Hot!

We’ve had a very hot week in Switzerland. It’s 35 degrees Celsius right now at 19h00 (7 p.m.), which converts to 95 degrees in Fahrenheit. The humidity is 38%. (I’m not sure exactly what that means, all I know is that it’s hot!) This kind of weather makes our apartment on the top floor feel like an oven, and we don’t have air conditioning. No air conditioning at work, either, so we get pretty sweaty and stay that way all day. I made a trip to the beach on Monday with my friend, Jen, and her three kids in an attempt to stay cool. It helped some. Matt bought a fan to use at work in his attempt to stay cool since they don’t have AC in his office. We’re headed to Zermatt this weekend to see the Matterhorn (described as the most recognizable mountain on the planet). It should be cooler temps there, so we’re looking forward to it after the heat this week.

Beer Run

Matt and I made a beer run to Germany last Saturday. Matt said we needed more beer because I have some girlfriends visiting soon. Not sure if I completely believe that one, but okay. Our drive there was uneventful. It took a little over two hours. We went to a small town just over the Swiss border and had a nice lunch in a little village. Matt had Rinder-something or other and I had Schwein-something or other for lunch. Ah, the joys of not knowing a language. I knew my meal had something to do with pork but that’s all I knew for sure. Matt ended up with the better of the two lunches. His entrée was beef.

After lunch we headed to the Getrunkmarkt. That’s where they sell the beer. You make your own cases, so you can mix and match different kinds of beer. It’s just like the variety packs of pop that my dad used to make for me in college. Matt enjoyed himself at the Getrunkmarkt and had a hard time deciding which beers to buy. I thought it was interesting that they had a little girl about eight or nine years old running the cash register. She knew her beers, too. I guess they train them young in Deutschland. We weren’t so lucky with our drive back home. We sat in traffic for quite a while to get over the border, which was our own fault. Our GPS (we named her Brenda after Matt’s high school girlfriend) told us to go a different way but we ignored her. It took us an extra hour to get home. The lesson learned: sometimes you should listen to the old girlfriend and not the wife.

Home Sweet Home

Matt and I had a wonderful time with family and friends while home in the US. Matt returned to Switzerland at the end of July, and I stayed in Minnesota for an extra week and a half. We were busy, busy while home, but it was all fun. We came back exhausted from all of the activities. Not as exhausted as Millie, though. She did not make the big trip to the US, but instead spent her time at a dog kennel near Lausanne. It was her and 20 other dogs in Monsieur Fahrni’s house. (His house!) Matt said she slept for two full days after he picked her up because she was so tired. She didn’t have the energy to even go potty. She didn’t pee for 22 hours according to a frustrated Matt after he picked her up, so he came home during his lunch hour to try to get her to pee. Twenty two hours! That’s longer than she had to hold it when she flew over to Switzerland last year!

Matt and I were very strategic about packing for the trip. We came home with almost empty suitcases so that we could stock up on supplies: spices, brown sugar, chocolate chips, press n’ seal saran wrap, taco and chili seasonings, Frank’s red hot sauce, frosting, etc. We also did quite a bit of clothes shopping. Clothes in the US were inexpensive compared to what we pay here. We were able to catch up on all of the foods we missed, too: pizza at DeMoris and Roadhouse, Mexican food, fast food, steaks, corn on the cob, hamburgers and more hamburgers.

I had a chance to meet new babies while home: Jemma’s son, Keane, Amy’s little girl, Ingrid and Anne’s little guy, Marty. I even had a chance to see our Switzerland friends, Jen and Dan, who were visiting Dan’s family in Eagle River, Wisconsin.

We had a great trip home! Matt and I are so thankful for the love and support we get from all of our family and friends.

Shhhh!

This is what I wanted to say to the two, twenty-something year old girls talking loudly on the train this morning. I was looking forward to my usual quiet ride, and I didn’t get it.

This was odd for two reasons. First, someone was talking loudly. This doesn’t happen very often on Swiss public transportation. A typical ride on the train or bus usually consists of murmurs of French and German in the background. You can just barely make out the words that are being said. The other thing that made this odd was that I found myself irritated by the conversation. Aside from the obvious reason that they were talking loudly, I was also able to understand what they were saying. No, my French hasn’t improved that much. Their conversation was in English. And the girls were clearly American by the accent.

It wasn’t just me who noticed the loud talkers. Other passengers on the train had also taken notice of them. I wanted to shush them. I thought about moving to a different seat. I came close to giving them the evil eye. That’s how much this bothered me! I guess the Swiss way of life is rubbing off on me.
My train ride back home was better. No loud talkers on that ride.

Something in Common

Now that the weather has turned warm here –it’s been in the mid to high 80's all week – I’ve discovered that the Swiss and I have something in common – our love of ice cream! They are as passionate about ice cream as I am! As soon as the nice weather came around, several ice cream stands popped up along the lake path in our town. They’ve got all kinds of yummy treats and no shortage of customers. With an ice cream cone in my hand, I think I blend in and look a bit Swiss for once.

A Special Treat

My neighbor, Suzie, has a subscription to People magazine. She is kind enough to share them with all of us expats when she’s done. It’s a happy day when I get one. Her husband came over tonight to have a drink with Matt, and he didn’t come empty handed. He brought a few beers and four People magazines with him! Let the boys drink. I’ve got some reading to do.

Television

Our TV time is pretty limited over here because the programs are mostly in French or German. Every once in a while we’ll be surprised and find a show that’s in English, like Two and a Half Men (called Mon Oncle Charlie) or That 70’s Show. We’ve started to watch television shows on DVD to help with this. Most of my expat friends are watching trendy new shows like 24, and Lost, with their husbands. Not the case at the McCarthy household. I get to watch something from the early 80's with my husband. Matt recently received a gift from his mother – the first two seasons of Magnum PI. You know, the one with Tom Selleck – bushy mustache, Hawaiian shirts, fast cars and lots of women in bikinis. He’s watched two episodes so far. That’s two hours down and 44 more to go!