Sechseläuten

Every year in Zurich there is a traditional event called Sechseläuten which is meant to mark the beginning of spring. This year the event was held on Monday (April 16th). There is a parade with the old guilds of this region walking or riding horses or carriages in very traditional clothing. The parade goes on for a very long time because of so many participants (I think this year there were something like 3500 walkers!). The parade ends at a very open area by Lake Zurich where a huge bonfire type construction is built and an effigy of a snowman is placed on the top. The effigy is called Böögg. During the construction of the wooden Böögg, firecrackers are built into the head and tradition has it that the longer the head takes to explode the shorter the summer will be. This year it took 12 min 10 seconds for the head to burst off the top of Böögg (which I'm told is a long time...). This is all a very big thing…televised and all!!

Now this is a must see for anyone new in Zurich so of course I was there with the rest of the city and also my friends. Being the short person I am, I wasn’t actually able to see most of the excitement, but my friends took pictures so you can see what it looked like. Hope you enjoy…
After most of the excitement was over my friends and I claimed a spot by the lake to relax and enjoy some snacks and a nice bottle of wine…yes that’s me pouring the wine (good job with this pic Manda…). It was such a relaxing day and great to be a part of Zurich culture. If you’re ever in Switzerland when Sechseläuten is happening I highly suggest you attend…it’s not to be missed!!!

That’s all I have at the moment but I might be posting some good stuff on Monday after the excitement of my upcoming weekend…

Love you all…

LuLu

Regensberg Walk…

On Sunday afternoon after church Manda, Megz, and I took a little walk (I thought it was a hike but I’ve been informed that a hike is much more strenuous…yeah…tell that to my muscles yesterday and today!) to the peak of the Regensberg.

The translation from German to English for the word berg is mountain. However, I’ve been told that this is not, in fact, a mountain and people laugh when you call it such! It does have a very nice history though dating back to medieval times and there is a castle on the top which, sadly, we did not explore but will do so at a later date.

The beginning (and ending for that matter) of this walk is very easy to get to from Zurich so it didn’t take much time for us to be on our way to the top. It was a truly lovely day, warm but not too warm…sunny but not so much so that it was unbearable! Unfortunately the view from the top was a bit hazy, as you can see from the picture, but we will be able to go up again soon and hopefully then we will have a clear view of the unfolding picture of the Alps from the peak.

As some of you already know, my mom and aunt will be coming over in a little over a month to visit me and see some other sights in Europe. I plan to take them on this walk as well and let them see the beauty that surrounds me every day as I live in this country.

I guess that’s just about all the good info I have at the moment but we did participate in a very traditional Zurich event last night which I will write about soon and hopefully have good pictures to share as well…

I hope this post finds all of you well…

LuLu

Vienna for Easter

(*****Mrs. B...this one's for you...a little birdie says you've been asking for a new post*****)

Hello all…I know it’s been a really, REALLY long time since I’ve written anything but…I’ve been quite busy and honestly I’ve not been motivated at all to write! Here goes my best effort…

I went with a few friends to Vienna, Austria for Easter holidays and we had a blast (aside from the horrific night train experiences...mental note...never take a night train where you have sit up to sleep!). The city itself is quite charming and we were able to meet up with a few friends from Zurich which made the experience that much more nice.

We were able to visit a lot of great sites including Schoenbrunn Palace and its surrounding gardens. This place was lovely and full of history. We went through the labyrinth (garden maze) up to the Gloriette for a beautiful view of the entire estate. We walked through the woods on the way back the palace for our tour and ran across some very unusual looking animals (they appeared to be some form of squirrels…) and we were able to feed them thanks to a very nice couple we met along the way! Aside from that the tour of the palace was nice and the walks around the grounds. I can just imagine the Hapsburgs strolling around there in style as well!

By far the coolest thing to me in Vienna was the catacombs at St. Stephens Basilica! I really enjoy stuff like that and we were able to go down and see where the keep the innards of former Austrian Emperors (The Hapsburgs) and where former bishops of the church are laid to rest. We were also able to tour around the formerly public area where we saw the graves of common folk buried there and the even a mass grave where victims of the black plague were laid to rest (and by that I mean dumped into a hole)…bones and skulls and all sorts of neat (but most likely gross to everyone else) things. Because it is a burial place, and therefore very sacred, we weren’t allowed to take pictures down there so I regret to say that I can’t share this experience with everyone as I would like to. But…trust me…wall of bones and skulls and all…it was VERY cool!!!

On Sunday I was able to attend church at the International United Methodist Church of Vienna. I was sooo worried about not being able to go to church on Easter Sunday but it all worked out and I attended the service with a friend from Zurich and two of the girls that had traveled with me to Austria. After church we had a perfect afternoon strolling through the city park and eating at a very American restaurant (TJI Fridays…).

We saw other things but these were the highlights. Above all it was a very relaxing time with friends and good times in Austria! I hope you enjoy the pics I put in this blog as well and as usual I’ll be getting around to posting the rest on my photo site after I post Triberg and Budapest (I am WAY too far behind for my liking!!!).


Ok…stay tuned another blog to be posted in a few min…


LuLu

My visit to Buda and Pest…

Most people don’t realize that Budapest is actually two separate cities connected (or split up…depending on how you look at it…) by the Danube River. My trip to Hungary was a much anticipated one. My friends and I put a lot of effort and research into what we needed to see and do in Budapest and honestly I absolutely loved it!!! I could spend another 3-4 days there and still not see everything that I would want to experience.

We were a little bit on edge as we came down to the final stretch before our trip. As I’m sure a lot of people know, Hungary has had quite a tumultuous past. The Iron Curtain only came down in this country in the late 80’s. As a result of the Nazi and Soviet occupations in the past, there is a lot of history and culture to experience there. Late last year, as I was first looking to travel to this city, there were some peaceful riots in Budapest and even a few days before we left for the trip there were riots (however, this time they weren’t so peaceful and the protesters were tear-gased). Needless to say, this would make just about anyone a little bit nervous about the trip. However, when we arrived there were no riots or signs that there might be one in sight.

Well…I’m going to try to make this short but there were soooo many really great places to see and things to do in Budapest. We climbed A LOT of hills and saw quite a few castles. The area in and around Budapest is known for its thermal activity and thermal baths…we DEFINITELY participated in that…Megz, Manda, and I went in for a 2 hour soak in one of the nicest and largest pools in the city! The parliament building was gorgeous from the outside but unfortunately we just couldn’t get it together to go on the tour of the inside. On the Sunday we went by and were told that we needed to call for a reservation and by the time we called the next day they were no longer allowing anyone in. We still aren’t sure whether there was another riot while we were there or if parliament was just in session…who know?!?

The two coolest things we saw were the labyrinth at castle hill and St. Stephen’s Cathedral. The labyrinth is a series of tunnels made by ancient thermal activity in the hill…it is even said that prehistoric humans lived down there. The city of Budapest (Buda side) has created a tourist attraction in the tunnels and you can go through either during the day or after 6 when they turn out all the light and hand out oil lanterns (we definitely did the later and it was...AWESOME!!). There are several cool statues/sculpture along the way and even a fountain of red wine…which we stopped at for a while…and for a drink!!!

The last thing was by far the coolest for me…I talked about it the whole time (I’m sure my friends would tell you about how annoying it was…). King Stephen was the first Christian king of Hungary around the year 1000. As a result of this he was later sainted and now St. Stephen is the patron saint of Budapest (and maybe the country…I have no idea…). The cathedral in Budapest is named after him and one section of the church is called the Chapel of the Holy Right Hand…ok…so maybe you’ve guessed it by now…They have the mummified right hand of St. Stephen. Ok, this was maybe the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!!! Yes, I know the argument…how can they be sure it’s actually his hand?? Well, my answer to that is…I don’t really care…IT’S COOL!! A mummified hand…anyways…I think that coolness is lost on most people but I really liked it and found it uber interesting!!

I’ve just realized that I used a lot of (!) in this blog and also a lot of (…). So…I guess that means it’s about time for me to put away the computer tonight and go to bed. I’ve included some pics on the post and I promise I’m going to work on getting the rest on my photo site (the problem is that I want to label them before I do!!).

Ok…going for now…talk to you all soon!!

LuLu

All Things Birthday…

Hello all!!

As promised I’m updating about my Swiss birthday experience. It was a great day. I work up early and the girls helped me find my birthday table (a very special tradition in our house…). I had several presents and even some cards from home. I received a new pic of my niece which I’ve been really wanting for a while!

We dropped the girls off at school and then headed to Sihl City which is a new shopping center (much like a US mall) in Zurich. We spent some time there and then headed back home for lunch and bringing the girls home. It was a very leisurely day.

In the evening I had invited a friend over, from down the street, for a Raclette Dinner (very Swiss). In the end I was surprised to find that my friend Megz was also invited. We all had such a great time chatting over dinner, wine, and my oh so awesome tasting home-made devil’s food cake birthday cake. The girls and my host mom made the cake themselves and (as you can tell from the photo) it was perfect for me.

All in all it was such a wonderful day and it wasn’t weird at all (especially considering I’ve been so paranoid lately about how old I’m getting and how I’m older than all my friend here!!). I’m making this one short because I’ve got to write my Budapest post tonight as well. I’ve included photos in this post from my birthday and the pics of the girls birthday cakes which I promised in earlier posts. I’ll speak to you all again soon…


Much Love!!!

LuLu

The Very Best Birthday Present…IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!!!

Hello All!!!

I’m back from Budapest and better than ever. I will definitely have plenty to say about that later but I can’t be bothered with it right now. I’m off to bed (a little bit early for me I must admit) because I’ve been informed that the girls will wake me early in the morning…it seems that’s a birthday tradition in to family to begin the special day. I’m very excited to see how tomorrow will be…my first Swiss birthday!!

The point of this post is to tell all of you about the very best birthday present…an unexpected one that just happened to occur tonight. My sister, Jen, called me for the usual catch-up on gossip from the community and family happenings and I could hear my niece, Whit, in the car as well jabbering away. She got on the phone with me and for the first time we had a sort of conversation…she said hello and bye bye and an assortment of other things that I couldn’t really make out…and then…near the end…SHE SAID MY NAME!!! Apparently she talks some to other family members about me but I’ve never heard her say my name. I left to move to Switzerland just a bit after her first birthday and I feel like I’ve missed so much of her growing up already. She’s probably the one thing I miss most from home so to hear her and know that she knows (sort of) who I am means A LOT to me!!

Ok…I’m off to bed but I just had to share this special moment with everyone. I’ll update really soon about my Budapest trip and also I’m going to work on getting my pics online from Budapest (and also Triberg…yes I know…I’ve been lazy!!).

Have a great evening everyone!!

LuLu

Randomness…

Hello all!!

So sorry I haven’t written in a while. To be completely honest I’ve not been motivated to blog at all. Sure I’ve done a lot of things lately worth posting about, but I have been a bit out of sorts and just didn’t feel like sharing much with anyone. Truthfully I’m still not in a place where I feel like being the chatty blogger but I feel that if I didn’t force myself to start again it could be quite a while before I’m “in the mood…”

Ok…where to start…ok…the normal awkward conversation topic is of course weather. I could write heaps about this lately. The weather has been soooo weird. I mean…what’s today…the second day of spring?!?! I can say that it has snowed every day of spring this year here in Zurich. I moved to Switzerland and expected tons and TONS of snow…none really…until now. It has snowed more in the last 4 days than it has since I moved here. Hum…and the really strange thing is that I can wake up to really clear weather, an hour later it’s snowing like mad and the whole place is completely covered and then 10 min later the sun is out again melting everything away and then the process begins again. I’m told this is typical weather for this time of year…but…hum…weird!!!

Moving on…did you know that March is the month for all great birthdays?! It’s true. Of course there’s mine but also the two little girls I live with…girl aged 6 is now 7 and girl aged 3 is now...you guessed it…4. The really strange thing is that first is one birthday then eight days later another and then eight days later mine. We are all basically a week apart. So, to correspond with this phenomenon we have had two family birthday parties in less than a week. By the by…that’s a lot of screaming kids running around!!! I should know…I was here…also it means ALOT of cakes and cupcakes to bake. Hum…I think I might throw up if I see any more chocolate…at least that’s what I said several times before I shoved a chocolate cupcake in my mouth at the kindergarten! Seriously though…the cakes for the actual parties were quite a work of art (of course that’s because I didn’t make them at all!!). I will be following up with posts of the cake pictures. They really are so beautiful.

Well, a little over a day and I’m headed to Budapest for my birthday trip. I am so excited about seeing this city. I’ve been told by a good friend that it was her favorite city in Europe and I hold that opinion quite high. We’ll see…I’ll post when I get home and let you know how it went.

Lastly but not least by far I have a request for all my readers. My mother called today and informed me that my great grandfather is in the hospital in very bad shape. Please keep my family in your thoughts as his condition is not looking very hopeful. He’s been sick for quite some time but this is never a good situation to endure as a family. Hopefully whatever the outcome we will be able to make peace with it all.

I love you all and please be patient with me as I attempt to get over this whatever that’s making me not want to post to the blog or be social.

Talk to you all again soon…

LuLu

Triberg im Schwarzwald…

This is translated to be Triberg (Germany) in the Black Forest. This is where I spent my time last weekend. A tiny village (or willage as people here pronounce it…) is in the heart of the Black Forest and home to the cuckoo clock. Here lives the world’s largest cuckoo clock (and I’m actually told the second largest as well!). I departed from Zurich on Saturday AM, with four friends, for our two hour train ride to this very clichéd German town. We didn’t expect this to be a weekend of rushing around. If anything this trip was booked more for relaxation and that is exactly what I found there.

Our hotel was very quaint and nice…small town and when we arrived we found that it was actually in a neighboring village to Triberg’s main city area. The walk into town was 45 min and unfortunately for us the buses ran very, VERY irregularly on the weekend for this area of town. I think each of us had the same thought when we first found out we were going to have to walk each time we wanted to go into the city center…arg!! However, the walks turned out to be quite nice. There were two options, walk through the forest or along the main road. We ended up doing both and both were lovely. Since there were quite a few of us we were able to have nice conversations and a lot of fun, making the time pass very quickly.



There’s not much to say about Triberg other than…lovely. Germany’s highest waterfall is there and also the aforementioned world’s largest cuckoo clock…and before anyone asks…yes, I did try the famous black forest cake (and I didn’t like it…but then again it’s made with kirsch…a type of liquor…and I don’t like that stuff at all!!). I’ve attached a few pictures (anyone else think this place looks alot like Helen, GA...storefronts, waterfalls, and all?!?!) and as usual I will be adding the others to an album on my photo site. I haven’t gotten around to this yet but…wait for it (CandyCane)…they will be there eventually!!

For now I’m working on finalizing plans on what to see in Budapest for the ol’ b-day. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know. I’m sure I’ll have a lot to post on in the next few weeks. Hope you guys don’t get tired of hearing from me!!

Going to bed…

LuLu

Wal-Mart, a New Friend, and a Spectacular Lunar Eclipse…

Yes…I went to Wal-Mart this weekend!!! I was so excited about this road trip. I headed out very early on Saturday AM with my host family (minus dad) and two of my good girlfriends from Down Under. All in all we were 6 women on a mission and I was the American badly outnumbered by the Aussies! Singen, where the closest store is located, is about an hour from here by car just over the German border…in truth we crossed the border then back into Switzerland briefly and then into Germany again… weird huh?!?! Wal-Mart was everything I wanted and more, except the craft department…I do miss the fabrics and stuff from back home!! We were in the store for two and a half hours of pure joy and chaos. I’m glad we went early because we missed most of the people that way. I bought a new movie (The Whole Nine Yards, which has an option for German and English and subtitles…still on my quest for learning by watching), some hair products (much cheaper there), and a new pair of pants (light material to cut off and make capris for summer…I have the feeling I might just roast alive when the warm weather starts…). All in all I didn’t go crazy but instead just picked up the stuff I needed. It might have been a different story if they’d had more of the brands and prices I’m used to at home! It’s funny to me that I was so excited to go this weekend because when I’m at home a trip to Wal-Mart is dreaded due to the crowds and lines…ick

Ok…moving on…I’ve made a new friend…we’ll call him Toadee…He lives just outside my bathroom window. Ok…must start from the beginning…I had friends over for the weekend (as you already knew) and on Saturday AM Megz came running from the bathroom, where she’d been showering, in a frenzy! It seems she had opened the window to let out some steam and a frog jumped in! That’s right folks…a big, slimy, brownish-green frog was staring at the both of us as we made our way into the bathroom to check out the situation! Somehow we scared him into going back outside…you see…I live on the bottom level of the house and because of that the window is lower than the level of the ground at the back of the house…there is a moderate sized drain/hole/not sure what you call it where my window in the bathroom opens up and apparently Toadee had jumped down there and couldn’t get out. He has been the object of our affection, the little girls and the big ones, for the last 48 hours. For the little girls to see the frog I have to stand on the sides of the tub and lift up girl age 3 and girl age 6 to see…for those few moments, staring at this slimy looking thing, I’m the hero with little girls’ arms around my neck and flashlights in hand…I love it…too bad he probably won’t last too long in the hole. He’ll either be rescued (and not by me…I’m not touching that thing!) or face his demise rather quickly down there. Anyway…one thing’s for sure…I won’t be opening that window again anytime soon, I don’t want him hopping in on me while I’m in the shower!!

One last story for the weekend. I’m sure that most of you have heard about the lunar eclipse on Saturday night. It was the first full lunar eclipse in over 3 years I’m told and was visible on all continents at some stage or another. All in all I’m told that the show lasted for over 6 hours. We were lucky enough to know about this and be able to watch it for small amount of time, just before the moon was completely covered with the earth’s shadow. It was spectacular!! The moon changed colors in front of our very eyes and the shadow almost seemed like an illusion. I truly hope some of you caught a glimpse of this with your own eyes!

A small update before I go…I am definitely going somewhere next weekend…we’ve booked our tickets to travel deep into the Black Forest in Germany for an overnight trip to Triberg (home of the world’s largest cuckoo clock!). Should be interesting! For now I’m off to watch an episode of Friends in German and then hit the sack (that’s such a weird phrase to me…)

Gute Nacht!! (Just learned in Deutsch class how to put the appropriate ending on adjectives…hence the gute…)

LuLu

Fasnacht…

So, I’m completely crazy…and you will think so as well when you hear my story. Every year there is an event in Basel, Switzerland called Fasnacht (although some people call it Carnival). I’m told that this is an event meant to scare away the spirits of winter and welcome an early spring. There are Fasnacht celebrations all over Switzerland (and maybe Germany…not sure…) but the one in Basel is famous. It starts with an event called the Morgestraich. This is basically a parade of different group at 4 AM…yes …you heard right…4AM!! So, basically to start at the beginning…we left my friend’s house on the 1AM train Monday morning to make our way to Basel for the event. We arrived just after 3 and from there made our way to the city center. You basically fight for a good place to stand on the street (which I never found one…I was crushed between tons of giant people…they were giants I tell you!!) and wait for the parade. At exactly 4AM (that’s the Swiss for ya…) they turn off all the lights in the city and the procession begins with very loud music. Each group has these float type things made of very colorful light things…no good way to describe these things. They reminded me of stained glass windows but of course they weren’t made of glass. I’ve tried to attach my best picture to let you see what it looks like. (Although, none of my pictures turned out that well). These groups also have about half the people playing drums and the other half playing flute like instruments. It’s all very interesting looking. The costumes were a bit creepy and some were depressing looking. Basically they play forever…We stayed until just after dawn and they were still going strong…that’s 4 hours!! After the initial craze most people find a café to go into (yes, they are open at that time of morning) for a hot drink and traditional flour soup or a cheese or onion quiche. I personally had the cheese quiche…

Let me give you a little insight into how the day went for me…There were three of us going (although, we ended up meeting another friend on the train to Basel) and we stayed at Sara’s the night before. Megz was smart and slept 4 hours…Sara was staying up all night and I thought I could as well but about 11PM I decided it wasn’t the best idea (did you know I’m not in college anymore?!?!) and slept for an hour. So, I was tired. It was cold…I’ve been saying for weeks now, “ where has winter gone”…well now I know that it was storing up everything it had to come out on the ONE NIGHT I want to be out at 2AM. It was freezing!! And on top of that it was raining…I was soaked completely by the time we got there but somehow, miraculously, the rain stopped after about 45 min of being in the city. So because of the exhaustion, frostbite, hypothermia, etc. we were all feeling we decided we’d call it a day about 8AM. I’m fairly positive that I’ve lost hearing in one ear from the music and the sight in both eyes from all the camera flashes against the dark of night (both from our cameras and the ones belonging to a few hundred thousand of our closest friends). We got on the train and came home and then back to Sara’s where I had a 3-4 hour snooze that made my day complete.

Needless to say I’m not exactly recommending this experience for anyone else. However, I am glad that I went. I can say that I saw it. Perhaps if I’m ever in Basel again I might go but it won’t be a special trip from here. If I’m still in Switzerland next year I might go to the event in Luzern, as I’ve heard it’s a more happy experience! Ok, I’ve attached some pics, but as previously stated none of them turned out that well! I’m working on possibly doing a trip next weekend but it’s not a definite just yet so I’ll keep you informed. For now I’m going to bed (still trying to get my body clock back to where it was before Sunday night!)…

Love you all!!

LuLu

My Newest Goal…Olympic Gold!!

Well, I think I’m a bit too old to be competing in the Olympics; however, I guess I can’t deny that the talent is there when I go ice skating! Yesterday the family and I went out to the local ice skating rink for a few hours. I haven’t skated in at least 12-15 years so you can imagine that I was fairly nervous to begin with. It took me about 45 min to really warm up to it all and in no time I was not clinging to the wall anymore. I can skate successfully in one direction (counterclockwise) and I can’t stop unless I run into something or fall…but I’m proud that I could even stand up on them so that’s good. It seems in this country that a lot of people have athletic hobbies (swimming, hiking, etc.) but I really have none. As of yesterday, I’ve decided to try and find a pair of good skates and learn to ice skate well. There were little girls that were 1/4 my age yesterday doing circles around me and skating backwards, doing jumps, etc. I don’t think I’ll be that good but we’ll see. Ok, I’ve added some pictures for you enjoyment.

I am leaving tonight (or should I say tomorrow) at 2AM for Basel. My friends and I are going to Fasnacht which is basically like Carnival. There will be music, people dressed in costumes, and lots of interesting things to see. I’ll let you know how it was when I return. It should be an interesting day and I’m sure to be extremely tired by the end of it all.

Ok…I’m heading out for now…talk to you all again soon!!

LuLu

A Stroke of Genius!!

Alright, now I always knew I was smart but I’ve had an idea today that blows all my bright ideas in the past out of the water! So, I’m trying to learn German right?!?! Yeah, well it’s really slow going. However, I have become more determined in my efforts lately and I’m trying to think up new things that will excite me and stimulate my learning of this language. So I’ve decided that a good idea would be to watch TV or movies in German and if possible do it with subtitles so I can have both languages going at once and possibly retain more. But…to take this idea even further (and this is the really genius part!!) I’ve decided to buy a Friends season here on DVD (of course one that I don’t already own) as they are in Deutsch and English and I can either watch English with German subtitles or vice versa. I can’t think of anything else I might learn faster from. I can already pretty much quote any Friends episode you can think of and my philosophy has always been that anything you can think of in life there is a Friends episode that in some way addresses it. It is my absolute favorite show and so I have to give myself (as usual) a hearty pat on the back for thinking this one up. I mean honestly…have you ever heard of a better idea in your entire life?!?!

Ok…so I’m a bit full of myself at the moment but I did want to share a few other things quickly. Yesterday I went out to the shops. I was gone for about 3 hours and talked to several different people and I didn’t have to use English at all. I spoke in German the whole time!!! It was the best feeling. Now, this might sound like a really big accomplishment (and I guess for me it really is since I haven’t been able to learn any other languages ever!) but the things I know how to say are really quite elementary. However, yesterday my first stop was the post office where I had to go in and ask for the postman to give me postage for 10 letters going B post (the slower service) and I needed a receipt…and I did it…I said it all…he did look at me quite strange because it takes me a bit of time to get it all out and make sure I’m pronouncing things correctly. I’m sure he could tell that I was learning but maybe that’s good because usually when people talk to me they do it so fast I can’t make out the words; however, when he told me how much I owed he did it very slow and deliberately so I understood perfectly. Yay!! One small accomplishment for me…

One last thing…I tried something new tonight. I was over at a friend’s flat tonight with some other people and I tried salmon eggs. I guess it’s sort of like caviar but not… hum…not sure…they were really salty and I’m quite sure they were something I want to eat again but I can say I tried it. Interesting…

Ok…I’m going to bed.

Goodnight All!!!

LuLu

Amsterdam…what a trip!!

I guess for some people this title could be two fold in meaning…for me there’s only one. Amsterdam was just ok for me. Nothing spectacular and I won’t be rushing to go back anytime soon, if ever in my life. I have always been told about the drug and sex scene in this Dutch city but I can say, without a doubt, I had no idea how much it would all be! Of course, it was not a good sign when we walked into our hostel at 6:30PM to check in and everyone in the room was high except the girl behind the counter (and I’m not so sure she wasn’t as well…). The place was recommended to us by a friend of a girl who went with me and I can say without a doubt I’ve never stayed anywhere else quite so nasty. If I’d been alone I’d have left immediately…and I’ll venture to say if we could have found another place to stay we’d have moved hostels but apparently everywhere in the city was booked out. I’m sure that being sick didn’t help our situation very much either. It seems that when one person was feeling better another was not feeling well in return. It turns out that I had a 24 (more like 48) hour stomach virus of sorts and Megz and Manda their own respective troubles…ick…


I can’t completely bash Amsterdam though…this city is famous for having more museums per square meter than any other city in the world. We went to the Van Gogh Museum (to see the Van Gogh’s obviously…) and also to the Rijksmuseum to see the Rembrandts (as it was the 400 year celebration) and they were spectacular. We witnessed the chaos with all the bicycles...saw two people get run over by them...you have to be more aware of them than of cars. (As a side note and some useless trivia, I read somewhere that around 25,000 bicycles end up in the canals every year there...) We also visited the Anne Frank house and I was completely moved by the experience. As a child we were required to read the book but being there put all that into perspective for me. Probably the best thing we saw was the Heineken Experience. This is housed in the original brewery, dating back to 1867, which is no longer used for production. It was relaxing and fun. I definitely recommend it if you are planning a trip to Amsterdam. Additionally, we took a stroll through the flower market and it was absolutely beautiful and fascinating how many different kinds of tulips are sold there. I can’t even imagine how much more lovely it would be during the spring months!!

I’m sure you’re all wondering so I will say we did take a walk one night through the heart of the red-light district. I found this all to be quite eye opening and sad. It deeply troubles me that for whatever reason some men and women feel the need to sell themselves in that manner. Between the drugs, sex, and all around trash (both people and objects) on the streets this city was not impressive to me. Perhaps I’m not the target audience anyway so no loss for any party. (Despite all this please know that I never in any way, at any time, felt unsafe on this trip. As disgusting as I found the place safety wasn’t something that bothered me!)


All in all we had a nice time being together, just the three girls, and we just kind of goofed off and were basically lazy for almost 4 days so that was great. I’ve added some of the nicer pics for your enjoyment and as usual I’ve updated my photo site so just click the link on the left of this page and select the Amsterdam folder for all my pictures of the trip.

Gute Nacht!!

LuLu

A new addition...

I've added a new feature to my blog. For anyone who's interested in viewing them, I've added maps to my page. You can see, of course, to the right is a link that says My Maps and when you click on this it should take you to a page that lists two maps I've created. One is a map of Europe showing where I've been on the longer trips and the other is a map of Switzerland so you can see my short trips around home, where I go to school for learning German, etc...This webpage is not very appealing to the eye, in my opinion, but it's what I came up with while playing around on the computer today. I know there is alot of stuff on the page, but if you look toward the middle you'll see the list of maps and from there you can click on the one you want to view. If anyone has a suggestion on a better site to use for mapping things like this please let me know because I am willing to change to a more appealing one.

Alright, that's all I have for now. I'll blog again when I return from Amsterdam on Tuesday.

Love you all!!

LuLu

Ski holiday without skiing?!?!

Yes, that’s right…I went on ski holiday and did absolutely no skiing whatsoever!! We went to Oberiberg, Switzerland (about an hour from home by car) and the week was perfect (except for the slopes that is…) I could have skied if I’d wanted to pay the money but I guess I just couldn’t see doing it with the slope conditions such as they were. The snow seemed to be barely there and what was there was more icy and sticky than powdery and screaming to be skied upon. Oh well…there will be another time I think.



One thing that did happen on the trip is that Girl Aged 6 lost a tooth. No, this wasn’t the first one but it was the first she’s lost when I’ve been around. I guess it’s sad that I went on ski holiday and the most exciting thing I have to write about is this; but, well…it is so deal with it! My mom would have been so proud. I was fully ready to pull this tooth for her if she’d have let me. (of course that would have never happened because she just doesn’t ride that train, but whatever!). In the end she was twisting it round and round and saying…”it won’t come out, it won’t come out” and finally I said that she needed to put some pressure on it and pull on it more than twisting and it came out!! Ok, it’s the little things in life…don’t judge me!!

Well, I guess this post has turned out quite boring but really I don’t think I could do any better…in conclusion…I didn’t ski and we lost a tooth!! Yay!! I’ve added a picture to let you get an idea of where I was staying for the last few days. I’ll blog again soon.

Love you all!!

LuLu

Happy Singles Awareness Day!!

Yes, I find it hard to say happy Valentines Day when it is a completely commercialized and dumb holiday! Maybe, possibly, I’m just bitter that I don’t have anyone to spend the day with and consider “my valentine”. Valentines Day can be so special when you are with someone you love. I’ve been there and I realize that it can work that way or…it can manage to make you feel awful when everyone around you gets flowers and candies and nice dinners with that special someone. In the past I’ve been both of those people…the happy, floating on cloud 9 person or the I feel like I’ll throw something if another box of roses is delivered to the office person. This year however was quite different. It is true that I am not attached in any way to any man at this moment in time but Valentines Day came and went without much of a fuss this year. I was away from most civilized life on ski holiday with the family (just got back tonight) and it was nice to not be surrounded by all the hype…but just to be. It’s funny how the things we surround ourselves with change our feelings or perspectives on certain things that would have most likely not been the case otherwise.

Ok…well, I can’t say that I don’t have a special valentine this year…sure this person might not be my “special someone” but he did ask and though I haven’t told him I will accept him as My Valentine. So…friend formerly known as…HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!! (And you better not be on a date tonight with some other girl just because I’m not in the country!!!)

Ok…signing off for now!!

LuLu

The Rhinefalls…

The day began like any other Saturday, I guess…I got up at my leisure and tried to decide what would be the events of the day. We’d talked about it a bit the evening before and the girls seemed to be leaning toward going to the Rhinefalls, the largest waterfalls in Europe. I was absolutely against it for several reasons…the most important of which was that I wanted to go shopping!! (not that I had the money to get anything but…well you know…) I was convinced that the weather wasn’t right (which basically it wasn’t), it wasn’t the best time of year (and really it wasn’t that either), and that I didn’t have the funds to go because of everything else happening this month (which I really didn’t) and most of all I just wanted to hang out with my friends and not over exert ourselves…you know…shopping and a chick flick or something like that!



Well, after much whatever I finally decided to join the others. The weather was supposed to hold off but it didn’t. I have to say I was in a quite horrible mood for the first hour of our trip but I made that statement upfront (sometimes when I know it’s coming I think it’s just better to admit that it will happen before anything starts). I’m not sure what changed in me. Perhaps it was the nice conversation I had with Sara about some things weighing heavily on my mind or just the calmness of the walk along the Rhine River to our destination; but, by the time we arrived I was already very glad that I had made the decision to tag along. I can’t describe it really…just a calm that came over me…



Walking up to the falls I remember telling a friend that I was not impressed at all. I think I even made the statement “I have this in my back yard back in Georgia”. It is true that we have lots and lots of falls in GA and from a distance this one looks about as impressive as one of those…but…when you got down next to them they were absolutely phenomenal. There is a certain platform you can stand on that hangs out over the river very near the falls. If you are looking at them in the right way from that area it just seems like they could wash you away in a split second, and I’m sure it would. Ok, so they aren’t Niagara (not that I’ve actually seen them to compare) but these falls are very impressive. Well, I’m not even going to attempt to describe anymore of this to you because my words fall short. I’ve attached a few pictures to give you an idea of them. Enjoy!!

LuLu

Quickly…a few things…

Well people…I’m happy to tell you a few things that have happened today to make it a nearly perfect day for me!! (Can’t be completely perfect because it’s not over yet!)

First, we went to Germany today and for the first time I got my passport stamped when we crossed the border. We had to ask them to do it and the woman looked like she wasn’t at all happy about it but…IT’S DONE!! Yay, so just add another to my collection of stamps in the little blue book!

Secondly, and this goes well with the first point…today was the first time I went to Germany by car and didn’t manage to get carsick during the journey. Progress I think!

Third…Today I feel good…no medicine and I feel good…I have been battling what I think is a bad sinus infection for almost a week and I feel much better today. I got a good nights sleep and that definitely helped!


Lastly, THEY REMOVED THE CRANE!! I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it before but they have been building several houses (or flats…whichever) just down the hill so every great picture I can take has a big, yellow, stupid crane right in the middle of a gorgeous backdrop. But, not today!!! They finally took it away and so in honor of this glorious occasion I’ve attached a picture of what this morning looked like when I woke. As you can see the mountains are extremely visible today and a snow-covered beautiful sight they were!!! Click on the picture to make it larger...the small one doesn't do it justice at all!

Ok, I’m signing off and this will be, most likely, my last post for a week. I am leaving early Sunday to go on ski holiday here in Switzerland until next Friday. Then I’ll be off to Amsterdam from the 17th-20th. I’m hoping to do a post on the Friday at the end of the ski break!

I love you all!!

LuLu

Ps-I know my last post indicated that my number was working again…and it still is by the way…but if you don’t have that number just send me an email and I’ll give it to you…there is no way I’m putting it on here for the whole world to see!

Finally!!

Alright…I’m here with the much anticipated news everyone’s waiting for…my Skype number is finally working again!!! For those of you who don’t know what this means…my phone number in the States that calls my computer in Switzerland has not been working for almost a month now and I haven't received any voicemails in that long either. I’m not sure how I did it but somehow uploading the new version of Skype worked. I was able to talk to my Daddy this afternoon!! Yay!!! So, everyone…call away…I feel like I’ve been so out of touch for a while.

Miss you guys and I'm sure I’ll post with something truly interested later!

Ciao!!

LuLu

Spain was a surprise for me!

I have to say that I agreed upon Spain with some apprehension. BP studied there in college and has a profound love for this country and all its culture. She and I have discussed various trips to Europe in the past and Spain has always come up. I have to admit that I’ve tried my best to thwart any plans to vacation there. Looking back I can’t for the life of me figure out why. I think in my mind I made the idea of the country a direct threat to my love for Italy…and now that I’ve been I can say I have a great love for Spain as well, at least definitely Barcelona. Now, it can in no way replace my number one favorite place in all the world, Venice, but it has jumped above all other cities save that one. Barcelona was a wonderful experience. The colors…the culture…the art…the architecture! I loved every bit of this city. The food was excellent and the people were so friendly and inviting. I am already looking at my options on going back for more!


I don’t know what more to say about this. It would be a really long post for me to talk about each site individually. La Sagrada Familia-said to be the most visited construction site in the world this cathedral has been under constructions for over 100 years, the Gaudi creations around the city, La Rambla-the street beyond imagination…I guess the only thing I didn’t care for that much was the Picasso Museum. I’ve discovered that I’m not a big Picasso fan as it turns out…there are other artists that appeal to me but I have pretty much no appreciation for Picasso’s work. Anyway, I’ve added some of my more interesting pictures and for those of you who are interested please check out my photo site and select the Barcelona album for the rest of the pics I took.


I’ll post again soon I’m sure but this weekend is thus far stacking up to be something quite fun so I might not have much time for sitting in front of the computer. Ok, I’m off to watch the episode of Grey’s Anatomy that I missed last week…

Ciao people…

LuLu

I’ve bruised my bum!!!

Sledding is so hard! I remember doing it as a kid but it’s just not the same here as with the ice/slush stuff we have back home. I’ll make this short because I’m positive that it’s quite boring to most people. At one point today, I was on a wooden sled (first experience with that) going down an icy/snowy road. I might also add that they’ve put up poles to mark where the road is in case of a big snow; I can only imagine this is to prevent people from driving into the farmer’s fields. Anyway…as you might have guessed I had some near misses with a few of these lovely poles and one of them resulted in me sliding on my bum for several feet on the ice. OUCH!! That’s gonna leave a mark!



Ok, I’ve also attached pictures of me sledding down the big hill (two empty lots) beside our house. Hum, it seems I’m no better on the plastic sleds either; I just can’t figure out how to turn or stop. Seems like those are fairly important things to know! I’m the tiny dot at the top of the first picture, the second is of me halfway down and partially coming out of the sled, and as you can see in the third picture I had managed to turn myself sideways in the sled. In the end I had more snow in the sled with me than was left on the hill and I had a near miss with a tree and running into several people. I do hope skiing goes more smoothly!



I’m leaving day after tomorrow really, REALLY early in the AM for Barcelona so I may not post again until I return.

Ciao for now!!

LuLu

The first big snow!!

Hi everyone, I just thought I’d drop in to say IT SNOWED…IT’S STILL SNOWING!! It started yesterday evening and went ALL NIGHT so today we had a beautiful blanket of snow. The girls and I attempted to sled this morning but it only went ok…apparently the snow isn’t just right for it today but I’m hoping that tomorrow will be better. I just wanted to share some pictures with you of my first snow experience in Switzerland.




Hope you all have a nice day!!

LuLu

Spiders, spiders in my heart…

I’ve written a new children’s song I’d like to share with all of you:

The Big, Fat, Ugly Spider by LuLu (to the tune of The Itsy, Bitsy Spider)

The big, fat, ugly spider crawled up upon my couch
Down came the shoe that knocked the spider out
Up it came again to finish off the job
And the big, fat, ugly spider was deader than a doorknob

Ok, so the events in this song never actually occurred…if they had I would be um…FREAKING OUT right now!!! However, I did see one from my window crawling along on the footpath this AM and it triggered my memory into writing this quirky and somewhat strange song (yes, I know…I have too much free time if I’m making up songs …sometimes cleaning lends time for the mind to wander a bit!). You may be wondering about the fate of the outside spider…he is still living, as far as I know. I make it a point only to dispose of the ones that are a direct threat to me (i.e. staring up at me inside my warm and cozy bedroom-this is a very rare occurrence though…). I know the old saying that the spiders are probably more afraid of me than I am of them…I’m bigger and all…but still, I don’t find them attractive and I guess there just isn’t any good way to get over a deep rooted fear. I blame it mainly on camp incidents, as a child, with some really, really mean girls!

There is one more thing I’d like to say on the subject of spiders; it is the light-hearted, yet a little sad, part of this rather strange post. The girls have a toy spider…ok, let me stop there for a moment…I don’t think they like spiders any more than I do but they do have this toy and in some aspects and just at a glance it can look real. This thing is huge…if it were real I’d definitely run from it…I’d call an exterminator if I ever saw one that big in my house (or maybe just my brother, Timothy, because I think he’d take care of it for me!). Anyway, back to the story, so the girls have this spider and they think it’s funny to put it in places around the house where it will scare me. Actually, it’s become like a big game with the three of us (add in the parents at times as well…) and so this plastic spider (that rolls as well I might add) pops up all over the place. Sometimes he’s not seen for days on end but inevitably someone will stumble upon him and get a small scare. I’ve added a picture of how I found him this morning, beside a note about how my day will be. You can see that he’s not really that lifelike but I’m telling you if you came upon this thing and didn’t know what you were looking at, for a few seconds, it looks real!




The whole thing reminds me of a game that went on for a while between my mother and my great, great uncle Paul. My mother may as well have been his daughter (as they had no children of their own) and he treated her as such. He had this Gumby figure…do you remember him…the little green man…and this plastic toy ended up all over the place (I once heard a story of how one of them put him into a sandwich made for the other). I’m not sure when I was first introduced to the Gumby Game but I do know came when one of them found this toy after years of it being lost and therefore the game forgotten. I remember what pleasure he took in playing with us, as my mother’s children, the game he had played with her as a child. My uncle Paul passed away only just last year (he never knew of my decision to move here) in his mid 80s and for whatever reason seeing that spider this morning made me think of him and gave me a smile and thoughts of how he was when he wasn’t so sick.

So…moving on before I cry too much…this post is for the spider game with two adorable little girls, the lost Gumby (I have no idea where it is now) and my uncle Paul, gone for now but remembered always in my heart!

LuLu

It’s good to try new things!!

One of my personal rules of life was tested last night. I have always said that I’d try any new food once as long as it wasn’t still living. Hum, I guess I’ve never really tested this by eating weird things until now and last night, as I stated this rule of mine to my host dad with pride, internally I said to myself…”can I really eat this?!?!”. The food, my dear friends, was horse. I was aware that some people throughout the world, and in Switzerland, ate horse; however, until last night there was no mention that it was eaten at all in this house. Hum, I have no problems with the idea but I wasn’t sure if I could actually do it! Well, I’m sure by now you’ve guessed that I did try it. Tastes like…um…steak. I know, I know…it’s common to say when asked…that it tastes like chicken…but this…this was a lot like steak. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say if you put a similar cut steak in front of me and the horse I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. Hum, so, I tried it, I’d eat it again, and it didn’t kill me!! Good news right…yep…so I’m really proud of myself for sticking to my policy of trying everything once.

Ok…enough of that…on to other news that I know I’ve already reported…I’m going to Barcelona. In fact, this time next week I’ll be there with BP and Jase!! Yay…we are doing some last minute things to secure a place to stay etc. and I’ve been heavily reading my new Let’s Go Western Europe 2007 guidebook for what we need to see while there. One other comment…MY HOST MOM’S HOME!!! Yay… I know everyone, especially the girls, have missed her tremendously, so it’s a very happy day in this Swiss house!

Ok, I’m sure I’ll update again before going.

Miss you guys!!

LuLu

So I have problems…Yes, I am aware of that…

As most of you have probably guessed by now, I never regained the thoughts lost last night about the perfect blog! I have an idea about why that is though…it has come to my attention that I am super smart! So, it isn’t any wonder I lose thoughts because my brain is constantly working overtime…I’m stuffing all this German junk into it and on top of that my travel worries on where to go and what to see…Hehe…so you all hate me now right?! Quatch (that’s for you Megz and Manda)!!!

So, the real topic of my post today is my addictive personality. It seems I have a lot of problems with things that can become aholic issues. No, smarty pants, I’m not referring to alcohol! As most of you know, I am a top notch procrastinator. What would my life be like without procrastination?!?! Well, I’m fairly positive that it would be a lot less hectic if I’d just do things when I should! So tonight, as I sit here attempting to procrastinate writing this post, I turned to one of my two most useful tools for procrastination…the first of course is sleep…I love to sleep…I’m definitely a sleepaholic... however, tonight’s tool of choice is Snood.

It worked well in college when I should have been writing papers. It’s a computer game for all you who don’t know… it’s FABULOUS and very addicting!! I can play for hours on end and I’m convinced the only thing you can gain from it is carpal tunnel in your wrist…but anyways…So, as I sit and play this game I keep thinking, “Ok, I’ll play one more game and then I’ll get started…” That one game is inevitable followed by 23,435 more games in that one sitting (CandyCane I know you have a comment about this)… AAAHHH!!!

Well, tonight as I thought that after every game I came to realize that I am completely under the control of this game…my brain is mush when I play it and I lose all track of time! I’m a Snoodaholic!!! In addition to this, I started thinking about what else I have aholic tendencies toward...well, I already mentioned sleep but we can’t forget shopaholic, chocoholic, travelaholic (ok, so I’m not so sure that’s a thing but it is where I’m concerned), shoeaholic, foodaholic, craftaholic (yes, I admit this is somewhat embarrassing but I do really, REALLY like to do crafts) etc, etc…you get the drift…

I’ve decided that this isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the world. Yes, I suppose it can be a problem sometimes but it simply means that I put all of myself into the things I enjoy. What can be so bad about that??

Alright…this has essentially been a post about nothing; however, since I had no better material I hope you won’t hold that against me…

Auf Wiedersehen…

LuLu

I’m having a day!!

Alright people, I know I should blog and I promise that I actually came up with a really, REALLY great topic earlier but I’m having a truly old lady moment where I can’t remember it. And…at the present time I’m a bit too frazzled to try and figure out what it was I was thinking or doing when I thought of the cool topic…you get the drift…you’ll just have to wait until I regain my sanity…don’t hold your breath though…it could take a while!

LuLu

I’m not finished with Europe yet…

This morning I was walking around the house doing some miscellaneous things when I decided to go up and make a coffee. As I stood in the kitchen waiting on the machine, I realized it was 10AM…it means that fairly soon the daily Delta non-stop bound for Atlanta would be taking off. (It’s a big thing for me b/c it’s the only one I recognize and can say definitely where it’s headed…the rest of the family can say…oh there’s blah, blah and they are headed for dah, dah…I never know those…only the ATL bound Delta at 10AM) As it turns out, my house has a great view of the runways at Zurich airport so I stood by the window and watched this plane take off headed for the States. Inevitably when I’m able to watch the plane bound for Atlanta take off I wonder how different my life would be if I just went home right now. I always think…less than half a day and that’s all it would take to get me back to GA. It’s strange for me to think that I’m across and ocean and on a different continent but all it takes is roughly half a day…weird…

I digress…back to the point…every time I have this passing thought something in the back of my mind keeps quietly repeating…”but, you’re not finished with Europe yet…” and I know this is most definitely true. Tomorrow will mark my 4 month anniversary here in Switzerland and I’ve seen a lot so far…but every time I think about how there is only 8 more months left in this year contract I start to panic about all the things I haven’t seen. My girlfriends and I have started making plans and looking up prices on tons of places we want to see before this year is out.

This has already been the most fabulous experience I’ve ever had and I know that few things in life will ever come close. I can say for sure that even if I went home tomorrow it was all worth the decision for me to come here in the first place. As it turns out I plan to take every opportunity I come across to stay here as long as possible. I’m even open to the possibility of a more permanent job if it comes along.

Ok, enough of the ranting…just as an update, I don’t think I’ve shared this previously; I am leaving for Barcelona, Spain in just over two weeks. I plan to spend 4 ½ days there with Jase and BP on another whirlwind adventure where we are sure to come home with some gorgeous pictures and yet again more unbelievable stories…

Have a fabulous day!!

Your Swiss Friend…LuLu

There Once Was A Girl and Her Shoes…

***DISCLAIMER-this post has nothing to do with traveling in Europe and the subject is therefore one of the writer’s random rants about life…if you are looking for substance please look elsewhere***

Confucius say LuLu miss her shoes!! I want to start with an apology for my male readers. This post will most likely be a major waste of your time so I wouldn’t blame you if you stopped reading at this point. Now…ladies…I know that most of you will be able to identify closely with the subject of this post…SHOES!!

For me buying shoes is a source of comfort and stress relief…especially when I can find them in a good sale. Buying shoes is unlike purchasing anything else you wear. If you gain a little bit of weight you can still, most likely, find that perfect pair of shoes (even if you have to go up a half size)…When nothing else seems to fit I go directly for the shoes section. I am, what you could call, vertically challenged…SHORT…all my life I’ve endured pet names such as shorty, short stuff, midget, and my brother-in-law’s personal favorite Umpa Lumpa (you know, those short people helping Willy Wonka at the factory…). I’ve long gotten over my hatred of these names…I am short…it’s a fact of life and I deal with it daily…can’t reach the top shelf in the kitchen pantry so I get a stool, need help reaching things in the isle at Wal-Mart and I try to ask an attractive guy for help, etc…but the one area where I can’t get used to my abnormal body type is clothes shopping. I am short-waisted and short-legged. Nothing ever fits me properly…nothing except shoes.

Additionally, shoes have a quality that most accessories (can you call them an accessory…they must be worn…) don’t have, they can dress up or down almost any outfit. A lot of times the shoes make the outfit! The right shoe can make any size foot look delicate and grab the attention of others. I have a friend who says her feet look like that of a duck…when she finds the right shoe she throws a little party for herself at the store (and I do so love to be along when that happens). Ahhh, these are special times shared between women!!

Last night I had a dream…the subject of which is not important…at one point I was sitting in the floor in my closet back home trying on my shoes (and yes I used to do this quite a lot when I needed a pick-me-up). When I woke this AM I realized that I didn’t have any of the cute pairs here in Switzerland. When you pack for a year you choose to bring the ones that will go with everything and not the cute, fun, spunky pairs that only go with one thing in your closet…how I miss those shoes!! It’s as if I can hear them calling to me from across the Atlantic…”LuLu…come home and wear us before we go out of style…”

So…as cheesy as this sounds…I’m dedicating this post to my duck-footed friend in GA and those boxes of fabulous shoes sitting in a storage unit waiting for me to come back to them.

Ciao for now…

LuLu

A New Talent…

Just when I thought my brain was turning to complete mush and I had nothing left to offer society, I have found something at which I am very talented. As mentioned previously I have been reunited with an old favorite…Uno. However, over the past few days the girls and I have had a blast playing Go Fish. I played as a kid but couldn’t remember all the rules so we looked it up on the www and began playing away...

Well, today we had a major dilemma on our hands as both girls wanted to play…that’s great right?!?!...well…NO…they each wanted to play a different game and neither wanted to wait and let the other go first…so a compromise had to be made! And I was the one making it! That’s right…I played Uno and Go Fish at the same time. In one hand I held the Uno cards and played with Girl Age 3 and in the other I held my cards for Go Fish and played with Girl Age 6. This takes a lot more thought that I ever realized. It was the fastest I’ve ever played either game and of course I lost both of them…additionally, I can’t be sure but I’m fairly positive that there was A LOT of cheating going on!!

I obviously wish I had pictures of this because it was quite comical…but as luck would have it I don’t so you guys will all need to use your imagination! Alright I’m signing off for the evening…I’ve got Friends season 10 disk 3 in the DVD player right now and I’m spending a quiet night at the house…

Goodnight all!!

LuLu

Procrastination and Laziness Really Does Pay Off…

I always told myself that one day it would be useful to be a totally lazy procrastinator. Ladies and gentlemen…that day has finally arrived for me! I was honestly dreading the thoughts of putting my Italy/Christmas 2006 vacation into words for a blog post. I seem to go to one extreme or another...either I go on and on about junk and then the post is way too long or I feel that I don’t do it justice at all by posting something quite short. I’ve been back for almost a week now with absolutely no motivation to write anything. Well, it seems that my overly eager friends in Sarajevo have done all the work for me! As I read their post today I thought to myself…I couldn’t have written this any better…and I don’t intend on trying. If you are interested in reading about what I did on the vacation please reference their blog http://sarajevorose.blogspot.com/ and check out the post title “Christmas in Rome”. The pics they posted are outstanding and ok…the ones at the bottom of me trying to pose with the leaning tower are a little embarrassing…but I will let that slide this time because I have a few of my own that I can definitely use for blackmail! Also…if you wish to see these rather embarrassing pics of BP and Jase along with all the other pictures taken by me on this trip please go to my picture site http://new.photos.yahoo.com/laceyn1/albums and access one of the two albums devoted to the trip.

Well, that’s all I have for now…

I’ll talk to you all again soon!!

LuLu

How to Lose a Friend…

I guess this title could be a small amount deceiving. I don’t intend to tell you about losing a friend or anything of that nature; rather, I want to share my ponderings of the last two days. Since the holiday season is now past and some of the rush is gone, I have time to think about those I should have contacted for Thanksgiving/Christmas/The New Year but didn’t think to at the time or just didn’t put forth the effort when the thought presented itself. Perhaps some of my readers are those very people. In my thoughts of these people and the situation in general I began to think about some people in the past that I have just lost touch with…through whatever reason or another neither of us have bothered to pick up the phone or try to contact through email. I think about friends I had from childhood, college friends that I miss dearly, old workmates, etc…I miss these people and sometimes I wish I could go back to the times where we were good friends and went to the movies or out to eat on Friday night…that of course cannot happen and even if it were possible I would never do it…you meet new people along the way and I’d never trade that…it is impossible to say accurately that the people closest to you will always be there because there are plenty of people who I was extremely close with that just simply slipped out of my life at a moment when neither of us bothered to write or call…no arguments or problems occurred…instead…life happened.

I was talking to a good friend moments ago and we have decided that the grass always seems greener until you move on and find out that it’s not greener…it’s just the grass we’ve been given (ok so part of that is a quote from the movie In Her Shoes…fabulous if you haven’t seen it!). So I guess this isn’t the upbeat post everyone was expecting…it’s not the story of my Christmas vacation or New Year’s Eve happenings…I’m not going to tell you about my new year’s resolution because I don’t think I have any this year…my hope for all of you will be to cherish those people around you every day…just enjoy the moments…the friend you rarely see but treasure dearly, the person who you pass every day in the hall at work but they make the day that much better for you…I have mixed feelings on the phrase which says to hold those people close to you and never let them go…sometimes you just have to let go…because life happens…but because of this it makes the reunions that much sweeter!!!

Alright I’m signing off now before I make some readers cry or jump off a cliff or whatever…I will attempt to make the next post one worth reading…I never said that I wouldn’t use this blog as a platform for my whining and contemplations regarding life in general…in a country where I basically understand nothing said around me I have a lot of time to think…

Later dudes…

LuLu

I’m sure I should…

Blog that is…but I just don’t have the energy…Sometimes I’m so overwhelmed by the amount of things I need to catch up on (i.e. writing a post for the blog) that I just sit and do nothing instead…

That’s what I’m currently doing!! Yay!!

Hopefully I’ll have some good stuff for you again soon!!!!

LuLu

Sheep, Chagall, and more…

Today was a very busy day!! I woke early to finish up some things and then off to the kindergarten Christmas play. The youngest girl was a sheep this year…very cute…let me dig up a pic…see below…the whole thing was great and the children did a wonderful job with their lines and songs!



After that I was off for an afternoon with a friend here in Zurich. We went to a French restaurant for lunch where I had good food and good wine. After our leisurely lunch we headed to the Flughafen (airport) Eventsdock for the Chagall Exhibition. Wow…it was fabulous. As previously mentioned…I really have a great appreciation for his art. I find it intriguing and a bit vague at times but it is at that point where the viewer can put their own spin on the piece…it often becomes more personal in that respect.

So…during our afternoon together I was asked about two things that stuck in my head…why I liked the pieces at the exhibit and what they meant to me…and also we had a discussion on wine and how we describe what we like and find out what we appreciate more than other types… As I walked home tonight I had a thought about these two things. For me I can speak about them both at the same moment…I like what I like! Just because a white might go better with a particular meal doesn’t mean I will order it…I like red wine! I have recently acquired an appreciation and intense attraction toward seeing all of Chagall’s work that I possibly can. I like his stuff…his use of color and some reoccurring themes. I’ve never really been a person who liked to speak about why I like what I like…the colors, the taste, the dryness, the objects…they all make up what makes it likeable for me. Ok….so I’ve now rambled for a while…and really this portion is just for the benefit of my friend who I’ve spent the day with…



Sorry…on to other things. Last night I went to the Lichterschwimmen in Zurich. This is apparently a tradition where children make lanterns and put in lit candles which float on the Limmat River (see pic above...not a great one but the best I could do...). I really expected it all to be more exciting than it turned out to be; however, it was a good time with friends and ended up being a very peaceful experience. All in all it was worth the trip into the city.

Megz and Amanda are out of town…respectively they are in Florence, Italy and Wyoming. I leave tomorrow AM for Rome (no not Rome, GA but the Rome in Italy…) where I will spend Christmas and a week after with BP and Jase. Can’t wait…see you guys in a few hours!!! As a result of this I will not be posting for at least 8 days unless I get really adventurous…which I doubt…I love you all…

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM ITALY (by way of Switzerland…)

LuLu