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 :)

Interlaken with family

We made our second visit to Interlaken with my brother's family last week. Will post about the first visit soon, posting about this while its fresh in memory (yes signs of aging other than the 5 white hairs on my head which refuse to go!)

Both my brothers family and my family are late risers, and given a choice would not wake up before 9 am. But the weather forecast predicted only one day of sunshine in our 3 day trip to Interlaken (the first day) so we decided to do the Jungfrau summit on the first day itself. The trains rides to the top are quite long, and the last train back it at 5:45 so we had to be there at the base train station latest noon to actually do anything at the Jungfrau peak. My brother had to pick up his rental car- we decided not to hire an 8 seater van for both families as a) it is very expensive and b) difficult to drive, so the hubby and bro were actually out of the house at 8 am itself and we managed to get all the kids ready and out by 10 am.

We decided to drive directly to Grindelwald train station as our hotel was in Grindelwald and catch lunch at the Jungfrau peak itseld, otherwise a lunch break would set us back at least an hour. We drove directly to Grindelwald and reached there around 12:30 and by the time we figured out the car park and bought the train tickets, we just managed to make it to the 1:17 train. Good we decided to drive non stop. The girls had decided that today was the day they should act up. S threw up in the car, and we had to stop and change her and clean the car. Then A woke up with all this activity and decided to cry all the way to Grindelwals (which was a good 45 mins away). When i offered her milk in Grindwald she got so agitated that she also threw up and another 10 mins went in cleaning her. Good I had packed one set of clothes for both kids in the handbag which I carry around, next time should pack an extra set for me! The size of the handbag is a big bone of contention between the hubby and me as he can't seem to understand why i need to carry so many diapers, change of clothes, milk bottles etc. But this time I used all the items in the hand bad- so there!

The train ride from Grindelwald to Kleine Scheidegg was about 1/2 hour and was a beautiful ride through the mountains. We could see the valley as the train climbed up through the mountain and in particular the Eiger wall (the sheer face of the huge Eiger mountain) was amazing. At Kleine Scheidegg, which is the terminal stops for all trains coming up the mountain from various points in the Interlaken region we changed to the train for Jungfrau top (or Top of Europe or so it called, though I believe some people dispute this and say that the Montblanc peak is higher). We quickly grabbed some sandwiches and samosas (can you beat that samosas in a remote village in Swiss but I guess more than 50% of the tourists are Indian here and we love our samosas :)) and ate it on the train ride up. This ride is not as scenic as the first as most of it if through a tunnel in the mountain. There were two stops where you could peak out of a viewing window and we were soon among the snow capped mountains. It got colder as we reached the 3400 m mountain peak.

We first went out to the viewing deck where we got a lovely view of the surrounding mountains and the region. The boys (my nephews were very keen on the snow activities such as snow boarding and flying through the air suspended from a rope among the mountains) but unfortunately they closed it just then as a snowstorm was coming. We went out to the plateau instead where we all made snowballs and threw them at each other (except for A who happily slept through most of it) and played around in the snow. It was very cold and we soon retreated to the cozy warmth of the cafe where S enjoyed her staple diet of fries and the boys were happy with hot cocoa. We then went to the ice cave where they have the ice sculptures, but after a point me and one of my nephews had to go back as we were experiencing difficulty in breathing and our hearts were paining (I had this sensation many years ago when I was a kid and had gone with my parents to Nathula pass in the India China border)- its breathlessness due to the lower oxygen levels at the high altitude and my nephew suffers from the same thing. I had visited Jungfrau in the last visit as well but did not experience this, maybe because that time we had spent a night at Wengen (one of the towns on the way up to Kleine Scheidegg) and my body had got used to the higher altitude. Anyway S enjoyed the ice sculptures in the cave and when she came back was delighted about the squirrel of Ice Age which is captured in one of the sculptures. We set off on the long journey back, down to Kleine Scheidegg and then to Grindelwald. It was raining when we reached Grindelwald at 7:45 pm and we were all exhausted from the long day. We had dinner in our hotel itself- it was about 15 mins drive from the Grindelwald town, located in the middle of the farmland and while the view from the hotel was breathtaking , one downside from being in the middle of the farmland is the flies from the farms- they were all over the restaurant and quite spoilt our dinner. The cheese foundue was excellent though and we all overate. It helped that they had a childrens playroom next to the restaurant and A and S were busy there, giving the hubby and me some time to talk with the others!

The second day also turned out to be sunny (never trust these weather forecasts fully I say) and we drove towards Stechelberg (a particularly scenic part of Interlaken region). On the way we stopped at Trammelbach Falls which is a waterfall inside a mountain. We had to take a life up inside the mountain and then climb the steps inside the mountain towards the top. We could see the gushing waterfall (this drains the three mountains of the region- Jungfrau, Eiger and Monk) inside the mountain and it was spectacular. At the top we could see the sun streaming in from the top of the mountain inside the mountain and lighting up the inside (somewhat like the view in 127 hours if you're seen the movie but obviously not as gory :)).

We walked around Stechelberg a bit but there was not much to do there other than the cable car up to Schilthorn mountain, which we were not keen on after Jungfrau the previous day, so went back to Lauterbrunner town where we had a leisurely lunch of pizza and rosti, again helped by a kids play area in the restaurant) and strolled around the town. The nephew got his swiss army knife (small version) promised by my brother and was occupied with it for the rest of the trip! After lunch we drove to Grindelwald as the boys were keen to do some fun activities (and not sighsteeing!) and while the hubby baby sat (or baby slept as the three of both slept in the car in the car park) S and A, I went with my brother and his family up a cable car to Pfingsteg and we went on the rodelbahn (tobaggon ride) there. The cable car ride was nice as we could see the mountains all around and I personally found the tobaggon ride quite scary as it was going down the mountain and I was quite sure that if you take the curves too fast you might just fly off the mountain!!). Looks like my brother had the same fear- in his second ride he didn't press the brake at all (the accelerator and brake are in our control and we can chose how fast or slow we go) and at some point he felt he was going out of control and the tobaggon would fly off the mountain so he actually used his elbows to stop the tobaggon (and got huge scars from the friction!). The boys of course enjoyed it and went some 10 times totally on it.

The evening we got some pizza for dinner and after many rounds of vodka made maggi and had that too (i had carried my cooker for S and A's dal rice) and it turned out to be useful for the greedy adults as well. I tell you nothing like a hot maggi on a cold day.

The next day was heavy rains and we had originally planned many things for that day- cable car upto First where there are activities for the boys, and a visit to the Ballenberg musuem at Brienz which is an outdoor museum with animals (which S and A would enjoy) and Swiss crafts such as cheese making, wood carving, watch making etc which the boys would enjoy. But the rains were too heavy for us to do any of these so we drove down to Interlaken and took the cruise upto Brienz. Its a lovely cruise on the Brienz lake and the view was amazing even in the heavy rain. S and A were busy in the toy corner of the ship (love it, I can relax as well). It continued to pour heavily at Brienz also which was 11/2 away, so we decided to have lunch first and wait for the rains to recede. We saw the pizzas getting tossed and put into the wood fire oven (the hubby went upto the chef and asked him to add more chillies to his pizzas) and everyone enjoyed the warm lunch more watching the heavy rain outside. The rains had lessened by the time we finished and we spent an hour browsing through the shops in the town. We took the cruise back to Interlaken (its a round cruise stopping at many points in the lake and you can hop on and off wherever you want) and the rains had stopped by the time we reached Interlaken. We walked through the town- there was a yodling festival going on and we saw many people in traditional costume, and there were many corners in the town where they were singing in groups. Very merry indeed! The children were direct beneficiairies of this general merriment as they were given balloons at a local shop. S was sleeping in the pram and we tied all the balloons to the pram and we heard one mother telling her kid that the pram was going to fly away with so many balloons!! My eldest nephew who is 12 was not very happy to be carrying balloons and my sister in law tried to convince some other parents who did not have balloons to take them, quite unsuccessfully. Most of the balloons were carted back all the way to Zurich and the younger nephew and the girls had a ball playing with them at night- S actually turned to me and said-everyone is playing with balloons at home, we are having a balloon party. These girls, they miss company so much and are so happy to have their cousins over ( as am I)

After the walk around Interlaken we headed back to Zurich. My mom asked why we did Interlaken twice in a month- but we had booked our hotel for the first trip before we decided to go with my brother there, and there are so many things to see in the region that you don't feel its a repetition at all. And I really enjoyed my second trip with family much more- it was more relaxed and fun and nice to do things together. When i look back at the trip, its not only the waterfalls and the cable cars and the train rides and the views, its the lunches together, the getting drunk and bottoms up and late night conversations which make it a holiday!

Trip to Rhine Falls

Rhine falls is a beautiful waterfalls about 1 hours drive from Zurich. Its supposed to be the largest in mainland Europe, but its not that big (i personally think Jog Falls in Karnataka is bigger) but its really beautiful and there is a climb which takes you right upto the waterfall.

It was our first weekend trip from Zrich and we went the first Saturday I arrived. I've always wanted to get out and travel in the weekends and we are quite keen to make the best of the summer here. It was a sunny day, and the hubby was keen to take his new SUV for the first long drive.

We are not early risers, and by the time the kids had their breakfast and were ready to leave it was already 10 am. A mad scramble to find my passport (we have to drive through Germany to get to the Rhine Falls and a colleague had a bad experience at the border checkpoint as he had forgotten to take his passport) pushed it to 10:30 and we felt we had already lost half

the day.

We had a slightly tough time getting out of Zurich city as the hubby was not familiar with how the GPS worked, and even on the highway we went much slower than the speed limit as he was getting used to the car settings. It did not help that A wailed in her car seat at the back continuously for the entire trip! We reached there in an hour (I think can be done in 45 mins once we are familiar with the city exits) parked our car and started the trek down to the lake. I had A in a sling and S walked with the hubby.

Along the way we stopped to show S the ducks on the lake and A was extremely excite

d on seeing a dog next to her. She kept pointing at it, and the owner opened the leash and let it come towards us. She immediately got scared and clung to me :)

We then walked to the boat point and bought tickets for a one hour cruise around the lake, which goes to many points on the lake and along the waterfall, and then realised

that we had just missed the boat and would have to wait another hour. We managed to exchange the tickets for a much shorter ride, just to the waterfall and back, which left every 15 mins. S was highly disappointed as the one hour boat was a pink boat and the boat with the shorter ride was not!

The boat took us to a set of steep steps just next to the waterfall. The steps were quite steep and narrow and rose sharply and there was a lot of crowd on the steps so midway I got worried about S and A. So we just quickly went to the top, looked around and came back down. There was a group which kept on taking photos at one of the landings in between, and with their various permutations and combinations of people standing for the photos, hogged the entire landing till we got frustrated and went down. C'mon just take a photo and get on, and allow other people to come and see the view!

The waterfall was beautiful up close and S was quite excited to see her first waterfall. There is a castle on the top of the waterfall, but we decided to skip it and keep it for another day.

There was a long queue at the he self service restauarant and everything was in German, so the hubby got me the only thing which seemed veg - ricotta cheese and tomato salad !!! (i had said no fries) so that was a most exciting lunch. A refused to eat the cereal i offered or anything else (she chomped on some teddy bear shaped snacks though) . S had her staple fries and some croissant. We made up with yummy ice cream.

After lunch we walked around the place, spotting a playground which we had promised S. She was hesitant at first to go on the big slide but after seeing other children (and some aunties!!) go on it, she tried it and really enjoyed it. A was lazing cosily on my lap while I watched the beautiful view of the waterfall.

We set back for home around 3 pm, this time A slept in the car so it was quite an uneventful ride back. I gave A a late lunch at home, and S got some maggi (the highlight of her day after the slide I'm sure). A fun trip overall, though I was a bit tired from carrying A around in the sling. But the pram would have been impossible on the steps, so will just have to become stronger!!

Finding a paediatrician!

What a challenge its been to find a paediatrician for the kids. The week I landed here I asked a friend for her paediatrician's number as I was warned that they take a couple of weeks to give an appointment, and I wanted to establish contact with a pd before the kids fall sick and it becomes an emergency. I must have tried the number some 10 times, on different days at different times, and I kept getting a recorded message in German which i just couldn't undertand.

Then the hubby got a local pd number from his GP and when I tried that number i was delighted to get a person who spoke English. When I explained that i was looking for a doctor for the kids she asked me to hold a minute and then got back saying that they are full and can't take any more patients!!!! Can you imagine, never in Mumbai did any doctor say they were too full, ever willing to work harder, make people wait for longer, but never no to new business!

She gave me a number of another nearby pd. I tried that, again some recorded message in German. I was really frustrated by now. I called the earlier doctor again hoping they would change their mind, but she just gave me another three numbers. The first two had messages in German, and the third kept ringing. I tried again and this time the third number picked up and I actually got an appointment. Hallelujah!

Anyway, with the help of google maps, the kids and I set out for the pd this morning. The kids were delighted to see a separate toy room there and kept themselves entertained while I filled out the registration forms. Later S actually left the doctors room and went off to the toy room alone while the doctor was giving A her vaccines. The doctor was extremely friendly with the kids and put them easily at ease and took interest in their individual requirements- asked about S speech (she still cant say "rr") and A's feeding habits/overall growth. I was quite happy overall and relieved to have finally fixed up the pd.

Now on to other things...

My major achievement

Nope I did not climb any mountains, or swim in any lake. I went to the Bahnoffstrasse and bought a pair of chappals. And that was a major achievement for me!

Am not exaggerating, the effort involved made it seems like a major outing for me, and S was also exhausted after and slept till 6:30 pm! The first thing is the timing. We have to wait till A finishes her nap and then time it so that we are back for the kids lunch. Lunch has got stretched till 2:30 pm these days, since all outings end up happening only around 12 pm after A's nap. I put A down for an early nap in the morning, quickly prepared the kids lunch and got S and myself ready by the time A woke up, and we were out of the house by 11:30.

Its a ten minutes walk to the nearest tram station- Klusplatz. There's a bus stop just outside the flat connecting to Klusplatz but the bus is not stroller friendly- you have to climb steps to enter the bus, so someone usually has to help you to get the stroller in. And combine that with a 3 year old whom you're trying to ensure also climbs into the bus safely, and its going to be somewhat of a struggle if you're alone. So we decided to just walk it down to the tram station.

The tram is also not stroller friendly (some of the newer ones are, but this one was not) but people are quite helpful and even without me asking, a guy got up from his seat and helped me lift the stroller into the tram. The Bahnoffstrasse is like the main shopping street in Zurich, comparable to say Connaught Place in Delhi or Oxford Street in London. Distance wise it must be about 2-3 kms from Klusplatz, but all the trams and buses stop every 1 -2 mins (the stops are very close by) and it took about 15 mins to reach the Bahnoff stop. A was happy in her pram, and S was standing next to her and holding the pram so that it does not roll off.

We managed to do quite a bit of shopping in the Bahnoffstrasse- slippers for me, clothes for the kids and some sundry stuff. A was on best behaviour throughout, happy in her pram ,but S started getting bored by the time we reached the clothes shop and ran all over the shop while I was looking at the kids clothes. Half the time I did not understand what was written and had to ask someone for help and that took even longer. Finally after a shouting from me- she'd run out of sight , we left the shop and I promised her fries from MCDonalds if she would behave herself. We ate the fries in the park on the Bahnoff and A was let out of her pram and ran all around the park while S stuffed herself with fries. The weather was nice and it was better than sitting in the stuffy restaurant.

Fortified, we set out for grocery shopping in the shop in the Bahnoff railway station (which is the main railway station in the city). There's a very big grocery shop- Migros two flights below in the railway station which is also the only grocery shop open on Sundays in Zurich, but I didn't have the energy to find the lift and drag the children there so we went to the smaller pronto one on the ground floor. The effect of the fries wore off and S was quite restless to go home. She started running around the shop and at one point, while i was looking for something a lady pointed out that she'd taken a rope hanging from the shelf and was putting it around her neck! I quickly paid up and we went back to the tram station for the journey home.

There was a market inside the railway station- they have these once in a while where people come to sell fresh vegetables, bread, cheeses, sauces and many varied things but S was really restless and would not allow me to browse. Some other time I guess. But good we left then, on the way back S started troubling A in the tram by poking her and A got really irritable and wanted to get out of the pram. A couple more minutes and I would have had two wailing children on the tram. I somehow managed to make S walk back home from the tram station (sometimes she insists on sitting in the stroller but today she somehow realised that I would not have been able to manage carrying A and pushing her).

After we reached home, it took another hour to prepare lunch, feed A, urge S to eat and finally gobble down my lunch.

Quite a contrast to Bombay, where I would typically have left A with the maid, either gone when S was in school or taken her along with me, got driven in a car to the shop doorstep, driven back home and had lunch waiting on the table for me, and maids to feed the children!

That was more convenient for me, but I guess this way is more fun for the children.

Settling in

The last 2 weeks have been overwhelming- exciting, challenging and exhausting.

The flight to Zurich was better than I expected. Both kids were asleep before the flight took off and slept through a large part of the flight. I cheated and gave a sedative to A- I was in two minds but two things made me decide on it. Mainly I didn't want A to keep crying and wake up S as well (and lately she had started waking up in the night and crying for a couple of hours on and off), and then I'll have two crying kids and one lap only, and also some of my friends and my husband warned me that co passengers in business may not look too kindly on having their expensive nights sleep ruined by wailing children. Looks like i was needlessly worried, business was full of infants and many co passengers stepped up to help me out when they saw me struggling- once when I had to get both sleeping children to the seats after giving the pram at the aeroplane gate..I couldn't carry both with me at the same time alongwith the hand luggage. So I left S sleeping in the pram at the gate, took A in, left her on the seat while a helpful lady watched over her and then went back picked up S and gave up the pram. Another was at baggage claim, I was able to lift the suitcases on my own from the pickup, but the silly trolley here had a belt on top so you need to lift up the suitcases and slide them into the trolley and they were far too heavy for me. Luckily a guy with a young kid saw me struggling and helped me even without me asking for it.

The hubby was waiting at the exit and S was terribly happy to see him. A was confused by all the changes and clung to me.

Overall the travel was better than I expected. My dad had come to Bombay to drop me off and that was really helpful, could not have managed without him. Really grandparents are such gems.

We stayed at the hotel for the first two days as our shipment was delayed and our bed was arriving only the next day from the shop. But we went to and fro the flat quite a few times. The first day itself we went home, boiled the milk, watched it spill over and then fretted about whether the stain would ever go from the induction heating top. I managed to make rasam rice for the kids with the pressure cooker and rice cooker I had carried with me, and was quite proud of my achievement!!! The first day being a Sunday we didn't do much, just got back to the hotel after the kids lunch, slept, I took the kids to the downstairs park while the hubby worked on a presentation for work (its so strange usually I'm the one working on the weekends while he chills out :)) and we had a nice dinner overlooking the Zurich lake.

Monday was hectic, we went early to the flat as the furniture guys and light guys were coming. They don't provide lights in the flats here, you need to buy the lights/lamp shades yourselves and get it fitted!! And people charge a bomb to fit the lights and assemble furniture - I should have taken a electric/carpentry course before coming here. The air freight also arrived on Monday which included some of the provisions (though I had smartly packed all the vessels in the shipment) and so by Tuesday we were set to move into our flat with the bare neccesities in place.

And so we slowly started settling in, and its so different here I don't know where to begin...

Firstly having to do everything yourself. In Bombay I was completely spoilt with a battery of help for the cooking, cleaning, driving, laundry, looking after the children and with the amazing home delivery there I could sit in the house the whole week/month and not have to step out for a single thing be it milk/medicine/fruits/vegetables/groceries/movies/wine. And its just absolutely the opposite here. I've already had to run to the grocery shop nearly every other day as either the milk is running out or the bread or the diapers! I need to be much more efficient here. But it is also difficult doing the grocery shopping alone with two kids and using public transport as I have to carry all the groceries back in the bus, while carrying A and making sure S gets on and off the bus safely. And then there's the two sets of staircases to climb before collapsing into the house. So its usually the bulk shopping in the weekends where either the hubby comes with the car, or else I can leave one of the kids at home and manage it a bit easier. This is still supplemented by trips to the grocery shop in between/calls to the hubby to pick up something or the other.

And other than the groceries, there is the cooking. For me even the simplest of things take time, and luckily the kids are obliging. So its the same fare for them everyday for breakfast and lunch, and dinner time I try to make something new- aloo paratha, biryani, chole puri, sambhar rice, bisibelebath and the saviour-mixes to which you only need to add vegetables! But overall its the thought that after you've gone out, done shopping/some sightseeing you still have to come home and cook and feed the children which is tiring. Especially when contrasted with food set at the table for us, and someone else to feed the children! But really I should not crib too much, the kids have been very obliging (keeping fingers crossed that they don't change as soon as I post this) so its not difficult to cook for them, and for our dinner we get a variety of pastas, sauces, frozen stuff here so if I don't want to cook a particular day if I don't want to. The bread is just amazing here, and many days I just have bread and cheese for lunch. I'm a big bread fan, and though I haven't been able to step into a bakery yet, even the large retail shops have an entire bread section where you can pick up freshly baked bread.

And then we come to the cleaning. Things do get dirty here (I was under the misguided impression that they don't)- ok not as much as Bombay, but you need to sweep/vacuum the place at least once in two days especially with two young kids who keep dropping crumbs all over the place. The weekly cleaners started yesterday, and I had signed up for four hours for the appartment which seemed quite a long time for just an appartment. But after four hours the mopping was still not done and the lady ran away like Cinderalla for her next appointment. I spent the next hour finishing off the cleaning and am pretty sure the house is going to be dirty again in a couple of weeks. Sigh...

And then the language of course. Everything is in German from the road signs to the ingredients in the shops to the signs in the park. Today i went to a new park near the house and there was a big sign outside which mentioned some restaurant and some park. There was a slide and sandpit next to a restaurant but I couldn't figure out whether the play area was only for customers of the restaurant or for everyone. I just took the kids and went since we had come all the way. Then in the shops i don't know what is half the stuff I am buying. The other i bought some frozen quiches where the cover looked vegetarian since there was some green stuffing on the cover. Before cooking I asked te hubby to check the ingredients on the iphone application for languages and it was spinach and bacon! Sigh again, at least one of us is non-veg in the house and the food wont be wasted. The hubby's solution is that i keep checking the iphone application in the shop which is what he does, but he doesn't have two children -one wriggling in the trolley and the other running around the shop searching for lolliops/snacks to tie him down. I just want to get in , buy the stuff and get out asap. And its also very difficult to ask for directions. People are quite helpful, but sometimes they just don't know English so you can get pretty stuck. And even in the large shops most of the cashiers dont speak English and are very surprised if you don't speak German, so its very tough if you have some query (we were trying to figure out home delivery in a furniture shop and had to wait for an English speaking customer to translate for us!)

On the positive side, and there are many but its so much more fun to crib, the public transport is great. There's a bus stop just outside the house and the city is extremely well connected. I can get to the city centre in 15 mins using the bus and the tram, and the frequency is also great. Its not usually crowded during the day and the kids quite enjoy going in the bus/tram/furnicular etc. The parks are also very nice- there are many open gardens for children to play and the parks are uncrowded mostly. There are so many activities for children to do here, and I've just started reading up on a couple of them. If we wanted we could do something new every weekend! The drives are also nice- we drove to Rhine Falls last weekend (will write a separate post on that) and the roads were almost empty. The hubby is enjoying his car, an SUV which I practically don't think I will every be able to drive.

But I am missing company, especially friends and family. Being able to just call up someone you've known for ages, or make a plan to meet them for an hour somewhere, or go to Bangalore for a long weekend- well those are some luxuries which seem very remote. Hopefully I should settle in, mentally and as well as physically soon.

Even the google

Even the google and gmail is in German. Took me five mins to figure out what is the right option to sign into this blog!! All is well and kicking, we are settling in, will post soon about the last 10 crazy days!