Norway trip - Oslo

We did a 7 day trip to Norway in August, just after the kids and I returned from India. It was very hectic because we left the day after we got back, but luckily none of us had any jet lag, and the kids were remarkably well behaved (touch wood) on the flight back from India so I was not at my wits end.
We flew into Oslo and spent 3 days there. We had rented a service appartment in the centre of the city and that was good because a) the food is awful there, especially if you are vegetarian , and b) because we didn't have our car we could walk or take the public transport to the major locations

Let me start by saying that Norway is extremely expensive, even by Zurich standards which is saying a lot. The taxi ride from the airport to the service appartment was astonishingly high and we promised to use as much public transport or our legs as possible.

The first day we went to Bygdoy Peninsula. Its a really beautiful country area to walk in and full of musuems. We misread the bus directions and ended up walking some 2 km ( I had not brought A's stroller along (why ?) so there was much carrying and much of motivating to walk.) I saw the bus when we had nearly reached our destination after the long trek and thereafter I put myself in charge of figuring out the public transport! We started at the Norwegian Folk Museum. A quaint place depicting life as it would have been in the last century - with a typical bakery, pharmacy , bank etc. There was  live folk singing and dance,  farm animals and a modern playground which kept S and A engaged. I would say, worth a visit only if you have time.

Folk singing and dancing















Then after lunch at a local restaurant- seemed to be somebody's house converted into a restaraunt which was set in really beautiful surroundings but had a really limited menu we set out for the Viking Ship Museum. Very interesting. It had 3 preserved Viking boats and we could just imagine the Vikings rowing out on them!

                                            Viking boat

The second day we went to Frognerparken which has the famous Vigeland Park, with sculptures by  Gustav Vigeland. The sculptures are really amazing, very detailed and realistic. The part of the park surrounding the sculptors has rows and rows of beautiful roses. The girls had a blast running through them. S wanted to collect pink petals, but agreed to only pick those fallen on the ground. At the other end of the park is a children's play area. It had pretty unique stuff with many ropes and bridges, and doubles swings and the kids spent a happy hour there. So the park turned out to be a good outing both for the kids and for us.

Sculpture dedicated to the Holocaust                                                                                

Play area















In the afternoon we decided to walk around downtown Oslo. Very pretty. There was an outdoor jazz concert at one of the places, and the whole atmosphere was amazing. The Opera House is beautiful,  overlooking the harbour.


View from Aker Brygge
Both evenings we went to Aker Brygge around dinner time. It has a lovely view of the harbour and is a nice play to just relax, watch the sunset and have a glass of wine. There are a whole host of restaurants overlooking the harbour. We were surprised to see so many American restaurant chains - TGIF etc which we don't see in Zurich. Probably a lot more American tourists here.





All in all I really liked Oslo. It was a modern city but very scenic and beautiful, lots of things to see and do and a nice place to just hang around. We were lucky with the weather, it was cold (we needed sweaters in August) but it wasn't raining at least.

Why do they grow up?

They are so cute at this age. The other day i went to pick up A from the daycare and i found all the kids  in a dark room huddled around a light. They were making wishes. I asked A what she wished for. She said ' for mummy'.  My heart could melt just then. I told her, your wish has come true, here I am.

And then you have S. She had a playdate with someone in her class and she wanted to go with her mom directly from school. She had done this once before and started crying halfway through the playdate so i told the mom that A and I would also come along. But S would have none of it. She insisted on going alone and said that I should not come. I had to finally go there an hour later under the pretext that A wanted to play with her friend's younger brother!

Bunk Beds

We finally bit the bullet and got a bunk bed for the girls. Basically S already has a car bed so we bought a bed which fits on top of that and stairs to get up. The hubby made a slide to come down the other side. Yes, you heard right, he made the slide. Bought the wood pieces from Jumbo, had them sawed to the correct dimensions, then sandpapered it at home, hammered in the nails attaching the sides to the slide and voila it was done.
Of course that was not as easy as it sounds and it took three evenings to make it. The bunk bed had to be assembled as well and all in all the making of the bed and the slide was a major activity at home.

S now sleeps on the top, and slides down in the morning when she gets up. A sleeps on the bottom on the car bed (I wish!).  I lie down with her on her bed and she goes to sleep. Then she wakes up somewhere between 1 and 3 am and cries. So either i lie down with her again till she sleeps, or else if I'm too tired i bring her to our bed. I guess she has to get used to waking up and being alone- we've tried to convince her that she's not alone since S is on top, but i guess old habits are hard to break!

The slide is great fun and the girls have invented a new game of throwing toys on top and watching them slide down. Initially the wood was a bit rough and A went on it and refused to go again. The hubby had to put some wax and smoothen it and then only it was good enough for the fussy madam. This highly sanitised place has ruined her I say, even the slides in the playground have tyres at the bottom to absorb the shock!

I wonder how they managethat

Last week was super busy with children's activities and at the end of it i was left wondering how people with more than two kids manage!
The week schedule went like this :
Monday: We had a playdate for S after school, I was to pick up her friend and bring her home and her mom would pick her up after a couple of hours. Of course this has to be the day my car got a flat tire and there was no stepney in the back. So i had to call emergency services and they came and changed the tyre. In between all this excitement i was getting late to pick up S so i had to take a cab, and from the school the mom whose child i was bringing home for the playdate gave me and A a lift back to A's school where i had parked my car while waiting for the emergency services guys. And what of S and her friend you may ask. I requested another mom whose daughter I had invited for a playdate (alongwith the mom who is a good friend) to take the three kids to my place while i went to A's school and figured out what was happening to my car. Luckily the emergency services guys had been there while i was at S school and the car was ready for me to drive home but they had left a message that this was a temporary tyre to be replaced asap. The mom picked up her daughter from our house at 7 pm and i quickly fed the girls their dinner and collapsed in bed

Tuesday: In the morning I took the car to the Renault showroom and they said they would put the winter tyres on since i had brought the car in, but it would take the whole day and i could pick up the car in the evening. So A and i left the car there and went to a friend's place (who has a daughter A's age). In the afternoon we had to take a bus and train and walk 1/2 km to pick up S from school and the whole process took 2 hours (what usually takes 45 mins!). Then in the evening we had to again take the tram and bus to reach the showroom and pick up the car and we were finally home at 7!

Wednesday : We had a coffee morning with the Indian moms in S school (finally some activity for me!)  but i had to leave early to pick up A from school. After S school pick up she had her swimming class, then we rushed back home and the hubby was home early to look after S while I took A to her school for turnip carving and celebration of the Raebli festival. The below post talks about this festival-that one was a much larger celebration over the weekend -
http://newinzurich.com/2012/11/06/rabechilbi-and-rabeliechtli-umzug-in-richterswil-saturday-10th-november/ carving and Raebli festival.
The one near A's school was a local celebration where children and parents walked in a procession with handcarved turnips with candles inside. We were invited to the school at 5 pm to carve the turnip to be in time for the procession starting at 6:30 pm. But given S swimming lesson and tons of traffic on the way home i reached only at 5:45 and that gave me very less time to do this complex turnip carving which i had never done before. Basically you have to cut off the head of the turnip, scoop out the inside and make it nearly hollow, carve out designs on the outside, then cut holes on the top so you can out thin ropes through it which the child can use to hold the lantern (the turnip with the candle inside). Well my turnip was not so well hollowed out, and consequently the skin was too thick to carve out any great decorations and the the whole lantern was too heavy for A to hold so I had to carry it instead. So it did not look anything like the beautiful lanterns you can see in the blogpost above! And to top if off A was really tired after sitting through S swimming class, then doing the pumpkin carving with me and she made me carry her for half the procession. I  finally gave up halfway because i could not carry her, a heavy turnip and a big diaper bag! Still it was fun and I wanted to do some activity for A and with her. The other day i went to do cooking at S school and she told A about it and A got very upset and insisted that i come and cook in her school. Which of course i cannot do as it is a creche and not a school. So now i can talk about this and tell her when she and i carved turnips together and walked in a procession. By the time we got home it was 7:30 and we were both exhausted!

Thursday : S had her ice skating lesson after school on Thursday, and after that there was a lantern walk in the woods at her school!!! It was 'optional' being after school hours but of course they had hyped it up so much in school and all her friend were going and she had been making her lantern in german class that we had to go. The ice skating class is close to her school so the plan was i would be back in school after the ice skating class at 5:30 and the hubby would come there to pick up A so I could go with S for her lantern walk. The school had warned that since we were going into the woods it wouldn't be easy with a stroller. But  there was bad traffic that day and the hubby reached the school only at 6 pm by which time i was nearly 1/2 way done with the walk. In the end it wasn't so bad since I took the stroller for A and the track wasn't that terrible. But both girls were freezing by the end of the walk, it was quite cold and we were all pretty tired when we got home. But the walk was a nice experience for S, she lit the lantern she had made in school and carried it the whole way. in the woods the teacher lit a bonfire and the children sang German songs and ate bread (which they had baked in school, was most yucky!) and had fun. On the way back the candle inside our lantern went off so S had to use her torchlight.

Friday : In the morning a class mom came over and we cut out the Diwali craft we are going to do at S school next week,.Again after school another activity for S, she had a birthday party of one of her classmates to attend. The people here i notice in general are quite fussy about only the child invited attending and not the siblings of the invitee (back home of course we would say the more the merrier) and i did not know the mom that well so i could not impose A on her. So after ferrying S to the party i put A in her stroller and wondered what i would do for the next 2 hours in this cold weather - it was too far to drive back home and come back. Luckily the party was in a hotel which had an ice skating rink and playground below. A did not want to go on the polar bears on the ice skating rink but when we went to the playground we found two other of the class moms with their younger ones. So these three played together for quite a while, we had a cup of coffee at the bar (amazing view of the lake, and the ice skating rink all lit up, to be done at leisure one day without kids!) and then it was time to pick up S. S had a great time at the party- there was some clown to entertain them and when we reached up the children had balloon swords and were fighting with each other. By the time we wound up it was 6:30 and we were supposed to be at a friend's place for dinner at 7 pm, But it was next door to the party place and made no sense to drive all the way home and back, so we just went over for dinner. The kids slept early so we could have a nice conversation over wine for a change!

Saturday : We DID NOTHING !!!! Basically recovering from the week of activity

Sunday : We had a Diwali potluck at a friend;s place. That went on from 12:30 pm till 7 pm! But good friends, teen patti and dumb charades. Good fun. And the kids played kids dumb charades too, watched too much TV and played too much I Pad!

The week was just too exhausting. And this is with two kids and me not working. Wonder what will happen when A has her own activities or if i get a job! Anyway Happy Diwali for now,  have a great year!

They say the darndest things

Why are kids so brutally honest. I was at the receiving end of it twice in the last week.
The first time we were at a friend's place and she had made aloo paratha for all the kids. It was getting late, so as soon as S finished one i told her we had to leave. She wanted another, so i said we'll go back home and I'l make one for you. And she said " You don't make it as nicely as H aunty!"
And then a few days after that, i decided to make cookies at home. One of S friend's mom had come into school and baked cookies with the children and S loved the cookies and kept asking when we can bake. And my sis in law had given us these really cute cookie cutter shapes and baking utensils for the kids which i wanted to use. I bought the Betty Crocker recipe where all you really need to do is add water and oil, but i managed to screw that up as well by keeping the cookies in the oven for too long and it became too crisp. S ate one and said its not as nice as the one N's mom made. Moreover when i asked her if she wants to bake cookies again a few days later she said no ! :(
I hope she always retains her honesty!

Autumn vacation fillers

So S' autumn vacation rolled in- why does this school have so many holidays!!! And the hubby had threatened us with No vacation plans since he was all of out of leave. To be fair we had holidayed quite a bit this year, but with all of S classmates travelling out this week (so no playdates) and the weather not being that great i was not too enthused with having S home for 10 days and not going anywhere.
But luckily the hubby managed to do some jugaad and we went to Italy for 5 days.
First was Pisa. The leaning tower really does lean! The square where the leaning tower is located is beautiful, green grass and contrasting white buildings- there was the leaning tower, a cathedral and a musuem. The cathedral is beautiful from inside- large stained glass windows, and a unuque marble gazebo in the middle with statues of lions being killed. The hubby went up the leaning tower- children below 8 were not allowed so i took the girls to the Mcdonalds located very conveniently outside the square and they had their staple lunch of chicken nuggest and fries while the hubby did the climb. We could then go for a lunch to a place where we didn't have to worry about kiddie food and after much research on the internet we found a restaurant which was walking distance which promised authentic Tuscan food, but it was terrible and i got food poisoning in the evening!
Other than the leaning tower and adjoining square there really isn't much to do in Pisa, so we drove to Florence, only an hour away and went to the Accademia where we saw the original statue of David. It's an amazing sculpture - huge and the attention to detail is awesome- we could see the veins popping on his neck , and the tense muscles on his arms. Well worth the long wait outside!
The next day we drove to Rimini- a beach town on the other side of Italy. It was through hilly mountains and the drive took much longer than we had expected (i think we're spoilt now by the extensive tunnel system in Switzerland) and we reached only in the late afternoon. Our hotel was right by the beach so we immediately headed out to the beach. It was too cold to go in the water (it was off season by 2 weeks) but it was sunny and we had fun building sand castles, playing the playground by the sea and walking along the shore collecting pebbles.  We spent two more lazy days at Rimini- beach in the morning, a heavy Indian lunch at the restaurant we discovered near the hotel, long afternoon siestas, evening at the hotel pool/back at the beach and late night walks eating gelato. The gelato was just too yum, the hubby, S and I hogged on them. My favourite was the biscotti flavour. Creamy chocolate ice cream with bits of biscuits in it. Heaven!
After returning to Zurich, we were lucky to have good weather. 5 continuous days of sunshine. No getting up early in the morning, rush to school (ok A still had school but we woke up just in time for her not to be horrendously late), pick up, activity etc. Just relaxing at home, parks in the evening- we did 3 parks in 3 days- Artergut, Sonnenberg and Zurichhorn, swimming over the weekend, ice creams by the lake. We even squeezed in visiting a Durga Puja pandal , something we had not even done in Mumbai. The last two days of holidays were again action packed. One day we went to the Zoo with a friend and her son- A had full day school then and i took S alone and it was so much fun to be able to spend quality alone time with S (i'm thinking about taking S out from school some Mondays when A is in school to spend some alone time with her) before my friend landed up. Then S and my friend's son went beserk-climbing rocks, jumping from the top, going on the highest slides and running all over the place. S had so much fun playing that she agreed to stay back with my friend and her son while i went ot pick up A which was a first since she does not usually stay with anyone unless she's met them at least some 10 times, and this friend (actually a relative who has moved here) she's met only twice! After i picked up A and went back we saw more animals- we spent a long time at every cage, because the kids insisted on playing at any interesting thing around, and we got to see stuff which we hadn't noticed earlier. In the cat enclosure, the zoo keeper hid four mice during feeding time and we saw the cat hunting for the mice. The cat kept sniffing and walking around, and finally figured out it had to climb a high perch and look under  a rock to find one mouse-was amazing! We also got to see a baby monkey riding on the back of its mom/dad and that was really cute. The kids were quite amused to see one of the goats sniffing the butt of another goat, but luckily the goats didn't do much else!
The last day we had a playdate with S friend who was back from her holiday, and after that we went over to my friend's place in the evening where S was fed aloo paratha which she claimed loudly was so much better than the one I made. I guess kids are too honest!!

And finally i leave you with a photo of what the girls have been upto with their dad who they go to for their craft time of the day. This is a conference of herbivore and carnivore dinosaurs, built from pieces sourced from Migros (the grocery shop gives small packets of dinosaur pieces for every 10 CHF spent and we had a big collection of these which they kept pestering me to make with them!)

He did, she did

Do you remember the movie, He said, she said when a couple talked about their relationship differently, each from their point of view. Well recently the hubby and I had a similar situation.
We  both dropped a pot of yoghurt while shopping (separately) and it burst and leaked on the floor.

What I did : Got some tissues, wiped up the mess, covered the yogurt in a packet and went to the checkout counter, apologised for the remaining mess and paid for the (half empty) pot of yogurt.

What the hubby did : Got a sales assistant (am surprised he managed to locate someone in this place considering they understaff every place) and complained that they kept damaged pots of yoghurt which burst when they fell slightly, handed them the half empty pot of yoghurt and walked away.

Guess you know who is the aggressive person in marketing and who is the risk averse person in risk!

Double date

Don't be misled by the title. The only dating in our life is "playdates" for the children. The hubby and I can only go out on dates  when the parents are here since S and A don't stay with a babysitter, or when we are visiting India together.
So anyway last week I had a funny situation. In the morning A had a playdate with a friend's daughter. We met at the park and both kids first ignored each other, then played together in the sand, and finally ran around together in the park.
And in the evening, we had a playdate for S. I picked up her friend after school and brought her home and we again went to the park after the kids had some food and sugar in them.
I feel like my life is all about parks and playdates now !

New deed for the day

Do you remember the episode in Friends where Ross says his resolution is to do a new thing everyday. Well i don't have any such resolution, but here is my new deed for the week. I applied for a job in German! The entire online application form was in German and with my little German knowledge and largely Google translate I filled in the form and submitted it. My CV is in English though! I hope I haven't filled in something incorrectly, like i was fired from my previous job or something like that. Keep fingers crossed!

Class moms and other responsibilities

So this year I've again signed up to be class mom for S class. Thought about it and why not. Gives me a good opportunity to be more involved in what S is doing at school. So last week was all about coffee mornings (got to hear some good gossip) and emails asking parents to share information about themselves. I found it really strange that the teacher itself did not have the email id of one of the parents- the nanny drops and picks up the child from school and the nanny only speaks Greek and Russian. The only way i could communicate with the parent was to put a note into the child's bag to which i did not get a reply of course!
This week was more of the fun stuff. I did cooking with the class along with one of the other moms. We had originally planned to make pizza- the other mom being Italian and me not contributing any ideas of my own on cooking but in the last minute we decided to go for something more healthy and made cracker -fruit faces. The recipe - round rice crackers, vanilla yoghurt to smear the cracker with (honey instead if any of the kids are milk intolerant), berries for the eyes, chocolate buttons for the nose, apple slice for the mouth/ squeezed honey for the mouth and strawberries for the ears.
Lots of fun for the kids to make, much licking of the vanilla yoghurt from the box, and eating of the chocolate buttons but each kid was enthu to make 2 at least, and they got to eat it in their snack time. S told me she ate only 1, i wonder what happened to all the remaining ones!!

A long break

A long break from blogging, partly forced by the computer at my parent's place firewalling all blogs!! So could not access or update this blog or read any of the other blogs i usually do.
Much has happened in the last two months.
Passed my driving test - yippee. Was a major effort. First the decision whether to take it on my manual car, or on the teacher's easier automatic one. She was pushing me for the automatic one saying its easier and the intstructor would not get distracted by poor changing of gears, stalling of the car while starting etc. But i finally decided to go with my own car, because I've now been driving it for the last year, and also mostly becasue i thought i would need at least 10-15 classes to get used to the automatic and te instructor was so annoying i didnt think i could do it. We had a big fight one day and i was on the verge of packing it in, when visions of me having to wait in the bus stop at S school in the snow appeared and i swallowed my pride and agreed with what she said! Anyway the perseverance paid off, the test was relatively easier as the instructor had been much stricter, and i also ended up practising on my own on the test roads quite a bit. And one benefit from putting up with the driving lessons is that i can finally drive on the motorway now. I tried practising with the hubby, but my speed was stuck at 90 km (the speed limit is 120 km here) and he finally got so irriated he tried to push my foot on the accelerator. Then the first time i went on the motorway with the instructor she asked me to take the first exit and said if i continue driving at that speed we will be killed as the people expect you to drive at 120 km here. She finally taught me a trick which worked for me. Concentrate on some point far in the horizon while dirving and not on the car right in front of you and relax, then automatically the speed will increase. It worked, and i eneded up even at 130 km and had to slow down! And luckily mr bro's visit happend just before the test and we ended up driving on the motorway quite a bit - we needed two cars to fit the families and i volunteered to drive so i can get some practise. The bro was getting quite irritated i could imagine-he drives a sports car  and here i was driving my car very hesitantly way below the speed limit hesitiating to overtake a truck which was also some 20 km below the speed limit. Anwyay all's well. Am now licensed to drive in Switzerland and here i come!!

We had a nice holiday in India. Just the kids and me. The hubby could not take so much leave. 3 weeks of pampering at my parents house with luxuries of someone else cooking and cleaning and driving. And spending time with my parents. The kids loved it- they keep asking when we are going back. They would wake up in the morning and go off to their Ajja and Ajji and when i would surface after a long lie in they would already have been to feed the dogs, have had their milk and barely glance my way when i walk in. I signed up S for swimming lessons so most of the mornings would go in that, and in the evenings we would go to the park, eat corn (glad to say the girls have inherited the love of roasted corn!) play downstairs on the cycles. I managed to catch up with an old friend whom i had not met in years and that was great fun. Her kids are the same age as S and they got along really well. Even now S talks about them. We spent a night at their place and S and A played with the kids all evening, and when we finally got the kids to sleep then my friend and I chatted till late at night over beers, remeniscent of our early working years (seems like a century ago now). My bro and his family were also in Bangalore for the last week and it was great fun for the girls to play with their cousins. A especially was cuddled and pampered by all, being the youngest and I had quite a tough time back in Zurich getting her used to only me! S played cricket with them, hung out in the park with them, and even built a tent with them at home. We hogged on yummy home food and Chinese and Indian food in teh restaurants. Even the pizzas taste better. S declared that the Margerita thin crust pizza from Dominos was the best she's ever written and why don;t we get them in Zurich. We flew down to Hyderabad for 3 days to spend time with the in laws. The girls enjoyed playing in the garden and played hide and seek everytime they could get me or their Ajji to come and play with them. Of course their concept of hide and seek is very different- S gets upset if we don't find her immediately and comes looking for us, and A wants someone to hide with her :). We also managed to catch up with an old friend, and they also have a dog, so S was very insistent after the holiday that when we move into a house we should also get a dog. Only when you can look after them girls!! Miss the parents and home terribly. S was very upset when we left and cried a lot at the airport and on the flight. Daily she asks when we are going back and when Ajja and Ajji are coming. A also once in a while will say "I miss Ajji and Ajja". Me too kid.

My bro and his family visited us in Zurich in early July (just before the India trip). Was great fun, I feel so strongly that you should have cousins to grow up with, or someone you can meet every 6 months or so at least. My bro has two boys who are 9 and 10 and they literelly babysat the girls- S and A didn't need us around while their elder brother were there! We went out quite a bit- Interlaken for the day (took the HarderKulm bahn upto the top of the hill and had a lunch overlooking the two lakes and Eiger, Monk, Jungfrau!; and managed to also squeeze in Trammelback falls); Atzmannig - for the sled ride and rope walking; Appenzeller cheese factory and St Gallen, and also managed to squeeze in the Zoo and some swimming. Not to mention overeating and ice cream everywhere. Sometimes i feel my life is a perpertual holiday.

After my bro's visit we quickly did a 4 day trip to Venice- will cover that in detail in the next blog, and after the India trip we did a week's holiday at Norway. Both were beautiful in very different ways and that's the charm i guess of living here- a few hours by road/flight and you can see so many different kinds of beautiful places.

S is now at full day school. Her school timings are 8:30-3:15. I personally think its too long for a 41/2 year old, but other kids have been doing it last year as well. And they mostly play and have their rest/sleep time so i guess its ok. S best friend left in the holidays and there have been some tears while she's been getting used to the big school (last year she was in a different location which housed only the early years 1 batch of 30 kids, much smaller, so much more fun!), the long timings, new teacher. Hoping she settles soon. A, touchwood settled back in her daycare and now says the names of the children in the daycare as her friends! I'm having to get up much earlier in the morning (around 6:15) to prepare S lunch for school, give the girls some breakfast, and get all out of the house by 8 am, so nowadays I've been sleeping much earlier also. I made a resolution to iron the kids clothes weekly in advance, and make a menu of food in advance but so far still not happened. Last weekend we went to Bellagio for the weekend so I had some excuse, but this weekend we've been very much here, so no excuse. Well I'm here updating my blog instead so that's a good excuse! Hope to be more regular now.

Life as an expat : lesson 1

Never get too comfortable

And here i thought my routine is finally settled after a full year here. S has a best friend at school. I'm good friends with her mom. We're like minded, stay close to each other (maybe car pooling next year!) and the kids spend at least 2-3 days every week together. And we moms get to do our nights out/shoppping/watching movies etc. And now they have to go and move in July.

Then my book club. I didn't know any of the people there. And they all live so far away- average 20 kms away. Finally plucked up the courage to drive there, coordinated with the hubby that he is not travelling on the days of the book club. Studiously read all the books. Even managed an afternoon meeting with S over at above friend's place and A sleeping in the pram. And now looks like its on the verge of being disbanded since 5 of the 9 moms are moving abroad!!

And keeping fingers crossed for my driving test on July 9th. Things look bad if i were to fail. S school and A's playgroup are not well connected by public transport and it would take 3 times the time to manage the current schedule we have. Am giving the car for repair on Monday and will be car less on Monday and Tuesday and already fretting. On Monday we have S ballet class after which we pick up A from playgroup. It's not possible to manage that without the car so I have to request a change in the ballet class timings to a later class and request to pick up A earlier. Then walk 1.6 km with both kids from A's school and take a train to reach the ballet class. As against 10 mins of drive time. Sigh i think we'll stop all activities and hibernate at home if i fail. Why do they have different driving standards in every country. They should give a reprieve to expats.

And finally the language. Now its been nearly 9 months of German classes, twice a week. So when i went to my neighbour's house for tea i very confidently started the conversation in German thinking i was well prepared. And she was very impressed that i'm making the effort and continued the whole evening in german. I could figure out every other word and nodded politely and tried to respond in coherent sentences which i hoped were not too tangential from what she'd just said!

Lesson learnt. Be on your toes always..

Road trip : Chamonix Mont Blanc and back home

The third and final leg of our road trip was Chamonix Mont Blanc. The hubby figured it was some halfway between Barcelona and Zurich and we would have anyway wanted to go and see Mont Blanc  at some point so we thought we might as well do it in this trip.

The drive

But it turned out to be quite the anticlimax to what was a wonderful holiday. Firstly it was snowing and it felt really funny to drive from sandy beaches to foggy snowy mountains in one day. Secondly we were ill prepared for the snow as we didn't have our ski jackets- i thought it was a beach holiday! The only person who had got their ski jacket along was S and she lost it in Nice. Then it was too foggy for us to actually get a decent view of Mont Blanc. And finally they told us A was too young to take the cable car to the top of Monta Blanc and we should come back when she's 4. So we cut short our trip by one day and spend only one night at Chamonix and drove back to Zurich the next day.

Our best view of Mont Blanc!

The highlights of Chamonix for me were- its a beautiful town and on a bright sunny day the view would be just awesome. The drive was beautiful and the scenery at every curve breathtaking. The food was the best i had on the trip. The veg food that is. The hotel made a mean pasta and the cafe where we had our breakfast had an awesome vegetable pannini.

On our drive back we stopped at a restaurant near Gruyere. Yummy fondue for lunch and the kids played in a park overlooking a lake. There was a collection of cow statues at the restaurant- each sponsored by some company. Pretty interesting.

The Nestle cow- the Cailler factory was nearby

And finally when we reached back home there was a rainbow waiting for us. Home sweet home!

Road trip 2: Barcelona

The second leg of our road trip was Barcelona. The drive from Nice to Barcelona was a looong one. The driving distance was about 700 km and it took us well over 9 hours because of the lunch/coffee breaks and some detours through country roads .
The country roads were beautiful though- we drove through the vineyards near Nimmes and every other km or so we would see a big vineyard and a castle/ chateau.
The girls were much better than i expected on the road trip. We were in two minds whether to buy DVDs for the backseat so that they could watch a movie or something if they are going to be cooped up in the car for such a long time. We decided against it because they would then ask for a movie every road trip we make- even if its a one hour one. The IPad and I Phone helped quite a bit, and they both got so addicted to it that i had to ban it at home for 2 weeks on our return!


I loved Barcelona. I found it really vibrant and beautiful. Full of people, full of energy, so many things going on and so many beautiful things to see.


The first day in the city we started off at the Picasso musuem -  Museu Picasso. The musuem has one of the most extensive collections of artworks by  Picasso. It was Picasso's wish that an exclusive museum dedicated to his works be set up in Barcelone where he spent his youth and which shaped his art career to a large extent. But I was disappointed not to find any of his Cubism paintings, and would recommend a visit only to major Picasso enthusiasts. We did manage to buy some nice wine glasses with artwork on them from a shop next to the museum though! The musuem is in the centre of the city and we walked through the city after. 


We started with the bakery next door and feasted on the Churros. (A churro, sometimes referred to as a Spanish doughnut, is a fried-dough pastry snack. They are  eaten for breakfast dipped in hot chocolate or café con leche.)

Doesn't it look yum! Tasted absolutely yummy as well. S and I were quickly addicted to them. After trying them at the bakery we found that the morning buffet at our hotel also had Churros so it was mainly that for the next three mornings!

After a leisurely tapas lunch we headed out for a stroll on the Ramblas, which is a pedestrian shopping road in the middle of the city. Many artists drawing portraits, caricatures, selling paintings etc. Road side performances, people dressed up as statues, lots of things to gawk at and a nice leisurely walk. 

Next the aquarium which was excelllent. The attraction was a 180 degree view of the fish. You stand on a level escalator and that takes you literally through the fish tank. There are fish on both sides and on top. We'd seen it in Singapore as well but this was much longer and the first time S was seeing it and she found it totally captivating. We could see the underside of the sharks,  sharks swimming right next to us. There was also a tank where you could stroke the sting rays and a tunnel to go inside the tank so you could see them swimming up close. Many children interactive activities in the aquarium and one could easily spend half the day there. 

At the port near the aquarim

Our reflection on the top mirror at the entrance to the aquarium

I want to touch the fish..

Somehow we were not tired after all these activities so we headed out to the Fontana Magica which is the musical lit fountains in Barcelona. Beautiful though we ended up catching only the end of it


The next day we spent at the hotel beach. We  were again lucky with our hotel as the view from the balcony was amazing. It overlooked a water body - the hotel wing was built around the water body which then stretched out to the sea. After a leisurely breakfast we set out to the beach, sand toys in hand. It was too chilly for me and A in the water but S and the hubby got in. A was busy with her sand toys and then S was busy picking up sea shells. It got too hot for us by afternoon so we managed a quick siesta and then headed back to the beach again in the evening. We went to a seaside tapas place on the beach for dinner. There were many seafood delights for the hubby but only potato and fried chillies for me !

On the third day we were back in Barcelona. We were unlucky at the Park Guell which has the interesting structures by Gaudi (http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/gaudi/park-guell.html). The park was overcrowded as the Easter crowd had picked up and we didnt get any parking. So the hubby and i took turns to go and have a quick look around. Interesting stuff, would have been fun with the kids. We then headed to the city centre and S insisted on going on the Disney carnival set up there. She went on the carousel, the fast merry go round with cars (A was not so thrilled) and the bouncy castle and was most reluctant to leave.

Lunch was again tapas and i was ready to throw my hat in- only potatoes and chillies for the vegetarians and i was even willing to have the bland spaghetti and tomato sauce popular in Switzerland. In the afternoon we drove to Montjuic mountain where there's a lovely fort with an amazing view of Barcelona city. The kids were asleep in the car so again the hubby and i took turns to go into the fort.

The carousel where S was sprayed with glitter on the top!

View of Barcelona from Montjuic mountain

 S unfortunately woke up with a earache so we spent the evening walking around Ramblas looking for a hospital (the pharmacy would not prescribe any drugs without a doctor's prescription and unfortunately the directions they gave for the hospita were wrong so we spend quite some time walking up and down looking for a hospital!) When we got back to the hotel we went to the ayurvedic doctor there who looked at her ear and said there was no problem that some warm food and a good sleep would not cure. And it did, so next day we were fit to be off on the final leg of our journey to Charmonix, Mont Blanc.

Such elaborate planning for a simple dinner

So finally we hosted our first proper dinner party last night. We've had people over before but it was really informal and  basically we would just feed them what we were eating or make dosas which are a big hit! The Diwali party last years was a potluck and my contribution was curd rice so that doesn't count.

So the entire morning went in cleaning the house. It didn't help that it coincided with the shifting of S bed and toys into her bedroom and shifting of the study table and book case into the dining room. Much lugging and pushing and carrying of books and toys and backbreaking work spilling over most of the day.
And the food planning was quite exhaustive for me. I've always relied on my cook, or else ordered from outside so planning starters and main course, including stuff for children was quite a challenge.

So the menu turned out as follows
Starters: Vegetable puffs, Egg puffs (yes i made these myself. But it's not a big deal, you get the puff dough here so you just need to roll it out, make the inside stuffing, fold it and bung it into the oven).
Main course: Chicken biryani (made by the hubby), Bhindi raita to go with the chicken biryani, Vegetarian lasagne, and Bisibelebath
Desserts: No energy for this so it was just plain simple ice cream. That's the one good thing about Zurich, the ice creams are so good here you can never go wrong with them. Actually the cakes and ice creams have to be good here, none of the other food is!

The party was fun and it didn't turn out to be that tiring. The kids enjoyed playing together,  and kept running around the house and when it was getting late and they were getting cranky it was the I Pad to the rescue. It was so funny hearing their conversation. They are discussing what games they have on their IPad and they are 4 years old. Its like, I have this on my IPad and I have this on mine. Firstly it's not their I Pad! and secondly when i was growing up it was more like my pencil is sharper than yours or my pencil box has a shiny sticker. These kids these days...

All grown up

My little baby is growing up. And it feels so fast. First it was the playdates without me. Earlier when we were at her friend's place and I had to go and pick A up from her school then S would insist on coming along with me. Now she happily asks to stay with her friend. The other day i had to go for a couple of hours to my book club meeting in the middle of the day and we were in the park with her friend and she said she didn't want to come with me and that i could pick her up from her friend's house after.
And then the afternoon naps. They are more or less gone. During the week there's no time for them and sometimes if I'm lazy in the weekend I get her to take a small nap as well. But it's mostly off to sleep at 8:30 -9 pm at night, straight till 7 in the morning.
And now she's finally asked for her own room. Her two good friends have their own room and when she saw it in their house she also starting ask for her own room. So finally over the weekend we moved her car bed out of our room and into the study. shifted the study stuff to the dining room and brought the toys to her bedroom so now she has her own room where she sleeps. And fingers crossed she's started going to sleep by herself in her room and is very excited about it. She comes to our room in the morning, but that's fine for now. I thought she would intially get upset about A continuting to sleep with us but she's cool about it.
Sigh how quickly time goes by...from August she'll be in school from 8:30 to 3:15 everyday. I still have A for company though...:)

Road trip : Nice, Monte Carlo

In April we took off for a ten day, 3000 km road trip through Italy, France and Spain. Our first stop was Nice- about a 6 hour drive from Zurich. We left early to avoid the rush at the Gotthard tunnel, caught breakfast on the way and reached Nice in time for lunch. Never mind that we were too late for any restaurant and had to finally make do with Macdonalds and can you believe it the Mac in france has no veggie burger! Am spoilt after Zurich.

The day we reached Nice was a rainy day so we just walked about a bit on the promenade, the girls picked up some pebbles, we walked through the market and headed back to the hotel. The best part about Nice was our hotel- it had a lovely view of the Azure coast, we were right next to the lookout point with  a panoramic view of the coast, and they had upgraded us to a suite as the hotel was underbooked (possibly due to the rains!).

View from the room














The next day we had better luck with the weather and we set off for Juan Le Pin (in Antibes) which was the closest sandy beach. The water was too cold for the girls to venture in though the hubby had a good swim. I just lay on the sand and looked out at the beautiful sea while the girls were busy with their sand toys.

After an afternoon siesta back in our Nice hotel we set off for Monte Carlo in the evening. Aren't the siestas the best part of a vacation!

The drive is just beautiful. Through the mountains, overlooking the sea and the small islands. The curves are quite steep though, it must be really exciting during the Grand Prix (its an F1 track).














We just walked around the city a bit,  and went for dinner to a restaurant Le Penede in Cap D'ail. It was highly recommended, and the location was amazing. You had to drive through some isloated roads in the pitch dark and finally when you think you have reached the back of beyond you come across the restaurant at the tip of the sea with the sea surrounding you all around.

We rounded off the evening with a bottle of wine on the balcony of our hotel room, looking at the  moonlight shining on the sea. Suddenly images of the book Rebecca with the husband drowning Rebecca in a moonlit sea came to mind, don't ask me why!

March update on NY resolutions

A quick and dirty one
1. Sleeping by 12 : Not happening. Addicted to The Good Wife series. Watching Series 1 on DVD. When not watching TV surfing net. Not able to sleep before 1.

2. Cooking new dish a week : Ok. Made palak dal, vegetable puffs this month.

3. One hour with the kids daily: Ok. We had a lot of park outings in March as the weather was glorious. Daily 2-3 hours in Zurichhorn park with S cycling around with her friends, and then S and A playing in the playground with everyone. Did not get much activities done (meaning letters and numbers with S) but there's time for there when they grow up.

4. Exercise 4 times a week: This is down to 3 and manageable only at 3.

5. A book a month: Reading Sea of Poppies now. Have recommended it to my Book club as the May book but now on reading it am wondering if the high number of Hindi words are going to be a problem. Great book nonetheless.

Berne

In March we had some good weather (sadly we were deceived that spring was here and its now been raining and cloudy continuously for three weeks!) and we decided to restart our weekend drives out.
First on our list was Bern. Can't live somewhere and not go to the capital city right?
Its only a 11/2 hours drive so we just decided in the morning and set out. We decided to avoid the historical sites and city centre and just do some fun kiddie things. Search on tripadvisor on the drive there and we were set. Seriously what did people do before internet? Same way how did people drive without GPS. Alas we are becoming a highly machine dependent society (Terminator series i hear you) but now i'm just rambling.
We started at the Bear Park in Berne. The city and canton gets its name from the Bears (Berne means bear in Swiss German) and the symbol on the Berne flag is a red bear. They used to keep bears in the city centre in a pit but sometime ago it was moved to a bear park. So we first went to the bear park. I was expecting many bears but there were only there but it was in a beautiful setting by a river bend and you could get quite close to the bears and see what they were doing of course they were behind a fence). There were steps leading to the river and we could see people jogging along the river.

After the bear park we went to Gurter Park which is a hilltop park providing a panoramic view of Berne. The journey was highly thrilling as our GPS took as all the way to the top of the park, but when we reached there we realised there were no other cars there and when we asked a person in the restaurant about the car park he looked shocked and said driving there was forbidden! and we should immediately drive back down unless we want to get caught by the police and pay a huge fine. We slowly drove down back and about 4 km down saw a sign we had missed which meant no entry for cars! damn the GPS. We were speculating that if we put Mt. Titlis on the GPS it'll probably show us a path to drive to the top!

Anyway we cautiously drove to the parking of the Gurter Bahn which is a funicular taking you to the top of Gurter park, alternative is to trek up, but with two whiny kids we took the easy option out. We saw many mountain bikers using the Bahn, they were taking their cycles up and cycling down the hill. The people here are highly sporty. Its all skiing and snowboarding in the winter, and as soon as the snow melts on the hills its mountain biking, running, cycling and trekking. I'm inspired.

The park on top is lovely. There was a train for the kids- their first solo trip. I did not want to sit again on a toy train. S was fine but A kept crying whenever she saw us. There was a wooden tower for S and the hubby to climb, and a playground with very different equipment (one section had levers and pulleys for kids to play with and figure out how things move in different ways) to keep S busy. We were too late for the restauarant so we had to settle for the usual spaghetti/fries/chicken nuggets in the self service restauarant. I tell you, every place here has a kids section and there are always fries available.

We took the bahn back down and were home by 7 pm. Unfortunately we haven't been able to do any other weekend trips out as the weather has been awful but keeping fingers crossed. Next post on our Barcelona trip. We drove there- well the hubby did- the total road trip was 3000 km and we had sunny beaches and snow in the mountains in the same trip!

S first unsupervised playdate!

My little baby is growing up! S had her first unsupervised playdate today. By unsupervised I mean I wasn't there- the other mother was watching both the kids. We had all gone to the park together after school and the kids were cycling around/playing in the playground and I told S that we had to leave (I've got red eye and was feeling really tired and A was quite cranky) after a couple of hours. S said she wanted to continue.

So her friend's mom kindly volunteered to take S home with her so that she could continue playing with her friend there while I took A home and had an afternoon nap. I jumped at the chance. All the best to her managing two of them!

But it wasn't so bad. Firstly S is really comfortable with her friend and her friend's mom as we hang around every other day. Secondly her house is only about a 5 mins drive from my house so she knew that if she got tired/fussy they could call me and I would be there. And the weather was awesome and they have a lovely garden which extends into a meadow kind of place and the girls were happy running around there. So much so that S refused to come home when i had to pick her up!

Another first was me writing a letter to the police (yes you read that right) explaining that i had a parking permit valid for parking in a particular place and could they please consider reversing the fine they had levied on me. Really felt odd writing a letter to the police!

February update on NY resolutions

1. Reading one book at least a month. Going well. Read Cinderella Syndrome for the book club (had to skype in for the discussion as the hubby was travelling!), and halfway through Sea of Poppies which has been highly recomended

2. Exercising 4 times a week : Not so good. Couple of weeks I could exercise only once/twice a weel. There was S ski break and she was home for 10 days and the hubby had also taken the week off so we ended up doing a lot of skiing and other things that week, and during the end of the month both kids were ill and home for a week, so the schedule went completely off. On the positive I can parallel ski now (i have to learn to break though so still on the baby slopes)

3. Making one new dish a month : Going well. Made a Pakistani recipe for bhaingan masala, channa dal with dhoodhi and idlis from scratch (and they were edible). Palak dal also. And enchilladas. Of course that mainly consisted of buying all the Mexican ingredients and bunging them in the oven , but its a start!

4. One hour a day with the kids: Going well. This month I got a lot of 'activity' time with S. This consists of her doing something from her 'activity books of stickers/alphabets/numbers' and A trying to steal her pen from her. Outside activities of craft at the Thursday playgroup. Friday swiming and Saturday ballet continue. Sunday is rest time for me and the hubby's turn to entertain the kids. We recently did the dinosaur musuem (small but very informative) and I did the winter zoo (saw a lovely penguin walk) when the hubby was travelling. This month i left the kids with the husband for a day when i went to London to visit a friend who'd had a baby. And they survived! And he survived! Movies, evenings out, days out, here i come!

5. Sleeping by 12 midnight. Going awfully. As can be seen by the time of this post. 12:25 am! The kids are sleeping early and I've gotten into this bad habit of watching TV till date. Gotta see The Good Wife, Desperate Housewives and 2 and 1./2 Men, or Friends on DVD. And this also leads to midnight snacking. Have to break both these habits soon.

And on the advice of a good friend am adding a new resolution for March. Reading at least 20 mins of financial related stuff a day. since I'm making my resume and thinking of looking for a job, my friend suggested i should get back in touch with the financial world so i don;t look like a complete dud if i get an interview call. But that's for March!

A feeling of being lost

I don't know what's come over me the last few weeks. But I'm suddenly overcome by a sensation of feeling lost. Maybe its because the hubby has been travelling a lot. Every week he's out on Monday and back on Friday and it's just me and the kids for the whole week. Maybe its because its been so non structured for the last few weeks, firstly with S's February 10 day break from school, and recently with both kids being unwell (of course with the hubby travelling). The days just slip by, and at the end of the day I'm wondering what happened, what did I do?

I don't know if its to do with not working. But it's just a funny sensation of there not being an end goal in sight, and me just plodding around aimlessly.

There's so many questions. Is S school good enough. She's not learning anything, and if we go back to India after 2 years she'll be so much behind. Should i go back to work? What about A then?

Maybe its because I've always really drifted along in life, aided with a conviction that things will work out. But suddenly so many things are out of my hands I really don't know where things are going.

Happy birthday lovies

Last month was S and A's birthdays. Sounds like a cliche but i can't believe how time flies by and how much they've grown.

S you are so much more independent now. You eat by yourself, you dress by yourself (and have already started having your favourites and non-favourites), you wave goodbye happily to me at school, and have already started asking when you can stay back for lunch at school. You have a best friend K, and the both of you have so much fun together and also fight so much together, you are like an old married couple as K's mom puts it! But you love to draw cards for K, call her home for a playdate and go to her house and play and generally hang around together. This year you've started so many new things. Swimming classes (you love splashing around in the water and are usually quite sporting to try the things the coach asks you to), skiing classes (not so much of a hit that we had to stop after the first three classes, maybe next year?), and ballet classes (you do love this, and will readily gulp down your milk to be in time for your ballet class). Actually the threat of no swimming class this week, or no ballet class this week helps to get you to do things much faster!

You love your little sister A so much. On the days she is in school without you, you are happy at home but seem a little lost. And the minute she's back you two are running around, playing one of your make up games or generally bouncing around. You like to make up games for you and A to play together, and keep telling her what to do and what not to do. Some of the times she readily listens to you, and some of the times she just does what she wants. And oh the fights. They've already started. A must have the book/toy you are playing with immediately and vice versa. Usually you are a sweetie and hand it over to A (after a fuss and grumble to me) but sometimes you stand your ground and then we have to hear A howl for the next 10 mins! Of course the minute you give it to her, she'll just throw it on the ground and walk away, it's all power play you see. But you are so protective of A, when you play in the park together, or are out together anywhere you always look out for her, and when she's grumpy or cranky you try to cheer her up. I hope you two remain like this always.

You love books and can never get enough of being read to. You like to sit by yourself and see the pictures in the books (and pretend read it!) and you have an amazing memory- sometimes when I skip over some of the sentences hoping to shorten the 5 stories i have to read in the night to you, you always catch me out! You still enjoy jigsaw puzzles and that is the favourite thing for us to get you. You've started enjoying board games (finally i have a partner in crime) and want to play kids dumb charades any time your friends come over for a play date.

You love to play in the snow and make snowballs and throw it at us. Sledding and skiing is not much of a hit with you, but you are happy being out in the cold.

You surprise me with your maturity sometimes. You love your pink toys, and when i picked up a glittery pink mobile toy for you you asked me to put it back since you already had one. And when i started the no TV for dinner rule, you agreed for it with no fuss. I'm sorry i lose my temper sometimes and shout for the silliest of things, its just in my nature to always set the bar higher for you and expect you to reach it. I love you sweetie. I'm still not willing to put you in the afternoon session in school everyday. From August you'll be at school the whole day anyway and I want to treasure these next few months together as much as possible.

A you're now a girl with your own mind. You want to eat what Akka (big sister S) is eating, and play what she's playing. There's no fobbing you off with the smaller sister stuff. For the last few nights you've wanted to play intsy wintsy spider board game before sleeping and you'll sit with S and me and wait your turn, and roll the die and spin the wheel and play the board game like such a big girl. You have your favourite books- Barney, Lion King, Snuggle Bunny, Jungle Book, Bubbles, Tiger who came to Tea and you'll insist on having at least one of them read to you alongwith Akka's book selection at bed time. You love your school now (touch wood) and clap happily when i pull into the parking to drop you at school. You rarely cry when i drop you off and are usually cheerful when i pick you up. You're still not having your lunch at school properly (you stay for lunch once a week) but you're sleeping ok, playing well and are generally happy so I don't mind too much.

And you're started speaking so much, and suddenly. Of course a lot of it is " Akka hit me, Akka pinched me, Akka stamped on my hands" - remember the story of the wolf? I don't buy Akka hitting you so much. Especially when you say it in your sleep!

You are not a snow baby. You refuse to wear your gloves so you're freezing in the -20 degrees in the mountains so you don't enjoy it. But you love the water and happily splash around in the swimming pool after Akka's class. You know your favourite paddle pool in the swimming pool and keep asking to go to it.

You miss your daddy when he goes on his long travels now. Whenever i scold you or tell you not to do something, you'll go to the door and shout for daddy. Like he's going to come and rescue you from your evil mom! You already know and like your TV programs and movies (yes i know i'm a terrible mom for letting you watch so much tV) and like Dora, Ice Age and Jungle Book. But you won't cry if i put off the TV. You'll instead bounce on top of the sofa and climb all over us!

You love going to the park, and everytime we get ready to go out you'll ask whether we're going to the park. You don't like the swing (why? why?) but love the slide, the seesaw and the sand pit. Bubbles are your favourite and you want to do everything Akka does in the park, including climbing up high ropes in which you get stuck halfway.

You parrot everything your Akka says and its hilarious to hear S says "I found it first" and then hear you say "I found it first" ! I love you sweetheart, and i sometimes feel bad to see my baby grow up so fast.

Happy birthday dearies. Cheers to many more celebrations!!

Brrrr its cold

It's minus 15 degrees celsius as I write this. Helps that it's night time and i can snuggle in my bed. But it's not that better during the day. Today morning when i stepped out to drop the kids to school it was minus 11 degrees. I couldn't feel my nose when i was walking. And if you take your gloves off for even 5 seconds, you're hands get frozen immediately and turn red.

S loves the cold and the snow. She's ever eager to make snowballs, run around in the snow, do sledding etc. A finds it too cold. She gets irritated with her gloves and then finds it too cold to be outside. I've taught her to put her hands in her jacket pocket to avoid the cold, and I think she's internalised this pretty well. Today afternoon when i woke her up from her afternoon nap, she was trying to put her hands inside her shirt in her sleep, saying 'hands in pocket'.

The morning drop off to school is tiring. The car is parked outside and gets covered in snow. It takes me ten minutes to bundle the kids up, carry A to the car (it's slippery in the ice), put them in, scrape the snow off the car, and run the heater for 5 mins before the windscreen is clear enough for me to drive. Tuesdays and Thursdays are especially bad as I have to drop S to the main school where the car park is a 350 m walk from the school building and A finds it really cold to be out and about so early in the morning. Still there are younger kids braving it out so I should not complain.

The city is beautiful in the snow. Everything is covered in white and looks so serene and pretty. On the days the sun comes out is radiates off the snow and everything looks spectacular. I can't say I'm enjoying the cold, but its not as bad as I'd expected. We're planning to go tomorrow and buy a sled for S so that she can enjoy the snow more while it lasts.

Till then, back to my yummy hot chocolate..

Jan update on New Years resolutions

So here's the January update on my resolutions

1. Spend at least 1 hour quality time with the kids daily : This is going well. I try to do at least 1/2 hour to 45 mins activity with S daily, and play in the toyroom for another 15 mins. I include the Thursday playgroup, and Friday swimming in this, and from tomorrow S starts ballet on Saturdays so that will also be included. It helped that the hubby was away for 2 weeks- i didn't spend much time cooking or on the dishes, so got more time to spend with the kids. For the last few days I've also stopped TV at night- i realised it was getting a bit too much- 45 mins in the afternoon and another 1/2 hour at night, and S was taking longer and longer to eat just watchignt eh idiot box. So at night i read a book to A and feed her and S eats by herself, usually while looking at a book. 2. Exercise at least 4 times a week. Sigh, this is not going so well. Combination of things. With the hubby away, I've not been able to

take time off in the weekends to exercise, and last few weeks have

been busier than usual what with trying to organise S birthday party, do a coffee morning for parents at school. take full advantage of the winter sale in the shops. It's down to 3 times a week. The only positive is that I'm upto 5 km in 36 mins .

3. Read at least 1 book a month. This is going well. This month I've managed to read (ok i have another 50 pages left but it's a 600+ page book) "The Corrections" by Jonathon Franzen for the book club. Good idea to join the book club, at least there is some pressure to finish a book, so when i have 1/2 hour at night i take up the book instead of watching TV or surfing the net. The book is interesting, the first 50 pages were tedious, but the rest has been well paced and well written. 4. Try to sleep by 11:30 every night, and get the kids to bed by a reasonable time. This is going TERRIBLY. The last two weeks I've been taking the kids out a lot during the day to make up for not having their daddy home in the evenings. We've been visiting S' friend who lives close to us and going sledding with her, going to the zooligical musuem at the university, going to the Zoo, going to a friend's place for dinner, and their schedule has gone haywire. They are taking their afternoon nap as late as 4 in the afternoon and not able to sleep before 11 at night. This means they are awfully tired for school the next day and again have to take a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. Have to change this quickly. Also if they sleep only at 11, then after finishing the household work, if i read/surf the net for an hour i end up sleeping only at 1. Yawn yawn. I also end up napping the afternoon now. 5. Cook one new dish a week. This is going well. So far I made three new dishes this month. Carrot kosambri- grated carrot sabzi basically. And dhoodhi and channa dal sanzi, and soya bean curry. I also managed to bake a half decent set of brownies (with a mix though). So that's the update this month.