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.