Good-bye Thanksgiving, Hello Christmas

My Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful.  While it was more like a massive dinner party, it had a 27 pound turkey, mashed potatoes, greens beans, and apple pie so I couldn't have asked for anything more being 9,000 miles away from home.  It was a fun experience because, in addition to the Americans, there were people from all over the world.  I know we had Brazil, Italy, India, Iran, Denmark, South Africa, and several other countries represented.

Our turkey chef!

Our turkey carver!

It was great to share our traditions with people from all over the world! Someone had never had gravy before and another had never had an apple pie! I think everyone had a really great time! It was a unique Thanksgiving! I was able to talk to the family in San Diego for awhile when I got back to my dungeon which made it a successful day of giving thanks!

My apple pie was a success =) 

When I left the apartment where dinner was, I walked outside and it was snowing. As I made my way to Bahnhofstrasse (the main street in Zurich) where they had their Christmas lighting ceremony earlier that night. So I really did walk out of Thanksgiving into Christmas. It was such a crazy experience to see such an obvious visual of the holidays changing.

(Sorry about those pictures, they don't capture how pretty the street actually looked but I will work on getting something better)

Then I woke up in the next morning to this in our backyard... 

So winter is here and Christmas is just around the corner! It is time to embrace winter and what it has to offer!

Happy Thanksgiving!

So this is the second Thanksgiving I am not in San Diego for. However, last year I shot up to Boston and spent it with my Aunts and Uncles and of course my "little" brother Stephen! It was a great substitute but of course spending Thanksgiving in San Diego with football, turkey, pie, and our annual game of  Battle of the Sexes Trivia Pursuit is irreplaceable.

This year is much different. I am abroad. This translates into Thanksgiving being a non-existent holiday.  My American friends and I have been talking about what do today for a couple of weeks and we are having a traditional Thanksgiving. However, I will not be any family, there will be no football, and I spent the morning looking after a 7 week old baby.  Needless to say, it just doesn't quite feel like Thanksgiving.

I am super excited that we will be having turkey today, which is a feat in itself because the Swiss don't eat turkey! I also spent the morning baking an apple pie and peeling 3 kg of potatoes to make into some (hopefully) delicious mashed potatoes. The dinner I am going to will have people from all over the world (potentially 6 of the 7 continents) and many Americans. I am excited to enjoy a massive feast with my new friends!

In keeping with tradition here's a list of things that I am unbelievable grateful for (in no specific order):

1. I am so thankful for having an amazing and supportive family! I decide to do and say ridiculous things all the time knowing that they will be behind me in the end. I love you all sooo much and wish that I could be with you today!
2. All of my friends from high school, college, life in DC, and everything in between! I am so lucky to have each of you in my life! I miss you so much and am so excited every time I get talk to you all the way in Switzerland!
3.  Video Chat, facebook, phones, online television..etc. Without this technology I am not sure that I would EVER be able to live over 6,000 miles away from everything and everyone I know! 
4. My mother - She gets an individual shout out for countless reasons! I am learning so much about what it takes to raise a family and make a Thanksgiving dinner! I am shocked everyday that you were able to do it all! I love you and thank you times a million! 
5. Living in Europe! This is such a great opportunity and it has been so much fun already! The new friends I have made are fantastic! I have been able to travel and my month of December is going to absolutely jammed with exciting adventures!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! And a Happy Thursday to those of you who won't be celebrating Thanksgiving! Much love and safe travels!

Founy Ceritres

I will write about the tours soon but I just thought I would share my work for the night with you. I sometimes (often) feel out of place living in someone's home. I feel like that kid that is always there...just there...

Tonight was not one of the those nights. When I showed up (walked up stairs) for work tonight Mama C and Papa B were both home, which hasn't happened in a week is seems. So my first thought is, "Cool, looks like I am unnecessary tonight!" This was actually nice.  I just sat with P & G for awhile and then held Baby Gaga.

Dinner was ready and I started to feed Baby Gaga so I was on the couch and joined the table a bit late but there were some joking around.  Even though I wasn't sitting at the table with the family and actually working, I felt more like part of the family than I think I ever have.  It was just natural.

We chatted about Thanksgiving, Papa B made some comments about other family members...etc...it just was a very smooth dinner.  The best moment was when Baby Gaga made an amazing "Whoooohoo" sound! We all started cracking up!

After dinner, I cleaned up and then G was putting on a show with a bunch of stuffed animals. We all bought tickets, got our (invisible) popcorn in G's shoes.  Then made our way to our assigned seats.  The show was called Founy Ceritres (translation: Funny Characters).

The show was hilarious! G had a serious of bunnies, bears, a frog, and a dog. It was interactive and the audience (us) were often asked questions One of the polar bears actually said "I am going to bronze myself over here." G is a just so funny!

Then the kids were off to bed in a good mood. It was just a good night on the job!

Strasbourg, France

After the bonfire, we went to Rachel's apartment for a few hours of sleep and the headed off to Strasbourg, France.  Packed the car full of people and were off! It was my first time to France and I loved it. It was an adorable city full of food and adorable children in béret (it is not just a stereotype) speaking French.  It was lovely to be surrounded by French speakers for the weekend (German isn't the prettiest language to surround yourself with).

...and we definitely had enough chocolate to get through a few days...

We found our hotel slightly outside the city and figured out how to get into the city via public transportation.  Strasbourg is a great walking city and that is what we did.  Our Saturday consisted of eating, walking, and shopping.  We all had hopes of finding some winter clothing cheaper than we could find it in Switzerland.  I found an adorable dress...it is a perfect summer dress! I am destined to be cold for the winter!

We continued to eat our way through the day.  There were delicious paninis, coffees, croissants, pizza, crepes, and pastries!  There was also a "hot chocolate" which was actually just a cup of melting chocolate...can you say delicious? Every pastry and candy shop was gorgeous and smelled amazing. We stopped too often to admire their beauty and usually ended up walking out with some tasty treat. 

We did get to see the Cathedral, which is probably my favorite one that I have seen since arriving in Europe. We also saw the beginning of Saturday night Mass and were able to hear the choir for a bit. 

Saturday Night Mass

We continued to wonder the city and had dinner and a couple of drinks and then headed back to our hotel for an early night...or so we thought! 

Our favorite spot! Adorable buildings and glorious cafes!

We ended up missing our bus back to the hotel (by about 5 hours) so we walked.  Luckily, we had all paid attention to random things along the bus ride and made it back to our hotel! Upon arrival, one of the room key was not working and no one at reception.  This meant that 5 of us crammed into one room, four into the bed. Needless to say, it was not the most comfortable night of sleeping. No one returned the call until two and half hours later! They then opened the door but we were too sleepy and unaware of what he was doing so we stayed in our current sleeping positions for the remainder of the night. We will hopefully be getting a check for the room we didn't touch! 

Sunday was lovely! We woke up and heading into the city for our crepe and baguette! All of which were delicious! I then forced the crew to go check out the EU Parliament. Which was a really cool building.

I am standing in front of the "Heart of Europe"

As much of the "inside" as you can see

Then we were off to the Chocolate Museum and the Gingerbread Museum....post to come

An American (and Canadian) Tradition!

After an afternoon hunt for marshmallows (success!) and a failed hunt for graham crackers (we substituted cookies) and bought some Swiss chocolate (which makes up for the lack of graham crackers) we were ready for our night in the forest. Although the temperature was hovering around freezing for the most part, we made the best of it! Friday night we headed deep into the woods where the Swiss set up a wonderful fire pit with a hut filled with wood ready for us.   We are in Switzerland, so we weren't surprised to also find some whittled sticks that, us unprepared, non-Swiss were able to use to roast our hot dogs and marshmallows.

America - Beer, hot dogs, and marshmellows! 

Zoe made the most amazing chocolate and marshmellow filled bananas! 

Seven people, one night..will there be enough?

After some hard work from pretty much everyone but me the fire was raging..

and the marshmallow toasting began!

There was singing, mafia was played, and ghost stories were told. Just your average camp fire with a few Swiss twists.  While most of us were actually losing feeling in our extremities the fun continued.  Whitney and Zoë were warmed by the fire for the night while the rest of us admired the flame and wondered why we did not feel the warmth...

I am looking forward to partaking in more bonfires in the Spring and Summer!

Ironing

So I knew that Mama C was a little crazy about her ironing coming into this job. She was actually the one who told me he was a little crazy about it! I spend a couple of hours a week ironing the family's clothes. Now you are thinking, that is nice, to always have your clothes ironed before they are put away. Right?

I remember ironing my school uniforms in middle school because I would leave them in the dryer for a day or two, and well, going to Catholic school having wrinkled clothes is some sort of sin. Ever since then the idea of ironing...well it just didn't exist. I had an iron all four years in college that got lugged from room to room..home and back to school..year after year. I didn't open it once. I had a resident borrow it once..

When I had my grown-up job last year, I would occasionally iron a shirt or pair of pants when I was meeting people on the Hill (sounds fancy!) or the boss was in town but for the most part ironing was still not one of my "chores."

There are things that should be ironed. Dress shirts, dresses, the occasional t-shirt when you forgot about your laundry in the dryer..

Things that are ironed in this house:

Terry-clothe towels
Face clothes
Sheets
PJs
All shirts
All pants
Sweatshirts
Sweatpants
Leggings
Dish towels
Baby clothes

...You get the idea..if you wash it..it get ironed

Now, we have a wonderful woman who comes twice a week (TWICE A WEEK) to clean the house. She is in charge of ironing the nicer clothes, sheets, and towels (she also LOVES babies and their clothes so she ASKED if she could iron Baby Gaga's clothes...she is a doll!)  Mama C understand how ridiculous this is but still ensures that everything that comes out of the dryer is ironed but knows where to draw the line with her aupairs or something like that.

The last aupair ironed P's boxers. This is something I have refused to do. I just fold them and put them away.  I think that this was (oddly) noticed and now the boxers go directly in the socks box (which thankfully is not my "to be ironed bin").  I figured in the beginning I would play dumb if she said anything about them not be ironed. Fortunately, I won that battle.

I will video chat with people or catch up on TV shows when I need to get ironing done. It isn't so much the actual ironing that is bothersome, but the fact that I am ironed a 6 year old's PJs just seems a bit ridiculous! I think that 99% of people can agree that somethings just don't need to be ironed...even if you are paying someone else do it..

Weekend Adventures

I had an absolutely fabulous weekend! The weather was as perfect as it could be for a mid-November weekend and there was plenty to do!

After a relaxing Friday night out with some friends, I worked for a couple hours on Saturday morning, went swimming myself, and then heading into Zurich to relax by the lake.  Some of my friends wanted to paint/draw as we sat there. Let's just say some people had some talent, others were just enjoying themselves!

Then we were off to the Wine Expo.  It was 4,000 wines from all over the world on yachts right on the lake! It was a really fun night. We got a bit dressed up, hoping people serving wine would take us more seriously, which was only semi-successful.

Rachel, me, Whitney, Shelly

Me, Shelly, Rachel, Kristina, Whitney, and Karah

I have really enjoyed trying wines since I have gotten here. While I still can't pick out the different flavors within a wine, I can tell you a little about different regions and what I like. I think my favorite wines of the night were from Portugal and from outside of Geneva.  I usually don't like white wine because they are very sweet but the winery outside of Geneva had some dry whites which were delicious!  It is a slow process but my knowledge of wine has increased 10 fold since I moved to Europe! 

Sunday, we headed off to Liechtenstein for the day! That's right the sixth smallest country in the world is just a mere hour and half train ride away.  The train ride was gorgeous. The lake we were on was a stunning blue with the mountains surrounding it.  There were wind surfers everywhere because it was nearly 16 degrees out! It is a very small country with not much going on. They are known for their stamps and are the world's largest dencher producer.  They do not have a king, but a prince and princess.  That is just as high as their leadership goes! 

After hitting up the Post Museum, we took a lovely stroll up the mountain to the castle.  It was really quite pretty. On the walk up the path led you through the history of the country. While I don't remember most of the little facts, I do know that they abolished their army in 1906 and have treaties with Austria and Switzerland (the countries it shares borders with).  

It was a near perfect weekend! 

Unfortunately, my camera wasn't charged so I don't have pictures from Liechtenstein but will add them when I get them from friends!

Three Months Down

I have created a life of constant change for myself. I feel like I haven't been in the same place for more than a year for going on SIX years now. While I was at good ol' Chappy for four years, each year required a move, and for the most part a new group of people. I have a few consistent friends from all four years, but between people graduating, moving off campus (which really did put them off the radar), different activities, classes, and a new Resident Advisor staff every year, I was constantly meeting new people and creating different core friends. I was always living in a different hall/apartment.

I think that this constant change is good. It keeps me on my toes. Meeting new people is always important and I never want that to stop! On the other hand, there are moments when I wish I could round up my friends and put them all in the same place.  We could recreate the idealistic college life we had and I could throw some high school and post-grad friends as well!  It would be an epic lifestyle! Unfortunately, I have adapting over the last 6 years to living away from my family and friends so while it is difficult at times to only be able to call/video chat, this is not something new to me.

I have found that you can't let yourself ponder what you don't have for too long or you just get depressed/lonely/etc. I have an amazing life in Switzerland and I am enjoying taking advantage of it all! The three month point is the big hump you need to get over. As an RA in college, this was when homesickness settled in for first-year students. You realize that the honeymoon is over, you are away from what you know, and this is now just life. This can be an AMAZING and/or SCARY revelation!

This brings me to the point of the post. I continue to move place to place and as I look into the future I can't imagine that I will find that city to settle down (whatever that means) in for a several more years! I do, however, miss things, people, and certain concepts. I didn't have a culture shock when I moved here. I was immediately surrounded by English and the food wasn't all that different. I have gotten used to not being able to communicate very well with people at restaurants and for the most part I have started to just speak English with hand motions in order to get my point across.

So here's a few things that I miss (obviously I miss you too!)

1. Shopping for and making my own food

2. Having privacy (the laundry room is accessed through my room...and we all know the laundry is never done!)

4. Being able to send people a text when something reminds me of them

5. Calling people while I walk to and from and sending texts with random moments from the day (However, I read a lot more now!)

6. Jamba Juice (I missed this in DC too)

7. Frozen Yogurt!

8. The warmth of the sun


And things that love about being here:

1. The free time to read

2. Walking outside and seeing snow capped mountains everyday

3. Learning French

4. That the hardest part of my day is getting 2 kids to brush their teeth

5. Being able to be in 4 different countries within 3-4 hours

6. Traveling!

7. Meeting new people from all over the world

8. Walking places

9. That a 50 degree rainy day is now good weather! (I am changing!)

This month is going to go by so quickly and so is my year here!

A Beautiful Fall Day

I know just posted about how it has gotten cold and I am never leaving my room, but basically since I posted that, it has been absolutely beautiful here! The weather has been completely bearable. Last night we were complaining because we had brought coats out, which were unnecessary.  I know it isn't going to last but since people are already seeing snow, I am happy to be enjoying a few more warm (50 degree) days with the sun out before the sun leaves for the winter!

I have been taking advantage of these days. Last weekend I went on an awesome bike ride around the lake with some friends.

I wandered the city a bit another day this week because I felt like I hadn't explore different areas in awhile. I found this great area that screamed Fall! It has a fountain (and who doesn't love fountains..oh Chapman). I was able to read for awhile here and do some wonderful people watching!

This week I tried to spend as much time outside as possible! I am still in awe when I leave me house everyday.  Here's a few photos from my awesome run/walk/hike from the other day.  

Fall is a wonderful season! 

Election Day!

Yesterday was election day. I can only assume that most people didn't go out to vote or care that it was election day. I was sad yesterday when I came back from getting dessert with some friends to realize that I was missing out on the ridiculous Election Day coverage on Network TV. As soon as the kids were on the bus this morning, I was on my computer to see what the results were.

I am not shocked. I am glad the Barbara Boxer is still my Senator. I know that Duncan Hunter will be my SD Rep until he dies.  I am ecstatic that Meg Whitman is not the governor elect in California, but not sure that Jerry Brown is going to solve the problems my favorite state faces. I am a little disappointed about Prop 19 (legalizing marijuana), I think it would have helped California more than hurt it.  There isn't a winning solution to drugs, but the current laws we have are failing just about everyone involved.

I then listened to the new Speaker of the House's speech, John Boehner.  His speech did not give me hope that things are actually going to be different in politics. His speech brings to light the hypocrisy that exists on both sides of the aisle.  It is moments like this that my idealistic and hopeful view of the world is crushed slightly. I think about how many people didn't go out to vote because they think it doesn't matter, or worse, because the candidates are all saying the same thing in a slightly different way.

In a way, I hope that this can bring about some bipartisanship back to Washington. I want to see President Obama reach across the aisle and continue his ambitious agenda.  After President Clinton lost his majority, things changed in but there was a new level of compromise (even through the Republicans trying to get him impeached).  This is when we started created a budget surplus for our nation and unemployment declined.  That is was we need to see.  I hope that we can see this as an opportunity to unite our country. I hope that we can stop bickering and give 9/11 first responders the healthcare they need and deserve. I hope that we can talk about how to deal with immigration and get all of the nominations that are being held up confirmed or denied instead of allowing them to stay in limbo.

I am glad that the craziest of the tea party candidates failed but I hope the ones that did get elected hold the Republic party to a new standard of fiscal responsibility.  I hope that Nancy Pelosi can take the higher road and treat the new Speaker with respect.  I hope that we can repair the beautiful and amazing country that I am from.  I hope that the change the country voted for is what we are given in the next two years. I am cautiously hopeful for the future. Progress is bound to happen let's just hope it is forward progress.

If you didn't watch any of Jon Stewart's Rally take 12 minutes to watch his Moment of Sincerity.  It is another heartfelt speech by Jon and one of the many reasons why I love and respect him so much!

I would like to make one more shout out to my BFF Ellie!!! She has been working tirelessly for months to get Senator Harry Reid reelected. I haven't spoken to her nearly as much as we used and I know that the last 2 months have involved little to no sleep.  It paid off. I know that she was such an asset to the campaign and I thank her for allowing the Dems to at least keep the majority in the Senate! She is a phenomenal woman who is going to be leading campaigns before we know it! Congrats Ellie!!! Can we talk now?? =)

You can take the girl out of DC but you can't take the DC out of the girl!

Fourth of July weekend in DC!