Four and a half months have now passed since we moved to Switzerland. "They say," after moving abroad, you will be exhilarated and excited at first and then experience a real low period, missing your home culture and frustrated with your new culture. I definitely experienced the exhilaration and excitement of learning all about this new (to me) culture, and perhaps because of my experiences working with interculturalists and Cultural Detective the "lows" never got too low or lasted very long. I truly love living here and feel very comfortable with the lifestyle, even without a car, as crazy as that seems.

It is strange to think just four and a half months ago I was driving all over, everywhere I wanted to go, or in reality wherever my kids needed to be taken. I know my body thanks me for the more active lifestyle, even when I reeeaaaallllly wish I had a car - like for the trek to the birthday party of Gus' friend Saturday morning, in the rain, running to the train so we're not late.


When we decided to move here, Mike and I discussed that this would be the year of adventure for our family - the opportunity of a lifetime, to travel around Europe and help our kids to really experience the different cultures, lifestyles and people we would have the opportunity to encounter. After this short time I am really starting to understand how meaningful this experience will be not only for our kids but for each of us individually as well as our family unit. We have each grown and matured, and as a family we have been able to really depend on each other, in ways we haven't needed to in the past. This experience has connected us deeply and for that alone it has been worthwhile.

In these first few months we have had the opportunity to do some fabulous traveling. For the kids fall school break, I took them to London for 5 days. Unfortunately Mike had to work that week as a big conversion had been planned a year in advance (without consulting the new school calendar!) We had a great time figuring out the English "Tube" and double decker bus systems, seeing the London Bridge, the Tower of London, the London Eye, a ride on a "Duck" and watching a few movies as well as a fun play called "We will Rock You" (the Queen songs were featured.) London is a great city and we really had a fun time visiting. (Another place I think I could live.)


Then in November, Mike's Mom and Dad visited us in Zurich (a once in a lifetime trip they would say and a treat for us to share our new life with them), and Mike and I had the opportunity to fly to Athens for a week. The city was much larger than I had expected. We climbed to the Parthenon, drove along the Mediterranean Sea, took a cruise to three Greek islands, and partied at a Byzantine Estate for a final night of the conference Mike attended. Greece is very beautiful and even more international than Zurich. Almost everyone we came into contact with spoke English, which made getting around very easy for us. We will hope to take the kids back to see this country - truly beautiful!


During the last week of Patty and Fred's visit we all took the TGV (train grand vitesse) to Paris from Thalwil. What a cool experience! The train went through Geneva so we spent one night there and did a small amount of sight seeing (walking around the lake and old town) the next day before we hopped on the train again to Paris. I quickly remembered how much I love the French language and France as a country. Learning the language and about the culture as a teenager (and then falling in love with it during my brief summer stay as an exchange student) was really what kept me dreaming about someday living there.


We got to see parts of Paris I had never seen before (and some parts I'll be happy to never see again) , which made the experience rich and interesting for each of us! So there's a quick story about the apartment I rented online - turned out to really not fit our needs (haha!) as the staircase to the main bedrooms was really just a hole cut through the floor boards with a ladder to the bottom floor - an interesting night of horror was had by all! Mike took matters into his own hands and set us up in a very nice hotel in a bit more posh area of Paris. We sent the grandparents and the kids to the new hotel via taxi and Mike and I walked from the apartment to the hotel. This was one of my favorite experiences this trip -it was about a 2-3 mile walk from the theater district to the Opera house on a beautiful sunny day. The cafes, shops, Arcs, Monuments, and beautiful department stores (Printemps and Lafayette Galleries) along the way made for an amazing walk.


The two key monuments we wanted to see while we were in Paris this trip were the Louvre (and especially Mona Lisa) and the Eiffel Tower. We managed to see both (the Eiffel Tower early evening so as night fell and the lights came on across the city it was beautiful) and had walks along the river, chocolate crepes, outdoor cafe meals and just an amazing experience for us all. Unfortunately, the day before we left my wallet was stolen - major bummer shutting down the credit cards, and realizing our Swiss permits, driver's license and other cards all now had to be reissued. I got to experience the French police system by reporting the crime and then we were off via train back to Thalwil, where I would continue to deal with the wallet issue for the next month.

We also had a first for our kids in Switzerland, two weeks before we returned to KC for the holidays, we took the family skiing in the Swiss Alps while it snowed (Engelberg, Switzerland a beautiful little village about an hour away.) The kids absolutely loved it - and Mike and I did pretty well for our selves as well. We had our own private ski instructor for the family, which was a great way to introduce ourselves to the sport. We're all excited to go back and do some more skiing in February with our friends Pierre, Michaela, Patricia and Pascale (a German family we have connected with in Zurich).



In these few months we've learned so many things about the Swiss culture and have begun to adapt in several ways. I am frequently finding similarities between how I was raised (German descendants) and some of the SwissGerman cultural nuances. I'm really thankful my children are getting to see different ways of living. As I grew up, I was very grounded in American culture (with German influences), and was taught the "right way" to do things, the "right way" to be. There was nothing wrong with this except that I really believed I was "right." Although in my head I knew there were other ways, it really wasn't until being emersed in and living and seeing first hand other "right ways" to be that I've realized there are just ways. I get a lot of joy experiencing the differences and being open to living them. Some differences I really like, and some not so much, but I feel so enriched to have the opportunity to experience them.


I am grateful to my husband for being willing and able to make my dream a reality for me and our family - and I believe deeply it has opened the world (as no USA centric experience could) to our children. I can't wait to see what they do with it!