New Life

Today, I decided to take Luke to der Park im Grüene in Rüschlikon.  The park has a playground, sandboxes (Luke’s favorite), a water feature, donkeys, room to run, and its only a 25 minute walk from the house.  However, our walk took longer today due to a semi-pleasant surprise.  As we walked down the trail, we noticed a small gathering of people.  When we approached the group, we saw the farmer on the other side of the fence with a cow.  The cow was giving birth to a calf.  Luke and I had a pretty good view - the cow delivered just feet from the road.  The experience was amazing to watch.  As we left, Luke and I were discussing the calf’s cuteness when he asked, “How did he get in there?”  Immediately my mind thought about how the cow got pregnant and how could I dance around this question.  As I started to explain the calf was in the cow’s belly - Luke stopped me and said, “No, how did the farmer get in there.”  You see, the fields are surrounded by electric fences and Luke wanted to know how the farmer got into the field without getting shocked.  Whew!  I was comfortable answering that question - “He went through a gate.”   

Farmer's store

Today we enjoyed a stroll down the street to the local farm.  Luke was able to feed the goats, watch the calves run in the field, and keep a close eye on the rabbits.  Each Friday the farm has a little store where we can buy veggies, eggs, milk, yogurt, apples, strawberries, and fresh bread.  We have tried a little of everything - minus the bread.  However, I am tempted the bread smells wonderful - wonder if the farmer’s wife could make a gluten free bread.  We also have the opportunity to order beef, but I don’t fully understand the signs - I would hate to sign up and end up purchasing a whole cow!  We are lucky in that we have a freezer, but it only holds a few containers of ice cream - which is way more important!  I guess we will continue to buy beef in small amounts at the grocery store.

Welcome Letter

We received Luke’s paperwork/welcome letter yesterday for Kindergarten.  However, Luke won’t be going to the Kindergarten across the street from us - like we thought.  Instead he will go up the street and around the corner (pictured above).  Kids are expected to independently walk to school, therefore they place them at schools where they won’t have to cross a street.  Luke took the news of the change very well.    In fact, today we walked to his new school and he had a chance to play on the playground.  Luke thinks his new school has a much better playground and we agree - after all that’s whats important!  Luke is really looking forward to school starting - in August.  He has informed me that he is going to walk himself to school - not sure Mom is ready for this.  I may need to invest in camouflage or something so I can secretly watch him as he goes.  Oh! And I’m definitely going to need a box of tissue - can’t believe he is starting Swiss Kindergarten in a couple of months.  

Learning the ins & outs of the language

The past couple of months have been spent filling my brain with German sounds, vocabulary, and grammar.  And even though I probably know several hundred words, I feel like I’m back at square one when someone talks to me.  However, several weeks ago I just heard several sounds stringed together; at least now I recognize words.  “Genau” (exactly) seems to be a Swiss favorite.  Learning/memorizing each nouns’ genders has been a challenge, but applying that knowledge to the verbs has been mind boggling.  Through this interesting, difficult, and definitely humorous task I was amazed to learned this following fact:  not everyone calls countries by the same name!  For example, the Swiss call Germany - “Deutschland.”  Americans would say I live in Switzerland - not the Swiss - I actually live in “Schweiz.”  Who knew?  Anyway, the learning German continues.... I look forward to the day when I can have a German conversation with a clerk or just a random person on the train.  

Live internet broadcast

http://www.mahler-2011.de/en/mahler-in-the-media

Bill has a concert tonight that will be posted live on the internet.  Follow the link above to watch - 1pm Central time for those back in the States.

CAST @ Tonhalle Zürich Teil 1

April Slideshow

http://gallery.me.com/jcs1274#100066/April-202011-Large&bgcolor=black

Amazing April - yeah, its corny - but true!  We have truly enjoyed the warm afternoons and exploring nature.  The wildflowers are beautiful and the trees on the mountains are filling in.  

Luke rode his first bike - tandem style.  He did an excellent job of hanging on and pedaling.  We rode bikes with friends on mountain trails and cooked on an open fire.  Luke also caught tadpoles.  We brought 67 tadpoles home and watched as they changed into frogs.  I was able to convince Luke to let them go in the lake by our house before we had 67 frogs (whew!).

We also found an English speaking Church not far from the house.  Luke really enjoys going to Bible class and spending time with other kids.  He is such a social butterfly - I have been impressed with how he will continually talk and interact with kids even if he does not understand them.  Through church we have met several Expat moms and their kids.  We enjoyed a picnic and egg hunt with an Expat playgroup.  

For Easter, we went to church and then enjoyed an afternoon with friends.  We discovered Luke loves salami and carrot cake.  Luke was quite a charmer and soaked in all the attention he could.  He even took a turn playing guitar  and singing with RockBand (a video game, for those not familiar).

Hope you enjoy the slideshow.  Luke selected the song - its his favorite.