2 new books for our vacation, and a new DVD-- Hennen Rennen, which is Chicken Run. I love all those animated movies, which will be especially good for the upcoming sleepless nights when we have a baby. My favorite treat of the week was a Jack Johnson CD: In Between Dreams. Great music.

--Spring is coming. Even though it's still cold and windy and there are a few remaining piles of snow (that Grady insists on eating when out for a walk), I'm confident that spring is coming. The crocuses are out, and I even saw the tiny bits of tulips starting to emerge in our garden! I planted a bunch of tulip bulbs that I brought back from Amsterdam last fall and I can't wait 'till they come up!

--Vacation! Some people may think it sounds crazy for me to need a vacation considering I don't even have a job, but believe me, everyone needs a break from their usual routine (cooking, cleaning, laundry, dog walking, etc), as well as a week of alone time with a hard-working spouse. Tomorrow we leave for our babymoon and I couldn't be more excited! The forecast for Phuket? 95 every day, with lows in the 70s! I plan to do lots of lounging on the beach and by the pool, along with lots of swimming. Hopefully we'll also eat lots of yummy Thai food!

Episode 371, in which Gretchen saves the day

I'm a creature of habit, especially in the morning when my brain is only working at half-speed. The problem is, the slightest disruption in my routine can throw me completely out of whack. On a normal morning, I putter around the house getting ready while Gretchen talks to me and I grunt in response. The less thinking on my part, the better.

My mistake this morning, then, was thinking. Stopping to ponder the simple question of whether or not I should take the car to work or walk instead was enough to completely mess me up. I actually thought everything was fine until I got to work and realised I'd forgotten my ID--no problem, I can get a temporary one. But in searching my pockets for my ID I realised I literally forgot everything that I usually carry in my pockets (and I'm normally a walking tote bag).

So Gretchen, despite being in a hurry and having morning appointments, actually took pity on me and drove down to give me my ID...my wallet...my keys...my mobile phone...my after-coffee breath mints...and even the wad of kleenex I keep in my pocket (c'mon, I've got allergies!). So she gets a HUGE thumbs-up for saving me from my own idiocy. As a matter of fact, to thank her I think maybe I'll take her to Thailand this weekend...

A first for everything

I experienced something today that I had never before seen in Basel: a man playing the accordian on a tram! I'm hoping this is not the start of a new trend. Even though you often see accordian-players on public transportation in other European cities (certainly London and Paris and Madrid), I can't remember ever hearing of it here in Basel! I do not find it charming, and, as Kirk has often said, I'd rather pay them money to STOP playing. I prefer my tram rides to be in silence, or at least with only the murmur of Swiss German in the background (which I can't understand anyway, so it's kind of like silence). Boy, am I a scrooge...

In other tram-related news, the results of my totally unscientific study tell me that the number 16 tram (which I often ride) has the most annoying tram riders in the city. Does anyone who lives in Basel want to challenge this assertion? Whenever I ride it there seem to be lots of screaming children, lots of people who stink like either smoke or booze, lots of pimped-out teenage boys wearing their chains and high-tops listening to hip-hop way too loud on their iPods, and lots of just plain old weirdos. This would include people like "stump man" (the man with a stump for an arm that Kirk saw a couple years ago)-- he was on the 16, of course!

It's the most wonderful time of the year

OK, so maybe it's not quite as wonderful as Christmas, but it's pretty close...I'm talking March Madness! I especially love the first weekend of the tournament when multiple games are happening at once, there are upsets galore by little no-name schools, you're sweating about how badly your bracket is blown up, etc. I really do think it's one of the greatest spectacles in sports, even if no one outside the US would get it.

I haven't filled out my bracket yet (actually, I haven't heard whether our friends are organising a pool this year...surely that tradition hasn't faded away, has it?). I'll probably have to go out of loyalty with either Duke (despite being perhaps the most hated team in the country) or UCLA, although I'm not sure either will actually win it all. I could support Gretchen and pick Wisconsin (or even Marquette or UW-Milwaukee to keep it in the state). I could go with a hometown pick and take San Diego State, even though we always looked down on SDSU (we were considered to be the real "academic" school, whereas they were better known for parties, attractive co-eds, sports...you know, all the things us geeks secretly wish we had). I could be sure not to pick the evil empire from North Carolina. All I know is that I'll probably have to change my picks 10 times between now and Thursday...

Going on a babymoon

For quite some time we've been saying we need a relaxing getaway. I really feel guilty complaining about anything having to do with vacation, especially since I get around 6 weeks a year (not that I use all of it), as opposed to 3-4 weeks back home, which sadly isn't too bad for the States. (This is as opposed to France, where one of my colleagues told me he gets around 9 weeks of vacation a year.)

Anyway, despite all of our myriad travels over the past year or so, most of our trips have piggy-backed onto work trips, so even during the vacation part I'm checking email, reading, etc. Our other trips have tended to involve going someplace (e.g., Italy & Norway) and racing around the whole time. Great fun, and the way we generally like to travel, but not exactly what you would call relaxing. We decided that what we really needed was a vacation where we could go somewhere and just relax by the pool, have cool fruity drinks (little umbrellas optional), sleep as late as we want, read a few mindless novels, leave the laptop at home, etc. This took on greater urgency when we realised that it might be our last chance to relax--and I don't mean to exaggerate--for the next 18 years or so. It was only after we had planned the trip that, in preparing for a visit (work-related, of course) to Amsterdam, we came across a term we had never heard before: "babymoon". But after reading the article it was clear that even if we didn't plan it that way, this would indeed by our babymoon.

But where to go? Unfortunately, no place in Europe is really warm enough this time of year (even in the Mediterranean), so we were looking at a long flight no matter what. So we decided to try to find someplace where we could fly direct since flying is getting less comfortable for Gretchen with every passing day. After lots of research we settled on Phuket, Thailand. Although Phuket wouldn't have necessarily been our first choice since parts of it are supposed to be overrun by tourists and a bit seedy, we really liked Thailand when we were there for a brief (work-related) visit in December, there is a direct charter flight from Zurich to Phuket, we love Thai food, and we found a resort that seems to be off the beaten path. (Plus, every time I see "Phuket" it reminds me of when I first moved to the Bay Area and would see a Thai restaurant of that name in San Francisco...being young and obnoxious, I would pronounce it phonetically and thought I was quite amusing. As it turns out, of course, the correct pronunciation is not "PHUK-it" but rather "poo-KET". Which I guess is amusing in its own right, although not as amusing as the nearby Phi Phi Islands, which are actually pronounced "pee-pee". Hey, if I have to start being a responsible father in a few months I may as well indulge my inner adolescent while I still can.)

So that's all an exceptionally long way of saying that we're really looking forward to leaving next Saturday for a week of R&R, especially since the cold and snow continues to hang around and generally make it feel like winter is never going to go away...

Found: A glider!

You may recall that we desparately want to find a glider/rocking chair before baby arrives. If you walk into Babies R Us or any baby superstore in the US you'll find literally dozens of different models. For some reason, they seem few and far between in Europe. A few weeks ago, I asked around at the moms group I met with in Basel. One woman told me you could buy them at the Baby One store near Freiburg (Germany). So that's where we went yesterday. The store was actually in a small town north of Freiburg called Gundelfingen. Success! They had gliders! Granted, they only had two models to choose from, but all we need is one and we'll be happy. We still want to check at a couple different baby stores in France before making the purchse, but I suspect we'll be back to Gundelfingen soon. I wonder if Kirk will ever let me sit in it...

I'll be looking forward to that trip back to Gundelfingen because we also found an excellent German restaurant in the center of town. Considering we had plans to go out for a big dinner last night, I had thought we would just pick up a light lunch before driving back to Basel. But I couldn't resist the lure of all the German comfort food on Charivari's menu! I ordered sauerbraten, which was always one of my favorite German dishes that both my Mom and Oma used to make. They served it with dumplings made the way my Dad used to make them-- sliced and sauteed in a bit of butter. It was all SO good.

On a totally unrelated note, I'm pretty sure that a former contestant from Deutschland Sucht Den Superstar (the German version of American Idol) was eating lunch at the restaurant with his family. I remember hearing that he was from some town in Baden-Wurrtemberg (southwest Germany), so it is possible. I suppose it's a bit frightening that I could identify all the singers from that show, but that's a different story.

A glider and sauerbraten-- I'd say that made for a successful trip to Gundelfingen!

A night out with the Finns

Last night was double date night for the Expatters and the Big Finns. After much anticipation (we made these plans months ago), we went out for dinner last night at our favorite restaurant in the Basel area. We've been to Säge a number of times, most recently on Christmas, but it was the first visit for the Big Finns. None of us were disappointed, and Säge continues to live up to its reputation as a cozy restaurant with friendly staff and delicious food! Considering all the good food, good wine (at least for the non-pregnant diners), and good company, it was Gemütlichkeit all around! And to think we met on the Internet...

How to be a pig and irritate your wife

G: "Hey, Wynonna Judd is on Larry King!"

ME: "Is that the daughter or the mother?"

G: "The daughter."

ME: "Hmmm...isn't she the ugly one?"

G: "THAT'S SO MEAN!!!"

ME: "What? The mother was always the better looking of the two."

[Actually, I'm partial to the other daughter myself...]

Scenes from Wisconsin

I've been back in Basel since Tuesday morning and have somehow managed to continue procrastinating the horrendous job of unpacking. I'm actually halfway done. I unpacked one of my big bags earlier today, but still have to empty the second of the two big bags I brought back with me. I decided this morning that before I could do any unpacking I had to totally rearrange my closets, etc. to make room for my maternity clothes. They needed a place to go rather than just sitting in stacks on the bedroom floor. That meant taking lots of my "regular" clothes into the basement to make room. It's a very strange thing to be packing away some of my favorite things that don't fit me anymore, knowing it could be quite some time before I wear them again.

With all the Fasnacht excitement, I haven't posted any pictures from Wisconsin. Frankly, I didn't take that many because there really wasn't much that was picture-worthy! I did a lot of shopping, ate lots of my favorite American foods, and spent lots of time hanging out with family and friends. Here are a few photos of my favorite kids in the whole wide world (my niece and nephews).

A couple months ago, my sister got a red convertible Mini Cooper. It may not be very practical for a family of 5 (plus dog) living in Wisconsin, but it is SO CUTE! Here I am with Natalie on our way to her piano competition. The judge gave her a "superior" rating-- the highest possible! If she gets "superior" 3 years in a row she gets a trophy, and Natalie LOVES trophies! I was visiting them last summer when her softball team got a trophy and she literally slept with it. Natalie is ALWAYS wearing a hat (baseball caps, fleece jester hats, wool caps, hooded sweatshirts) and I think this was the only time I ever saw her without a hat (other than at church).



Natalie's not the only one with musical talent in the family. Connor, her older brother, plays piano and clarinet (although he's never taken piano lessons... he's just teaching himself), sings in the school musical and church choir, and just got an electric guitar (he wants to start his own band). Here he is at the piano. The funny thing about this picture is that the painting on the wall used to hang very prominently above the fireplace in my parents' house. After my Mom died and we had to decide what things to keep from their house, my sister ended up taking lots of their furniture and art because the style fit perfectly in their house (and they had just built an addition onto their house). At times I felt like I was staying in my parents' old house as I looked around and saw my Mom's decorating touch everywhere.



Friday night fish fry is a Wisconsin institution (and not just during Lent). We decided to go out for fish last Friday night, but unfortunately so did everyone else in the greater Milwaukee area. The restaurant (which is actually a German restaurant) told us it would be 45 minute wait, which is 40 minutes too long for 3 kids to wait to be seated for dinner. So we opted to take our fish fries home in carryout containers instead. Bennett and I enjoyed a couple 7-Ups in the bar while the fish and potato pancakes were being cooked (or should I say fried). For some reason, Bennett is in this phase where he refuses to open his eyes for photos, which is unfortunate because he has these beautiful blue eyes that he must have inherited from my Dad. I tried to talk him into keeping his eyes open for at least one photo, but he is a VERY strong-willed and passionate almost-5 year old, so there's no arguing with him.



Last, but not least, here's Grady's cousin and look-alike Phoebe (wearing Natalie's baby blanket). Phoebe has certainly used up all of her nine lives, still living more than a year after her terminal cancer diagnosis and surprising all of us with her newly discovered youthful disposition.

"Waggis!"

It was a cold, wet, miserable afternoon in Basel, but nothing stops the Fasnacht festivities! I spent the afternoon watching the Cortege with my friend Sharon. I think the Wednesday Cortege is generally a repeat of the Monday afternoon performance (which I missed this year). It's a big parade throughout the heart of the city, full of bands playing Gugge music (like a brass band), Cliques (another type of musical group) playing fifes and drums, and floats carrying Waggis (guys in crazy costumes) who throw confetti and goodies at the spectators. I love the whole atmosphere and don't understand how people could live and not enjoy it! Perhaps I would have a different opinion if I lived downtown and couldn't sleep for 4 days because of the non-stop music...

The Gugge music is my favorite. It sort of reminds me of music at college football games or in a 4th of July parade-- lots of percussion and also some horns. Here are a few examples of Gugge bands we saw today.





I learned from my friend Sharon (her husband is Swiss and understands all the Fasnacht traditions) that when the floats go by, you get treats from the costumed guys on the float by yelling "Waggis!" at them-- because that's what they're called! By the end of the afternoon, I was really getting into it. Generally, when they offer something to you (like an orange or candy), you also get confetti dumped on you. Here I am after receiving a lovely carnation (and a handful of confetti) from a Waggi.



I came home with a carnation, a yellow rose, a mimosa (a traditional Fasnacht flower), 9 oranges, 2 packs of pocket-size tissue, a handful of candy and a lemon. I was especially happy about the lemon because I'm cooking fish for dinner and forgot to pick up a lemon at the store. I was also soaked from the rain and covered in confetti (literally, it gets inside your clothes and made me very itchy), but it was all worth it!

Fasnacht

The Basel calendar seems to revolve around Fasnacht, although in reality I think people either get really into it or they hate it and go out of town (which plenty of people do). OK, so it's not Carnaval, but it has its own charm. Last year we did as much as we could, including the part at 4:00am on Monday morning. This year Gretchen wasn't here, the trams still couldn't get through the snow to our neighborhood, and quite frankly the thought of waking up at 3:00am just wasn't terribly appealing. But today we went downtown and caught a little bit of children's day at Fasnacht.

Last year I commented on how Fasnacht may really illustrate a strong sense of fatalism that kids here must grow up with: sometimes you get candy, and sometimes you get confetti (or Räppli as it's called here) dumped on your head. The nice thing about children's day is that the tables are turned...children can, and do, dump confetti on adults. Today, for example, we were standing there when a kid in his costume came up to Gretchen and offered her a lollipop with one hand. She smiled and took it, knowing what was coming up next--he hurled a handful of confetti at her, which she took like a good sport.



There were lots of the usual people wearing crazy masks/costumes, which I would think might freak some kids out (especially since clowns can freak people out).





As usual, the ground was completely littered with confetti (the youngest kids would just grab handfuls of it and drop it on the ground, clearly not yet being old enough to get the whole confetti-as-weapon thing.



One of the truly amazing things is that when you go downtown, you would never know the rest of the city is buried under two feet of snow. I can't imagine the Herculean effort that went into clearing the snow, although it might explain why the rest of the city was so slow to be dug out (I imagine decisions were made at the highest levels that no matter what happened elsewhere, downtown would be cleared in time for Fasnacht). So Gretchen got some satisfaction in discovering that there was at least a small trace of snow that hadn't yet been cleared.

It's good to be home

It was a long day of travel, and the tights from hell once again lived up to their reputation, but I made it back to Basel this morning. Kirk even met me at the Zurich airport at 8:00 AM (he had to get up early to catch that 6:30 AM train!) so that I didn't have to carry all my heavy bags by myself. I guess that's one of the advantages of pregnancy... I get help with my luggage!

After a walk through the snow with Grady, a hot shower, some lunch, and a short nap, I met Kirk downtown this afternoon to enjoy the Fasnacht festivities! Today was "kids day", which appears to mean that lots of little kids get dressed up in costume. Otherwise it seems like all the other days of Fasnacht with confetti, music, and parades going in every direction. I'll post pictures later.

The snow is incredible! It was a beautiful and sunny day, but yet only a bit of it seems to have melted. It's still quite a mess, especially when you're walking a dog who can't seem to find a place to poop...

"Please don't go!"

In a couple hours, I'll begin the long journey back to Basel. I've had such a wonderful visit to Wisconsin, and am so happy to have been able to spend so much time with my family. As my almost-5 year old nephew left this morning for day care he said: "Please don't go, Gretchen!" He asked me to stay forever, but I told him I would really miss Kirk and Grady if I was gone any longer. Plus, I'm really looking forward to seeing the 2 feet of snow in Basel!

The funny thing is that I just realized I'm flying to Switzerland on March 6, which is exactly 2 years to the day from my original moving date. On March 6, 2004, I flew with Kirk and Grady from NYC to Zurich (long story about why we flew out of NYC) to start our new life in Basel. It was a day filled with emotion... I was thrilled to have the chance to live overseas for 2 years, but totally exhausted from trying to stay at my job until the very last minute (a big mistake, if you ask me now...) and trying to move out of our house and pack for the move by myself (Kirk moved to Basel a month before me to start work). All of this was happening just a month after my Mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Sometimes I wonder how I managed to juggle it all.

Now, 2 years later, we're lucky enough to get the chance to stay in Basel for another year. And although I've had some very sad days over the past two years having said goodbye to my Mom, I am blessed with a wonderful life and thrilled about the prospect of welcoming a new baby into our lives! Next stop, Basel...

I am a rock star

Of course the car is still buried, but at least I'm not the only laggard on the block not to clear his sidewalk.

Winter wonderland

At approximately 11:00am on Sunday, 5 March the snow finally stopped and the sun emerged. What a beautiful storm, described much more eloquently (as usual) by Heather than I could manage. We must have around 2 feet on the ground, which I would imagine has to be some sort of record for Basel. To give some idea how unusual this storm was, even the trams and buses are shut down. That may be par for the course back home when the first flakes start falling, but I'm convinced that in the event of a nuclear explosion here, the worst that would happen is there would be a 10-minute delay (for which they would plead for understanding and everyone would grumble about how transportation is going to hell).

Now, the aftermath: shoveling. I just went out and did about a quarter of our long sidewalk and had to take a break, which is partly a reflection of just how heavy the snow is, and partly a function of how embarassingly out-of-shape I am. (You may ask the question, why do you have to shovel the sidewalk if you're tenants? Shouldn't the landlords be responsible for that? Long story...) I'm supposed to be at Zurich Airport first thing Tuesday morning to pick up Gretchen and I'm really hoping I can get the car dug out by then (seriously).

I think I said something earlier this week about labs looking better in the snow. Poor Grady likes to eat the snow but it's so deep (basically up to his eyes) that he doesn't quite know what to do, and even worse, he seems to be confused about where to poop because his usual spots are buried. What's that they say about a dog's life?

Scenes from the 'hood

Our backyard (compare to the picture from yesterday afternoon):



Our street:



Downed tree blocking a nearby street (I saw a few of these when we were out on our walk this AM):



Around the corner:

Going places

I have a feeling I'm not going to be driving anytime soon, given how buried my car is (and it would actually be much worse if I hadn't cleaned off the car and gone out for a drive yesterday afternoon when we still had less than six inches).

Holy crap

This is looking more and more like a serious storm. My guess is that we've got about a foot on the ground and it hasn't let up at all (I shoveled at around 4:00pm and six hours later it's entirely snowed over with about another six inches already). I had dinner with friends tonight, where we must have watched three or four huge tree branches come down in their yard while I was there. It's usually a direct 10-minute tram ride to their place, but this is how it went down instead:

I showed up at tram stop, where there was a tram sitting there with a number 0 on it (Basel doesn't have a line with that number). I went up to the driver, who luckily spoke English, and she told me that there were trees down on the wires so the tram couldn't run, but a bus should be by shortly. Sure enough, a bus turned up and got me as far as the Heiliggeistkirche stop, where I was made to understand I could pick up the regular tram. The sign said it would be 8 minutes until the next tram, and when it got down to 3 minutes all of a sudden it changed and said 22 minutes instead. WTF?!? (At this point I thought about trying to go back home but realised I didn't have my friends' phone number with me. Doh!) Luckily about 5 minutes later a tram finally came by and I figured I was in business. The driver made an announcement in German that I naturally didn't understand, at which point about half the tram got off. A woman tried to ask me what was going on, but I had to tell her I didn't speak German. Sure enough, we got going...and started heading in the opposite direction of where I wanted to go. At this point I was feeling truly screwed. I got off at the first stop and managed to wedge into the shelter on the other side (one thing I learned from this experience is that as more people are squeezed under a tram shelter, the number of smokers increases exponentially). The first tram that came by got me to the train station, which was close enough to where I wanted to be. Then I got really bright and decided to try to find a shortcut to their place, which I naturally couldn't find and ended up trudging twice as far as necessary through the calf-deep snow. In the end my 10-minute trip ended up taking almost an hour. Luckily our friends are really easygoing, so I could just have a beer and laugh about it with them. Going home I figured there was no way I was going to be able to catch a tram so I hiked it through the snow instead (thus assuring that my lower body will be as sore as my upper body tomorrow, which is good because I'm all about symmetry).

The real question is, what does this mean for Fasnacht, which starts Monday morning?

Viel Schnee

Just last week I was going to do a post about how spring was almost in the air. The first crocuses started to bloom, I could hear songbirds in the morning when I was walking Grady, the nights were starting to get longer. Of course it was still cold, but the cold didn't feel as cold as it did before, if that makes sense. It's like, zero degrees last month felt chillier than zero degrees now. Well, it's a good thing I didn't post anything because I would have looked like a fool.

By and large, Basel doesn't tend to get very much snow, so this week has been strange because I think it has snowed every day. Like clockwork, I would wake up in the morning to an inch or two of fresh snow which would then melt as the day went on, only to wake up and repeat again the next morning (it's felt a bit like Groundhog Day). Each day the snow has been a little different: one day it was the light powdery type that I could just sweep off the sidewalk with a broom, the next day it was the sort where it melted and then froze so the pretty white flakes were covering up ice (great fun when cleaning off the car), another day was wet and slushy and already raining by morning so I figured it would melt quickly (which it did). Then yesterday it actually got warm (10 degrees, or 50F) and windy and rainy, so I figured we were moving into a more springlike phase.

Surprise! I woke up this morning to some of the heaviest snow I've seen since I've been in Basel, and it hasn't let up since (I'm not sure, but I think this article says it's a big ol' storm). At this point I'd say at least 6 inches has fallen (no clue what that is in centimeters). It's the sort of snow that, if it were falling in Washington, every news station would have their entire crew out reporting on it, traffic would be at a standstill, soccer moms would be fighting over the last bread and milk at the grocery store, general panic would ensue, etc (and you DCers know exactly what I mean), but even though it doesn't snow often here people seem to take it in stride, no one panics, trams and trains generally run on time, etc. It's really beautiful because it's the kind of snow that is clinging to all the trees and making it look like a winter wonderland...but, as I also discovered, because it was warm before it snowed the bottom layer is wet and heavy, so shoveling it was like shoveling wet cement. And did I mention that we live on a corner lot so we have to shovel two sidewalks? If I was pleasantly surprised that I wasn't sore after curling, I'm afraid I'm not going to be so lucky after this afternoon (and the way it's still coming down, I'll be at it again tomorrow morning)...

Curling

So, I can now check curling off the list of life experiences I can claim to have had. Despite curling not being a contact sport, there was plenty to worry about beforehand. What would I wear? (I found a pair of nylon sweatpants that did the trick.) Would I be able to remain upright on the ice? (Surprisingly easier than it looks.) Would I pull muscles I didn't even know I had? (Also surprisingly, no.)

It got off to a disconcerting start when I started to walk to the ice rink (it's just 5 minutes downhill from our place) and discovered that that afternoon's snow had melted and re-frozen, glazing the sidewalks and streets in our neighborhood with a thin layer of slick ice. Who knew I would be at greater risk getting to the rink than actually being there?

There was another group curling when we got there, so we drank hot Glühwein and pretended to learn the rules. At last it was our turn, so we split into two groups and each went to one end to learn how to "throw the rock". It looks easy enough on TV, and the actual sliding of the rock really isn't that hard--it's the sliding that's difficult. It turns out that if you're wearing tennis shoes, the ice isn't as slippery as it looks. To slide, you're supposed to slip something over one of your shoes that immediately makes the ice more slippery than a freshly waxed dance floor on rented tuxedo shoes. You're supposed to put your slippery foot in front, push off with your back foot, and glide effortlessly forward with your broom keeping you balanced (in our case, we didn't use our brooms but instead a little upright thing with a handle for beginners). In my case, not only did my slippery foot go spastically askew, but I also put the wrong knee down and basically ended up in a tidy heap on the ice. The lesson I drew from this is that I didn't want anything slippery on my foot, so the rest of the night I basically just threw it as hard as I could without doing the cool sliding thing--I still have my pride, after all.

When it was time to play some friendly competition against each other, I would say I was OK at throwing the stone (other than not sliding), terrible at sweeping (at one point, I was still unsure of my footing and moving slowly, so I found myself actually sweeping behind the stone, which is about the most pointless thing you can do--unless, of course, it was leaving little curling stone droppings), and excellent at yelling (as indicated in #5 of this article, curling evidently involves lots of screaming...our Canadian friend, who was wearing full curling regalia including (I'm not kidding) curling gloves, kept yelling "hurry! hard! hurry! hard!" to the sweepers in a voice that sounded like a pirate. I'm telling you, this is a quirky game.)

In the end, it was fun but I don't think I'm going to be hitting the curling circuit anytime soon. By the same token, it was fun to do one of those things that I never really imagined myself doing. And best of all, when it was finished we all retired to the restaurant for a good cheese fondue...

A "me" day

The past month or two it seems like I've been either working or traveling almost every weekend. I'm not complaining--I like my job, some of it's my own fault, etc. But the bottom line is that I've been feeling the need to take a day off. A "me" day, if you will. So I decided that today would be that day. How nice to have a day to do nothing! But I didn't actually do nothing. Instead I did the following:

--Slept late (all the way to 8:15am...crazy!)

--Watched a DVD I had rented and had to return by tomorrow (Dirty Pretty Things, about the shadow world of illegal immigrants in London. I enjoyed it even if it sometimes lacked subtlety...and really, two hours spent watching Audrey Tautou is never a bad thing.)

--Avoided shoveling the wet, heavy snow that accumulated on our sidewalk overnight because it would probably melt anyway (which it did).

--Caught up on a month worth of filing and paying bills.

--Chatted with Gretchen, who is having a great time in Wisconsin but of course misses me more than words could ever possibly describe (she didn't necessarily say that, but I think I heard it in her voice).

--Went to a real live movie theatre to see Syriana. It's confusing, perhaps paranoid, features a rather unpleasant torture scene...but I would still have to give it a thumbs-up for being well-made, well-acted and timely, and seeing it get ripped by the Washington Post's resident neo-con almost made me like it more.

--Had a nice bratwurst and rösti and beer dinner in the stübli
at Zum Braunen Mutz.

So, a good day. And more about curling tomorrow...

Vancouver 2010, here I come...

Journamalism

I don't usually talk about my work but I think I can do this without getting trouble and in any event I can't resist.

One of my colleagues recently spoke with a journalist on background, and was pissed off to see himself quoted, but not named, in the article since some of the things he said could be misinterpreted and in any event were not meant to be quoted. (This same journalist had done the same thing to me in the past, but since it wasn't anything controversial, I figured maybe I misunderstood the concept of "on background" and didn't raise a big stink. Live and learn.)

Fast forward to today. I get an email from a journalist for the same publication--let's just say it's obscure enough that I'm confident no readers of this blog have ever heard of it--asking questions that she wouldn't have had to ask about a document if she had only read the document (which she admitted she hadn't done) or even the press release that accompanied it. In other words, she wanted me to write her article for her. In light of my colleague's earlier problems I thought about blowing her off, but I thought I'd at least send her a quick note. Because, you know, I'm nice like that. This is a condensed version of the resulting email exchange:

ME: This is background information, DO NOT QUOTE ME, but here are answers to your (stupid) questions (which you would have found if you read the paper, but whatever).

HER: Great! Can I quote you on that?

ME: Maybe you missed the opening of my earlier email where I said DO NOT QUOTE ME. So, uh, no.

HER: What about if I don't identify you by name or organisation but just describe your role generically?

ME: What part of "no" do you not understand? NO!!!! NO!!!!

PRESS OFFICE (thankfully interceding): Do NOT quote him. Do you understand? DO NOT QUOTE HIM!!!

I know things like that would happen to Gretchen from time to time in her old job as well, so it's kind of a wonder I'm such a news junkie--it really does make you wonder how often journalists screw things up that you never know about.

The bad and the good

Our home internet connection has been malfunctioning for the past couple of days, which is a bit irritating...

...but it won't matter tonight because I'll be too busy curling! The only thing I need to figure out now is what to wear, since our organiser suggested that we wear a "comfortable (ie loose-fitting) pair of pants -- if you happen to have a pair of stretchy double-knit polyester pants hanging in your closet, wear them on Thursday." Loose-fitting pants? After living in Basel for two years? This could get ugly...

Factoid of the day

In the week or so that Gretchen has been gone, I've only turned on the television once, and that was to watch a movie. I have no idea what this means (other than the obvious: all we have are German channels other than CNN). I fear I may have missed the annual televised German Carnival shows, which are über-kitschy.

Psycho weather (qu'est-ce que c'est)

I woke up this morning to what could generally be described as a dusting of snow--nothing on the street, a thin layer on the sidewalks...nothing to write home about. Then it all of a sudden turned to near-blizzard conditions. In the time it took to shower and eat a quick breakfast, close to an inch of snow must have fallen, completely coating the streets. And yet, by the time I got outside the sky was blue. Then at work the heavy snow came again, then more sun. This is all in the space of an hour or less. Now it's brilliantly sunny (albeit with dark clouds on the horizon) and looks terribly windy, with big plumes of snow blowing off all the rooftops. Bizarro.