Zurich and Italian Lessons

Ciao mi amici,

We rode the train to Zurich last weekend to visit our friends Coy, Kacey, and their son, Townes. I worked with Coy in Memphis for two years before he started a rotation in Zurich back in 2005-ish. He has been in Switzerland since that time and we have kept in touch ever since. Coy and Kacey have helped us a lot in figuring out what to expect when we were on our way here and 10x more since we have been here. We have been looking forward to the chance to meet them in their stomping grounds to get shown around a little bit and to catch up.

Zurich is about 2 hours and 45 minutes away from Lugano by train. It's basically straight north on the other side of the Alps. The train ride gave Malinda some time to study an Economics book that she borrowed from one of her classmates. It gave me time to listen to my iPod and make fun of Malinda for studying. See the video!



I left work early on Friday (Malinda did not have class) so we could get to Zurich in time for Zurich Oktoberfest. When we arrived and went to the Oktoberfest area we found out there was at least a two hour wait to get in, and it was raining, so we ditched that plan. We ended up going to some small little bar down the street. We just ordered "a beer," and got some awesome local brew called Hurliman. We can remember it because Malinda decided that it sounded like "girly man" from Hanz and Franz on Saturday Night Live. Side note, there is a store in Zurich called "Pomp You Up!" We also ordered a Gruyere (cheese) sandwich and some olive dish. It was probably the best cheese sandwich I have ever had. We were told before we left by another friend who had lived in Zurich for 2 years that everything there was very expensive, but that it was also the very best stuff you would eat. I definitely remembered that conversation at this bar. Malinda was really impressed with the sandwich as well as the quality of the napkins.

Zurich is a really cool city. It is much bigger than Lugano and has lots of stuff going on. Coy showed me a fairgrounds type area that was empty as we walked by. He explained that the Swiss have a tradition similar to Groundhog's Day in the US. Except their's is a million times better... They build a huge bonfire (like 30 feet high) in the middle of the fairgrounds. On top of the bonfire is a giant snowman made out of something flammable (not sure what exactly, but I pictured paper mache). They determine how much longer winter will last based on how long it takes the snowman's head to EXPLODE after they set the pile on fire! Did I mention that the snowman's head is full of FIREWORKS?!?! I can't believe American's didn't come up with that. The stupid groundhog and shadow make no sense. Blowing up a snowman's head makes perfect sense, and it is completely cool. You know where we will be when spring approaches....

Zurich has a couple of old churches in town, the Grossmunster (translation "daddy church") and the Fraumunster (translation "momma church"). I'm sure I mangled the spelling there. I don't know if there was a baby church, but if there was I'm sure it was just the right size. We walked through both of them and saw some cool stained glass that was not really stained glass, but different colorful rocks sliced very thin. It's hard to explain, so we probably should have taken a picture. Sorry. On one of our visits there was a small group of stringed instrument players (3-4 violins, cellos, bass, etc.) practicing Vivaldi. It was really cool!

We continued developing our European culture by going to the Apple store where Coy bought a Time Capsule (see Apple's website) and I got a Swiss power cord for my own Apple equipment. The first store we went to was sold out of what Coy wanted, so we had to go to another and it was also packed. So invest in Apple.

We also saw a black Lamborghini while we were walking around, so we took a picture. Malinda loves this picture of her, so I promised I would post it. There you go my prancing beauty!

Coy and Kacey treated us to some English style coffee (they just got back from spending 6 months in London) and Swiss fondue. It was great and a lot of fun catching up.

Zurich is definitely a place we could see ourselves visiting often. Most people there seem closer to our age compared to Lugano, where most people on the street seem a little older. There also seems to be a lot more going on nightlife-wise. But, in fairness to Lugano, we haven't really tried to find all there is to offer and don't have someone who knows the town to show us around.

New subject. Today was the first day of a 3 week, intensive Italian course for me. I'm not going to work. I just go to class from 8:15 to 11:45 each day to get Italian lessons. Today's lesson seemed to go by really quickly for me. I learned how to say stuff like: "what is your name?" "my name is Ryan" "May I introduce you to Malinda?" "Pleased to meet you", etc. I also learned the various forms of the verb "to be" like: "I am," "you are," "he is", "they are" etc. It sounds easy, but it gets complicated with masculine vs. feminine and formal vs. informal. If you ever took Spanish or French (or Italian I guess) in high school, you may remember this stuff. Hopefully, by the end of this course, I will pick up on more stuff being said to me and may actually be able to communicate in Italian like at least a 2 year old. This would be a big success for me since I am starting from zero and 2 year old's get 2 full years.

So, I need to get to some homework, so I'm going to wrap it up. I hope everyone is doing well, and I look forward to seeing you all soon and impressing you with my 2 year old level of Italian language skills. Arrivederci.

Life Change #2

Not sure how to set this one up exactly, so I'll just get on with it. I had my first master's class today. This might come as a surprise to many of you. Why haven't I mentioned it before? Well, that would be because it's pretty much news to me. I managed to inquire about a Master's program, apply, get accepted, and go to my first class all in less than a week. Let's see if I can explain...

I assumed I could fall back on school only after I had gotten settled and confirmed whether or not I could work. There's only one master's program taught in English here in Lugano, so I planned to apply in November for the January session. WRONG. Apparently the program starts in September, period. If you miss the start, you have to catch it the following September. That wouldn't work for me because we're only here for two years. So it's basically now or never. I chose now, mostly because if work came through I could always try doing both and also because the "getting settled" period meant too much alone time, and was driving me a little crazy. My only option was to contact the dean in charge of my master's program and beg (which at this particular juncture, i.e. desperateville, I am not above doing). It worked and he granted me late entry! I had a couple of days to get the paperwork together and to meet with the professors whose classes I was jumping in on.

I'm really happy about the program... it's supposed to be one of the best here in Switzerland, the campus is beautiful, and it's all taught in English (pretty convenient). At the same time, I'm wondering what in the world I've managed to get myself into. Why I think I can plop myself into these situations is beyond me. Did I think this particular graduate program would be easy? I did actually... business school at CBU was a little math (stats, accounting) mixed with some common sense (ethics, marketing). So, while I didn't breeze through every class, I wouldn't say it was difficult and the schedule left me with lots of free time. Here, not so much. Mind you, I'm coming in about 5 weeks late, so I'm sure that has something to do with it, but about 80% of this class went right over my head. It was mid level economics... there were lots of equations, models, graphs and theories, all of which was new to me. So, I came back to the apartment feeling like I had bitten off more than I could chew. Thankfully, this didn't last long. It's going to be hard. So what. Thanks to Stuart Smalley, apparently I'm good enough, smart enough, and doggonit, people like me.

On to the "people like me" subject... I managed to make friends in the first 10 minutes! There were four girls meeting about a project when I walked into class. I asked if I was in the right room (actually, I knew it was the right room because I scoped it out on Friday and then again on Monday - life may be upside down at the moment but my neuroses is constant). They of course said yes and started asking questions. Aside from having an actual master's degree in two years, my main goal was to meet people my age and make friends. So, as far as that's concerned, it looks like I'm right on track!

Wish me luck. I think I'm going to need it. In the meantime, if anyone needs to know more about price discrimination, elasticity of demand, and monopolists, I've got about 5 pages of notes you can borrow.

Speaker City

I'm not going to really do this post justice, but I'll try. You only have to know Ryan casually to know he's good with music. He often makes CD's for peoples' birthdays, is asked to make playlists for parties, and thanks to his 7 or so speakers in our tiny, old living room, our house rocked. That being said, we always knew a portion of our moving stipend (which we're using to buy furniture) would be set aside for speakers.

After a few visits to a local dealership, he narrowed the choices down to Wharfdale and B&W. Both were delivered to our apartment on Saturday for us to try them out for a few days. I thought this was crazy but apparently it's pretty common. It made for a great weekend.

Saturday was all about the speakers. We made a list of over 90 songs to compare and took notes on the different sounds... things like "good bass," "you can hear the slide," and "clear voice - like he's in the room." It was a long process, and throughout we managed to cook (spaghetti a la bolognese) and went through two bottles of wine. I was the scribe, and after a while Ryan asked me to write that the wine may have affected our results. My notes at that point included things like "we danced" and "makes me want to snap." So, we had to revisit our resuts on Sunday. We selected a few songs with completely different things to offer and did side by side tests. These songs included Cry On Demand by Ryan Adams (one of my personal favorites), So What by Miles Davis, Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson, Beethoven, and I think Poison by Bell Bi DeVoe (my ball of interest had dwindled at that point and I started to put furniture together). Ultimately, we decided on the B&W's.














Like I said... I'm not doing this post justice. Ryan could probably talk about the difference between the two, and explain more how the decision was made. I did hear a difference (which says something), and love the fact that the B&W's have these bright yellow accents. Tower speakers aren't the easiest thing to blend into a living room, so it helps if they're nice to look at.

Here's a picture of us sitting down to eat (notice the notebook on my lap). It was a great night.

Discoveries

Another beautiful day. It's gotten significantly colder, but it's perfect in the sun. Luckily, our mountain gets a lot of it. Actually, when I tell people I live in Castagnola, they typically comment on how great the exposure is. So, I ran some errands this morning and am home now enjoying the view.

Ryan sends me these quotes he gets from work every now and then, and this one in particular inspired my post. "He who never made a mistake never made a discovery." Well, I have made LOTS of discoveries, and I thought I'd share.

Everyone dresses up here. I'm not going to say they dress nicely... some of the clothes are a little out there. But they all dress up. In fact, I noticed someone wearing shorts and rubber flip flops, then realized they were speaking English in American accents. Shoes are big here. Heels are high. Sweaters are worn over shoulders and dress shirts (paired with tailored jeans) are tucked in. There are seriously no exceptions.

I've seen lots of make-outs in the park when I run. The odd thing is, you can't always tell who's the boy and who's the girl. They both tend to be skinny, wearing tight pants, and have long hair. It's a conundrum.

Flowers and wine are cheap, food is expensive. But it's really good. When we first moved in I bought a fresh baked loaf of bread, a jar of Nutella, and other unmentionable groceries. The bread and Nutella lasted two days. Ryan had one bite. I haven't bought Nutella since.

You have to weigh your produce and sticker it before you check out. I mentally thank our friend Suzie for telling us that every time I shop. It would have been an interesting encounter at the check out line if she hadn't.

The grocery stores don't give you bags... you either have to bring your own reusable one (which most people do) or buy them there. You can choose everything from a $.15 plastic bag like you're used you, a $1 paper bag with handles, a $1.50 bigger and heavier plastic bag, or a $5 reusable bag with the grocery store's name on it. They even sell bags meant to carry only wine (I had to buy one of those today).

People here don't respect personal space. You know that moment when you go to pick out butter, and someone's already parked in front trying to decide? Typically, I stand at a distance and wait. Here, they saddle up next to you so close you're touching, reach their arm across your face, and grab their favorite. This isn't a one time thing... I've gotten butter twice since we've been here.

Elevators here are 1/4 the size of US elevators. Again, if you don't have personal space issues, it's not a problem.

Cars are a big deal. You mostly see Mercedes, BMW's, Audi's, and Volkswagon. However, I don't go a day without seeing a Bentley, Maserati, or an Aston Martin. I went years between seeing these cars in the states.

Everyone really does eat ice cream (gelati).

Pork is the common meat here. Breakfast at the hotel actually included a ham spread. I didn't try that one. You rarely find chicken and almost never find beef. I bought something today that looks like ground beef, but I really can't be sure. I'm going to take my chances this Saturday.

You have to open the door to the bus yourself. There's a button on the side with a picture of a hand... you touch that, and the door opens. I made sure I stood back and watched that process a couple of times before I tried it myself.

Everyone has dogs (and on very short leashes). Mostly little dogs, but all are welcome... they go into grocery stores, clothing stores, sit under your table at dinner and ride buses. They poop on the sidewalk, and every block or so you'll see boxes fixed to lampposts with complimentary "doggy bags" just in case you forgot yours at home.

I'm sure there are others, but I'm having trouble thinking right now. I have to run to the church and help with Curry Dinner Night. That never happened in Memphis.

Ciao!

Settling In

It feels like it's been a while since I've posted. I think that's because my days are still sort of hard. The weekends are great. But the minute Ryan leaves for work on Monday morning, I sort of sulk. You've already seen our view... it's amazing. I sit there and think, why am I not motivated to go out - it's beautiful?!? These long, expansive days should feel liberating. I can do anything. But instead, for the moment, they feel daunting.

I tend to do things with full force, and I feel I did that with work for the last six years. You underestimate how much of your self-worth comes from succeeding, getting positive feedback whether it be from clients or coworkers, making money, and having respect from your husband and family partly because of what you accomplished. Let me not get ahead of myself... I was an account manager not a brain surgeon. But I felt good at it.

So, yesterday I went to visit one of my options - a graduate program at Universita della Svizzera Italiana (www.usi.ch). I felt a rush that I haven't felt since we moved here. My hands are tied for the moment... we haven't received the proper paperwork that will dictate whether I can work, attend school, work and attend school (it's complicated). But, I got groceries that afternoon with a purpose! I went to every store trying to find the cheapest alarm clock like it was my job, and I liked it! The lesson I've learned is that I need something, and even the possibility of something makes me happy. So, with this promise of purpose, I can write and tell you about laundry and not cry, like I have been the last couple of days. So here goes.

Laundry is an issue. This is how it went on my first try. I put the clothes in, shut the door, and start pressing buttons. Not only is nothing happening, but no lights are coming on. I check for plugs in the back, run my fingers down the side in hopes of finding an on/off switch, all for naught. At this point I assume I'm just over thinking it, so I move on to the soap hoping the distraction will allow me to come back to the power issue with fresh focus. There's a pull out tray with 3 sections. I don't want to mess this one up so I find an instruction manual and start looking around. It's not in English (of course) but it does have pictures. I notice the soap is definitely going in the first tray - I can do that! Back to the power... I probably stared at the machine for a solid 5 minutes before thinking I should abort, take my clothes out, and do some research upstairs. I tried to open the door - guess what - doesn't work! Those of you with front loading machines probably know this, but there's no way to pull the door open, you have to press a button to make that happen. At this point there's a little panic. My clothes are held hostage and there's no one to consult. I start looking for buttons outside of the actual room (I'm desperate) and realize there's a dial right above the light switch. It's simple - goes from zero to one. I turn it to one, and just like that, the machine lights appear. So that was a lot harder than it had to be. I move on to cycle buttons and make best guesses. I decide to watch, just to make sure it's working before I leave. Sure enough, the clothes start tumbling. I feel I've done my job and head back upstairs. About an hour later I head down, open the door, and realize my clothes are dry. They've got some washing powder on them (thanks to my instruction manual skills) but they definitely weren't washed. It's at that point that I notice a water pipe above the machine with a drip pan underneath. I'm thinking, do you seriously have to turn the water on every time you do a load of laundry? The answer is yes. I turn on the spigot, water starts slowly dripping into the pan, and I reload the clothes for Act 2. With these I only wait 30 minutes before checking on them, just in case I've left out some other crucial thing like water. Not this time. In fact, I was so good with the water that I turned it on a little too much and it was over the drip pan, all over the top of the machine, and was running down the sides to the floor. I'm not one for expletives but you know how they say "when in Rome?" Well, "when in Switzerland" you flood your new apartment complex trying to do the simplest of tasks, you say crap a lot. Luckily, growing up in New Orleans, I have practice with floods. It was one of those "pick up, the water just reached the mailbox" moments. I went for anything on the floor - got them to higher ground. Next, I notice a drain in the middle of the room (someone must have done this before) so I take a towel and start shoveling the water towards the drain. I put more clothes around the bottom of the washing machine hoping to soak up any puddles underneath. I eventually got things under control, and by my second load knew just how much water was needed from the hose to make the wash. There's no dryer in our building so we have to hang the clothes either in the drying room (which was full) or on our balcony. Once this ordeal was finally over, I was so proud I took a picture. These days, this is what success looks like. Isn't it beautiful?

FYI

Ryan didn't know this, and wanted me to share... if you want a better view of the pictures, double click on them and they'll get larger. Just don't do it on the one of me on our makeshift sofa. I didn't approve of that one.

The Good Life

Last week was very busy for us. But today is Sunday and no stores are open, the sun is shining, and we are relaxing on our patio with INTERNET ACCESS!!!!

Join us...



It has taken a lot to get to this point. Our bed arrived on Wednesday. We spent that night assembling it (until 11:30pm). There are some engineers at IKEA that design the packaging of furniture that could fit all the parts to a car inside a package the size of a coke can. They should win an award. "Some assembly required" is an understatement... we put in every screw, brace, bracket, and nail in all of our furniture so far. But on the good side, it all fit in our tiny elevator to bring it down to our room, so we never had to use the stairs. So Wednesday night we had the bed and could finally sleep in our new apartment.

We had already been planning all week for me to take off work on Thursday. We planned to go to IKEA with a list of all the other major things we needed to get us started at the apartment. As we have mentioned before, Malinda had already meticulously planned out our exact furniture and placement. This was crucial. Earlier in the week I asked a coworker to call IKEA and reserve a moving van for us for Thursday from 1:30pm to 4:30pm. The plan was to go there in the morning, kidnap anyone who spoke English and get them to sit with us while we went through a laundry list of all the furniture we needed. When Thursday arrived we woke up at 7:00am and had a quick breakfast. We then had to catch the bus to our old hotel and pack up all our bags and check out. We were planning on riding the bus back, but the lady at the front desk laughed at us and said we should think about getting a cab, which we did. That was the greatest idea ever. It saved us a lot of time which was crucial because we had to get to IKEA to order our stuff before our van rental time ran out!

So we rode the buses to IKEA, the whole time we were taking notes on when to turn, what landmarks we saw, etc. because we were about to have to drive back to our apartment on our own. I may have mentioned this before, but there aren't street signs on every corner like you are used to. The names of the streets are on the corners of some of the buildings and every once in a while you'll see a sign, but that's if your lucky. So, we made it to IKEA and confirmed our van would be ready for us.

We found a guy named Flavio who spoke English well and we busted out Malinda's notebook with everything we wanted. I wish I could scan the pageS of Malinda's notebook that had what we needed. No detail was not included (size, color, price, etc.). Again, this was all crucial because we were able to just sit at a computer with this guy and get everything. We did have a couple of problems.... We wanted two sofas, one would be a foldout sofa for people to sleep on when we have visitors, the other is just a three person couch. Neither of these were in stock, and the guy told us it would be 4 to 6 weeks to get them. That really sucked, because those were probably the most important things on our list. We do not like sitting on the hardwood floors and don't want to have to do it for another month and a half. But then, later, when we were finishing up, I asked Flavio if he could see if there were any other similar sofas in stock and EUREKA, one of ours was in stock! It just didn't have the cover. We decided that was no problem and we would just sit on it with no cover and put the cover on when it came in (in six weeks). At this point we are feeling pretty good, some high fives were flying; and it looked like we would have plenty of time to get the van, load it up and return it before the 4:30pm cut off. We even decided that once we dropped off the van we would treat ourselves to a TV. We would just have to bring the TV back with us on the bus.

We continued shopping for other things in the meantime and got some other smaller necessities. We ate at the store, and got the van. I was a little intimidated about what it was going to be (i.e. moving van vs. a Dodge caravan size). It was something in between, basically a conversion van size (or maybe slightly larger) with plenty of room in the back for all our stuff that was in stock. It was also a Mercedes and it drove great. We had a great time driving to the apartment and back. We felt a little bit of freedom by not being stuck to a bus schedule and route. Once we returned the van, we went to the little nearby electronics store and bought the cheapest 32" TV they had, which was really pretty nice (a Samsung LCD). We felt like rock stars and we were very proud to have pulled off what could have been a day riddled with disappointment and misunderstandings.

We decided the first thing we would do when we got home would be to put together the couch!!! That way we could take a break and rest when we got tired of putting together all the other great stuff we got. YEAH! So, I open the couch box. It's a big box and I don't see the instructions, so I take everything out and look underneath it etc. There's another box of cushions that came with the couch box, so I open that looking for the instructions, and instead I find one sheet of paper. It says something like "Since the sofa cover must be put on before the couch is assembled, please follow the instructions that came with your sofa cover." Hmm. Well, we don't have the sofa cover, so we don't have the instructions to assemble the couch. So that was a little disappointing. But we put our noggins together and decided to just make a sofa in the corner of the apartment using our cushions. Then we got to building. So far, we have a coffee table, dining room table, floor lamp, two dining room chairs, a dresser, two nightstands, and a shelf rack thing. On the agenda for tonight is the base of the TV stand, the rest of the dining room chairs, and a bookshelf. Take a look at it so far...


The reason you can see the video and larger photos is because we finally got the internet up and running in the apartment! This allows us to get online anytime we want to which is new for us. It is amazing how much we rely on the inter-tubes that Al Gore invented for all of us. Think about how much time you spend on the internet and what all it provides for you. If you want to find a particular kind of shop, you can just google it, and then if you don't know where it's located you can get directions online. If you want to figure out the bus routes in your city, what would you do? I would look it up online. If you want to shop for something, wouldn't you feel better about buying once you've checked out a few options online? Me too! In a new city, where we don't really know anyone personally, it's nice to be able to at least try to get some info online. Most of the times the websites are in Italian or German, but we have found a really cool tool (translate.google.com) that translates websites from one language to another (the whole website). It doesn't work flawlessly, but it at least helps you get the point.

Having the internet also allows us to watch TV through the Slingbox (mentioned in a previous post), download music on iTunes, and video chat with our parents. We have been doing this most of the time since we got it fired up a few days ago. We can video chat with you too if you'd like, just let us know. We have Skype, iChat, Google Video, and Logitech Vid. Plus we can probably download anything else that would work for you. Just remember we are 7 hours ahead, so if you wait to late in the day, we will probably be asleep.

Having the internet at the apartment also allows us to post to the blog whenever we want (and add videos) instead of us being forced to walk to the park for the free wi-fi which was not very fast and never had a very consistent connection. So, you get this super long post today. I hope you like it, and I hope you're not reading it at work on Monday and getting behind.

This week has been very good for us. I got a haircut yesterday which was hilarious... Next time you go to get your haircut, go somewhere completely new. Listen to headphones so you can't hear what the people there are saying. You can just understand gestures and pointing. And the only things you are allowed to say are: "hello," "good," "yes," "no," "thanks," and you can count from 1 to 10, but that probably won't be useful or impress them that much. If you are with nice people, this will be a funny good experience. I take no responsibility though, if you come out with a purple mohawk and a black eye.

We also went to the English speaking church this morning and it was really good. I typically don't love going to church. I think most people could probably get behind me on that one. If you knew me in high school, I was very involved in my church and I really loved it. But even then, I didn't really like the Sunday morning church part. I liked my Youth Ministers and all my friends and the things we did involving church like camps and retreats. I think it comes down to getting something from the message and thinking the speaker is someone who is wise and kind. I think we may have found a guy like that here which I have not had for a long time. It was definitely recharging and left us with some positive vibes this afternoon. We are really enjoying these sunny Sundays. It's nice that nothing is open, so you can't really do anything besides go for a walk and sit and look at a beautiful lake and mountains. It's very quiet and relaxing. I hope your Sunday goes well (or went well). The world would definitely be a better place if everyone's Sunday was like ours here today.

More to come

Dear avid readers,

Nothing makes us happier than to know you enjoy reading so much that you are counting the days between posts. Please forgive us for the drought. We have been moving out of the hotel into the apartment, and while the hotel was not the most luxurious or spacious; it was located centrally downtown near free wi-fi hotspots. The internet connection at the new apartment should be up and running today. Depending on how early you check the blog, you may see a new post from the apartment at the same time you see this post. Until then, I hope this little nugget will keep your spirits up. I can't make it longer, because I am at work right now.

Ciao

Rough Start

As Ryan previously told you, I'm a perfectionist when it comes to the house. I'm not sure what happens after it's set up... somehow I let the upkeep get away from me, but I digress. I came to a firm conclusion on furniture, placement, and colors, and was all set to place my order. Somehow, I waited about 45 minutes for the bus to IKEA. The one I needed runs every 30 minutes. So, I went back to the hotel, got better directions, and found myself on my way to Granchia. With very specific notes and diagrams in hand, I tried to find an English speaking employee. No luck, but I was told there was someone who could speak German, and somehow this was supposed to help me. I managed to show her what I needed, and we were on our way to completing the order when I realized I didn't know our new address. I don't have a cell phone yet, so there was no way to call Ryan. Great way to start the day.

I'm not really thrilled about my early (and hopefully temporary) retirement, so I decided to throw myself at this housewife job, and see if there was anything at IKEA that could help. Ryan likes coffee, so I thought I'd aim high and buy teacups, a French press, and other such necessities. An hour later I have a cart full of things to take back to our new place, excited that my trip wasn't a total waste. I check out, load up my reusable IKEA bag, and realize it's a lot heavier than I anticipated. Another smart move. After some maneuvering, I find myself waiting for the bus, remembering there's no hotel to run back to in case I get this one wrong. My anxiety builds as I realize that to go all the way to the apartment, I'll have to CHANGE buses (that means buying another ticket) at the mega bus stop. As we approach the safety of my hotel stop, I'm picturing failure. It looks like me schlepping it with a heavy bag all the way up a hill if I don't get this exactly right. The possibility of falling flat on my face (teacups strewn everywhere) is high. However, in another life (the one in the US) I was a moderate risk taker. I had about 30 seconds to make up my mind.

I am currently on a bench by the lake, pretty much in front of our hotel (where the very full IKEA bag remains). I wasn't ready to make that decision on an empty stomach, and was in need of a tomato mozzarella baguette. I have refueled, and am weighing my options.

Weekend Update

It's Sunday night here and we just ended our second weekend. As you know we are thinking about furnishing our new apartment, so much of this weekend has been looking at sofas, coffee tables, light fixtures, bath mats, etc, etc... I'm not sure how many of our readers know how Malinda meticulously plans the placement and style of furniture wherever she lives, but she could teach a class on it. We received a blueprint (not really but sort of) of our apartment drawn to scale with measurements on the day we got the keys. Malinda has made little cut outs of different sizes of furniture (also to scale) based on the measurements in the IKEA catalog. She spends hours agonizing over whether we should have a 3 seat couch and a love seat, or a sectional and two armchairs, or some other combination. If I don't snap her out of it, she could easily flip out and totally lose her mind.

So, on Saturday we rode the bus to two furniture stores that are not too far from each other, IKEA and Fly. I should tell you about our bus riding experiences. I don't think we wrote about our first time riding the bus, but to make a long story short, it was a disaster. We walked A LOT, got lost, and paid 15 CHF (Swiss Francs) for nothing. We accidentally bought a train ticket instead of a bus ticket and rode the bus to IKEA and back without ever buying a bus ticket Luckily we got on the back of the bus both times and the bus driver never asked us for a ticket! But we didn't realize we were cheating the system until we did it right this Saturday.

We asked the person at the front desk of our hotel and found out the bus picks up about 100 ft from the front of the hotel. We also found out you tell the bus driver where you are going and pay for it on the bus (not at a kiosk like we tried before). Also it's only 6 CHF for a round trip ticket instead of the 15 we paid for a one way train ticket... This last bus trip was a huge success and took about 3 hours less time than last weekend.

We are now confident about being able to get around somewhat. We also can ride the bus from our hotel to our new apartment (and back!) which is much easier than the 45 minute walk which includes a very steep hill to get to our place. We also found out that a lot of people at IKEA speak English, they have name badges with little flags under their names to show what languages they speak. They usually have 4 or 5! We feel like idiots because we only speak English. So furnishing is under way and Malinda can probably handle most of it by herself next week.

This weekend there was an Autumn Festival in Lugano. It involved people setting up little stands and selling cheese, dried sausages, jellies, scarves, wines, etc. They also had people dressed up in traditional, local costumes who sing and play instruments.

We ate at the festival Friday and Saturday night and I have no idea what it was, but it seemed traditional, so we went for it. The first night we had some sort of pasta that looked like rice crispies and a mystery meat. I hope it was beef, but I would not swear to it. Later that night we saw people in long lines getting food from guys who were stirring mixtures in giant vats that sat on the ground with what looked like canoe oars. So, we decided we would try that on Saturday.

Here is a picture of what we saw. I also wanted to try and get some red pants in the picture. There are a lot of guys that wear red, orange, or yellow pants here and they are awesome! So I think this is a picture of a big vat of polenta. They give you a scoop of this in a bowl and then you get another scoop from another vat of your choice. Malinda got some creamy mushroom goop, and I got something that looks kinda like gumbo. Mine was very gumboesque in my opinion and I liked it.

Today we went to an Anglican Church that we heard about through one of Malinda's e-mails to the American Women of Ticino (AWOT) group. We missed church because we took a wrong turn on the way there, but after we found out how to get there, we went back and met everyone after they got out for a pot luck lunch. It was great because they all spoke English. There are a couple of American families and several British families. We spent lunch with an older man from Oak Ridge, TN who works at a super computer lab in Lugano. He was very nice and very happy to answer our stupid questions and fill us in on some tricks of living here. It basically involves smuggling food in from Italy, where it is half the price. He also reconfirmed that we really must get a car. This was further confirmed when we had to bum a ride from one of the nice women in the church to a expat garage sale this afternoon. We didn't find much there, but did get Malinda a hairdryer, a picture frame, and some Italian cookbooks.

We got dropped off at our new apartment with our loot and I passed out. Malinda thought it would be really cool to take pictures of me while I was asleep. We have at least six of these...

Successes this week: getting an apartment, riding the bus in the city, riding the bus to other cities, buying stuff at IKEA on our own, getting a home phone, and finding English speaking people.

Better luck next week: getting a hair cut, not having to sleep on the floor, having real internet access, searching for a car, not eating out every meal.