Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th! I hope that all my friends and family in the US are taking a well-deserved day off from lab/work/stress.

Things here have been quiet. Perhaps no more than usual. It feels like it's been quieter, but that could be because I put my part-time editing work on hold a couple weeks ago. Why? Because it was taking up just enough of my day that it made an easy excuse not to accomplish anything else. I do plan to pick it  up again after this month. Because this month (as in, July), I am trying Camp Nanowrimo - AGAIN. This time I've actually written out some sort of outline and key plot points (important because I hear that's a writerly thing to do, but also because my last attempt in April failed due to multiple impossible/out of order scenes and occurrences). I'm also working in some biology because, well, that's kind of what I know. So we'll see how it all goes. It does likely mean that I will be quiet on the blog over the next month.

I've been in Switzerland now for almost six months. Which seems crazy to me. And completely stresses me out because I should've gotten much more done. Or at least be looking into a "real" job (ok, fine, any job). I have been keeping my eye out for teaching positions at international/private schools in the area, but most of them want actual teaching credentials. Which I do not have. And the other jobs that I have seen are not biology-related, which is really the only subject I can claim to have extensive knowledge of (according to my CV, at least).

Outside of the job front, however, things feel on-schedulish/time-appropriate. My German is not comfortable, but I can now tell the difference between a dry cleaner's and a grocery store, and I can translate a surprising number of advertisements on the train and around town. To be honest, I'm still highly uncomfortable with even basic interactions, but I've become more accustomed to the discomfort and I deal with it better. I've taken to watching a solid half-hour of German news in the morning, during which I sit with translate.google.com up and just type in the news headlines on the screen. It's good for expanding my vocabulary, although I don't have much occasion to use "bankrupt," as a general rule.

My social calendar is also slowly settling. I have met a few people here that I socialize with on a semi-regular basis, which is needed for sanity. I've occasionally made my way to the local Stitch n' Bitch meetups, which are tons of fun. I've also been to a couple meetings of an English-speaking theater group here (although I didn't audition for their fall production, I'm interested in getting involved behind the scenes). Last Friday, I went to a writer's group that is hosted by the AWCZ (American Women's Club of Zurich), and it was lovely and fun, and I plan to return - although apparently my interest in "genre fiction" made me a bit of an outlier. On Monday, B and I went with one of our new friends to see the latest Superman movie (in English, with French and German subtitles - which, by the way, are SUPER distracting. I kept reading them and then missing the actual spoken dialogue. Also, movies here have intermissions. Just a tip - it doesn't mean the projector is broken. Not that I thought that! - Ok, I totally did). For the next month, we have a variety of outings scheduled at least one evening a week, which feels lovely - not too busy, but not too much hunkering down and hiding from the world.

This weekend is the Zürifäscht, a huge street fair here in Zurich that apparently happens once every three years. There are supposed to be music and street acts, food stands, and fireworks. I'm super excited to check it out, and the fireworks are right on time for July 4th, which I appreciate. Schedule/website can be found here (in German). I plan to charge my camera batteries and check it out!

Workshop week!

Apparently Switzerland has a whole new (to me) set of rhinoviruses, since I've come down with my second severe cold in as many months. In related news, I've now been here for two months!! Where does the time go? Craziness...

Despite being sick, however, I have been able to take advantage of Workshop Week by the American Women's Club of Zurich (henceforth known as AWCZ), of which I am a proud card-carrying member. Ok, they don't really have cards, but I do have a nifty laminated name tag that I get to wear whenever I am in the clubhouse (if they have a secret handshake, I haven't learned it yet - but how cool would that be?). They also have the largest English library in the city, and it's FREE! This is important, as the five boxes of books I shipped over may only last me another six months or so, judging by my current consumption of books (which I now obsessively track on Goodreads).

Anyway - Workshop Week is eight days' worth of classes that range from cooking to self-help to card readings. It's quite the dizzying array - I was amazed when the email first arrived. I signed up for three classes total, and was disappointed I couldn't sign up for more due to conflicting times with German class.

Cupcake with sugarpaste topping.

On Saturday morning, I attended a cupcake decorating class that was run by two lovely women from Ribizli. Over the course of two hours, we learned to roll out and play with fondant and also tried our hand at piping buttercream frosting; I was much more successful at the former. I've seen a good friend (unfortunately the blog is abandoned, but it's worth checking out!) produce some amazing cake creations from fondant that she makes from scratch, and I always was intrigued by the concept - unfortunately her recipe involves marshmallows, which are scarce and absurdly expensive here. So I was pleased to find out that a pre-made form of fondant can be purchased in Switzerland. The woman actually called it "sugarpaste" and I was unclear if this was simply the British terminology, or if it is actually a different item (this confusion actually arises more often than one would expect - I spent wayy too long on the internet last week attempting to compare molasses and treacle).

Sugarpaste items, most from stamps (not the rather sad looking blue rose - first attempt, oh well). I can't wait to try out some freeform rabbits/carrots for Easter. Coz I am excited by such ideas.

Buttercream + sugarpaste shapes on the left (the shapes are hiding where I went too fast and messed up the piping), finished sugarpaste-only on the right.

The class felt a tad basic - the women mentioned that it was an abridged version of their normal 4 hour decorating class, which I would've loved to have done - but I had a great time. They said bring an apron, so - obviously - I showed up with my Star Wars one, although it hadn't made it into the 7 laundry loads over 2 days last week, so it was embarrassingly flour-y (that makes me look authentic, right?). But I did learn several useful tidbits that I would not have known if I had attempted this on my own (including: use cornstarch, not powdered sugar, if the sugarpaste starts to get sticky).

The table, hard at work! The array of supplies was quite impressive, and we each got 3 cupcakes to decorate as we saw fit.

They had an impressive selection of stamps and cookie cutters for playing with the fondant, which they had in every color imaginable (some purchased, some made). I would have liked to learn more about playing with the icing as free-form, but they did teach us how to make a rose by hand, as well as many interesting suggestions for making stamps/cutouts more three-dimensional. I admit, as soon as my fever broke yesterday, I ran out and bought both white and colored fondant from the store, although I need to visit a kitchen specialty store (probably Sibler) for the recommended cutters, rolling pin, and plastic tools.

Finished products, including the cute spotted dog that didn't really fit any of my cupcakes, but I took him home and ate him anyway.

This morning I attended a "Road Rules" workshop led by a Zurich police officer. It was very helpful - for most of the 90 minutes, she fielded questions that we all had, and she had a brilliant setup with Google Earth on an overhead projector that allowed her to show us actual examples of intersections, signs, etc. I'm still nervous about renting a car and having my first driving experience here, but I feel a bit more prepared now.