The other-people-on-the-bus are "not so bad, not so bad, not so bad...."

Actually, this has nothing to do with the bus, other than being about the Swiss people who are the polar opposite of the tsk-tsk-ers. Yesterday was the first long, grey, chilly day. Ooh, it took all I had to get showered and actually go into work, where I am still struggling to find a groove, and not just feel like I do random things no one cares about. (Note: I may actually be doing things no one cares about, I'm just not ready to feel that way yet. Hey, we all have an ego.)

I had the dog with me and went to get A from school. Since all our potential playdates are busy throwing up all over their moms and dads, and it was grey, we walked through the fields, talked about the cows and goats and other dogs we saw, and headed down to our street, destination: home. For some Ovomaltine, and some baking and playing inside. On the way, we met a black man with a cute little dog.

He said her name was Caramela, and I found it strange that we had our discussion in English, and that he seemed so upbeat. What was that all about? Was he a hustler? Why was he smiling so much. Yeah, this place does that to your brain. He went ahead of us into an apartment complex and as we got near it, a woman was getting out of her car. She looked at me (baby on my back, dog in hand) with this huge smile.

"Seriously, who are these people?", I'm thinking. She wanted to meet the dog. Suddenly, she wanted to know how she didn't know us since she knows most dogs in the neighborhood. Ok, she must be a hustler, because what neighborhood? The people around here barely look at each other, much less interact in a neighborly way most of the time. We got to chatting, that she and her husband have a dog named Caramela, and the man walking the dog must have been one of the foreign exchange students coming to their potluck they host every year, and got asked to walk the dog. No wonder he spoke English first, and had a skip in his step. The man hadn't ridden the tram enough yet! He was newly from Ghana. A ha. And, thank god. For Swiss people like this woman, who was not only hosting newcomers but within minutes of meeting me had made sure I called her phone, knew what apartment she is in, and said we should come over, with our dog, for dinner some night.

What? Awesome.

At work, I had found that one person I thought totally ignored me by email had just sent a note to a different, unused e-mail account of mine.

And later last night I spent 2 hours out swing dancing with some smiling Swiss people. Who dance really well.

Do you know how much I needed just one of those things to happen yesterday? I have to figure out how to make them last for the week now, because it is a gray day again, I continue not to have a standard way I spell that light black color, and I could learn to like it here if the frown-to-smile ratio stays below 50%.

And to bring it on home, how cute are these alligator scarves? Am I going to knit one? I doubt it, I found them while looking for a tutorial on putting a pocket on a knit vest. I can barely knit straight, these babies would probably break me. I'm sticking to things I can actually finish. Hmmm. Maybe I'll just sew some pockets on afterwards....