We had a great weekend in Stuttgart a few weeks ago. It was a beautiful weekend, I got some shopping done for Jakob, we saw the medieval town that was about an hour away, and had lovely company.
The week after I found out that I got the job! Talk about good, big, life changing news! We've been living in Zürich on an income most here would think impossible for a family of 3 and have gotten used to saving money wherever we can. Well now this will be a big stress reliever for Paul and they even offered me more than I asked for! So we will be in Zürich for at least a few more years and Jakob will go to kinderkrippe where he's going to learn German and Swiss German. Finding a spot for him was so much easier than we were expecting. We got him into the perfect place that is just 7 min walking from our flat and he loves it the few times he's been already. He always runs away from us when we try to get him to leave. And there are never more than 12 kids (3 months- 4 years) with at least 3 adults so we feel like he'll get plenty of guidance. Since he doesn't seem to mind when neither of us is there, the acclimation period will only be 4 days next week before I start on October 1. Seeing him having so much fun definitely will make it easier for me to leave him but I have a feeling it will hit me my first week and I know I'm going to miss him tremendously. But Paul and I both feel that this is the best thing for all of us. Jakob is going to thrive so much this way and learn so much more than I could ever teach him. And I will finally be able to feel useful again and use my brain!
So most of our time lately has been trying to prepare for that. There's lots of paperwork for the job and daycare and buying winter clothes and all the essentials for daycare like rain boots and house slippers. I even have to change health insurances because I will no longer qualify for the cheap cheap insurance under Paul. That will be extremely sad to let go especially when the stuff I'll get is more than triple what we pay now. Oh well. It's all worth it. And now it's time to go work clothes shopping and get my first haircut in Switzerland! It's amazing how much can change in one month.
Last week/weekend Paul's aunt and her friend arrived in Zürich for a short visit. It was so great to hang out with them in our city. We don't get too many visitors so we really cherish it while people are here. We visited a small German town right across the border (which I'll probably go back to for some shopping) and took them for the hike around the Aletsch glacier. We love going there and this day it just happened to be so clear that you could see the tip of the Matterhorn in the distance. Talk about an awesome day! Jakob loved riding in the backpack and surprisingly never complained or wanted down. Guess Paul's going to have a hiking buddy after all!
But that's about all that going on here. I really am cherishing these last days being a stay at home mom with my little boy. I love being able to be 'lazy' when there is an end in sight. Things don't get so frustrating when I know I won't have the special time in the middle of the day anymore. :)
And here are those China pictures! (Note to self: Please learn to take less pictures...) Slideshow is at the end...
