Zurich's Christmas Market

Yesterday we went to see the Christmas market at the Hauptbahnhof (main station) in Zurich. There were some nice stalls but the most impressive was the Christmas tree. It's really really big and decorated with Swarovski crystals and more Swarovski figures around the base. Beautiful and sparkly!

Some of the stalls selling colourful toys and Christmas decorations carved from wood.

It was freezing cold in the city with a little bit of wind blowing the icy cold off the snowy mountains. Andre took most of the pictures because I was too cold to take my gloves off!

We walked around a little bit after finishing the Christmas shopping but didn't last long in the cold and decided to go for cocktails and dinner to warm up inside a restaurant. Before leaving the cold streets we saw Samichlaus (or St. Nikolas) and his helper Smutzli handing out treats.

On the 6th of December Samichlaus brought treats like candy and cookies to the kids who have been good. But the naughty kids get carried away to the forest by Smutzli. He wears dark clothes and carries a broom of twigs to punish the children. Scary!!! Click here for more interesting info about this tradition and its origins.

Advent Calender

The good thing about not yet having kids: you get to open the advent calender windows AND eat the chocolates yourself! Enjoy it while you can!

Another weekend in Germany

Last week Friday I came home and Andre had received a lens he had rented for the weekend. A wide angle lens.

He still had some work to do before we could leave to go to Germany and so did I.

I had to work my way through a box of chocolates. That's hard work.

We arrived at mom and Jürgen's Friday evening. Saturday morning after breakfast we took the train to Munich. I had to be ready for a weekend of looking into this new lens. It makes you feel like a celebrity when you open the car door and someone takes your picture!

But soon it's not funny anymore.

We walked to the Englischer Garten where there was a Christmas market at the Chinesische Turm.

The plan was to try and keep Andre away from the shops. It was quite cold so we had sausage and then glühwein to warm us up.

The Englischer Garten is a very big park in the centre of Munich. It is bigger than New York's Central Park!

Here are some winter pictures of the park when I was there in December 2004. It looks different covered in snow.

We found some guys surfing in the garden! They've created this standing wave in the river and take turns to surf. It looks weird seeing guys walking down the street in the city in wetsuits with a surfboard under their arm! In the freezing winter!

They're not allowed to surf here...

Another Christmas market in Munich.

And the photographer is still doing his thing!

The Christmas market in front of the Rathaus in Munich was very busy. We just passed it quickly. We will go there again before Christmas and when it's a bit later in the day to see the Christmas lights.

We went for a beer at the Augustiner Brauhaus which is a warm and lively beer house. Well the guys had beer and us girls had hot chocolate.

Oberpolinger, a big BIG department store in Munich, had such a pretty light display outside. The colours kept changing.

I made Andre get a picture of the pink lights for me too!

The city was busy. I love this part of Munich. I like the atmosphere and I think the shops are way better than what we have here in Zurich.

We did end up going into one shop just before closing time. A camera shop of course for the photographers in the family. Here Andre is trying out another lens on me.

We had a great weekend! Thanks Ma and Jürgen! See you soon for Christmas!

Winter has arrived

It's our first winter in Switzerland and our first winter with snow so we were very excited to see the first snow falling today. It started out raining this morning. Then late morning the drops started getting heavier, slower and whiter. By around 2pm this afternoon it was definitely snow falling outside. At first it was melted as soon as it hit the ground, but soon the fields, trees and rooftops got covered with a thin white coat. It looks beautiful. I love how quiet it is when it snows.

It felt strange driving in the snow. I kept wanting to blink my eyes because it feels like the snow is coming right at you! I went to do the weekly grocery shopping and when I came back I walked down the road to the park to take a few pictures of the first snow.

My first day at the gym

Today was supposed to be my first day at the gym. I had an appointment at 4pm today to go for a "taster training". I had a few thoughts of canceling due to laziness but decided I'll go and find out what it's all about. It could be interesting right? And even if I decide not to join, at least I can blog about it!

Well, I got home from work and immediately put on my gym clothes so I can't talk myself out of it. Then I check my emails and there's an email from the gym saying that they are very sorry but they have to cancel my appointment. The gym is closing down tomorrow!!

It's a sign. I should not be going to gym. Instead I will have a chocolate and read my book. So much better, isn't it.

English speaking Swiss

This is really getting to me now. These Swiss Germans. The Swiss who live in the German part of Switzerland. They speak such good English. We didn't find the same in the French part, there I don't think we found anyone willing to say more than two words in English and then only to sell us something. But here it's amazing. It's actually starting to work on my nerves a little. I don't know if it is frustration because I can't speak German properly or if it's just jealousy because they can speak my language better than I can speak theirs. In their own country.

Today I was on a tram. Relaxing in between teaching little highly energetic kiddies. When an elderly lady got on. She found a seat about three rows in front of me and started talking loudly to herself and whoever wanted to listen. Really loudly. And she was looking all around her. I though if someone makes eye contact with her she would probably start talking to that person so nobody was paying her any attention. But since I couldn't understand a word she was saying (Swiss German is NOT even close to German) I sat watching her.

The lady behind me tapped me on my shoulder. I was quite surprised because people won't really start up a conversation with a stranger on a tram or train. Besides this lady in front of me obviously! So I feel this tap on my shoulder and I think Oh, leave me to my own English thoughts because it's such a mission trying to string together a sentence in German, never mind to try and follow someone's initial sentence in Swiss German when they think I'm local. But to my relief she asked, "Do you speak some English?" I said, "YES!" with a big smile!

She wanted to know what that lady was saying. I said I didn't have a clue. Then the guy next to me turned to us and said in very good English (as the Swiss Germans do), "She is only talking about different things. She is not making any sense. But it is quite funny."

We said Oh, and wished we could understand what she was saying that was quite so funny. Then I went back to my feelings of frustration and jealousy at my lack of German and the Swiss German's ability to speak English.

When the English lady behind me got off the tram she turned to this other lady and said, "Have a nice day." The lady turned to her and spoke in really good English (what did I expect.) Even though something was not quite well with her she was still able to understand that this person is speaking to her. In English. And able to immediately reply in English. Even though she still did not make sense...

How do they do it? It's really bugging me. Before we came here I was excited to not only live in a different country but to also improve my German. It's not happening. Or if it is, it's not happening fast enough. I'm thinking of just giving up and speaking English only. Yesterday I spoke to someone who's been here 10 years and still don't speak German fluently because she can get by well enough with English. It's just that I don't like making mistakes. I want to get it right or not speak it at all.

If there are any Swiss (from the German part) reading this I'd like to say I am really impressed. :-)

Melkbosstrand, South Africa

I haven't gotten very far with the photography studying last night. Instead I've finished a video I've started some time back already. It's about my last days in South Africa before coming to Switzerland.

I read this quote on Kathy's blog:
"The loneliness of the expatriate is of an odd and complicated kind, for it is inseparable from the feeling of being free, of having escaped."— Adam Gopnik

This is so true for us. Although we miss Cape Town, the lovely summers days there, and mostly our friends and family, it is that feeling of being free, of having escaped that makes us feel happy/ lucky/ fortunate to be in Europe. To have been given this opportunity.

I look forward to some holidays in South Africa in the future, but I am happy living in Europe.

So I just wanted to share with you a little bit of the beautiful country I am from. The video clips in the beginning are of the beach at Melkbosstrand. This is where I grew up and where I lived for 26 years. Melkbosstrand is about 30 km up the West Coast from Cape Town. The rest of the photos are of weekends away before leaving.

Click here to watch this video on vimeo.


Melkbosstrand, South Africa from Anneliese Mostert on Vimeo.