It's as easy as riding a bike....

Over the past few days Luke and I have had several English speaking adventures - yeah!  Our first adventure was visiting an English speaking Baptist Church.  We met several wonderful people - including someone from my hometown.  The service was a special children’s service - Luke was a little disappointed that he couldn’t go to Bible class.  He has already asked several times this week if he can go to class next time.

After church, Luke and I met Bill at McDonald’s for lunch.  While enjoying our lunch, we received a phone call and dinner invitation.  After lunch, we enjoyed a walk to the main train station where we bought kabobs for grilling with our friends.  Now I assumed we were just going to our friends house to enjoy grilling and eating on the back porch - I was pleasantly surprised and terrified when I learned the actual dinner plan.  We actually rode bikes into the forest.  Now I have always heard the statement its as easy as riding a bike - well, the last time I rode a bike was in junior high.  It was quite challenging and scary at first, but eventually I started to get the hang of it.  Luke on the other hand was a natural.  Luke rode on the back of a tandem bike - this was his first time on a bike.  He love it and had wonderful balance.  While in the forest, Luke and our friends’ son caught tadpoles.  They also caught a leach.  Luke brought several home - tadpoles, not leaches - I’m hoping it will turn into a nice learning opportunity. Even with my fear of bike riding, we had a wonderful night.  

Through a family at church, we learned about an Expat preschool playgroup.  The following day, Luke and I joined the playgroup for a picnic and Easter egg hunt.  Sadly, this was Luke’s first egg hunt - even though he’s four.  I’m not sure what happened in previous years, but somehow we just didn’t do much egg hunting.  Anyway, Luke was super excited.  Moms were informed to allow their kids to find 15 eggs - Luke was happy with 6, I had to convince him to look for more.  After collecting 10 he was more into looking at his treasures instead of finding more eggs.  Luke thought it was really nice for the Easter Bunny to leave him eggs. 

Slideshow 2

      http://gallery.me…/Switzerland2-Large

Grocery Shopping

Trips to the grocery store can be challenging and eye-opening.  Luke and I make frequent trips (2-3 times a week) to the store for a couple of reasons:  1.  we actually run out of food since we cook (we rarely eat out anymore) and 2.  since we don’t have a car, you can only haul so much on the bus ride home.  Another challenge is the language barrier - not just conversing with the register attendant, but also locating food.  For example,  Knoblauch is German for Garlic.  Now Garlic in the produce isle is easy, but when you are looking at the spices - it can be a challenge.  Along with the produce isles, the meat section is also easy to navigate.  Yes the meat is still in German, but it has small animal symbols on the corner of each package.  Now where we shop we have a wonderful variety of choices - beef (including veal), lamb, poultry, pork, seafood, etc.  Today as we were browsing through the pork section, we had an eye-opening experience.  Right next the pork was Pferd - which is the German word for Horse.  I did a double take thinking I must be mistaken, but sure enough on the corner of the package was a small picture of a horse.  I guess I stared a little too long or my thoughts were written on my face, because a man stocking the shelves pointed and said, “Ist Gute!”  Which means - It’s good!  Yeah....well, that’s one adventure I’m not sure my taste buds will ever be ready for.

Zurich Zoo

http://gallery.me.com/jcs1274#100061

Today we went with friends to the Zurich Zoo.  Luke really enjoyed watching the monkeys swinging and four lion cubs playing tug-of-war with a blanket.  We also saw horses, donkeys, and llamas parading through the zoo - several children petted the animals.  I think Luke’s favorite part of the zoo was the playgrounds.  I have attached a video clip of an amazing slide - it probably wouldn’t meet playground safety regulations in the U.S. - but Luke loved it!

Live Internet stream of Tonhalle Orchestra.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/tonhallelate-11-03-2011

Pull out the computer and watch a live Internet stream of the Tonhalle Orchestra today - Bill will be playing!  The concert will air 3PM US Central time.  Click on the link above and enjoy!

No room for dirt.

Switzerland is an extremely clean country.  Everyday, with the exception of Sunday, our streets are swept.  To go even further, the street signs are also washed every other week - yes someone actually scrubs them! 

We have only found one unfortunate thing about Switzerland - smoking seems to be a common habit.  Luckily, people are not allowed to smoke on the buses or trains.  However, its not unusual to see several people lighting up just before the bus/train arrives or as soon as they depart from the bus or train.  People also cannot smoke in businesses and most restaurants.  Smoking restaurants have stickers on the door to inform you.  One day at the bus stop, Luke loudly informed me something smelled.  After looking around, he announce the guy on the bench was smoking.  Luckily, the man gave no reaction - sometimes not speaking the native language is a good thing!

 

We have been able to see our shadows for the past four days!  Today actually got up to the low 50s - we lost 5 pounds - from not lugging our coats around!  Luke and I both love exploring the forest trails near our house.  Occasionally, we stumble upon little farms with various animals.  Our favorites - horses, geese, and cows.  This week we also managed to see two longhorns.  Luke also loves to go to the nearby pond to feed the ducks.  Today, he ate the ham out of his sandwich - I think he was intentionally saving the bread for the ducks.

Switzerland Slideshow 1

http://gallery.me.com/jcs1274#100048/Switzerland-Medium&bgcolor=black