IrishOboe

Today after madly dashing off some important emails in the morning that I hope I haven’t sent too late, Stephan and I took the train into Germany for some shopping.  We live on Im Surinam, which is right behind Badische station, which is a German station in Switzerland.  There’s boarder control and everything, but nobody was manning it!  For 10.50 Euro we got a 24 hour team pass (up to five people can ride on this one ticket) and after a few stops were off to do some shopping in the charming town of Lörrach.  We had breakfast at a small bakery, then went to the Migros there.  Supposedly the prices are such that the break even point of shopping in Germany rather than Switzerland is 80 kilometers!  It was hard to compare since the Euro is stronger than the Franc, but I take their word for it.

Has it been five days since I arrived!  I hardly know how to count time.  I sleep too little, eat bread and cheese, go into town with the family, try to think about what in the world I should be doing and preparing, and generally have a good time.

What constitutes a passing knowledge of electricity?  If I was in Japan, where 30% is a passing grade, I know what I need to.  If it’s as it is in America, where I believe 60% is still passing, then I think I might pass as well.  One might say the fact that I’m alive is sufficient proof that I have my basics down.  Then there’s always that 5 on the AP Electricity and Magnetism test I took seven years ago.  How do we measure how well we’ve taught our kids?  I’ll let you judge weather my teachers did their job or not (always remembering that I was mainly my own teacher when I homeschooled, then again, I never touched the subject of electricity on my own).

WARNING:  If you think I am smart and all that, please read-on.  If you think I am an incompetent blond who dies her hair brown and has a musician space brain, spare yourself the confirmation and go look at my pretty pictures of Basel and listen to my nice harp music.

Here are some pictures of the dear family I'm staying with.

 Anu in front of the house early in the morning

Here are a few quick pictures from my new place of living.  I think I beat the time it took me to post house pictures of Japan by about six or eight months . . .  Please reward me with comments!

Entryway

 The kitchen is immediately to the left.

Now that I have internet and power I am tired and have too much to write!  In an effort to boost my energy level I'll start with a few pictures of Basel.

Rathouse im Marktplaz (The Town Hall on the Market Square, I hope I got that German right) 

 A Fountain and a Church (with fuzzy beliefs) I happened upon.

I don't think the Swiss use the exclamation mark, or at least I can't find it on this keyboard.  If zou didn't figure it out from mz last post, zou can see now that the Swiss put their Z's where the Y should be.  I'll trz to fix it.  Anywaz (darn), anyzway (oops), anyway, last night I couldn't connect to the wireless network, and though we got it working today by using their wireless card, I ran out of batteries, and though I brought a converter, it's case doesn't fit their kid-safe outlets, thus I'm working from their computer, which of course has a German keyboard.  The short version of the story is this: I arrived safely, had a good day seeing the town a little with the family in the process of registering and getting a bank account.  I don't know why I was worried about border control at the airport.  He didn't even look at the inside of my passport.  However, they did look long and hard at my papers when I registered at the alien office (no spell check on this computer).  We had no trouble though - they took my 130 francs willingly.  I think I'll be able to get the hang of trams and finding my way around the city.  I find it hard to understand Tamino even when he throws and English word in.  He's two, speaks Hindi, high German and Swiss German and switches between the three with no warning.  However, this is only the second daz and I'm beginning to understand his German.  No progress on the Hindi yet . . .

At first I thought that it's too bad he's not older so he pronounciation would be clearer, but I think it's a good age because his grammar is simple, but correct, and his parents speak to him in German which exposes me to a lot of German even though we're tempted to speak English to each other.

 I have pictures, but you'll have to wait until I get mz computer up again.  Oh no, I hear Anu doing the dishes without me.  Catch zou later.

Here I am, sitting in the Orlando airport waiting for the flight before my flight to Charlotte to leave the gate.  If the rest of my adventures in Switzerland go as they’ve started, God has decided I’ve been stretched enough and deserve a break.  Well, maybe not, but the drive, check-in, and security couldn’t hardy have gone more smoothly, even though I forgot to display my plastic zip bag of three ounce liquids.  I thought my instruments caused a need for inspection, but after a look from another security person, my bag passed right through.  Since I have two hours to wait, I wish I had some interesting adventures to relate.