Tschüss (for now, at least...)
This morning, it snowed.
This afternoon, we had yet another earthquake.
This evening, Baby crawled for the first time. Well, she really just scootched backwards a little bit, but it was close enough to crawling for us.
Tomorrow morning, the movers come to pack our things.
So even though we don't actually fly home until Sunday, this is probably Expatter's de facto last day as a Swiss blog. We'll probably continue it for at least a little while when we get back and get our computer (hopefully in a week or two) since we've heard the culture shock of going home (the traffic! the bewildering range of choices in the supermarket! terror alerts! good, inexpensive ethnic food!) can be almost as challenging as the culture shock of moving to a foreign country. After that, who knows? As long as it's fun we'll probably keep it up, and if it becomes too much work we'll probably fade away. Time will tell.
It's funny how the blog took on a life of its own that we never would have expected. At first it was just going to be for friends and family. Then we realized that we were doing it for ourselves as much as anyone else, because it was a sort of scrapbook of what we were experiencing. Only later were we surprised that other people actually read it, too. It really never occurred to us that anyone we didn't know would be even vaguely interested, but we're glad because we got exposed to lots of other interesting blogs and in at least a few cases met and became friends with other expat bloggers. Go figure.
Beyond blogging, it's just generally been a great three years. Beyond the Baby we've had, the friends we've made, the places we've seen and the wines we've sipped, the whole experience of living overseas has been invaluable. My guess is that of the relatively few Americans who ever live overseas, most do so during college (including Gretchen, who spent a semester in Vienna). I found the whole concept too intimidating when I was in college and, frankly, had I done it then I don't think I would have appreciated it. Having done it now, however, I'm grateful for the opportunity to get out of my comfort zone and live differently for a while. And now, having done it, I'm ready to go back and see what waits at home.
On that note, all three of us bid adieu from Basel and will say hello again when the dust has settled back in the States...
This afternoon, we had yet another earthquake.
This evening, Baby crawled for the first time. Well, she really just scootched backwards a little bit, but it was close enough to crawling for us.
Tomorrow morning, the movers come to pack our things.
So even though we don't actually fly home until Sunday, this is probably Expatter's de facto last day as a Swiss blog. We'll probably continue it for at least a little while when we get back and get our computer (hopefully in a week or two) since we've heard the culture shock of going home (the traffic! the bewildering range of choices in the supermarket! terror alerts! good, inexpensive ethnic food!) can be almost as challenging as the culture shock of moving to a foreign country. After that, who knows? As long as it's fun we'll probably keep it up, and if it becomes too much work we'll probably fade away. Time will tell.
It's funny how the blog took on a life of its own that we never would have expected. At first it was just going to be for friends and family. Then we realized that we were doing it for ourselves as much as anyone else, because it was a sort of scrapbook of what we were experiencing. Only later were we surprised that other people actually read it, too. It really never occurred to us that anyone we didn't know would be even vaguely interested, but we're glad because we got exposed to lots of other interesting blogs and in at least a few cases met and became friends with other expat bloggers. Go figure.
Beyond blogging, it's just generally been a great three years. Beyond the Baby we've had, the friends we've made, the places we've seen and the wines we've sipped, the whole experience of living overseas has been invaluable. My guess is that of the relatively few Americans who ever live overseas, most do so during college (including Gretchen, who spent a semester in Vienna). I found the whole concept too intimidating when I was in college and, frankly, had I done it then I don't think I would have appreciated it. Having done it now, however, I'm grateful for the opportunity to get out of my comfort zone and live differently for a while. And now, having done it, I'm ready to go back and see what waits at home.
On that note, all three of us bid adieu from Basel and will say hello again when the dust has settled back in the States...
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