20th Post!

This weekend was wonderful.  :)  Friday Paul came home early and we went on a bike ride.  It was such a beautiful day but I didn't take my camera.  So we came home and rested for about an hour and then took off again with my camera.  I love the pictures I got.  I'll scatter them around this post.  :) (Once again, no pictures of me... I told Paul and hopefully it will happen soon!)

Saturday morning I started to make banana nut bread as a tester since this was the first bread baking I've done since we've been here.  On my day off of nannying last week, I made a trip to the grocery and found everything I needed.  I found the baking soda, baking powder, flour and even some balsamic vinagrette all by myself.  It's not as easy as you would think.  The baking soda and powder are sold as a teaspoon or 2 in individual baggies.  And nothing is in English and baking soda actually says the chemical name- in German... needless to say, I was pretty proud!  So anyway, step one of the directions told me to fluff the margarine and sugar... with no beater I considered it an impossible challenge.  So we got ready for the day and headed out to find a beater.  The one I got is nothing like my kitchen aid but the digital timer is pretty cool.  The bread ended up turning out ok but the eggs I got were small so it was a little dry.  Later that day we did a bike ride again but the weather wasn't as great.  We made it all the way to this beautiful lake with a gorgeous view of the Alps.  After that trip though I was pretty sore- mostly from my super uncomfortable seat.  I can't wait to check out the bike sale next weekend!  We skyped some that night and I made us Curry for dinner.  Not my favorite but Paul enjoyed it.

Easter Sunday I made Paul his first egg breakfast (with Rösti of course) since we've been here.  I hadnt even bought eggs until last week- crazy!  Then I got to cooking for the Easter potluck.  I baked a ham and another banana nut bread (better this time) and Paul helped cut up some carrots, cucumbers, and broccoli.  We made it to the potluck at Brit's place around 2 and helped get some more things ready with Rachel.  Then a couple of Indian guys from ETH joined us with some Indian dishes and we had a feast.  The table was full of food: our's, deviled eggs, tomatoes-mozzarella-basil bites, asparagus, salad with homemade dressing, Onion Pakora, potatoes, Indian style curry with potatoes, peas, and cauliflower, bread, cheese, sausages, wine, beer, chocolate, ice cream, and more that I'm forgetting.  We had SO much yummy food!  I'm sad we didnt find a church in time for Easter but I'm sure we'll find something soon.  It's time to get plugged in somewhere again.

Today, Paul went into school.  But he'll be coming home early so we can go for a run.  Im not sure how well that will go.  We'll probably start off together and then his long legs will take him far far away from me...  oh, well.  I just need to get my butt out there if I'm going to help run the relay marathon in May!  Last Thurs, the lady Im nannying for gave me lots of DVD's so now we have lots of options to watch!  I nanny tomorrow which will be my first day all by myself all day.  It will be a super long day and will probably be full of tantrums... yay.  I can't wait to find a real job!  I miss the flight simulators soooooo much.

Oh, and look what Paul gave me for Easter!  So cute and so yummy.  :)

Working and biking

Wow, this might be the longest I've gone without updating since we moved here!  ;)  I've been busy since I got the nannying the job.  She needed me to start this week.  So I worked Mon and Tues and she needs me again tomorrow.  Most of the time it will always be Mon and Tues though.  I can't say I really enjoy the job but it isn't bad and it brings in some fun money.  The boy, Fynn, is 2.5 yrs old and the girl, Monet, is 4 months.  I just keep telling myself that it is SHORT term...

Last weekend, Paul and I went back to the old apartment to get his bike.  But since you have to buy an extra ticket to bring your bike on the tram, we decided to walk.  We walked by some really cool parks for kids and then managed to come across a bike sale!  I walked around it a little and found out that they are used bikes sold by their owners and there were sooooo many bikes for just over Fr. 100 that I liked.  But the sale was ending and it was starting to rain so we left- I hopped on the tram and Paul rode his bike home.  Then that night I managed to find a free bike on the english forum and we picked it up the next morning.  It's a mountain bike though, old and rusty, but rides ok.  So it will do for now but I think we'll go check out the bike sale when it happens again in a couple weeks.  Rachel, from Paul's group, bought a nice one from the sale that day.  But we did a bike ride around the city and lake for a few hours Sunday until we were beat and had found some ice cream.  :)

Paul cooked dinner Monday night- first time in over a year- since I wasnt going to get home until 8ish.  He did a pretty good job.  I think we would agree that he just needs to work on amounts of seasonings and which ones to use on what.  But honestly, I like cooking so I doubt he'll get too much practice.  :)  I think we can get a grill for our balcony and if we ever have the money to do it, he will definitely enjoy cooking that way.  Not too much else going on.  Supposedly, Ursula got feedback about our permits and everything should go through and we'll get them in the mail next week- HALLELUJAH!  Stores are closed Fri and Mon (I think) for Easter so maybe I should go get some stuff.... We are going to hang out with Paul's group and do a potluck thing for Easter- should be fun!  Here are some pictures from the weekend:

The left picture shows how Paul waits for me without putting his feet down.  :)

Right picture:  Tunnel to go home!

New permits- FINALLY!

Things have been pretty good lately!  Last Sat we took a trip to IKEA and bought a few rugs.  Now we have a nice bright green one in our living room!  :)  And on Sun we cleaned our old place.  It was not fun and took about 4 hours but we did it.  I cut off and hemmed our curtains there too since she had the tools.  I have an iron now but no ironing board yet.  Still looking used!  :)

Monday we were planning to go to the Kreisburo with some new info we received to try to get our permits changed to the better ones.  We went to ETH to finish the papers and when Paul went to take it to get employer info filled out, Ursula (the lady that has helped us tremendously here since day 1) didn't feel things were right, made some phone calls and sorted everything out in 1 hour... That woman is amazing.  We've been waiting over a month for the actual secretary to figure out we could go to the Kreisburo but when Ursula gets started- THINGS GET DONE!  We love her.  It isnt even her job to help us anymore.  So we will be bringing her a very nice Sprüngli gift soon (that's the famous sweets shop here that she took us to on our first day and raved and raved about it).  Anyway, yesterday we got the go ahead from her.  So today we went and the guy called the phone number Ursula had given us, talked with some lady in the Migration office, typed stuff for 10 min, we signed 2 papers and done!  Permits should come in the mail!  Not sure how long it will take but I just hope when they come they say B- that would make my day.  It doesnt particularly help employers but it at least shows them I am not short term which increases my probability of an interview.

Anyway, we bought our house phone.  So now we are a super legit Swiss family!  Apartment, house phone, cell phones, maybe soon we'll have internet...  The company screwed it up and we are crossing our fingers for Friday!  Luckily we have really really nice neighbors.  :)  And we bought a plant!  I need to take care of something- even though I know I kill plants- and so far it is still alive!  It's been knocked over by the wind and rain, almost fallen off the ledge, and kicked... accidentally all by me in 3 days... We shall see where this leads.

Oh and last bit of 'news'.  Yesterday I went to meet a lady about nannying a couple days a week.  She is American and her husband is Swiss American and they have a 2.5 yr old son and 4 mo old daughter.  She is going back to work 50% and needs someone 2 days.  I told her I'd help but I would not be long term and would be job searching.  I was the 3rd person she saw and said so far Fynn (the son) liked me the best and she did too just because Im young and relaxed and who knows.  It would be an ok job.  Kinda far for only Fr. 150 a day (11.5 hours: 45 min train ride and 10 hours nannying) but its just temporary and honestly we can use any little bit of money we can get especially when I still have time to job search.  So I find out soon if she wants me.  I just want a real job very bad and pray that I find one soon.  I am soooooo ready.  Nannying just isnt going to cut it for me.

Oh, and 68 deg, blue sky, spring in the air- days just can't get much better.  Here are the cards we've gotten so far- girly Valentines Day one from Jenny to me and Paul's bday card from Aunt Ann and Uncle Dennis (THANK YOU GUYS!!)- with the pretty blue sky in the background.  Love days like today...

Apartment Tour

Pictures!  I may have went overboard with the pics but I hope you enjoy them.  Paul says our place feels like an institution because we have nothing to hang on the walls.  All our pretty framed pictures are hanging around my parents' house or under the guest bed there.  :(  So I guess we'll have to find some cheap stuff to hang to make it more homey!  But here it is for now at least.

Our living room/dining room

[Left] The view out of the left side windows.  The blue thing in the bottom corner has the elevators that take us down to the underground tram stop and/or across the street.

[Right] The view from the back windows/balcony.  We'll explore that path and the woods it leads to this weekend!

[Left] View looking to the right off the balcony and out of our bedroom windows.

[Right] Kitchen table- I put this together all by myself!  My hands were hurting!

[Left] Clockwise starting at the front door- bathroom, closet, (standing in) kitchen, living room, bedroom.

[Right] View from balcony outside of the kitchen.

[Left] Looking to the left off the balcony.

[Right] Looking towards the balcony in the kitchen.

Kitchen views.  In the left picture, the refrigerator is the biggest middle rectangle.  The freezer takes up a small space in the top of it. And in the right picture the dishwasher is below and to the left of the sink.  Things are camouflaged extremely well!

The coat closet and view from the window (on my tippy toes).  :)

Obviously the bathroom.  In this last picture you can see a small rectangle in the box hanging on the wall.  When you turn on the hot water, you see the blue picture (flames) heating the water.  Alllll happening while your taking a shower AND this will only continue for 10 min.  Found this out the hard way.  I had to wait 10 min for it to be able to come back on to finish my shower.  :(  Hopefully all of this will be changed when they renovate- hopefully soon.

And the bedroom.  Still need more hangers for the rest of our clothes and the mirror needs to go up.  Then maybe soon we'll get some rugs!

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Birthdays and movin!! :)

Just got back from the neighbors' place and taking another break from unpacking/organizing.  So we're moved in!!  I love being able to say that.  The next milestone will be when we give back the keys to our subletted apartment- we have to clean it first.  :(  But I'll go through and try to give the short version of our looooong weekend.

We'd been trying to get this Mobility subscription (to rent cheap vans/cars) but paperwork after paperwork was taking too long- almost 2 weeks.  So Wed we decided to just secure an IKEA van and get it done on Paul's bday, Fri.  We arranged appointments to pick up our other stuff from people and on Fri morning took off to IKEA!  Even with my pre-made list, it still took us an hour and a half to get through and check out.  Finally got the van and drove over to the warehouse to pick up our bed, table, and mattress and then set off to pick up our chairs from a girl named Gabby.  This was our very first time driving in Zurich and it was nothing less of an amazing experience.  A 10 min drive turned into one hour until we gave up and called Gabby.  She directed us all the way to her place- fabulous.  Just thankful to have made it.  But because of our escapade we were not able to make it in time to pick up the couch from Gunar.  We arrived back home to bring everything up 4 flights of stairs.  Sweat, sweat, and more sweat.  Driving back to IKEA was WAY less stressful most likely because Paul is amazingly awesome with orienting and familiarizing himself with everything while driving.  We picked up some sandwiches and took the train to our old place to gather more things so we could stay the night at our new place and low and behold our Mobility subscription went through and we had everything we needed- FINALLY.  We cleaned ourselves for a housewarming party for one of the girls in Paul's group.  It was a nice restful evening with great company and great food.  Im definitely going to try to make Spätzle soon.  We met a Mechanical Engineer PhD student there and he gave me a few tips and found information for me to attend a job fair at ETH in April.  So there is hope.  :)  But Paul and I went home and enjoyed some of his birthday 'cake' I made.  It is more like a torte cake on the bottom with thick pudding on top.  We're enjoying it!

Sat we slept in- with our VERY sore bodies- and immediately put together our bed.  This would normally be a quick, somewhat painless task but Swiss IKEA doesnt make it easy.  The frame itself was not hard but instead of a boxspring you buy lattenrosts which are a bunch of curved wooden slats that sit within a frame.  Ours can actually tilt up at the head and feet for elevation although Im not sure we'll ever do that.  But for the size of our bed, we had to get 2 smaller ones instead of 1 big one.  Soooo much fun to put together... not.  Half the day spent on that and then we went back to our old place to pack up everything and get ready for another moving day.  We reserved another van to get our couch and boxes on Sun.  On our way to the old place we stopped at a Thai restaurant called Take Easy where they spoke German with a Thai accent- very interesting.  This was Paul's choice for his birthday dinner from his parents.  After almost 20 min of trying to figure out the menu and what we wanted, we got home with our food and it was DELICIOUS!  I loved what I got- Pad Thai.  Paul got some rice with curry chicken.

We skyped with our family and went HOME (new place).  It was sooooo refreshing to sleep in a real bed off of the floor with more space.  I can not even begin to explain how good it felt.  Sun we got up early and made our way to pick up the van.  No one was there.  Paul just scanned his ETH card and the van unlocked and we were off.  Crazy.  We went straight to pick up the couch and the drive was so peaceful!  We made it there early- yes, EARLY- and loaded it up.  Soren, a post doc in Paul's group, helped us unload it up the stairs and then we were off to pick up our boxes.  Everything was done within 3 hours with hardly any stress.  I was so happy we were able to have an enjoyable driving experience after Friday.  We came back and went 5 steps across the hall to our neighbors'.  They gave us their old place and moved next door for more space.  We had coffee and cake and chatted.  Lizzie, their 1 year old, had a thing for Paul and kept wanting him to hold her.  So cute.  But here's our van:

We took the van back and picked up a few things at the main train station since those are the only stores open on Sun.  Now we'll just wait and see how many tickets we got.  Since the van was a manual on Friday and we were so lost, we were driving pretty crazily and Paul even saw a camera flash.  So we'll be checking the mail.  Basically they take your picture and send you a ticket for whatever small thing you did.  Yay.  They have no problem figuring out where you live either.  We went to register in our new Kreis and THEY told US what our new address was.  I can't think about it too much or it kinda freaks me out.  But we've finally put together everything and are finishing emptying the boxes.  Once all the cardboard is gone, I'll take pictures of our new place!  :)  Yesterday and today I went next door for a coffee/cake break with Robert and Lizzie.  Lizzie has been sick so Robert has been staying home and invites me over to hang out for a little bit.  I love our neighbors already.  :)  They speak German to her but if we keep hanging out all the time, she'll be speaking English too!  That is so cool.  But I'll leave you with a pic of the cereal Paul tried this time around.  It's special!

Oh, and Paul is a student now!!  FSU is ridiculous and after 2 times of them not being able to write the address or do the postage correctly we finally just had his transcript sent to his parents and they were able to send it to us.  Sometimes I seriously wonder how FSU survives.  But now I can work out!  Just gotta pay 150 for the year and Im in!  Very excited for that!  AND I've done all our laundry in the DRYER and our dishes in the DISHWASHER and defrosted in the MICROWAVE!  Heck yes.  Things are pretty great.  We havent had a dryer or microwave in 2 months and a dishwasher EVER.  So while we dont have TV or a radio we do have some things that I love.  There is a piano player downstairs and it really makes me want to get a keyboard.  I think I'd play alot more without TV around.

So close!

Moving day is so soon but not today.  :(  We had seriously hoped it would happen today but renting a van is proving to be more difficult than expected.  All of the vans at ETH are booked for the next few months thus we decided that since ETH offers a free 4 month subcription to Mobility (a cheaper car rental business) we would use them.  They charge by the hour and km and for short trips it is perfect.  But getting all the paperwork for the application is ridiculous.  3 days after we submitted our application we got a letter asking us to provide things even Paul's group's secretary hadnt heard of.  We figured it out and sent it in and now we're still waiting.  We'd like to be moved in before Paul's birthday on Friday but we'll see.  Ive got the IKEA list ready so the process will be more like grab-n-go instead of decisions to cut down on time.

So far, we've bought/reserved a coffee maker, couch, wireless router, microwave, bike pump, lounge chair and footstool, and 4 dining chairs with cushions for Fr. 470 from other Expats which saves us at least Fr. 600 and the stuff is better than we would have bought otherwise.  Go us!  I love deals.  :)  Since there are hardly any sales in the grocery, I guess I have to get my fix somewhere else.

Anyway, this weekend we had a surprising snow storm.  Sat morning we were supposed to take a train out to the countryside to pick up the mcirowave and bike pump.  We woke up late and ran out the door to find snow blowing in every direction with HUGE flakes... We were not prepared and I guess neither were the buses because after waiting for 20 minutes (with snow piled high on our bodies) a maintenance guy pulled up to us and told the Swiss people around us something.  We understood 'kein bus'- no bus and realized it was an inside day.  Great.  We tried again Sunday morning and it worked out alot better.  We had a nice trip even though it was soooo cold.  It was just starting to get in the high 40's and now we're back to the cold cold wind.  This is a dog poop bag we found on our trip- NOT USED fyi but so beautifully illustrated...

Sunday night we also met one of Paul's friends, Catherine, for drinks at the main train station.  It was so nice to hang out.  She is an au pair for a few months in a different city but was passing through.  She's doing what I might end up having to do if I can't get anyone to hire me.  I can honestly say I hate job searching.  I dont like proving to companies that I am worth something while finding anything in my life that might relate a little bit to the job description...  It's very frustrating and without a job there's the isolation since doing anything costs an arm and a leg.  Hopefully our/my luck will turn soon.

On a funnier note, Paul realized dimes are the same size as 50 rappen coins (1/2 Frank) and has been trying them on all the vending machines.  Yesterday, he won.  Yummy, toffee candies.  2 for 2.50.  But then talk about karma.  Ha!  Sooo funny:  (He told me not to blog about it because the Swiss might find us and fine us or something.  We'll see!)

And look what I finished last week!!  Over 6 feet long and very thick wool.  My first scarf.  :)

We're on the move!

We got the keys!!  Yesterday, we met Kerstin and the agency lady at the apartment.  The lady had to walk through and test things in the apartment to make sure it was ok and we had to sign off that Kerstin and Robert left it clean enough.  The Swiss are very particular about leaving apartments spotless although we didnt think the apartment was any more clean than we would usually leave a place.  The lady didnt speak English so Kerstin was our 'translator.'  Kerstin and Robert and their baby girl just moved across the hall and our 2 apartments are on the top floor.  They are PhD students and are really great people.  Hopefully we'll get to know them better and maybe I'll even learn more German since theyre German.  They've helped us so much and it's so nice to know they are next door and Robert's office at ETH is actually right next door to Paul's!  Sweet. :)

So last weekend we decided to make a 'check-it-out' trip to IKEA.  We wanted to go to Dietlikon using a fast train.  So after FINALLY figuring out the ticket machine (after a month and a half) we purchased our tickets and jumped on the train to Dietikon- notice the missing 'l'... Oooops.  So after we arrived and realized our mistake (mainly because the train wasnt going the direction we anticipated) we realized Paul didnt have his halbtax card- basically it gets you half fares and you need it if your ticket is ever checked (which Paul very desperately wants to have happen for some reason).  So we arrived back at our starting point without getting checked thankfully, Paul ran home and then we tried again... again on the wrong train!  This time we ended up at the main train station in Zurich and finally found the right one.  So 3 hours later we arrived at IKEA worn out and frustrated- great for walking through a massive store.  We got through in a couple hours and picked out the major things but Paul was sooooo much more excited that they still had Fr. 1 hot dogs.  He basically rushed through to get to those.  They were weird though and kinda popped in your mouth- hmmm. :/ 

So remember how I bought the coffee maker off the english forum... Well, when we got home I showed Paul a couch and we decided it was worth a look since nothing in IKEA peaked our interest.  Sunday we went to the dude's apartment and realized it was perfect!  He had brought down the price to Fr. 250 (anything 3 seats and up is at least 500 in IKEA) for a beautiful leather 5 seater couch WITH a pull out bed!  Here's a pic:

Underneath the longer side, the bottom pulls out and pops up to form a big rectangle.  Perfect!  We told him we'd pick it up next Monday and it was a done deal.  We are so happy that we found something that can be used for guests and isnt IKEA.  So the plan is for Paul to find a transport van to reserve, pick it up Monday morning, head to IKEA and buy tons of stuff, drop it all off at the apartment, pick up the couch, drop it off, and maybe pick up our boxes and haul them over... all next Monday.  Somehow it will all work out and I think I'll close my eyes for most of the rides.  The roads are very narrow, sometimes taking you inches away from the trams, and the van is manual... Im praying that everything goes safely!

Tonight we are picking up our missing box!  I'm very excited and hope everything that we are missing is in this one box.  I can't wait to be moved in!