We blew it by not stretching the journey out to a full 24 hours, but yes, we made it. We left our house at 9:50 a.m. Swiss time on Monday and arrived at my parents' house at 9:20 a.m. Swiss time on Tuesday, which was 1:20 a.m. Utah time. Wow.
The kids were great. They watched movies most of the way on the flight from Amsterdam to Minneapolis. Of course, they fell asleep for just the last hour of our nine-hour flight, so we had to wake them up, drag them through Customs, have them sit in Minneapolis for three hours, then get on the plane to Salt Lake. Lindsey fell asleep on that flight, so when we landed, we had to wake her up to get her to the rental car. Lindsey then fell asleep during the drive to the house, so we had to wake her up and get her into the house. By then, she was getting pretty cynical about this whole falling asleep thing, so she actually had trouble falling asleep once we got her in bed at the house. The kids were up bright and early at 8 this morning, so I think they're headed for a collapse about nine minutes from now.
I was able to get Tanner and myself into first class on the flight from Minneapolis to Salt Lake, and he, of course, thought that was about the coolest thing ever. He stayed awake for most of the flight, very excited about the pre-flight drink, the nice seats, the hanging up of his coat, the free Twix bar, all of that. I've probably ruined him for coach for the rest of his life.
Stace, as usual, had trouble understanding the whole issue about trying to smuggle liquids and laptops through security. In Zurich, she informed me that yes, this time, she had definitely handled all of her liquids correctly. The half-full soda bottle that security found in her bag said otherwise. Then, in Minneapolis, security nailed her for failing to take her laptop out of her bag prior to screening. While we're in the States, I'm going to enroll her in a Homeland Security seminar entitled "What We're Really Saying When We Tell You that You Can't Bring Large Amounts of Liquids Through Security and When We Tell You that You Have to Remove Your Laptop from Your Bag Before You Attempt to Go Through Security." (Some of you may not be aware of the background of Stace's attempt to smuggle large amounts of liquids through security in Minneapolis back in May. I've asked her to appear as a guest blogger to write up the entire story. It's classic Stace. I'll try to have her do that while we're here on vacation. I'll make it clear to her that this is a one-time invitation and that she should not expect to make regular contributions to the blog.)
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Christmas Day, Part 2 of 3
Well, today was the second of our three days of Christmas. Santa visited during the night and left some things for the kids along with a note saying that they'd get the rest of their things in the States on Christmas Day. Lindsey was finally able to play with the present she'd unwrapped earlier in the week. This whole spread-out Christmas kind of dilutes the actual day, but the kids still seem to be having fun.
We're gearing up for the 23-hour odyssey on Monday. That's right--if the weather cooperates, we'll be leaving the house at 9:30 a.m. on Monday morning Swiss time, and we'll be arriving at my folks' house at about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday morning Swiss time. And there's no guarantee that the weather will cooperate. Salt Lake is looking a bit shaky.
Stace will be giving a talk in church tomorrow in German. She wrote it out in English and then had it translated into German. She's been practicing her pronunciation, which is not easy in German. We'll see if the congretation can tell that she's not Swiss.
And, finally, a big shout out to my former boss, Tim, who will be joining us at TRGR here in Zug. Rumor has it that someone sent him the link to my blog so that he could learn more about life in Switzerland. A worthy idea, to be sure, but unfortunately for Tim, this blog has a hidden agenda. Its nominal purpose is to detail our adventures in Switzerland, but its real purpose is to lovingly make fun of Stace. (She knows this and is fine with it. [I think.]) I'll keep trying to include some Swiss content, but Stace provides such a wealth of material that it kind of tends to crowd everything else out. For instance, just now, she was telling me about someone, and she said that he was "the middle of two boys in the family." You just can't make this stuff up.
We're gearing up for the 23-hour odyssey on Monday. That's right--if the weather cooperates, we'll be leaving the house at 9:30 a.m. on Monday morning Swiss time, and we'll be arriving at my folks' house at about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday morning Swiss time. And there's no guarantee that the weather will cooperate. Salt Lake is looking a bit shaky.
Stace will be giving a talk in church tomorrow in German. She wrote it out in English and then had it translated into German. She's been practicing her pronunciation, which is not easy in German. We'll see if the congretation can tell that she's not Swiss.
And, finally, a big shout out to my former boss, Tim, who will be joining us at TRGR here in Zug. Rumor has it that someone sent him the link to my blog so that he could learn more about life in Switzerland. A worthy idea, to be sure, but unfortunately for Tim, this blog has a hidden agenda. Its nominal purpose is to detail our adventures in Switzerland, but its real purpose is to lovingly make fun of Stace. (She knows this and is fine with it. [I think.]) I'll keep trying to include some Swiss content, but Stace provides such a wealth of material that it kind of tends to crowd everything else out. For instance, just now, she was telling me about someone, and she said that he was "the middle of two boys in the family." You just can't make this stuff up.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Lindsey Wood, Destroyer of Christmas
Yup. Our wonderful angel (and by "angel" I mean "small terrorist") ruined Christmas. How did a four-year-old manage such a feat? Well, I'll tell you.
For us, Christmas was going to be split into two parts. Because we fly out on the morning of the 22nd, and because we obviously can't take everything with us to the States, we were going to have part of Christmas here on the 20th and then have the rest with our families in the States on Christmas day. Stace wrapped up a bunch of presents and put them under the tree. (Side note: Yes, it's the same fake tree we've had for about ten years with the pre-strung malfunctioning lights. We vowed to get rid of it after last Christmas, but then when this whole Switzerland thing popped up, we decided to bring it with us rather than finding a new tree over here. It will not be making the return journey to U.S. soil.)
Anyway, Lindsey and Tanner had been longingly eyeing the presents under the tree, but they had done a reasonably good job of exercising self-restraint and not discovering "accidental" rips in the wrapping paper and other such inexplicable phenomena that have occurred in our family in the past. On Tuesday, Stace left the kids alone for a little while so she could go run a couple of errands. (Don't worry; we don't leave them alone for the weekend or anything like that.) A while after Stace left, Tanner called her to report that something horrible had happend: Lindsey had opened three of the presents. That's right, our little angel (and by "angel," I mean "evil spirit in corporeal form") took it upon herself to start ripping into the presents. She opened two of Tanner's and one of her own.
Now, every parent knows that there's an absolutely stupid question to ask a four-year-old, but we all ask it anyway: "Why did you do that?!??!?" We all hope against hope for a well-reasoned, carefully-constructed answer so that we can then point out the logical flaws in the four-year-old's thought process. Of course, what we all get instead boils down to something like, "Uhhh, ummmm, hmmmmm . . . I don't know."
So, the bottom line is that Tanner got to play with his toys early, Lindsey doesn't get to play with her toy early, we made Lindsey apologize to everyone in Switzerland for ruining Christmas, Lindsey didn't get to watch movies for two days, and our two-part Christmas has now become a three-part Christmas.
Four days until the trip . . . .
For us, Christmas was going to be split into two parts. Because we fly out on the morning of the 22nd, and because we obviously can't take everything with us to the States, we were going to have part of Christmas here on the 20th and then have the rest with our families in the States on Christmas day. Stace wrapped up a bunch of presents and put them under the tree. (Side note: Yes, it's the same fake tree we've had for about ten years with the pre-strung malfunctioning lights. We vowed to get rid of it after last Christmas, but then when this whole Switzerland thing popped up, we decided to bring it with us rather than finding a new tree over here. It will not be making the return journey to U.S. soil.)
Anyway, Lindsey and Tanner had been longingly eyeing the presents under the tree, but they had done a reasonably good job of exercising self-restraint and not discovering "accidental" rips in the wrapping paper and other such inexplicable phenomena that have occurred in our family in the past. On Tuesday, Stace left the kids alone for a little while so she could go run a couple of errands. (Don't worry; we don't leave them alone for the weekend or anything like that.) A while after Stace left, Tanner called her to report that something horrible had happend: Lindsey had opened three of the presents. That's right, our little angel (and by "angel," I mean "evil spirit in corporeal form") took it upon herself to start ripping into the presents. She opened two of Tanner's and one of her own.
Now, every parent knows that there's an absolutely stupid question to ask a four-year-old, but we all ask it anyway: "Why did you do that?!??!?" We all hope against hope for a well-reasoned, carefully-constructed answer so that we can then point out the logical flaws in the four-year-old's thought process. Of course, what we all get instead boils down to something like, "Uhhh, ummmm, hmmmmm . . . I don't know."
So, the bottom line is that Tanner got to play with his toys early, Lindsey doesn't get to play with her toy early, we made Lindsey apologize to everyone in Switzerland for ruining Christmas, Lindsey didn't get to watch movies for two days, and our two-part Christmas has now become a three-part Christmas.
Four days until the trip . . . .
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Not gloating, but . . . .
. . . . .
Current temperature in the Twin Cities: 11 degrees below zero
Current temperature in Zug: 34 degrees (above zero, that is)
. . . . .
Current temperature in the Twin Cities: 11 degrees below zero
Current temperature in Zug: 34 degrees (above zero, that is)
. . . . .
Friday, December 12, 2008
Pictures--finally!!
Faced with increasingly vociferous demands that I post pictures, I'll throw in a few. You have to realize that Stace and I are faced with some big obstacles when it comes to including pictures in our blog: 1) We hate taking pictures--we'd rather enjoy the moment rather than interfere with it by trying to take a picture of it; 2) we hate managing and keeping track of pictures; and 3) in the rare event that we do take pictures, we hardly ever go back and look at them.
Having said that, I'll try to toss in a couple of pictures right now. These include pictures of the view from our balcony and a couple of pictures of our family. The pictures of the kids are just shots of them goofing around while we were getting ready to do the picture for our magazine article. (As you can guess from the pictures, we do have some pretty spectacular sunsets around here. You can see Lake Zug and a couple of church steeples.)
Having said that, I'll try to toss in a couple of pictures right now. These include pictures of the view from our balcony and a couple of pictures of our family. The pictures of the kids are just shots of them goofing around while we were getting ready to do the picture for our magazine article. (As you can guess from the pictures, we do have some pretty spectacular sunsets around here. You can see Lake Zug and a couple of church steeples.)
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
The Triple-Kiss
Change of plans again. Rather than taking a long train ride yesterday, I took the kids to the Goldau Tielpark, which is a nearby animal park at which the people and the animals walk around together. The kids fed the birds, the ducks, the chickens, the deer, and other animals I couldn't identify. They had lots of fun. Lindsey loves animals. In the meantime, Stace spent lots of money in Germany. She also thinks she got another speeding ticket. I'll let you know in a couple of weeks.
But that's not what this post is about. No, it's about the one thing in Switzerland that causes me to live in constant fear, sometimes waking me up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat: the possibility that I'll be in a situation where I'm expected to triple-kiss. What's the triple-kiss, you ask? It's a uniquely Swiss custom that I don't believe is practiced even in other parts of Europe. Upon greeting each other, the Swiss will often engage in the triple-kiss, a rather elaborate ceremony in which the two participants first kiss each other on the right cheeks, then on the left cheeks, and then again on the right cheeks. This is not some fakey-silently-kiss-the-air type of Hollywood kiss; this is a flat-out kiss on the cheek, complete with loud smooching noises. The whole thing takes about a second, but it seems like an eternity to both observers and participants.
It may surprise some of my faithful readers to learn that I'm not exactly the touchy-feely type. I don't usually even hug friends, let alone kiss them three times. The Swiss, like most Europeans, are generally more touchy than most Americans, and most Americans are generally more touchy than me, so you can imagine my distress with all of this publicly-displayed affection.
I haven't yet seen a triple-kiss between two men, but I've seen plenty between two women or between a man and a woman. I've only been involved in one, and I'm sure I messed it up royally. For one thing, I'm not sure what one is supposed to do with one's hands during the triple-kiss. Firm embrace of the shoulders? Grasp around the waist? Hands in pockets? I don't know. I just know that the world would be a much better place if we all settled for a nice handshake, or, better yet, a friendly wave. (So as not to spread germs.)
Postscript: Just now, as I was putting Stace to bed, I was complaining to her about all the hugging and kissing going on around here. She said that she's "embraced" the hugging. She then proceeded to laugh hysterically at her own joke and what she considers to be her immensely sophisticated sense of humor until she fell asleep.
Postpostscript: Tomorrow's high in the Twin Cities, 8 degrees. Tomorrow's high in Zug, 38 degrees. Amount of snow that fell today in the Twin Cities: about 6 inches, from what I hear. Amount of snow that fell today in Zug: zero. Varieties of cheese available in the Twin Cities: about 6. Varieties of cheese available in Zug: about 8,523,712. Not a bad decision, eh? Even with all of the moving violations.
But that's not what this post is about. No, it's about the one thing in Switzerland that causes me to live in constant fear, sometimes waking me up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat: the possibility that I'll be in a situation where I'm expected to triple-kiss. What's the triple-kiss, you ask? It's a uniquely Swiss custom that I don't believe is practiced even in other parts of Europe. Upon greeting each other, the Swiss will often engage in the triple-kiss, a rather elaborate ceremony in which the two participants first kiss each other on the right cheeks, then on the left cheeks, and then again on the right cheeks. This is not some fakey-silently-kiss-the-air type of Hollywood kiss; this is a flat-out kiss on the cheek, complete with loud smooching noises. The whole thing takes about a second, but it seems like an eternity to both observers and participants.
It may surprise some of my faithful readers to learn that I'm not exactly the touchy-feely type. I don't usually even hug friends, let alone kiss them three times. The Swiss, like most Europeans, are generally more touchy than most Americans, and most Americans are generally more touchy than me, so you can imagine my distress with all of this publicly-displayed affection.
I haven't yet seen a triple-kiss between two men, but I've seen plenty between two women or between a man and a woman. I've only been involved in one, and I'm sure I messed it up royally. For one thing, I'm not sure what one is supposed to do with one's hands during the triple-kiss. Firm embrace of the shoulders? Grasp around the waist? Hands in pockets? I don't know. I just know that the world would be a much better place if we all settled for a nice handshake, or, better yet, a friendly wave. (So as not to spread germs.)
Postscript: Just now, as I was putting Stace to bed, I was complaining to her about all the hugging and kissing going on around here. She said that she's "embraced" the hugging. She then proceeded to laugh hysterically at her own joke and what she considers to be her immensely sophisticated sense of humor until she fell asleep.
Postpostscript: Tomorrow's high in the Twin Cities, 8 degrees. Tomorrow's high in Zug, 38 degrees. Amount of snow that fell today in the Twin Cities: about 6 inches, from what I hear. Amount of snow that fell today in Zug: zero. Varieties of cheese available in the Twin Cities: about 6. Varieties of cheese available in Zug: about 8,523,712. Not a bad decision, eh? Even with all of the moving violations.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Odds and ends
There are many different things rattling around in my brain without a particular unifying theme, so I'll just tackle them one by one. It was a busy week.
1. Sure enough, I got zapped for running a red. I missed it by six tenths of a second. The cost was indeed 250 francs. To add insult to injury, Stace got tagged for speeding the day before that. Total pain: 370 Swiss francs, about $310. Keep those pledges coming!!
2. Here were some of my evenings last week: Monday, Stace and I rode a train to the top of a mountain outside Zurich to eat fondue. Wednesday, I had a work-related dinner at the home of a coworker. Thursday, I rode a train to the top of a mountain outside Zug to eat fondue. It was a rough week.
3. As I mentioned earlier, Stace is driving to Germany tomorrow to do some shopping. I decided to take the kids to northeastern Switzerland rather than to the Italian part. We're going to take a train through the mountains, visit a monastery that's been around for a few hundred years, and see a few lakes.
4. Santa Claus is a little different in Switzerland. On Friday night, the kids left their shoes outside, and when they woke up on Saturday morning, their shoes were filled with candy. That's a Swiss thing. In another Swiss thing, on Saturday night, the kids took a walk through the woods to visit "Sammi Claus," whose job it was to praise the kids for things they had done well and to give them advice for the future. Through some myesterious means, Sammi Claus knew that one thing for Lindsey to work on was listening to her parents.
5. Monday is a Swiss holiday. Most of the Swiss holidays have something or other to do with Mary, at least in the Catholic cantons, of which Canton Zug is one. Tomorrow's holiday is to celebrate the immaculate conception. This partly makes up for the fact that I had to work on Thanksgiving.
6. Much to my annoyance, Stace has started checking in on this blog from time to time. That means we all need to be careful in what we say, because there's a slight chance that she'll figure out things that we don't want her to know about. Just keep that in mind when you leave your comments. I think I lulled her into complacency by not posting anything for a few days, so she probably won't check in for a while, but the risk does exist.
1. Sure enough, I got zapped for running a red. I missed it by six tenths of a second. The cost was indeed 250 francs. To add insult to injury, Stace got tagged for speeding the day before that. Total pain: 370 Swiss francs, about $310. Keep those pledges coming!!
2. Here were some of my evenings last week: Monday, Stace and I rode a train to the top of a mountain outside Zurich to eat fondue. Wednesday, I had a work-related dinner at the home of a coworker. Thursday, I rode a train to the top of a mountain outside Zug to eat fondue. It was a rough week.
3. As I mentioned earlier, Stace is driving to Germany tomorrow to do some shopping. I decided to take the kids to northeastern Switzerland rather than to the Italian part. We're going to take a train through the mountains, visit a monastery that's been around for a few hundred years, and see a few lakes.
4. Santa Claus is a little different in Switzerland. On Friday night, the kids left their shoes outside, and when they woke up on Saturday morning, their shoes were filled with candy. That's a Swiss thing. In another Swiss thing, on Saturday night, the kids took a walk through the woods to visit "Sammi Claus," whose job it was to praise the kids for things they had done well and to give them advice for the future. Through some myesterious means, Sammi Claus knew that one thing for Lindsey to work on was listening to her parents.
5. Monday is a Swiss holiday. Most of the Swiss holidays have something or other to do with Mary, at least in the Catholic cantons, of which Canton Zug is one. Tomorrow's holiday is to celebrate the immaculate conception. This partly makes up for the fact that I had to work on Thanksgiving.
6. Much to my annoyance, Stace has started checking in on this blog from time to time. That means we all need to be careful in what we say, because there's a slight chance that she'll figure out things that we don't want her to know about. Just keep that in mind when you leave your comments. I think I lulled her into complacency by not posting anything for a few days, so she probably won't check in for a while, but the risk does exist.
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