Isle of Switzerland

Testing, testing…..

2011-02-02T11:24:00.001-08:00

Today, 2 February 2011, is air raid testing day throughout Switzerland. Every year on the second Wednesday in February, the sirens are systematically tested in all counties. This is the sound we would hear in the event of a National Disaster e.g. air raid attack.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBNKnSMmjVE&feature=related

It is very eerie and makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. Let’s hope we never have to experience this.

Further information taken from the following website: www.ch.ch

Alerting the population in the event of a disaster

Disasters can happen with little or no warning; it is therefore all the more important for information to flow quickly so as to alert the population in good time.

Alarm systems

Switzerland currently has around 7500 (stationary and mobile) civil defence sirens distributed throughout the country that can reach over 99 per cent of the population. Sirens are increasingly activated by remote control. An additional 750 water alert sirens are located near dams.

Siren test

The annual siren test takes place in Switzerland on the first Wednesday of February. It is organised by the Federal Office for Civil Protection (FOCP) in cooperation with the cantons, communes and dam operators. At this time, not only general alert sirens but also water alert sirens are tested to see if they are in working order. People are given advance notice about the siren test on television broadcasts as well as in the newspapers. The siren tests do not require the population to take any special measures.

Who alerts the population?

The National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) coordinates activities during a state of emergency (e.g. in the event of increased radioactivity, chemical accidents, dam breaks, satellite crashes, natural disasters etc.). MeteoSwiss becomes involved in the event of dangerous weather developments and the Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research in the event of avalanche danger. In principle, every competent authority is able and has the authority to sound their sirens when they deem it to be necessary. The NEOC also takes on the role of a national reporting and assessment centre for all Natural hazards and technical incidents.

Alarm signals: General alert and flood alert

A description of the two alarm signals is provided on the last page of all phone books as well as on the Internet.

· The general alert is sounded when there is a possible threat to the population. Sirens for this alert have a regularly ascending and descending tone lasting a minute and repeated after a two-minute interval. If you hear this alarm signal, you should turn on the radio (DRS or a local radio station), follow instructions from the authorities and alert your neighbours.

· A flood alert has twelve low continuous tones each lasting 20 seconds. It is activated once the general alert is already sounding. This alarm signal indicates you need to leave the area at risk immediately.

Have your Cake and Eat It!

2011-01-06T12:04:00.000-08:00

Today, 6^th January , it is the Three Kings Day. This marks the final days of Christmas and celebrates the Kings who brought the gifts to the manger on the first night of Christmas, over 2000 years ago.

Now, down to business! There is great excitement among all children, as every household today has bought a Three Kings Cake, called in German, “Dreikönigskuchen”, included with every cake is just one gold crown and hidden inside each cake is just one King! Whoever gets the piece of cake with the King inside, gets to wear the gold crown. The cake is eaten with anticipation, the next bite determines, whether you will be the winner or indeed the loser. Even if you buy two cakes, which I’ve done in the past, there is still no guarantee, you will win second time round!

This brings a huge amount of competition between two boys, as of course, both want to win the King! My six year old son told me to guard the cake, incase his brother rummages through it when no one is looking and finds the King!

In keeping with tradition, today I cleared away the Christmas tree, the Christmas decorations and Christmas cards, and as I did so I thought to myself, it's a wonder there is not war among siblings on this day!

The culprit, a minute white plastic King, shown alongside a normal sized teaspoon!

And the winner this year was:

Happy New Year!

2011-01-02T10:00:00.000-08:00

Vielen Dank Noemi für das schöne Bild! A friend’s eight year old daughter drew this lovely picture for me today. Have no idea why she associates me with wine, prosecco and champagne!

Christmas Day was spent at home surrounded by all the new toys. We cooked the traditional Turkey, despite its extortionate price of 60 francs (over £40!) and Toni’s brother Karl joined us for dinner. Our starter consisted of Smoked Salmon with Prawns, horseradish cream and lime vinaigrette, followed by Turkey and all the trimmings. By this stage it was time for a walk in the snow to work off a few of the calories! Then back home for dessert, Tiramisu and Christmas Pudding!

Who needs to go to Australia for a BBQ over the Christmas period?! On Boxing Day we met with a number of families and their relatives who were visiting Switzerland and had a BBQ in the forest! Swiss Cervelas (sausages), Paprika Crisps and Swiss beer. The weather was fantastic, very cold but with glorious blue sky.

Whilst we grabbed a few knives and forks from the kitchen, some people really did come prepared....check this out for a complete set!

On 27^th December we travelled to Rigi for 3 days http://www.rigi.ch/ where we walked, sledged and skied above the clouds!

And now it’s all over, back to school and work tomorrow morning. And more importantly back to the gym!

Happy New Year, may it be full of peace, health, and happiness!

Tee-total!

2010-12-22T12:19:00.000-08:00

Soon it is coming to the end of Advent and I have drunk almost all my tea! I bought myself an Advent Tea calendar at the beginning of December. This consists of 24 different fruit/ herbal teas, and each one has a special name. My favourite one was on Monday morning past, it was called, “FREI VON DER LEBER WEG”, known to us in English as “LIBERATE YOUR LIVER”!

Whether you are staying at home or travelling to be with family at Christmas, I wish you a warm and safe Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.

Fröhliche Weihnachten! Nollaig Shona Daoibh! Merry Christmas!

Girls Night Out

2010-12-06T04:27:00.000-08:00

Last week I had an evening out with the girls from the Walking Group. Despite my husband being away on business that week, I managed to find a baby sitter; nothing was going to stop me from enjoying a night out! The occasion was our annual Christmas Dinner and this year we decided to try an Italian Restaurant, situated near the Rhine in Basel, called zur Mägd. The nearest translation I found for “Mägd” was farmhand or milkmaid. Old maid’s we were not! Gone were the walking boots, fleeces and rain jackets as we braved the snow blizzards on Wednesday evening, in a much more elegant fashion.

www.zurmaegd.ch/index/restaurant.html

The evening got off to a good start with lots of prosecco and wine! Rachel, who organises everything for the group, i.e. Weekly Walks, Annual Christmas Dinner, Book Club…. had also organised a “Secret Santa”; whereby, in advance, everybody was given a name of someone from the group, then each person had to buy a unique gift for that person. All gifts were wrapped, labelled and on arrival at the restaurant, quickly smuggled into a empty bin bag, which Rachel had remembered to bring along!

Here are a few more photos from the evening.

Helen demanding her Secret Santa gift!

Ann-Marie looking pretty in pink and pleased as punch with her new candle!

New gardening gloves!

An old Scottish tradition, Kim blessing the food.....the prayer of the prosciutto!

A great vintage.......HP sauce!

Helen's pleased with her gift, but Maggie's got her eye on it!

For my starter I had warm goats cheese bruschetta, sounds so much better in Italian, "CAPRINO CALDO SU BRUSCHETTA" followed by Risotto with prawns or should I say, "RISOTTO CARNAROLI VERDE CON GAMBERONI GRIGLIATI". The English language doesn’t really “hit the spot” not like Italian! Particularly when talking about food, everything sounds so much better when said in Italian, it doesn’t matter what it is, you simply want to hear more of it!

A great night was had by all and on behalf of everyone from the group, thank you Rachel, for all the organising you do! Til the next one!

I welcome all comments on my blog!

Advent Calendars

2010-12-05T11:37:00.000-08:00

A number of years ago, I bought an Advent Calendar, which consisted of 24 different sacks, and during the month of November I would spend my time and money buying lots of small gifts x2 to fill the small sacks, for both children. Of course, the finished result looked really nice, but was a bit too fiddly and to be honest in recent years, I just couldn’t be bothered!

This year I took the easy route and bought the Advent Calendars instead. My nine year old son wanted a Star Wars Advent Calendar, filled with lots of Star Wars memorabilia. My six year old son wanted a Jewel/Chrystal Advent Calendar, filled with various “precious” gem stones. Each day is a different gem stone and with each stone, there comes a special word, indicating the stone’s meaning or special property.

Yesterday he had "Blue Quartz which" brings optimism. “What‘s optimism?” he asked me. “This means, that today you will be really happy I told him. He seemed pleased with that explanation.

Today he had "Leopard Jasper" which brings independence. “What’s independence?” he asked my husband this morning, “this means that today you will be able to stand on your own two feet.” He looked a bit disappointed and replied. “But I could do that yesterday!”

Well-read

2010-11-22T11:15:00.000-08:00

My soon to be ten year old son, Rory, was very excited on Friday afternoon - because there was no school! This gave him the opportunity to accompany his six year old brother to the kindergarten and have fun with other six year olds. Proof that none of us ever really grow up!

The reason he had an afternoon off school was because his teacher had organised a Reading Night. This involves the children bringing their sleeping bag, pyjamas, toothbrush, torch, book and sleeping overnight in the school! The idea comes from Germany, and its main aim is to encourage children to read in a fun way. Rory loves reading, both in German and English, he is often found walking around at home with a book in hand, not wanting to lose track of the storyline. In English we would call him a “Book Worm” but in German the phrase is “Reading Rat!”

After collecting our well read son at 8.30am on Saturday morning, we made our way into Basel and visited the Anglican Church Christmas Bazaar, where we bought lots of goodies from “back home” at extortionate prices; Paxo Stuffing, Hartleys Jelly, Marrowfat Peas, Christmas Pudding, Branston Pickle, HP Sauce, to name but a few. Toni bought a home made Cornish Pasty for 12 francs (best part of £8!); he said it was worth it!

Then we had a quick shopping trip where I believe I’ve found the most expensive Christmas Crackers in town, 80 francs for 6 (almost £50!), I didn’t buy them! As we were in Schifflände, an area in Basel situated near the Rhine, we decided to visit The Book Ship which is in Basel for two weeks, a floating library! It has free entrance, not to mention shelter from the cold weather and has tea/coffee and muffins for sale. Once again, encouraging both young and old to read!

Twit twit twoo!

2010-09-24T12:51:00.000-07:00

As it is just over one year since I started my blog, I thought I should add something new. I have a twitter account! You can follow my tweets at twitter.com: ilovswitzerland. Well, if Victoria Beckham can tweet........

Another new thing, is, that after one year, I have just realised I can use the third gear of my bike - don't ask! What a difference it makes, life in the fast lane! Let's hope I get the hang of tweeting in a lot less time! Off to Locarno tomorrow, in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland for a well deserved holiday. Lets hope the sun shines!

Help!

2010-08-28T05:20:00.000-07:00

I haven’t been blogging for what seems like yonks (Irish slang for “a long time”). I’ve been otherwise occupied, in other words, we’ve had six weeks school holidays, where both children seemed to spend their entire time fighting, arguing or screaming at each other. Not good for one’s nerves, particularly as my husband was out of the country for most of the time. Quick action was needed!

My plan started with a two week swimming course in our local outdoor pool, which turned out to be a great idea, as temperatures were around 30 degrees everyday. With both children amused this gave me the chance to get some swimming done, have a cup of coffee and read some of my book in uninterrupted peace and quiet!

On the third week, temperatures rose to 35 degrees. Far too hot to take part in a 5 day outdoor soccer camp from 10am to 5pm, but it didn’t deter them! In between matches, grass sprinklers were set off, to cool everyone down. And me, well I had such a lot of plans for this week, until fate had another plans for me. Major toothache set in and I spent most of the five days toing and froing from the dentist and thus nursing my sore gums. Don’t mention wisdom teeth or root canals.

The following week was “Ferien Pass”, which involves parents spending their entire Monday morning, phoning and redialing (a bit like Swap Shop, lines close at 11am), struggling to book their children in various local activities only to be told, sorry no places left. Why not book on line or by post, I hear you say? Because, in Switzerland it has been done this way for the last twenty years! I did, however, have some luck and managed to secure places on: scuba diving, trip to the fire station, ride on an old fashioned tram and how to build a model solar powered cable car.

In the fifth and sixth weeks, we travelled to Lanzarote where we met with my brother, his wife, their two children and my parents. My father was celebrating his 70th birthday in Lanzarote, every night for two weeks! More Rosé wine anyone?

It is years since I’ve had a beach holiday and I’d forgotten how simple life is at the beach. Basically you have the same 6 decisions to make every day. They are as follows:

Morning: Shall we stay at the pool or go to the beach?

Lunch: What and where?

Siesta Time!

Afternoon: Shall we stay at the pool or go to the beach?

Dinner? The restaurant which serves honey rum after your meal or the one with vodka caramel?

Early night or not? Easy decision!

We returned to Switzerland on Sunday evening and on Monday morning at 8.00am, exhausted or not, it was back to school! I was confronted with parents, teachers, kids, home work, and football practice, and of course, trying to remember how to talk German! A culture shock, of which I can only compare to, the words one might shout after plunging into a fresh water lake in the middle of January without a wet suit.

More blogging soon ;-)

Doctor, Doctor!

2010-05-30T11:42:00.000-07:00

My nine year old son fell off his bike on Friday evening, thankfully nothing was broken but he did get a rather nasty large cut on his knee, which happened to be full of tiny stones and gravel. I did what I could to clean it and remove the stones but basically if I went within a “stones throw” of the injury he screamed. By Saturday morning the wound was secreting pus and looked even worse (Don’t worry no photo taken!). I was worried that it was infected and that more stones were under the skin.

As it was Saturday, the doctor was closed so I decided to go to a small local hospital near where we live. If you have ever experienced an NHS (National Health Service) hospital in the UK, then you won’t believe this:-

We arrived at the hospital at 12.00 mid day, registered at reception, were seen by a nurse who cleaned the wound, and then two doctors came and examined him. He was then wheeled away on a bed to have an x-ray taken, wheeled back back again, seen by the same two doctors, one of which removed some stones, he was given the all clear and we were back home eating lunch at 1.30pm, on the same day!

Of course, there is a price to pay, Medical Insurance in Switzerland is not cheap, but isn’t it worth it?

Be Prepared!

2010-05-24T11:28:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, I volunteered to help two kindergarten teachers and over 40 children trek through the forest (again!). This time it wasn’t just the normal four hours, it was a marathon 6 hours with lunch included!

Start of the journey, 40+ children sitting on a wall...

We walked for about one hour and found a place for everyone to sit and eat their “znuni” (the snack eaten at around 9.00am in German speaking areas of Switzerland!). After singing the znuni song and eating the znuni it was on the move again, to find what became our living area for the next 5 hours.

In all areas of Switzerland, there are designated grill areas situated in and around many forests and parks, they are available for everyone to use. The one that we came across even had old tree trunks surrounding it which meant that there was plenty of space for everyone to sit down.

On the menu for lunch was “Alphabet Soup and Grilled Sausage”. All children came prepared with a sausage to grill on the open fire and the teachers came prepared with all ingredients and utensils to make the soup over the open fire! As this was not the first time that the teacher and kids have been together in the forest, the children knew exactly what the protocol was i.e., collect the wood for the fire and then play time! They worked hard collecting and carrying the wood and then they played for hours, climbing trees, rocks, looking for mice and singing FC Basel football songs at the top of their voices!

Hunting for a mouse!

As well as mice, they found the most disgusting long thick black slugs, which a lot of children carried around with them for the duration in the forest! Yuuuukkkkkkkkk!

We carried with us to the forest, two black saucepans that looked like witches cauldrons and a large collection of sharpened sticks which had been collected during many trips to the forest. The cauldrons were used to cook the soup and the sharpened sticks were used to plunge through the middle of the sausage and then held over the open fire. It didn’t matter if raw meat touched cooked meat, or if any kind of meat fell on the ground, once cooked it was all eaten!

Two pots of Alphabet soup...

How many children, sticks and sausages can you fit around a fire?

The washing line for those that got their socks wet in the stream.

Fields of wild garlic....

On the way home, I took my turn and carried one of the black cauldrons and a bunch of the sharpened sticks to be used at the next forest outing. My hiking boots were covered in muck, as were my old jeans and rain jacket, my hair was a big fuzzy mess due to being the open air for so long. I hoped I wouldn’t meet anyone I knew, as luck would have it - yes of course I did! My friend Graziela drove past in her black sporty Audi, dark glasses on, looking as glamorous as ever, she tooted her horn and asked me if I’d joined the boy scouts!

Mothers Day!

2010-05-13T02:29:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was Mothers Day in Switzerland. Switzerland follows the US tradition, where Mothers Day falls on the second Sunday in May. The UK and Ireland celebrate Mothers Day in the middle of Lent following the traditional Mothering Sunday celebration.

I was woken early on Sunday Morning and presented with a whole host of hand made gifts which both children had made in school and kindergarten.

A candle holder, which was a small glass surrounded in Plaster of Paris and then decorated with stones collected from the playground and small glass beads added to give it the professional touch!

A paper weight, which was a medium sized stone, with wire wound around it and the wire had been curled using a pencil. Finished with a small heart cut out of cardboard and coloured in!

Pink scarf in background, model’s own ;-)

A watering can, which was an empty 1 litre plastic mineral water bottle, with wire wound round the bottle and decorated with plaits of wool (proof that boys can do hair braids!). This part was bought in a DIY shop - a piece of yellow tube which screws neatly onto the top of the bottle and creates a spout for the water!

I’m not the only one who admires the Swiss people’s ingenious ways of creating, designing and building. They are very talented and “crafty”, and by this I don’t mean sneaky, shrewd and devious! In German they even have a verb, which is widely used in everyday life, it means to make, build, model and craft : basteln. Which, I have always thought sounded more like a swear word in English! “You Basteln!”

In addition I got a new heart-shaped charm for my bracelet which thankfully Toni didn’t “basteln!”

Flog it or sod it!

2010-04-18T11:59:00.000-07:00

We were in Petersplatz in Basel selling our wares at the flea market on Saturday. It was well attended, like always and a big bonus - the sun shone. You don’t need to reserve a table in advance, simply turn up, and in the words of Philomena Begley “lay your blanket on the ground” and display your goods! My children were selling some old toys and puzzles and I had a few knick-knacks and “things”that I no longer used.

This was our second year attending the flea market, last year we sold almost everything and made quite a bit of cash! This year it was a different story........ Switzerland is an expensive country to live in and people are always happy to get a bargain. This year people wanted to buy everything for nothing, 20 francs meant 8, 10 francs meant 4 and 5 francs meant 50 cents! Whilst I wanted to sell everything and not bring it back home, I didn’t want to give it away. So, I said "sod it". We’ll wait for the next flea market and try again, we carried a lot of stuff back home, shame, as that is the last thing you want to do.

People have often asked if the financial crisis has affected us in Switzerland and to be honest in my opinion, we haven’t felt the effects unlike other countries. But Saturday proved otherwise. A bargain isn’t good enough, people wanted more!

Got a few nice photos anyway!

All sorts of weird and wonderful things to buy.......
Chrystal chandelier....

It was a long day.................

A sign of the times

2010-04-12T13:10:00.000-07:00

This year we spent Easter in England. We travelled from Zürich to Manchester on the 1st April – April Fools Day. The traffic outside Manchester Airport was no joke. We were staying with my brother in Lincoln which should have been a two hour car journey but instead became a 4 hour nightmare. Traffic jams were not our only concern, our nine year old son started to feel sick in the back of the car. There was no way Toni was stopping or pulling over, for fear of either losing his place in the gridlocked traffic or delaying the journey further. Being in a hired car, I didn’t have my normal stash of plastic bags in the seat pocket. All I had was an uneaten bag of popcorn we bought at Zürich Airport! I emptied the popcorn on the side of the road and passed my son the empty plastic bag, which wasn’t empty for long!

The air in the car was blue, due to the amount of swearing from the driver and although it was not the most relaxing journey, it was, however, the quietest I have ever seen my five year old chatty and often demanding son! And me, well I “tried” to listen to the Radio, which happened to be set at Radio 2. Simon Mayo, Steve Wright – didn’t they used to be cool and trendy DJ’s on Radio 1? You have to remember I’ve been in Switzerland for ten years now and perhaps a bit out of touch. I enjoyed listening to the chat shows and funny stories and even found myself turning the music up! Not just to drown out the rest of the passengers but more because I was enjoying it. Funny, as I used to think Radio 2 was boring.

The next day after a good nights sleep we set off early for an Easter Trail to Clumber Park. Clumber Park is famous for many reasons, apart from being mentioned in the Doomsday Book, it is Europe’s longest avenue of lime trees and it was once home to many Earls and Dukes from Newcastle upon Tyne. Eeeeeeeeeh!

It hosts a large lake and 3,800 acres of park land, a beautiful old building which is now the café, a walled kitchen garden and lots of little shops. Their shelves packed with jars of old fashioned sweets, dolly mixtures, midget gems, mint humbugs and plenty of weird and wonderful cards and books to choose from too.

One book that caught our eye was a funny one titled “The Bowler’s Holding the Batsman’s Willey” a collection of humorous sporting quotations. Rachel bought it for her father’s birthday and we all had a good laugh as we looked through it. One quote that stood out for me was from the infamous Gazza (Paul Gascoigne) from Newcastle who stated “I don't make predictions and I never will.”

Visitors at Clumber Park didn’t seem to mind the cold weather, as many large groups of people braved the elements and sat outside eating lunch. Never before, have I seen so many different coloured and patterned wellies (gummistiefel for my German speaking readers!) parading in a park. I presumed that if you bought an annual National Trust membership card, you must be entitled to a complementary pair!

In one of the shops I spotted three metal swinging toadstools for the garden. Just what I needed! Rachel quickly snapped them from me and decided she would buy them for my birthday. Thank you Rachel!

It was the first time I had to pack three toadstools in my suitcase, but then again we bring all sorts of things back to Switzerland! Bacon, sausages and cheddar cheese not shown in photo!

We left Lincoln on Saturday morning, and drove North to meet Toni’s family not in Newcastle but in Richmond, North Yorkshire. We rented a cottage for a week and they came to visit us.

I noticed that the sheep in Lincoln area:-

look different to those in North Yorkshire:
I asked my children the differences they noticed between Switzerland and England.

They said, in England:-

everyone speaks English,
trains are shorter,
people drive on the other side of the road,
the road signs are in yards and miles,
seagulls,
there are lots of castles,
there are more letters on the car number plates,
lots of dead animals on the sides of the roads,
there are lots of fish and chip shops,
everyone eats crisps,
meat comes with fruit (gammon steak with pineapple),

I asked Toni what he most enjoyed about England. “Sausages.”

What did I enjoy most? Well, if I lived in England I would have an annual National Trust Membership card! As I enjoyed Radio 2 so much, I’m going to listen to it regularly when I get back to Switzerland. And then I started to wonder....….in the ten years that I have been in Switzerland have Radio 2 and National Trust Properties become more interesting, or, have I simply matured in life?

Time Flies!

2010-03-30T13:22:00.000-07:00

Today is our tenth wedding anniversary. It only seems like yesterday that we were making our plans to get married “very quickly” in Gretna Green! Why very quickly? Because I needed a work and residency permit to stay in Switzerland; otherwise it was the first boat home! And in a land locked country, that would have been an interesting journey.

We organised a baby sitter for Saturday evening and celebrated by going into Basel city centre. As it was the start of the Easter holidays, many restaurants were fully booked. But luckily we managed to get a reservation at Jays. http://www.jaysindianfood.ch/ a small, narrow, buzzing restaurant located a street away from the Rhine. Fantastic Indian food served in modern surroundings with very friendly staff! Five stars from me!

There were many Indian Ganesh on display:

We walked back through the narrow streets and alleyways located in and around the Rhine debating whether lamb vindaloo was better than chicken jalfrezzi and came upon the luxury Three Kings Hotel. Last week in Basel the annual Watch and Jewellery Fair took place, where a few of the world's rich and famous arrived. This year Leonardo DiCaprio was promoting the latest Tag Heuer and subsequently dined in The Three Kings Hotel. http://www.thetimetv.com/news-tag-heuer-leonardo-dicaprio-baselworld-1375-44

During the Easter holidays we will be in Lincoln and Richmond, visiting family, where no doubt, once again time will fly! Happy Easter ;-)

It's not all double Dutch!

2010-03-11T13:31:00.000-08:00

We have just recently returned from our ski holiday, in where else, but the Swiss Alps. The question in Switzerland before the school winter break begins is not, are you going skiing? But, where are you going skiing? We were in Saas Fee in the Canton Valais for the sixth time! This year the weather was fantastic with blue skies (almost every day), powder snow – perfect conditions. Our school holidays coincided with the Dutch school holidays, therefore, the slopes, restaurants, ski locker rooms and dance floors were heavily populated with Dutch families.

There are many benefits to going the same ski resort, year after year. One of them being that my 9 year old son, who started skiing in Saas Fee aged 3, now knows the runs like the back of his hand! There is no stopping him and his five year old brother, is not far behind. Speaking of behind that seems to be where I am when all four of us ski together! I have to keep reminding my children that I didn’t start skiing at 3 years old, more like 33+. I have progressed, albeit it slowly, there are considerable improvements from previous years. One of them being that I know longer sh*t myself going up in the cable cars, not literally of course, just use to be a teensy bit worried about how on earth I would get back down the mountain, without the use of REGA the helicopter rescue operation in the Alps.

With both boys enrolled in five day ski school from 9.45am to 1pm, Toni and I boldly took various routes up the Alps, where many had been before us. There is no end to the Swiss ingenious ways of getting up those mountains. Cable cars, gondolas, mountain trains, chair lifts, button lifts, T bar lifts, in other words, there is no getting out of it! This year, I have to say is the first year that I really enjoyed it. I am not a fantastic skier and probably never will be, I say probably, as one should always live in hope! My parallel turns are getting better and I know now that when I approach a steep run, I can do it. Previously, I used to just sh*t myself, again not literally, but I hung around the incline for about 10 minutes, watching 3 year olds to 83 years whiz down it, eventually I would try to ski, tumble, slide and snow plough down it and then burst into tears in the middle. All this in the name of sport!

When the ski school was finished we collected the children and went for lunch. We just about had enough time to eat our pommes frites and goulash soup before they were were pleading, with us to hurry up as they wanted to go skiing again. At two o’clock, we were back on the slopes for another ordeal. One afternoon, we tried a ski route unknown to me, but of course, well known to my husband, Toni and nine year old son. Toni has been skiing since he was nine years old, but repeatly tells me that he has never had a lesson in his life, nor would I, had I been skiing since 9 years old I repeat back to him.

We agreed at the top of this run, what we were doing, who was following who and where the meeting place was. I was concentrating so much on the up and down movement as I turned, leaning on the outside leg not the inner leg, whilst doing the parallel turn, that I skied past the meeting point. On I went down the mountain, unaware of three people screaming after me.

This doesn’t seem to fit in any other paragraph, but seems like a good time to mention it! I would say over 90% of people nowadays, wear helmets whilst skiing. It is almost frowned upon if you have no helmet. This year my husband relented and he too like all the rest of us spent a good part of 300 francs on a new helmet and goggles to match. The thing is with a helmet on, it is harder to hear people talking and indeed screaming at you. On with the story.

My little parallel world was shattered as my 9 year old son "cut me up" and stopped me in my tracks. He yelled at me about how I had missed the meeting point and now we all had to divert our route because of me. “Did you not hear us shouting at you?” he asked. I stood and listened whilst he chastised me, then the other two caught up quickly and nodded heads in agreement with him. What could I say? I wiped my snotty nose (a curse we all have to bear when temperatures are minus 10) and followed him obediently down the Alps to the next meeting place.

As you can imagine I was glad to get feet back on terra firma. It was now well after 4pm, we started to walk slowly back to our apartment which was located about 20 minutes walk from the slopes. On route we passed many of the bars with outdoor heated terraces, packed with après skiers. My children loved to stop and watch everyone dancing up and down and listen to the music. They called them the “wild people”. My five year old son asked his ski teacher (who was, I would guess, in his late 30’s early 40’s) do you go wild after you ski? His reply, “I used to but not so much anymore” – I know how he feels!

Talking of going wild, Wednesday evening in Saas Fee is “kids disco” where we all went wild and danced with a big white rabbit aka “Snowli” all parents and children were obliged to do the Congo round the hotel bar and dance floor. Claudia (a friend of mine, who was also on holiday with her family) and I downed 2 large campari and orange (will I did, she only had one!) and then battled on the dance floor for the weekly title of “sexy mama”. Sadly, we were pipped to to the post by non other than Sigrid, a Dutch lady.

Even the Snowli can ski......

On the Thursday morning, Toni and I took a break from skiing, mainly to rest our weary legs but ended up doing a very steep walk which started from Saas Fee village up to Gletscherbrücke. We ordered coffee and sat outside on the sunny terrace, where there were some old motor bikes as seats nailed into the ground around a table, the closest Toni will get to driving a Kawasaki, man!

Despite all the "ups and downs" it was great week and we were all sad it had come to an end. We finished our holiday with a Cheese Fondue on the last evening, drowning our sorrows in a deep pot of melted cheese and wine on the side of course! Vowing to return for more of the same next year.

Fasnacht Fever! Carnival Time!

2010-02-14T06:41:00.000-08:00

It is Fasnacht/Carnival time in Basel, and lots of streets are decorated with Fasnacht figures.

I was once told by a Swiss person who grew up in Basel, that Basel inhabitants either love Fasnacht or hate it. If the latter is the case, then they escape to the mountains and enjoy the skiing instead.

The Basel Fasnacht begins each year, six weeks before Easter Monday. It has its origins in old pagan customs and traditions, when people looked forward to celebrating the end of winter and the dawn of spring. With the amount of cold weather and snowfall that the UK and Ireland have had this year, I think you can understand and appreciate, why people would be only too glad to rejoice at the end of winter!

Fasnacht starts at 4.00am on Monday morning, all the street lights are turned off and the city centre is in complete darkness. Hundreds of people dressed in costumes, carrying lanterns and playing piccolos parade through the streets. The carnival continues until Wednesday!

Buses, trams and trains run what seems to be a 24 hour service, taking people of all ages to and from the Carnival. The streets are full of different coloured confetti that has been thrown from the floats carrying characters dressed in “Waggis” costumes, A Waggis is a typical Fasnacht costume that satirises the Alsatian peasants.

If you haven’t yet visited Basel to experience Fasnact, then do! It is a wonderful experience, full of colour, smiling faces, and lots of noise. Most hotels are fully booked a year in advance.

On Friday afternoon the children’s Fasnacht parade took place in our village. The kindergartens and schools have been busy over the past month, designing and making their costumes. Here are a few of the photos I took. Bear in mind, that this was just a local village Fasnacht parade starting at 2.00pm and finishing at 3.30pm, imagine 3 days of Carnival in Basel!

The clowns from kindergarten....

The snow kings from the other kindergarten class.....

Scary ones.....

Check out the rope around the children to keep little ones from straying! Health and Safety.......

The Waggis.....

Scary cats!
Fishy fishy!

Pick up a penguin.....

The Swine Flu theme.....

On fire!

Blue, green or yellow crocodiles.....

All tied up with more rope!.....

The music keeps going.....

Pierrot and the clown on our way home.....

Relaxation, Inspiration and Exertion!

2010-02-02T11:57:00.000-08:00

I have recently returned from a fleeting visit to sunny Belfast and would you believe it was sunny! I travelled by train to Geneva and flew with Easyjet to Belfast. Everything went like clockwork going and on the return journey. It wasn’t just the Swiss trains but also, the Easyjet flights were on time, it couldn’t have been better. I read my magazine on the train, the in-flight magazine on board the aircraft and most importantly, I relaxed! A trip without children is indeed recommended. Of course, I missed them!

The reason for my visit was to attend a two day course in Advanced Reflexology. My mum and I thoroughly enjoyed the course and most importantly came away with a lot of knowledge and new motivation. The attendees were a diverse group all coming from various backgrounds, sports massage, Indian head massage, allergy testing, aromatherapy, Reiki, yoga teacher, nurses, water ski instructor……the list was endless!

This morning it was back to life with children, as my older son left at 7.30am to go to school, my younger son and I were quickly getting our warm clothes and boots on. Why? Because, it was my turn this morning to accompany the kindergarten teacher and 20 children into the forest.

We set of at 8.00am and walked up to the Ermitage, a true place of natural beauty close to the village where we live. On arrival at the forest there was quite a bit of snow and we raced each other down the hill, it is years since I have run that fast down a hill, back then I probably didn’t come last! We gathered sticks, and using old rusty potato peelers, we peeled sticks, we balanced and walked along large tree trunks to see who could stay on the longest, we discovered horse and deer footprints. The time went very quickly and before long it was 12.00 midday. Time to return home and have lunch. The morning must have been too much excitement for me! I subsequently fell asleep for almost an hour on the sofa!

Here are a few of the photos I took today.

And don't forget the potato peelers....

Happy Birthday Peter!

2010-01-24T11:43:00.000-08:00

My brother, Peter celebrates his 39th birthday today. January 25th is an important day throughout Scotland, with many Scots commemorating the 251st birthday of Robbie Burns. Robbie Burns was an 18th Century Scottish poet and lyricist, who died at age 37 in 1796. Peter, Rachel and friends celebrated on Saturday evening in true Burns style with traditional haggis, tatties, neeps and the men even wore kilts!

Haggis: is made from sheep's offal (or pluck). The windpipe, lungs, heart and liver of the sheep are boiled and then minced. This is mixed with beef suet and lightly toasted oatmeal. This mixture is placed inside the sheep's stomach, which is sewn closed. The resulting haggis is traditionally cooked by further boiling (for up to three hours) although the part-cooked haggis can be cooked in the oven which prevents the risk of bursting and spoiling.

See photo of a haggis: http://londoncityairport.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/haggis.jpg

Tatties: mashed potato

Neeps: swede/turnip

The whole evening was completed with a Scottish friend reciting "Address to a haggis" a poem written by Robbie Burns.

Others born on 25th January:
Alicia Keys, singer,
Robinho, Brazilian footballer
David Ginola, French footballer
Virginia Woolf, English novelist

Happy Birthday Peter!

Peter and I, taken at Dublin Zoo in 197?!

Another classic!

2010-01-21T10:31:00.000-08:00

Well known for my outlandish phrases, today was no exception….

“This time next week tomorrow I am flying to Belfast!" That was my quote this morning, as the usual suspects gathered at the swimming pool for our weekly swim. Do not teach that to your language students, Vicky! What I meant of course, was “a week tomorrow I will be flying to Belfast!" I will be doing a two day Advanced Reflexology course.

Reflexology is a complementary therapy that involves the application of pressure to specific points, known as reflexes, on the feet and hands, this encourages the body to heal from within. The therapy is based on the principle that the feet and hands contain 'maps' of the whole body and that by applying pressure to the feet or hands a reflexologist can have a positive effect on the corresponding parts of the body.

More details and hopefully more blogging upon my return if not sooner!

Happy Christmas, Nollag Shona Daoibh!

2009-12-21T11:22:00.000-08:00

We haven’t had as many Christmas cards this year compared to previous years. Maybe it’s because people are becoming more and more environmentally aware. This is what my good friend Helena from Belfast keeps telling me, and has done for many years, at least that is her reason for the absence of cards! This year, I have received a few electronic Christmas cards and emails, which I think now-a-days its widely accepted and welcomed. Helena surprised me this year with an on line gift voucher for all the family to use on Amazon, saves on wrapping paper, jiffy bags, postage, great idea I thought.

The best hand-made Christmas cards that I have received in recent years, have to be those sent from Alice. Alice is another Belfast-ite who now lives in Zürich. We first met by chance on an Easyjet flight from Zürich about 5 years ago! Both of us were travelling to Belfast via Stanstead and can you believe, of all the people to sit beside she sat beside yours truly!

Alice’s cards are simply made but with the most unique designs. I made a point of keeping last year’s card, simply because I thought I would copy it and impress my friends and family! But alas, I forgot to press my autumn leaves on time!

This year she produced a Celtic drawing design, which I thought I must show you.

From all of us in Basel to everybody reading my blog,
Happy Christmas, Nollag Shona Daoibh.

Life is full and full of life!

2009-12-14T13:00:00.000-08:00

With my husband away this week, this time he is living the high life (literally!) in Shanghai. His hotel started at the 31st floor (yes, that sent my mind wondering too, apparently there are offices below!) and ends on the 81st floor! He told me that his head was in the clouds whilst eating dinner!

Our weekend started with our first snow fall...... more of a light dusting. My youngest couldn’t wait to get dressed and go outside and touch it! Good job he did, as it disappeared by lunchtime.

The ski season is fast approaching and I decided along with half the population of Basel to go to Laufen and hire skies for my children. We go to the same shop every year simply because the price is reasonable, but more importantly because the staff are friendly and helpful. Something that in my opinion is a rare commodity in these parts!

I've always liked this mural on the outside wall of the sports shop, particuarly, of course, the butterfly swimmer!

The various stages for renting skies are as follows:

Stage 1: Boots and Helmet
Our sales assistant was a very friendly young guy who of course, thought I was American. After finding out I was Irish, he told me that his English teacher had lived in Ireland. He was very interested in Ireland! And even wanted to know, how to make a traditional English/Irish Christmas Pudding! After trying to explain this to him, he complimented me on having “good German!” Bearing in mind I only spent 15 minutes in his company, I happily accepted his compliment before he discovered the truth. Moving on swiftly..….

Stage 2: Skies
Carry boots and helmets to ski area. Once again, we met another very friendly assistant. He made jokes with my sons and asked my youngest, if he was famous as he thought he had seen him skiing on TV! The kids were given a choice of skies. Bad idea for my youngest who can not make a decision! 15 minutes later…...

Stage 3: Fitting & bindings
Bring boots, helmets and skies to binding area, where once again we were greeted with another nice man, who gave the kids a biscuit each! God, I love Switzerland! The weight and height of the kids is recorded and the bindings thus fitted. Another man floats around and directs the kids to a choice of poles, yet another decision to be made by a 5 year old, again, another 15 minutes later…….

Stage 4: Cash
Bring boots, helmets, skies, and poles to the till and pay! Easy! But it is not over yet. After payment, the kids are allowed to choose one free gift from a large selection of gifts, a further 15 minutes later…………..

You may think you’re on the home straight but no, there is another man waiting to make the kids a name badge! All they have to do is tell the man their name and simply “choose” a picture for their badge, again a further 15 minutes……….aaaaaahhhhhh!

This same man has been making the badges for as long as we have been hiring skies in this shop. I remember a few years ago telling him my son’s name, he looked puzzled.

He asked me “what is that for a strange name?” the literal translation from his German question.
I told him, it is an Irish name. “You’re from Ireland?” he asked. “Follow me” and he marched me into his office without any explanation.

I had no idea what was going on. I shouted back to the kids, if I’m not out in 5 minutes, get help!

He sat me down at his desk and took out photos of his recent holiday in, non other than, Ireland! Then he walked out of the office, to resume his badge making duties, leaving me alone to look at what turned out to be 100’s of photos of Ireland.

That was Saturday and then there was Sunday.

The three of us attended the Basel Irish Club’s (BIC) Christmas Brunch. The venue was in Paddy Reilly’s Irish Pub and the atmosphere was tranquil, festive and smoke free! The youngest members were well entertained, with a colouring-in competition and face painting by a very talented artist!

The Brunch consisted of sausages, bacon, beans, mushrooms, fried potatoes, tomatoes scrambled egg, croissants, various breads, orange juice, coffee and tea. And, of course, unlimited HP sauce! The diddley-dee music started accompanied by a short display of Irish dancing, not by me this time!

Then came the Christmas Quiz, its times like these that I miss my husbands grey matter! Of course, I knew the answer to the Duran Duran question and that “Chuchichästli” was a Swiss-German word for a small kitchen cupboard, something all Swiss people tell you on your first day of work, at least that was my experience, glad it came in useful one day.

But I struggled, with the chemical formula for carbonic acid? Which Russian engineer built the Sputnik? Not to mention the most important position in the Irish Cabinet after the Taoiseach? Just to let you know, I didn’t win!

We left the shindig at 1.30pm and made our way to the Theatre where The Basel English Panto Group presented a great performance of Grinch the Panto “Who Stole Christmas?”

All seats were full and there were lots of familiar faces in the crowd, not to mention the lovely Alan, Suzanne and kids! What a surprise! AND we met the star of the show afterwards! Oh yes we did……..!

What's the Crack?!

2009-12-12T05:41:00.000-08:00

Where have I been and what have I been doing over the past month? Not blogging obviously! My attention and energies have been on other projects, mainly getting ready for Christmas. My Christmas cards are written and posted, the Christmas tree has been up for two weeks now, all the presents are bought, and the freezer is well stocked with homemade red cabbage, brandy butter, cranberry sauce and Christmas pudding ice-cream.

Last Friday morning I made some time for myself and I joined my lovely friend Kim and her lovely walking group!

There was a great turn out, with everyone making a special effort to come. In total we were a group of twelve, this included eleven women, one husband (well done Richard for surviving!) and two dogs, Indy and Hexli.

Indy had great fun running and getting very mucky. Hexli on the other hand was carried snugly in a little pouch! Aaaahhhhh!

We began our walk in Dornach, an area I “should” be familiar with as we have lived in these parts for some eight years now! On my recommendation we walked in the direction of Duggingen. But for some reason I decided to take an unknown path, which meant that we got a bit lost. We walked, and walked. Nice scenery…… a lot of hills. Note to self: bring map next time!

En route we passed a very impressive castle called “Schloss Angenstein” which is situated between Aesch and Duggingen. It can be rented for meetings, parties and civil weddings.

The main topic of conversation was, of course, Christmas. Following a recent visit to a Christmas Bazaar held at Elaine’s house. Elaine coming from none other than Belfast! Elaine and her friend Linda, had lots of goodies on offer: Cadbury’s selection boxes, English Christmas cards, costume jewellery (from Lisburn!), candles, napkins, homemade chutneys, lemon and lime marmalade, and mincemeat – all Delia’s recipes! Delia Smith is a well known cook from England and became famous long before Jamie started school.

But, the crème de la crème at the Christmas Fair, had to be, 6 Christmas Crackers for 10 francs! Bear in mind, that this year, is the first year one of the main stores are selling Christmas Crackers in Switzerland, at a ridiculously overpriced 6 for 35 francs! After a few phone calls and lots of discussions, I bought the “job lot” and sold them to the walking group!

I’m now known in certain circles as The Crack (er) Dealer!

More festive blogging soon!

Food, Family and Festivities

2009-11-13T07:11:00.000-08:00

Toni’s parents were in town for the week to visit family and to celebrate my mother-in-law’s birthday. On Friday evening seventeen people gathered to celebrate Toni’s mum’s 70th birthday! Some flew in from Newcastle, some from London and the rest live in Basel area.

Toni was “born and bread” in Newcastle in the North East of England. People from Newcastle are called Geordies. A name given way back in 1715 in the time of the first Jacobite rising, basically they were supporters of King George I. If you want to pick up the Geordie dialect, it is very easy, every fifth word is eeeeeeeeeeeeh!

The party started with an apéro which gave everyone a chance to chat and catch up, eeeeeeeeeeeeh! Around 8.30pm I left the restaurant as I had to bring my 8 year old son up to his school, for a “Reading Night”. Armed with sleeping bag, torch, pyjamas, tooth brush and of course a book, we made a quick dash up to the school. In true Harry Potter style it was in complete darkness as we arrived, creating an eerie feeling as any school appears in the dark. We courageously opened the door and immediately heard the din of 22 very excited children’s voices. I said good night to all and wished the teacher good luck with 22 kids!!

Back at the restaurant the party was in full swing! Everyone was relaxing, the wine was flowing and I was just in time for my veal saltimbocca served with risotto! The meal finished with a beautiful birthday cake made for the evening by my friend Louise.

The following link, shows you the various stages of the cake being made:-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55816924@N00/4079542301/

A stream of grappa’s arrived on the table, the singing and yodeling started. I left at that point, aware that I had a busy day on Saturday…..!

On Saturday morning we collected our well read son outside the school. I asked him how the reading night was. He asked me “why is it that when one girl wants to go to the toilet, they all go together?” One of life’s unanswered questions, unless you’re a girl!

These are the two books he read in the twilight hours!

After leaving the school we made our way to the kindergarten!! Where son number 2 had a Herbst Messe (Autumn Fair). Every year in Basel in Autumn a Herbst Messe takes place. For those of us from Belfast, it’s a bit like Funderland, but in true Swiss style it has, well, style!

The kindergarten kids together with the teacher did a fantastic job of recreating it in and around the school building. Inside the kindergarten was the ghost train. I encouraged my son and his friend to try it out, but instead of calling it a “geister bahn” (ghost train) I called it a “geisli bahn” (in Swiss German means “goat” train), not quite so scary, no wonder the kids were laughing. I just hoped none of the parents heard me!

Basel Herbst Messe:

Back home to cook and prepare…. the same 17 who were at the restaurant last night were coming to our apartment at 5pm! Everyone was contributing by bringing something to share with the other 16! Arrangements had been discussed and re-discussed all week. It seemed that if we weren’t eating food together then we were talking about what we were going to eat next. With a mix of different nationalities within the family, the menu was an array of dishes taking food to a new taste bud tingling level!

- Caipirinha made in true Brazilian style and with a twist - containing pineapple!
- Coxinha – deep fried chicken covered in dough
- Tomato, pepper, onion salad with lemon juice and coriander
- Two different types of quiche made with English Cheddar Cheese
- Swiss Style Potato Salad
- Beef and Ale Pie (with English Real Ale)
- Wheaten Bread and Smoked Salmon from Ireland (brought over by my parents)
- Dried meats from Bettmeralp, Valais, bought during our recent holiday
- Variety of breads and pickles
- Pizza and mini Bratwurst for the kids and some adults enjoyed too!

Washed down with wines from the Alsace, bought by family members who managed to fit in a quick afternoon trip to France! See photo of the empties...!

Dessert consisted of tiramisu, left over birthday cake and fruit salad. Followed by, bread and cheese! A big hit with everyone was the “Blütenkäse", cheese containing dried flowers, recommended by my friend Claudia. It was an evening of food, food and more food!

All in all, I think my mother in law enjoyed her 70th birthday celebrations. Life is not bad being 70, when you can travel to Switzerland, be wined and dined all week and flattered with beautiful gifts including a Tiffany Necklace! Back to normality this week with a meagre regime of soup, bread and strict detox programme! Eeeeeeeeeeeeh!

Fall back

2009-11-02T07:59:00.000-08:00

It’s autumn! Herbst in German and Fall in American! The colours of the trees are fantastic at this time of year. A mix of yellows, browns and rusty reds combined with blue skies, sunshine and warm temperatures in the afternoons, allowing us to sit outside and still enjoy the garden.

Saturday was Halloween as soon as it was “plitch back dark” my kids were outside trick or treating! Halloween has its roots in Samhain, an ancient Celtic harvest festival, marking the end of summer and the beginning of winter (how come the mosquitoes don’t know this? - another bite last night!). In the mid 1800’s Irish emigrants flooded to the US and brought Halloween with them.

In Switzerland it is more common to use pumpkin, rather than turnip to make a lantern. I decided to go to a nearby farm to buy our pumpkin. At the farm you can find pumpkins in various sizes, colours, and shapes. There was the usual Butternut Squash but in addition they had, Turk Turban, Banana Blue, Long Neck, Crook Necked, Speckled Swan, Cinderella, American Tondo, Connecticut Field, New England…..

Have you ever seen a Pumpkin Tree?

Zürich in the summer

2009-10-27T06:07:00.000-07:00

I was in Zürich three times this summer! The first time was in July when my brother along with thousands of others took part in an Iron Man. For those of you not familiar with an Iron Man race, it is basically an event comprising of a swim, bike and a run. A far cry from a hop, skip and a jump! The swim is 3.8 km, the bike is 180 km and after that you run a marathon, 42.2 km. Four words, “mad in the head.” But thousands of people, dedicate hours of their time training for events like these and spending thousands of pounds on the equipment. Amidst the many participants I spotted someone I recognized from Belfast who trained in the same swimming club as my brother and I way back in the 1980’s! Sometime afterwards I received an email from him, commenting that at least we recognised each other after 20 years! The swimming club now has a website. http://www.leander-asc.com/

The second time in Zürich was when I attended a Nia workshop in Kloten with my friend Anja and hundreds of other Nia followers. We have both been attending Nia classes for over one year. Nia is done in bare feet to music and comprises of three main areas: Martial Arts, Dance Arts and Healing Arts. It was created in the early 1980’s by Debbie and Carlos Rosas in California. One of highlights of the workshop was having a two hour Nia session with Carlos Rosas.

You can catch a few "quick" glimpses of me strutting my stuff…. I am dressed in black with pink hair band, sounds almost like an outfit from the 80’s!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnFSjZB5_0g

AND, the third time in Zürich was to visit my friend Vicky, yes the one that got me into the to this whole blogging thing! Vicky moved from Basel to Zürich in August this year. We met on a Saturday morning at Zürich main station and made our way along the Bahnhofstrasse, which connects the main train station with the Lake. It has lots of high street shops, designer boutiques, and cafes. We ambled our way towards Lake Zürich, and had lunch in Tibits, a vegetarian restaurant. www.tibits.ch/e/ After lunch we wondered round the Neiderdorf area, with its many bars, restaurants and fantastic alternative shops, where we came across a shop called Bead Box http://www.beadbox.ch/. There we bought, well, what else, beads! We had a lovely day in the sunshine, having lunch, shopping, drinking coffee and catching up!

I made the following key ring with the beads I bought in Zürich. I have sent it to Roisin in Liverpool as it is her birthday today! I hope she likes it!

Domino Mania

2009-10-16T05:14:00.000-07:00

The latest craze in Switzerland at the moment is Domino Mania. With every 20 francs that you spend in Migros Supermarket you receive a Domino. Each Domino represents either a Kanton of Switzerland e.g. Geneva or a famous site, e.g. the Matterhorn. The benefit is that it is educational, not for my 8 year old son, as he already knows about the geography of Switzerland, but for me! Basically, it is a ploy by Migros to get people to shop with them rather than their rival, COOP.

We have collected “nearly” all the Dominos, including the Joker. This gives you an idea on how much we have eaten in the last few weeks!

Lots of kids in our area are busy swapping Dominos. We had quite a few doubles until yesterday – sorry Kim, when my 5 year old son, against my wishes took all our doubles into the local playground and mysteriously lost them. This doesn’t really surprise me about him as I have previously found him in the playground with a 50 franc note, “I was just showing my friends” he told me! And once on a sunny Saturday afternoon he decided to take 3 small stones from the same playground and put them up his nose! So, with the result that we are working on collecting some more doubles, i.e., another shopping trip planned to Migros this afternoon.

The last two Dominos that we need are: Castelgrande and St Gallen.

Castelgrande is a famous castle situated in Bellinzona in Kanton Ticino. In former times it provided control over the major passes between Switzerland and Italy.

St Gallen was founded by an Irish Monk named Gallus in the 7th Century. And here’s something you won’t find on the web: Mels, St Gallen is where Toni’s father is from!

Better and Better

2009-10-14T12:41:00.000-07:00

We have recently returned from our Herbst Ferien/Autumn Holiday/ Half Term break…

What a fantastic week we had in Bettmeralp, http://www.bettmeralp.ch/. In the advertising literature it is known as “The Better Alp” and they are not wrong. Situated in Kanton Valais at 1900m, the only access to this village is by cable car, this takes around 10 minutes to climb.

On arrival, we were promptly collected by the hotel’s electric vehicle, this is how many of the residents, restaurants and hotels travel around the village, as there are no cars. Our family room with a south facing view, turned out to be much better than expected.

After unpacking we were all eager to have a wee dander around the village. We ended up at a lovely lake called, Bettmersee, where you can hire rowing boats and pedalos. With two kids in tow, we couldn’t get away with just sitting looking at the view, oh no, we had to hire one immediately. After half an hour going round and round in circles and repeatly telling my five year old son to sit down or he would fall in the lake.

We headed back towards the village and stumbled across a mini golf course, well, what can you do, with two kids pleading at your side, please, please can we play…… Two hours later after pleading with the kids, please please we don’t want to play a third round - the 19th hole beckoned, and so we returned to our hotel. The kids watched TV before dinner and my husband and I sat on the balcony enjoying the views, blue skies, warm autumn sun, pre dinner drink AND a little visitor.

My husband, insisted it was a humming bird. It looked more like a giant bee/wasp thing to me, but what do I know. Back home, with the help of the internet, of course, I was able to search for humming birds. As it turned out it was a “humming bird moth”. Damm, he was right again. Not only he is an expert in mushroom picking, he can add ornithology to his list of talents! This was the closest clip I could find to what we saw.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i21A5gNl3N4

Bettmeralp hosts a kids club, open to all who live or are staying in the village, so, on Monday morning we registered the kids. Different activities were organized e.g., a tour of all playgrounds in village, mini golf tournament, going on pedalos on Bettmersee, treasure hunts and of course the old Swiss favourite, a trip to the forest and a “grill”.

You provide a cervela “sausage” for your child. A fire is made in designated area “grill platz” which are usually around knee height. Everyone attending has to find wood from the forest for the fire, including a “long stick.” My son and a few other boys aged 7+ had their own Swiss Army Knives, with this you sharpen the end of your long stick and basically press your sausage on it, ready to grill on the open fire. Can you imagine this back home…… open fire, around knee height, and a large number of kids leaning over it, with their own knives, cooking their own lunch…

A holiday in the Swiss Alps in Autumn means one thing – hiking. And you see people of all ages, shapes and sizes hiking up and down the Alps. So, while in Rome… Toni and I copied the locals and therefore discovered a vast area of Bettmeralp in one week. To be honest, hiking has never really been my thing, but this holiday revealed otherwise. I really enjoyed the challenge of hiking uphill, faster than Toni! The peace and quiet, the sites, the fresh air and above all the time to think and day dream about everything and nothing. Onwards and upwards.

Your ma!! Oh Mother!!

2009-10-11T11:36:00.000-07:00

I had a phone call from my mother today, to inform me that she had read my “blob“ and even found it quite interesting! She also had some news from Belfast. The spiders are getting bigger. Since the ceasefire in 1994 life if just bliss in Belfast. Main headlines on the radio are reporting on the size of these brutes. It is the talking point round Belfast, my mum told me. Whilst watching a new episode of Inspector Morse on TV out from nowhere came a huge spider from under the TV. It doesn’t take a detective to follow the trail of these big lads, with muscles the size of peas and legs that don’t fit under a pint class. My mother is past catching them and placing them kindly outside with their friends, on no! These lads like central heating, carpets and double glazing! She grabs an old copy of the Belfast Telegraph and with one foul swoop, it’s the end of the road for Charlotte’s web in number 13.

You're never far from home

2009-10-11T04:11:00.001-07:00

Last Friday I joined my Scottish friend Kim, and her walking group. The walking group first started with a couple of friends going walking together on a Friday morning and then a couple more joined and a couple more and so the group expanded. At most the group is around 20 women including 2 dogs, the idea is to walk, and of course and talk.

Each Friday, a different person hosts the walk. On this occasion we all met at Anne-Marie’s house, who, is from none other than Belshaft (Belfast)! Anne-Marie lives in Allschwil, a very picturesque village, located just outside of Basel which borders on France. We set of, trudging through the Swiss countryside, it’s difficult to know if we walked quicker than we talked or vice versa. The conversation is always very varied and interesting as the group is made up of very sophisticated ladies from all over the world and spanning a wide variety of professions.

After one and half hours, we were deep in the forest in what we hoped was still Switzerland and not France. It was difficult to determine the quickest path back to Allschwil, but luckily we came across 2 kindergarten teachers who were with about 40 children in the forest. They were picking “nut shells”, Sarah reminded me of the technical name that I struggled to find - Hazelnuts (thank goodness my kids are going to school for their education). In kindergarten and in the school, the classes are often taken once or twice a month into the forest, rain, hail or snow, as part of their education. The kindergarden teacher very kindly, directed us back towards Allschwil.

En route I came across a road sign. This was no Swiss or French road sign, it was an Irish one. Can you believe it?

I too wondered where the feck is Feakle? As soon as I got home, I looked the Irish name Fiacail and the English name Feakle and came up with the following web sites. Feakle is a small town in County Clare.

http://www.irelandmidwest.com/clare/towns/Feakle.htm

We arrived back at Anne-Marie’s house for coffee and what I thought might be a wee biscuit, oh no, excuse me! Whilst Anne-Marie reminded everyone about how hospitable Norn Iron folk are, she disappeared into the kitchen. In addition to the chocolate biscuits we had heated focaccia with mozzarella and cherry tomatoes. As CK (Culinary Kim) informed us she often puts a little bit of fresh basil with hers or even a spreading of pesto. A cheese and tomato sandwich will never be the same again.

It’s a miracle!

2009-09-17T11:32:00.000-07:00

My husband and I were discussing Sandra, our sister-in-law’s, recent visit to a Physiotherapist. My 8 year old son asked “What’s one of them?” Well, I thought for a moment, let’s keep this plain and simple. For example, if you had a car accident and injured your legs, a Physiotherapist would help you to move your legs without pain. Or, if you played a lot of tennis, and perhaps had a sore shoulder, a Physiotherapist would help to lessen the pain. Or, if you had a back injury and your back was sore, a Physiotherapist would help you so that the pain would go away. Then he said, “so, just like Jesus.”

Mad Cow

2009-09-16T02:48:00.000-07:00

And the same Kim (see Post below), went to give blood for the first time since moving to Switzerland. She was told that the Swiss did not want her blood and they informed her of the following….
If you have lived in Great Britain or Northern Ireland for at least 6 months between 1980 and 1996 you will be refused from donating blood in Switzerland. Why? Because they are unable to test for Creutzfeldt-Jakob. Mad or what?

Toni’s toms vs. Jack and the bean stalk

2009-09-16T02:45:00.001-07:00

My aunt, uncle and cousin came to visit us last April from Belfast. They very kindly bought us 4 different tomato plants before they returned home. We had never grown vegetables before, and were curious if they would be a success. My husband, Toni found a sunny place in the garden and planted them. Toni watched, waited, fed and watered the toms. What a success! We had 4 different types of tomatoes from July through to September, green ones, yellow ones, round ones the size of tennis balls and even oval shaped ones the size of eggs. My uncle was very interested as to how the tomatoes were progressing, as his were the size of marbles and failed to get any bigger. The difference between summer in Belfast and summer in Basel. See before and after photos. (May 08 and Aug 08 – photos).

This year we bought more tomato plants and have been equally successful. They are really easy to grow – but you need sunshine. I visited my friend Kim last week, she lives in the next village to us. Her husband is an avid gardener, unlike ourselves who are merely experimenting. They have a fantastic garden. Everything that should be blooming is, everything that should be green is, the garden is neatly trimmed and there is not a weed in sight. She too has tomato plants growing, which puts our crop to shame. Whilst ours are coming to an end in September, hers are still in full supply. She told me how she uses her OWN compost around the garden and in doing so, created 2 new cherry tomato plants. There must have been an old tomato in the compost and it re-seeded right next to the other 3 tomato plants. What are the chances of that happening? I wonder what would happen if they threw a handful of beans out the window!

Anonymous

2009-09-09T12:11:00.000-07:00

This morning I started back at the gym. Over the summer I did manage quite a bit of swimming. In our area, we have 3 open air pools. Each one having fantastic facilities e. g. 50 metre pool, kids pool with slide, diving pool, playground, sand pit, volley ball area, large shady grass areas to sit and play football/frisbee and a café/restaurant- basically for us foreigners, it is like being on holiday every afternoon. But last Saturday, although the sun was shining, the pool was cold. The water temperature was 19 degrees, this is cold for a 30 minute swim. Although not as baltic (freezing) as Picky Pool, Bangor, bad enough. Hence the reason why I ended up back at the gym, it was warmer, sweatier and stinkier too.

The first day back is always difficult, but I was ready for the challenge, armed and feeling well equipped with my ipod, heart rate monitor, drink bottle and locker key. I started with half hour on the exercise bike, burning 220 calories. It is a bit of a chore, but I find it gets results, strengthens leg muscles and improves cardio vascular fitness. If you pretend you are doing the Tour de Swiss, then you can get through it. I have a great imagination. Then I moved on to the cross trainer. I love this machine, it feels good and because of this it is easier, to certain extent, of course, whilst I’m hardly the Sonia O’Sullivan of cross trainers, I do enjoy giving it a rattle (go).

I noticed a new lady beside me. By “new” I mean, a bit scared and frightened, feeling smaller than Stuart Little. I remember this feeling, when I first joined. The gym is this daunting place that you have never been before, a place where everyone else knows each other, or at least it seems this way. Everyone knows how the machines function and as a foreigner you are trying to follow all instructions that the trainer is saying to you in a foreign language. Then, when you return for your next visit, your mind decides to play tricks – it goes blank and for the life of you, you can’t remember any of the instructions. Which means, even though you don’t want to, you have to go and ask the trainer for help. Then you move onto the next machine. Oh God, you can’t get it to work either, you start to sweat and you haven’t had a work out yet.

So, there she was looking all “new” trying to get the running machine/treadmill working. AND I noticed that she had white skin and freckles. I thought, she must be English speaking and perhaps speaks very little German, which means she is even less likely to want to ask for help – we’ve all been there. She may have thought she was anonymous, but I knew otherwise.

Ear phones are great way to avoid talking to anyone, like a Do Not Disturb sign, hanging round your ears. Even if you have no music playing, who is going to know? So there I was, head phones on bouncing and swaying to The Killers. And there she was struggling with her running machine. I felt for her, I really did. Thankfully, she was up and running in no time.

Before she got into full swing she plugged her earphones in and which channel did she choose on the TV? BBC World, of course. I laughed. I wondered if I too looked as obvious as her. While I burnt my black suit with Juliet Turner, shuffled a bit more with Van the Man (Morrison) and cooled down with Paulo Nutini, would you believe another 220 calories burnt off. I retreated to the mat area to do a few stretches and sit ups and melted to 9 million bicycles with Katie Melua.

Intro

2009-09-09T12:08:00.000-07:00

Question: What is a blog?
Answer: A website where you can read, write and edit an on-line journal. A diary to write stuff, a platform for me to ramble on a bit….solely for the benefit of my parents, the rest of you, of course, will know what a blog is.

I was so impressed by my friend Vicky’s blog and her endeavours at promoting Swiss Side Jewellery, see My Blog List. I thought that perhaps I could do that too. Living in Basel I have plenty of opportunity to talk in English, even though the local language is German, but not so many occasions to write in English. I felt that a blog might just be the answer. Not to mention benefiting those nearest and dearest to me that I do not contact so often. I do, however, appreciate their efforts and long detailed emails keeping me updated as to what they have been doing in their lives. Those of you who know me well, know, that there will be a wee bit of Belfast slang (dialect) thrown in. And for you Norn Ironers (people from Northern Ireland) a little bit of German from time to time – call it an education, of sorts.