And the winner...

...of our last mini-holiday while living in Switzerland is (drum roll, please)...Munich (with a possible day trip to Salzburg, Austria if we're sufficiently motivated). Perhaps an uninspired choice given the other places we were thinking about, but with the stress of getting ready for the move we decided to go someplace a little closer (just over an hour flight) and easier. Plus, like Berlin, it's one of those places we've talked about going for the past three years but never got around to, even on our drive around Bavaria last year. So instead of a big last hurrah, we'll settle for a long weekend in Berlin and now a long weekend in Munich...and that's just fine!

Travel graphics

One of the things that still amazes me about all the travel we've done over the past several years, both personally and professionally, is that prior to 2000 I had never even been to Europe--Canada and Mexico were as far afield as I had been. So here is a graphic representation of my travel progression in recent years:

Pre-2000




Pre-moving-to-Basel-in-2004




Visited to date




create your own visited country map

Some of the most glaring omissions would seem to include South America, India and Russia...

Ramblin' man

While cleaning out my office in advance of the move, I looked through all of my travel records and gleaned the following tidbits:

• In three years I will have taken a total of 48 work trips, an average of 1.3 per month;


• There were only 7 months during that period when I had no work trips;


• It wasn't as grueling as it sounds, since 30 of those trips were within Europe;


• I also went to North America (7 times), Asia (5 times), Africa (twice), the Middle East (twice...I know it's not a continent, but I've semi-arbitrarily counted Egypt and Lebanon as the Middle East while including Turkey in Europe) and Australia-Pacific (twice);


• Since I bailed on a meeting in Brazil, that means I never made it to South America (or Antarctica, but that's not a very popular meeting spot);


• Most-visited cities were Amsterdam (6 times), Frankfurt (a very exciting 5 times), and London, Washington and New York (4 times each);


• Despite those trips to Washington and New York, I haven't been back to the States since late 2005 (I had a couple of trips scheduled last year but they were around the time Baby was born so I was on a self-imposed travel ban);


• In addition to the countries of the cities listed above, I also made multiple visits to Spain (3 times), China/Hong Kong (3 times), and Canada, France and Poland (twice each);


• Luckily my travel schedule has been relatively light since Baby was born;


• Gretchen joined me on 16 of those trips (but oddly enough, never to Frankfurt);


• On 8 of the trips where she joined me, we were able to take vacation and visit someplace else (Malaysia and Singapore after our trip to Vanuatu, Dublin after a trip to London, Kyoto before a trip to Tokyo, Wengen before a trip to Beatenberg, Norway after a trip to Amsterdam, Bangkok after a trip to Sydney, Capri after a trip to Rome, and Oxford after another trip to London);


• The places I'm probably happiest I went because I'm not sure I ever would have gone on my own were Beirut (before the recent troubles), Vanuatu, Tokyo, Krakow, Cairo, Istanbul, Merida and Beijing (Frankfurt just missed the cut);


• The places that had their own unique charms but I'm not in a big hurry to visit again include Warsaw (ugly), Brussels (good food but boring), Dakar(can't really describe why), Kuala Lumpur (not much soul), Nairobi (safety) and, yes...Frankfurt;
and

• I have 47 trips down and one to go--Noordwijk, Netherlands (outside of Amsterdam) in a couple of weeks.

I have really mixed feelings about what will likely be a significantly scaled-back travel schedule when I get back to the States. On the one hand, I really feel genuinely blessed to have been so many interesting places that I never otherwise would have been, even if my primary focus was work rather than sightseeing--if I never travel again, I would still be lucky. On the other hand, not only is travel physically and mentally draining, but with Baby I also find it much harder to be away (which is not to say, of course, that I didn't miss Gretchen terribly in the pre-Baby days). I think the thing I might miss the most is accruing enough miles to have the frequent flier status to get expedited check-in and use of the business lounge...

Kaffee und Kuchen

Since moving to Basel, I've become a big fan of the German tradition of Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee and cake). For some reason, it doesn't seem to be as popular in Switzerland, but considering we're just minutes from the border with Germany, it's easy to find a place for this afternoon treat. In my experience, it seems that most cafes in Germany are crowded in the late afternoon with Germans (mainly old people) enjoying a piece of cake and coffee over conversation. And why not?!

I love cake. Thankfully, I have a friend who loves cake as much as me. Actually, Liz also shares another one of my true loves-- cows. It's always good to have a friend who completely understands the need to stop to say hi (or "moo") upon seeing cows while on a walk or a drive. Anyway, last week Liz and I took Baby out for her first Kaffee und Kuchen at Cafe Inka in the tiny nearby town of Ötlingen, Germany.



This place is the best. They always have a beautiful selection of cakes, often with fresh, local, seasonal ingredients such as cherries or strawberries. I highly recommend it to any of you in the Basel area. Does that cake look gorgeous or what?!



While Liz and I enjoyed our cake, Baby chose to snack on a more age-appropriate snack: a Zwieback!

A true sign of spring (even though it's February)

We've been having beautiful spring weather in Basel these days. Temperatures in the 50s (maybe even 60?), sunny blue skies, the birds are singing, the days are longer... I'm reminded of how much I loved springtime in Basel. Yesterday, while walking through our neighborhood field, it became clear that spring has indeed arrived. The storks are back! Just a few days ago I wrote (in "my list") about how I had hoped to see the storks again before leaving Basel. This was definitely a special treat-- there were 7 of them gathered together in the field! Who would've thought that they'd return to their summer home this early in the year. Now I just hope that they (and we) won't be surprised by a late winter snow storm. It is possible, of course... remember last year?

Auf wiedersehen

One of the things about expat life is that it tends to be transitory in nature. Since many people are on temporary assignments or working for international companies, chances are they're going to be moving on at some point. People come, people go.

And so it is in the small expat blogging world in Switzerland, which bade farewell to Heather, who has moved up north to Germany. I've always found her to be one of the more eloquent bloggers around (winner of Best Swiss Blog last year), and not just about life in Switzerland. Heather and her husband were kind enough to invite us over to lunch in their small village two hours from Basel near the Rheinfall the weekend before their move, and other than getting geblitzt once again (I was so careful the entire way there, then lost track of my speed while trying to navigate the streets of a neighboring town and got my usual 40-franc speeding ticket), we had a great time.

Seeing her farewell post makes me realise it won't be long before we'll also be making farewell posts of our own. We're not really sure what will happen to our blog after that...we'll probably keep blogging for a while about the readjustment back to life in the States, but will it have the same urgency and relevance once we're settled back in? Too soon to say. But whatever happens, this blog has been a much bigger part of our life and identity here than we ever could have imagined at the outset.

But what do you really think?

One question I seem to get from time to time is what sort of reaction we get from Europeans about US politics. The fact is, I can probably count on one hand the number of time people have tried to have a political discussion with me, and on those rare occasions when it does come up people usually go to great lengths to explain that they don't hold the actions of political leaders against US citizens. The bottom line is that while many Europeans may have strong opinions (which we may not always disagree with, quite frankly), I have never once felt the slightest twinge of unease about anti-Americanism. But I still had to laugh when we were driving to the airport in Berlin and ended up behind this truck...I'll leave it to you, the reader, to decide whether or not it's a representative statement.

Watching the world go by

For some reason, Baby absolutely loved looking out the window of our hotel in Berlin, even though there wasn't really much to look at. Maybe it was the flags flapping across the street, or the cars in the distance, but she couldn't get enough of it. So we finally decided it was easiest to just set her up in a chair by the window, and sure enough she was entranced:

Berlin

'Twas an excellent long weekend in Berlin. Of course, being in the hotel room for the night by no later than 7:00pm isn't necessarily the preferred way to see a nightlife city like Berlin, but that's our new life so it's not like we really had a choice in the matter. The weather was mostly excellent, the hotel was top-notch (except for the hordes of smokers in the lobby), Baby was in good spirits and did great on the flights, Gretchen got a nice pedicure, we ate well...no complaints.

The thing about Berlin is that it's really not a terribly attractive city (World War II and 40 years of communism in the East took care of that), but it's dynamic and energetic and unlike so many European cities, many of the formative events took place either within our lifetimes or those of our parents so you can really feel it. Anyway, we saw some of the typical Berlin sights like the Brandenburg Gate, the TV tower, the bombed-out-in-WWII Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, etc.







We thought it might be nice to spend a sunny Sunday at the Zoo (since almost all shops in Germany, like in Switzerland, are closed on Sundays). So we were riding on the U-Bahn in that direction and it dawned on us that almost everyone around us--adults and children--were dressed in costumes. By the time we got to our destination, it had become abundantly apparent that everyone was going to the Berlin Karneval parade. Since that meant that there were basically a million people in the general vicinity of where we wanted to spend a leisurely afternoon, we bailed on the Zoo and instead got lunch at a place with a view of the festivities.



We even managed to stop for a couple of kitschy photos for a stereotypically Bavarian restaurant (which, alas, we didn't eat at):





But more than anything else, we spent a lot of time just hanging out in our comfy hotel room...and that was just fine.



About the only disappointment was that we thought we almost had a brush with fame which, alas, was not to be. It turns out we happened to be there for the final weekend of the big Berlinale film festival, which was taking place all around our hotel. We noticed that there was someone sitting outside our room--which was right next to a suite--around the clock, so Gretchen finally asked what he was doing and he said he was working security. Aha! So who could it be in the suite next to us? Such intrigue! So when the festival was over and we were checking out, we asked who it had been...and it turns out it was just a jeweler who was loaning jewelry (hence the need for security) to celebrities. We thought we might be reading in People magazine about how so-and-so had many sleepless nights in Berlin because of a crying baby in the adjacent room...

Wait your turn

I have to say I'm thoroughly impressed with Gretchen's lists of things she'll miss about Switzerland...I had planned to do a list of my own and may still do so, but she really managed to nail it. Of course, that's not to say there won't be some things we won't miss at all, and today at lunch I was reminded of one of my major pet peeves...IS IT REALLY SO DIFFICULT TO WAIT IN LINE?!?

It's sort of an odd quirk of what is otherwise such an orderly society (the same can be said, by the way, of Germany as well), but there seems to be some sort of mass aversion to standing in lines. So, when you go into a bakery or try to get on a chairlift or board a plane, it's every person for themselves (possibly the most dangerous place in Europe is standing near the entrance of any Lufthansa gate when they make the initial boarding announcement...the stampedes rival the running of the bulls in Pamplona). In fairness, most people do at least try to make an effort to acknowledge when someone is ahead of them, but there's always the free-rider who will just barge right to the front as if it's their God-given right not to have to wait.

Sure enough, today I was waiting patiently at the counter of a nearby bakery to buy a couple of sandwiches when I noticed an old lady (not to be ageist or anything, but they really are the leading culprits) sneaking up to the front. I knew I was next, and so did the woman behind the counter because she looked right at me to ask what I wanted, but all of a sudden the old lady tried to shout out her order. When the woman behind the counter ignored her and started getting my sandwiches, the old lady started muttering in Swiss German that I couldn't understand, but that I could tell from tone and context was clearly directed at me. I'm generally mild-mannered, especially when I don't speak the language, but I wasn't about to have my integrity impugned (even if everyone else at the counter knew I was first), so I mustered up my best German, looked right at her, and said "Ich bin hier!". Which I think actually means "I am here" (I don't know past tense), but it seemed to have the desired effect because she all of a sudden got sheepish, looked away and said something like "ja, ja, ist gut" ("yeah, it's OK").

Every time something like this happens, I think back to when I was in London for a meeting 5 years ago when the Queen Mother passed away and her body lay in state at Westminster for people to pay their respects. At one point they were making announcements on the Tube that the line was 12 hours long(!), and yet this didn't seem to stop anyone. I was down near the Thames and you could see a perfectly orderly line stretching literally as far as the eye could see (probably a good mile or two). When I mentioned this to a British colleague, his only comment was that "you should never underestimate the desire of the British to queue." Clearly this trait never made its way across the English Channel...

How could I forget

I've already thought of a few more things that I forgot to put on my list yesterday.

Cows. You'd think that I wouldn't get excited about cows considering I grew up in the Dairy State (Wisconsin) where cows are everywhere. But there's something special about Swiss cows. Of course, I prefer to think that they are all dairy cows (even though I also enjoy a good steak). I can't believe how many pictures of Swiss cows I've taken over the past 3 years, including this beauty from Rigi.




Kürbis. Also known as pumpkin. There's a lot of here in Switzerland. I especially love Kürbissuppe. And the annual Kürbisfest at one of our neighborhood farms.

Good repairmen. I really appreciate that, when you call someone to fix your dryer, to pack your house, to fix an electrical problem or whatever else, you can truly count on the fact that they know what they're doing. They've been trained for it, they take great pride in their work, and you can trust them. Sometimes at home I'm not even sure whether I feel safe letting the cable guy through the front door!

Perhaps there's still more to come...

My list

For quite some time now Kirk and I have been talking about all the things we will miss about living in Switzerland. Now that it's almost time for us to leave I've started to put this mental list in writing. It's funny how much of this list has to do with food. Ironically, my "what I can't wait to get back to in DC" list also has a lot to do with food! That's because I like to eat. So, at long last, here it is... in no particular order, here are the things I will miss after leaving Basel.

Friends. So I said this was in no particular order, but this one has to come first. After living somewhere for three years you end up with some really great friends. I'm very sad to have to say goodbye to them. :(

Chocolate. Enough said.

Bread. Seriously, I plan to eat more than my share of bread and chocolate over the next six weeks.

Good bakeries. I already mentioned bread, but beyond that... you can find a good bakery everywhere you look. Even the chains (eg. Sutter) have really good bread, sandwiches, and pastries. I'm a big fan of Zigerkrapfen and Silserli Käse from Sutter.

Strawberries and cherries. I absolutely love the summer when you can get both fresh strawberries and cherries. I've never tasted any better than the ones that grow right here in and around Basel.

Door-to-door farmers. I love the guys (and gals) that ring our bell to sell us apples, pears, onions, potatoes, raspberries, and even mistletoe.

The honor system. I can't tell you many often I've seen an unmanned roadside stand with fresh-picked fruit for sale with a money box sitting next to it. The same concept is used at the local self-pick flower garden.

Kids in reflective vests. As a Hausfrau, I'm often home during the day, which means I get to see the little kids walking to school. It's almost too good to be true.

The Alps. Could you ever get tired of seeing them?

Wanderweg. I love walking. And I love the little yellow signs all over Switzerland marking the walking trails.

Dogs. As is often the case in most European countries, dogs are allowed almost everywhere here. Often you won't even know that there's a giant golden retriver in a restaurant until the owners stand up to leave and the dog comes out from under the table. There are also some really cool breeds here, like Bernese and Swiss Mountain Dogs.

Poop bags. As long as I'm on the subject of dogs, how about those dog poop bags? Why can't they start this in the US?

Public transportation. We do have a car here, and we do use it sometimes, but you could easily live here without a car. I've really grown to appreciate being able to take public transportation (and walk) everywhere. I can't quite imagine what it will be like to start hauling Baby in and out of the car to run all my errands like a true American.

Travel. We love to travel. Travel within Europe is so easy and convenient. We've seen places (outside of Europe) that I never could have imagined while we've been living here. I'm sad to say goodbye to this chapter of life.

The pool. I've realized over the past few years that I need to have regular access to a swimming pool. Especially in the summer. Being members of a private sports club with a beautiful outdoor pool has been a huge perk of Kirk's work situation.

Trains. What a civilized way to travel. Swiss trains are the best, especially now that they're all non-smoking.

Yogurt. Since moving to Basel I eat yogurt almost every day. It's thick and rich and full of fat and so delicious. Nothing like the no-sugar-no-calories-no-flavor yogurt back at home.

Mumpf. I can't say enough good things about Grady's second home. I doubt we'll ever find another kennel like it.

Guy. Since meeting Guy, getting a haircut has become an event. Will we ever find anyone in DC to replace him?

France and Germany. The other day I sent an email to a friend that went something like this: "I'm thinking of doing some shopping tomorrow morning in Germany. Want to go with me?" I will never get over how cool it is to be able to drive from our home to France or Germany in a matter of minutes.

Church bells. They ring all the time around Basel, and it's a beautiful sound to me. Actually, it's the sound of Europe to me.

Heavy, Swiss food. The sausages, the schnitzel, the spätzle, the rösti, the älplermacaron...

Street sweepers. I'm not talking about the trucks that drive down the street to clean them, but rather the men who literally sweep our sidewalks. Switzerland really is that clean!

The storks. I used to think the only cool thing about storks was that they brought new babies. Now I realize that they actually are beautiful birds, and I love that they live in this region (and hang out in our neighborhood field). It would be so cool if they returned for the summer before we leave Basel at the end of March!

The zoo. The Basel zoo is a good one. It may be small, but it's in a beautiful park, and they always have lots of baby animals.

Skiing. A couple years ago, as I was sorting through a bunch of my childhood stuff in my parents' house, I found something I wrote in 7th grade. If I were to be granted three wishes (as a 12 year old), I wrote that I would want to ski in the Swiss Alps. How many people can say that one of their childhood dreams has actually come true?

Cheese. Having grown up in Wisconsin, I've always loved cheese. But never before has it been such a regular part of my diet. Remember this one: "Oh, you like the cheese..."

Fondue and Raclette. Speaking of cheese...

It's safe here! The other day I was reading a story in the Washington Post about a 17-year old boy who accidently shot his aunt (with whom he lived) while playing with his gun as they discussed plans for his 18th birthday. Crime is just not an issue here in Switzerland. I don't care what anyone says, it's just not.

Süssmost. What a great idea. It's fizzy apple juice! I became a huge fan of this while pregnant and I will miss it.

Neighborhood farms. Technically, we live in the "city" of Basel. But even here in the city we can walk to some farms! I love being able to see cows, sheep, goats, etc on a walk or bike ride. You can escape to the country within a matter of minutes.

Did I miss anything?

For those of you who are expats living in Switzerland, what would you miss if you were moving home?

Next up, part 2 of my list, in which I write about what I'm looking forward to in DC...

Touch my monkey

(Just in case you don't get the title, it's Dieter from Sprockets.)

So we still haven't figured out what to do with my remaining holiday time, but in the meantime we've decided to take a last-minute long weekend trip to Berlin. It occurred to us that for the entire three years we've been here, Gretchen has been saying she wants to go back to Berlin, but for some reason we never got around to it despite EasyJet flying direct from Basel.

The last time we went was in the summer of 2000 or 2001 (I don't remember which), and despite it not being the most physically attractive city (WWII and communist-era architecture took care of that), it had a cool vibe and energy. Plus, how many cities can you visit a former concentration camp in the morning, then find yourself a few hours later sitting a couple of tables away from Neve Campbell at an outdoor terrace in Prenzlauer Berg before finishing the evening wandering around the Tacheles art center looking like dorky Americans while trying (without success) to find a nightclub? Somehow I have a feeling the combination of winter and Baby might make this a slightly less adventurous visit...

"Tub of Goo"

I'm not exactly sure how you spell "Goo", but this is one of Kirk's current nicknames for Baby. It was confirmed today that indeed she is a Tub of Goo. According to the scales at my local Beratung, she now weighs 9.2 kilos, which translates to about 20 pounds. No wonder I'm developing such strong biceps (not to mention a strained back)!

Let the cleaning begin

You know that cupboard in your kitchen that's filled with all sorts of various sauces, oils, and vinegars? I bet you anything that most of them are expired and should be thrown away. Our kitchen now smells like an Easter egg because of all the junk I just poured down the drain. (The smell of vinegar always reminds me of dying Easter eggs as a little girl.) We've lived here only 3 years, yet had a whole shelf full of things that I probably cooked with once-- perhaps in 2004-- and have been sitting there for 2 years beyond their expiration date. Go ahead, check it out. You'll feel better once you toss a few things.

We're moving back to the US in 6 short weeks. No exact date yet for the move, but it's coming fast so it's time for me to start cleaning out cupboards, drawers, and closets. How did accumulate so much junk? My favorite cupboard is the one filled with all the various toiletries, many of which I brought with us 3 years ago and still haven't used. Time for a trip to the dump!

Learning to eat

Question: Why do they call it "introducing solids", when a baby's first food is really nothing but a bunch of mushy fruits and vegetables? There's nothing solid about it at all!

Considering Baby's reluctance to ever drink out of a bottle, I was somewhat concerned that she might also resist "solids", because they're not delivered via the boob. Thankfully, she's doing quite well and seems to enjoy eating (which is made evident by her very chubby tummy). She still has quite a limited number of foods that she's eating, but nonetheless I consider it a huge success. Her current "solids" repertoire consists of pureed apples, pears, bananas, and carrots (her one veggie). All are made by yours truly, thanks to delicious fresh Swiss produce, a steamer basket, and a food processor. I can now add "baby food chef extraordinaire" to my Hausfrau resume. So far she has rejected sweet potatoes, peas, and avocado, but we'll keep trying. Here are a few recent photos to capture her adventures in eating.

At first, she thought the avocado wasn't too bad.



Only a few moments later, however, she made her very dramatic "I'm gagging" face, in which she sticks out her tongue and tries to cough out the remaining (disgusting) food.



Then there was the recent attempt at her first real solid food: a baby Zwieback cracker. I found it quite curious that, although she puts absolutely every toy in her mouth, she chose to hold the Zwieback in her hands for several minutes studying it carefully before considering whether it should go into her mouth.



After some prompting from me (in other words, I stuck it in her mouth), she gummed it for a little while, and then realized she didn't know what to do with the crumbs that remained on her tongue.



The adventure continues. Next up: Kürbis (also known as pumpkin or squash).

What to do?

OK, so here's a problem I'm sure most people wouldn't mind having. I've got a few weeks of vacation to use before I go home, and it's a use-it-or-lose-it situation so I don't want to leave any of it unused. We'll probably use some at the end and maybe some around the time of the move, but that still leaves at least one week for a last trip.

Our initial thinking had been a decadent blowout somewhere warm like the Maldives, but in addition to being ridiculously expensive, our recent experience with Baby in Arosa made a 10-hour flight with jet lag sound much less relaxing.

So now we're thinking something closer to home (i.e., direct flight from Basel or Zurich). I'm even leaning towards trying to do two cities in a week, although Gretchen isn't so sure (it's our division of labor...Gretchen reminding me it's not always easy with Baby since she does 99.999% of the work, and me trying to push us to do as much as we can). Gretchen, in turn, is thinking an easy drive somewhere might be best. The key thing is that wherever we go, we want (1) easy travels from point A to point B; and (2) to stay in a nice enough place that we're comfortable hanging out when Baby's sleeping, we can order room service when she goes to bed early, and the walls are thick enough that her crying won't wake the entire hotel. It would be late February or early March, so the weather will probably not be great anywhere, but worse some places than others.

Anyway, I'm starting my research but here are the current options (in no particular order)...thoughts from those who have been to any of them about pluses/minuses?

BERLIN: The only one we've both been to, but Gretchen hasn't been in over 5 years. Could take a day trip to Dresden. Love the energy. Weather would probably suck. Lots of luxury hotels to choose from.

EDINBURGH: Neither of us have been to Scotland. One of our admin assistants at work (not to mention the famous Ms Mac) is Scottish and I never tire of hearing "wee" in a non-humorous way. There are no direct flights, which could be a problem.

ATHENS: Neither of us has been to Greece. Charter flights to the Greek Isles haven't started yet, so Athens is basically our only option and we don't really know anything at all about it--is it basically just a stopping-off point on the way to better places where you don't want to be hauling a baby around, or is it a don't-miss? (It's all Greek to me! Oh, I kill myself sometimes...)

ISTANBUL: I was there briefly a year ago, Gretchen has never been. Something about it was really fascinating, but Gretchen's not totally sold on it (I think in part because of concerns about the possible need to breastfeed in public in a Muslim country where that might be frowned upon). There are some really nice luxury hotels.

LISBON: Neither of us have been there. Don't know much about it other than that friends who have been to Portugal really liked it. It's not really close to the other places we're looking at so the two cities thing probably wouldn't be an option.

STOCKHOLM: We've never been. The group I work with has 13 member countries, and Sweden is the only one I've never been to. I've heard people really rave about Stockholm, but I'm not sure that was after a visit in February/March--the potential for bad weather is definitely high.

HELSINKI: Another place we've never been. The language could be a source of endless laughs and bewilderment (sorry, TBF). We both hate saunas. We could go to Tallinn, Estonia, which is someplace I've wanted to see. The weather might even be worse than Stockholm.

Gretchen has also raised the possibility of driving to Northern Italy...it's no secret that we love love love Italy, but I dunno...seems like it might be kind of a drab time to be visiting the lakes.

Then there's the possibility of combining two cities. Stockholm-Helsinki? Athens-Istanbul? Berlin-Istanbul? Berlin-Stockholm?

So much to think about, but frankly it's a welcome change from thinking about the move...

Don't try this at home

This is the kind of thing I'm going to miss back in the States...the weekly supermarket newspaper featuring the headline "Yodeling after heart desire" (I'm sure the translation isn't quite exact):

Lucky

Just for the record, there are three things I'm extremely thankful for these days:

(1) A loving, patient and supportive wife;

(2) Smiles and giggles from Baby; and

(3) Season one of Arrested Development on DVD.

Sometimes it's the little things in life that make you happy, and sometimes it's the bigger things...

I'm just saying...

...that while Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin is one of the more powerful and thought-provoking books I've read in a while, I'm not sure it's necessarily the most uplifting choice for either a new or prospective parent (it's written from the perspective of the mother of a teenager who has committed a Columbine-style school massacre). After finishing it I switched to a mystery, and despite featuring a killing on the first page it's positively light and airy by comparison...

You shook me all night long

So one of the biggest deals here lately has been a series of earthquakes that have evidently been caused by drilling as part of a geothermal project. (While I've never heard of man-made earthquakes, except possibly in the engineering school at my alma mater, drilling around an earthquake fault strikes me as one of those "don't mess with Mother Nature" kind of things.) While everyone else I know seems to have felt the earthquakes, I hadn't felt one since right after moving here...until Friday morning, that is. It was about 5:00am and I was having trouble getting back to sleep when all of a sudden I felt the unmistakeable rock-and-roll of a small earthquake (only 3.3 on the Richter scale).

Possibly the best thing about it wasn't that I finally felt one, but that I didn't react at all. See, prior to 1994 I took earthquakes in stride. Even the 1989 quake in the Bay Area, which was the strongest I had experienced, wasn't so bad because I lived way out in the East Bay where there was no damage. Then came 1994, when I was living in West LA during the Northridge quake. It was the scariest thing I've been through by far--when it was happening I thought there was no way the apartment building could withstand the damage, and it ended up doing a fair bit of damage in the area where I was living (e.g. the collapse of the I-10 freeway down the street). I didn't sleep well for months afterward, and for years I would jump at the sound of loud bangs or sudden shakes, even though I moved to the relatively earthquake-free East Coast in late 1994. To this day I still sometimes have dreams where I'm caught in a big quake. This is all a long way of saying that a few years ago even a small earthquake like the one on Friday would have at least given me a major adrenaline rush, but this time it just felt like an ordinary, run-of-the-mill, small little tremblor--the kind any hearty California (or Tokyo or other earthquake-prone area) native would laugh off. It's nice to know that even halfway around the world, I evidently haven't lost touch with my inner Californian...

View from the train, Zurich Hauptbahnhof

Star light, star bright

While it may have been an occasional guilty pleasure for Gretchen, I've never liked American Idol and its ilk. But this weekend the TV in the hotel gave us something much better: three different versions of the German-speaking equivalent. And lest you think the humor is solely a function of having to sing in English, rest assured that much more of the humor was a result of inability to carry a tune (and I should know, because I couldn't carry a tune if my life depended on it).

GERMANY: Deutschland sucht den SuperStar. Obviously part of the American Idol family since they use the same music, design, etc. If you think the casting shows on American Idol are funny, you should watch them in German. I only understood maybe a tenth of the German and was rolling on the floor. Still, the overall quality, while bad, is clearly light-years ahead of its other German-speaking neighbors.

AUSTRIA: Starmania. Whereas the German version was just finishing casting specials, we got to see the final three in Austria. You had Nadine, the ultimate winner, who actually had an excellent voice (I liked her version of "Get Here") but in most other ways looked like the high-school student that she presumably is. Plus she looked vaguely ethnic (i.e., not-so-stereotypically-Austrian) and comes from the Tirol (Alps), so that was going in her favor. Then you had Gernot, who finished third and who did an awesomely bad version of "I Get a Kick Out of You". Finally, you had Tom, the runner-up and possibly the most flamboyant Austrian since Brüno (and if you don't believe me, just watch his scorching rendition of "Goldfinger"). All in all a step down in quality from Germany, but higher entertainment value.

SWITZERLAND: MusicStar. Unfortunately we only saw the last 10 minutes or so of this one, but it definitely had the highest comic potential--it's not good when you're laughing at their performances and they're the finalists--the ones we saw would have been casting rejects in Germany and possibly even Austria. And they get bonus points for having someone named Muhammed (diversity! and from near Basel!), someone named Börni (I see this name taking off in the States!), and judge Detlef D [correction...Detlef D!...I hadn't realised there was an exclamation point] (you can't make this stuff up), who must be on at least half of the German music shows Gretchen watches.

As if that wasn't enough, we were watching CNN and Larry King had a program featuring American Idol performers.

Alas, we won't be watching the Austrian or Swiss versions since we don't have the TV channels (and the former is finished anyway), but Gretchen is already starting to plan her week around Deutschland sucht den SuperStar. If she starts casting votes, that's when I'm going to start to worry...

Ladies' night out

One of the best things that has happened since having a baby last summer is meeting a new group of friends. Better known as "my Moms", I originally met this group of expat women through our English-speaking prenatal (or antenatal as they call it here) class last spring. Since then, our group has changed slightly, with one woman (and husband and baby) moving back to the US, and other women (and babies) joining our group. All 8 of us have babies that were born within two months of each other. Simply stated, I don't know what I would do without "my Moms"! We really enjoy each other's company, and we get advice from each other (which especially nice for me since our Baby is the youngest of the group), and most importantly, we support each other.

As soon as the first babies were born last May we started getting together on a weekly basis during the day, meeting either at Starbucks or someone's home. Not that I like Starbucks... but it's one of the few places in Basel that is smoke-free, not to mention they have comfy chairs and you can sit there for hours even if you order just one coffee. Now some of the women have gone back to work, and our schedules have become much harder to coordinate. We usually end up getting together in smaller groups during the day now and it's very rare for all of us to be together at the same time. The great thing about our group is that now the babies are old enough to "play" together. Or play next to each other. At least they sit together and all grab for the same toys which is really fun to watch. And last Friday, our "Spicy Baby" (as one of the women called her) was even seen sucking on her friend Bennett's toes! The babies love each other as much as the Moms do!

Last Saturday night was a very exciting time for me. I went out for dinner and drinks with "my Moms". That's right, no babies allowed! It was our second official Ladies' Night Out, although I wasn't able to go to the first one last November because of Baby's unpredictable sleep patterns and boob dependency. Can I just say that a couple of these women have already been on overnight trips to London with friends without their babies... obviously that's not possible with a baby who is still breastfed...But now I finally felt comfortable leaving the house for a few hours after she went to bed, and Kirk felt comfortable that, even if she woke and cried, he could call me and I'd be home within minutes. I'm happy to report that all went well and we had a great time. We went to Acqua, which is a very hip Basel restaurant that Kirk and I have been wanting to go to for quite some time. It was really good, but frankly I probably could have been eating McDonald's and I would have been happy! It was such a major step forward for me to be out in the evening, without Baby, having great conversation (not all of which was baby-focused) with good friends. Can't wait for the next Ladies' Night Out!