Weddings...

Hi there my dear friends and family!

Hope you're all doing well? I was browsing around on the internet as I do most days and thought I'd look up our wedding photographer. I just love looking at wedding pictures... A while back he mailed us and asked if we would write up a short piece about him, our photo's and so on for his new website. So if, like me you have times when you've seen all you can on facebook and whatever else you do on the internet (like read my blog of course ;-) then go take a look at this: http://www.rcphoto.za.net/default.asp

To Meghan, Angela, Pieter, Simone and Juan: There's a picture of you too on his website!!! Click on portfolio, then Reception, it's picture number 30. There's another picture of me and Andre doing our wedding dance and one of us when you click on 'Couples'.

You can also see some of our wedding pics under Recent Weddings (if you haven't already seen enough after the 100's I posted on facebook! ;-)

Have a fabulous day! Miss you all lots.

Anneliese

xx

Some free publicity for HP

A while back when our things from Cape Town arrived I was excited to have a printer again. We only got to print a few pages when the black ink was finished. So off to Media Markt to buy ink. Surprise surprise, they don't stock the ink we need. No one in Switzerland does because it's only for South Africa. Our printer was bought in SA so was made to use the cartridges that goes with that zone.

No problem, I emailed HP and they were very helpful. We set up a date when they would phone us and then they will help us convert our SA printer to a Swiss printer! Then we're supposed to be able to use the cartridges compatible with this printer here in Switzerland. We were told to go buy these cartridges first and then they will phone us. The guy on the phone from HP support tried everything but for some reason our printer absolutely refused to be made into a Swiss printer.

Ok, still no problem. They will just send us the same printer and we send our non-Swiss one back to them. No charges at all. Isn't that great? Would that have happened in Africa? I wonder.. We received it today.

In other news, André has also replaced his South African MacBook Pro for a new Swiss one today. Well, actually not really a Swiss one because he asked for a US keyboard. Not going to struggle with a mixed up German keyboard. That would cause lots of spelling mistakes! It's really nice. For me it is important that it looks nice. (That's why my Mac is pink :-)

But this new one is apparently also super fast, something which has been lacking in his old laptop. (So there's a 15" MacBook Pro for sale if anyone's interested.)

My dear husband did not forget about me! Every time we go into the Mac shop, conveniently situated right opposite Media Markt, I longingly look at the... ummm... I don't know what to call it... music making things? iPod players? Speakers? Speakers is basically all it is with an iPod plugged into it. Our house can be very quiet when I'm home alone all day. And I don't like having music on my laptop while I'm sitting in front of it. So today there was a sale at the Mac shop and André bought us these great looking speakers. They're all nice and shiny black with my pink iPod sitting on top! Beautiful beautiful sound... ABBA is playing at the moment.

So lots and lots of nice things today! The plan was to also buy a scale today so I can track my progress now that I've had to give up the best things in Switzerland: chocolate, bread and cheese. Sad I know, but I had to. That's why I'm all into salad now and really enjoying it actually. After two weeks of eating more healthy food and having salad every day I'm starting to get into it and it's not so hard anymore. But I do look forward to the day when I can have chocolate again! More about the interesting salads I've been having on my food blog. And my darling sister has worked out a healthy eating plan for me, kindly including a little bit of ice cream and chocolate :-) It's not that bad.

Oh oh I almost forgot. Today we went to the Zürcher Brockenhaus, a second hand store in Zürich. I was looking for English books. I've finished all my books which I brought with from SA and I find it hard to pay so much for a book which I will finish in a few days and never read again. So I had a list of three places to go looking for second hand books. We didn't have to go further than the first one. I bought 13 second hand books for the price of about two new books. So this will keep me busy for a while!

Now I'm off to choose a book from my new mini-library and start reading!

This past week

I had a busy week this week. I was a working woman for a change. I worked every day except on Monday. Okay, it was only an hour or three per day. (Just the way I like it) :-)

On Tuesday I taught three English second language classes, two on Wednesday and one on Thursday. Today I spent 2 hours with the cutest 5 year old girl at her house. We had lots of fun. We made blue play dough. I just love play dough, that squishy feeling between your fingers when you squeeze it and it's so soft. She loved it too. She's so excited about everything and that makes it easier. Otherwise 2 hours can be very long.

And on Wednesday I manage to drive safely all on my own to the class I had to teach. No bumps or scratches! Phew! It all went well and each time driving feels a little bit better.

Last night I went to buy some second hand children's story books which I want to use as readers for my English first language classes. We met a lovely couple, they're moving to France and selling some of their stuff, including some of their toddler's books. Second hand books are much more affordable and they still look like new.

Oh yes, I haven't even told you about last weekend. See how busy I was (for a change!)

We went to Luzern. It's a beautiful town. Ok, I know I say this about every place we go to every weekend, but it's true. See for yourself:

The actual reason for visiting Luzern was because there's an archery shop there. André has now rented a compound bow for a month and he's really enjoying it. He has blisters on his hands to prove it. A real Robin Hood!

Now I'm waiting for my husband to come home so the weekend can start. Not sure what we're doing yet...

Enjoy your weekend! :-)

My first time driving in Switzerland

This afternoon André let me drive his car for the first time.

Before we left South Africa I said that I want to start driving as soon as possible here to get used to it. I felt that the longer I would put it off the harder it would be. But since we got the car I felt no urge to be driving on the other (wrong!) side of the road to what I've been used to. I was quite happy sitting in the passenger seat and admiring the scenery.

Then this afternoon we drove to where I have to teach some English classes this coming week. I thought I could maybe cycle there. Google maps said it's 25 min walking (no bus..) but as we drove we realized it's way further than I thought. So André said he thinks I should take the car.

Good motivation for me to get this over with! I drove home from the school (9 minutes, not too far!). Then I drove there and back again to get used to it.

It felt soooo wrong!! This being on the other side. I keep wanted to change gears with my left hand. That's another thing, after André just got me to start enjoying his automatic car in SA, he decides he actually prefers to manually change gears. I should be used to that because it's the only way I've known but with so many other things to think of he had to keep reminding me about the gears!

I thought it would be hard keeping to the right side of the road. Seems I don't have a problem with that - I actually keep to the right too much!! André kept telling me to get closer to the white line in the middle of the road!

It's so frustrating. It's not like I can't drive, I've had my license now for over 11 years, but it felt like I'm just learning to drive all over again. That nervous feeling, trying to remember everything and to keep your eyes everywhere.

Oh I miss getting into our nice and comfortable car we had back home which I knew so well and just driving off where ever I needed to go. Zipping around. I could even sing while driving, drink water, change the music or have a conversation (not all at the same time). Now I sit almost with my nose against the windscreen, concentrating. It's not the car, André bought a really nice car and I love it. It's just this different country...

But it will get better with time and practise. I will be the driver on Sundays for short outings when there's not much traffic around. And I will set the navigator to keep away from highways too.

Visitors from Germany

My mom and stepdad came to visit us this weekend. They live in Germany so they drove about 3 1/2 hours to come and see us. It was Jürgen's 3rd visit, but my mom's first since we've been in Switzerland so it was great to show her around and spend some time together.

They brought some more of our things from Cape Town! (They just got back from there.) Some things we thought we don't need and then changed our minds and made them pack a big suitcase to bring more stuff over for us, including a bottle of Mrs Balls Chutney! Mmmm... I will have to use it sparingly! Maybe sometime I will try make my own chutney. There's no other chutney like Mrs Balls'.

My mom brought us this beautiful house warming gift, our first plant/ flowers in our home. It's beautiful, my favourite. I wanted these for my wedding, but they were not in season when we got married.

What did we do this weekend? They arrived Friday evening and I made stuffed chicken for dinner. Saturday morning after breakfast we took a walk through Dietikon. Bougth some fruit from the market and had to get some things from Migros where we got these pretty flowers (for FREE!) We each got one!

Then we drove to Flurlingen and did the short walk to the Rheinfall again. This time we didn't walk all the way from Schaffhausen, instead we parked the car at the start of the forest walk in Flurlingen. We were a bit disappointed that the platform over the waterfall was closed... They're busy working there and it didn't say when it will re-open. But we did get a good view of the waterfall. We also walked over the bridge and had a look at the waterfall from the other side.

Oh I almost forgot, we even crossed the border into Germany for a short distance. We didn't know that we would be going into Germany so we didn't have passports with us (don't know if we might have needed them?) but Andre is not allowed out the country until he receives his B-permit. Luckily no questions were asked and we got back into Switzerland! Phew.

Back at the car it was lunch time. We drove to Stein am Rhein for lunch which consisted of ice-cream and cake!

Sunday morning we took a walk along the Limatt river here from our flat. It was another beautiful, hot day outside.

Finally!

Our boxes which we packed two months ago in Cape Town finally arrived yesterday. It was a very long wait for me and I bugged the poor lady in charge of the imports so much. It actually arrived in the UK on May 11th, then in Switzerland on June 4th. Took them a while to get it to us...

The delivery guy phoned me an hour before the time to let me know he's on his way. I was going to ask him on the phone if he'll be able to carry it up to our flat on the second floor, but he couldn't speak any English and only spoke which must have been Swiss German because all I understood was "about one hour". And it was only because I was expecting his call that I knew what it was about! (An English speaking person called Andre the day before to say they'll be delivering in the morning.)

Anyway, so I thought I'll manage with high German and gestures when he gets here to get him to help me. He phoned to say he's outside. I go downstairs but he's not there. So I call him and give him my address and ask if he's at the wrong address. He talks and talks. I keep quiet since I don't understand anything. Then he repeats my address so I say "Ok bye". But he keeps talking and talking. I didn't have a clue what he was saying so again I kept quiet until he says "hello? hello?" - a sign that he must have asked me something.

Eventually he finds the flat. Note that it is only him. I would have thought there would be two delivery guys when heavy boxes would be involved. In Cape Town THREE guys showed up to load our boxes into the van.

Ok, so he asks me where should he leave it and I ask in my best German with my best smile if he would help me carry it upstairs to the flat. "Kein Zeit, kein Zeit", he says. (No time.) So I look around outside indicating that he can't exactly leave me with 12 heavy boxes on the sidewalk. So in the end he carried the boxes (I helped too) up to the first floor.

Then I managed to get three boxes up to the flat after I realised I'm not going to survive this. So I started unpacking the boxes downstairs and carrying bits and pieces upstairs until I had everything in the flat.

I worked hard all day yesterday and by lunch time today I got everything packed away. I'm loving my full kitchen cupboards. Finally I get to enjoy all the lovely wedding gifts we received! Thank you thank you everyone!! :-)

I've realised now over and over again that we, or actually I, have way too much STUFF. It made me feel quite guilty. I have not done ANY clothes shopping in the two months we've been here and I won't, I'll try my best not to do any for a long time. Ok, except I'm going to need a rain jacket for cycling. That's all I'll have to buy, otherwise I can't go out cycling in the rain.. But NOTHING else. (It helps that I'm not earning any money at the moment to spend!)

A train ride in Switzerland

Train ride from Baden, Switzerland from Anneliese Mostert on Vimeo.

HOME

Thank you to Juanita for the link to this sad beautiful movie. I hope you too can make the time to watch this movie about our planet. It's available on YouTube until June 14th.

Click here to watch the movie HOME by Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

Look what we did last night!!

André is really interested in archery, since before we left SA. On Saturday we went to see a guy who sells compound bows. It was very interesting and he even discovered that although André is left handed, his right eye is more dominant than his left. So it's actually better for him to shoot right handed. This also makes it easier to rent a bow which you do for the first few months. This guy even said that he will give André a bow for 2 weeks to try out before he buys one.

Then last night we drove to the archery club in Baden, just 13 minutes from us. They practice on Mondays and Thursdays and Monday nights are for beginners. André just wanted to go see how it's done and how the club works etc. So we were standing there watching this family practising, the parents and two young kids, when the one trainer came over and asked us if we would like to try.

And that's what we did! It was fun! I even got one arrow right in the centre of the target! Beginners luck! Only 2 of my arrows missed the target board completely. Then you have to go off in search of your arrow in the bushes... Luckily mine didn't go too far. André did really well and got all his on target. These are called recurve bows and you also get the Robin Hood style longbow.

I have a bicycle!

We saw this bike at Ochsner sport a while back. It was a good bike at a good price, but we were still thinking about it. Then last week we decided to start doing yoga again and went to buy yoga mats at the same Ochsner sport shop at the Spreitenbach shopping centre. And can you believe it, there was only one of these bikes left! It was a sign.

The very helpful sales assistant (who happened to speak very good English too) adjusted the seat for me and asked if I'd like to try the bike. He showed me where I can ride between the shelves and down the aisle in the shop. I couldn't exactly say no thanks I'll just buy it. You see, it's been many many years since I actually cycled. Probably in primary school last. Although a bit shaky at first, I managed not to fall off the bike or knock anything over.

Then he said he thinks I should also try this other bike to see the difference. And after that another one. I did as I was told but in the end still found the first one to be the most comfortable. The price of that one also felt more comfortable...

So here's my bike. I've been enjoying cycling in the mornings when Andre gets on the train, all along the river. Now I'm just waiting for him to get a bike too so we can go cycling together.

Some girlie details...

I didn't get a 'marybell' bike, but I got a 'primadonna' one instead! Hehe ;-) I like the sound of that!

You have to buy a vignette (something like a license) for your bike. I was lucky, I got it for free with my bike but it doesn't cost too much. I think around 5 Swiss Francs I've heard. This is like insurance in case you have an accident. Above the vignette is a sticker on which I was told to put my name, address and phone number. So if my bike gets lost and someone finds it they can return it to me. I had to smile imagining that ever happening South Africa!

So now I'm joining the rest of Switzerland on my bike :-) By the way, it's national 'Bike to work' month here.

Bremgarten Pfingstmarkt

Monday, June 1, was a public holiday here. Sadly the last one until Christmas... There is Swiss National Day on August 1, but it will be on a Saturday.

So on Monday André and I drove to Bremgarten, 12 km from our flat. My step-dad mentioned that they will be having a market there on Whit Monday and I wanted to go see what it's all about, plus explore our neighbouring villages.

It was SO much more than I expected! I never thought it would be so big. Entering the town we already saw people streaming down the main road. We followed and walked and walked around the many stalls. We spent almost three hours there. 

André had a crepe and we shared an iced cappuccino and we bought some fudge. Oh and there were quite a few stalls selling spices. I've been looking for turmeric and cardamom seeds for curry and we found some there! Curry is on the menu for tomorrow night!

We will definitely be back in Bremgarten for the Altstadtmarkt (24/25 Oct) and the Christmas market (3-6 Dec).

The long weekend continued: Altdorf & Zug

On our way back from Engelberg on Sunday we stopped at Altdorf, near Lake Uri, part of Lake Lucerne. It was a beautiful drive (as it is everywhere here!) along the lake. Altdorf is the town where William (Wilhelm) Tell shot the apple off his son's head using his crossbow on 18 November 1307. Click here for the full story. We saw his statue, took some photos:

Had a quick walk through the town and drove on to Zug. My Switzerland guide book said that this is the richest canton with the lowest tax so we decided we'll go have a look at the rich people there. Nothing spectacular, but a nice town on the Zuger See (lake). We walked along the lake and had ice cream. It was a lovely day again. Sunny but not too hot. Oh there's an aviary with some interesting birds. Didn't do any research on these two places before going and we weren't that interested in too much exploring anyway. Just picked two places to stop at on the way home.