aside: [i think at some point i need to come up with a cheerier look for this blog. somehow roz' rantings and "angry posts" are much lovelier juxtaposed with a bright and colourful backdrop ... mine are just sort of depressing ...]

last night tim and i returned from a great weekend in st. moritz. it was our friend manu’s birthday (30!)  and his wife and friends has organized a surprise weekend getaway. we left early on friday afternoon with a plan to take a bazillion mountain passes there on the long way ’round, but only ended up doing one. it was later than expected and we didn’t want to ruin the surprise.

the weekend was full of german and sausage and hiking and time in the sun. it absolutely poured with rain on saturday evening – about 30 mins after everyone was safely tucked away in their rooms from hiking. hallelujah! the hotel gave a lot of grief to delia over stupid things: like rearranging our advance dinner booking 4 days prior to accommodate a wedding (as in, we were kicked out of our previously reserved dining room and squeezed into the regular hotel dining room – which meant other guests couldn’t eat dinner when they wanted as there weren’t enough seats!); to charging for parking (an open-air gravel pit); to not informing that the wine and champers they so enthusiastically offered up was not included in the price … ay carumba!

but in the end we all had a lot of fun and nobody got hurt – which is awesome

so naturally on the way home on sunday tim wanted to go through italy and do all those passes we neglected on friday. it was great. beautiful scenery. a bit long for our butts, but very nice indeed.

which is why, when we got home, it was so crummy that this happened:

maggots.

in my garbage can. in my kitchen. suddenly all over my floor.

i was casually going to put something in the garbage. i lifted off the lid (thank the LORD it is a sealing lid!) and out tumbled dozens and dozens. i screamed, threw the lid (which i regretted later) and ran into the next room. of course tim looked at me like, “what do you want me to do about it?” in the mere 90 seconds it took for us to get our act together to go in, they had reached all corners of the kitchen …

did you know they make a popping sound when you squish them?

it is, of course, my fault. i left the bag in the can when going away for the weekend, having dumped a (wrapped up, but not enough i guess) chicken carcass in there, after noticing that there was a fly or two in the kitchen when tossing it (actually, that’s why i didn’t keep it – because i thought of maggots … DUH!).

i cursed my kitchen floor, which is a wonderful greenish/whiteish pebbly linoleum pattern that hides messes well, but also apparently camoflauges maggots. i had to toss the rag rug i’ve had for 10 years as that is what the lid landed on and it was just covered …

so, 3 garbage bags later and we are m-free. not a pleasant way to end the day.

it’s 2am. after a nap from 10:30pm to 1am (when Tim eventually came to bed) i am unable to sleep. before dropping off, tim and i were chuckling over tony’s recent blog entry about his camping experience. for whatever reason (there are many, i’m sure) i found it very heartwarming and instantly put me there. it feels like i have been waiting more and more impatiently for new blog entries from my fam. and friends because … well, because it helps me feel connected – in however small of a way. [roz is still hands-down the winner in this department). i too am guilty of letting my blogging go the way of the panda, and thus i bring to you my latest: it all started with no breakfast …

i now have german classes every tuesday and thursday morning at 10am. this is wonderful. fantastic even. it used to be 9am, but we students voted that down on the first day. in fact, the school principal had wanted to meet me for the placement test at 8:30am. i chuckled for a moment and then realized she was serious. time is relative to me. it’s not the actual number that means anything, but rather the flow of events. tim doesn’t usually get up until about 9 or 9:30 unless he’s got a meeting. working with the west coast does have it’s advantages, and i have to tell you that he is a much much happier man for being able to sleep to this “late” hour in zurich, instead of the rage-inducing 7am he used to have to set his alarm for in Duvall.

where was i? oh yes, flow. tim gets up at 9am, thus so does Daneille (more or less – i often lounge in the sheets until he’s showered and put the kettle on, at which point he asks if i would like tea and i say yes or no depending and get served it in bed or at the table or wherever i would like it. yes, this is a wonderful arrangement and one i take complete advantage of in the winter when one would actually want a scalding cup of tea … ). to arise earlier means sort of doing that tiptoe “do do, do do, do do, do” sneaky-walk whilst trying desperately to remember where the squeaky floor bits are (everywhere) and fretting over what i will wear while in the shower, or, if i’m really organized, the night before so’s i can lay it all out in the hallway (area of floor with least number of squeaky bits) … no, tim does not ask me to do this, i seem programmed to treat it thus … yes, when we have a wailing infant it will be different but for now …

so getting up “first” in the morning causes a little bit of strain on my part, however the flip side to this new schedule is that i think it’s rather novel and nice for tim to perform his morning shower/tea/breakfast/email routine in a feeling of bachelorhood. he doesn’t do anything differently i’m sure, but just knowing that you are alone with some amount of “privacy” is important for us marrieds. and with a small(erish) apartment (versus a house with multiple levels) it is even more important that we are aware of needing some times to ourselves. with my flexible schedule i get more than enough “me time” which i try not to complain about too much .

so now you have the unnecessary history of my morning (can anyone say “high context”? yeah, this girl). i usually set my alarm for 8:15am and thrash about until 8:30 when i absolutely must get up and in the shower if i am to be able to have breakfast before i go (having realized this year that i am now a person who needs to eat breakfast if i want to refrain from yawning hugely by 11:30am). however, having no clock in the bathroom, sometimes the hour gets away from me and my vanity takes command and this morning i had to leave the house without consuming my new favourite breakfast for hot weather: frozen berries, plain yogurt, chocolate granola. can you say “love in a bowl”? awe.some.

i contemplated stopping at starbucks on the way (it’s about a 20 – 30 minute walk, depending on how fast i feel like going) as i saw i had about 8 minutes leeway afterall, but the thought of scarfing down a stale scone (everything else is way too sweet for me) and a coffee for the bargain price of 15 CHF just didn’t appeal, so i deferred. to my unfortunate demise in class. it was a terrible terrible german day people. pretty grim indeed. my brain just would not function. words wouldn’t come out. i didn’t understand the grammatical lesson (not a big surprise, that one, as i barely understand english grammatics) and it was just overall an uninspiring morning. i blame the lack of fuel. and the rain. and, well, just yeah. sometimes there’s bad german days. i’m not a stupid person, i know that. but like i said, it all started with no breakfast …

tuesdays are a bit harry, as from my german lesson i must rush off to icf to make my 12:30 team meeting, before which everyone will have eaten lunch together as that is what we normally do – meet at 11:30 and then go to migros and get some lunch bits and then sit down as a team to shoot the breeze and get all our chit-chat out of the way before the meeting. except now i can’t participate in that and must either purchase something quickly on my way, or have lunch prepared the night before (you’re starting to see how a simple german lesson in the morning has a domino effect on my life now, aren’t you? i wonder why i put this off … ) and in either case try to munch quietly during the meeting while also taking notes and participating in discussions. i abhor people watching me eat. in fact, my worst first date experience would be to go out to dinner … a lifetime of having things stuck in your teeth after every meal will do that to a person. so it’s not my favourite thing to be the only one eating during the meeting. but, i’m a grown up now and am dealing with it. plus, as i said, i miss out on the camaraderie that comes with the pre-meeting culture, which is a huge bonus when you don’t really talk much any other time, even sundays, because everyone is so everywhere doing everything.

so, the german lessons come at a cost, which i knew when i signed up, but that doesn’t mean i have to grin about it all the time.

did i mention that when i left the house this morning it was raining and i looked kind of like a man? i really like my short hair, but sometimes? sometimes it just desires to look like a man-head of hair and that sucks. which of course meant i took extra time to carefully apply my very feminine mascara so’s i wouldn’t actually be mistaken for pretty boy, which led me to missing breakfast … anyway, it’s clear that by the time i got to the meeting i was feeling like i looked less than fabulous, was starving/yawning, and had been demoralized by the morning lesson? okay. moving on …

the meeting went well actually. though we were missing some of my favourite people because they are sick (they work waaaaaay too hard, both of them, and with such joy it makes my teeth hurt sometimes). we got through a lot of business and i was taking the meeting notes (the regular person wasn’t there) whilst eating and talking (not quite at the same time, thankfully). i got a couple of little bombs dropped on me though, which i didn’t realize until later were being used as such. one is that some acquaintance/friends are moving back home. it threw me. since i arrived back from the may trip i have been feeling pretty good about settling in here for the long haul. i wasn’t deluded into believing that there would never again be a homesick moment, or a crummy no-friends moment, but darn it, i was on a roll! and this with my bestest friend charlene having moved back to winnipeg while i was gone! it has been crap without her, but i’ve been keeping busy, etc. etc. anyway, hearing the latest news kicked me off my high-horse i guess because they are another one. another one/couple/family to leave, in a long-line of people who’ve gone in the shy-three years we’ve been here. and there are others whom i know are already talking about “when they go back home”. but the influx of new people is much smaller compared to the out-flow, so somehow i must set-about rectifying this while still maintaining an open mind/heart about it all. very difficult indeed. hard to give yourself to a new relationship with so many hopes and expectations only to have them dashed again and again. so many people say this is why i should try to make ’swiss friends’. they are just as likely to take off in my mind. swiss people are always traveling and coming back with wives and husbands from other exotic lands who then need to be integrated into our church … (occasional sigh).

time for the second thing, no? the second thing is the 3rd time in 2 days that me being an MC for the international celebration has come up. the first was an email by the programming director inquiring if i’d like to try it because “you’d be good at it”. i was suspicious (sorry, but yes that was my first response). i took it for a veiled half-truth disguising a need for more people in a small ministry that i often feel drawn too, but not in a good way. i harbour a very large amount of pride. i used to dream of being on the cover of magazines and on-stage. first as the next cindy lauper or madonna, but then as a fashion model, and then as a world-renowned human rights activist/super social worker who would change the world. while still looking fabulous and living in an amazing high-rise condo with her two wonderful dogs and on-again-off-again string of hunky boyfriends. yes, life doesn’t always turn out the way we dream – thank goodness for that! at any rate, i am still hugely interested in pursuing social work and bettering humanity, but have greatly tamed the desire to be in the spotlight. now my desire is simply to be effective. though i am starting to experiment with having fun on stage in order to improve my confidence; i am partaking in a short skit for this sundays message, which i am trying to not be hugely nervous about. and, i am now on the leadership roster for our regular sunday heartbeat times (a time before every sunday international celebration where anyone can come to hear a short input about the church vision or encouragement and prayer). anyway, the point is, i was feeling like it was enough. i am trying new things, stretching myself, but without too much more of a commitment (which i am always cautious about – not wanting to get myself into a conflict of self-vs.-God interest i suppose). And so, here was a new request, which i considered for all of 2 minutes and then politely declined for the time being.

later on i shared it with tim, who of course, encouraged me to change my mind because he felt it “would be really good for you” or something yadda yadda. i vaguely recall thinking that if God really wants me to do it he’ll ask me again. and so, after the meeting that’s exactly what he did! i got asked again, by a different person. this time i went through with them all my reasons for not wanting to commit now. he said, “okay, so i’ll tell matt to put you on the schedule for fall then. you can always tell me you can’t or don’t want to later” … grrrrrrrrr! i realized that the rest of the day i felt manipulated. that’s not how i do things. i don’t sign up and then change my mind later. if i sign up then i’ve signed up. and here’s this guy just signing me up! the nerve! (i sincerely hope you’re laughing by this point, because that’s what i’m going for – total self-pity interspersed with comical sarcasm. of course i will come around, but for now i want to throw a literary fit – so there!).

the time by this point is now 3:30pm and i am hungry again (having missed breakfast my little lunch of fruits and veggies didn’t go as far as i needed it to) and all the computers in the office are in use so i can’t do any work there and so i elect to go home. going home is difficult sometimes. actually, going out is often difficult as well. i have a fairly strong anxiety about leaving the apartment on my own. i feel people are watching me – not in a crazy “they’re coming to get me” kind of way, but more in a “i have to look a certain way, be a certain way in order to fit in so i don’t stand out” kind of way. thus i’m often hugely self-conscious when simply walking down the street to the grocery store or anywhere. of course intellectually i know that nobody gives two-hoots about how i’m dressed or walking or looking like on any given day. people’s eyes roam over you in passing and that’s the end of it (except the swiss do have a tendency to stare for a disconcertingly long time compared to other countries … ). nonetheless, the vulnerable part of my mind tells me otherwise and thus you have an otherwise perfectly healthy woman in her early 30s who can take 3 hours to work up enough courage to leave the apartment and go to the store to pick up some milk. doesn’t matter what country i’m in. even happens at home in canada. that’s when i’m alone. if i have anybody else with me than i am much more functional (though i will say that some activities do still bring up the anxiety even if i’m in good company – going to the beach/lounging in a bathing suit is one such thing – hate it!).

but i digress …

so, you can surmise that these german lessons and meetings at icf and lunch dates with friends are all good for my constitution. it also seems that once i overcome the initial high-level anxiety (slightly dizzy, shallow-breathing, sweaty, constant mirror-checking to ensure i look normal, talking to myself) and make it out the door, it lowers to a somewhat acceptable level. the longer i’m out and doing things, the better it gets. so, when i’m already out i am reluctant to high-tail it home because the chances of me making it out the door again that day are slim, especially if i have the back-up thought of “i already went outside today”. thus, moments like the one at 3:30 are challenging because i had work to do, but didn’t want to go home yet, but also didn’t really have anywhere to go. i’m not a window shopper and don’t like the idea of just hanging out at a coffee place because i always feel like i’m taking up space, plus i have free coffee at home and a comfy couch to lounge on to read … at any rate, today i went home, which i guess felt a bit like defeat.

once through the apartment door and into “sanctuary” i sank into a weary puddle in front of the computer, promptly downloaded an episode of “make it or break it” (terrible teen show that i am watching purely out of boredom) and watched it while drinking my self-made coffee and munching far too many swedish ginger thins. i felt somewhat better after my “reward” for making it through a kinda crummy day. then i did some work – which was great – but not on the really pressing stuff – which was not great. because i am so nervous about this drama skit on sunday, i have been procrastinating about learning my lines. also, i have no one to practice with. tim was having guy time tonight, which he certainly needed. we have been each other’s only company for almost an entire week and we both need to make an effort (huge apparently) at connecting with other people. ‘t’s all good, but one does need other personalities around . and so it fell by the wayside again, where i put it.

after a tummy-ache-inducing dinner of grilled cheese (1 and 1/2) i watched a repeat episode of “life” from the bbc series, all the while feeling like i should be watching something in german but also feeling so tired at the idea. i did my pre-bedtime routine of face-washing, tooth-brushing and mulling over the texas-sized zits firmly housed on my chin and forehead and then wandered off to bed. it was 10pm and tim was still out watching the netherlands/uruguay football game with a friend. i was happy about that, but also feeling a bit sad and sorry for myself. after reading a bit of mark -which made me feel better for being “productive” in that area, if not wiser or consoled by the actual words – i turned in.

there are one or two other things that contributed to today’s ho-hum atmosphere, but nonetheless i am mostly just surprised (once again) at how fast it tanked and how seemingly out of the blue it happened. nothing major or life-threatening occurred. no actual problem. just a series of small things that built up and, i guess, really need a girlfriend and a glass of prosecco at the other end to help me feel better. perhaps i should have watched a chick-flick instead … but without company to share my outraged comments or peals of laughter it probably woudn’t have provided as much comfort as i would initially believe.

now it’s 3:30am and with this blog entry i officially declare this ho-hum day OVER! isn’t it amazing that it all started with no breakfast … ?

if other blog subscriptions are anything to go by, then i am in good company when it comes to my lack-lustre blog performance these past weeks. it isn’t so much that nothing has been happening, but rather that i find it uninspiring fodder to discuss. and also that i am trying to stop complaining so much and look more towards the sunny side of life . but not to worry, i’m sure something hideously outrageous will happen now that i’ve openly declared myself a glass-half-full convert (and you worried i would change!).

time in canada was well spent, though not at all relaxing. which is why i sequestered myself for almost a full week after arriving back. now when people say i look “refreshed” i can basically believe them because, a) my hair it totally awesome and, b) i spent oodles of time on the couch and in bed catching up on grey’s and glee and gossip girl (oh my, i do love a good “g” title).

though my readership is composed primarily of family members who may be heart-broken to read this, i will be honest here and say that, while i absolutely value the ” home visit”, i find myself on much firmer ground when i say that we will continue to live in Switzerland for a time. i love my family and my friends, and though i miss them, there is just so much for us here. it is my hope that i don’t sound too much like a jack-ass saying that …

thus, it is with an embarassingly large amount of pride that i announce that i have already signed up for new german lessons, beginning next week! and i am in somewhat of a “yes” mode … going full-on into trying new things and making an effort, yadda yadda yadda. part of this involved agreeing to be in a student film on Tim’s first day back in zurich. we were walking to the store and a young woman approached us and asked if we had 20 minutes to spare right now to be in a film she was shooting for her thesis. the film is about finding an apartment in zurich. Tim looked tiredly at me, but in the end we said yes, and crossed the road behind a building and joined 3 other perfect strangers who were all there for the same reason. 20 minutes turned into an hour, but she seemed happy. she’s got our email address so we can be notified of when/where to see it. i’ll let you know if we get nominated for anything

and just as an aside, i love my overalls! will manage to take/post a pic somewhere/sometime …

weird to think that most people who read this are either sleeping upstairs or in nearby cities/houses at the moment …

as expected, home visiting has been oodles of crazy craziness, punctuated by moments of quieter bliss, and accented with shades of “omgoodness i can’t possibly eat any more!” there have been warm smiles and good-natured teasing all around. of course there’s the inevitable fambly stress-tests, but these pass quickly and we get back to enjoying each other again

i’m actually impressed with how much visiting has been accomplished thus far … more than i thought was possible actually. and in the end i’m the one that’s devoted more than necessary anxiety to this whole thing. it’s been a while since i was in the midst of another family system from my own small 2 planet-rotation, and it’s been an adjustment to reacquaint myself with how other people do things. but, after one week with 2 more to go, i think i’m back in the groove and can leave unwanted stress baggage behind.

as far as ‘must eats’ go, chicken wings are still on the list, along with poutine (though i’m not so set on that one). that’s it really. i’m just eager to enjoy the juicy fruits and crisp veggies that the season brings, no matter which country i’m in.

as far as ‘must see’s’ go, i actually haven’t compiled a list yet. have been too busy (and sick, unfortch i developed a nasty cold 1 day before arriving & it’s just clearing up now) to spend much time at a computer. besides, the weather has been great and the company even better … but toronto is on the horizon and lots of exploration therein.

and lastly, ‘must buys’ … this is the nicer part of settling into life somewhere (meaning, in zurich) … that list gets smaller and smaller every time we come. partly due to greater exploration of our new city, and partly as we learn to live without stuff, or find substitutes. besides, we’ve just bought our tickets for august and the exchange isn’t in our favour anymore, so i’m not feeling as spend-thrift as i have in the past … hence the greater concentration on experience. it’s a richer life anyway when friends and family are in it

i suppose i should have gone to the store when it was brilliantly sunny and warm an hour ago, instead of now when it’s overcast and cool with a thunderstorm threatening imminently … but instead i was reading lazily in my bed with my toes basking in that gorgeously-warm sunspot … nah, i would definitely do it the same again

moving on … we survived! 5 days of spring motorcycle riding, to and from tuscany. spring = rain, so yes, we did get some of that. but the torrential downpour only happened the first day, and near the end, so all in all it really wasn’t so bad. just a bit of a pain to keep putting on and taking off layers of clothing. the routes were a bit muddled as there were a few unexpected road-closures (accidents and cleanings), but there were lots of twisty bits and rivers and forests and hills to keep us entertained. the pasta was excellent and the coffee was marvelous. to me there seemed to be a higher number of incidents than last time, but nothing out of the ordinary in and of themselves. nothing happened to us, other than an inconvenient toll-booth ticket mishap – so that was great. kevin (who joined us all the way from vancouver) seemed to really enjoy himself on the transalp, and it was great to visit the peeps from last year’s corsica trip, minus a few faces, but plus some new ones. i really enjoy their company

now there are a few short days until we leave for canada. laundry to do, packing to organize, some shopping lists to formulate, and inbetween a fair amount of rest. of course packing will be a little annoying because spring in ontario is basically like spring anywhere … rain + sunshine + cool + warm + humid + frost … take your pick of combinations for that one. luckily i’ve got some closets i can raid

and now that it has started to rain swimming pools, it’s time to go and get some groceries