Swiss update

And we are STILL waiting patiently. Ok not always that patiently, but we are still waiting for Andre's work permit for Switzerland. While I'm writing this he has probably (hopefully!) already boarded the plane in Zurich to come home to his wife (me:-) He's been there, working very hard, for the past two weeks in beautifully white snowy weather...

Anyway, what I wanted to say was, we still don't know when (or where) we're going. I'm really starting to think that we should just go to England instead, but oh those many grey clouds!! It would probably be another 20 YEARS before it would ever snow there again. White is just so much prettier than grey.....

Andre said they (the Swiss people over there at the company) are still positive that he will be getting the work permit. So I guess we'll be waiting for a little bit longer to see what happens. Positive thinking - that's The Secret!

Ok. I'm off to bed now so I can be up early tomorrow morning. I still have to vacuum the car and paint my nails before picking up my husband from the airport.

** night night **

What I've learnt from my sister

1. Put pink fizzers in the freezer before eating them.
   
2. Do lots of exercise every day.

Number one is the easy one. Have you ever tried it? I never did until she left half a pack of pink fizzers here in the kitchen drawer, and one fizzer in the freezer. So I was curious and decided to try the frozen one. Mmmm! I put the rest in the freezer too!

But after having one too many of these: 

...you really need to burn those calories. So mom and I now each own a Thera-band. That's a stretchy elastic band. You pull on it and stretch it and then you should get nicely toned muscles. I guess doing it once a week won't really give us the best results. I did some this evening while watching a movie. It's fun. I think we need to get into more of a thera-band routine though. So we can do it more regularly. 

Anyway, here's my new home muscle toning device: (I now only buy things that won't take up much space in my luggage and doesn't weigh much)

It says Body Sculpture since 1965. And I'm only starting to use it now...

Into the Wilderness

Before I can write about something else I better finish the honeymoon story now. We went to Wilderness after our January wedding for a few really relaxing days. It's so beautiful there. So green. We stayed at a lovely guest house called Slanting Acres. I can recommend the honeymoon suite with a jacuzzi in the bedroom. The guest house is up on a hill with a view over the ocean.

The highlight of our stay at Wilderness was canoeing on the Touw

River. We rented a canoe for 5 hours.

After about 30 min rowing

we left the canoe on a little beach and walked 40 min along a

stunning walkway through the trees to a waterfall. Then also

went down the Serpentine River where we saw 13 Malachite

Kingfishers. Andre got some great photo's there, I'll get one

from him later to add. We enjoyed it so much that on the day

we had to leave we went for another trip down the Serpentine

for some more photo's.

On our way home from Wilderness we stopped at Andre's dad's farm

near Abertinia for a few days. Always great to be on the farm.

.

'Honeymoon' number two

Soon after getting married in August, my mom felt I should experience England before deciding to make it my new home. So off Andre and I went for a week in the UK. Some very generous friends offered to share their home with us. Andre did his best to show off this country he likes so much. He started with London where I think we spent two whole days walking. I don't mind walking and enjoyed seeing so much of the city. I saw some interesting (read weird or strange) people including a rather rude English lady on my first train ride. Andre assured me English people aren't all like this but I soon decided the city is not for me. I did enjoy the shops and walking around. I guess it could be nice for maybe a once a month or so outing.

My impression of England changed for the better when Andre rented a car for us and drove me to Bath. Wow! What a beautiful place. You should definitely go there if you haven't been yet. I loved it! Such an old little town. I don't know how to describe it and the pictures don't really show just how beautiful it is either. Here are some pictures of Bath anyway. Oh we had such a great time there!

There were some other things I liked about England too:

1. To Andre's surprise, I really quite liked the pubs and the food they served. Although this was only for holiday eating. If I were to live there I could not eat like that on a regular basis.
   
2. I like that when it's cold outside it's nice and warm inside. We don't have that luxury in Africa. You just wear your down jacket inside too if you're cold.
3. I liked watching those men dressed in red in front of... um, hold on I need to check with Andre what it was called. Oh yes, Buckingham Palace, that's where they were. They stood so still. I was wondering, you know when you have to stand in one spot how sore your feet get? Do they also feel that? The one guy started marching up and down, up and down and carried on until Andre said we really can't watch any longer, we need to go. Perhaps that guy had that problem. It's like your feet get all burny from standing in one spot. And I was wondering, do they get to listen to their iPod? Or what do they think about all day standing there? Anyway.
4. Then the best thing about England is the friends we have there. On our way to Bath we went to visit one such friend. Here she is. We had another great pub lunch.

I had a great holiday. Andre also showed me where he used to live and that looked much better. A really nice little town quite a bit out of London. I could live there, as long as I don't have to go in to the city too often.

Honeymoons and honeystars

So Andre and I recently got married again, just to be sure. But more importantly to share it the second time round with our friends and family and to have a great party of course.

Now getting married so often naturally means you need a honeymoon each time too. Wedding and honeymoon just go together. So the first time we got married was 30 August 2008 (surprise surprise for those who still didn't know!! ;-) With it being such a very small ceremony we had a very small honeymoon to go with it. We had a lovely night out at a lodge just outside the town of McGreggor. It didn't start out so lovely though...

It was a rainy day, which was actually good since they say rain on your wedding day means good luck. Anyway, the rain wasn't that bad. On our way there Andre's poor bakkie (he'll call it more than just a bakkie) got properly sandblasted. The wind was so strong and it was like driving through a sand storm. So we get to the lodge, struggle against the wind, to hear the manager explain to us that unfortunately due to the storm the power is out. And also due to the strong wind we can't make a fire in our cosy romantic fireplace in our cosy romantic cottage because these cosy romantic cottages all have thatch roofing! And that's not all, he then continued to tell us that due to the power being out their restaurant with their famous chef who was supposed to make us a delicious romantic dinner will not be open.

So there we sat in the half dark cold cottage. We took a drive to the town. But usually when there is such a storm outside, everyone stays inside their houses so the town was deserted! After walking around a bit in the drizzling rain and buying a beanie for the cold we went back ready to pack up and go back home.

After praying all the way back to the lodge, we got back and the power was back on! We got to have a fantastic multi course meal from the above mentioned chef. And in between courses we got to sit in front of a huge fire, defrosting and sipping our red wine. AND then we even go to make our own fire in our own cottage after dinner!

And that is where this story will end for now... I'll try to add a picture and next time I'll tell you about our second honeymoon (there were three!)

xx

The bestest ever dip - you should try this one!

My sister, Simone, came to visit me in Cape Town from Dec 2008 - Jan for my wedding. We had such a great time. I think the two small suitcases she brought with her must have just been packed with treats for my bachelorette party, wedding, Christmas and Birthday! I even got birthday presents for my previous birthday the year before!! She really thought of everything! Even this recipe for a dip, it's the best I ever tasted! Those who were at my bachelorette party and our new years party would have tasted it. The rest of you should really try it, it's the best! 

Here's the recipe: (And let me know how you like it!)

Simone’s Spinach & Artichoke Dip

1 T butter

1 c onions, chopped

2 cloves garlic

300 g frozen spinach, drained and squeezed dry

440 g artichoke hearts, chopped

250 g cream cheese

1 c cheddar cheese

250 g sour cream/ yoghurt

1 t hot pepper sauce

1/2 t salt

1/4 t pepper

Melt butter, saute onion and garlic.

Add spinach and artichoke - saute 2 min.

Add cream cheese, sour cream/ yoghurt, 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, tabasco, salt and pepper.

Top with cheese.

Bake 20 min +- 180 C

Switzerland: permits and visas

So we are hopefully on our way to Switzerland soon soon. Andre is supposed to start working there from the beginning of next month. We've been waiting for his B-Permit which is a work permit and it's been sounding positive. We're hoping to have it by the end of the month.

Then while on honeymoon we discovered that he also needs a Schengen Visa. Switzerland became part of the Schengen states on the 12th December. A very friendly and helpful lady at the Swiss embassy told us that since it's for business it will take 2-3 months! Not good news... Now we just heard from the company that it's not necessary so we'll hope for the best!

The PR lady there sent us a link to look at some flats so that's what I'm going to do now. Exciting stuff! :-)

xx