Ah Mondays.....

Monday, September 17th, 2018

Justin left on Saturday for his business trip back to Canada. The girls and I had a differently paced weekend than we have ad since we arrived. It was nice in some ways. Kind of like resetting a bit.

Saturday:

On Saturday we went into Zurich with Kelly and Amelie and went shopping for the girls. They each got a few tops which were much needed and will round out their wardrobe when the cooler weather finally arrives. It was exhausting, actually, to be shopping for several hours, but it was also so cool to be able to hop on the train, pop into Zurich within 24 minutes of leaving Baar. Super convenient!

Sunday:

On Sunday, the girls did homework - shannon worked for most of the day, while Sarah finished her stuff up in the morning and watched shows. I met Kelly in Zug and we hiked for about 3 hours and enjoyed a coffee at the top of Zugerberg before heading back down. Murphy was good and tired after that walk!

In the afternoon, Sarah and I visited with our neighbours upstairs. It was so great! Sarah and Livvia made an apple cake while I chatted with Nathalie and Deborah. We also had a really good laugh at my german when Livvia was teaching me better pronunciation. Oh man, do I stink!!! I have a long way to go - or to put it positively, I have lots of room for improvement!!!

Justin is visiting lots of people back in KW and Toronto. He's dropping off packages that we sent with him, and he's picking up things have been collected at my Mom and Dad's as well as back at the house. I have really shifted my brain to thinking of the house we used to live in as a "house" and not my "home". It's weird to think of other people being there, changing how it looks inside, living a life there that I don't know about. And so I choose to think of it as an investment and not my home. It is a house that we rent out and where our things are stored, and that's it. If things break or change, then we can renovate and fix them. No emotion - that's what I have to maintain. I will be fine with Justin being the one who goes back there, and not me!!!

The girls will each get last year's year book when Justin comes back, which will be great (in the long run). Shannon is doing better this week with the move, but Sarah is still having a hard time. Each night she has said "I want to go home" and I simply hold her and tell her it will be better in the morning. Now she has a week to go until her class trip (they call it PDW - Personal Development Week) to Italy. It will be a great week, I am sure, but she is nervous and I can't blame her! It's 5 days and 4 nights in another country, with kids she's only known a few weeks. But I know that it will be rewarding and some good bonding will take place. I just have to keep reminding her, and keep my Mom Brave Face on!!

Shannon is enjoying settling in with a social group. She went out for dinner with 3-4 other girls last night. I am happy for her, and being where she can get around on the train or the bus so easily is so nice for her independence. I am still trying to get used to not knowing her friends...that's weird!!! But at least she has Amelie - her cousin, as they're saying (because that is less complicated than her mother's cousin's daughter - does that make it her second cousin? Who Knows?!) 

I'm strangely unaware of Shannon's marks so far, which feels weird. She was always more quiet than Sarah at sharing things, but now it's even more so. I am letting her have the independence, figuring that report cards come out and that will share with me what's happening....hopefully  it will not be too late! She was working all day yesterday on a Science Essay. It was HUGE she said. So I just let her work away....and then she had the reward of getting together with her friends.

Justin's job is going well. The dealership opens October 1st, so this trip to Canada is not ideal timing, but also not the worst timing. He is very busy and October will be hectic and stressful for him, I'm sure. The team there seems to be quite strong, but not without challenges, which is probably to be expected.  I have my "June Cleaver" hat on and I am trying to make sure the apartment stays neat, clean, well stocked and that everyone has healthy food to eat.  Justin's German has come along so far, especially in the last couple weeks where he was speaking German all day at work to the employees. It's amazing how good he is at speaking! My german is fumbling, but I keep trying and people are so very patient and helpful. My pronunciation absolutely stinks, but I'll do my best and keep trying and with practice I can hope and dream  that it will get better! I am using the Computer program "Rosetta Stone" and also just started an app on my phone to help me. And every week, I review the grocery flyers and the local small newspapers to learn "every day" German words. Bit by Bit.

Grocery shopping is so different here. The fridges aren't very big, so you really have to go shopping every day. And the prices are so high that I shop what's on sale. There will not be a lot of red meat consumed  - chicken is so much cheaper! Shannon has already complained that we eat too much chicken, but she's not thrilled when we have vegetarian! I invited her make the menu plan and do the grocery shopping, but she declined. haha! So when I grocery shop, 2 grocery stores are only about 200 m away so I walk each day, which is nice. And because I'm shopping for so little, a couple bags is a manageable amount to carry back. Typically I go to one grocery store as well as the other, just to shop the sale items. The sales change every day - some are on sale for the week, but some change each day! The grocery stores don't have the selection that we are used to in Canada, but we've already adjusted to that, it seems. Now I'm used to there just being a few types of granola bars, and not an entire set of shelves with a plethora of options.Today I need to get a broom for the deck, and I have no idea where I will get it! That's my fun tor today....thrilling, right?! haha!

Well, I better get back to real life: my typical day starts with studying German before I go grocery shopping, then take the dog to the river to tire him out, stop in at the discount store if there are any non-perishables on the shopping list, clean the house, do laundry, iron if needed, prep dinner and get ready for the kids. June Cleaver days for me!

Mountain Biking Women Rock!!

Saturday, September 8, 2018

What a cool weekend activity: we headed to Lenzerheide, Switzerland to watch the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships! We have been following the women's Cross Country racing and mostly cheering on Jolanda Neff (Swiss) and Emily Batty (Canadian). To see them ride in person was phenomenal. I am amazed by their strength, determination and power!!! They do 7 laps of the cross-country route and it combines downhill, technical riding, single track riding and climbing. They really have to be all around athletes, in my opinion. To see so many of the athletes pushing themselves to their limits, drooling because of the effort as they are going around the course.....amazing!

We watched the women race and then had a picnic lunch for an hour and a half while we waited for the men's race to start. We stayed only a few laps into the men's race since we were ready to head, and to be honest, it just didn't interest me the way the women's race did.

Saturday night was fun too - Sarah went to her first birthday party here. She didn't feel comfortable sleeping over, but stayed pretty late. Justin & I went to Zurich to have dinner and meet up with Brad and Lisa. As always, that was fun! Shannon stayed home and watched Netflix to her heart's content. A great night all around.

Sunday was a "work" day: Justin had work to do and the kids had homework. Unfortunately, I was not at my best - the migraine medication didn't even help dull the headache that I was suffering. Who knows why it came on, but it was bad.. I have been almost headache free since we got to Switzerland, and I was so sad to be locked away in the quiet and dark with the stupid headache. It stayed until Tuesday!! Now it's gone, thank goodness, and I hope I don't have another one soon!! I am so lucky to finally feel almost completely head ache free after nearly 5 years of daily headaches. I am so grateful!! And it's fitting that my goal for the next year is to become my best self - a fit, active, fulfilled and happy Christa. So that doesn't mean only KETO diet eating...heck no!! It means prosecco on a Tuesday night! It means Aperol Spritz whenever I can! It means chocolate and cheese! But it also means hiking lots, doing yoga  on my own and in class riding my bike for errands and for fun and being able to keep up with my fit family!! Here's to good Health!

The Summer Weather is back

September 11, 2018:

I joined a couple of groups and it is really helping me feel more connected (and more human) - and to have people to talk to, other than the dog!! (Although Murphy does enjoy our scintillating conversations, I feel they are sometimes a little one-sided.)

Tuesday, September 4: I joined a hiking group of Moms from the International School and we hiked a good 11km hike, starting from the school and going up into a forest with great views! There were about 40 people (including 3 dads) so it was a fairly big group. I had to dodge a few conversations so that I didn't walk beside people complaining or cranking about their kids' teachers...that is not going to fill my soul with positive energy! So I walked past the conversations until I found someone that was chatting in a way that was positive. How lovely!! I talked to the woman for at least an hour and a half of the walk and it was easy and wonderful, In fact,  I was going to leave the hike early, since it was going not far from our apartment, but I chose to keep hiking all the way to the school and added on the 5km walk home. It was well worth the effort since I enjoyed some chocolate when I got home!

Thursday, September 6: I joined a yoga class - again, with some Moms from the International School. It's a great way to stretch and build some strength and core muscles again, and it is going so much better in english than my Swiss German Pilates class!!! (I tried out a Pilates Class in downtown Zug last week, and I LOVED it!! The biggest problem was that it was in Swiss German, and so I had to torque my neck to look at the instructor, to see if I am doing it properly, which then basically negates the form that I tried to achieve in doing the exercise! Kind of counter-productive!! But I think it will be a great way to learn Swiss German in a fun atmosphere, so I think I will try to get my German better and then sign up for the class as a reward of sorts...)

It turns out that the class I am in has me with 3 other Moms from Sarah's grade 8 class! 1 girl and 2 boys! That is kind of neat!

Friday, September 7: I joined a knitting club that meets every few weeks. I was a little hesitant: is it going to be all old people? Are they going to be a serious knitting group - I cannot knit and talk!! Well, so far, these are cool knitters who are experienced through new knitters and it was a fabulous couple of hours sitting in a cafe by the train station right in Baar (our little town)!

It's amazing how those three activities made my week so much more enjoyable! I still had time to grocery shop every day, walk Murphy a few times a day and do the house keeping chores, but thankfully, cleaning drains was not the highlight of my week this week!!

Monday Pants

Monday, September 3, 2018

For my birthday, Sarah gave me "Monday Pants". These are actually Roots jogging pants but since I was often lonely on Mondays when the kids and Justin went out the door, Sarah thought it would be nice for me to have cozy jogging pants to wear on Mondays. I am loving them here too. And today, I need them. After fabulously fun weekends together, having adventures, laughing and being outside, I find Mondays very lonely. Like today. Yup... It's grey and cloudy out. Today, my highlights include doing 4 loads of laundry, 1 hour of Rosetta Stone German lessons, ironing some shirts, planning dinner and grocery shopping...oh, and maybe I'll clean a drain or two - wait, no point in doing that because I cleaned them last week!! haha!  Mondays are hard - back in Canada they were hard after I had to leave work because of the concussions. I felt I had no purpose, other than being a June Cleaver-esque housewife. And Mondays are hard here too. So I have come up with a plan of attack for fighting the Monday Blues:

• Walk with Murphy: we walk every morning, but Mondays seem to be a great morning for a destination walk to get fresh from the cow milk, some eggs from the farm and maybe some fruit or vegetables too. All on my 6/6:30 am walk. Purposeful and Productive.
• Steamed Milk for the girls: I fully realize that other people have the Monday morning blues too, so I have been steaming that fresh-from-the-cow milk for the girls on Monday mornings especially. Purposeful and Productive.
• Get dressed and do my hair. Why not Fake it Till You Make it? That's my thinking for Mondays! Today I am even sporting a dress! Purposeful and Productive.
• Plan dinner early in the day, and plan tomorrow's lunch for the girls. Go grocery shopping. Purposeful and Productive.
• Laundry and chores....well, those have to get done and have built up after a fun weekend, so they're good to set for today since they are Purposeful and Productive.

OK, wah wah wah is done. Now back to happy thoughts.

Friday, August 31, 2018

Shannon went to a party Friday night, meeting up with 3 friends at our place to get ready, and meeting others on the way to the party. The group of them slept over at one of the girls' houses and got very little sleep! We picked her up at 7am and she was able to get some sleep on the few hours of driving to Saas-Fee. 

Saturday, September 1, 2018

The weekend was amazing. We drove to Saas-Fee on Saturday and despite the rain and both girls having colds, and Shannon not being able to complete the hike because of her sinus headache and the altitude, it was still a super fun weekend! 

When we got there, we checked into our hotel (with Murphy!) and headed out for a hike to Hannig. About an hour and a half -2 hours up the mountain, with the reward being lunch at the top! https://www.hannig-saas-fee.ch/

Shannon made it 2/3 of the way and had to turn back because of the pain in her head from the congestion and the altitude air pressure. She and Justin and Murphy enjoyed a meal at the bottom, while Sarah and I pushed on to the top and had Rosti and french fries - perhaps the best Rosti EVER!!! With ham, onions, cheese and of course an egg of top!! Can you say Potato Overload?!

It was chilly - only 5-7C was the high on Saturday. And with the rain, we all got quite damp. Sarah and I chose to take the gondola back down. It was SOOO SMALL!!! And a little frightening for the both of us! We laughed so hard!

We enjoyed a little nap mid-afternoon and then, while Shannon slept, the 3 of us wandered the town of Saas-Fee, popping into stores along the way.

For dinner, we took Mike & Kelly's recommendation and went to Alphitta (Wildistrasse 72) at the end of the main strip and we had an amazing fondu dinner! 

Beef fondu and cheese fondu!! All so good!! I think it was one of my most favourite meals ever,  

but mostly due to the laughs we had with each other and the conversation. 

It was just a really special night.

Sunday, September 2, 2018

Today we gave the girls the choice: scootering in Saas-Grund or going up the gondolas to Längfluh. Everyone was indifferent, and Shannon made the choice: gondolas up!
The weather was so dark and cloudy in Saas-Fee, but we thought (and hoped and crossed fingers) that Langfluh would be above the clouds.

 I think the mountains are above the clouds...

And we were right!

Both Justin and I didn't expect to be so blown away by the views, but we were! We thought that since we've seen the Rockies and been moved by them, that we would appreciate and enjoy these mountains (without a doubt) but maybe not be in awe so much. The glaciers, the mountains, the views! WOW!!! We were in awe!! Check out @divebaar on Instagram to see more pictures, which don't even do it justice! We soaked up the views, dreamed and planned for our ski vacation, and then returned to the bottom to start our drive back to Baar.  

We joined Kelly, Mike and Amelie for a birthday dinner for Amelie of tacos back in Zug. It was delicious and a fun time! So nice to be together. I feel so lucky that Kelly & Mike & Amelie are on this adventure in Zug too! 

The Week of Meetings

August 30, 2018

The week has been filled with meetings...I started the week with learning how to use the school's website, parent portal, Virtual Learning Environment, etc...There are now dates that appear in my phone's calendar telling me more than I need to know about the high school and middle school activities! Thankfully, I learned how to turn these calendars OFF, but for now they make me feel as though I have things to do.

I went for a walk with a new-to-me-Mom and showed her and her dog where the river is, and we walked all the way up to the caves at Holgrotten. It was nice! Her dog ran off a few times, so the 1 hour walk turned into 3 hours!! A nice way to fill the day, but dinner was a little scattered without much time to grocery shop and prepare.

The girls' bank cards finally arrived. YAY! Now they can be that little bit more independent. I also picked them up a lovely little schoggigipfel (chocolate croissant) for an after school treat. It was tasty!!

My days always include some farm animals - this cow (that is among the cows that give me my fresh milk) is enjoying some plums! 

 Yet another meting this week was the Welcome Fair at the Middle School Campus. Actually, I was expecting it to be a complete waste of time (but I wasn't going to miss going) and it was quick helpful! I found some information about mountain guides that may help make a fun weekend some time, I got some chocolate, I met someone from the knitting club, I found that I already knew the woman with the hiking club, I saw 2 familiar faces and it passed a whole morning - a success in my books! Plus I met a yoga instructor, tried her yoga class on Thursday and LOVED it! So I'm signed up for Thursday Yoga classes in English, with some Moms from the school and I'm already looking forward to the next class!

From the Welcome Fair, I went straight to Zug and met up with some Canadian Moms for lunch. That was nice - so familiar to be talking about Canadian things and settling in here. It sounds lame, but I was exhausted by the end of the afternoon!! 

My final meeting of the week was the coffee morning on Friday morning at the school cafeteria. My Mom taught me that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything. So, um..... 

crickets....

Well, Justin has suggested that I give it one more try to see if it is the same on another Friday. I am considering his suggestion....

I did notice that they make the kids speak German in the cafeteria, so I took pics of the basic phrases so that I can learn them too.