Sunday, May 31, 2009

The puzzles of daily life

When I was 16 or 20 years old, figuring out a new city was exciting. How did the Paris metro work? Where did you catch the bus in Heidelberg? What unfamiliar foods in Sainsbury's were really good in England? It was fun, challenging. And here I am again, figuring out the different options for riding the tram in Zurich - a short trip (if you're within some number of stations from your destination), a normal ticket, and a 24-hour pass. I'm starting to get a sense for which trams take me where in the city, and not having to look it all up on a map every single time. Even some street names are starting to become familiar.

But wow, somehow some of the excitement from those early times is gone. I just want to feel at home, and when I get off at Rennweg on the #6 or Bellevue on the #5 to know where things are, which direciton to go, which good restaurants to walk to. I'm a bit tired of the discovery period.

Maybe it is just because I'm more tired out from pregnancy. Maybe I have more than enough things to challenge me intellectually (like thinking about updating my resume and writing up my research) than I did at 20 years old. I don't need the puzzles of everyday life to keep me occupied because I'm still working on getting my medical records sent over and selling a house in another country. I want to have 4-6 ideas of places to eat in town, depending on who is visiting us, that are great (because many are) and that will fit that person's style. I want to spend the energy I have left at the end of each day deciding where to meet M for dinner in town based on what we're in the mood for, and if I want to bring the dog, not go explore to find a new restaurant that may not be that great. And I want to know people, in bars and cafes and our local stores.

That is another issue I'm changing my mind on. I started out here trying to get along just with my really limited German, to be shown to be making an effort. But I've found that my accent is good enough that people expect me to be much more functional in the language than I am. I haven't started language classes yet (I will this month), and I'd rather be able to get my desires across than use a few more words in German right now. And not just my desires, but my sense of humor, my personality, meet people, talk about them or myself. Right now, the grocer down the street knows my face, and given how often I come can probably guess certain things about our eating habits, but doesn't know much more. I come in almost every day, I get a croissant or more milk, coffee, or jam. I get yoghurt and a lot of fresh fruit because I'm finding that I'm a normal pregnant woman who needs a lot of extra fiber right now. But other than that, he and his wife (maybe she's just an employee, but the point is I don't know because I don't say more than "hello" and "thank you" in German) know little about me. I can't say I loved the watermelon this week, or that I wonder what fruits are coming up in the summer season. I can't ask about whether they would order specific items.

Well, I can ask or say these things, but sticking to German means I don't.

So I've switched to more English, after the polite "do you speak english?" question in German. Already, I have my favorite post office clerk who has very good english, and who I've traded a laugh with. And I feel more comfortable going to the post office for complex (express mail or registered post) mailings. It kind of starts to lessen the immensity of the "learning a new city" task, as well. I communicate better, so I learn more quickly and feel at home more quickly.

And we learned this week, with M's sister visiting, that the restaurant down the block is really really nice. So I'm adding at least one place per week to my good food list. From the bread and salad to the main courses, it was really great food. We all had something different and all were impressed with what we got. So for those people coming to visit us in this neighborhood (before we move), we've got a pretty good sense of where to take you.

Monday, May 18, 2009

The pupper strikes gold

This weekend we walked. A lot. Slowly, stopping often for a coffee, drink, or snack, but walked nevertheless. Probably 5-6 hours over both days. We learned (the hard way) that trams don't run after 12:30am, and walked about a kilometer home. Turns out I feel a lot better at midnight, in terms of my energy levels and my back, than I do at noon. We learned that grocery stores close between 4pm and 5pm on Saturdays, which means Sunday was heavy on the eating out, since the stores are all closed that day.

But part of the learning was good, and we learned where the pet store was, and that it is next to this amazing place, on the West side of the lake.

The pupper had her first off-leash bounce in about a week, so she was in heaven. The grasses and flowers were about a foot tall, so she really had to bounce, like a deer, from spot to spot...boing boing..boing...boing boing. We saw other dogs, owners, and just enjoyed watching her enjoy herself.















On Sunday, after breakfast and a morning nap, we headed into the old town, to look for....food. Remember, we had missed doing food shopping for us (the dog got her big bag, though) on Saturday, and the groceries are all closed on Sunday. We mostly wandered around, turning down small streets that looked interesting.

We ended up near the river, in an outdoor restaurant, where it was a split schnitzel and fries, M got a beer, and I wound up speaking with a group of Brazilians an their kids who were very excited about the dog. Actually, they were excited about my being pregnant, too. What stood out was that people here, so far, have been very reserved. This one Brazilian woman who had just met me was full of "oh! congratulations! pregnant women are so wonderful! best wishes!" In contrast, the people (strangers) who I've told here act as if I've just told them I bought a new notepad: "oh. ok."
I guess I'll have to find some more Brazilians to hang out with while I'm pregnant here.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

The pistachio

At some point, about a month ago, the doctor told us that the baby was about the size of a pistachio. That name stuck, as did the pregnancy, and here I am in Zurich, needing to get a mountain of things done, with no energy to do any of them. Ok, I take that back, I get about 1 or 1.5 things done each day. This includes walking the dog, so I try to coordinate the pupper's walks with going to the post office, or the grocery. She gets to sit outside and wait for me, take in the fresh air, and I actually get something done.

I've never felt this tired before. Well, except for during a bad flu a few years ago. It is "head needs to lay on a pillow NOW" tired. "Walking like a bobute (grandma)" tired. I nap after breakfast, I need to sit during the outtings with the dog, I lay on the couch in the evenings. I'm not used to be this useless. M has taken over a lot of the chores - he does at least half the dishes, the laundry, he cooks, he takes the dog on her big morning outing and again in the evening. And I lay there (or occasionally sit), feeling nauseous, or having heartburn, and usually tired.

I had been told this tired thing was coming and I kind of expected the 30 min. naps I took in the car on the ride out to Boston were what people were talking about. I was still driving many hours a day, going to see people, etc. Yeah, ha ha, that was nothing. THIS is tired. What surprises me the most, given how little energy I have, is that there is no pre-natal work leave for pregnant women. I know every pregnancy is different, but honestly, there is no getting anything done being this tired. Some women go through a few months of this! (My upstairs neighbor commented that when she was pregnant it was like 4 months of "como borracha" - being drunk - tired for her.

I just went out to the post office (and of course the dog went with) and one of our neighbors came with me. It was nice to have company for once, and nice to talk with another academic spouse. We talked about the crazy, privatized but mandatory insurance here, and how you pick a plan from over 40 companies, and we exchanged tips for things to see in the neighborhood.

Oh, and we picked up our boxes from Lufthansa cargo that my mom shipped for us. Full of all the last things we couldn't pack on our trip. It was quite the adventure to even find the right building at the airport but, as usual, our cab driver was the most helpful, polite 25 year old I've met. The long, empty corridors of the cargo building were another matter, and we sort of got shuffled around from the check-in office, to the customs office, to the loading dock. But the boxes all arrive safely, and I finally have more than a week's worth of underwear. How exciting!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Cloud or mountain?

I remember being a kid, on car trips to Colorado, waking up at some point and looking to the distant horizon for the first sign of the Rocky Mountains. It was always a game of "is that just
a line of clouds or are those the mountains?" We now play the same game here.

You can barely see them in these photos for some reason, but there they are, about 60 km away from Zurich - the Alps. There are various places in town, especially around our neighborhood from where, on a clear day, you can catch a peek of the snow-covered peaks. Hopefully we'll find an apartment with even a small bit of this view. But you can see them around certain streets
and corners, when the tram is making some tight turn up the hill and suddenly there they are.




















These photos were taken up near the zoo, from a place near the forest preserve where we have taken the dog a few times already. There may not be as many great little green spots near our house to take the dog, but a quick tram ride up the hill and we are here. Probably 10 min. On Sunday, yesterday, we found another great spot for the dog. On the map it was just a winding patch of green with a ribbon of blue going through it. In Tucson, this would have been a dry riverbed, and I expected it to be some fields around a canal.


But no, there it was, in our neighborhood - "wolf canyon" - a forested path around a little stream that goes tumbling down the hill. It was such a nice spot in the middle of the city. And just as we thought this was as good as it gets, we saw 2 different dog owners had let their dogs off-leash, to run up and down the sides of the canyon, and scamper into the water!

Ok, we live in a pretty good place - the dog didn't get a very long time off-leash, but at least she got to run at full speed for about 10 minutes, between me and M, calling her for cookies. She loved it.

Friday, May 8, 2009

The neighborhood


With no doggie daycare (yet, who knows, maybe they don't even have them here), we have started to take a lot more walks with the pupper. Last Sunday, when everything was closed apart from cafes and restaurants, we headed down the hill from our apartment to the old town.

The first nice thing about having a dog here is that they can ride on buses, trams and trains. They have to pay half-price, or you get them a pass, but they can still come with. Then, when you are walking around, there are water fountains with a people-part and a doggie-part.

So we took our time heading downhill, stopping to take in the city view from different university gardens like the one in the photo here.












Finally, we made it to the old town,
and the first cafe we came across, with a few tables on the sidewalk, the perfect place to stop with the dog, also offers therapeutic massages. I think we're going to like living here.

Here goes...

So we've made it to Zurich, dog in tow, or rather, dog in cargo. We all survived, and have officially been here a week now. I'm still unsure of how long I'll sleep any given night, but last night was good - slept the whole night through. This morning, woke up to sunshine, birds singing outside, and this wonderful smell of green and spring.

Our apartment has 2 bedrooms, and is probably no more than 900 sq. ft. in size. Since this just means less to clean, and it has great light from all the tall windows, it is the perfect size for our first few months here. And if you wind up visiting us this summer, it is where you'll get to stay.










































It has been a busy, but good, week so far. I've told M that my current best friend is food. While Swiss food and I can't exactly go shopping together for clothes or see a movie, we can definitely sit at a cafe together, and when we get together to cook, there is not stopping us. The food here is so good. I'm talking about what is available at the grocer's (one tiny one is only 1 block away) and the farmer's market. I bought the best strawberries I have ever tasted, and a bag of fresh morels from Turkey at the market this week. I had forgotten it takes place on Wednesdays, and was only down at the train station to get some passport photos. The photo booth required exact change and all I had was one large bill - guess I have to buy some food!

You can get so many good looking, smelling, tasting things here, including cheese. I even had M print out a list of the cheeses I can and can't eat so that I'm not so caught out next week.