Kaley arrived, without being delayed (an Air Canada MIRACLE) and got to Baden safely, where I let her sleep for a whole day while I was at work... UH OH!  We hung out in Baden and took a day trip down to Locarno in Ticino to check out the Verzasca dam.  Kaley experienced her first praktikant lunch... sandwiches made by Swiss Army Knife on the train. Went out for pizza with Kim and some of her visiting friends after exploring Locarno for a bit.  After hanging out in Baden we finally left for London!  From London we went to Paris (Vimy Ridge and Mont st Michel from here) from Paris we went through Belgium and Luxembourg en route to Aachen and Trier in Germany.  Then on to Amsterdam and finally to Dublin, returning to Zurich for one last weekend and shin dig with my ALSTOM team.  And home... after spending the night in the Zurich airport due to an early flight... but mostly due to brokeness, our flight was THIRTEEN hours delayed, but we got home eventually :)    

I couldn't resist going to visit Adelaide and Justin who were living in EDINBURGH, Scotland.  I flew in and hung out in Edinburgh until they were off work, then my Justin took my backpack back to their place and started cooking (well trained Adelaide, well trained) while Adelaide gave me a tour of Edinburgh.  What an awesome little city!  So PRETTY!  We had a little potluck dinner in their WICKED apartment building, then the next day we left in a rental car and drove up to Inverness, via some stops at the Yew tree (very old) and a cute little lunch spot.  Wandered around Inverness, then were off to Loch Ness the next day.  Took a boat ride to Urquhart castle, and managed to escape the clutches of Nessie.  We went to a Loch Ness interpretive center where I learned just how obsessed some people are with finding Nessie... WOW.  Apparantely there isnt really enough food there to support a monster that big though.  Anyways, we dipped our toes in and then drove on, and went through some pretty crazy landscapes... almost Martian!  Weiiiird.  Back in Edinburgh Adelaide and I went on a hike to the top of Arthurs seat which gave us a great view over Edinburgh.  We went to the science center and chilled for the rest of the afternoon. :) 

 AKA not working at ALSTOM any more party.  Brian and I had a little BBQ in a field and played Indiaca and cricket and had hotdogs and bannock. 

 Immediately after being cleared to ride a real bike by my physio, Andy and I went on a Ticino Bike Ride Adventure.  We started in Airolo and went to Locarno... not realllly sure how far this is.  It was downhill most of the way and took us allllll day... our first guess was 60km but it might have been as much as 80km.  We ended up meeting some other praktikants in Locarno who had just jumped off the dam, and then headed back to Baden for a housewarming party with a bathtub full of Muellerbrau. 

 Hahahahaha... so this was like around Easter and I am just putting up pictures now :)  Anyways, better late than never.  Long story short Jon came and we hung out around Baden/close to and he carried groceries for me while I was still on crutches.  We went to Luzern, the Ballenberg Open Air Museum (built a la Switzerland, with an Italian part in the South, German part in the East and French in the West), and a castle close to Baden... Hallwyl castle I believe. 

Wow... you'd think with being on crutches I would have more time on my hands than usual, but it seems like the days got shorter!  And the weeks... I can't believe that I am almost finished working!  Anyways, last weekend Kim and I headed to Rapperswil to go to the Kinderzoo to see the baby camel that I read about in the paper.  HE WAS ADORABLE!  But, he was just lying down he wouldn't get up so we didn't experience the full awkwardness of his legs hahaha!  There was also wallabees and one had a baby in its pouch, and the baby must have been folded in half because only a paw and its nose were sticking out.  There was also a lemur with a baby in its pouch, and it was climbing around and then stopped to clean it and show it off... adorable!  After the zoo we walked around the lake for a bit, found a sweet bridge, some sweet old buildings, but unfortunately no gardens with roses in them (like my Dad saw while he was there), it must have been way too early in the season.  We also didn't find the rose garden for the blind, but we DID find the deer in the park outside the Polish museum haha. 

On Saturday Me, Krispin, Brian, Louise, and Pat headed to Geneva for the 77th Auto Show.  This is the longest running, 3rd biggest Auto Show in the world!  Aside from New York, I'm pretty sure this was the most cars I've ever seen in one place at the same time.  INSANITY!  I'm pretty sure that everyone in Switzerland and all their relatives was there yesterday, its a darn good thing I had my crutches so I could push my way through the crowds :)  The show was insanely huge, we're talking like.... maybe 5 times as big, area wise, as the Calgary show.  And I didnt really go to the accessories parts... so maybe even bigger.  The room it was in was absolutely huge.  And there was fountains and flashing lights and music goin on just everywhere!  We walked around for like 5 hours, and by then we were just like uuuuuuuhhhh all the cars are blending together in my head!!!  I took a lot of pictures, because all the cars were so pretty :)  I even managed to sit in one, a Toyota Prius.  I could DEFINITELY drive one of those!  It is a great size, and although I am not sure I want a hybrid, I could always go the Matrix instead.  Anyways... not that I want to own a car, I love public transit.  Although I hear it sucks even more in Calgary now.  Anyways, after crutching around for 5 hours my hands were absolutely destroyed, and I have some serious blisters today.  But it was definitely worth it.  The chance to see a bunch of Aston Martins and Ferraris and Lamborghinis and Dunkervoorts (haha still makes me laugh) and a bunch of other manufacturers I've never heard of was well worth the pain and suffering going up and downstairs doing my five freaking loads of laundry today!  I did score a new laundry bag from the Ford exhibit yesterday, and its sweet cuz I can wear it as a backpack!  Anyways, I know that all the pictures will start to look the same after a while, but I liked all the shiny cars so I am very sorry.  There is ONE of me and my beautiful red cast somewhere in there, so have fun finding it!  The only thing that was a little disappointing at the show was the VW exhibit but I think thats because I was so stoked and had really high expectations for it... ie an army of Rabbits and Cabriolets.  But, there was just a lot of Passats and Passat wagons and Golfs and "Golf Variants" and Polos and vans... no Jettas or Cabrios!  I guess I forgot I was in Europe for a minute there... oops!

So... yesterday I went shopping with Krispin and bought some new snow pants that ACTUALLY MATCH MY COAT.  Now, considering that my coat is "tomato red" and actually looks orange, this is very exciting.  However, I opted for the cheaper pair that aren't made by the same company as my coat is... and they are almost a perfect match.  BUT, the sale was "50% off" so I figured it was already taken off and the ones that actually match my pants were too expensive... BUT I got to the cash register and then they took ANOTHER 50% off!  So I think I am going to take them back, along with my coat, to see if the beautiful pants match exactly, and if they do... HOOK IT UP.  They are everything I have ever wanted in snow pants... Goretex, suspender-style straps... I just hafta double check to see if they have snaps so they'll fit over my ski boots.  Anyways, I can't believe I just talked for that long about snow pants.  Whatever.  We bought a couple other things... like little sticky star fish for the bottom of the tub so I don't die while I am showering with a garbage bag taped over my foot, a wooden spoon to replace the one that I broke making gnocchi, and the worlds most delicious ice cream, Movenpick.  After shopping I was just BEAT and had a blister on my hand from walking for so long... ha ha ha that sounds so funny.  (From my crutches silly.)  Then last night I managed SOMEHOw to stay up and watch the lunar eclipse.  It was prettttty cool, the moon had this reddish tinge and it was really beautiful.  Even though I taped my tripod to our balcony and used the best settings my camera has, I only got one really good picture of the moon :(  So yeah... my Saturday night was spent eating crunchy peanut butter off a spoon and watching a lunar eclipse in my winter jacket.  I managed to restrain myself from wearing the snowpants, I didn't want to get peanut butter on them.

 

Today was gorgeous and I really really wanted to go for a big walk, but instead I went to the Baden Historical Museum, and it was pretty cool.  All in German, so I learned a lot of German, but not a lot about Baden, unfortunately.  I learned about the history of Schwimmbad though, so it was worth it.  The museum is in this old castle and it is ABSOLUTELY gorgeous but of course has no elevator, so I got a good workout again just going up the tower.  On the way home I managed to buy eggs and butter all by myself, and came home and had a beautiful nap and then baked biscuits and cookies :)  I decided to bake cookies for Krispin cuz he's been helping me out so much and came to rescue me from the hospital and carried stuff while we were shopping and and and... he definitely deserved ginger snaps, even if they were fluffy.  Freaking fluffy ginger snaps were fluffier than my biscuits... grr.  In my defense I think our oven is broken... *ahem.*  But yes, thank you Krispin! 

So as I am hanging out at home and not doing a whoooooole lot, aside from applying for real jobs and practicing doing stairs with my crutches, I was looking around and found this WONDERFUL book list thingy on MySpace so I dont hafta post a different thing for EVERY book I read!  Long story short you are all spared reading about the books I read, and I just gave them a rating out of five stars (*) and a few words if I felt it was merited.  YAY for laziness :)  Yeah... I did read quite a bit in the hospital, so there is a few up there. 

 

In other news I AM GOING TO WORK THIS AFTERNOON WOOHOO!  I am stoked... and will continue to be stoked until I go to leave the house and it starts pouring rain again... I REALLY hope it doesnt because I cant hold my umbrella with my crutches so I just go raincoat style and then my shoes/pants get DRENCHED.  Ugh.  Oh well.

 

OH and the most exciting news of all... I got TWO KILOS OF CRUNCHY PEANUT BUTTER IN THE MAIL TODAY!  THANK YOU BA!!!!!!!

I AM HOME!!! YAY!!!!!  I came home yesterday after spending ALTOGEtHER TOO LONG in the hospital!  Everything went well and Yes i am sporting a very fashionable cast and am accessorized with Euro-style crutches, which have little forearm holders and do not go up to your armpits.  I am up and down stairs like nobodys business though, so better watch out my arms are gonna be RIPPEd in about a week ha ha ha.  Anyways, I'll give you all the details about my surgery... but first, some observations on the Kantonsspital Baden (a Kanton is like a province, and a Spital is a hospital FYI.  Oh and I live in Baden.  There, now you speak German!)   

 

Ok, so here are some of the things I noticed about the hospital:

So today I am feeling a little bit sick... with a cold... and seeing as how I am supposed to be having my knee surgery on Thursday, I need to kick this, FAST.  So, I googled some home remedies for "curing" the common cold and have tried a bunch of them.  Due to the sheer number I tried I won't be able to tell which one actually did it... but as long as I get better I don't really care.  I am hoping to just make my body such a hostile environment that the cold will be like "AHHHH I WANT OUT!"  Here's what I have tried so far:

 

1.) Crazy amounts of water

2.) Increased orange intake

3.) Tea

4.) Vitamin C tablets

5.) Cold FX

6.) Hot peppers with stir fry for dinner

7.) Ginger, lemon, and honey in hot water (very very tasty)

8.) Chewing on a clove of garlic.  Yes, I actually did this, and it was disgusting, but I am convinved it is what is evacuating my sinuses so nicely.  I would NOT recommend this unless you are absolutely desperate. 

9.) Going to bed early (executing this phase very soon)

 

The weirdest remedy I found was to pour hydrogen peroxide in your ears.  Some dude was convinced that the only way cold were propagated was through ears... and so this was the only cure.  I will NOT do that, don't worry.  I am not insane!

 

Anyways, time to execute part 9!

 

Update:

Confounding results obtained from the aforementioned study lead this researcher to conclude that the only way to cure the common cold is to stay home from work and sleep all day.  All other measures have been proven ineffective, and do not provide immediate relief. 

Today Krispin and I headed to the Swiss Culture and History Museum in Zurich.  (This is where I went skating in the winter)  It only cost THREE FRANCS (less than $3) and was a pretty sweet museum.  We started in the slightly depressing and monotonous Religious art section… and I seriously think I have seen enough winged altars to last for the rest of my life.  Ugh.  Anyways, thankfully that section was cut off due to renovations and we hopped over to the Prehistory and Early History section, which was sooooooo cool!  Almost as cool as the massive diorama or a re-enactment of a battle, which was pretty crazy.  I cannot imagine sitting and working on that thing… it would have driven me mental for sure it would have taken so long!  There was tons of old tools and pots and descriptions/pictures of who controlled which parts of the world at the time, I actually learned quite a bit… after asking Krispin some ridiculous questions of course.  Anyways, there was a section that had old jewellery in it and it was sooooo pretty!  Then we found this room that was called “A museum within the museum” and it was the collection of stuff from this old castle that is actually really close to our town, and that I will probably go see now.  And there was lots of little murals of the castle so that was sweet.  Also, a heart shaped baking pan, how can you go wrong!  I really enjoyed this section, but unfortunately all good things must come to and end and we ended up back in the religious part of the museum.  But it was not so bad, because the exhibit was interrupted by several rooms, that I believe have been moved there, from the Fraumunster Abbey in Zurich.  The rooms were pretty sweet, all wood and with beautifully decorated stone stoves, a pretty rockin’ convent I would say.  Unfortunately the “Medieval treasures” section was closed, but I enjoyed the old pharmacy probably more anyways.  And then began the information about the Reformation, and this went on for a while.  Somehow we missed the part of the history where the original 13 cantons became “the confederate” but got lots of info about how these cantons got the other ones to join.  I think there are 26 today, but I couldn’t name most of them.  My bad, there is 23 cantons, 3 of which are split into pieces that don’t count as full cantons by themselves.  Anyways, we saw some pretty sweet huge old globes and lots of old gold cups and plates, a fashion display, a coin exhibition, and a special photo exhibition that was really well done.  Unfortunately, the arms section was closed, so that was kinda a bummer. 

 

Here is a little bit of info about the building itself, which is absolutely gorgeous!  “The tower, copied from the town gate of Baden (YAY BADEN!), has become a symbol of the city and can be seen from far away. The museum building of 1898 in the historicist style accommodates probably the largest collection in Switzerland devoted to cultural history. In the rambling rooms and corridors of the building visitors can experience fascinating and unexpected views of Swiss cultural history.”

 

Overall the museum was an excellent day to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon.  Luckily, the “no pictures please” blurb didn’t appear till the last page of the brochure so I did manage to get some pictures.  One of my favorite parts of the museum was the free coat check, because I dumped all my stuff and really could focus on learning.  Hahaha.  I thought there would be more information about the political history of Switzerland, but I am kinda glad there wasn’t, because it is hard to absorb too much of that at one time.  I would like to learn more, and CLEARLY I need to review my European history because today I was like “Krispin who were the Celts… and where did the come from… and the Germanic people… ok… and…” hahaha.  And the names Calvin and Zwingli definitely sound familiar and I know they had something to do with the Reformation but I really couldn’t tell you what.

 Anyways when we got home from the museum I cooked up some serious dinner.  I made cornbread because I realized that I had like 1.5kg of cornmeal in my cupboard… oops!  While I was baking that I did up some stir fry and pork, and the bread was looking FABULOUS and then I did something else for TWO MINUTES and it got burned.  It is pretty dry but pretty tasty and delicious with honey on it!  It’ll make great sandwiches when I melt cheese on it! 

Part I of a JAM PACKED Saturday: St Gallen

So Saturday morning I got up pretty early and took the train to St Gallen, Northeast of where I live.  It was a super foggy day when I got there… bummer!  I had a chance to take a good chunk out of my book on the train though.  (I started a new one, its called “From Beirut to Jerusalem” and I HIGHLY recommend it already!  I HAVE LEARNED SO MUCH!)  Anyways, I arrived and discovered that the schedule the internet gave me for the post bus to the cheese dairy I wanted to visit was not right… and had to wait 1.5 hours.  That was cool though, I walked around the town and it was SO BEAUTIFUL.  My lonely planet book described the buildings as out of a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, and I would have to agree!  They were just so cute and pretty!  Anyways, I made my way to the huge Abbey that is the main tourist attraction of St Gallen, and it was enormous!  I didn’t go inside, but just walking around it was pretty amazing.  By that time it was time to head back and catch the bus though, seeing as how I am a little slower at walking these days.  On the way to the bus though I found this store that only sold tea, teapots, teacups, and other things associated with tea.  It was insane.  THEN I saw another shop that sold the same stuff!  INSANE!  Anyways, I finally got back to the bus station.

 

The bus I got on was a DOUBLE DECKER post bus!  (The post office runs busses here in Switzerland, and they are really good!  I know, its scary to think of Canada Post running busses… how do you return to sender on a bus… but they are quite punctual and comfortable, and they usually go longer distances and are actually one of my favorite modes of transportation.)  The ride to get to Stein in Appenzelle was quite scenic.  Appenzelle is, again according to Lonely Plant, “the Newfoundland of Switzerland.”  But, nonetheless, the rolling hills and forests are incredibly beautiful.  I finally arrived in Stein, and so begins...

 

Part II:Cheese Making in Stein

The bus stopped right across the street from my mission objective: the Appenzeller cheese demonstration dairy.  Now, a little history here, Appenzeller cheese is pretty much the single most stinky cheese you can buy in Switzerland.  One of my co-workers and his roommate used to have wars with it… hiding it in each other snowboard bags and pillow cases etc.  So, as you can imagine, this stuff is dangerous, but incredibly tasty.  Anyways, I was absolutely crushed when I discovered that the demonstration dairy was closed for renovations!  I even checked the website before I went and it said NOTHING about this, so I was pretty devastated.  Luckily, the little restaurant place was open so I went in and bought some cheese to console myself.  I bought a combination pack which had 4 types of cheese: Bio Appenzeller (organic), Mild, Strong, and Extra strong!  Thankfully it came in an airtight bag so it was ok in my backpack for the day. 

I decided to go to the Apenzeller folk history museum that was right beside the cheese dairy, because I had come all this way after all.  It was one of the best museums ever!  I unintentionally managed to convince the lady at the front desk that my German was good enough to get through the museum without the English guide and when she asked “oh so you don’t need the English guide right” I was like AHHHHH!  She was definitely one of the nicest Swiss people I have ever met though, and went like WAY out of her way to help me!  Even watched my back pack and cheese!  And, thankfully, there was a cheese making demonstration in the little alpine hut they have set up in the museum, perfect!  Anyways, I got my English guide and away we went.  First section I hit up was the cowbell section.  How perfect!  We’re talking there were like 18 huge cowbells there, it was pretty much heaven.  There was also a little bit about the Appenzeller Hound, I have to look more into this breed of dog because it is very cute.  Anyways, next up was the history of cheese making section, which was pretty cool as well.  Then there was the embroidery section, which was insane, and the “speaking cupboards” section, which I missed most of because it was all in German.  They were pretty though and I took lots of pictures.  The next section was the art section, and let me tell you I have NEVER seen so many pictures of cows!  The art was pretty crazy, there was like wall murals and regular paintings and painted bottoms of milk pails and little figurines, but they kinda all looked the same.

 

Now I had some time to kill before the cheese making demonstration started so I went outside for a little walk, came back in to check to see if it had started yet, which it hadn’t, and went for another little walk and had a rest on a bench.  Finally I came back at the actual correct time and it was starting.

 

To start with (after you skim the milk to the exactly precisely defined fat content), you have to heat the milk up to 31C for 30-40 minutes so that the curdling process can begin.  Then after it becomes thick, you cut it with the “cheese harp,” which results in “small corn sized granules.”  This chunky part is the curds, and the watery leftover part is the whey.  Mmmm Little Miss Muffet knew her cheese production.  Anyway, the whey is used to make Rivella (very VERY popular here in Switzerland) which is a carbonated beverage.  You may think it sounds nasty, but it contains lactose and calcium and tastes like gingerale, with a kinda funny aftertaste.  Anyways, the curds are then washed with water, and this mixture is heated up again, to 41C.  I know, insane precision.  Anyways, once it is the right consistency, you separate the curds and press them.  This is called fresh cheese, and doesn’t really taste like anything.  This is where we left off in the demonstration I watched.  Anyways, after the curds are pressed the real stinkification business begins.  The cheese is treated in a salt bath, which “enhances the flavor” and “is essential for the formation of a firm rind.”  While the cheese is maturing, it is regularily treated with the salt bath.  The longer it matures the stinkier it is… mmmmm yummy!  

 

Anyways, sorry for that incredibly dorky description of cheese making but I thought it was fascinating.  After I finished at the cheese dairy I went for one more little walk around Stein while I was waiting for the bus.  The bus finally arrived and I went back to St Gallen, and experienced Fasnacht!  

 

Part III: Fasnacht in St GallenFasnacht is a celebration in German speaking parts of Europe.  I am a little confused about why it happens, but I believe it started as a kind of pre-Lent occasion to gorge yourself on junk food before fasting.  It also is supposed to scare away winter, which is quite unnecessary here this year, but the show must go on anyways.  When I was in Innsbruck last weekend it was the “Fashings” festival, which I think is quite similar.  It started last Thursday in my town and St Gallen and Luzerne, but doesn’t occur till next week in Basel, but they call it Carneval, and so I think it’s a bit different.  Apparantely this is like THE parade to go to, but I don’t think I will be able to go due to knee surgery. We’ll see though, I could dress up as Tiny Tim or something.  I did miss the big Fasnacht-ing here in Baden, so it was pretty cool I got to see some in St. Gallen.  Anyways, Fasnacht was quite unsettling for me at first because the Swiss people, who are usually so clean and reserved, just go insane!  I was walking around St Gallen and there was confetti all over the streets.  Weird, usually the streets are clean!  All the kids dress up to be whatever they want, and their costumes are absolutely amazing!  They are so detailed and beautiful!  The amount of facepaint is pretty astounding too!  Anyways, there was a bunch of kids in St Gallen just running around setting off fire crackers everywhere!  They scared the BEEJESUS out of me like five times!  How uncivilized.  This made me not like Fasnacht at first… but it started to grow on me when I happened upon several quite random marching bands in the streets.  Here I was just walking along when from the left approached a band dressed up as astronauts and from the right the “T-squad” and they just kinda merged their songs and kept marching.  It was pretty crazy.  The costumes were SO SWEET though, there was one astronaut wearing a volleyball skin as a helmet ha ha ha.  I kept walking around the old town in St Gallen and saw a band dressed as Mexicans, some Brazilians, and my favorite was the people dressed up as pilots.  (On a side note, I MUST be becoming European-ized because I am starting to feel the need to buy some aviators.  I know, awful isn’t it?!?!  I think I will be able to over come this though, or at least wait till Kaley comes to visit so I have some trustworthy supervision)  Anyways, I watched this band for quite a while because they were really good.  Then it was time to head home, and I had a solid nap on the train.  Like out cold when the ticket lady came by.  I was tempted to stay longer but I was absolutely dead tired, and realized that I hadn’t walked that long in a very very long while.  My calves were preeeeety tight and I basically just crashed when I came home. 

Last weekend I went to visit my Mom's sisters husbands sister, Jennifer (some sort of Aunt, removed or 2nd aunt or something) and her family in Innsbruck, Austria.  They are originally from Ontario, like the rest of my family, but moved to Europe to be opera singers, and thats what they do now!  HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!  Anyways, I had been planning on going to visit and when I discovered I might be having surgery soon I said WHAT THE HECK I'll go this weekend!  So I hopped on the train and when I got there Dan and Ben (her husband and her son) picked me up at the train and took me to their SWEET apartment!  It smelled like a real house, it was really exciting for me.  (My house smells funny... very funny.)  Anyways, Ben went to bed and I talked to Dan for a while until Jennifer got home from work.  After she got home we chatted a little more and then went to bed.  I felt pretty bad because I was sleeping in Bens room, and he was displaced into the computer room where there was an extra bed.  He said he didn't mind and that he slept well, but I mean you never sleep as good when you are displaced like that!   His bed was pretty sweet though, had this electric heater thing on top of the mattress so the bed was toasty warm when I got in ... yay!  OH AND THEY HAVE GUINEA PIGS!  I miss my pets :(  The guinea pigs were ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE!  One looked exactly like my old guinea pig (and its hair was remarkably similar to what mine looks like in the morning...), and the other one looked exactly like Kaleys old guinea pig. 

 

Saturday morning it was BEAUTIFULLY sunny out, and I spent a lot of time looking out the window and checking out the scenery around their place.  Innsbruck is TOTALLY surrounded by mountains, it is soo beautiful!  Anyways, we had a huge Canadian style breakfast with pancakes, bacon, and eggs.  Mmmmm tasty.  After we had all got through the shower, we headed out for a walk to check out the old downtown of Innsbruck, which is absolutely gorgeous!  We saw the Golden Roof, which actually has shingles made out of gold!  It used to be a palace.  On our tour we stopped by the theatre and got a seat hooked up for me for that evening.  We walked around for a bit and then eventually headed back for lunch.  After lunch we went on a drive up the mountains a little bit on both sides of the valley around Innsbruck.  I haven't really done a lot of driving around since I've been here, so this was a nice change of pace.  I got to see a LOT of stuff in a very short amount of time.  Anyways, we had to head home for dinner because Jennifer was performing in the opera I was going to see that evening.  So after we got home and had dinner we headed out to the theatre.  The seat they hooked up for me was SWEET!  It was like where the boss sits and there was tooons of room and a perfect view of the stage.  I really enjoyed the performance; the first part was a big choir singing famous opera songs, and the second part was duets from famous operas.  (Jennifer was only in the 2nd part).  Although I didn't recognize too many songs, it was still really really cool!  I especially enjoyed the orchestra, who was FANTASTIC.  When the concert was over I got to go backstage and we took a picture of me and Jennifer all dressed up in her costume.  Then we headed home, had a little snack, and went to bed.

 

Sunday was banana day; banana muffins for breakfast, then we went out for a drive again and a little walk on a little historic path and a not-so-little horse started eating Bens jacket.  The path was really pretty, although it should have been COVERED in snow!  Boooo!  Anyways, the walk was nice, and even though it was cloudy the air was still very refreshing and I was glad to get out and move around a bit.  After the drive we headed back and had a banana bread snack and hot chocolate while we played "Zicke Zacke Huhnekacke" which is a board game like concentration, where you have to flip cards over and remember where they are.  In English, the game would be called "Zig Zag Chicken Poop." AHahahahahahhahaha.  I thought it was hilarious.  Ben, of course, kicked everyones butt.  Twice.  After we got beat at that we just kinda hung out until I had to catch my train.  Jennifer packed me one HECK of a meal for the train, and I basically ended up eating all the way home.  Mmmmm good.  I did meet an Austrian lady who is teaching Spanish in St. Gallen, Switzerland, and whos Mexican husband sings opera there.  SMALL WORLD because thats where Jennifer was working in the summer!  Anyways, all in all I had an absolutely fabulous weekend and I'm really glad I got to meet Jennifer and her family, because they were SO NICE!  I really appreciated them letting me come visit and stay with them, it was possibly one of the most normal relaxing weekends I've had all year!

 

This week has been kinda slow so far, just been working and grocery shopping... I'm sure you don't want to hear about my 50% off yellow peppers and asparagus, because as exciting as my pasta sauce and homemade meatballs are to ME, I am sure they are not as exciting when you don't get to taste them :)

 

Tomorrow, however, I am probably gonna head to Zurich to see the Rodin exhibit on at the art museum there... WOO HOO I love Rodin!   The Rodin museum in Paris was FANTASTIC so I am quite excited for this! 

So I had my MRI on Monday, and it was one of the most comfortable experiences of my life!  There were foam tracks for my legs to sit in, and pillows and blankets everywhere and the nurse, who spoke only German to me (and I understood) gave me some nice headphones and I basically napped for 20 minutes while I was in the machine.  Sweeeeeet.  I thought that my knee was getting better... even though the swelling wasn't going down, and today I went back to the doctor and figured out that my ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament, the one that prevents your thigh bone from sliding forward of your shin bone) is mostly ruptured.  Sooo long story short I am getting it repaired, hopefully next week, and I will then have TITANIUM STAPLES holding it in place... WOOT!  I am a little bit nervous...but have complete faith in the Swiss doctors and I'm sure it will all be fine.  ACL repairs are usually pretty intense to recover from though... hellllloooooo physio!

 

Anyways, this weekend I am going to visit my uncles sister in Innsbruck (Austria) and she is an opera singer!  So I get to go to the opera!  YAY!  I am pretty stoked!

This weekend was a pretty fantastic weekend.  Friday night I watched Monty Pythons Life of Brian, and it was possibly the 2nd stupidest movie I have ever seen (1st goes to My Super Ex-Girlfriend).  Anyways, it was fun and I had a nice little nap.  Saturday I had a GREAT sleep in, cleaned up the paper recycling on our balcony and then headed to the Brokenhaus in Ennetbaden (that translates to "the second hand store accross the river).  It was pretty sweet.  They had a lot of cool old stuff, tons of furniture and old books and records and dishes coming out the wazoo!  It was a beautiful walk over there too, the river is very pretty and there are some sweet buildings up the hill on that side of the river.  Of course I didn't take any pictures... that was really dumb... considering I even had my camera with me!  Anyways, I didn't buy anything but I almost bought a trumpet!  I also asked an old Swiss man how much the saxophone he was selling cost... in German!  AND UNDERSTOOD HIS ANSWER.  It was pretty fun.  I have definitely become mUCH more confident with my German lately, and this weekend made me decide that I ABSOLUTELY have to keep taking lessons because I really want to learn more and practice more!  I also realized that my German is not so bad.  I can kinda understand people when they talk, if they talk slowly and in High German, not crazy Swiss German.  I've learned how to figure out when people are asking me what happened to my knee... several nice old ladies on the bus have asked me if its broken and I can say "Not broken!"  And today at the science center the cashier asked me if I wanted a wheelchair... so I had a good laugh.  And then someone else helped me with my wrist band and said "This will let you go in and out!  Have fun!" AND I UNDERSTOOD IT WAS SO COOL!  Anyways, so I skipped some parts of the weekend. 

 

After the Brokenhaus, where I decided I am definitely taking Kaley when she comes to visit) we headed back into town and I did a little bit of grocery shopping then came home... and headed right out again.  Me, Aaron, Darren, Krispin, and Paul went to a birthday party in Zurich at some Swiss peoples house.  The house was ABSOLUTELY INSANE!  HUGE!  AND BEAUTIFUL!  AND THEY HAD A BARBEQUE!  I haven't seen a BBQ here yet!  Not a real one anyways, so that was quite exciting for me.  Anyways, huge fireplace and sauna and beautiful loft etc etc... it was gorgeous.  We didn't get to see the beach house by the lake... bummer!  AND the best feature was that there was THREE WAYS to get in and out of the kitchen... most of the ones I have seen here only have one entrance/exit.  EW!  Anyways, they made us a lovely dinner... and then more food... and then cake.  We headed out sometime after midnight, and ended up taking a cab to the Zurich trainstation because the trains had stopped!  CRAZY SWISS TRANSIT.  Anyways, I ended up getting home at about 3am and going to sleep exhausted.  HOWEVER, several crazy intense people went out to a conert that went until 10:30 SUNDAY MORNING.  INSANITY!  They texted me at 08:46 and were like "still going."  I thought they meant "are we still going to the science center today?"  BUT they meant they were still partying.  So when I got a call at like 10:30 and Darren was asking if we were still going I thought to myself "If Darren can party until now and then still want to go to the science center, I can get my lazy bum out of bed and go."  So Krispin and I made a mad dash for the trian and got to Winterthur pretty quickly, and Krispin made the fatal error of having a huge sandwich on the train and almost fell asleep because of such intense food consumption.  We arrived in Winterthur before Darren and I decided to find a coffee and I had the BEST cappucino I have ever had.  And it was even better because I ordered it in German.  Dunkel cappucino all the way.  It was soooo dark and so delicious... mmmmm.  So, sufficiently wired, we met Darren and took the bus to TECHNORAMA!  WOO HOOO!!!!

 

The building itself pretty much looks like it is melting on the outside... weird mirror action going on.  Inside it is equally as crazy.  On the ground floor was the "physics" section, so there was lots of gyroscopes and magnets and springs and balls on strings and electro gadgets and pretty much everything I was ever supposed to learn in a physics class was embodied in a fun exhibit there.  My personal favorite was probably the magnetic fluids that made CRAZY SPIKES when you turned the magnetic fild on.  ALTHOUGH the gyroscope that was like a bucking bronco was sweet too.  The second floor was even crazier!  The "water, nature, and chaos" section was sooo cool!  You could like make tornados and there was a waterfall with a strobe light on it that made it look like the water was falling up or not moving, and magnetically induced dust devils and generally just sweet spinning things.  The next section was "Mathe-magic" and that was kinda cool too.  Lots of puzzles and computery things go do...I think my favorite was a little arch thing I built.  That is the only thing I took a picture of all day... dOH!  It was beautiful though.  Anyways, the last section on the 2nd floor was the optical illusion section... and it was prettttttyyyyy crazy.  By the third floor we were all pretty tired, but the rest of the children that were there were still going strong so I missed a couple exhibits that looked kinda sweet, in the "automation" section.  There was some gait analysis and some other camera stuff that looked pretty fun, but very very crowded.  There was a huge section of wooden toys that were mazes for little red balls to roll through, and you had to push and pull on certain parts to get the balls through the whole obstacle course.  Some of them were REALLY REALLY hard!  I figured a few out... but was really more impressed that someone took all that time to build the crazy machines!  I think probably my favorite part of this floor was the model of a human eyeball they had set up.  Everything that I was ever supposed to learn in bio about the eye started to make sense as I was changing the shape of the fake cornea by injecting fluid into it.  Moi HA HA HA HA!  It was sweet.  My LEAST favorite part of this floor was the exhibit that made you look into a mirror and shine a small light into one eye while you shone a BIG light in the other eye so that you could see how your pupil reacts to light... ouch.  There was some VERY cool things about the eye there though, very well done.  By this time I think Darren and Krispin had crashed on a bench, so I took a quick look through the lasers and light section and it brought back some nasty memories of my optics and acoustics course... so that was short lived.  We were all pretty tired by now and decided to head out.  Overall, it was a FANTASTIC museum, and I'm incredibly glad I went!  The train ride home was pretty uneventful, aside from this little baby that seroiusly just WAILED the whole way back.  It was impressive that something so small was making that much noise.  I think it was probably crying at the end because it was so sore from crying so much!  Poor little guy :(  This evening was pretty low key, just did a bunch of stuff I should have done already and cleaned up a little... supposed to have finished up my resume but haven't yet... ugh.  I need to find a job for next summer! 

Today after work I headed to Ikea with Ula (and some colleagues).  Mission: purchase a desk, closet, chairs for dining room, couch.  Now, this is AFTER part 1, where we went to scope out what she wanted.  So anyways, here we are at Ikea.  The colleagues we went with were 2 male engineers, so they weren't super impressed that Ula didn't know exactly what she wanted.  That was the vibe I got anyways, but I might have been WAY off because they were talking mostly in Polish.  Anyways, objective 1: couch.  Ula picked a BEAUTIFUL red leather couch that folds out into a bed, and it is gonna look beautiful in her apartment.  BUT she had to order it, which is actually sweet becase they're delivering it for free to her house!  And it was gonna be super heavy. 

 

Side note: Today I decided that I'm going to move a couch up into my room and have movie parties up here, becuase it is sweeeeeet.  How is the couch going to get up here, you might ask?  Well... if you have been here you know that there is a VERY narrow spiral staircase, and also an entrance way through the storage space on the top floor.  Neither of these are really big enough for a couch... so we'll see.  It'll be fun. 

 

Ok so after the couch was the... um... closet?  Chairs?  I don't remember, but she had these picked out already so that wasn't too epic.  (The desk she wanted wasn't in stock :( )  On the way out of COURSE she picked up a plant... sneaky Ikea and putting the plants at the end of the store, right before you get to the "pick it up here" section.  Heck, I almost bought one.  I know I am a notorious plant killer... but I have decided that I am going to start taking better care of them.  They make the room so colorful and outsidesy.  :D  Ok so we picked up all the pieces of furniture and headed to the rental place, because Ula knew we were going to need a big car... but it turned out to be huge.  It was a van... HUUUUUUGE!  She had no trouble driving it though and we made it safely to her house.  The furniture all got upstairs, and we headed BACK to Ikea to return the car.  Then we had dinner there... I had vegetable schnitzel... which is REALLY upsetting my stomach right now, and thats why I'm not in bed.  Anyways, then we got a ride back to Ulas house, I learned how to say thank you in Polish (I have already forgotten) and then we hung out for a little bit.  Her place is PRETTY sweet... and so much newer and cleaner than mine that its not even funny.  And I mean, I like my roomies, but to live there by myself would be sweeeet, and tidy.  Anyways, we had a Baileys and built some beautiful dining chairs.  Baileys on the rocks is my new fav. drink.  Soooo tasty.  Anyways, we got 2 chairs together and then came to my house and watched "White Chicks."  I definitely feel a little dumber now, but my abs feel good from laughing.  Classic.  Kim (one of my neighbors, from England) was also here and it was probably the most normal thing I've ever done here... hang out with GIRLS and watch a movie.  It was awesome!

 

Anyways, here is a brief summary of why I love Ikea:

1.) It's cheap: when I change my mind about what I want I can buy new stuff

2.) Its modular: when I change my mind about how I want my room organized, I can mix and match it up.

3.) The store is organized.  I like organized.  They give you instructions on where to go.  The floor is MAPPED into areas.  Similar things are together.

4.) The store sells you things to help you be organized.  Boxes, bags, shelves... everything

5.) The store sells everything, furniture, bathrobes, art, Swedish meatballs, Glogg, and ice cream. 

     5.1) Ikea's in Europe sell beer. 

6.) I can understand the instructions because they are only pictures.

7.) Walking around in Ikea is actually a workout in itself.  And I mean putting the furniture together even more so.

8.) Some of the boxes you get are WICKED shapes.  COME ON BOX FORT!

 

I cannot believe I just wrote that much about Ikea. 

 

Anyways... on a totally unrelated subject, I have decided that I am going to learn how to play the guitar.  I was playing with Ulas electric piano today and realized just how much I miss music, and how RIDICULOUS it is that I stopped playing.  And I think that guitar would be great because

a.) its portable... or more so than a piano

b.) I can play country songs

c.) Jack Johnson

d.) I can pretend to sing along

e) its cheaper than a euphonium

 

Now, I just have to find a guitar.  And figure out how to play it.  But hey, one step at a time :)

 

Tomorrow the plan is to sleep in, get up, go shopping for NEW MITTENS AND A NEW JACKET/MAYBE SNOW PANTS, come home, go for a run (if I tell you about it I am WAY more likely to do it.... right. yeah.) and then clean my room.  There are dustbunnies EVERYWHERE.  I dont get it, its so humid yet stuff floats around in the air like nobodys business.  Then, if I have enough energy, I will tackle the downstairs level, although I think it is a lost cause.  I might not clean it until I move out in May.  OH But I do have to do the recycling.  Tomorrow I would also like to finish my book...and go to a concert at like 9-10pm.  I wanted to take a nap, but it doesn't look like thats gonna fit in there.  OH and I hafta fix up my resume and find some jobs to apply for.  I think I've decided that I would rREALLLLY like an outdoors job next summer... so if anyone can think of anything that is kinda maybe engineering related and that lets me basically play outside all day, that would be sweet.  Sticking with the list theme of today, this is what I've come up with...

i.) landscaping: woo hoo working out at work, boo sunburn and rainy days.  but... outside

ii.) girl who holds the stop sign at the construction sites... ha ha ha... short attention span might be an issue.

iii.) camp counsellor...?

 

Anyways I gotta go to bed here, so I'll hafta keep thinking on that one.

:)

Wednesday night I went to Susanne's (a lady from my team at work) and we made ravioli!  Now we're not talking like buy the packages and cook them... we made EVERYTHING!  The dough, the fillings, and the sauces.  We had 3 types of fillings: cheese, cheese with sage, and spinach and ricotta.  I made the spinach ricotta filling, then helped with making the dough, which was PRETTY FUN!  We had to use the cranking machine to roll it suuuuuper thin, then put little blobs of filling on it, fold it over, and then use a little pizza-cutter-esque device to seal them up.  We boiled them all up, and there was a LOT of them, and ate them with the TWO kinds of pesto (Sicilian and Genovese, one involves cheese and one doesnt, but I cant remember which way it goes...) and a DEADLY, but incredibly delicious, cream sauce.  Unfortunately, the raviolis stuck together in the pot that was keeping them warm, so we had quadruple decker raviolis... or lasagna, however you wanna look at it.  Of course they were still delicious.  As if we hadn't already eaten enough, we had apple crisp and salami... CHOCOLATE SALAMI for dessert!  The chocolate salami was made by an Italian guy that works with us, and it was soooo good.  As far as I can tell he just melted butter and cocoa, mixed some walnuts/almonds in it and then rolled it into a sausage shape.  Mmmmm it was sooooooo good.  After dinner was the dishes-blitz, and it actually went pretty well this time!  Much faster than the pizza party, OR the Christmas cooking baking party!

 

Today at work I was pretty busy, woo hoo!  When I got home I decided to bust out the good old CBC Radio 3:

 

It's a great radio station because you can listen to the radio, or search for artists and make your own playlists and stuff.  There are some great podcasts, and some sweeet playlists already made up.  I decided to look for some Joel Plaskett Emergency (they opened for the Tragically Hip when I went to the concert a few.. years ago) and LO AND BEHOLD there it is!  WOO HOO!  So I had a pretty great evening with my Joel Plaskett and spaetzli (tagliatelle and dumplings had babies, it would be spaetzli...)

 

I mixed up a whooooole lot of veggies and then some sausage and curry and put it in with the spaetzli... which is quite unconventiol I think but its boring to eat it just straight!  Anyways, put some cottage cheese on top of it and it was phenomenal :)

 

Tomorrow I am going to Ikea with Ula after work to do some SERIOUS furniture purchasing.  Saturday I MIGHT go skiing... haven't decided yet.  Saturday night there is a concert in Baden, some Norwegian band, that I'd like to go to, but I dont really know anything about it.  Sunday I might go to a hot air balloon festival, but first I hafta decide if I want to ride the train for 3.5 hours to get there!