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.