Holiday on Ice

The Swiss know how to embrace winter. Perhaps out of necessity, this Alpine dominated country has an incredible infrastructure for those interested in winter sports. The boys have embraced eislaufen (ice skating) this winter and we have gone so far as to buy them their own skates (ingenious skates that can be lengthened as they grow!).

On Sunday we decided to try out a skating complex that we hadn't tried before called Dolder. Situated high on one of the picturesque hills surround Lake Zurich and nestled among the trees, the complex boasts a large free skating area, a separate area for hockey and a nice restaurant to boot. Despite the mix of light rain and sleet, the weather finally cleared and we had a wonderful time.

Elliot has come a long way in his skating skills. At this particular rink, you could rent a big bear with handles that can be used to stabilize the novice skater (see video below). Elliot simply adored his bear and wanted us to buy one so we could take it home. Needless to say we convinced him that we could print a big picture of the bear and put it on his wall for his stuffed toy bears to see.





Isaac's skills have also progressed markedly. Take a look for yourself at the video below.







We also found the pile of hockey sticks and pucks that you could use for free and tried out our skills around the hockey goal.
















After a break for a afternoon snack we skated a little more before heading out for an early dinner and then home. One snack was the traditional Swiss bratwurst, a white wurst (kabelwurst) served much differently than you'd find in the United States, as it is wrapped in wax paper and served on a small paper plate with a hunk of crusty bread (see picture below).


















The other thing that struck me as very un-American was the fact that people were out on the ice, ice skating while pushing baby carriages - I found that very cool but somehow I can't imagine an US facility allowing this due to lawyers.

Through the Eyes of a Child

Well, I was going to do a first Christmas post, but I realized that Elena took the camera with her on her trip with her sister Maria - they went to Guntzenhausen to visit their relatives. The boys and I are home with Carl and Gertraud. I did find our old camera here, which is what we have given to the boys to help them hone their own photography skills. I downloaded the lot of pictures from their camera and realize that they can provide some really nice perspectives of our life in Zurich.

The first picture was probably taken by Elliot. It captures two of his favorite toys - his knights and his tools. He loves to pretend with his brother about endless adventures of good and bad armies and knights, and he loves to create and destroy with this real small tool set we bought at the local toy store.

The next picture depicts another great tradition the boys have for nearly all our visits to the forest. They love to use loose sticks to build small houses or, in this case, a bridge. Isaac and I worked for a half hour to build a bridge over a small stream in the woods near our apartment.

I'm not sure how Elliot's favorite action figures came to be competing for this glass of port wine, but Elliot captured the battle royale none the less.

Another Elliot shot is of a too common site - in this case, Mom attached to the computer trying to get some work done.

Elliot also has captured another common site - Isaac practicing on the electronic keyboard. Unlike last year, Isaac is not taking formal lessons. However, we bought a moderately nice keyboard upon our arrival and he has kept up practicing and even treated us to a Christmas eve concert.

Elliot has worked out the self-timer on the camera and took a nice shot of another common image - that of mom working in the kitchen and Elliot seeming to be quite happy with this fact. My own tradition is to do dishes while keeping up on NPR shows from the US by listening to podcasts on the laptop.

Isaac captured an interesting shot of our building's elevator on the way home from the Christmas play at Elliot's school last week. You can see me, Carl (Cotton) and our upstairs neighbor Terri and few other partial peoples.

Elliot also caught a picture a place of importance to him - the area where he has to hang up his coat and put his backpack in our little hallway.

Last, but definitely not least, Elliot captured a child's eye view of our bathroom.

An Ode to Omi

Mom (Omi as we affectionately call her, which is a cute version of “grandmother” in German) celebrated her 70th birthday last month. Congratulations Mom/Omi! If only I can have your health and young looks when I reach that age, should I be so lucky.


Omi accompanied us on our travels from the U.S. to Zurich and stayed with us for the first eight weeks of our adventures here in der Schweiz. It was wonderful to have her with us -- a native German speaker to help us learn the lay of the land (everything from filling out bureaucratic immigration forms to applying for the all-important grocery store savings card to charting many fun weekend adventures for us); a playmate to help Isaac and Elliot adjust, enjoy and feel at home; a partner in crime for me as we braved everything from hauling the groceries up the big hill to hopping along rocky paths in the Alps. Omi’s time with us was a blessing for our family in so many ways and we are so grateful that she was able to be with us. Ever since her departure in late September, I have wanted to post some pictures of our time with her. Well, better late than never. Here’s my ode to Omi (in picture form)….
On one of our first days in town, Omi and the boys figure out the bus system. Here we are waiting on bus 62 to Oerlikon – (someone obviously has to pee…and it’s not Omi!). This is Omi is after our first Einkaufen (shopping) experience. We actually pushed the cart all the way up our rather steep and long hill to our apartment. That was the only time we did that. Now we use our suitcase rollie – works wonderfully.

Above: Omi and I about to embark on what was to be a failed attempt to attend an organ concert at the Grossmuenster church in downtown Zurich. Even though we got lost and drenched in record breaking rains and missed the concert, it was nonetheless a fun evening out (nothing that a bit of red wine can’t cure). Next: Isaac giving Omi a heartfelt hug on our fourth day here, celebrating his birthday.

Our first Uetliberg hike -- Uetliberg is the “house mountain” of Zurich, a favorite place for hiking above the Zurich lake.
On the train to visit the Goldau Zoo…Omi and Isaac plotted the story of their upcoming play (Gomar the Goblin) and discussed World War II. Here’s what I wrote later about it: “There was a moment on the train with Omi and Isaac that I often think of. After Omi and Isaac had worked together on the Gomar play, Isaac started quizzing Omi about Wolrd War II. As we sat on the train, zooming through the Swiss countryside and Isaac absorbed in the European history lesson from Omi, I thought – wow, how lucky we are to have this time and be in this place with Omi, what a joy. It was one of those very ‘full’ moments of life.”

Above: Omi and I on our adventurous hike up ‘Rot Horn’ – we saw Edelweiss along the way.
Next: A typical scene in our early days here – reading books and working on the Gomar play with Omi.

In the kitchen together during our visit with Chris and Roby. With Hermann and Beth on their visit with us in mid-September. Looking at the castle book that Uncle Chris brought – very cool!

A walk in our neighboring woods and our first grill experience in those woods.

Below: At long last, the production of Gomar the Goblin with the cast: Isaac as Gomar, Elliot as the Knight, Omi as King, Elena as the evil Darth Terrace and Brian narrating. We are grateful to our two audience members--Chris and Roby! (who also documented the event for us).

Alles Gutes Zum Geburtstag Koenig(in) Omi! Mit herzlichen Gruesse und sei vielmals unarmt -- Dein Isaac, Elliot, Brian und Elena

Old Glarus

In a recent email I commented to my high school friend Margie that our stay in Zurich has not been a huge culture shock for me as there are many elements that are somewhat familiar from my exposure to New Glarus - the community that neighbors my childhood home of Monticello in Wisconsin. The ubiquitous red flag with a white cross, the quality and composition of local foods, the mix of friendliness and reservedness, and the daily workmanship evident in nearly everyone's efforts. I've reflected a lot upon the cultural traditions maintained in New Glarus and have been anxious to get my first look at the source that provided those 145 brave settlers back in 1845.

So, in early November, the four of us set out one weekend day to hike in the canton of Glarus, which is fortunately only a 1.5 hour train ride away from Zurich. Our planned hiking path turned out to be overly ambitious -- way too steep for two boys who turned out to be a little tired. It didn't help that each bend in the trail offered a buffet of cool stones and sticks that they soon put to work in creative play.

After returning to the village of our base hike (I can't remember if it was Nafels or Mollis), we hopped on the train for a little longer an arrived in Glarus. I looked for names familiar from my childhood, and found an Elmer and a Zweifel on various store signs.

The city itself is set in a deep valley forged by the Linth River and surrounded by some formidable mountains - the Glarus Alps - which top out at just under 12,000 feet. The town in much bigger than New Glarus, with a current population of around 5,700 (New Glarus is still around 2,200).

Glarus has quite a history, with the first mention of the town dating to 1178 (yes, the year 1178 AD). The whole valley was converted to Christianity in the 6th century by the Irish monk St. Fridolin who still adorns the canton's coat of arms.


The protestant reformer Zwingli -- for whom my home church in Monticello is named -- got into the act around 1505 and tried to shake up the catholics in the valley. Even a guy by the name of Napoleon dabbled in the area as he established the Canton of Linth in 1798 - Glarus was part of this canton before going on back to Glarus later. In 1861 a big fire destroyed much of the city, meaning the buildings are not as historic as those found in many of the cities and villages around Switzerland.

Somewhat interestingly, Glarus has made recent news by being the first Canton in Switzerland to lower the voting, which means that Glarner youth can now drink, smoke and vote when they turn 16 (and, yes, I fear they may do all at the same time).

Our journey to Glarus was too brief. We walked the streets some and found an early supper at a simple little cafe not too far from the train station (rosti for me, spatzli for Elena). Finally we boarded the Glarner Charger train bound for the Zurich train station and read a book outloud to the boys (I think it was Matilda).

I'm looking forward to returning again some day soon - hopefully when somebody reading this blog comes to visit us:)

some pre-holiday cheer

Thanks to our friend Johanna for forwarding her family's Happy Holiday greeting. It was so good we had to do our own. So here's a little pre-holiday cheer from us to you...

Isaac's version

Elliot's version

Gobble Gobble

Thanksgiving Thursday was a work day for us in Zurich. The boys went to school and we worked. It was kind of odd not getting the normal flow of work-related emails from the states.

We had decided not to give up on the venerable American holiday, though. We invited over another American family for a big Sunday dinner. Our guests - the Cullen/Brethertons (Alison, Chris, Kyle and Ross) - are a family that kind of mirror us (if it was one of those trick mirrors that make you look a little thinner than you actually are). They have two boys (a little older than ours) and both are professors visiting ETH (our academic home in Zurich). Alison is visiting the same group that Elena and I are visiting (the Institute for Environmental Decisionmaking) while her husband Chris is here working on atmospheric/meteorology/climate change topics. They live in Seattle and work at the University of Washington. They also brought with them to dinner Chris's parents, Francis and Inge, who are both retired professors who live in Madison, Wisconsin and used to work at the UW. His parents were visiting for the holiday. It was a delight to share memories of Madison with Chris's parents.

Preparing for the meal was a monumental task given our small kitchen and refrigerator. Elena did an incredible job. Buying the ingredients was half the fun. I had a full list with me on Friday afternoon when I went downtown to Globus - the posh food retailer that carries a lot of hard-to-find stuff - to buy some of the fixings for the big day. Rather than turkey, which is a little difficult to procure in Zurich, we bought several roasting chickens.
Globus also had pumkin pie filling - another rarity on Zurich shelves.

Elena worked all weekend long procuring the rest of the ingredients and preparing all the yummy dishes (pies, stuffing, veggies, salad and the birds). We borrowed our neighbor's oven while they were out of town to make sure everything got done in time. The Cullens also brought some great dishes.

We all sat down to a great meal around 1:30. The boys quickly gulped down some food and went off to the boys' bedroom to play. We sat and enjoyed adult conversation for a while. We then all decided to go a short hike up the hill to get a view down the valley of Lake Zurich and the city. It was cold and raining a little, but it worked up our appetite for dessert by the time we returned.

The pumpkin pies and apple strudel (brought by our guests) were awesome. The boys broke out one of their favorite games, which features the geography of Switzerland.

All had a great time and we were thankful for both our time abroad and our ability to celebrate with friends.

Snow!

All the locals said it didn't snow much last year. Well, while we haven't had much snow, it certainly has started early. The first snow was on a Sunday before Halloween, with steady flurries for several hours as I trudged off to attend a big Zurich watch show and swap meet (I admit that I am developing a bit of a watch fetish since arriving - can you blame me?).

The pictures here are of a solid snow during mid-November. This one actually produced enough snow that it stuck around for a few days and started contemplation about all the fun winter things we might be able to do in Zurich.

We trudged down to the local sporting goods store and promptly bought a cool looking sled. Unlike in the US, the cheapest sled we could find new was one that cost about $40. The upside is that it looks quite solid and it comes with a steering wheel and a brake that both actually work. Elliot actually got to give a try on a nice hill about a 10 minute walk from our apartment and a few times just outside our apartment building. He was quite thrilled.

Our other big new winter activity is skating. Isaac has gotten quite fast while Elliot has learned how to make himself go in a little circle. Even I have learned how to go moderately fast around the rink without falling on my backside. We have bought skates for the boys that can be made larger as they grow (you turn a crank and extend the length of the boot). We have gone to 2 different skating rinks and have been having good fun. The next big thing, I suppose, will be to try skiing again. I haven't skied since college, and it was very painful then. But I'm hoping my newfound skating skills will transfer to the slopes. The Swiss schools are out of session for 2 weeks in February specifically so everyone can go skiing - so, when in Rome (or Switzerland)!

Halloween highlights

Halloween is an interesting phenomenon in Switzerland. It is in all the stores, so it is actually possible to get decorations and there's even a small selection of costumes at the fancy toy store downtown. Despite this, the Swiss people don't like it -- it's not their tradition and it's pretty obvious that it's just a commercial import from the U.S. Nonetheless, we were happy since we were able to find all sorts of fun stuff, including ninja and Harry Potter costumes, for our Halloween party. We also made skeletons by tracing the body of each boy, I drew the bones and then the boys further embellished them. On the night of (actually, a few days prior to actual Halloween), we put on some scary music and invited some neighbors to enjoy hauntingly fun games (such as pin the broomstick on the witch), ghastly drinks and goulish food with us. A spooky time was had by all...




From left to right: Terri (a visiting ETH prof from France--he and his family live on the eighth floor of our building) with his two children, Aoulie (I'm sure that's spelled wrong) and Elon (who is friends with Elliot--they go to the same kindergarten), Isaac (foreground), Elliot, Da'Rion (Isaac's friend from school who is from Indiana originally and moved here with his dad around the same time we did), Gary (Da's dad, also American--a veteran of the Iraq war and now studying to be a psychologist), Karin (Gary's wife and Da's stepmom, a very friendly Zuricher native), their daughter Kiara (very adorable, just turned one year old), Brian (you know that guy), Edna (the wife of Terri/mother of Aoulie and Elon--speaks Hebrew, French and English and is now learning German), and Edna's niece who was visiting from Isreal.

The Big Race

Oxford and Cambridge Universities in England have an annual rowing competition that has gone on since 1829 and helps define the competitive relationship between these two prestigious British institutes of higher learning. The rivalry is legend, complete with modern commercial sponsorships of the annual spring competition.

The main two Zurich universities -- the University of Zurich and the institution that we are visiting - the Swiss Federal Technical Institution (known also by its Swiss initials ETH and simply as 'Poly', the team in white in the picture) -- have begun their own fall rowing tradition. It takes place on the scenic part of the river that feeds into Lake Zurich, which winds its way through the historic streets of the old part of the city of Zurich.

Unlike the the older English version of the competition, the 'Uni-Poly' race is actually three races: one for teams of men, teams of women and teams of faculty. Also, unlike the English version, the course is quite short -- perhaps 500 meters. However, in each division they compete to win 2 out of 3 heats.

Today's race was, unfortunately, dominated by the University of Zurich teams, who won both the women's and men's competitions by winning the first two heats quite easily. The only bright spot for the Poly was the faculty team, which dominated the Uni's faculty.



It was a lovely, crisp, fall afternoon none the less. Isaac chose our path via bus and tram down to the area where the race was run. He worked up a hunger on our trip into the city, and sated it with this double-decker hamburger we bought at a food stand near the river. We sat by the river on a cool but sunny afternoon day. After the race we went to a favorite Swiss restaurant -- Movenpic - and had a lovely hot chocolate. Tomorrow, we hope to get in a nice hike before the weather gets any colder.