we said our goodbye's to my family tuesday evening and then i spent the rest of the night finishing up packing. i packed just about everything i wanted too. i had to add another piece of luggage to the mix, i just needed more to take with me. however i wasn't able to pack my paints...which might turn out to be a disaster because so far i haven't been able to find replacement paint here. lets cross our fingers that i will be able to find some. so packing was finished and 330am our alarm went off and my dad and jachen piled our 5 check in, 2 carry-ons and two backpacks into the car. my dad had a flight that was leaving an hour before ours so we went earlier enough to be there with him. however, jachen and i drove with my mom so that she could see us off. we pulled up to the airport curb jachen unloaded the car as i ran to get a cart. do you know they charge $4 at the seattle airport for those things! a crime. but obviously we needed it. i said goodbye to my momma while jachen loaded up the cart. after he said his goodbyes he pushed the cart as i pulled our two carry-ons behind me. luckily the line was short that morning and we just waited less than 5 min to get to the counter. none of my bags were over weight but to our surprise the third extra check in was $150 while the other first two extra check ins were $50 each. so that was another crime. i swear the website said nothing about that $150 for a third check in. but i paid it. i wanted it there and wasn't going to fight them. so i ended up paying $250 instead of the $150 i had planned. my dad met up with us after turning his car into the lot he leaves his car in when he travels. he documented our airport experience with his camera...making us pose along the way. we went into security with him and that too was pretty fast. jachen and i went through and after my dads bag was finished being checked because they saw something fishy in there....no really fishy...my dad had packs of tuna. a travelers meal. so we hugged. i held it together unlike last year when my dad left me at the airport for my 3 month stay in switzy. as i peaked over my shoulder to watch the last of my dad walk away, jachen and i got orange juice and bagels with cream cheese. we quickly reached our gate...sheesh never had such an easy airport experience...i guess that is the joy of traveling with a buddy...jachen and i attempted to watch some office on my laptop while we waited, but then we saw a friend, claudia from switzy comment on my facebook asking if we had a ride from the airport in zurich. BLESSING. our plan in zurich was to get our luggage...QUICKLY onto a train that would take us to a nearby train station from where we lived and there jachen's bff would pick us up in a euro sized car taking multiple trips to get us and all our(mine) luggage home. i of course was nervous about this plan because i know how those trains want to leave on time and i was afraid i would either get left on the platform with a few pieces of luggage or worse on the train with a few pieces as jachen was left behind. BUT ALAS! claudia, bless her heart came to our rescue. so, we saw her message and we quickly messaged her asking if she would be willing to pick us up in zurich with her families van. however, our flight was leaving seattle in about 15 min and we knew we most likely wouldn't hear from her till we arrived in zurich. jachen's phone doesn't work in the usa and we couldn't count on having the world wide web in NYC. so we messaged her that if she could come, to come at 8am thursday and if she couldnt we would find out that morning and just stick to our original plan. i prayed hard she could come. in NYC, just as we thought...NO internet...none...not even one we could pay for. dumb. so we just were going to trust she would be able to. THEN our flight leaving NYC was delayed an hour due to fog. silly fog. so we then hoped she would check our flight info before leaving so she wouldn't be confused why we weren't there. both of our flights went fast and well, little to complain about besides the normal sleeping issues. our international flight had these two really darling jewish families. the kids of both those families were so cute. one of the families sat by us and i had my fair share of looking at them. the dad was so interesting looking...i mean totally looked jewish(i hope that isnt bad to say, but so true. i loved it). if i could have taken a picture i would have. he looked straight out of Fiddler on the Roof (exaggeration).
so. we arrived in zurich where jachen quickly turned on his phone...claudia was there waiting for us! PRAISE. however, she hadn't checked the flight info but stuck it out that hour to wait for us. we loaded two FREE carts with our luggage and pushed them to her VAN. such a dream. from then on i just sat back, relaxed and watched the green hills of switzy. we were so grateful for her fast willingness to come get us...the swiss typically aren't BIG fans of driving long distances. actually i don't know if that is a true fact, but just my experience.
with our luggage piled into the main level of our house we decided to head over to Ikea to begin shopping. the trick to jet leg is to not sleep till the time zone you are in's bed time...so we knew a shopping day would cure that desire to lay down and sleep. ikea went GREAT. how fun it was to shop for OUR home. we picked up a sofa, rug, tv unit, mattresses, bed sheets and down comforter, a sofa pillow, sofa throw and a few other randomness. we had our sofa delivered the next day, but all else we packed up in our little honda. by this point jachen is starting to be real tired...but we went to Migros(grocery store) despite the beginnings of tiredness. while shopping for that weekends food(we planned on doing a bigger shopping day monday) jachen was just soo warn out. i too began to feel super exhausted. pizza was in our belly and we began to set up the tv unit..rather jachen did while i unpacked some bags of mine. after a while jachen was falling asleep while hammering and i was caught by him a few times falling asleep watching him hammer. finally 10pm arrived and we let ourselves sleep.
the next day, friday...we had a few errands, received our couch from the trusty ikea delivery men and then went to a thrift store or two...okay so the rest of friday and sat are a blur...at some point we visited a few thrift stores. friday i think, we purchased one vinyl player at a thrift store but after hooking it up discovered we were missing a cord. saturday we planned on returning it...along the way stopped at a different thrift store to find an even better record player and it was 60% off. we'll take it! so then we for sure returned the first one. oh, on friday we also purchased a code free dvd player. code free allows us to play my dvds that are fresh from america. that friday night we watched some arrested development, but saturday it decided to stop working...the color turned to b&w. dang it! we were so bummed because it was such a good deal. also, saturday we went on a walk around our neighborhood. jachen showed me where he went to school till 6th grade. it is TINY. he told me of snowball fights, climbing a rope structure, playing football(soccer) and other escapades. i wish i knew him as a kid. again, the weekend feels mixed...but we took pictures of some furniture that we hope to sell on a craigslist type website here. we don't expect much from it, even though there are some nice pieces...we just don't want them and would love someone to take them away.
sunday we continued our staycation. jachen's grandparents(who live next door...literally...their house is attached to ours) came back from a trip to amsterdam so we went and said hello to them and also jachen's aunt and uncle were visiting. his aunt and uncle surprised us with two boxes...each had swiss handblown glass bowls. they are very lovely bowls. one now holds our apples and bananas and the other now sits holding sweets. after our visit with them, jachen and i went on a picnic lunch. we parked at a beautiful view of mountains...but really that would be anywhere in switzy. after we drove into Appenzell a town we had visited before and wanted to see again. (plus my gnome friend was there and i wanted to buy one). we arrived in Appenzell as a meeting(dont want to go into what kind of meeting it was...just know it was something with the different towns involved and swords)...so we arrived to find like a party going on in Appenzell...lots of people eating lunch...LOTS of men(handsome men) in suits...lots of people laughing and eating...music....sausages...gelato...beer..etc...but we just participated in the gelato eating. jachen and i enjoyed walking around, eating gelato and then went on our merry way.
monday? well monday was a rough day for me. jachen's first day back at work. per jachen's request i wake up with him in the morning...and to my decision, make his lunch. then we read scriptures and then i send him on his way. monday as i unpacked i stumbled upon a picture of my darling leah and clara. the rest of my morning was a no go. i ended up having to cry myself into a morning nap. after the almost 3 hour nap i felt a lot better and i finished the day by myself off with unpacking my suitcases. by unpacking i mean just taking it out of the suitcases and piling them into categories. i hung up my clothes and cleaned jachen and my bedroom. oh, i should probably explain to you why we have a house...this is the house jachen grew up most of his life in. his mother was remarried this past march and we took over the house as she moved out with jachen's sisters. so already in the house was some furniture and appliances...thankfully. so that is how we have a house and are physically attached to his grandparents. the home has a basement type level...a main level with an entry way, kitchen, dining room, living room, bathroom and porch. then there is a floor with 3 bedrooms and a bathroom and then a 4th floor that is an attic/bedroom. so. after jachen arrived home on monday...we jumped into the car to go grocery shopping...we were afraid stores would be closed...shops close early in switzy...but as we arrived to Migros to our delight saw it was open till 8pm. wow! so late! so we loaded up our cart...previous to this outing i made a menu for 2 weeks and shopped for those items in our menu(and some yummy extras). after Migros...we hit up Aldi, another grocery type store...and then followed up the shopping with dinner at Burger King...fancy. but know that places such as burger king, mcdonalds and subway cost about 3 times as much in switzy. where a normal meal with drink, fries and burger costs like $5 in good ole usa, it costs 20francs here(which is basically 20dollars). ouch.
tuesday was a better day, spirits wise, for me. i focused my thoughts on organizing the kitchen. rid us of some unmatched tupperware, not needed plates/bowls/glasses and rid of us of some random items i didn't see us needing. i then washed all the remaining tupperware by hand. i still currently have that pile of unwanted objects in the kitchen and i really should be tending to that right now. jachen came home later that evening because he went to try and exchange the dvd player...however it worked in the store so the worker said it was either our cords or our tv...so we still have the player. that night we watched arrested development in b&w anyway. we hope we can figure out what to do soon. however, jachen seemed to think the show was funnier without color. :)
wednesday, i had another small episode of crying. but nothing a little nap can't cure. wednesday jachen was supposed to be home at 5pm...530 came around so i started preparing dinner without him...i dont have a cell phone here yet so he has no way of contacting me. he walked in about 540 and told me he had car problems. we spent the rest of the evening skyping with my dad trying to figure out the problem, under the hood then figuring out what to do about it for him going to work in the morning. luckily, he managed to drive it this morning to a train station. he caught a train and bus to work...now we just hope that after work today the car will let him drive it to a car shop his brother knows. we are hoping it is an inexpensive fix. last night jachen said to me, why is this happening already. why now? and i replied to him...this is just the beginning of it all. jachen and i are prepared to struggle although, in the moment it proves to be hard. i haven't been outside since monday and its starting to drive me batty. this weekend, if our car will work...or if we have a car to use while it is getting fixed...our plan this weekend was/is to visit jachen's mom and sisters a few hours away and stay till saturday night. so we hope all goes well.
the months and weeks before marrying jachen felt really surreal for me...if you can remember, but as soon as we were married it felt so normal. our first week and a half feels really natural to be married. (oh i forgot to mention on friday we bought a SWEET orange swiss typewriter, i love it). i love being married to jachen. he is such a great husband. i have never met someone so loving and caring. currently, our house is less than half done being organized and decorated but it will happen. soon, i will be looking for a job and soon i will be looking for the right german language class. i know soon i will feel more at home in my new home and country. its been a hard adjustment, but i know with one great husband and in time i will feel ready to tackle this new place. well its not really new to me, i lived here for 3 months and then visited for two weeks...but new in the sense that its more than a temporary life.
in random other news {i was sure disappointed when i bought some weird tasting black olives at the store. flies...we have on average 2 flies a day in our house. our house is warm...too warm. our across the way neighbor has a dog that occasionally barks...luckily its just occasionally. the cheese and bread here never get old(meaning i can always eat it). jachen's mom said she would make our tree fabric and map fabric from the wedding into window valances...yay. sometimes i wish i had either a fairy godmother or marry poppins to make this house done being organized and decorated. so far i have skyped with my new nephew henry and his parents, my mom and dad and the tacher family(my nieces clara and leah)}
i refuse to reread this for errors. so sorry, if you spotted many. however, i will add photos to this already long post. and gosh i hate my point and shoot camera...it takes crummy pics these days.
SO FAR...
our luggage and us safe and sound. relief.
jachen setting up the sound system
on our walk we found a huge teeter totter
our view from inside the car of where we parked to eat lunch near Appenzell
Appenzell party!
pistachio and chocolate gelato
beautiful street in Appenzell
more eating in Appenzell, those partying swiss.
the kitchen the day i was organizing it. it exploded.
ignore the nasty cords going on...jachen will be tending to that. we want to sell the glass coffee table...neither of us like glass coffee tables.
my little friend i picked up in Appenzell
love my new working typewriter...however it looks a lot more red in this photo but it is purely orange.
our music station.
the start of the fireplace...i will be putting fabric around that piece of wood...when i find some.
the kitchen table has been swamped like this since day one. full of things that will be downstairs but dont have a home yet.
natalie...when we went to the thrift store this weekend... where i bought the green pitchers for my wedding...i found these. the tall ones are a narrower version of the ones from the wedding! i have one filled with water and it cools in the fridge. lovely huh?
seriously switzy's yogurt has got it going on! vanilla rhubarb! its amaziNNNG. the others i love are chocolate pear, pinapple and during winter they have a pomegranate one i love. i will soon try more flavors. the yogurt here doesn't have that "yogurt" taste to it. its divine. jealous? you should be...or just come visit us here and try it for yourself!
more embellishments
view #1 from our main level...right outside our living room/dining room
view #2 from our main level
view #1 from our bedroom porch window. same view just higher up.
view #2 from our bedroom porch window. lovely huh?
well there you have it for our first update!
soon i will post video from the house
soon i will post a picture of the front of our home
soon i will take you on a walk around the neighborhood
