Sent September 28, 2009

Grüezi! Sweating in the cold - The 5th Entry

Howdy!

Oh, such a simpler entry. I think I'll start with reminiscing some good times from Italy.

1. At the first moment of dusk, hundreds of bats silhouetted against the dimly lit sky barely feet above us.
2. On the way down, Libby fell asleep between the boys just to wake up to Aiden picking her teeth and Rafi with his finger up her nose.
3. Walking through Armaroni at night during their Catholic holiday and it was pitch black.
4. Fireworks waking us all up at 3am, celebrating the Catholic holiday.
5. Laying in the sun.
6. Doing laps in the pool.
7. The look on my face was priceless as the sun rose and I saw Italy for the first time.
8. Five hour siestas???!!! And worst, nothing opens or closes on time.

LOL.

So, the boys adjusted back from the trip the worst. It was their first time being away from home long and for the next two nights they didn't sleep. After a day or two i was well enough to get back to jogging and it felt good to do so. I finally went to the harbor side city of Rapperswill (Rapper-svill) and walked the longest wooden bridge in Europe to the village of Hurden. The entire time i kept telling myself that thousands of people every year walk this rickety halfway rotted wooden bridge, it was the only thing that kept me from freaking out because every time i stepped on the vertical long bent pieces of wood, they either shifted or creaked and all i saw was myself plunging into Lake Zurich. I took the S7 train to Winterthur which rides along Lake Zurich so on the way back, i enjoyed a very scenic view of the lake.

It's been French movie week on one of the British stations (with English subtitles) so I finally jumped on board by watching a French/Romanian thriller called, "Them" which is based off a true story. It was a creepy film, but not in a supernatural way. More like a commentary on the outcomes of neglectful parents and some of the social issues of Romania. I really enjoyed it and being Romanian is one of my obsession countries, it was much more enjoyable.

Yesterday, Priska, Marco, Libby, Alain, the boys and I went to the Bachtel in Hinwill. Its one of those radio towers that you can climb but to get there, you park at the base of the mountain and hike up. its a 3/4 of a mile hike up the absolutely steep mountain. It was a terribly difficult hike and poor Priska who is a pack smoker, she kept saying, "Leave me behind! I can't do it!" then i gave her a pep talk. "If my fat ass + asthma can get up here with minor difficulty and all the old farts (who are passing by us with Nordic poles) who are making us look bad, then you can do it too!"

We were drenched in perspiration, our clothes soaked and red in the face as we went to the top of the mountain. The had a little restaurant and a kiddie park plus the radio tower. The climb was worth every difficult second to see the view. Afterwards we ate at the American inspired ranchero restaurant at the base of the mountain. Apparently, the original owner went to America, got inspired and came back to build this restaurant. The burgers sucked, taste like those frozen overly salted patties from the store but the ice-cream was the bomb!

Aiden babbles in gibberish like he's talking to you. Rafi says two words constantly (even though he doesn't know what they mean) "Why" and "Ich" clear as day. oh, "Ich" means "I" in German. Not the letter "I" but as in, "Ich habe ein klein Häschen." "I have a small Bunny."

We are currently looking for seat boosters since the boys do eat well at a table but the dining room table is really high and we all eat together so after realizing that its going to be too expensive (she has 2 babies, everything is double!), i told Libby that we can just get some foam, fabric and cardboard and we can make a small booster.

Shopping at Glatt Zentrum in Zurich on Friday where i encountered my first person asking me for money at Zurich Oerlikon Bahnhof. It was interesting because i was just standing there at my platform and some backpacker came up to me with his palm open and said something really
complicated. So I replied with, "Wiederholen Sie, bitte? Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch."

I don't know if he understood me but then he said much more simply, slower and loudly, "Kann Ich habe drei Franks, bitte?"

Since i finally understood i shook my head, "Nein. Tut mir leid."

Oh i know, i should have given him at least a Frank for amusing me. Oh well. LOL.

Well, Libby, Alain and the boys go to Serbia (its a country) on Friday with Billiana. I will be dropping them off at Zurich Flughafen. So wish them all a safe trip!