A Room with a View

A view from Alex and Ruby's room. The full moon rising over Lac Leman and Mont Blanc.

Getting to Know You

Today after church we decided to take a walk around our village. There is not a lot to see....after all the population of Bassins is only around 900 people. Here are a few pictures from our walk.

Pete and Ruby in front of the village announcement board

In many of the Swiss villages they have these fountains. We haven't figured out what they are used for, but we passed 6 of them on our 1/4 mile walk. Since this is Switzerland we thought they'd be full of chocolate. But alas....freezing cold water.

Ruby and Alex trying to make a collect call to anyone who speaks English. I told them that Mama Linda is the only one I know who still accepts collect calls.

If you can read this sign it says Ruelle de la Repentance...translated means Alley of Repentance. I guess this is the real reason Pete brought me to Switzerland.

Pete and the kids with Lac Leman (Lake Geneva) in the background

Ode to Auntie Meiken

Yesterday we drove to France to go grocery shopping. I know this sounds extreme, but it is only 20-30 minutes away depending on which way you go. In Switzerland groceries can be tres expensive....especially the meat. My first week here I paid almost 15 francs for 4 pieces of chicken! So anyway, off to France we went.

It was a very curvy drive though the countryside and the whole time I was glad that I wasn't a passenger in the back. I was also glad that none of my kids get carsick like my niece Margaux. (Sidenote to Meiken and Phil-we will definitely skip the drive to France when you come.) It was beautiful and there was quite a bit of snow in the mountains. We passed a little ski resort that we can take the kids to next winter. It is about 15 minutes from us.

While we were grocery shopping we stumbled across something that we have been unable to find in Switzerland. Phil and Meiken (my brother and s-i-l) were always talking about it after they spent a summer in Florence. There it was called Fanta Limon. In France it is called Fanta Citron. It is a really delicious lemon soda. Needless to say, I will definitely be returning to France.

Lessons learned thus far

I've been in Switzerland a little over a week. Here are a few of the things I've discovered.

1. Don't go to IKEA on Saturday.
I'm pretty sure all of Switzerland shops at IKEA on Saturdays. The place was a zoo. The parking structure was full (3 stories worth) and the extended IKEA parking lot was full. We had to park pretty far away and of course the kids were in no mood for the walk or the crowd. IKEA is overwhelming for me on a quiet day so I had to get myself psyched up on the walk over. Wow. It was like going to Disneyland in the summer. You could not get your cart through all of the people, the lines were extremely long, and it was really loud. We made it through as quickly as possible and vowed never to return. Of course we've already been back since.

2. Don't forget to bring bags to the grocery store.
Each grocery bag costs .30 francs (like 30 cents). Everytime I go to the grocery store I have our bags out on the counter to take, and everytime I have forgotten them. So of course I buy more bags along with my groceries. My new plan is as soon as I unload the groceries to take the bags out and store them in my van instead of the cupboard. This hasn't happened yet but I will remember eventually.

3. Don't forget to have change when you go to the grocery store.
If you want a cart at the grocery store you have to have a 2 franc coin to pay for it. When I went to the grocery store by myself, I forgot to bring change. So I found myself looking for an ATM so I could pull out money. Then I bought a candy bar so that I could break the bill and get some coins. In my broken french I asked the cashier how much I needed to get a cart. She kindly showed me and presto, I was finally ready to start grocery shopping. That was the first and last time I have left the house without change. I've heard that if you grocery shop in France you need a Euro for the cart. So I guess I will start carrying those also.

4. Don't forget your french/english dictionary.
Hardly anyone around us speaks english. At the grocery store I asked a lady whether I was holding liquid laundry detergent or liquid fabric softener. I had an amazing time trying to decipher her answer. Luckily I know a few main vocabulary words that have gotten me by and Pete has handled all of the major things: ordering at McDonalds, getting our internet working, setting up banking, sorting through all of our mail, etc.

5. If you want to buy anything nonfat or light you have to purchase Weight Watchers.
I've never been a fan of diets and who knew that one day I would be consuming a lot of Weight Watchers products. So far I have found that if I want to buy nonfat milk(or the closest thing to it) or lean ground beef, the only choice I have is to buy Weight Watchers. When we first arrived Pete went grocery shopping and came home with the basics: milk, bread, etc. When I first started drinking the milk I thought it didn't taste quite right. The milk doesn't have to be refrigerated until you open it and so I thought this was the reason it was a little different. Upon closer examination I realized I was drinking milk with 2.7% milkfat. Yuck! Since I discovered the Weight Watchers milk I am a happy camper.

We are learning a lot and are grateful that we have this opportunity. We can't wait for visitor so that we can experience these fun things together.

April snow

A view of our backyard

California kids.....

......get your coats on!

Moving in

Alex helping out

Unloading boxes

A view of our family room

Day 1 in Bassins

We woke up on Tuesday ready to take on the challenge of moving in. As we headed to our house we thought we would swing by McDonalds (again) to pick up breakfast. Unfortunately we found out that it doesn't open until 9 am. We were stuck eating Zone bars for breakfast and our kids were not too happy about it.

As we started driving up the hill to our village it started snowing. (I should backtrack and tell you that the shuttle driver mentioned to me the previous night that it never snows in April. I guess we just got lucky.) The kids were happy to be able to play in the snow but the movers weren't exactly thrilled.

After backing our van out of the truck, they began bringing our boxes in. Unfortunately they had to carry them in one by one so that I could check them off of our list. I guess you are responsible for making sure that all of your things arrive....and in one piece. Pete left me with the list and the job of telling them where to put everything. I felt bad watching them carry our heavy things up the stairs (often times up 2 flights). On the other hand, I was glad it wasn't Pete and I doing it. Pete took the kids driving in search of a grocery store and something to eat for lunch.

The movers had the truck unloaded by lunchtime and took a break. This gave us a chance to nap Henry and go over things with our relocation agent. After lunch the movers came back and began to unpack boxes. This was funny to me because they just randomly put things away in cupboards (glasses, seasonings and tupperware all in one cupboard) and stashed stuff on shelves (books upside down, sideways stacked and dvds in a bookcase). Oh well. The great thing was that they put all of our beds together. This meant all I had to do was locate the bedding and make the beds.

Around 6 o'clock we headed back down the hill in search for dinner. Pete and I had gone to a place in December that had a non-smoking area so we thought this would be our best bet. Unfortunately we found out that they are not really open for dinner until 7:30 pm. We ended up eating sandwiches for the second time but stopped by a little crepe stand for some dessert which we all loved. I could have eaten about 5 on my own. The funny thing is they give you this utensil that is half knife/half fork and it is worthless. You can't cut very well with it and the fork part doesn't work well either.

By the time we were finished we were all a sticky mess. Pete took Alex and Ruby to the bathroom to wash their hands and while he was gone I sat on a bench with Henry. While I was waiting, a man came and sat next to me and said, "Bonjour". Of course I replied back, "Bonjour". Then he started playing with Henry and talking rapidly in French. I had no idea what he was saying so I just smiled and nodded like I understood. Anyway, his daughters came out of the bathroom and as he stood up to leave he smiled and said, "Bon nuit"(good night), to which I replied, "Bon nuit". I'm still wondering what exactly the conversation was about. I'm so glad that Pete speaks french.

Geneva at last

A view of Lake Geneva

Asleep at last!

Good night Alex

Traveling

Suitcase anyone?

Henry at the start of our flight to Zurich

Alex getting ready to sleep

Ruby was happy to have her pillow...I just wish she would have used it more

Saying goodbye

Henry saying goodbye to Auntie Meiken, Aunt Charlene and Aunt Janet

The Quintuplets: Andrew, Tommy, James and Alex

Alex giving cousin Margaux one last hug

I'm leaving on a jet plane

After a few tearful goodbyes at my sister Janet's house we all piled into a large van with 10 suitcases, 2 backpacks, 2 pillows, 1 duffel bag, 1 diaper bag, 1 stroller, 1 carseat, 1 briefcase, 1 purse and 5 passports. We definitely did not travel light.

After checking our bags and eating dinner, we had the fun task of getting through security. We all had to take our shoes off-even Henry! I guess they needed to make sure he wasn't a shoe bomber. He looks pretty dangerous with those teeth of his. Then everything had to go on the conveyer belt, even the stroller which meant Henry had to come out.

Our flight left around 7:30 pm and Henry fell asleep during take off. Unfortunately he woke up about 15 minutes later when they switched the lights back on. From that point on it was a very long flight. All three kids were awake until about 10:30 pm when they finally switched the lights off and Alex and Ruby had a little Benadryl.

Alex was our best sleeper. He slept until 4:30 am. Ruby slept until 2:30 am and then played musical chairs. Henry only slept in his carseat until the man across the aisle turned on his reading light at 12:30 am. From that point on, Pete and I took turns holding him while he slept on and off.

Ruby made friends with one guy in our row (Christopher) and was soon chatting away telling him more than he wanted to know. Fortunately he was really nice and allowed Pete and I to have a break from trying to entertain her.

After 11 long hours we landed in Zurich. We had exactly one hour to make our connecting flight. Of course Alex and Ruby didn't want to carry their own backpacks and Ruby didn't want to walk. So we made it across the airport in the following manner:

Pete carrying his briefcase, a carseat and Henry
Me carrying a duffel bag, a diaper bag and a purse while pushing a stroller filled with Ruby, her backpack and 2 pillows

Luckily for us we were able to go through security AGAIN, only this time I didn't have to take off Henry's shoes. Our flight to Geneva was only about 45 minutes which the kids handled really well.

In Geneva, 9 of our 10 bags arrived safe and sound. This meant that while Pete reported our missing bag and rented a car with Ruby, Alex and I were stuck with the job of getting the rest of our things out to the front of the airport to meet the shuttle driver. Henry chose this exact moment to fall asleep on my shoulder. So, Alex pushed an airport cart with 4 suitcases, 2 backpacks, 2 pillows and a carseat. He couldn't even see over the top and had to follow my voice. I was left pushing an airport cart with 4 suitcases, the stroller, duffel bag, diaper bag, purse and sleeping Henry on my shoulder. I had a small sample of what it must have been like for a handcart pioneer......except it wasn't freezing, I wasn't starving and I only had to go about 1/4 of a mile to where the shuttle was parked.

Anyway we made it up to our house and unloaded our bags. Pete was not far behind with Ruby and our rental car. After having a quick look around we headed for the McDonald's drive through. It was hilarious to watch Pete ordering in French over the wailing of Henry and Ruby.

We finally ended up at our hotel at 12 pm California time.....9 pm local time.

Bienvenue en Suisse!