A Tentative Spring

I've been hesitant to blog about this, as I was concerned the day I did would be the day Mother Nature found her sense of humor and decided to dump feet of snow on Zurich (or maybe because it snowed well into April last winter). But it's been almost a week now of almost daily sun and blue skies, and green leaves are starting to assert themselves above the damp earth.

Flower! I get disproportionately excited about these things - it's been a dreary winter.

These buds are significant because they were personally planted by moi (and moi's parents) last fall, and now they're poking through. They're like my dozen little children that only need occasional watering.

Pictures of Switzerland in winter usually portray gorgeous snow-topped mountains against a striking blue background:

Gorgeous, right? And with just a few wispy clouds. Also unrealistic. However, if you go to the Wikipedia page of the Matterhorn (which this is a picture of - don't call it the Jungfrau like I once did. It's the equivalent of some visitor in the US referring to the Statue of Liberty as the Washington Monument. Very uncool and does not go over well with the locals) - what was I saying? Oh yes - practically every picture of the mountain has it against beautiful clear skies. I'm not saying they're lying, per se, I'm just saying that I've been told by people in the know that if you want to even see the Matterhorn (not to mention take stunning pictures), you probably should book three or four nights at Zermatt, the local village, to up your chances.

These photographs are beautiful, no doubt. However, they don't mention (perhaps because pictures don't talk) the fact that the majority of the Swiss population don't live on these majestic peaks above the cloud cover, mainly because we like an indoors to retreat to (no diss to abominable snowmen - in fact, major respect). The vast majority of us live in lower elevation valleys, surrounded by peaks of various heights. 

And as you may remember from middle school science, valleys surrounded by mountains often have fog due to something about evaporation of water (I said you may remember it - I don't). Lots of fog. Switzerland, as special and lovely as it is (and honestly, it is - no sarcasm intended), is no exception to this. Thus, in winter - especially in one as warm as this has been - there are often days or even weeks straight of heavy, gray skies that may or may not spit rain or something vaguely resembling it. Occasionally the fog or cloud cover may dissipate, but by that time it's usually close to 4 pm and the sun, having done its minimum, has already retreated behind the nearby mountains. I believe that I made comparisons to All Summer in a Day (short story here and short video here - I won't judge which one you click on) last year, and that comparison remains apt.

To prove my point, this is the picture I just pulled from the webcam on the Matterhorn's official website:

Yep, that looks about right.

Except this winter, it hasn't even had the courtesy to snow in the valleys. I like snow - the whiteness brightens things up and it's nostalgic and it crunches and it's purty.

This is the most snow I saw ALL WINTER - pathetic. My family in North Carolina got more than this (although they probably are just as thrilled about that as I am). Also note the grey and fog, as per my original point.

I'm not sure I trust a Swiss spring that begins in mid-February, but I remain cautiously optimistic. Meanwhile, I will join the random cat on our patio in soaking up the sun while it's around - however short that may be.

PS - I took too long to write this, and of course the sun has not come out today. I will hold off judging the mean sense of humor Nature has until tomorrow, but then I'm calling her on it.

NaNoWriMo camp!

Happy Easter everyone! Here in Switzerland, everything pretty much closes up for both Good Friday and Easter Monday, so B and I have been enjoying a quiet weekend. I actually finished my crochet basket already - largely aided by the hours that B and I have been sunk into Battlestar Galactica. We made a big run on both groceries and gardening supplies yesterday, the only day out of four (Fri-Mon) that places were open. I've become a true Swiss, much to B's amusement; I knew we wouldn't be able to get to a grocery store for two whole days (!) so I ended up with a page-long shopping list. We've been doing a fair amount of cleaning and straightening to prep the apartment for viewing.

From tripadvisor. I forgot to take pictures.

There are still some restaurants and bars open - on Friday night B and I went to tibits, a restaurant near the Opernhaus that a friend introduced me to earlier this week. They are open throughout Easter weekend, and we very well might end up going back tomorrow. The restaurant is a self-serve buffet, entirely vegetarian, and has an amazing variety of food - cold, hot, veggies, fried - that is constantly replenished. You pay after you fill your plate - by weight - and it's one of the few places I've been to in Zurich where you can eat your fill for around 20 CHF (1 CHF is around 1.1 USD). Even B, carnivore that he is, very much enjoyed it. It's the first place I've been to that has gone on my mental list of definite places to take visitors.

Also from tripadvisor.

We woke up to daylight savings time and snow this morning - I'm hoping that tomorrow April will usher in more spring-like weather (still no start on the balcony garden). April also ushers in Camp NaNoWriMo! For those who may not be familiar with National Novel Writing Month, it's a sponsored event in November in which people (regular people, not fancy real novelists) attempt to write 50k of a story over 30 days - an average of 1,334 words per day - while continuing their regular, craze-filled life. I've attempted it twice in the past three years, and failed both times - I got to around 35k words, but inevitably laundry, chores, or my experiments and dissertation got in the way the last week.

In addition to the official NaNoWriMo, their sponsors have started virtual "camps" at two other times during the year - April and July. These camps allow writers to set their own goals - a certain word count, revising or finishing other stories, etc. I've got a story outline and plan to go traditional - 50k words written in 30 days. Hopefully without a dissertation and with the support of B (who always does the dishes), I'll finish this time! As always at the beginning, hopes are high and views are optimistic. I'd love for anybody who is interested to join me - I have one friend who has expressed interest in making it her goal to finish a scientific paper manuscript. 

Craftsy goodness (and bonus move date)

Just some randomness today -

First off, I added a couple more gadgets on the right side of this blog page, including a way to sign up for automatic email alerts whenever there is a new post (yay!), and a translation gadget. I make no guarantees for the accuracy of the translation, especially since my posts have a smattering of other languages in them. But some of B's family are much more comfortable in Spanish than in English (Hola!), and I've heard through the family grapevine that they are interested to know what's happening in our lives. I hope it works!

Second, I am one of the world's slowest and distracted crafters, but I just wanted to share that I finally finished a project! Celebration time! Woot! And not just finished-the-fun-part-but-still-need-to weave in ends/finish the backstitching/glue together the boards. REAL finished-finished. Of course, this is a scarf that I was supposed to give as a Christmas gift, so it's about four months late. In the grand scheme of my crafting, that's equivalent to being early (just ask my friend who is still waiting on her apron that is close to 2 years late - I still have to finish the "sprinkles" on the last cupcake). Now I just need to mail out the scarf - which, realistically, will probably take another month, minimum (even in the US I was bad at mailing things - I have many, many birthday/anniversary/christmas cards purchased with the best of intentions that languished in a drawer waiting for "next year"). Hopefully next winter will be just as cold as this one (although if it wants to stop snowing before April, that's ok), and it will be useful to the recipient then.

It's a scarf! Crocheted by moi, super soft (the yarn is bamboo/silk), and no large errors (no, the center is not black because I was about to run out of the other colors! Where would you get such an idea?). Ripple pattern is from here.

And, of course, I have immediately started on another project (never mind the half dozen unfinished ones in dark corners throughout the apartment and storage space). I'm claiming this one is vaguely utilitarian, since I am crocheting a basket for my yarn collection (that I use to crochet with - how meta.) Anyway - I'll probably post another picture in a year (or more) when it's done. Nobody hold their breath (but I promise that finishing that apron is top of my list post-basket!).

Partial basket bottom. I'm using a very thick jersey cotton "yarn," and I've never before had crocheting feel like such a wrestling match. Idea/vague pattern from here.

Other items - WE HAVE A MOVE DATE! We pick up the keys on April 26th to our new place!! Now we just need to find some potential tenants for our current apartment by May 1st. Which means some hard core cleaning to spruce this place up before we open it for viewings.

And finally...there is still snow on the ground and temperatures are below freezing. This is seriously cramping my balcony garden urges. Get it together, spring.

Deutsch vs Francais

Remember that post last week where I commented it was spring? Yeah, I was wrong.

And we've had steady (though not heavy) snow all day, so there's another good inch by now.

The above picture is the view outside our window this morning. Apparently, I am a not a groundhog (how did Punksataw Punxsutawney - yep, had to google that spelling - Phil do this year, by the way? Did he successfully predict the half-dozen spring snowstorms on the east coast?).

Meanwhile, I am still attending daily German classes - I'm currently just over halfway through my second month. Unfortunately, any German I retain appears to come at the cost of my poor long-disused French skills. When I first started class, I would think "Ah! I totally know how to say this in French, why can't people here just speak another of this country's official languages? Then I could totally communicate." Now, however, my thought process is more akin to "Oh, in French that's...wait, why can't I remember how to say this? Did I ever even know it? Is this word French or German? What's happening to me?!" It's as if my brain only has room for one foreign language, and it's performing a slow, steady 1:1 replacement of French with German.

Unfortunately, some French words insist on sticking around, particularly prepositions and conjunctions. So I often pepper my stuttered German sentences with mais ["but"], ou ["or"], or sans ["without" - not helped by the fact that this is also used in English]. Some German prepositions make sense but most rarely line up with the ones we use in English (I hang out with my friends, but German uses bei, - however, I go to class by tram, while in German I go mit the tram). To make it more confusing, the French prepositions often paralleled English, so it was never a part of speech that caused particular problems for me previously. And, of course, I am not even starting on the dativ or akkusativ articles for nouns in a prepositional phrase. That's a whole other post (or just several long, inconclusive rants).

As far as I can tell in German, prepositions are idiomatic usage - thus straight memorization. At the beginning, I tried to draw parallels ("Hmm, so bei is by, um is at, and am is in." Yeah, wrong. One of my favorites - auf is "on"). I've since abandoned that approach.

The Australian girl in class (the only other native English speaker than myself) went to Paris this past weekend and missed class on Monday. The teacher inquired as to where she was, and I replied with a garbled "Elle - sie - ist in Paris avec - mit - ....ihr Freund." I then gave an even more incomprehensible attempt in German - my goal sentence was "She went to France" (we learned the past tense this week). I did not succeed in saying that, although I did manage to remember the German name for France (Frankreich, in case you need to know). I think I said something akin to "You go towards France went [incorrect past participle]." Does he really expect me to be able to discuss France or French topics in German? My poor brain is melting. In related news, I've abandoned the Swiss habit of saying Merci as a way of thanking people and just insist on using Danke. If I'm going to go German, I'm committing, dammit.

As for functionality in German, it's been a mixed bag over the past few weeks.

I successfully understood when a cashier asked me if I wanted a bag (Ja, bitte), but later that same day failed to comprehend when another cashier asked me if I wanted my receipt for a croissant purchase (unrelated tangent: what on earth is the difference between a "croissant francais" and a "gipfeli"? They appear the exact same, but have different prices). I answered Nein, despite failing to understand (interactions are still at least 60% guesswork for me), since I figured I had everything I needed, so whatever she was offering, I could safely decline. This led to an awkward moment where I held out my hand for the change and kept hovering it there as she ripped off the receipt and...turned to put it in the trash. Light bulb moment for me, as I realized what I had just refused, but awkward, as she turned around to see my outstretched hand waiting for the item that five seconds previously I had refused. Oops. Hard to make it look smooth, so I left.

A winter excursion

Just over a week ago, B and I ventured outside the city for the first time since my official arrival (not counting the short trip to Basel to visit B's family). B's work group had organized an outing near Einseiden, in the Schwyz canton (as may be deduced from the name, the canton was one of the original three that formed the alliance that eventually became the Swiss confederation).

Preparation for the outing was a bit chaotic. Neither B nor I are big outdoorsy-type of people, although in our youth we used to be (at least more than we are now). I grew up near a ski resort and used to frequent it on school trips and snow days, but pretty much abandoned the slopes when I hit my growth spurt in late middle school and my scarecrow limbs made skis a more intimidating experience. B grew up in Lima, Peru and once tried to climb the Andes in his backyard as an ill-advised afternoon venture with his cousin.

Random stories aside, this meant that neither of us had any appropriate gear for an outing to the Swiss mountains (I am fairly sure we were not officially in the Alps, although I could be mistaken. Regardless - definitely mountains). We spent the week prior to the outing comparison shopping for snow boots, gloves, hats, and some sort of waterproof/resistant pants for each of us; luckily it's near the end of the season here, so we were able to snag the boots, at least, on sale.

We were picked up quite early on Saturday morning by one of B's coworkers, who graciously agreed to drive us. B doesn't yet have a driver's license (not unusual for people here), and I am still fairly paralyzed at the thought of driving in a country where buses and trams have their own lanes that aren't always clearly marked and the white/yellow color meanings of the road markings are opposite of US ones. It turns out this was wise, as I am not sure we ever would have found the place - the last few kilometers were on a one-lane, snow-covered road that triggered nostalgia for West Virginia driving perils from my youth.

Our audience for our initial lesson in how to put on snowshoes.

Neither B nor I had ever been snowshoeing before, so we had asked to rent both shoes and poles. I was excited upon arrival to see that in comparison to the other participants, we were dressed totally appropriately. (Yes, I laser in on stuff like that. Although my water-resistant pants were a bit thin (real ski pants cost 2-3x as much), and it did take about 3 hours after the excursion for my thighs to thaw out. But at least we didn't look ridiculous and the shopping had not been a waste. What was important was that we appeared to be ready for such an activity).

B had assured me that this would be a light trek, as other people were bringing their young children and the average age of his coworkers is much older than B. Apparently they all cancelled because there were only three other people (two coworkers and one other wife), and they were all in much better shape than me, despite the couple easily having 20 years on me. We snowshoed for over an hour before we took a kaffee (or schokolade, in my case) break, then headed back. There was at least 2 feet of snow on the ground, and we appeared to be trekking through mainly fields (crossing barbwire fences in snowshoes is quite the experience).

In the morning, with heavy fog still covering the mountains.

I forgot how much fun it is to be out in the snow, and the scenery was breathtaking. There was a fairly heavy fog when we headed out, but it started to burn off by the time we returned.

Heading back. I let the other 3 trek ahead - turns out snowshoeing is much easier when you can follow in someone else's already-formed path (thanks to Jenn for this tip, it saved me much exertion).

Unfortunately my transition lenses make it very challenging to take pictures with my phone (the UV-sensitive darkening makes it impossible to see the screen - and I am so nearsighted/light-sensitive that I can't see the screen if I remove my glasses), so I was shooting pics completely blind. B was more successful, and I will post some of his pictures either here or on facebook in the next couple days.

Almost back to the cows! The house halfhidden by the hill is where we ate fondue for lunch.

We met up with several more of B's coworkers for lunch, which was fondue, complete with potatoes and bread for dipping (what else would one expect in the mountains of Switzerland?). It was a very hearty meal that was perfect after 3+ hours of unaccustomed physical activity. Unfortunately (for me), all of B's coworkers + spouses + children that were at lunch were native German speakers, so the conversation naturally occurred in that language. I actually could follow/guess the topic of conversation in some parts, and it was nice to hear German spoken at a normal pace (vs. my German class, in which listening exercises are done AS....IF....YOU...ARE...IGNORANT - which of course the entire class is).

Between the snow trek and the German, I collapsed into a much-needed nap as soon as we arrived back in Zurich. But I was so glad that B and I experienced a Swiss winter in true fashion before the snow starts to melt.

I took the below picture outside our door the very next morning - spring is definitely on its way!

A walk on the Uetliberg

I've been under the weather the past couple days, which mainly involves sleeping and lying about, dragging myself to German class, followed by more lying around (with several apartment viewings mixed in - we applied to another yesterday evening, so fingers crossed!). So our Valentine's day was a bit of a bust - I fell asleep by 9 pm, and that was the latest I'd been awake in the past three days. We'll do something fun this weekend to make up for it - I definitely owe B for putting up with a sick, listless wife all week.

However, I was feeling fine last Sunday, so B and I decided to go for a walk up Zurich's nearby mountain, the Uetliberg. Once there, we realized there had been a slight miscommunication about "walk" vs "hike" - B was ready to head straight up the side of the mountain, while I wanted to walk along a nice trail that circled the base and wasn't nearly as challenging. We did the latter, so we didn't make it up to the top for the spectacular view afforded there (so I've heard), but it was still a beautiful outing.

Zurich has had almost constant snow since I arrived, from light dustings to heavier snowfall that affected transportation. I've been told by those in the know (aka, people who live here) that the amount of snow this winter has been highly unusual, at least for the city itself. Sunday happened to be a clear day, one of the few we've had, so the scenery was just wonderful. The Uetliberg is heavily crossed by sledding and hiking trails, so even the streams are nice and orderly.

The manmade touches were subtle, though, and mixed with nature's beauty well. I was especially pleased when there was an opening in the trees and we managed to get a view of Zurich, even without traipsing too far up the mountain.

We headed back down shortly after, but we will definitely return - maybe once I'm a bit more in shape and am prepared for an actual hike (that means bringing snacks. One always needs snacks for hikes).