Trying on Skis

(posted by Kim)
Last Sunday, we visited the Gurten.

Located in Bern, this mountain spot is 2,835 feet above sea level (that really means nothing to me but I include it for your benefit). You ride a small train to the top where you will find children's skiing, family sledding, a play area, a restaurant, a competitive ski jump area and trails for walking and biking. The view(s) are beautiful.


We rented boots and skis in the children's ski area for 5 francs a piece, and Isabella and Xavier had their first experience on skis. They both loved it! The area has two different ski runs, both very mellow and perfect for young children just starting.



After a couple hours of skiing, some comments were: Isabella, "Is there a bigger hill I can try?", and Xavier, "This is my new favorite sport. I like it even better than biking".

I was happy they had a chance to try skiiing. I find it satisfying to see my children learn something that I myself have never tried.

Hotel Living

posted by Kim

Like Eloise, we too live in a hotel...at least according to Xavier.

During our first few days in our new home, Xavier kept saying, "I like our hotel". We all chuckled and reminded him that we were in an apartment, not a hotel. We've visited both apartments and hotels before, and Xavier knows the difference.

But Xavier continues to refer to our apartment as a hotel. Could it be that he hasn't accepted the "not-so-short" nature of our stay here? Or maybe it's because our bathroom is very white with a large mirror and double sink - very much like hotel bathrooms. Or maybe it's because his parents are always reminding him (nagging actually) to be more quiet so we don't disturb the people around us.

Or maybe it's that it just doesn't feel like home...yet.

Xavier climbing the tree outside our kitchen window

Sveldt Sven and Big Hills

I am less fat than I was in Minneapolis.

I have been here about three months now and have dropped a couple of notches on the old belt. I am not exactly sure what is the main contributor, but I suspect the following:

More walking - I am really not sure if I get anymore exercise than I did in the states. I definitely walk more, but I don't do anything for exercise. In Minneapolis, I either biked to work or spent 40 minutes or so on the elliptical 5 days a week. Overall, I think I may get a little more here, but not enough to make a difference.

Meals - I am following the same eating pattern here as I did in Minneapolis. Just coffee for breakfast, a big lunch as my main meal of the day and then a smaller dinner. There are very few fast food options and the fast food available is generally healthier. So that is a definite contributor. Too often in Minneapolis I would be rushed for lunch and end up eating a saturated fat sandwich and fries. On the other hand I eat a LOT more high fat foods; cheese, cream based sauces, cheese and then cheese. So once again I give the advantage to Switzerland but not enough to account for the total.

Nightly Snack - This is bigger one. In Minneapolis, nightly I had some sort of chippy type thing and a couple of tasty vodka drinks before bed. I cut out the vodka because alcohol is way too expensive (at least spirits, wine is CHEAP and beer is a little cheaper). A 750 ml bottle runs the same as the big bottles in Minneapolis (I know this factor eliminates any possibility of mom and dad visiting). I do have a couple beers a night and maybe some pretzels, but not nearly the amount from Minneapolis. So this is a definite contributor.

Sleep - I think this is big one. I never got enough sleep in Minneapolis. I would stay up late for no apparent reason and was constantly tired. Being in my little barren room for a month and a half removed that stay up for no reason lifestyle. There were several nights I would be asleep by 9:00. I am consistently in bed by 10:00. I totally underestimated the value of actually getting a good 7-8 hours of sleep, in Minneapolis 6.5 was a long night.

So thats that. Probably not the most entertaining blog post so far, and unfortunately it isn't going to get much better.

Big Hills

Today was the first day I rode my bike to work. I left home a little early and got to work a lot early. I knew it was a short ride, but I didn't want to take the route my bus takes. A little too much traffic and a couple round-abouts. I don't like round-abouts in a car, so I try to avoid them whenever I am on my bike. So I left early due to the high probability of getting lost.

On the way out, the first thing I noticed was how steep the hill was from our place to the bottom of the hill. I rode the brakes the whole way down, the streets are very narrow, probably the width of a single car driveway, as well as fairly windy. After I hit the bottom, it was a quick 10 minute easy ride with just one little hill.

The way home was a wee bit different. First of all I got a little befuddled and ended up on the street with the round-about. No big deal just paid a little more attention. There is a great little downhill as you come into Ittigen, and the road is straighter and wider. I was able to actually keep pace with the cars on the road.

Then I hit our hill. I have ridden up the hill twice before. Well ridden is too strong of word, I attempted the hill twice before. The first time it caught me by surprise. I was in too high of a gear and kept expecting the hill to end. It didn't end. The second time I was in too low a gear and it was snowing. I couldn't stand up and pedal because my back wheel would loose traction and basically I am terrible at spinning. Both times I ended up walking more than riding.

Today, I had the right gear, there wasn't any snow, and I knew when it would end. To give some perspective on our little hill. Ya know as you are driving on highway 52 and you hit that great big honking hill just on the other side of Decorah (or for MN folks, right before you get to Decorah)? That hill is about a 300ft increase in elevation in about 8/10 of a mile. Our lovely little hill is about 300ft increase in elevation in about 6/10 of a mile. Of course as I plotted these to make our hill look more difficult. Anyway, I was going to make it up the hill today or die trying.

I came closer to dying than making it. Actually that is not true, I pushed myself through the steepest part and stopped and took a rest. I was panting like a old out of shape guy riding a bike up a hill (I'm really good at similies). Anyway, I didn't make it but I don't feel bad. It was a total endurance thing, I have done nothing approaching cardio in almost 4 months, and this was simply not having the wind to do it. I am sure I'll get my endurance up in a couple weeks and have no problem.

Now the idea of dragging the Burly behind the bike packed with groceries and a case of beer...I'll leave that for Kim.

Izzi's Room

Of the three bedrooms, two are very nice size and then one is on the smaller side, Izzi chose the small one. The room is about 15 X 8 so to save space I got her a loft bed. It works out pretty well but I need to do a little adjusting to it. She only has about 2 ft of space between the mattress and the ceiling, so at some point here I am going to cut about 8" off the legs to give her a little more room.

The other key feature of her room is the "Fatboy". Iz wanted a beanbag chair and after much searching and surfing I finally found a shop that carried them. I ordered it from the shop and picked it up. You get a lot of strange looks from people when you carry a 2.5 x 2.5 x 4 ft box on public transport. Which brings me to an observation about the Swiss. Everyone uses public transport, everyone carries big things onto public transport, everyone else on public transport stares disapprovingly at the person carrying the big thing on public transport even though yesterday they carried their own big thing onto the public transport.

And now Izzi will describe her room in her own words:

I really like it, but when I have nightmares, I sit up and bump my head. I like the Fatboy, I like having a comfy place to sit and read in my own room. I like how the windows cover one wall and I like the fact the fact that I got the small room because it already seems pretty big. I want to paint it blue. I want my colors to be blue and orange because those are the color already there. The only thing I don't like is that people walk by window and can see in, but I don't want to close the curtains because then I can't see out. I like Switzerland a lot!

Burger #1: Nah...

On one of our several stops at the bakery in town center, Xavier decided to order the large 5 franc chocolate coin for his treat. He was a bit surprised when our order was delivered to our table and his chocolate coin had been inserted in a roll. Although he has enjoyed a chocolate croissant before, he didn't quite get why anyone would combine bread with chocolate.

I suggested that Todd and he make this his first burger trial for their "Best Burger in Bern" quest, but neither thought that funny or a good idea.

The Walk to School

We might be overdoing the mention of our location to the school, but we are thrilled about it. Being so close makes our days much more relaxed. Isabella has picked up Xavier at his classroom and walked him home from school these last two days - they both prefer this to me meeting them at the school.

I was surprised to find that the children here go to school half days, even in the grades. Isabella has one full day of school a week, but comes home for lunch. So, it ends up that both kids have very similar schedules, starting at 8:20 a.m. and ending at 12:10 p.m. On Tuesdays, Izzi finishes her day at 3:05 p.m.

This is the view to the school from the outside steps of our building. There is a crosswalk and then the long driveway to the main school building, barely visible in the back of this photo.

The building on the right houses the school store, parent cafe, the preschool rooms and two staff apartments.

The photo below is the entrance to the main school building where both Isabella's and Xavier's room can be found. The grounds used to be a working farm that was donated to the Waldorf (Steiner) school.

School: Day 1

Today Isabella and Xavier had their first day of school.

It seemed like a good day to make my first post. We've all been anticipating the start of school, thinking of it as a sort of a beginning to our life here. Things have been great thus far, but we've pretty much been living in our own little cocoon. Enjoying our daily walks to buy grocery, training to Bern a couple of times a week, hiking up our little mountain; but all without interacting too much with the people of Ittigen. Ah...but then their was the Carnival celebration this last weekend...

Ittigen, our little town just north of Bern, celebrated Carnival this last weekend. On Saturday afternoon, we gathered in the center of town where the kids made masks, got their faces painted and threw confetti like the rest of the folk. Everyone was very welcoming and we had a great time drinking beer, listening to music and just watching the little bit of craziness.

The next day, Izzi and Xavier also marched in the town's parade. Izzi wore the mask she created the day before and Xavier wore his newly created wizard costume. They got in line with a hundred or more others and marched a 5km route through town. Todd and I followed along and wondered at how Isabella's long-time wish of wanting to be in parade came true so quickly after arriving in Switzerland. We all returned to to the community center and were treated to hotdogs, rolls, beer and soda. The parade bands played and the kids rode the merry-go-round.

SO, a little interacting with the people, but not much talking.

Back to school...the day seemed to go well for both Iz and Xave. Xavier seemed a bit tired but ok, and Isabella greeted me by telling me that she was meeting two friends from class after lunch to play.

So that seemed good. But at the same time that I was feeling relieved that Day 1 seemed to go quite well, I was also realizing that it was no indicator of how the days ahead would be. As I guess is true no matter where you live, or how close you are to dear friends and loving family. As a parent, you spend your time wondering what the day to come will bring for your child. Or am I just a bit neurotic?

Our Haus and Stuff

An explanation of the name of this blog. Xavier's favorite thing to eat is a cheeseburger and french fries. I thought he and I would make our mission when we do our thing together to find the best burger and fry place in the city and I would document it here. So that is the name for now, I am sure it will change.

I am sure, my dear readers, that you will read us talking about how expensive stuff can be here. To give you some perspective since I am on the topic of burgers and fries, a McDonalds quarter pounder with cheese meal is 13 chf, or 13 dollars. That is before supersizing.

Judy requested some info and pics of where we are living.

First off here is a google map link to our place.

We wanted to stick with the Waldorf (or Steiner Schule as they say here) so we only had a few options. We had 4 reasonable choices to start but I quickly eliminated the two outside of the city for transportation reasons. So it came down to Bern and Ittigen. I didn't see anything I liked around the Bern school. Places were either too expensive, too small or required multiple transfers to get to the school. I found a few places in Ittigen, the one I ended up taking is literally across the street from the school. (as you can see by the map)

OK, on to the pictures:

This first one is the fancy digs I stayed in for the first 5 weeks here. Yes, it was as depressing as it looks. For furniture I had a bed and a floor. There was a built in closet, so I didn't have to live out of my suitcase at least, but the lack of comfort was a motivation to find something better. The guy I rented from was pretty cool . It served the need I had, but spending holidays (and birthdays) in a 9x11 room alone was fairly depressing.

And here is the result of furnishing an apartment from Ikea. On Jan 5 I went to ikea and purchased

3 complete beds with bedding

1 dining room table

6 dining room chairs

1 sleeper sofa

2 arm chairs

2 dressers

2 shelf units

various kitchen supplies and other stuff

I tried to use the chair to give some perspective to the ridiculous amounts of cardboard. There are no other packing materials in this pile, all paper, styrofoam and other random trash was disposed of seperately. At the bottom of the pile the boxes are already broken down. After about day 3 of 10 nights of assempbly, I just started throwing boxes on the pile.

Lastly, the dining room and the kitchen. The dining is much bigger than it looks in the photo. The table is currently set up where 8-10 people could sit at it and there is still room galore in the dining room. The kitchen is pretty nice. Granite(ish) countertops, and pretty good appliances. Kim and I are both trying to adjust to cooking with an electric stove, I have screwed up a few things due to lack of heat control.

There will be more photos of the place in the next post. I want the kids to provide there own opinion of their rooms and we are still waiting on some stuff from Ikea for the living room. let me know how the picture sizing is.

Blog Post Number 1

They are here and I am happy.

This is the first blog entry and there will be nothing important said today.

However, for your entertainment value:

Izzi and Xavier's first impressions....I apologize for the size, I don't understand all this new fangled technology wiggity-who