Just an update

1. Sleeping woes: The plan was to buy a big masterbed in Zurich so all four of us can sleep comfortably since both kids continue to sleep in the bed with us. Unfortunately the concept of masterbed in Zurich is quite different from what I'd seen at my brother's place in the USA and the huge masterbed here is just about enough for the two of us and one kid. So four of us, with both kids sleeping diagonally or horizontally in the middle leads to the hubby and me sleeping at the edges of the bed every night. Not a very comfortable situation. So, we tried to convince S to sleep on a mattress next to the bed. The example of my nephews was given on the first night- my brother's family had just visited and we don't have enough beds so the boys had to sleep on mattresses in the study. S thought it was a big adventure for them and eagerly agreed on the first night and slept quite well. The second night she was a bit reluctant and held my hand tightly till she slept. Then after that she refused to sleep on the mattress and insisted on coming back to the bed. Promises of a "Car bed" or "Princess bed" or bunk beds which we had seen in Pfister (the furniture shop) did not help and she snuggled up on the bed and refused to go down. So after A dozed off I put her onto the mattress. When i checked a couple of hours later I found she had rolled off the mattress and under the bed. So that was the end of that. So its back to the four of us sleeping uncomfortably on the not so master bed while the guest bed lies vacant. I can hear my mom laughing, I was scared to sleep alone and had slept with my parents till the ripe old age of 11. Please no...

2. Exercise time: We bought a treadmill last week. Yipeee. Wanted to for a long time, but we didn't have enough space in our Mumbai appartment and the nearby gyms were always easily accessible. Here with managing the kids alone full time I don't have time to go to a gym- I can't always wait for the hubby to return from work and then go, or go only on the weekends and teh effort of finding a creche to leave the kids, for an hour, for me to work out is too much. We've kept the treadmill in the balcony adjoining the masterbedroom and that's really an ideal location as I can keep an eye on A while she's sleeping- if the hubby is not at home I can only exercise when A is asleep. S is either also asleep or can be bribed with 1/ 2 hour of her favourite movie. I'm really enjoying the treadmill. I used to run for half an hour twice a week before S was born and after that I could never get back to those levels. But in the last week I've managed to ramp upto 24 mins of running and hoping to increase as the days go by. I feel much more energetic after the run and its nice to have time apart from the kids doing something for myself. Zurich is a lovely place to run and there are nice jogging tracks near our place, but the treadmill is convenient. I can just slip it in when I get half an hour free during the day and I couldn't have left the kids alone in the house and gone for a jog! Happy to have reached my lowest weight since S was born.. another 2 kg to go to reach pre S levels.

3. Kindly neighbours : I was quite worried before coming that we'll have very strict and unfriendly neighbours. I'd heard all about the no flushing after 10 pm and no making loud noises rules from my brother who had lived in Geneva for a while about 20 years ago. But I've been very pleasantly surprised, touchwood. The neighbours have been quite friendly. Our next door neighbour is our landlady's daughter and speaks fluent English and has helped us translate during discussions with the electrician etc. Our downstairs neighbours have been pretty understanding about the racket S and A make the whole day and with the wooden floor they can pretty much hear everytime these two drop/bounce anything on the floor or run around the house! The lady told me she was happy we had moved in with kids as earlier she was the only one with kids in the building and used to be worried when her kids ran around the place. Unfortunately her youngest is eight so no playdates for S and A. Today I was really touched when I opened my door and found a paper stuck to it. I had met the downstairs neighbour while returning home yesterday and she mentioned about "Artergut park" where she used to take her kids. I hadn't asked about any park but she mentioned it herself saying the girls would love it there and gave me detailed instructions to go there. And this morning I found a diagram she'd drawn of the route to take to get to the park and what tram to take etc on my door stuck on my door. Very sweet and unexpected.

4. Language problems: Language continues to be the largest stumbling block to an otherwise pretty smooth settling in. People are pretty helpful and there are many booklets/literature/websites on activities for us/ kids and where to take them but its all in German. Today I took the kids to the indoor play area in the local GZ (community centre). Every locality has one and our centre has indoor play activites three times a week and you can just take your kids and they can play inside with the toys there/do some painting/indoor cycling etc. Its pretty nice and a good way to keep the kids entertained on a rainy day. And you can meet other parents with kids as well. But since we don't know the language I could not speak to other parents and S could not speak to the other kids. I saw her looking a bit downcast later and I asked her whether any of the girls there who were playing on the slide with her had said/done anything. She said that they played by themselves and did not speak to her because they didn't like her. My heart broke on hearing this and I tried to convince her that they didn't speak to her because they don't understand her and she can't understand them. And I can foresee this to be a problem if we live her for a reasonably long time. Because S is going to go to an international school where they speak English and German will only be a second language which she may not pick up that well. So other than her school friends she is not likely to make any other local friends as they won't be able to understand each other. Which is unfortunate because a mom in the park was telling me that they all come to that park with their kids quite often (the "Artergut park" which i went to after my neighbour's detailed instruction is a lovely park with a paddling pool for kids in the summer months, green space to run around in and many swings/slides/sandpits/rope bridges etc) and they play together. This mum knew English and I was able to have my first conversation with a local today! After 2 months! Anyway coming back to the point about the language, at the GZ also the lady in charge was very helpful and gave me lots of literature on kids activities and details of a place to go to to ask about creches in the locality but its all in German. Sigh, I wish i could have a German application installed in me, similar to the helicopter training course installed in Trinity in the Matrix.

5. Managing alone: The hubby has gone for his first semi long trip (4 days) to London leaving me alone with the kids. Its actually the first time I'm managing them alone as I always had a live in maid in Mumbai after A was born. I'm quite a scaredy cat and get scared of thieves/intruders/vampires (yes) when alone but this time I'm worried mainly about one thing. What to do if something happens to me, like when I fell down and broke my jaw in Mumbai. I had passed out for about 5-10 mins and when I came to my husband looked after me for the rest of the night. What if i fall down and pass out. and don't come to. Who will look after the kids? Who will know that they are alone at home. I'm terrified of this. So I instructed S to go down to the nighbour below if anything was to ever happen to me and to leave the main door wide open while she did this otherwise A and I would be stuck inside the house and no one to open the door. Honestly I think she'll just cry and wouldn't know what to do in such a situation but I'm praying we never have to find out. Otherwise, its been ok. Gets a bit overwhelming by night, with no adult conversation and managing the kids alone the whole day. On the positive side, I have little cooking to do - I just have a sandwich for dinner and dal rice with the kids for lunch.

And oh yes I found an Indian beauty parlour in Zurich. Where they do threading..so yes I am looking human again :)