A Good Weekend

Hello All, I know I have been very amiss in giving frequent reports of our goings-on. I will try to rectify immediately. First, I just have to mention that the sun has been shining for about two hours today and I was out for a while to see it, wonderful! But it's still 34 degrees, so my bones remain chilled when I go out.

So our weekend was a very social one. Yesterday was one of those perfect days. We had invited (planned well in advance) our upstairs neighbors, Richard & Michelle, to brunch and I quickly introduced them to our traditional mimosas. They hadn't seen such before, but adjusted fairly well, finally deciding, I think, that it was a pretty good idea. I had planned to make my coffeecake, but that was given up as brown sugar couldn't be had anywhere! So anyone who comes to visit, remember the brown sugar... We had crepes instead.

The conversation was lively and varied. We learned about the years they lived in Turin, Italy, and we told them about traveling and teaching in Turkey. We learned about their work, got some German/Swiss German lessons, discussed (of course) some political questions and the new and old US administrations, etc. They're also giving us suggestions for where to go in the mountains. We keep hearing that you have to go to the mountains here to see the sun!!

We also learned an interesting fact about Italy versus central/northern Europe. Apparently in northern Europe, they build for the winter and the cold, sensibly, and as Richard said, "In Switzerland, we know how to heat." But in Italy, even northern Italy where it's still cold, they don't. They still have a more Latin mentality and tradition and build for appearance and for celebrating summer. We had already experienced this in northern Italy in October when we FROZE in our hotel because the Italians said that it wasn't yet the date, the official date, to turn on the heat.

They also told us some American jokes, or maybe they're urban myths. The first was about the Americans who went to see some beautiful little Swiss villages with the castles and old buildings, ala Baden.
After looking around for a while, they finally asked someone when the village closed...

Oh, and I forgot to mention that it was snowing all day, from the time I was cooking in the morning, all through brunch, and all evening too.

After they left, it was still light and I took a walk down to the ThermalBad to soak. It was still snowing, so when I changed from the indoor to the outdoor pool, I was warm in the water with the snow falling on my face. These are some pictures of the walk down there, which takes about eight or ten minutes.

And when I came out afterwards, all toasty warm, it was twilight. Here's what it looks like from the outside of the bath area. The fence and greenery are surrounding the outdoor pool. You can always see the steam coming up from the warm water.

And on Saturday

Just another couple of notes about the weekend. On Saturday, a couple came to visit us from Zurich. The woman, Anna-Katrine, is from Denmark, and Rand's Danish mother, Lis, asked her to get in touch with us to welcome us to der Schweiz. Lis said that she remembered meeting Rand years ago, at a lively Christmas party Lis and Svend hosted one year in the 80's. She came with her boyfriend, Markus, who's Swiss and in fact went to high school in Baden, so maybe later he'll give us a little tour and point out some things we've missed. We very much enjoyed their visit and hope to come see them in Zurich as we begin to explore that city. Anna-Katrine is a grad student molecular cancer researcher, which is pretty exciting. Rand didn't recognize her when she came to our door and we soon realized why. When they met in 1985, she was 7! They're both really delightful and gave us a welcome gift to adjust to our new home, "The Xenophobe's Swiss Guide". Thanks, Anne-Katrine and Markus!

And finally, we had dinner Saturday night with our friends, Dominique and Daniel, who both began working at Alstom at the same time Rand did, so they were all in orientation together. We've already seen them a number of times for dinners and we've introduced them to the ThermalBad as well. Dominique made us her specialty, spaghetti Bolognese, just as she learned it in a little Italian village years ago...

Dominique is a unique combination. She's very vivacious and energetic, and extremely French, as she says. She loves to cook and adores chocolate, yet she's an expert metals caster. She says she can look at a molten alloy and tell if there's something wrong with it and what. I couldn't explain quite what she does now at Alstom, but suffice to say, she's living in a man's world and even more so in Switzerland. But she has so much personality and energy that she barrels ahead, changing everything she can around her. She loves reds, purples and oranges, with vivid red hair. She shines and shimmers amongst the grays and blacks of der Schweiz.

Daniel is a specialist in materials at Alstom and is the calmer half of the couple (like me). He hails from blue-collar Detroit, and worked on his PhD while working in the factory. Since then, he left the Midwest and lived in Germany for eight years before they made the move to Switzerland. He's relieved to be working and commuting less than he did in Germany so that he can improve his quality of life. Yeah, Baden!

Sorry, I didn't get pictures of either couple yet. Will work on that. Ciao!