One Big Giant Cliche

Craziness.

Swiss fam left this morning for their holidays.

Mum and Dad arrived this week on Tuesday and it's crazy that they're here in my little world over here.

Swiss fam has been lovely about having Mum and Dad here...and I was so proud of the girls for using the English with my parents and they have been so good at talking with my parents.

MLF3 even wanted to call them on the phone last night when they were out - to tell them to come home.

Have been showing Zurich to them this week and they've gone off exploring by themselves this afternoon (will they come back alive?!)


We're heading off to Venice tomorrow morning - (rather early, what was I thinking?!)


Had the most amazing weekend last weekend in the mountains. It was like one big giant cliche. Green hills, snow capped mountains, mountain huts, cows, cow bells....always cow bells....so many cow bells...



Seriously if I was a cow and I had to hear the bell in my face every time I moved I would want to hurt someone....




We cooked over an open fire, slept in the straw and didn't shower. Ahhh.
We had to apologize to the lady who had to sit with us on the train coming home...I learnt how to apologize for stinking in German!

We also went rock climbing - on real rock walls - out in the mountains! So crazy.
It's completely different to indoor rock climbing. You spend this time practicing at the climbing centres, but when you're out on cliff?! it's a whole other game.


You can't really prepare for it - you can try, but until you get out there and do it, it's hard to understand what it is like.


And it's so much better. The view is amazing - and it's worth it.
It's worth the effort, the sweat, the strength.


So much better!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

During a late afternoon game of Yatzee today I put a CD on. MLF1 really liked the song and turned it up rather loud. Half-way through the first song Mami came home.
Kinda looked like we were blasting music and playing betting games.
Alcohol, kids?

We're on School Holidays!
I finished The Little Prince today.
We made bread.
This bread ended up becoming 1 horse, 1 dolphin, 1 starfish, 1 cat, 2 turtles, and 1 Spanish looking guy.
Today I wore my shirt backwards.
This was pointed out mid morning by MLF3.
MLF1's friend (German-speaking only) understood what I said today.
Even if it's not perfect German, I can be understood. Yesssss.
The girl's friend is here visiting for the week. She speaks French.
I really like her. I think if we spoke the same language we'd make good friends. She's 12.
I had to rescue a butterfly, a lizard, and a mouse today from the cats. The butterfly will live to see another day. The lizard will find life a bit hard without a tail. The mouse - well, it probably saw better days and will not see anymore days.

What Is Most Important Is Invisible

Meine Schweizer Familie has been away for the last four days and whilst it's been lovely to have a quiet house and some unexpected time off, I think I missed them.

And tonight, when I came home and went upstairs to say hello I had a 4-year-old run to hug me because she was happy. And the rest who seemed genuinely glad that I was there. And this made me glad.

Cos there has been moments over the last four days when I wondered what on earth I was doing here...and it was good to be reminded tonight. And I'm glad I'm here.

I've been reading The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery over the last few days - and loving it.
And I wanted to share an excerpt that I read today.

"The desert is beautiful," the little prince added.
And that was true. I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs, and gleams...
"What makes the desert beautiful," said the little prince, "is that sometimes is hides a well..."
..."Yes I said to the little prince. "The house, the stars, the desert--what gives them their beauty is something that is invisible!"
..."What is most important is invisible..."

Tourist-ing it up with the Sound of Music! (Salzburg)

The hills were alive with the Sound of Music in Salzburg last weekend.

I probably should start this blog with a warning. I'm not going to pretend that the Sound of Music setting didn't form rather a large part of wanting to visit this Austrian city - it was.
I admit it.
And so I took the tour. Had I know about it, I would have also taken the Fraulein Maria's cycling tour of Salzburg where you sing your way through the city.
(Seriously, there is such a tour!)

And so, WARNING: Some Spoilers may follow. Also, some references to the Sound of Music.


We spent a lovely 33 hours in Salzburg and I took in the biggest gulp I could.
These hours included, but were not limited to:


Reinforcing my hardcore status. Rain with lighting bolt symbols was the forecast for the weekend. Undeterred, Steph (my accomplice) and I decided we would go hardcore and see everything anyway. We bought awesome yellow ponchos to support our hardcore status.



Climbing every mountain and fording every stream.


Visiting Mozart's birth house. He was born in Salzburg (but rumour has it that he wasn't too fond of the town).


Meeting Mozart. 'Cept he was the younger, more hip version of Mozart. He even had an IPod, and he juggled, did some interpretive dance, and fire-twirled to the music. He is pictured here with his IPod.



Following every rainbow, and searching high and low.


Embracing tourism and the Lonely Planet. I would just like to take a short moment to give thanks with a grateful heart to Lonely Planet, without whom I would have been lost on the weekend. (Oh, and for Steph - great map following!)


Eating Lonely Planet recommendations. Living in Zurich really limits my eating-out possibilities (hence the 'I could live off cheeseburgers' label) and on the weekend I got to eat.so.much.good.stuff. Who would have thought Italian Restaurant owner with credentials from the Love Boat could make such good Pizza? Who could have known that the all natural-vegetarian-vegan-organic-bio-healthy-kill-me-now Indian Restaurant would be so good?
Lonely Planet, I lift my glass of water to you!


Singing 'These are a few of my favourite things' whilst eating Italian ice cream x 3.


Smiling for Japanese(?) tourists in the Mirrabel Gardens. As featured in the Sound Of Music. We did not share a common language, and so when they gestured towards me with their camera I assumed they wanted me to take a photo of them.

However, it soon became clear that this was not the case. I was dragged into their photo (I still have the bruise marks on my arm to prove it!) and made to smile. Seriously. And then a line started to form....and a new bunch of people surrounded me and grabbed my arm held on tight. I saw my life flash before my eyes and knew I had to get out of there. I think maybe they thought I was Julie Andrews. My singing did kind of sound like her. And I was doing all the right dance moves in the correct places around the garden so I guess it was an easy mistake to make.

Uncanny resemblance.....?






Practicing my moves for the Sound of Music 2. Here I am doing my audition piece on the water fountain. Unfortunately, Steph cut me out of the picture, but you get the idea.



Listening to the Sound of Music soundtrack on the bus as we drove through the hills out of Salzburg. It was just one of those ironic moments in life where you just want to laugh at yourself. A year ago? - I never would have dreamt that I'd be living in Switzerland, on a weekend trip to Salzburg, on a Sound of Music bus, listening to 'How do you solve a problem like Maria....'


Seeing all the places from the movie was pretty cool. You may not be able to see it, but behind my head, Julie Andrews -aka Maria Von Trapp - and the kids are falling out of the boat and Gretl is almost drowning because she didn't know how to swim. You may not also be able to see it because it may have happened 45 years ago.




Biking along the Salzburg River during the late evening. We had to wait until almost 1AM for our train, and so why wait at the train station when you can ride along the river? I love the summer months when it stays light for so much longer!




And, at the end of the 33 hours, it was time for the train home. Rather unfortunately, a supposedly sweet older lady was sleeping in my reserved seat. (Unreserved seats are never mentally the same!) Also unfortunately, it was 1AM and, unfortunately, I was feeling too nice. In the spirit of the unfortunate I think she slept the whole trip. I know this because I didn't. She was also warm under her blanket. (Note to self: Bring blanket next time!)

So Long, Farewell Salzburg!

While Mami is Away, the Spaghetti Cats Do Play

'Twas a good afternoon. We went to the Library - the girls rode their velos and I rode the trotinet. (I think these are French words - no wonder my brain is so mixed up - I learn German in class and French in day-to-day stuff).
Actually I half rode the trotinet and half pushed MLF3 up the hills. I am going to be fit. I am going to be fit. I am going to be fit.

And! Victory! We finally found all the books and cassetes and CDs and DVDs that we had borrowed from the library and we could have a clean start with the Bibliotech. That is, until it was realized that we had left the cassette of Pingu in the Cassette Player. Nooooooooooo!
Darn Penguin.

MLF3 and I hung out in the kitchen while I made spaghetti and we learnt that you can use carrots as microphones. I asked her if she wanted to listen to a cassette and she asked for ABBA.
And so we rocked out to Dancing Queen with carrot microphones. And then I put a few holes in the carrot and she played her 'flute' to Voulez Vous.
I'm thinking of patenting the idea. Anything to help kids with their veggies eh?

Then we had spaghetti sucking competitions (how fast can you suck a length of cooked spaghetti into your mouth?) And MLF3 made some very cool pictures with spaghetti which I just have to post.



She told me that they were my pets from home (PussPuss the cat and Tessie the dog). She also keeps asking for stories of them with my sisters and brother. (Like I just can invent stories!) She also thinks that I liked these pets...Miscommunication.

She wanted to keep the cat on the table until Mami got home, however when I later cleaned it up there seems to residue imprinted on the table in the shape of a cat. Funny that.
Please be gone by breakfast, please be gone by breakfast.

And, in other exciting news (don't roll your eyes, having a clean slate with the Library is exciting!) looming is the possibility of Cuba and the Caribbean.
Kind of rates right up there with carrot flutes and spaghetti sucking competitions eh?

Untitled.

After listening to an evening of both Swiss German and High German I had a couple of epiphanies.

1.0 High German is good. Swiss German is not good. Hochdeutsch ist gut. Schweizerdeutsch ist nicht gut.
1.1 Perhaps I have learnt something after all in German class. I actually understood parts of the High German conversation. I probably made up a lot in my head, but I think I actually understood stuff.
1.2 They actually change rules of pronunciation in Swiss German. Surely this is not legal?


I spent a couple of hours this morning enjoying the sunshine at a new-found spot by the lake. It was just perfect.
2.0 It was only 10 minutes walk from home.
2.1 Entry is via the cemetery. And I was amazed at the perfect condition in which the cemetery and graves were kept. Then again, it is Switzerland - they would not have it any other way.
2.2 You can swim here. There was someone swimming there but I didn't want to get too close - I don't think he had any clothes on. I guess when you enter via the cemetery....
2.3 I would show you photos of this beautiful spot but I want to keep it all for myself...and I forgot my camera.


And in other news, I have been spending quite a bit of time looking up travel plans for when Mum and Dad come to visit. Only 4 weeks today!! I booked Zurich to Venice and the ticket office gave me a box of pasta to 'get me in the spirit of Italy.' I love free stuff...even if it is just pasta...

4 Cats x 9 Lives

Excuse me, I want my money back. I did not sign up for this. I didn't really want to look after three girls and their three kittens and one cat. I didn't want to know about their half dead birds, half-eaten lizards and headless mice (the kitten's - not the girl's). Nor did I wish to finding puddles of cat pee in the most unusual places or spend a fair amount of time each day looking for a missing kitten to console a sad little girl. I hadn't anticipated becoming fluent in the art of understanding the cat meow and I do not appreciate having to rescue kittens that tried to swim in the toilet. Washing drawer-fulls of clothes just because a kitten or three decided to sleep in there isn't really my cup of tea. I sometimes wonder if the kittens gang up against me - one doing the decoy meow whilst the others jump up on the kitchen table and try to get free food. It's a cat-eat-cat world out there. I will survive.

Testing: A Swiss Story by MLF3

This blog seems to be becoming more and more dominated by MLF3.
However, I've decided not to change the name.
(A Swiss Story by MLF3 just wasn't quite personal enough...)

The latest bedtime trend is for Kylie to tell a story about when she was a child. Or, in the words of MLF3 -'I want a story of when you a kind.'

(And, no, that's not kind
kind ¹ (knd)adj. kind·er, kind·est

1. Of a friendly, generous, or warm-hearted nature.

but kind - the German for child).

(However I sometimes perhaps maybe put a kind

kind ¹ (knd)adj. kind·er, kind·est

1. Of a friendly, generous, or warm-hearted nature.

slant on myself in the stories. She'll never know.)

Sometimes she even asks for stories of when I was a baby. I may be an au pair with super powers but I do not have that much of an amazing memory. In fact, I'm fast running out of stories. I'm only 22 - how many stories do I really have?

Tonight I may or may not have taken a happening from the life of a sibling and made it my own. (Mum, Dad - have you ever done this?! Is your childhood as I know it a mixture of yours and your siblings?!)

In fact, my memory is fast becoming cloudy and once I tell a story as my own there is a chance that it will forever become mine in my head. Help!
If anyone has any childhood tales they wish to lend me I would really appreciate it. You may or may not get them back.

And in other news, I'm just loving living here. I feel so blessed every day to wake up and be a part of life here. To be a part of a lovely family, a beautiful country, amazing friends and the Lindt shop only a ferry ride away.

Why yes, I am holding a bag of chocolate.

The Cat is in the Bag

If it starts like this...



Will it end like this?






Found MLF3 playing with the kittens today and one seemed quite happy to be tucked away in her little handbag. I took such a cute picture of her with the kitten, but can't really include it here ... so you'll have to use your imagination :)


And in other MLF3 news: For many days now we have been working on a certain phrase of hers. When she wants a drink, she always says 'I have thirst.'
Today, after many days of being reminded, she remembered all by herself.
'Can I please have a drink.' In perfect English.
Yesssssss.

Sweet success.

Suddenly 30

I've returned from escaping across the border for 24 hours.
It was tough.
Ma and Pa were attending a wedding (not their own - this happened several years ago) and so the girls and I hung out in a hotel room with a lovely view of the lake, listening to - you guessed it - ABBA.
We also took a trip to the hotel restaurant where the waiter thought I was their mother.
Seriously, do I look 30?
On outings such as this, where its just the girls and I, I often have to suppress well-earned laughs.
The other adult, in this case the waiter, speaks directly to me only to be answered by MLF1, who speaks excellent German.
I smile and nod, giving MLF1 my full non-verbal support. The waiter then answers MLF1, but still looks at me, speaking to me, and waiting for my response.
MLF1 does not let me down and continues the conversation. And so it goes.
I just smile and nod and let them think I am mute.
An under-aged mute mother who lets her children order what they like off the menu.


I'm planning on heading to Basel tomorrow morning to see Art Basel, which I think is the largest Modern and Contemporary Exhibition in the world. Brad Pitt was last spotted here so I'll be wearing my I ♥ Brad t-shirt tomorrow.


And I'm very excited because my parents have booked their tickets to come and visit in less than 2 months! And I got the Paris leg of the trip in the mail today, so they had better come. I'm not going to return from Paris 3 times just to get my money's worth.
And if anyone has any lovely holiday houses that they wish to lend in Venice, Rome, Florence, Nice, Avignon, Paris or the Loire Valley perhaps you could just pop the keys in the mail and we'll call it even.


Today we went for a walk to Mainau Island where joined a ridiculous amount of tourists (sometimes I like to pretend that I am not a tourist) seeing the most beautiful gardens and butterfly house and played on the most amazing playground, or spielplatz. I got mistaken for the girl's mother yet again (seriously....30?) and I had to eat MLF3's ice-block really fast because she just wanted to play the whistle that made up the stick. One of the many perks...


In other exciting news I got to go toiletry shopping whilst in Germany. Once you leave Switzerland everything is so much cheaper and my thriftiness starts grabbing shampoos and deodorants off the shelves.
I also love pretending that the Euro is the same as the Swiss Frank.


And yes, its 3 AM and I am still not asleep. I think I'm probably too excited to sleep, since I'll probably see Brad Pitt tomorrow. Watch out Angelina.
Now, where is that t-shirt...?