Junior

One cold winter day this past February as we walked down the street from our apartment, we finally took the time to stop in Music Center Affoltern. What luck that we stumbled into that place and found the amazing Junior Gill--professional musician, wonderful teacher and steel drum player extrodinaire. We signed the boys up for weekly lessons, which turned into hour long sessions with Junior in which they got to play an assortment of percussion instruments of their choosing, including steel drums, drum kit, marimba, bongos, congos and probably a few other things that I'm forgetting. Junior followed their lead, but also kept a firm hand on guiding them and teaching them. They often would end their lessions with long jam sessions with Junior and other students.

Junior travels the globe giving performances. I never knew that the steel drums could sound like he makes them sound. He tells us that the best steel drums in the world are made in Akkron, Ohio! It's truly a small world. We will miss Junior and his percussion Wunderland.

Getting back into the grove; the Ohio state fair

Today we went to the Ohio state fair with the boys and Chris, who we were lucky enough to have a visit from this weekend since he was in town on business and was able to stay a bit longer to hang out with us. As it turns out, attending the fair was a ball for the boys, but not very conducive to my efforts of *gradually* reacclimating to life in America. It was a full blast of Americana in all of its summertime glory -- corn dogs, cheeseburgers, deep fried candy bars, giant jumbo drinks, giant jumbo stuffed animals, giant jumbo blow up toys, giant jumbo parking lot full of cars, giant jumbo people...woah.

I've now retreated to the house and am sipping some red wine, a much more comfortable state of being for me. Besides the giant jumbo-ness of things, the thing that has struck me the most since being back is how low to the ground I feel here. Things are extremely flat and there is no vista. When I look down the street I just see a few houses in the distance, nothing else. When I open up the door, I am among the greenery, not looking down upon it. I feel very short here--no snide comments allowed!

The boys seem to have instantaneously picked up where they left off. Isaac has found a soccer club that seems to fit him just right and has already started training sessions. Both boys have reconnected with their best buddies that live next door -- Hugh, Malen and Nick -- and spent the week doing lemonade stands, trampoline jumping contests, pirate games, legos and many other pursuits. Elliot impromptu has exclaimed on several occassion how happy he is to be back. Several times he has said how nice it is to be in a place where he can understand people and people can understand him; he also expresses his happiness to be back simply in terms of his best buddy next door: "Yeah, Nicky!!!"

We were blessed to have Katie and Kim (our neighbors) prep the house for us, including dragging out the beds and buying groceries. My parents also worked hard to do some serious house cleaning and organizing before we arrived and were there at the airport to welcome us back. We were also blessed to have Wendy and her family in the house for the year -- they took wonderful care of the house. It feels very cozy to be back in the house and back together with our wonderful neighbors, friends and family.

There are still some Zurich posts that I want to do for posterity, so look for a few more Zurich blogs to come. Anyways, it's not like I've really left there yet, not yet at least...

It's 1am

We leave for the airport in seven hours. I really should go to bed, but I don't want to say good-bye, just yet, to this beautiful place. Brian says this is our essential difference -- he doesn't like drawn out good-byes, I seem to wallow in them. It's mediterranean, says our friend Edna (she should know, she's from Israel) so I must have some drops of mediterranean blood in me.

We have shared so many good moments with friends in these last few weeks we've been here. I didn't come here looking for friends necessarily, but we ended up making some great friends and meeting some wonderful people and am leaving with my heart full with their spirit.

I am comforted by a thought that my uncle Hans told me recently -- when you leave a place, your body may go immediately, but your soul takes much longer. So I know now, that even though my body will be getting on the plane tomorrow, my soul will linger here with a view of the mountains by the lake in this beautiful place for awhile longer, quite awhile longer I hope.

Gunzenhausen Connections - Pictures

Conrad and Elliot

Brian the Roman

Kristina (Pirate and good cross bower)

Friedipatin at 95

Linipatin and the boys

Bikers one and all in Gunzenhausen

Elliot with Hans and Hans' son Nicolai

Isaac at LegoLand

Isaac and Hans panning for real gold at Legoland.



Group in Zurich

Louisa and Elliot

Conrad and Elliot

Gunzenhausen Connections

Few US families are origninally from the American continent, and yet not many US families still have relatives in their home countries with whom they still communicate. We are very fortunate that Elena's cousins and two uncles (her mother's brothers), who reside in the southern German town of Gunzenhausen, are close to our family. During our stay in Zurich we have enjoyed 2 visits with the Ulrich/Brandstetter clan and its various members. First, Stephan, Christina and their youngest 2 children (Louisa 14, Conrad, 13) visited us in Zurich during early June, during the initial round of the Euro Cup. In early July we returned the favor by driving the 4 hours via autobahn to Gunzenhausen. We enjoyed visiting with some of the family's oldest members: Friedi (96 in October), Lini (94) and Gretel Oma (89) and also meeting Johanna (Christina and Stephan's oldest daughter, age 16) again. Gretel Oma and Elena's Aunt Gisela made yummy Nuernberger bratwurst (the best) and sauerkraut for us on the first night we arrived.

We also got a great overview of their scenic hometown with its beautiful lakes and endless biking trails. We were also introduced to Sonny, a local entrepreneur who organizes great outings and has a really cool gallery where you can dress up in real Roman war gear, target shoot with cross bows (Christina won) and pound nails into stumps (all after several shots of the local liquor).

Elliot attached himself to Conrad for pretty much the whole visit (thank you Conrad for your kindness and patience!). Conrad loves to build models and is very good at it. Elliot is fascinated by this and was content to just lay on Conrad's bed and watch him while he very patiently pieced together tiny intricate parts of his model. Isaac rediscovered the piano and played all the songs he learned from Meg last year that he could remember.

On the way back we couldn't resist stopping at LegoLand, a theme park with cool stations where you could build cool stuff with a huge supply of Legos.

We are now fortunate that Hans, the youngest of Elena's uncles, volunteered to accompany us to Zurich and help us prepare for the eventual trip back across the Atlantic. He is helping us do our best to meet the strict Swiss standards for cleaning that are necessary before returning our apartment back to the University. We are enjoying some of final days here with him before we bid him adieu as he heads to his friends in Friebourg and before we bid adieu to Switzerland.

A family visit

We had a wonderful visit over the last week of June from our friends Maryanne and Jeremy in Columbus with the special treat for our boys that, for the first time since we have been in Zurich, our visitors included other children. Specifically, Sydney (10) and Ethan (8) accompanied their parents from the Buckeye state to the city of fountains. We surprised our guests, who flew into Paris and took the train to us, by intercepting them in the Basel train station, which is about an hour from Zurich. They arrived tired, but in good spirits, after a trans-Atlantic flight, five hours in the Paris train station, several transfers on the TGV and some confusion about whether they actually had the right tickets of not.

Thanks to a colleague of Elena's at University of Zurich (thank you Elizabeth!) we were able to line up a few days of real Swiss living in a chalet in the Alps (to be exact, in Flims, which is in the Kanton of Graubunden). Chalet Maurgaritte was exceedingly well appointed, including a kitchen that is better equipped than ours at home in Ohio. We even got to enjoy raclette one night (think lots of yummy toasted cheese). On our first full day there we tackled the mountain, taking a cable car from Flims Dorf to Floppa (great name) and then embarking on our hike upwards. We walked, sang, told stories, splashed in fountains, did O-H-I-O, and then ended up at Startgels, a surprisingly elegant restuarant about halfway up the mountain (the Europeans understand incentives). After a yummy Swiss meal, we headed back down and, no rest for the weary, headed for the Caumasee --we had been told it was a nice forest lake for swimming. It was truly breathtaking as we rounded the corner and saw the green-blue clear water and forested shores. It was also breathtaking as we dipped our toes in the 21 degree C water -- ouf! (if it isn't yet obvious, this is now Elena writing -- Brian probably thought it was a bit on the warm side).

The Euro Cup was in its full glory and we were able to watch a couple games during our stay in Flims. Sydney and Ethan caught the "panini soccer card" fever that swept the country and generously contributed a few stickers to the boys' soccer book ("only" 53 more stickers to go -- not sure if we'll make it before we leave!).

Back in Zurich we hopped over to Lucern for the day for the Lucern Yodeling Festival. Brian went early to meet up with an old friend from high school, Matt Streife, who had come all the way from New Glarus, Wisconsin to perform with the New Glarus Yodeling Club. We tried to catch up with Matt and his wife later after we all arrived, but found ourselves oddly trapped in a Swiss tv production of the festival. At first it was interesting to watch the carmeramen orchestrate the dancing men and women in their ledderhosen and dirndls (respectively), the accordian and alpine horm players and the enthusiastic "spontaneous" dancers from the audience. But then it got a bit much and Elliot had to pee, so we made a run for it.

We felt very blessed to have Maryanne, Jeremy, Sydney and Ethan visit us here. It was really nice to make a connection with Ohio and made me eager to see our friends and family back home. The following Sunday we saw them off at the train station on their way back to Paris to spend two weeks with their friends there. Their time there promised to be fun as well (complete with a 70's disco part, but for more on that you have to ask Maryanne....).

Isamania, Elliskeetio and Eamesomio

This is a story of three very brave brothers who set off to find their baby brother so that they can discover pure knowledge and end all wars. Along the way they meet a master who trains them in the ways of love, friendship and perserverence. They learn important lessons, like don't be afraid to ask for help, never give up, expect the unexpected and together we are strong. These lessons aid them in their quest as they encounter sea serpants and dragons, the land of the evil black buttons, the secret jungle with a hidden temple and the mysterious golden castle with 32 rooms. They meet many friends along the way who join them, including Darioniousis, Robertopito, Nickazippio, Leafio, Princess Leamagimus, Auillilolio, Ethamagimus and Sydneyalliscout. The story has kept us entertained and the boys going up many a steep mountain trail for six months now. It finally came to a happy ending yesterday on our hike in Braunwald in the Glarner Alps.

The story started out of desperation on a cold January hike above the Walensee. We had walked about 100 meters and then the boys flat out refused to go any further, accusing me of "always wanting to hike a million miles every day" (a slight exaggeration, but not without some basis). My Mom and Dad had just been here for Christmas the week before and as we had hiked up Uetliberg one day Dad had reminded me of how Mom used to tell Maria and I stories to keep us going on hikes. Remembering this the following week as the boys did their best imitation of mules, I asked them "Have I ever told you the story of Isamania and Elliskeetio?" (Eamesomio was to join in a few weeks, during one of our many hikes with our our wonderful friends and hiking buddies Hallie, Matt and Eames -- see pic below). As it turned out, I had not yet told them that story (for good reason, as the story hadn't existed before that moment) and so, the story was born.

It has been a long and windy story with many side stories and red herrings. It has also been a group effort that has benefited from the creativity of many contributing authors, including Isaac, Elliot and Eames and more recently, Sydney and Ethan. While I do recall the basic story line, it's impossible for me to remember the details of all the various and sundry adventures. Isaac, however, apparently remembers everything. It took him about an hour and a half to recount the story (up through April) to Mom on a hike in Sicily. We need to write it down so that we don't forget it. And already, as soon as the story had come to an end yesterday (with the three brothers finally making it home and then sleeping for two days straight, getting up for some water and chocolate, and then going back to sleep for another two days), Elliot was spinning ideas for the second book.

Here are some pictures from the various hikes and other places that have inspired the story.

And some of the accompanying artwork that the boys have made (which includes, the three brothers flag, the black button flag and the sea serpant flag).